Being Balanced

There are times when I find myself in a situation where if I say what I believe then I am sure I'll alienate some people, but do I say what I believe based on internal principles or do I succumb to the external pressure and let them hear what they'd rather hear or say nothing at all and let them think I'm on the same page as they are or speak from conviction and let the chips fall where they may? I truly have no desire on my part in any way to alienate a brother or sister in Christ simply based on my own preferences but my goal is simply to stand on the Word of God and the principles laid down in scripture as best as I know how too. Sometimes there's a sense in which people may think your all about the negative rather than the positive. I know that one of the hardest things for me in the Christian walk is reminding myself to stay balanced so that I don't make myself an undesirable person, because I know there is no chance of me ever becoming a mushy man-pleaser, just not wired that way (must have been my military training?). The Biblical message is both negative (Law) and positive (Gospel) and it is always negative first in order to strip us of our human pride so that we might see our need of a savior and then the positive is presented that it might rescue us from our dreadful state. Please be patient with me in my sanctification process as I sincerely seek the grace of Christ to be more Biblically balanced.

Quote of the Day

"The new gospel is all about what we need to do for God in order for us to be happy, not what he has done for us so that we can be holy." —Dr. David Harrell

Gospel Thunder

I would like to introduce you to Brother Randall Easter who is the pastor at First Baptist Church of Briar, TX and I am honored to have met him and his lovely wife Bev and even more grateful for being able to sit under him as he thundered the Gospel. Brother Randall just finished preaching our Fall Outreach Revival 2009 here at Shelbyville Mills Baptist Church and my heart is just about to burst with joy, so I must share these messages for MP3 download via smbconline.com. I also want to thank the fine folks at First Baptist Church of Briar, TX for letting us love on Brother Randall as he ministered to us this week!

The Suffering Servant
Encouragement For The Church
Our Identity In Christ
Jonah
You Must Be Born From Above

Good Gospel Preaching

Judge Not?

Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

"It is not judgement but a lack of discernment and judgement that has the church so weak and so compromised that she has no witness to a rotting and dying world." —Jonathan Sims

Excerpt taken from the sermon titled "The Most Misunderstood Verse, Part 1"

Words of Thankfulness

My brother, friend, and co-worker Tom Lamb has recently been diagnosed with cancer and he is blogging his way through this trial in his life and I would encourage you to pray for him and his family and visit his blog (The Lamb's) and be inspired by his gracious words of thankfulness and not to mention his great play list of Christian music.

Doctrines Deliver

TCC '09

I am still in the WOW mode after two full days at last week's True Church Conference where my pastor Jonathan Sims was one of the guest speakers along with Jeff Noblit, Voddie Baucham, Paul Washer and David Miller. To steal a quote from my pastor it was like "drinking from a fire hydrant". This year's theme was "The Wonderful Grace of Repentance" be sure to download the few sermons that have been release for free at SermonAudio.com to get a taste of what took place. The instance unity of Christian love shared from everyone that I met surely was due to the presence of the Holy Spirit and a like mindedness of biblical truth. The bookstore was full of classic gems that you would never find in your local Christian bookstore plus lots of freebies from HeartCry Missionary Society. The deep biblical truth to all the songs that we sang were a joy to shout out and the fellowship was second to none that I have ever experienced at such an event. Can't wait to go again next year!

"There is not a just man that does good and sinneth not in that good he does. There is not only an imperfection, but an impurity in the best righteousness of the saints of their own working out and [are] therefore called "filthy rags" (Isa 64:6)... —John Gill (1697-1771)

Pray The Wind Blows

Washer Plug

Brother Paul Washer will be preaching at Shelbyville Mills Baptist church starting this morning through Wednesday night during our Fall Outreach. So if your in the area of Shelbyville, Tennessee come out and be blessed by the preaching of the Word of God. I will make sure to post all the audio on the church website for free downloads.

Unnoticed Separation

Today I got a e-mail from a dear brother in Christ who I also happen to work with, it was a reply to a previous e-mail that I had sent him and I just wanted to share a little quote that I thought was very insightful as to what is taking place within the American church.

"I believe there is a major movement going on largely unnoticed by the rest of the so called churches in this country. It seems to me the wheat and the tares are being separated" —Greg McGuigan

You know with all the oddities that are taking place like the never ending Purpose Driven program, the Emergent Church Movement; and with the ever growing Ecumenical Movement advancing the acceptance of attacks on Biblical authority with great success, I believe Greg is right. It does seems like true Christians are being separated from the tares as they run to healthy church's.

