Bible Ministry Sources
Topic: Ministry

Bible-based blogs intended for spiritual blessing are listed.

Christian web pages below are hyperlinked; you can just click on the title to read.

web address -> Bible Gems for the Week
web address -> Bible Gems Monthly Archive
web address -> Sound Words for Pilgrims
web address -> Guidance from God's Word

web address -> Answers to Life's Questions
web address -> Scripture Selections
web address -> Scripture Journal
web address -> Precious Promises

web address -> Reading Exhortation Doctrine
web address -> Word of Truth Faithful Sayings
web address -> Lead me in a Plain Path
web address -> Form of Sound Words
web address -> Learning More of Him

web address -> Pattern of Good Works
web address -> Magnify the Lord
web address -> Choice Gleanings
web address -> Spurgeon Selections

web address -> Answers to Life’s Questions
web address -> Christian Hymns and History
web address -> Quotes from H.E. Hayhoe
web address -> Quotes from Christians
web address -> Topical Devotions

Mending Nets
Now Playing: Are you mending nets like the disciples ?
Topic: Difficulties
James and John were brethren; by the sea
They sat and searched their fishing nets to find
If there some broken strand or mesh might be,
Which they with patient, skilful hand might bind.
They were experienced fishers, and they knew
That gaping rents let goodly fishes through.

So, while their partners fished, they in the boat
Together sat, a-mending nets; and He
Who could the toil of busy Peter note,
And called the bold apostle, "Follow Me",
Had also (Perfect Master) work in view,
Suited for men like James and John to do.

Years have gone past---Still John, with watchful eye,
Observes lest things should fray with wear and strain;
Still seeks to "strengthen things that yet remain,"
With cords of "Love" he threads his needle, "Truth";
He heals the schisms who mended nets in youth.

O Lord, I pray that in these latter days,
When many strive, and rashly tear and rend,
Thou would'st raise up such men of tact and grace,
The things that crumble and would part to mend;
Teach us, O Lord, and let us not forget,
Both how to fish for men, and mend the net!

St. Patrick
Now Playing: What will be our legacy ?
Topic: Character
Many years ago, I read a tract by H A Ironside, published by Loizeaux Brothers, "The Real Saint Patrick". I believe it is now out of print. It basically showed that the "saint" appropriated by the R C Church was a true evangelical. The following account seems to bear that out. (R.K.G.)

Reflecting on the Origin of St. Patrick's Day
Jimmy Murphy, 2-2004

It was a beautiful 70-degree summer's day. We parked the car in a gateway to a field along the narrow little road towards Buckna, then climbed over the fence and started out over the field. It was a steep climb and the white sheep stared at us as we passed them. Soon it was so steep that we had to scramble on hands and knees until reaching the summit.

We were now about 500 feet above the surrounding countryside. The green valley plunged down towards the sea in the distance. The forests and fields on every side gave grandeur to the hills. The scene was magnificent; this is Ireland at its best with its 40 shades of green.

On the top of this volcanic neck that juts up from the land there is a plaque that tells of the significance of this hill. This is Slemish, (The Pig) and it was here some 1,500 years ago that a young teenager called Patrick sat on this summit and kept his eye on sheep, just like the ones we passed that day.

This boy was to be the instrument in God's hand to bring the gospel of the love of God to this land called Ireland. He had been captured by a raiding party on the coast of Wales and was now a slave minding sheep on the slopes of Slemish. Patrick took his opportunity to escape and found himself in France where he was to hear the gospel for the first time. We believe from his writings that he had a transforming experience with Christ.

His newfound faith overflowed in his heart and he remembered the plight of the people in Ireland. So Patrick, now a young man, went back to Northern Ireland in 432 A.D. to the same hill. No doubt he climbed Slemish and looked out on the little farms and villages scattered over the countryside.

Patrick used the clover leaves that grew in abundance at his feet to illustrate the truth about the Trinity of God. The three separate leaves of one clover plant demonstrated God's three Persons--the Father, Son and Holy Spirit--in One. Today we call it the Shamrock. It has become an icon that speaks of Ireland and the Irish people.

Patrick went preaching the cross and the gospel of Christ. He planted many churches and established the diocese of Armagh. Today there is a large town called Downpatrick that has a cathedral called St. Patrick's Cathedral, and it is there in the little graveyard on top of the hill that a large flat stone (12'x6'x3'), aged and worn, carries the single name "Patrick."

