This is my third interview with Dewi Higham. Here, in this video clip, Dewi shares with us some of the great Christian books that he would recommend to us to enrich our spiritual lives.
One of my favorite quotes on reading is, "The man who will not read is not much better off than the man who cannot read."
The Bible should be our main reading discipline. But next to that we should be filling our heart and mind with the best of Christian literature. Please check out our book room for great things to feast your soul upon.
I want to encourage all of you to pray for those in our church who have lost loved ones recently. Hold one another up before the throne in prayer. May God bless you all!
"Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." Psalm 34:3
This is my second interview with Dewi Higham. He is one of the most gifted and Christ exalting preachers that I have ever met. I am so blessed to have him as a friend, mentor, advisor, and co-worker in the gospel ministry.
Dewi's messages among us this past month were so powerful, convicting, and yet so tender and full of compassion. Our church family was deeply stirred by the Spirit filled preaching that we received.
This is my second interview with Dewi. I have several more coming. I trust our Berean family will enjoy these interviews.
Last
Friday night we had the marriage seminar with Kirk Cameron at Berean. What a
wonderful time we all had as we listened to the message that was shared with us
by Kirk Cameron. There were many visitors and we all had a tremendous time of
fellowship before and after the seminar. A special testimony was given by John
Martinez that touched all of our hearts. If you were not able to be with us
last Friday please get on line and order the DVD of this seminar from
Amazon.com. You will find your life and your marriage greatly enriched by what
you hear. The message of Kirk Cameron was such a blessing. He begins by
reminding us that unless we have a changed heart we have little power or
ability to live the Christian life in such a way that will bring peace and happiness
to the home. If a man loved his wife as Christ loved the church he would take
the responsibility to lead his wife seriously and would see that he was leading
in the home and was providing the example of godly character. If a wife took
seriously her responsibility to submit to her husband she would respect her
husband and would follow his leadership and be an encouragement to him in all
things. I have seen those who desired to be ministers disqualified from
leadership because they have failed to lead their wives and some men have been
disqualified because their wives failed to follow their leadership. May the
Lord bless you all as you obey the Word of God in the matter of marriage.
At
the beginning of the seminar I shared the Wedding Prayer with all those who
were present and at the end gave each couple a copy of this prayer on parchment
paper so they could read it and seek to live by it each day.
I
would like to share with you four keys to a happy marriage. I trust this will
be a help to all of you as you walk with God and serve Him in your marriages.
1. Follow the blueprint for a happy marriage and
home that is laid out by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:22-33. The two main
aspects of that passage is that men out to love their wives as Christ loved the
church and wives out to submit to their husbands which involved respecting them
and following their leadership in the home.
2. Live in the Spirit. When you live in the Spirit
the fruits of the Holy Spirit will be evident in your lives. The fruits Paul
mentions in Galatians 5:22-23 are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
3. Practice Ephesians 4:32, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even
as God in Christ forgave you.”
4. Let love rule your relationship and your home. (See
I Corinthians 13)
These past two weeks were such a blessing to our church family! Dewi and Mari Higham were used by the Lord to touch many hearts and to bring a sense of the presence of the Lord among us. The messages on the names of Christ were outstanding. I want to thank our dear friends for coming and for sharing their lives and ministry with us. I told pastor Tipton that there are few ministers that I know who can preach the kind of messages that Dewi delivered to us during these days. Truly a man of God has been in our midst. Dewi's gentleness, love for the Lord, the deep insights into the Word, and his practical application moved many hearts. For all of this I give praise to the Lord.
This video is the first of several that I want to post with the prayer that the words of wisdom from Dewi Higham will bless many hearts. If you were not able to be present for the meetings either at Berean or at some of the homes then please get copies of the messages on cd.
We are going to continue in our study in James this coming Sunday at Berean. Also, this Wednesday is our special Thanks Giving service. I hope to see you all there!
Have a great Lord's Day and have a wonderful Thanks Giving this week!
The battle against the world, the flesh and the devil are very serious struggles that believers must win. To live continually in the flesh is to be in danger of the judgment. I would recommend to every believer who is serious about walking with God to read two books:
1. The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges published by Navpress
2. The Mortification of Sin by John Owen, the abridged addition
published by Banner of Truth
We will have pastor Bill Tipton in the pulpit this Sunday. Please pray for him as he prepares his message. I will be away with Dewi and Mari Higham and will be returning to have our special meetings with the Higham's starting next week. The schedule for our special meetings are as follows:
1. Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 11:00 am, there is a pastor's fellowship at
Berean with Dewi as our guest
speaker.
2. Tuesday, Nov. 12, 7:00 pm.
3. Wednesday, Nov. 13, 6:30pm, Dewi will be speaking at mid-
week service.
4. Thursday, Nov. 14, 7:00 pm
5. Saturday, Nov. 16, 7:00 pm
6. Sunday, Nov. 17, 11:15 am, Dewi speaks at Berean
7. Wednesday, Nov. 20, 7:30pm, Dewi speaks at Berean
(Everyone is invited to the meetings held at Berean)
Please keep all of the services in prayer.
May the Lord bless us and use us for His glory.
Your prayers and encouragement is deeply appreciated,
These two videos are the last from my trip to Grand Marais. I praise the Lord for the beauty of His creation and the joys of His gospel. What a privilege to serve the Living God while on earth. I enjoyed the beauty of God's earth while taking a short break with Mary on our 40th wedding anniversary.
Last night at Berean we had a family night where we watched the film "Monumental" produced by Kirk Cameron. There were plenty of refreshments, great times of fellowship, and many visitors with us for this special night together. The young leaders in our church are a special group of men that are doing a wonderful job helping to mold and shape our church body into a close knit family. I am also so pleased with the wives of these young men who are doing an amazing job, and setting such a good example of hard work, godliness and displaying the love of Christ.
