Blog: September 2017

As I work on the current sermon series, “Jesus, Friend of Sinners:  Our Reforma­tion Roots,” I’m finding many terrific resources.  Like: Michael Reeves, Freedom Movement, a brilliant little book about what happened in the 16th century and why it matters today.  You can download it for free at Desiring God.  Get it and read it out loud (in under an hour) with family or friends.  It will make church history come alive. The fall 2017 journal from 9Marks is entitled, “The Reformation and Your Church,” with contributions from numerous ...

Are you a member of Goshen Baptist Church? If this church is your church and you're trusting Christ for salvation, why not embrace the privileges and responsi­bil­ities of membership?  We'll be running our Discovery Class (i.e., the pathway to membership) on Sundays, Oct. 1-22 from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m, in Room 007 (downstairs).  Come join us! (By the way, this Sunday’s session is going to be fascinating!  Terry Stick will lead the group down the long and winding road of our church’s history (which extends 190 years), and look even further ...

The Pharisees and other Jews in Jerusalem did not like Jesus. He didn’t play by their rules (Matt. 12:1-14), He claimed to be God (John 8:58-59; 10:22-33), and He extended salvation beyond the Jewish people (Luke 4:29). So they plotted several times how they might kill Him. The events leading up to His death did not surprise Jesus. Each step was part of God’s established plan. (See Is. 53:10; Acts 2:23.) But knowing God’s plan didn’t lessen Jesus’ suffering as He was betrayed by His friends, arrested, falsely accused, and beaten. As you ...

Question:  How do you think about money?  How does God? Where did you get the things you have?  From God (1 Cor 4:7), the giver of every good gift (Jas 1:17).  He grants us life, breath, and all things (Acts 17:25), including the ability to make money (Deut 8:18). What about ownership?  “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1; 50:12).  All you have is really God’s.  Your house—it’s God’s.  And your car:  God’s.  Your bank accounts, investments, electronics, books, clothes, jewelry, collectibles… God owns it all.  Even ...

This year we mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.  It was on October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, publicly questioning several prevailing doctrines of the day. Luther, a Catholic monk, had no intention of leading a break-away movement to exit the Roman church:  his aim was to open debate and pursue the church’s reform.  But his proposed corrections were, shall we say, not well received, and as a result Luther and others who protested certain ...

Sermons Exploring Our Reformation Roots • Fall 2017 Goshen Baptist Church • Pastor Peter Nelson   500 years ago an anguished German monk nailed a list to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg:  “95 Theses” based on Scripture for debate about the nature of true Christianity.  And so, in God’s provid­ence, Martin Luther sparked a movement of revival by the rediscovery of the gospel message—God’s “good news” that had been obscured, distorted, and even lost in medieval Europe.  “The Reformation” announced to the world that Jesus ...

Friends, join me in praying for Nabeel Qureshi. If you don’t know his story of faith in Jesus Christ, you can read a summary of it here or listen to him share it here. It is an amazing testimony! I thank God for his powerful, soul-transforming work in Nabeel’s life, as is documented in his book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, and in his numerous other writings and talks and interviews.  And I thank the Lord for the powerful spiritual impact that has come, by God’s Spirit, on countless people around the world through the brilliant, kind, ...

Since June 4th we’ve been exploring the Psalms together in Sunday morning worship.  This coming Sunday that adventure will come to an end. The diversity of the Psalms “topography” is stunning.  That is (to make an analogy), taking a spiritual trek through the Psalms is like journeying into rain forests and frozen tundra and mountain passes and barren deserts; in cold and heat, wind and rain, bright sunshine and pitch dark nights.  And that’s a good thing, very good. To live in this world, where the effects of sin are all around us and ...

In Psalm 73:2-3, Asaph, a worship leader of God’s people, tells how his life almost came to ruin:  “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.  For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” Why did he nearly fall into the spiritual abyss?  Answer:  “For I was envious.”  Envy almost did him in! We may be tempted to think of envy as a “minor sin,” but the biblical truth is that it’s perilous.  “Envy makes the bones rot” (Prov. 14:30), and it undermines reverence for God (23:17).  ...