“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I John 2:15).

A continuous battle rages in the heart of every believer. A continuous battle rages for the heart of every believer.  The battle is over which love reigns supreme in the believer’s heart.   Is it the love of the world or the love of the Father?

This boils down to how we are inwardly sustained in our everyday lives.  As we go through the day are we sustained by the clinging to and cherishing the “world,” or are we sustained by clinging to and cherishing the Father?  The two loves cannot exist alongside each other.  At any given moment we are either finding life in the world or we are finding it in the Father.  If we strive to fill our thirsty souls through the love of the world, the love of the Father is not filling us. (more…)

“Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you” (Nehemiah 1:6).

In our National Day of Prayer service on May 3 I invited a number of our church members to lead in prayer and the reading of Scripture.  We met at the Gladney Center, one of America’s leading adoption agencies, located next door to the construction site of a new Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.  It was an appropriate setting for us to pour out our brokenness over the evil of abortion that is so prevalent in our land. (more…)

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).

I read a sermon by Mark Dever recently in which he recounted a situation that occurred in the life of the famous 18^th century preacher Jonathan Edwards.  Having led his church in Massachusetts through a time of great revival Edwards was suddenly dismissed from the church over a theological disagreement.  We can readily imagine the grief and sadness this must have caused in his life. (more…)

Louie Giglio in his book The Air I Breathe defines worship in this way: “Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who He is and what He has done, expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.”  In my opinion that definition hits really close to what we read in the Bible about authentic worship. (more…)

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

On April 1, 2009 at the halftime show of the NBA game between the Toronto Raptors and the Orlando Magic, a fan by the name of Dan thought he had become a wealthy man overnight. He had been picked out of the tens of thousands in attendance to get one shot at a $100,000 prize. All he had to do was to make a shot from half-court. But it would be difficult. He had to do it blind-folded. So at half-time Dan was ushered out to mid-court. He was blind-folded and a basketball was placed in his hand. He turned toward the basket and let the ball fly. Suddenly the crowd erupted into deafening cheers. Dan ripped off his blind-fold and began to jump around the court celebrating. But everything changed when the promoter came out on the court put his arm around Dan and said, “April Fools.” You see the whole thing was a joke. The crowd had been instructed, in Dan’s absence, that whether he made the shot or not, they were to cheer and applaud. Actually, Dan had missed the shot; in fact, he missed the whole basket. Instead of $100,000, they gave Dan a 100 Grand candy bar. And while everyone was getting a real kick out of the prank, Dan was not laughing when he walked off the court. (more…)

In His amazing Sermon on the Mount the Lord Jesus clearly laid out the radical lifestyle to which He called His followers.  None of Jesus’ teachings were radical than this:

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy,” (Matthew 5:7).

These are radical words because they reflected the opposite values of those found in the religion of Jesus’ day.  Jewish religionists were not inclined to be merciful.  In fact, to many of them, it wasn’t seen as a virtue.  In their mind you show mercy to the people who were merciful to you (see Matt.5:43-47). (more…)

“The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water’” (John 4:15).

Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well is an inspiring story of Christ’s power to reach the thirsty soul.  We marvel that Jesus related to the woman with the divine balance of grace and truth.  He made time to talk with her and took interest in the details of her life.  He was prepared to cut through all of her objections and misunderstandings on the way to pointing her to the rich life found only in Himself.  Ultimately her life was dramatically changed and the Gospel came to an entire village because of her witness. (more…)

Note: The following blog was written as a devotional by my friend Dr. David Earley. David and his wife have started a house church in Forest, Virginia that will eventually relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada. I love his perspective on following Christ.

Some time back my wife, Cathy, asked me, “What do you think is the best discipleship curriculum on the market?” Understand that for a time I served as the Director of Discipleship for a large Christian university and prided myself on having read every book on discipleship and disciple-making available at the time. Also understand that Cathy is a very smart lady with a Masters degree in theological studies and Christian Counseling and is a collegiate counseling professor. (more…)

Note:  In the morning services on Sunday, February 19, the Travis Avenue Baptist Church will be sharing together in the Lord’s Supper. I thought it would be helpful to remind us of its powerful significance.

I recall my days as a boy playing with my buddies in the neighborhood.  Typically about dark I could hear my mom or dad calling out, “Mike, time to come in. Supper’s ready.”  As I ran in the door I knew the first stop was to be the bathroom sink where I washed off the layers of dirt and germs that had accumulated through the day.  Before I sat down to the meal with my family I would be thoroughly examined to see if I had really scrubbed up, or if I had merely waved my hand under the faucet.  Only when the scrutinizing eye of my mom or dad was satisfied did I get to sit down to eat. (more…)

They were an odd bunch of guys, by and large.  We might call their behavior at times bizarre; their communications sometimes leave us scratching our heads.  They came from varied backgrounds.  Some of them moved in elite circles of high influence; others came from more common walks of life, like farming.  Most of them were fiercely faithful to God though some struggled with obeying God’s call upon their lives.  But they were all mightily used by God at strategic times in the history of His people.

I’m speaking, of course, of the Old Testament prophets of God. Not all of them left written Scripture behind; but those who did fill roughly one-third of the pages of our Old Testament.  Their writings have been grouped in a broad category of Old Testament books simply called “The Prophets.”  We cannot have any real grasp of God’s dealings with ancient Israel and the surrounding nations without some understanding of the messages of the Prophets. (more…)