“For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.” (III John 7)
Here in an often overlooked letter, we find a little verse which succinctly defines and prescribes the work of the missionary and missions support: Continue reading
“In Your righteousness deliver me …” (Psalm 31:1b)
As David calls out to the Lord for deliverance in Psalm 31, this is an important little statement because of its correct perspective about our prayers and what we “deserve.” David asks God to hear and answer because HE is righteous (“In YOUR righteousness”); not because David himself is. We see the same thing a bit later in :3, when he says: “For YOUR NAME’s sake lead me and guide me.” He is asking God to do something for him which he knows that he does not “deserve”.
We need to be careful when we are praying for people — I have heard people do this, and I have to admit that I have been tempted to do the same sometimes — Continue reading
“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.” (III John 11)
Here John encourages his readers to imitate those who do good. It is instructive that this exhortation follows his description of Diotrephes, “who loves to be first among them” (:9) and who made false accusations against John and the other apostles, and did not support the traveling evangelists (:10). THEN, Continue reading
“I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say … He himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.” (III John 9-10)
Talk about church problems. Here we find John condemning Diotrephes, the leader of the church he was addressing, because he would not receive and support the first-century traveling Christian missionaries (:7-8). He even put those who DID want to help them, out of the church! What could possibly have been his motivation for such actions? Continue reading
One day last week, a woman posted a comment on my blog on the internet. She wrote:
“Shawn, I was looking at your work “being poured out as a drink offering”. I am a Christian who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence following of speaking in tongues. I have been baptized in the Holy Spirit for 14 years now and I know its life changing. I have just one question to ask, “Have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the speaking in tongues?” In (order) to be poured out as a drink offering as Apostle Paul has endured, we all must be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Only then can we truly please the Lord Jesus. I had many things going wrong with my health and would have died but because I was Spirit-filled and praying in tongues the Holy Spirit has cleanse my body from the evil that was trying to kill me. You have a health problem, well if you are Spirit-filled and pray in tongues for this health problem you will see your problem will not continue and you will be set free.”
Perhaps this woman means well, but that kind of teaching is wrong and it is hurtful to many people. But this is just an example of so much misunderstanding about “the baptism of the Holy Spirit”, so we are going to spend a few minutes more Matthew 3:11 this morning looking at this. John the Baptist said there of the coming Savior:
“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
What does this mean? What was John saying that Jesus came to do? Continue reading
“Blessed be the LORD, for He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city.” (Psalm 31:21)
Here David praises God for ministering to him, even in an extremely difficult time in his life. He said he was “in a besieged city” — in other words, enemies had come up and surrounded him, and were trying to “starve him out.” Can you imagine what that would be like? It would naturally be a time of great fear, and anxiety, and uncertainty … But David says that in that time of besiegement, God “made marvelous His lovingkindness to me.” Continue reading
“For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth.” (III John 3)
Evidently some “brethren” left the presence of the church that John was addressing here, and brought him a report about their faith & practice. And when they told him, John said that he was “very glad”, because they shared how the people of the church were “walking in truth.” Which should cause each of us to ask ourselves: would they bring that kind of good report about ME? Continue reading
“Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.” (III John 2)
Controversy surrounds this little verse, as proponents of the prosperity gospel attempt to use it to promote their doctrines. Although Christians versed in the whole counsel of the word of God will reject the idea that every believer will be healthy and wealthy, it would do everyone well to consider yet another question first: DOES YOUR SOUL PROSPER? Continue reading
“Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.” (III John 2)
From John’s prayer here which opens his third letter, it is evidently not WRONG to pray for one’s prosperity and good health. For sure, some have taken this verse too far, claiming that it is a guarantee of health and prosperity. We know from elsewhere in scripture that it is NOT: Continue reading
Several years ago, one of my sisters was attending a missions banquet, and she heard that the President of our Southern Baptist International Mission Board was going to be in attendance, so she was looking forward to meeting him. She had seen his picture before but she didn’t really know him by sight, so when she arrived she began looking for him, but she didn’t see him. The meal began, and they were serving the food and the drinks, and still no sight of the President. So she leaned over and asked someone next to her: “I thought the IMB President was supposed to be here tonight; is he not?” The person said “Yes, he is right over there” — and pointed to a man who was carrying a hand towel and a pitcher of water. It turned out that my sister HAD already seen him — but she had mistakenly thought that he was a waiter!
That’s the kind of mistake that we OUGHT to make in our Christian churches and ministries. Our churches are not about US being “something” — not the pastor, ministers, deacons, teachers, leaders or people. We are only servants who should be pointing people to the Lord.
We see this attitude modeled in the ministry of John the Baptist here in Matthew 3. Last week we studied how John warned us in :9 not to trust our nationality, our religious heritage, or our family background to save us, but that each of us must personally repent of our sins and follow Jesus as our Savior, in order to be saved. Now in :11 we find that John makes an important statement both about HIMSELF, and about the LORD:
“As for me, I baptize you in water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
There is a striking contrast in this verse: John first speaks about Himself, and he speaks about Jesus. He says, “As for ME, I baptize you with water for repentance” but then he says: “BUT HE” — and there is a real emphasis; a real contrast here in Greek: “BUT HE”! — is mightier than I … HE will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” He says, I am one thing, BUT HE is another; I have one ministry, but He has another. And John makes it very clear here, that he is merely the humble servant of a powerful Savior! And we need to make sure that we realize the same thing about ourselves today too! Let’s look at what God has to teach us through this verse: Continue reading
I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
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