South Decatur
Baptist Church

Charles Spurgeon, called the “Prince of Preachers,” longtime Baptist pastor in London, noted that those who truly love the King will love His palace, that a healthy Christian doesn't need to be driven to church by a sense of duty alone, but is drawn by a holy appetite. He famously remarked that if a person finds no joy in the earthly assembly of the saints, he is poorly prepared for the eternal assembly in heaven, and that a coal glowing in the fire stays hot, but one pulled

Proverbs 16:1–9 provide a spiritual blueprint for setting right goals, objectives that align with eternal reality rather than a mere personal want. The process begins internally with the “preparations of the heart,” which in the Hebrew are the military-like arranging of our desires and intellectual reasoning toward which desires (v. 1). While humans are responsible for this mental aspect of goal making and keeping, the text warns against the inherent blind spot of self-decep

Called “the Benedictus ,” Luke 1:67–79 is not merely a father’s (Zacharias) celebration of a newborn son (John the Baptist). After nine months of divinely imposed silence, his first words give a hymn of redemptive history. In the first half of the song, he looks past his own son to the very covenant faithfulness of God: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant

The Christmas story is pivotal as evidence of Jesus Christ as God, Lord, Savior, Christ, and Messiah. All these titles have some overlap with one another and all are important. In a biography of Jesus Christ, the birth takes a prominent place and each gospel account of Jesus provides some difference or nuance for more material and a variation of detail, filling in the total picture. Those attacking these gospel narratives say Matthew and Luke contradict each other. I beli

Scripture shows at least three main reasons why the virgin birth is an essential truth or doctrine. One, the virgin birth proves the deity of Jesus Christ, that He is God. If Jesus was born like any other person—a natural conception with a human father—then He is just that: a man. A good man, a great teacher, maybe even a prophet. But not God in the flesh. The virgin birth, where the Holy Ghost was the Agent, proves that His origin is Divine. Look at what the angel Gabriel

Scripture declares that the “whole duty of man” is to “fear God, and keep his commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). This task is paramount, for the Lord instructs us, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Our soul’s whole focus must be set upon this high mark. To please the Lord is the very foundation upon which belief rests. For “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh

Before the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and sat down at God the Father’s right hand to rule His followers in the midst of His and their enemies through the church, He commanded them visibly and physically to go and make disciples of all nations. “Make disciples” is the meaning of “teach," in Matthew 28:19, the Greek word, matheteuo . A major aspect of making disciples of Jesus Christ is the truth. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is both synonymous with and paral

I went to Youtube and I did a basic search by typing, “Christian Zionism.” Many different podcasts and talks appeared with those exact words in the title, and all of the presentations were negative. One person with tens of thousands of views said it was a “cult.” Others said they would present a list of reasons it was wrong or unbiblical. So what’s true or what’s happening? Is Christian Zionism true? Certainly it matters how one defines that terminology. A lot, and I m

People, especially church people, hear and have heard the word, “ministry.” It translates the Greek word, diakonia , a noun that is found thirty-four times in the New Testament. There are many related words, including the verb form, diakoneo , which means, “to serve.” In a general way, the term translated “ministry” means “service,” which is sometimes also how the King James Version (KJV) translates the word. “Ministry” is also related to “minister,” diakonos , which the

The Lord Jesus Christ says in John 7:24, “Judge righteous judgment.” This contradicts the idea that someone shouldn’t judge – just the opposite. When Jesus says what He says, He provides a contrasting judgment to the religious leaders in Israel in the early first century. The Lord in the imperative commands to judge, but in a different manner than these hypocrites. First, He desires a different standard than them, not a superficial one based on mere outward circumstances.

With the election of President Trump and what that meant to freedom of biblical speech, belief, and practice in the United States, I said that it gave the nation a reprieve. I say this in the same sense of the opportunity that Israel had when the Persian emperor Cyrus allowed and helped Israel to return to the land and rebuild the walls and the temple. Cyrus allowed this, used as an instrument of God. With the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I believe this afforded another

Sometimes I talk to people about mathematical probability, because it is a basis for faith in scripture, and, thus, in God. The Bible doesn’t use the terminology “mathematical probability,” but it is a reality, because the math with God is 100 out of 100 and 1,000 out of 1,000. If He says it will happen, it happens. Whatever He promises comes true. That underlies our faith. When Paul say, “Faith comes by hearing the Word of God,” this means that what God says gives us fa

The Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1 beseeched or begged the church of Rome to present their bodies a living sacrifice. This is a perpetual...

“Strangers and pilgrims,” titles that Peter used of believers (1 Peter 2:11), have a lengthy or deep background. In the Old Testament,...

Since the Charlie Kirk memorial, forgiveness took up a major theme in conversation, because of what Erica Kirk, his widow, said in her...

I’m going back to the Charlie Kirk murder again in this week’s essay. His memorial service is today. Many different messages dovetail...

The biggest news of this week in the United States, if not the world, was the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point...

If you are reading this sentence, just to check this out, go ahead and keep reading. For some of you, do something you don’t ordinarily...

This week a former want-to-be transgender, who committed to attempting to change sex from male to female and then later regretted it,...

The Apostle Paul used warm, familial language in his writing to his churches. He called them his brothers and sisters. In Philippians...