Blue Ridge Bible Church

Haiti Earthquake

Looking for a ministry to channel your money for relief work in Haiti? Consider Samaritan’s Purse. They mention that their local partner is Baptist Haiti Mission which is just up the road from the orphanage I visited a month ago. I have not heard any news yet on how that orphanage is doing but will update this post when I do.

Please pray for the people of Haiti and for God’s church in that already impoverished nation.

Update: The orphanage I visited is doing fairly well considering. They had no known damage to their building and also received their monthly delivery of food just two day before the earthquake hit. Praise God that he has provided and protected. We trust him for our provision and care and know that “all things happen together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purposes.”

Another Christian orphanage that you might consider learning more about and supporting is God’s Littlest Angels. They’ve gotten a lot of news coverage in the US.

The Normal Christian Life

Bill Wilcox recommended a book to me by the great Chinese pastor Watchman Nee called The Normal Christian Life. So far it is excellent! I want to share quotes from books I’m reading here and in the case of this book it is hard to narrow it down to what to share. This is becoming one of those books where there is less text that is highlighted than not highlighted. :)

Here is a short excerpt from the first page: Read the rest of this entry »

Protect the Orphans and Fatherless

Sermon November 29, 2009

Rich Shipe

 

 Protect the Orphans and Fatherless [27:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (50)

“Understanding” your wife

I’ve been involved with a great group of guys for a Bible Study at Jon Tigges’s house. We are going through a study by Robert Lewis called Men’s Fraternity. It has been excellent. We do it from 6:30 – 8 am every Wednesday at Jon’s house.

The last few weeks we’ve been looking at how we can be better husbands and one of the key verses is 1 Peter 3:7 which reads: Read the rest of this entry »

Around the Web 10.1.09

I’d like to post links from time to time that are interesting or thought provoking … at least for me! Hopefully they will be helpful in some way to you. I’ll put in the title, author, and a short comment. Please don’t assume I fully endorse everything that I link to here. Got a suggested link? Funny or serious? Send it to me at rich@brible.org.

Confronting the Influence of Darwin – Hank Hanegraaff — Can the twentieth century be understood fully outside of an understanding of Darwin’s theory of evolution?

Self-Control in a Wired World – Joshua Harris — Best line: “A little web surfing, a little Facebook, a little folding of the hands around the smart phone and spiritual poverty will come upon you like a robber.”

Five Ways to Feel Scripture – Jared Wilson — Number one is “Interpret before you apply”! That is huge. Too often we start with, “What does this passage mean to you?”

The Gospel, Anger, and Romans 13 – Jay Younts — This is a very challenging article for me personally. What are we most concerned about? What is our priority? Public policy activism is good but are we seeking to love ourselves through it or love God and love our neighbor through it?

Weighty Words [from C.S. Lewis] on the Meaning of a Husband’s Headship – John Piper — Best line: “No relationship is more clearly commanded to model the death of Christ. No relationship is more costly—in both senses of that word (painful and precious).”

The Heavens (and Hubble) Declare God’s Glory

Al Mohler has a very interesting and thoughtful post on the images coming from the newly repaired Hubble telescope. The creation declares God’s existence and that he is a powerful and creative God!

“The heavens are telling the glory of God,” sings the Psalmist, “and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” [Psalm 19:1, NASB]  Every atom of creation cries out the glory of God.  The Hubble Space Telescope now shows the glory of God in the universe in a new dimension — and in breathtaking color and complexity.  To see these images is to view the work of the Creator in a glory newly disclosed, newly visible to human eyes.

To read of the vast distances and dimensions seen and measured by Hubble’s technology is to be reminded just how small our planet really is — and how even smaller we humans are.  As the Psalmist reflected:  “When I consider your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” [Psalm 8:3-4, NASB]

The cosmos does reveal the glory of the Creator — indeed it is inevitably so.  The heavens — and Hubble — are telling the glory of God.  He who has eyes to see, let him see.

Read his whole post.

The Greatest Treasure

Sermon August 9, 2009

Mark 8:35-38

 

 Standard Podcast [40:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (58)

Self-made Idols

Sermon August 2, 2009

 

 Standard Podcast [39:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (39)

BibleMap.org, great resource!

BibleMap.org looks like a great free resource! Sometimes it makes it a lot easier to follow along with a narritive part of scripture if you have a map as a reference. You can’t get a good personal application from scripture if you haven’t rightly interpretted it and you can’t effectively interpret it if you haven’t made observations first. So we start by observing what the text says, then we interpret what it means, and finally we apply it to life today. Bible maps are a good resource for helping us at the observation stage of Bible study.

With BibleMaps.org you can pull up books and chapters of the Bible from either the ESV or KJV versions and the map will show you the location of places mentioned in the text. Pretty slick. Check out BibleMap.org and add it to your bookmarks!

Five Ways Movies Communicate

One of my daily-read blogs linked to this helpful Christian article on movies: Motion Picture Messages. It explains five ways movies communicate a message.

1. Imagery
2. Story
3. Dialogue
4. Identification of Heroes
5. Overall Composition

Very helpful to read as the summer blockbuster season starts. Not that we can’t go to the movies, but we should be aware of the messages being preached rather than blindly absorbing it. We should also be able to answer some basic questions of the films we watch:

1. What is the overal message of the film?
2. Is that message consistent with God’s Word? Why or why not?
3. Does it correctly identify (maybe even just partially) the condition of man and his need for saving? If so, what is the savior it provides?

Read the article and think about it with the next movie you watch.