Gethsemane Baptist Church Wapak, 708 N. Dixie Highway, Wapakoneta, OH (2026)

06/09/2026

Today's Growth Principle

Only the eternal things of God provide true and lasting peace, happiness and meaning in life.

Looking in Vain
by Dr. Paul Chappell

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

Isaiah 55:1-2

More than ten years before Lewis and Clark made their journey across the American continent to the Pacific Ocean in their survey of the land America had obtained in the Louisiana Purchase, Canadian explorer Alexander Mackenzie had already reached the west coast of Canada. Though history remembers him as a great explorer, Mackenzie largely regarded his efforts as a failure because he could not find a water passage that would lead directly to the coast. At one point, Mackenzie and his team spent weeks paddling along a large river, a river that now bears his name, only to find that it led to the Arctic Ocean rather than the Pacific. In his account of the trip, Alexander Mackenzie referred to it as the “River of Disappointment.” Mackenzie was not able to find the water route he sought, not because he did not work diligently, but because it does not exist.

All around us there are people devoting their lives to things that cannot provide lasting peace, happiness and joy. The thrills of this world may provide a temporary respite or measure of happiness, but at best they are fleeting. It was a recognition of this truth that motivated Moses to follow God rather than the world. “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Hebrews 11:24-25). If we spend our lives searching for something that can never be what we are seeking we are destined for disappointment and will look back on our lives with regret.

06/08/2026

Today's Growth Principle

God never makes mistakes, so when He places us on a new or unexpected path, we can be assured that it is part of His plan.

A New Path
by Dr. Paul Chappell

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Isaiah 55:9-11

Oswald Smith was fifteen years old when he responded to the gospel invitation during an R. A. Torrey revival meeting in Toronto, Canada. From that young age, he carried a deep burden to reach others with the gospel. Smith believed God was leading him to serve as a missionary, but his poor health seemed to close that door when a mission board declined his application because of his weak physical condition.

Though this was not the path Smith had expected, it was not the end of God’s plan for his life. Instead of giving up his burden for missions, he allowed God to redirect it. Smith established The People’s Church in Toronto, where he pastored for decades and later served as missions director. Under his leadership, the church sent out many of its own members as missionaries and generously supported mission work around the world. For nearly eight decades, Oswald Smith helped send others to places he could not go himself.

All of us know what it is like to expect God to lead in one direction, only to find the door closed and another path opening before us. Whether the change is large or small, our response is critical. When we remember that God’s thoughts are higher than ours and His plans are better than our own, we can walk the new path with faith and joy.

06/07/2026

Today's Growth Principle

The Price of a Worthy Pursuit
by Dr. Paul Chappell

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

The noted violinist Fritz Kreisler was a child prodigy, being accepted to Vienna Conservatory of Music when he was just seven, and going on to worldwide fame. Kreisler once told an interviewer, "Narrow is the road that leads to the life of a violinist. Hour after hour, day after day, and week after week, for years, I lived with my violin. There were so many things that I wanted to do that I had to leave undone; there were so many places I wanted to go that I had to miss if I was to master the violin. The road that I traveled was a narrow road and the way was hard." When a lady met him after a concert and said, “I’d give anything in the world to play like you,” Kreisler responded, “That’s what it cost me.”

Kreisler’s point was not that he regretted the narrow road he had chosen, but that excellence in something worthwhile requires surrendering lesser things. The sacrifices were real, but so was the joy of what they produced.

Following Jesus also requires sacrifice, but every sacrifice He calls us to make is part of a far better pursuit. Hebrews describes the Christian life as a race, and no serious runner wants to be weighed down by anything that keeps him from finishing well. In the same way, we must be willing to lay aside not only sin, but even those things that may not be wrong in themselves yet hinder our walk with God. Jesus Himself showed us this pattern. Paul wrote, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). As we look unto Jesus, we find that surrender is not loss, but the path of joyful obedience to the Savior who gave everything for us.
We must be willing to make any sacrifice required to do what God has called us to do.

06/06/2026

Today's Growth Principle

No matter how much change is in the world around us, God will always be exactly the same.