Whether this is where his body lies or not, no one is certain, but it surely looks like a noble spot for a man of God. When we were filming the final scene of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, we sat Apollyon on the edge of that stone as he watched for other pilgrims who he would seek to take with him to hell. Bunyan lived 1,200 years after Patrick and he wrote these words that I'm sure Patrick would have approved of if he were here today.


He who would valiant be, 'gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy follow the Master.
There's no discouragement,
Shall make him once relent,
His first avowed intent,
To be a Pilgrim.

John Bunyan 1628-1688

Responding to Pressure
Now Playing: Do we react with strength from Him ?
Topic: Difficulties
PRESSURE

Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length;
Pressed so intensely it seems, beyond strength;
Pressed in the body and pressed in the soul,
Pressed by the mind till the dark surges roll.
Pressure by foes, and a pressure from friends.
Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends.

Pressed into knowing no helper but God;
Pressed into loving the staff and the rod.
Pressed into liberty where nothing clings;
Pressed into faith for impossible things.
Pressed into living a life in the Lord,
Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured.

-- Author Unknown

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are
afflicted in every way, BUT NOT CRUSHED;
perplexed, BUT NOT DESPAIRING;
persecuted BUT NOT FORSAKEN;
struck down BUT NOT DESTROYED ..."

(2 Corinthians 4:7-9)

A Life that Blesses
Now Playing: How do we conduct ourselves with others ?
Topic: Character
A Life That Blesses

1 Samuel 16:14-23

Having been anointed king of Israel, David's life could never be the simple life of a shepherd boy again. He was able to return to his flocks for brief periods, but those times soon ceased. As Psalm 23 indicates, David never forgot that the Lord was his Shepherd.

The reminders of the Lord's majesty and care and the benefits of the quiet pastures and still waters steadied David in many a crisis. And they helped bring about the restoration of his soul when he sinned.

The quality of David's life was such that when he first appeared at the royal residence, Saul "loved him greatly" (1 Sam. 16:21).

David came to dispel with his sweet music the evil spirit that often troubled Saul. He, of course, did not know that David was to be his successor.

On the other hand, David behaved so well and was so humble that Saul had no reason to dislike him; rather, he admired and loved him. He made David his armor-bearer and sent word to Jesse that his son was now attached to the inner circle of the king's bodyguard.

Do our lives give off a sweet fragrance that is a blessing to others? Others should see Christ's life reflected in our lives as believers in Christ.

"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35).


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Limited Message or Limited Fellowship
Now Playing: How are we presenting God's word to others ?
Topic: Approach
[Note from Brother Cloud: The following is by the late Pastor David Nettleton and was published in the 1960s by the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC). The GARBC once practiced biblical separation and gave clear warnings against New Evangelical compromise, and they published many helpful materials such as the following. Sadly, this is no longer true, and many good churches and pastors have left the GARBC in recent decades because of its slide away from Scriptural separation.]

"I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." Acts 20:27

This message, like many, is born out of an experience. It may be some others are going through similar experiences. Therefore, let me recount the one which brought this message to light.

I was brought up as a Presbyterian. I was saved at a college which was interdenominational in student body, but was managed by the Church of the Brethren. From there I went to a seminary which was not a denominational school, and from there to another seminary which was United Presbyterian. I entered the Baptist pastorate with no Baptist training except that which came from reading of the Scriptures.

A few years later I was drawn into an interdenominational youth movement and was given the leadership of a local Saturday night rally. I cooperated with any who were evangelical, regardless of their associations. I was advised by top leaders in the movement to seek the names of outstanding modernists for my advisory committee. I didn't do that. But I did follow advice which led me to send to all converts back to the churches of their choice, churches I knew to be liberal in some cases. This greatly troubled my conscience and I prayed and thought about it.

Another problem connected with this work was the failure on my part to instruct any converts on the matter of Christian baptism, which in the Scriptures is the first test of obedience. I felt that I should do this inasmuch as Peter and Paul did it. But how could it be done when on the committee of the work there were close friends who did not believe it? By such an association I had definitely stripped my message and my ministry of important Bible truths which many called "nonessentials."

