By Charles Earl Former Director of Missions, Holston Valley Baptist Assoc., Rogersville Focal Passage: Matthew 16:13-28 Since all of our lessons are taken from the Gospel of Matthew we need to look briefly at this man who wrote the book. The name Matthew means “gift from God.” Matthew, of course, was a Jew, and he identifies himself in Matthew 10:3 as “Matthew the tax collector.” On first blush it seems

By Mark Proctor Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Ruth 3:8-13; 4:13-17 I love the story of the traveler who pulled his car into a gas station in Kentucky and asked the attendant how far it was to Glasgow.  “28,465 miles,” was the reply.  “I didn’t mean Glasgow, Scotland.  I meant Glasgow, Kentucky!”  “So did I” said the attendant.  “In the direction you’re headed, it’s 28,465 miles.  If 

By Mark Proctor Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage:  Ruth 1:6-18 In seminary we learned to think in terms of “doctrines.”  When we studied a passage, we were asked, “what doctrine is being taught here?  Is the doctrine of God?  Perhaps of atonement?” It’s a helpful approach when studying Ruth 1. We often zero in on verses 16 and 17 with their forceful commitments and conclude that “God

By Mark Proctor Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage:  Judges 16:4-6,13-20 Cornelius Plantinga wrote a delightful little book called Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be (Eerdmans, 1995) that every one of us should read. It’s about sin and sin’s opposite, shalom with God.  There, he states, “… shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness and delight — a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and

By Mark Proctor Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage:  Judges 6:11-16, 25-32 My wife Cynthia once was arranging a table decoration in the house and asked me, “Is this okay?”  It seemed a silly question because no one on the planet is less qualified to approve table decorations than me and she knows it. I’ve had a full decorating bypass. So how do we respond when asked to

By Mark Proctor Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passages: Judges 4:4-10, 12-16 Even a cursory examination of Israel’s history in the book of Judges will reveal a glaring theme:  Israel had been given the land, every inch of it, and “no man shall be able to stand …” (Joshua 1:5 ESV). This was God’s plan. And as is too often the case, mankind had a better plan. The

By Mark Proctor Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Proverbs 24:10-12; Mark 10:46-49 The day comes for us all, the day we have to take a stand. Scrawny little Ted Newton had to take a stand against school bus bullies in the 1992 classic movie Beethoven. When enough finally became enough, Ted stepped off the bus, turned to face his rivals, and raised his little miniature fists only

By Mark Proctor Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Joshua 24:14-28 I have a treasured book in my study containing some of history’s greatest speeches. I often read them finding myself wishing that I could compose and deliver such stirring homilies. What made those speeches great was not the composition but the passionate soul of the speaker. In Joshua 24, we hear the passion of the retiring, elderly Joshua

  By Mark Proctor Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Joshua 22:1-8 An experienced backpacker will tell you in chilling detail of the dangers of reaching the summit after a long ascent up a mountain. With muscles weakened by fatigue and clothes soaked with sweat, the high country winds above the tree line can bring on hypothermia quickly. The top is no place to forget the rules. In

By Mark Proctor Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Luke 1:26-38 Twenty years ago, on the same week God called me from the engineering business into the ministry, my wife delivered another announcement:  we were expecting our third child. I was terrified — a career change and an unexpectedly expanding family.  At once, natural, human emotions threatened to eclipse the sovereignty of God. That balance is the struggle