Ever Wondered What Goes On At The National Cathedral in Washington DC?

My most recent memory of the National Cathedral in Washington, DC is when Billy Graham and others spoke soon after 9/11/2001 at a time of great mourning and concern within our country.

Have you ever wondered what else takes place in that cathedral?

Take a look at this article at Slice of Laodicea and weep.

Wait and Watch

And, what I say, I say unto you all, Watch. (Mark 13:37)

Here is an illustration by Donald Grey Barnhouse that aptly describes the difference between waiting (which we must and have to do) and watching for our Lord's return. Are we only waiting or are we waiting and watching?

In a city near Edinburgh, a large fishing fleet goes forth each year on a long expedition to the Newfoundland banks. When the fleet returns, the whole town is notified, and as the boats come over the horizon, everyone is at the dock waiting for loved ones who have been away for two, or three long months. On one such return, as the fleet approached the shore, the captain stood on the deck of one of the ships with his field glasses, reporting to the sailors. Naturally, they were all wondering about their loved ones. The captain said, "Jock, I see your Mamie and the two bairns there; Bill, there is your Freda; John, I see...". As he told each man of his family and wife, each was relieved to know that all was well - there had been no sickness no death. One man came to the captain and asked, "Do you see my wife there?" The captain turned and said, "I'm sorry Angus, I don't see her; she's not there." Angus began to worry because his wife was not in the crowd on the wharf. When the ship docked, the men greeted their loved ones, but Angus moved through the crowd looking everywhere for his wife; he could not find her. He passed quickly through the village to his house on a hill. With hurried step he opened the door - there was his wife. She said, "Oh, Angus, I've been waiting for you." He replied, "The wives of the other men were watching for them."

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ should not be only waiting but also watching for the Lord to come.

Jim Elliot Journal Entry

Jim Elliot was a missionary for a short time in Ecuador as his life was taken in 1955 by some of the very people to whom he was there to minister.

The following is a journal entry from the book "The Journals of Jim Elliott" edited by his wife Elisabeth Elliot. The entry is dated January 31, 1948 and is based on his thoughts from reading Genesis 37 that day. Jim was 20 years old when he wrote this. Consider the depth of understanding and the practical application evidenced in the writing of this very young man. Surely the Lord's hand was upon him for good.

Joseph was hated for three causes. First because it was evident that his father loved him (v.4). Then, because of his dreams and his word (v.8). So with the Savior. Because the power of God clothed Him with grace ("glory as of an only begotten son"[John 1:14]), they were moved to envy. His aspirations of a Kingdom built in the Spirit, wherein all things in heaven (stars) and earth (sheaves) would be subject to Him, called forth hatred. His reasoning and words maddened them, so that when He came seeking them, they plotted to destroy Him. "They could not speak peaceably to Him" (v.4). Jesus, like Joseph, was the Son of his Father's old age. In the realm of the supra temporal life before time began to flow, before matter could be known as either old or young, The Son Eternal was the object of His Father's affection, and He alone is cognizant of the experiences of His Father's "old age". At His revelation the Father clothed Him with the varitinted character of the God-man, so that we see in Christ's life such amazing paradoxes - the uniting of power and perfect love; the fusion of compassionate mercy and consuming truth; meekness and might; zeal and reticence so that He was taken for both fire-demanding Elijah and weeping Jeremiah - the pattern being so much more vivid for the contrasts. It was this many-colored coat that betrayed Him from afar so that His brethren could say, "Behold, the heir, let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours" (Matt. 21:38; Mark 12:7; Luke 20:14).

Guyana 2007

December 13 through 20 of this year I traveled to Guyana under the auspices of Grace Missionary Baptist Church in Dothan, Alabama. A member of our church, Ted Sheldon, and a fellow laborer, Dale Wallace of Damascus Baptist and Bible Baptist in North Carolina made the trip as well. We went to visit with Brother Randolph Nagaur and participate in their Annual Fellowship at two of the three churches he oversees.

No building projects or medical work was carried out. That was not why we were invited to come. Our brother saw the need to have his people encouraged by brethren of like faith coming and preaching the gospel. If they were encouraged thank the Lord. I certainly was helped.

This work shows strong evidence in my opinion of the good hand of the Lord being upon it for over 40 years. Generations have now sat under the ministry of this faithful servant and the effects are being demonstrated across Guyana and to many other places in the world. In a time when most of Christendom are sure that it is impossible to minister without adopting the world's methods this work is a bright and shining example of how the Lord honors the steadfast, faithful preaching and teaching of His Word.

How the First Church Conducted Business

This article by G.H. Lang presents a thought provoking analysis of how the first church at Jerusalem addressed a matter upon which the local body was initially divided. Lang's proposal is, I think, Biblical that churches should achieve unanimity before action rather than acting and hope for it.

Enjoy the article!

Online Sermons Now on Web Site

Sermons preached at GMBC Dothan are now available on-line at the church's web site.

Let us know what you think.

The Preacher of Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes is an inspired confession of failure and pessimism, when God is excluded, when man lives under the sun, and forgets the larger part, which is always over the sun, the eternal and abiding things. If you want to know what a man of great privilege, and of great learning and great wisdom can come to, read this record of a man who has put God out of count in his actual life. - G. Campbell Morgan