First Perpetual Baptist Church

05/31/2026

Prayers for my Samantha Bailee! She will have an ultrasound on her heart and lungs and abdomen tomorrow. Within the next day or so they will be draining fluid from her lungs and her abdomen.

05/31/2026

Imagine losing an entire book of the Bible. That’s essentially what happened in 2 Kings 22, which we read today in Bible in One Year.

The high priest found a scroll of the Torah in the temple, likely Deuteronomy. When it was read to Josiah, the young king realized how far the nation had strayed from the path of Yahweh. The result was reformation, a revitalization of faithful worship in Judah, all sparked by the rediscovery of God’s Word.

That raises a question for us. What will revitalize the church today? Clever marketing? Entertainment-driven worship? A more culturally comfortable version of church? No.

Reformations may seem to arise because people grow sick of the church’s theological trash stinking to high heaven and decide to wheel it to the curb. They abhor the cancers of corruption worming their way through the soul of the ecclesial hierarchy. They are dismayed over closeted creeds mildewing, muscular singing atrophying into the blubber of emotionalism, and want to vomit every time they catch a whiff from a pulpit exhaling the bad breath of moralism, legalism, or self-helpism.

But in the end, reformation does not happen because people react. It happens because God acts.

He sees his starving people and ends the famine of the Word. He sends the rain of the Gospel so that we feast on Christ and his gifts.

Moral reform fades as quickly as a sandcastle before the tide. Political reform is like tidying the house while the roof burns. But Gospel reform endures, because it is nothing less than the life of God in Christ given to the dead.

Only the Gospel gives life because it alone gives us Jesus. Not Jesus plus our agendas, not Jesus plus self-improvement, but Jesus alone.

When that Word is preached, taught, read, and studied, the Spirit is at work. The church is drawn again into the life of Christ. Worship is enlivened. Preachers proclaim Christ crucified and risen. Hungry people are fed with something real.

That is how reformation comes. The church is nailed again to the crucified and risen Lord, sharing in his death and life. And so, once more, she becomes a living witness in the world, a place where mercy flows, and life is given through the Word.

05/27/2026

Tuesday, May 26, 2026 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...” Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 6

Based on Ecclesiastes 3 Life is made up of seasons—some joyful, some painful. This passage reminds us that God ordains the rhythm of our lives.

There’s a time to gain and a time to let go. Sometimes, we cling too tightly to what God asks us to release.

Trusting His timing means accepting that loss can lead to growth and letting go can open space for something new. When we walk with God, no season is wasted. Each one serves His purpose. Peace comes not from controlling time, but from trusting the One who holds all seasons in His hands.Tuesday, May 26, 2026 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...” Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 6

Based on Ecclesiastes 3 Life is made up of seasons—some joyful, some painful. This passage reminds us that God ordains the rhythm of our lives.

There’s a time to gain and a time to let go. Sometimes, we cling too tightly to what God asks us to release.

Trusting His timing means accepting that loss can lead to growth and letting go can open space for something new. When we walk with God, no season is wasted. Each one serves His purpose. Peace comes not from controlling time, but from trusting the One who holds all seasons in His hands.

05/25/2026

Sunday, May 24, 2026 “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat...” Proverbs 25:21-22

Based on Proverbs 25 God calls us to respond to enemies with kindness, not vengeance. It’s countercultural—and deeply spiritual. Offering food and care to someone who’s wronged you turns conflict into an opportunity for redemption.

The “coals of fire” are not punishment but conviction—our love exposes their hate and may lead them to repentance. It’s not about passive tolerance, but active compassion. When we respond to hate with love, God sees, honors, and works through it. We don’t fight fire with fire—we overcome with mercy.Sunday, May 24, 2026 “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat...” Proverbs 25:21-22

Based on Proverbs 25 God calls us to respond to enemies with kindness, not vengeance. It’s countercultural—and deeply spiritual. Offering food and care to someone who’s wronged you turns conflict into an opportunity for redemption.

The “coals of fire” are not punishment but conviction—our love exposes their hate and may lead them to repentance. It’s not about passive tolerance, but active compassion. When we respond to hate with love, God sees, honors, and works through it. We don’t fight fire with fire—we overcome with mercy.

05/24/2026

Saturday, May 23, 2026 “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21

Based on Romans 12 In a world filled with injustice and conflict, this verse offers a radically different response—don’t let evil win. Instead of matching hatred with hatred, overcome it with goodness.

