June 2011 marks my thirtieth anniversary in full-time ministry. I was saved in an independent Baptist church. Over the last three decades, I have seen the spiritual wagons circling into many different camps. We have to ask the question, “Should I separate from fellow independent Baptists?”

Someone has said, “The unsoundness of a vessel is not seen when it is empty; but when it is filled with water.” This is when you will see if it will leak or not.

In whom do you trust? An unquestioning attitude of full reliance comes naturally at birth but is somehow lost along the winding pathway of life. Somewhere along the way, doubts and fears replace this innocent trust with hesitancy and self-reliance.

Jesus often ate with unsaved people. He ate with unsaved religious rulers, and He ate with tax collectors and sinners—the unsaved social outcasts. He related to people over breaking bread and displayed the trait later in the New Testament called “given to hospitality.”

God has a plan for each one of His children. If His only goal was to simply take us to Heaven, He would do so the moment we trust Christ. The Bible makes it clear that God has saved us to serve.

I am an independent Baptist not only by my heritage but also by personal conviction. I am thankful for the godly men who led a great surge of the independent movement in the 1940s and 50s.

This book has helped me so much. I have not only read it but have had the privilege of teaching through it. I appreciate the author’s honest, Biblical approach.

In Mark 16, the disciples were at an obvious transition in their lives. They had sat at the feet of Jesus and now they were receiving instruction from the Lord Himself.

Down through the years, one of my favorite songs by Ron Hamilton has been “Rejoice in the Lord.” Ron wrote this song back when he first was diagnosed with cancer in his left eye.

There are many criteria to evaluate music (technical, poetical, structural, and stylistic criteria). These and other judgments on the subject of music lead to some wide variations in response to the question, “What, exactly, is good music?”