In the follow-up work it was not convenient to speak of eternal security in the presence of Christian workers who hated the name of the doctrine. Thus the ministry was pared down to the gospel, just as
if there was nothing in the Great Commission about baptizing converts and indoctrinating them. I had found the least common denominator and I was staying by it. But my conscience had no rest. Then it was that Acts 20:27 came to mean something to me.

The great apostle had never allowed himself to be drawn into anything which would limit his message. He could say with a clean conscience, "I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to
declare unto you all the counsel of God." Why cannot many say that today? In my case, and in many other cases, it was due to a desire to teach a larger audience and to work with a larger group of
Christians. Many have been carried away from full obedience by a noble-sounding motto which has been applied to Christian work. "In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, and in all things charity." Some things are not essential to salvation but they are essential to full obedience, and the Christian has no liberty under God to sort out the Scriptures into essentials and nonessentials! It is our duty to declare the whole counsel of God, and to do it wherever we are.

Paul had a wonderfully balanced ministry. In his preaching he would never please men, for he knew he could not be pleasing to God if he tried to please men. Yet in his living he testified, "I am made all
things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22). "Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved" (1 Cor. 10:33). What a happy balance this is in the ministry! It is true,
humble, and wholesome.

Today we are choosing between two alternatives. A LIMITED MESSAGE OR A LIMITED FELLOWSHIP. If we preach all of the Bible truths, there are many places where we will never be invited. If we join hands with the crowds, there will be limiting of the message of the Bible. Bear this in mind--it is the Baptist who lays aside the most! It is the fundamental Baptist who makes the concessions! Think this through and you will find it to be true. We believe in believer's baptism. We believe in separation. We preach eternal security. We believe in the imminent coming of Christ. We consider it an act of obedience to reprove unbelief in religious circles. The Sadduccee and the Pharisee are to be labeled. But according to a present philosophy we must lay these things aside for the sake of a larger sphere of service.

Which is more important, full obedience or a larger sphere of service? And yet I do not fully believe these are the only two alternatives. It is our first duty to be fully obedient to God in all things, and then to wait upon Him for the places of service. It may be that we will be limited, and it may be that we will not. Charles Haddon Spurgeon did not travel as widely as some men of his day, but his sermons have traveled as far as the sermons of most men.

I have recently read a religious article by a great evangelist. He deplores the moral conditions in America. He deplores the conditions in our schools. He speaks against the liquor traffic and against juvenile delinquency. But nothing is said against America's greatest enemy--THE MODERN BELIEF WHICH GOES FORTH FROM SUPPOSEDLY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. The strength of the nation lies in her love of God. That love has grown cold in many churches, and Jesus Christ our Lord is called an illegitimate child, a confused young man and a dead teacher. That kind of thing needs to be rebuked at the cost of reputation and even at the cost of life, if need be. But as soon as it is rebuked, the man who rebukes it will lose the majority of his following, if he is gaining that following through cooperation with modernistic churches.

It is my belief that some of our great evangelists today are thorough Bible-believing Christians. They accept nearly every truth in the Book. It seems they refrain from preaching all the counsel of God for
one reason. To them, it is important to reach farther even if we reach with a smaller message. The breach within so-called Protestantism today is as great as the breach between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. We need to make this fact known. But every time we promote the inclusive type of ministry we are covering up a fact that needs to be known.

God has given us a great message to preach. It contains the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it is not limited to that gospel. He has commissioned us to preach the gospel, baptize our
converts and indoctrinate them (Matt. 28:19,20). He has given us the very best system of follow-up work, which is the building of Bible-believing churches and joining converts to them. He is calling us to loyalty and obedience.

We need no new message. We need no new method. We need only the spirit of obedience found in Paul when he testified, "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God."

His Sufferings
Now Playing: Have we been redeemed from our sins ?
Topic: Redemption
Isaiah 53:5 "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

Isaiah 53:10 "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand."

With the great attention focussed on our Saviour's physical sufferings as a result of the film, "The Passion of the Christ", it seems that there is a general misunderstanding of Isaiah 53.5, making it refer to the terrible, indescribable agony of those things He suffered at the hands of man in the first three hours on the cross.

I believe the wounding referred to refers specifically to that which He suffered at the hand of Jehovah during the hours of darkness when our sins were laid on His sacred head, when He who knew no sin was made sin for us, and all God's waves and billows rolled over Him.

