First Baptist Church of Perryville Archives: featured
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21 May 2013
Israel’s Sophomoric Leader
Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall round Jerusalem.
1 Kings 3:1 (ESV) (more…)
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19 May 2013
Is Homosexuality Like Left-Handedness?
The recent excitement over Chick-Fil-A brought forth the familiar claim that being homosexual is like being left-handed.1 Both are morally neutral (so the story goes), a matter of simply being “born that way.” If you toss a ball to a kid and he automatically fields it with his left hand, as do about 10% of the children on earth, what’s the difference? (more…)
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17 May 2013
Charles Simeon: Influence that Affects Eternity
On Saturday November 19, 1836, Charles Simeon (1759-1836) was buried in a vault in the world-famous chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, England. Despite wanting a simple ceremony, his funeral was probably the most remarkable the town had seen. Every shop was closed and University lectures were suspended. An enormous procession saw eight Masters of colleges and Senior Fellows, doctors, and professors from the University walking with Simeon’s curates, other clergy, and 1500 gownsmen honoring a man who had been greatly despised. As Simeon’s body was interred, every college bell tolled as testimony not only to the great change that had taken place in Cambridge’s view of Simeon but to his enduring influence. (more…)
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15 May 2013
Holiness in a hook-up culture
by Candi Finch
FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) — A few months ago I heard an eye-opening presentation by Dr. Joe McIlhaney, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist, who came to speak to our college students at Southwestern about what he has observed over his lengthy career caring for girls and women. His conclusion?
Western culture has stopped protecting its girls. (more…)
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13 May 2013
Augustine and the Two Cities
Alaric and the Visigoths had just invaded and held Rome before withdrawing, and many citizens were blaming the Christians for their city’s vulnerability. They longed for the days of Imperial power and pagan worship, and they reasoned that Christianity had made them soft. St. Augustine1 took up the challenge and penned The City of God. (more…)
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11 May 2013
The Emptiness of Robes and Rags—Thomas Chalmers (1780 – 1847)
After he surrendered to Christian ministry in 1803, Thomas Chalmers dedicated much of his life to gospel labor among Scotland’s poor. Nevertheless, he never abandoned the broad range of interests he had developed during his college years; even from his home in one of Edinburgh’s poorest districts, he kept a frequent and familiar connection with the university and its aristocratic class. As few ever have, Chalmers kept his feet firmly planted among both the richest and the poorest of Scottish society. In this sermon excerpt he brings this unique perspective to bear, reminding both rich and poor that their station in this life is only temporary. Before the bar of God, neither robes nor rags count for anything. (more…)
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9 May 2013
“Secular” Grounds for Supporting Israel
From John Hagee to John Piper, Christians are weighing in on whether the promises of God in Genesis warrant special support for the state of Israel. While this is a fascinating discussion with powerful implications, one need not settle this issue before deciding to stand with Israel against its foes. For there is a “secular” argument for supporting this nation, a case grounded in Western Civilization and the broad biblical notions upon which it rests. (more…)
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7 May 2013
Can God Love Too Much?
“And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
Jonah 4:11 (ESV) (more…)
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5 May 2013
The Fragility of Democracy in Antiquity: The Example of Athens
Though he had once fought for Athens and then spent his working life in the dogged pursuit of moral truth, Socrates now stood before the Assembly, charged with the twin crimes of atheism and corrupting the youth. He insisted that he had always acknowledged the gods, and he challenged his accusers to present, as a witness, a single victimized young person. Though none came forth, Socrates was nevertheless condemned to die. Later, awaiting execution, he brushed aside attempts to engineer an escape, saying it would be disloyal to the state. Finally, after considering his own prospects for an afterlife, he drank the poisoned hemlock and died in the presence of his weeping disciples. This sequence of events,1 occurring in 399 B.C., was one of the great injustices of history—and was carried out in a democracy. (more…)
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3 May 2013
Worshiping the Lamb or Entertaining the Sheep?
by Bryan D. Spinks
As members trickled in for the later service, folks greeted each other with either short, happy hugs or long and comforting embraces.
A musician encouraged the members to join in the songs-accented by bongo drums and electric guitars-when the spirit filled them. A large screen projected the words, but many of the members knew the hymns by heart and instead closed their eyes in meditation. Young and old raised their hands and waved their palms upward, swaying and tapping their toes to the beat. (more…)