God Doesn't Change
by Dr. Paul Chappell

Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Malachi 3:4-6

One of the most famous geographical features in New England was the “Old Man of the Mountain” or “Great Stone Face” in New Hampshire. This series of rock ledges in the White Mountains greatly resembled a man’s face. It was first described in writing by surveyors in 1805, and its fame spread when Nathaniel Hawthorne published a story about it in 1850. The rock formation became a special emblem for the Granite State, even appearing on the state quarter. Over the centuries, however, storms, freezing and thawing water, and erosion gradually weakened the formation. In May 2003, most of the edifice finally collapsed. There are now tributes in place that attempt to recreate the appearance of the famed rock formation, but the real thing is gone forever.

Everything in this world is changing from day to day. We are all getting older. Some of us have made many trips to the cemetery to bury family and friends. Some institutions and churches that once stood for what is right have changed their doctrine or even disappeared completely. There are a significant number of “facts” that were once taught with confidence and assurance in school which have proven to be false. Updates and revisions are required to keep textbooks up to date. Yet with all of the changes of the world there is one thing that is sure and trustworthy. God never changes. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

06/05/2026

Today's Growth Principle

We must devote our lives and efforts to things of real value, not the empty things of this world.

Real Value
by Dr. Paul Chappell

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Hebrews 11:24-26

Like many people, Rob Cutshaw is a rock hound. He spent countless hours on digs and hikes through the mountains looking for special stones. At one point he even operated a roadside stand near his home in North Carolina. In the 1960s Cutshaw found a large blue rock he called “purdy and big.” At one point he tried to sell it for $500 but found no takers. The rock spent the next two decades either under his bed or tucked away in a closet. When Cutshaw finally had the stone professionally appraised, it proved to be one of the largest sapphires ever found. The “Star of David” sapphire had a cut weight of more than 2,100 carats and was estimated to be worth nearly $3 million when it was put on display in 1987.

There are a lot of things in this world that people value very highly. But it is often the case that things which are truly valuable are seen as less interesting and appealing than things that are flashy but not really worth very much. None of the things of this world even begin to compare in value to the things of God. As Christians we have something far more important and valuable in our future. “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15). Trends and fads in this world come and go. Things that were once highly sought after become afterthoughts and their value vanishes. But the things of God always hold their worth because they are based on His character.

06/04/2026

Today's Growth Principle

To reach the goal God has set before us, we must be undeterred when there are problems or obstacles.

Unmoved and Undeterred
by Dr. Paul Chappell

And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

Acts 20:22-24

Walter Davis contracted polio when he was nine, and for the next three years he was unable to walk. But Davis refused to give up and eventually became an active young man and even a star college athlete. He made the US Olympic team for the 1952 Helsinki Games and won the gold medal. Then Davis was drafted into the NBA and won two league titles during his time with what was then the Philadelphia Warriors and the St. Louis Hawks. He could have stayed in bed and never tried, using polio to explain his inability. Instead, he made the choice to strive to recover and then move forward.

All of us have things that go wrong. We get sick, lose jobs, have financial reversals, or see relationships fracture. We look to the future and find that things are uncertain. Yet we do not have to allow that to dictate our behavior. We are not limited to what we can accomplish on our own. As Christians, we have a source of strength that is greater than anything the world can imagine. Paul wrote, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

As long as we live in this world there will be things that go wrong. There will be times when we do not understand the purposes of God in the events of our lives. There will be times when it seems like there is little hope. But if we remain faithful to God and what He has given us to do, there will be a day when we reap the harvest He has promised.

06/03/2026

Today's Growth Principle

A Christian who does not pray will be a Christian who misses out on what God can and would do.

Earnest Prayers
by Dr. Paul Chappell

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

James 5:16-18

Though Elijah was a powerful and greatly used prophet of God, James reminds us that he was also human, facing the same pressures, temptations, and struggles that we face. The thing that set Elijah apart was a commitment to earnest, passionate, faithful, and repeated prayer. He was not attempting to do his work for God in his own strength, because he recognized that would not suffice. Instead he depended on the faithfulness of God to work in response to his fervent prayers.

R. A. Torrey wrote, “Those who would have us think that they have attained to some sublime height of faith and trust because they never know any agony of conflict or of prayer, have surely gotten beyond their Lord, and beyond the mightiest victors for God, both in effort and prayer, that the ages of Christian history have known. When we learn to come to God with an intensity of desire that wrings the soul, then shall we know a power in prayer that most of us do not know now.”