One would not want in any way to minimize the awfulness of His sufferings at the hands of wicked man, energized by Satan, but it was not that which secured our peace and eternal salvation.

May our souls bow before Him
Who didst bear our every sin,
And in hallowed, sweet communion,
Here below our praise begin.

---------------------
"Selection" by R.K.G.

Eternity more real we realize
Now Playing: Have we laid hold on what God wishes to show us ?
Topic: Heaven
A Passage

"Let us picture a woman thrown into a dungeon.

There she bears and rears a son. He grows up seeing nothing but the dungeon walls, the straw on the floor, and a little patch of the sky seen through the grating, which is too high up to show anything except the sky. This unfortunate woman was an artist, and when they imprisoned her she managed to bring with her a drawing pad and a box of pencils.

As she never loses the hope of deliverance she is constantly teaching her son about that outer world which he has never seen. She does it very largely by drawing him pictures. With her pencil she attempts to show him what fields, rivers, mountains, cities and waves on a beach are like. He is a dutiful boy and he does his best to believe her when she tells him that the outer world is far more interesting and glorious than anything in the dungeon.

At times he succeeds. On the whole he gets on tolerably well until, one day, he says something that gives his mother pause. For a minute or two they are at cross-purposes. Finally it dawns on her that he has, all these years, lived under a misconception. 'But', she gasps, 'you didn't think that the real world was full of lines drawn in lead pencil?' 'What?' says the boy. 'No pencil marks there?'

And instantly his whole notion of the outer world becomes a blank. For the lines, by which alone he was imagining it, have now been denied of it. He has no idea of that which will exclude and dispense with the lines, that of which the lines were merely a transposition - the waving treetops, the light dancing on the weir, the coloured threedimensional realities which are not enclosed in lines but define their own shapes at every moment with a delicacy and multiplicity which no drawing could ever achieve. The child will get the idea that the real world is somehow less visible than his mother's pictures. In reality, it lacks lines because it is incomparably more visible.

"So with us. 'We know now what we shall be'; but we may be sure we shall be more, not less, than we were on earth. Our natural experiences (sensory, emotional, imaginative) are only like the drawing, like penciled lines on a flat paper. If they vanish in the risen life, they will vanish only as pencil lines vanish from the real landscape; not as a candle flame that is put out but as a candle flame which becomes invisible because someone has pulled up the blind, thrown open the shutters, and let in the blaze of the risen sun."

-- C.S. Lewis

Questions
Now Playing: What kind of questions do we ask?
Topic: Searching
Matthew 22:35-36

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying, 'Master, which is the great commandment in the law?'

Matthew 22:46

And no man was able to answer Him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask Him
any more questions.

Mark 1:27

And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, 'What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth He even the unclean spirits,
and they do obey Him'.

Mark 8:11

And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with Him, seeking of Him a sign from
heaven, tempting Him.

Mark 9:10

And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.

Mark 9:14

And when He came to his disciples, He saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes
questioning with them.

Mark 9:16

And he asked the scribes, 'What question ye with them?'

Mark 11:29

And Jesus answered and said unto them, 'I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things'.

Mark 12:34

And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, He said unto him, 'Thou art not far from the kingdom of God'. And no man after that durst ask Him any question.

Luke 2:46

And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

Luke 20:40

And after that they durst not ask Him any question at all.

Luke 23:8-9

And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned with Him in many words; but He answered him nothing.

John 3:25

Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.

1 Corinthians 10:25,27

Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:

If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is
set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.

1 Timothy 1:4

Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than
godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

1 Timothy 6:4

He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh
envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

2 Timothy 2:23

But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

Titus 3:9

But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law;
for they are unprofitable.

God's Answers
Now Playing: Where do we go for solutions?
Topic: Verses
Proverbs 1:28

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

Proverbs 15:1

A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

Proverbs 15:23

A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!

Proverbs 15:28

The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.

Proverbs 16:1

The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

Proverbs 18:13

He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

Proverbs 18:23

The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly.

Proverbs 22:21

That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the
words of truth to them that send unto thee?

Proverbs 24:26

Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.

Proverbs 26:4

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.

Proverbs 26:5

Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Proverbs 27:11

My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.

Proverbs 27:19

As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.