This isn’t weakness; it’s power under the control of the Spirit. When we respond to harm with love, we reflect God’s heart and interrupt cycles of bitterness. Evil loses when grace prevails. Goodness isn’t passive—it’s a spiritual weapon. As believers, we are called to shine light in darkness, not become like the darkness we resist.

05/23/2026

One of the dangerous assumptions we modern Christians often make is that we are more advanced than believers who lived before us. And, to be sure, we have advanced beyond them, if we're talking about technology, health care, and the like.

But, in other ways, in more substantial ways, we have regressed.

We suffer from living solely by sight. Ours is a visual world full of facts, empirical evidence, stuff we can count, measure, and touch.

But our fathers and mothers in the faith, who have gone before us, were more keenly aware of this fact: all around us are realities beyond our visual capacity. Demons waiting to ensnare and woo us into false belief and despair and vice. Angels guarding, directing, and serving us.

We wade through spirits as we go about our daily tasks. As the poet, Francis Thompson, says, we disturb an angel's wing every time we turn a stone. A whole world, unseen, stands and flies all around us.

When the enemies of Israel surrounded the town where Elisha was staying, his servant was trembling with fear. But the prophet, unperturbed, said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them" (2 Kings 6:16). Then, when Elisha had prayed that God would open the servant's eyes, he saw "the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."

O Lord, open the eyes of our minds and hearts to "see" that the heavenly host surrounds us. Therefore, we will not fear, for the Lord of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

"Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Amen.

05/23/2026

Friday, May 22, 2026 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another...” John 13:34-35

Based on John 13 Love is not optional for followers of Christ—it’s our defining mark. Jesus commands us to love others the same way He has loved us: unconditionally, sacrificially, and consistently.

This kind of love goes beyond feelings; it’s a daily choice. It forgives, serves, and speaks life. It bridges division and shows the world who Jesus is. When love defines our communities, our witness becomes powerful. People won’t know us by our theology or talents alone—but by how we treat each other. Christlike love is how disciples shine.

05/22/2026

I’ve spent as much time unlearning bad biblical interpretation as learning good. Three tools have helped: [1] knowledge of original languages; [2] seeing how stories fit the larger biblical story; and [3] seeing patterns or typologies through Scripture.

Let’s apply this to 2 Kings 2, where Elisha is mocked and two bears come out of the woods to maul forty-two of the mockers. It’s often remembered as a troubling episode, especially when it’s (wrongly) assumed the offenders were little children.

First, the Hebrew. Many translations say Elisha was mocked by “little children” or “small boys.” But the phrase na‘ar qatan doesn’t require that. Na‘ar can refer to anyone from an infant to a grown man, even a servant or official. Qatan can mean young, but not necessarily little children.

The same phrase describes men like Hadad and even Solomon. So it’s far more likely these were young men, possibly servants, not snotty-nosed brats.

Second, the bigger story. This happens at Bethel, one of the epicenters of idolatry in the northern kingdom. Jeroboam had set up golden calves there, along with corrupt priests and false worship.

By Elisha’s time, Bethel stood in flagrant rebellion against the Lord. So when these men shout, “Go up, you baldhead!” they are not just teasing. They are rejecting God’s prophet and telling him to disappear, like Elijah, who had just “gone up” to heaven. This is covenantal defiance.

Third, the pattern or typology. Elisha’s ministry mirrors Joshua’s. After Moses, Joshua crossed the Jordan and led Israel against Canaanite idolaters. After Elijah, Elisha crosses the Jordan and confronts Israel’s own idolatry. As God once used hornets against his enemies, here he uses bears. The judgment fits the pattern.

So this is not a moral tale about respecting hair-challenged preachers. It’s one moment in the long war between true worship and idolatry. The mockers stand with false gods; Elisha stands with the Lord.

And the story ultimately points beyond itself. The real enemy is the serpent behind all rebellion. His defeat does not come by bears, but by the Lamb. The victory belongs to Christ, who overthrows evil and establishes a kingdom without end.

05/22/2026

Thursday, May 21, 2026 “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground...” Hosea 10:12

Based on Hosea 10 This verse is a call to spiritual renewal. “Break up your fallow ground” means to soften hearts that have grown hard or indifferent.

Just as farmers prepare the soil to receive seed, we must prepare our hearts to receive God’s Word. Righteous living—sowing in obedience—leads to a harvest of mercy. But first, we must seek the Lord wholeheartedly. He promises to respond with righteousness like rain, refreshing, life-giving, and abundant. Now is the time. Revival doesn’t wait; it begins in surrendered, expectant hearts.

05/21/2026