Sloan C Parker

02/17/2023

It is important that in this "temptation" scene, the devil begins each test by saying, "If you are the Son of God..." At the end of chapter 3, Jesus is baptized and God's voice declares from heaven, "This is my Son..." I...

02/15/2023

By the way Matthew describes Jesus' baptism we are meant to understand that the last days were at hand. The scene is replete with "eschatological" overtones. ("Eschatological" is a theological word that is somewhat synon...

02/14/2023

Today's blog on Matthew 3 can be accessed below on the Cane Creek Community Church page. To receive email updates when new blogs are posted, subscribe to my new blog by visiting www.canecreekcommunity.com/subscribe

Between Matthew's second and third chapter, he skips over nearly 30 years of the life of Jesus, which reminds us that Matthew is not providing us with a biography, at least not in the modern sense. He is not interested i...

08/12/2020

"If I were in a pastorate again, with the authority to direct the ministry of the church, there would be a room open twenty-four hours a day. No church can expect to have revival by a once-a-week prayer meeting.

Before the Holy Ghost came at Pentecost, they were gathered and prayed for ten days. After the Spirit fell, they "continued with one accord in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and PRAYER."

Later the apostles said, "We will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word."

I feel this is the issue of the whole matter. There is little continuance in prayer."

L. Ravenhill

Source: "In Light of Eternity"
Mack Tomlinson

08/12/2020

07/31/2020

If you are in a position of influence - pastor, boss, teacher, politician, etc - and you use your power to manipulate, coerce, or threaten, know that God is on the side of the weak and the poor and he is a God of justice.

07/31/2020

Probably 15 years ago, I heard Pat Wilson preach a sermon titled “In Heaven’s Eyes.” The main point was that sometimes what looks like defeat from an earthly perspective looks like victory from heaven’s point of view. Over the years I’ve also heard my dad preach many similar sermons. One that comes to mind was titled “The One who Loses Wins,” and it was based upon Christ’s statement, “The one who finds his life shall lose it, and the one who loses his life for my sake shall save it.” Of course the ultimate illustration in each sermon, which was presented as both our hope and our example, was the cross of Jesus Christ.

Those sermons provide a good set of lenses for reading and understanding the book of Revelation, which presents Christ and his followers paradoxically as conquered conquerors. In Revelation 5, John is told that the Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered. He turns to look, and expecting to see a lion, he sees a slaughtered Lamb. From earth’s point of view, a slaughtered Lamb looks like defeat, or as Paul often writes, a crucified king is foolishness to the world; but from heaven’s perspective, the slaughtered Lamb is a conquering Lion. And the same is true for his followers: they will “conquer Satan, the great deceiver, by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death“ (Revelation 12:11).

If our mission to the world, or our battle with the so-called powers that be smacks of anything other than self-sacrifice, or taking up our cross and following the Lamb, we are on the wrong side of Revelation. We are conquerors in heaven’s eyes not through military might or economic exploitation, but by holding to the testimony of the Faithful Witness, the Amen, the one deemed worthy to rule as King of kings. His ways are the ways vindicated by the Ancient of days. Losing isn’t glorious, at least not on this side of the veil. But heaven knows the names of God’s losers (Rev. 2:17). They are the true conquerors.

07/30/2020

"I am not angered by the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell."

~ Leonard Ravenhill