Daily Growth Point

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. I heard of a preacher who taught on the importance of aligning our heart’s with God in prayer. He used the analogy of a boat coming up to a dock. He described the process of pulling on a rope that is moored to the dock, and he pointed out that the person on the boat is pulling on the rope, but he isn’t moving the dock — he is moving the boat...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. Dr. John Rice told a story about a prayer that highlights a trap many of us fall into . When their oldest daughter Grace was a little girl, the custom of their family was to gather at the table and pray before their meal. Dr. Rice said that he noticed a peculiar trait in his daughter. Just before he would finish praying, she would begin sayin...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. The story is told that one day a man went into the bookstore owned by Benjamin Franklin. When he found the book he wished to purchase, the clerk told him it was one dollar. He objected, “That price is too high. Ask your boss if he will lower it.” When Franklin arrived, He heard the man’s request then promptly raised the price of the book. The...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom told the story of asking her father about something he didn’t think she was old enough to understand. She wrote, “He turned to look at me, … but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case off the seat and set it on the floor. ‘Will you carry it off the train, C...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. Ira Sankey, told the story of a British actress who was saved in a most unusual way. As she walked down the street one day, she heard a group singing in preparation for a Bible study. The song stuck in her mind and her heart, and she finally went and got a hymn book that had the song in it and sang it over and over until she had learned it by...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. I read about a children’s Sunday School teacher who taught her pupils from the parable of the Pharisee and the publican praying in the Temple. When she finished her lesson she called on one of her students to pray. The little boy said, “God, thank You that I’m not like that Pharisee!” If we set out to justify ourselves, we can always find a r...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. In 1944, during a massive storm, the SS Richard Montgomery, a ship loaded with thousands of tons of bombs, broke up and sank not far from the English coast. Despite the danger posed by the unexploded ordinance, the decision was made to leave it in place for fear of setting off a massive explosion. It would be more dangerous to try to remove t...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. For much of history in many parts of the world, the Word of God was only available on a limited basis. Even today there are groups of people who do not have the Bible available in their own language. Yet in our nation with the Scriptures in bookstores, online, on mobile device, and easy to find, far too many Christians ignore the blessings of...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. On his twenty-fifth birthday, Ford Porter prayed, “Oh God, give me a ministry that will reach souls for Christ, encircle the world, and be carried on long after I am gone.” In 1933, Porter wrote a tract called, “God’s simple Plan of Salvation” which has been used around the world in many languages. To date, over half a billion of these tracts...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. When the disciples rejoiced at the victories they had seen in their work, Jesus pointed out to them that they were rejoicing in the wrong thing. The great reason we have for joy in our lives is not found in this world but in the next. Because of the gift of salvation we have received, we have the hope of eternal life that can never be taken a...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. In 1942, Dr. Charles Weigel was in a revival meeting in California. He spent the afternoon between services visiting a large rose garden. He said that when he got to church that evening, people remarked on the smell of the roses that he carried with him when he left the garden. He had not gone to the rose garden for that purpose, but spending...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. Though she lost her eyesight as an infant, Fanny Crosby used the gifts and abilities she had rather than spending her life wishing for what she lacked. She wrote her first poem at the age of eight: O what a happy soul am I Although I cannot see, I am resolved that in this world Contented I will be; How many blessings I enjoy That other people...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. David Brainerd often endured great hardship in his efforts to take the gospel to the American Indians. In his diary, he recounted one mission trip during which an intense storm forced him to seek shelter inside the hollowed out remains of a large tree. As the storm raged outside, Brainerd sat inside praying for the lost. After a while, he beg...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. In 1792, churches in England united together and formed the Particular Baptist Society with the stated purpose of “Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen” and appointed Carey and John Thomas to go to India as their first missionaries. In a tearful prayer service as they prepared to leave, those who remained behind promised to pray. Andrew F...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. Though he was saved as a teenager, Charles Studd did little for the Lord until he went to hear D.L. Moody preach. The evangelists’s fervor for the lost stirred something within his heart and he became a fervent soul winner. After surrendering to go to the mission field, Studd gave away his massive inheritance, much of it to George Muller’s or...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. One of the only twelve men to walk on the moon, was Colonel James Irwin. Colonel Irwin was a committed Christian. When he retired from NASA, he traveled the world telling people about Jesus. He said, “As I was returning to earth I realized I was a servant, not a celebrity. So I’m here as God’s servant on Planet Earth to share what I’ve experi...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. An English pastor of the 1700s, James Hervey, recounted a conversation that he had with a faithful layman in his church that gave him a new appreciation for the dangers of pride to the Christian life. They were talking about the things that hinder spiritual growth, and at one point Hervey said, “I believe the difficulty is our reluctance to r...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. James Hamilton told a story from the days before electric refrigerators. In those days, icehouses furnished the means of cooling food in the summer months. Thick blocks of ice were cut from ponds and lakes and stored in buildings with thick walls, and covered with layers of sawdust to slow the melting process. Hamilton wrote: “One man lost a...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. When John Paton, the missionary to the New Hebrides islands was working to translate the Word of God into the language of the people he served, he wanted to be sure he conveyed the meaning of the word “Faith” accurately. As he was trying to come up with just the right word, one of the native workers came into the house after a long day of lab...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. While Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, a distraught father brought his demon possessed son to the other disciples, but they couldn’t help. They just didn’t have the power to overcome. Vance Havner said, “Too many of us today are shaky about what we believe but not shaken by what we believe. Too many peopl...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. When Jesus came to Earth to be our Saviour, He did not stop being God. The entire time He was here on Earth, He was both fully human and fully divine. Yet even though He was still God, Jesus voluntarily laid aside the power and glory that was His, so that He could provide salvation for the lost. Paul said it this way, “…took upon him the form...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. In his prayer journal, the missionary martyr, Jim Elliott wrote, “Father, take my life, yea, my blood if Thou wilt, and consume it with Thine enveloping fire. I would not save it, for it is not mine to save. Have it. Lord, have it all. Pour out my life as an oblation for the world. Blood is only of value as it flows before thine altar.” Ellio...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. The first two English missionaries to the island of New Hebrides were killed and eaten by the cannibals when they arrived. Despite knowing this, John Paton and his wife determined to risk the dangers to reach these people. As they announced their plans to their church, one of the elder members discouraged the effort, by declaring, “You will b...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. In a small village in Germany, they have been performing a play depicting the final week of the life of Jesus for nearly 400 years. Some years ago, the actor portraying Jesus fell down during the scene when he was carrying the cross to Calvary. An onlooker was so overcome in the moment that he ran forward to help lift the cross from the actor...

Welcome to Daily Growth Point, I’m Pastor John Bingham. Many years ago in a small town in Virginia, the newspaper printed the upcoming sermon topics for the local churches. A pastor named R.I. Williams phoned the editor to share that his sermon for the upcoming Sunday would be titled, “The Lord is My Shepherd.” The editor asked, “Is that all?” To which the pastor replied, “That is enough!” When th...