Zoo Pic's

Yesterday I took my wife to the Nashville Zoo, it was a beautiful day as the weather was perfect. The Nashville Zoo has come along way and is really a nice visit. I was totally amazed at the giraffes, they are such graceful animals.

Quote of the Day

"The surest evidence and the greatest proof of genuine conversion is persecution." —Jonathan Sims

Sermon Archives

Just last week I set up a little PHP script to help organize the audio archives for my church and I think it turned out really nice, anyway just wanted to share the link which offers 200 sermons and counting by my Pastor Jonathan Sims and other guest. Oh, be sure to locate the David Miller sermons and have a listen you won't be disappointed.

Quote Your Pastor

I hope this thread will spark some to actually reply. Over the past year or so I have been paying very close attention to my pastor's word's to the point that I have even been noting exact quotes and I have started to compile them. I am also very confident that there are other pastors out there other than Piper, Mohler, MacArthur, Dever, Sproul and any other famous conference preachers that are preaching the gospel week in and week out with conviction and making some great statements to the glory of God that no one else may every hear or read, so I want to encourage you to post your pastors quotes here. I will kick it off with one by my pastor that he made during Sunday school earlier this year. Include your pastors name and church loacation and make them short and sweet, no dissertations please!

"Whenever a proper Biblical view of the sovereignty of God is presented it will always produce either a bended knee or rebellion." —Jonathan Sims, Shelbyville Mills Baptist Church: Shelbyville, TN

Note: I reserve the right to reject any quote I find offensive or heretical.

More on Mac

I know I am a couple of days late posting on seeing MacArthur preach in person but it has been a very busy week for me. Over all it was a great night of fellowship as I seen fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that I haven't seen in quite sometime. In case you didn't know MacArthur has a great sense of humor and it comes across more in person than on radio, he is also taller and thinner than I had thought. Grace To You had a table set up and was giving away some freebies such as catalogs and leather bookmarks which are very nice, Lifeway Christian Bookstore actually was setup in little rooms selling John's new book which if you haven't heard is titled "A Tale of Two Sons" and it's taken from the parable that Jesus told in Luke 15 and this was the text from which MacArthur preached from. He preached for 70 minutes and about the half way mark I thought there is no way he is going to finish this message tonight, but he did and his ending to the message caught most by surprise as the crowd gasped for air, I won't spoil it for you, you'll have to buy the book. After the message John stayed late to sign books and I never saw the end of the line so I didn't stay too long, but I did stay long enough to see him sign my good friend Jeremy's books yea I said books. He had John dedicate his MacArthur study Bible, and he also signed his seven year old son's book "I Believe in Jesus", not to mention that his wife went before him and got his newest title signed. The neat thing was to see MacArthur quote scripture with each signature off the top of his head, very impressive. To see my friend get his picture made with John MacArthur meant more to me than getting my own book signed. Priceless!

Mac in Town

That's right John MacArthur is coming to Murfreesboro, Tn tomorrow night at Belle Aire Baptist Church at 7:00 p.m. This is a free event, (no charge like Hagee, Hinn, or Osteen) so come early to get a seat, the doors will open at 5:30 p.m. For mor information you can visit belleaire.org. See you there!

Gatlinburg Pictures

Just got back from Gatlinburg a little bit ago and thought I would share just a few pics. We were a few weeks early for all the spring colors but still a very nice and relaxing time. Most of these pictures were taken in Cades Cove.

The Absolute Wonder

I just got home from a great time of fellowship and worship at the 2nd annual Men's Conference of Shelbyville Mills Baptist Church where tonight Bro. David Miller brought the Word of God with power and conviction. Bro. Miller preached without notes and completely from memory which is an amazing feat to behold as he quotes scripture without error. If you only download one sermon this year please consider this one. The text that Bro. Miller preached from was Malichi 1:1-5 and the title of this sermon is "The Absolute Wonder of God's Unconditional Love to Sinners". Bro. Miller made us laugh, cry, and think as he brought God's sovereign election of sinners in salvation to bear on the heart and mind until it manifest the awesomeness of the Grace of God. You can download this sermon for free HERE.

At The Cross

This morning my preacher Bro. Jono Sims brought forth a very powerful message on the Cross of Jesus Christ. I highly recommend that every believer download and listen, it is sure to bless your heart! It's titled We Stand Forgiven at The Cross, it was preached Sunday morning Feb 3rd, 2008 and it was taken from the text found in Matthew 27:33-54 it's only 5.8 MB and has a 50:26 runtime. Enjoy!