There are too many Christians today who do not take prayer as seriously as they should. Prayer is the tool that God has given us to tap into His unlimited resources, to see Him work, and to have our daily needs met. Those promises only work to the extent that we claim them in our prayers. Prayer is not a last resort but a first step. “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2).

06/02/2026

Today's Growth Principle

The Bible in our hearts and minds is a powerful defense against the deception of the enemy.

Knowing the Truth
by Dr. Paul Chappell

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

1 John 4:1-3

There is an old Chinese story about a young man who wanted to become a sculptor. He arranged to study with a master carver who was widely respected both for the quality of his work and for his ability as a teacher. On the first day they met for lessons, the elderly teacher put a piece of jade into the young man's hand and instructed the student to hold it in a firm grasp. But rather than talking about carving stone, he instead spoke about philosophy, the weather, and other subjects that had nothing to do with sculpting. After an hour of that, he sent the young man home. Day after day the same thing happened. He would hand the young man a piece of jade and talk about anything else besides stones. The boy was becoming frustrated with the experience, but one day the old man put a piece of stone into his hand and the student immediately responded, “That’s not jade!” Over time, he had learned to recognize the real thing, and was immediately able to identify an imposter.

We live in a world in which lies are often held up as truth. We cannot just believe anything that we hear. We must be students of the Word of God so that we become familiar with the truth. This is the most effective way to identify error. If we compare what we hear to what God has said, we can spot the errors and efforts at deception. The Bible is not just to be heard at church but read and studied and meditated on every day of the week.

06/01/2026

Today's Growth Principle

We display gratitude to God for His salvation when we invest our hearts and minds and resources in His kingdom.

Giving Back
by Dr. Paul Chappell

I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: I said in my haste, All men are liars. What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.

Psalm 116:10-14

Major Fred Hargesheimer was shot down over Papua New Guinea in 1943 during World War II. Despite the injuries he suffered before parachuting out of his falling plane, Hargesheimer evaded capture with the help of the inhabitants of the village of Ea Ea. For months, they risked their lives to protect him until he was finally taken off the island on a submarine. After the war, Hargesheimer returned to Minnesota, but he never forgot those who had protected him. In 1960, he returned to the village and helped build what became known as the Airmen’s Memorial School with funds he had raised in America. He continued giving back with additional trips and further buildings, including a library with donated books. He even lived in the village for four years. Hargesheimer spent the rest of his life giving back to those who had rescued him.

We have been rescued from a far greater threat than capture by enemy soldiers. We were facing eternal separation from God in Hell until Jesus stepped in and made the payment we owed. We do not earn either our salvation or extra merit with God for doing good works for Him. Yet in gratitude for salvation freely given through His grace, we should spend every day being grateful for what His sacrifice and live fully for Him. As Paul said, "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:14–15).
We display gratitude to God for His salvation when we invest our hearts and minds and resources in His kingdom.

05/31/2026

Today's Growth Principle

Every day we are giving people an impression of God by the way we live, and we must be careful that it is a good one.

Truth in Labeling
by Dr. Paul Chappell

Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

Romans 12:14-17

In response to the start of the Great Depression, Congress passed the Tariff Act of 1930. Much of the law was designed to reduce foreign imports in an effort to protect the struggling American economy. One provision required products to carry a label identifying their country of origin, allowing customers to see where the items they purchased were made. That requirement continues today for most retail items.

In recent years, however, South Korean officials have warned of a growing problem with products falsely labeled “Made in Korea.” Some foreign-made goods, including products from China, have reportedly been relabeled as Korean-made in an effort to gain the advantages associated with that label. But when the product bearing the label is not what it claims to be, the reputation of the name on the label is damaged.

The “label” that we wear as children of God is not an empty or meaningless statement. The truth is that people largely form their opinion of God by their experiences with those who bear His name. Everything that we do reflects on God because He is our Father. It is critical for us to be honest and fair and above reproach so that we do not cause others to have an excuse to slander the Lord. When Nathan confronted David over his sin, he pointed out to the guilty king that it was not just his name he had shamed, but the name of God as well: “by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme” (2 Samuel 12:14). We should live so as never to dishonor the name of the Lord.

Gethsemane Baptist Church Wapak

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