McLeansville Baptist Church

This instruction is coming from an apostle who very much believed Jesus would return in his time, and is written to a church (Thessalonica) which was very taken with the possibility of Jesus coming any moment. As such, if this was the pertinent instruction for them 2000 years ago, how much more ought we to take this to heart now? Believe and Speak the Truth that Christ is Coming! Behave and Be Tog...

In kingdom language, being truly humble means to be as a little child. To be great in God’s kingdom, that is, to be someone with power, influence, and leadership, you must humble yourself. What does it mean to “humble yourself?” There is no need to speculate about it, Jesus tells and shows us, as he brings before the disciples a “little child.” Clearly, there are lessons we need to learn about kin...

Psalm 45 is not simply a song about Solomon, it is a song about the True King of all Kings! Christ is the King Eternal and he is worthy. All earthly, all national, all political, all social allegiances, affections, and attentions being subjected to our first allegiance, affection and attention, which is our King and his Kingdom!

When we fear man more than we fear God, and put self-preservation ahead of obedience, we not only compromise our own soul, but we put those we love in danger. Yet, the true story of this chapter, really of all Abraham’s life and all those who love God, is not our failure, but God’s faithfulness!

Every emotion was given to us by God, and therefore, serves a purpose to draw us closer to God. We certainly see many instances where fear lead an individual to making a terrible decision, but is there a lesson to be learned from someone who channeled fear in the right way?

Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” The entire account of Lot’s life is that “way that seemeth right” but ending in death played out. The end of the story, the end of Genesis 19, as awful as it is to read and take in, demonstrates this truth, that fear was driving this whole ugly mess. The Seed of Sin and the Fruit of Fear...

Proverbs 16:25 tells us, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." How easily any one of us can fall into and travel along this pathway of what seems right to us. Our reason is brought into play. To reason is the ability of the mind to think, process, and make judgments, or decisions about what to believe or what to do. All of this is affe...

Abraham and Lot represent two sides of our life, the walk in the Spirit and the walk in the flesh. Abraham reminds me of that part of us which has been made new, the new creature, the new heart. Lot reminds me of that part of us which is still grasping for this world and clinging to the desires of the flesh.  People of God are not immune to the world, or to the temptations of the devil, we are qui...

Israel, more than any other nation, had seen God reveal Himself time and time again, yet they continually forsake God and commit adultery against Him. What is the response? Not only does God allow judgment, He brings judgment. The purpose of that judgment is twofold. To punish the wicked, who outright reject God, or who claim Him in name only, but in truth have no part with Him. To draw His true p...

When you find yourself in a place where you really want to help someone, you want them to be well, to be safe, spiritually you want to be saved, to know God, but you have done all you know to do, what do you do? In this incredibly intimate account of Abraham’s intercession for the city of Sodom, and for his nephew Lot, we see Abraham, less the Fixer, and more the Truster: Testing God’s Heart by Ex...

There are solemn warnings and priceless encouragements to be lifted out of this text, and we need to hear them today. There are four truths I want to show you here, two truths about God and two truths about each one of us here today, no matter our spiritual condition. All together these four truths will make it clear that we must take God seriously: God’s Judgement is Still Certain God’s Mercy is...

Charles Spurgeon, known for his exceptional preaching is also known for his extraordinary battles with depression, once said, “Excess of joy or excitement must be paid for by subsequent depressions.” That is not a rule, but it surely is a proven fact of life. Of course, truer than the upper-downer days is a God who is unchanging, who is always faithful and true, and a huge part of the story of Abr...

There is much in this chapter to demonstrate how God honors those who honor him. He honors Abraham as his friend. Yet, it cannot be overlooked that this great visit from God which Abraham received, brought with it both elation and depression. In this single day Abraham receives the final confirmation he has long waited for, and then the notification that God is about to bring judgement on a city w...

Who would dispute this statement, that the greatest preacher ever was, is Jesus? Today, we are ordaining a young man into the ministry of preaching, and more specifically, pastoring, and there is no greater example of pastoring than Jesus, who said of himself, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep" (John 10:11). There is no higher example to follow in m...

Romans 8 is a manifesto on the call of all who are saved to live the Spiritual Life. Not that it is a choice, in the strictest sense, because all who are "in Christ Jesus" will walk "after the Spirit." What is a "Spiritual Life" then? A spiritual life is one in which the believer, indwelt by God's Spirit, is daily acting in faith, being moved by hope, and growing...

Romans 8 is a manifesto on the call of all who are saved to live the Spiritual Life. Not that it is a choice, in the strictest sense, because all who are "in Christ Jesus" will walk "after the Spirit." What is a "Spiritual Life" then? A spiritual life is one in which the believer, indwelt by God's Spirit, is daily acting in faith, being moved by hope, and growing...

This is about timing not time. Do not mistake God's intentionality for slowness. God is not slow. He made light speed! The question is, at what speed are we living life? The speed of sound, the speed of the Smartphone, or the speed of God? There is a great lesson we can take from this study, that you, me, nor anyone is going to hurry God! When it comes to God’s plan for the world, for your lif...

Every phase of life offers us new challenges and difficulties. That's the reality of living in a broken, fallen world. So what are we to do? How do we not only survive, but thrive in the difficult life we have not only been given, but called to?

Ten years is a long time to wait, particularly when you have trusted God, uprooted your family, and journeyed by faith into a place you had no knowledge of and no connection to, other than the promise from God that he would make you the father of a great nation by giving you a son. Ten years is long enough to take anyone to the precipice of either Getting Ahead of God or of Abandoning their Faith...

What you have before you, in this Action/Adventure chapter, is a man who is growing in grace, a man who is being changed by his walk with God. It has been months, perhaps years, since that flight in fear down to Egypt. Over that time Abram has been learning to trust God. In this chapter there are five marks of that growth evident in how Abram responds to the crisis.

We have all heard it said, "He/she has backslided." What does that mean? In short, there was once a time and place in life where that person was walking closer to God than they are now. There are people, perhaps listening right now, who are living like Abram in Egypt. You have compromised your faith, fearful that life was not going to work out, or that you would lose what you had, and in...

What makes a hero? Heroes are not the ones who soar in at times of trouble and rescue us from all our troubles. Heroes are not the people who look, act, and think perfectly. They are not flawless; they are not always right. That would not be a hero, that would be an imagined idol.  Heroes are people who fall but do not stay down. Heroes are people who make mistakes but learn from them. Heroes are...

The Journey Begins, or Resumes, everyone of us needs one of those things to be true about our life. Maybe today is the day you will decide to leave the old life behind, the worldly life, the soul vexing life. Or maybe, for some of us, today is the day we are done with settling for partial obedience and we are going to grab what God gave us, and move forward in God’s call, totally surrendered to th...

The greatest cost of the world on our lives, is that it takes us from the love of the Father! When we are pursuing the godless systems, the lusts and pride of socially organized flesh, we are not loving our Father as we should and could. Is there a greater transgression than this?  And so, we need to consider this Babel of the world and what towers of godlessness may be standing in our life and re...

We do not naturally love those that are not family and friends. We tend to shy away from loving the unlovely and sinful, but those are the exact people Jesus has called us to love. In this message, Missionary Dwight Tomlinson offers four words to show how Christians can have a heart for the world: Look Pray Give Go