Last Sunday, we honored the workers at Berean. We have so many dedicated people. I would also like to remind our church family of the special group of Senior Saints we have among us. The example and love of this group of wonderful people is a testimony to all of us at Berean! The loyalty, passion, faithfulness, and the sacrifice of these dear saints to Christ is an inspiration. God bless all of our dear Berean family!!
In the next few months we will be having a number of special guests coming to our church to minister and to serve the Lord with us. In two weeks we have Dewi and Mari Higham arriving. For our men's retreat we have Michael Robinson, author of God Does Exist, coming to be with us. And in the Spring from Africa, Ronald Kalufunga will be coming to minister and to serve the Lord in our midst.
May the Lord continue to bless all of you as you walk daily with the Lord!
Dear Berean Family, here is another video from our trip to Grand Marais. This week we will be considering James 1:12-15 dealing with temptation. When the believer sins and falls to temptation how wonderful to know that there is a precious fountain where all our sins can be washed away.
There are two books on temptation that I want to recommend to all of you to read. "The Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges and the Puritan paperback published by Banner of Truth, "The Mortification of Sin" by John Owen. Both of these books are excellent studies on holiness and overcoming sin and temptation in the believer's life.
Last Sunday was such a blessing. The fellowship dinner with all the new families and guests was a tremendous time and the joy of the Lord was manifestly present!
"Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." Psalm 34:3
In just two weeks we will be having a visit from Dewi and Mari Higham from Wales. Please keep them in prayer as they make their plans to travel over here to minister the precious Word of God with us. If any of our Berean family would like to have lunch or dinner with them please let me know.
This Sunday we will be in the Book of James once again. The theme is: The Rich Man and The Poor Man. What does God have to say about wealth, money and those in the Church that are rich or poor? Come and see! These are two videos from our trip to Grand Marais. I'm so blessed to have a wife who enjoys the simple things of life with me! Mary is a treasure!!
Mary and I enjoyed our time at Grand Marais in the Upper Peninsula. We were there for just a few days but the rest was enjoyable and the scenery spectacular. Mary found this red lead and I took a moment to comment on the precious blood of Christ.
I will be back in the book of James this weekend...Lord willing!! Sometimes providential events keep us from our appointments. I am humbled by the privilege to teach through this book to our Berean family.
Please by praying for our dear friends from Wales who will be coming over this November to preach the Word of God and to exalt Christ.
I am always grateful for those servants of the Lord who are unwilling to compromise with the spirit of the age in order to draw a crowd or to pander to the flesh of those who are gathering under their ministry. I have been saddened to see people sit under our ministry and then move away and be content to sit under ministries that are diametrically opposite to what they learned here. It only tells me that many people only came out of convenience and not out of conviction. When biblical principles are burned into our souls by the Holy Spirit we will never be content to worship where the truth is not fearlessly proclaimed, where the gospel of justification is neglected or ignored, where the worship is man centered, and where the pastor has a low view of expository preaching.
Dear God in heaven, visit your vine once again and pour out Your Holy Spirit in showers of blessing.
Mary and I had a wonderful time in the UP at Grand Marais. Here is a brief clip at one of the lakes that we visited on our trip. I am praying that the studies in James will be a great blessing to all of our Berean family.
I will see you all at Berean on Sunday. Until then, God bless,
I am convinced that many people today do not know how to discern the will of God for their lives. This subject is addressed in the book of James. In chapter one James tells us how to obtain wisdom from God. Wisdom is something that every believer needs on a daily basis. Just because someone is converted does not mean that he or she is able to discern the will of God for daily decisions or for their future. In this video I am sharing some practical suggestions that may be a help to all of you that want to be sure that your decisions and plans are, in fact, the will of God for your life.
How often do we hear someone say that they are going to do this or that, or have made this decision or that decision, but never make any mention that the Lord has directed them in these decisions. Do we take seriously the subject of God's will? We should be able to say that in every decision we make, and in every plan that we have, we know the will of God. Unfortunately, this is often not the case.
I am often surprised to hear the responses that I receive when I ask people how they determined the will of God for some decision that they have made. Quite often the the Lord has little to do with the decisions that many people make. This is tragic. I trust this video will be a help and I trust that my message on James chapter one on finding wisdom from God will be a great help to all of you. Here are some books on the subject of the will of God that will be a help to you if you have the time to read them. 1. Decision Making and The Will of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View- Gary Friesen 2. Found: God's Will- John MacArthur 3. Just Do Something- Kevin De Young 4. Can I Know God's Will? R. C. Sproul 5. Decisions, Decisions- Dave Swavely
James tells us in verse two and three of his letter, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." This is not the response that we normally would have to trials and tragedies or sufferings and sorrows. But James is telling us that for the Christian we can and should respond in this way.
I love this old hymn:
Some Day We Will Understand
Not now, but in the coming years,
It may be in the better land,
We’ll read the meaning of our tears,
And there, some time, we’ll understand.
We’ll catch the broken thread again,
And finish what we here began;
Heav’n will the mysteries explain,
And then, ah then, we’ll understand
We’ll know why clouds instead of sun
Were over many a cherished plan;
Why song has ceased when scarce begun;
’Tis there, some time, we’ll understand.
God knows the way, He holds the key,
He guides us with unerring hand;
Some time with tearless eyes we’ll see;
Yes, there, up there, we’ll understand.
Maxwell N. Cornelius
Here are a few quotes on suffering that may be a blessing to you.
One
woman spoke of suffering in this way, “Without
a doubt, what helps us most in accepting and dealing with suffering is an
adequate view of God—learning who he is and knowing he is in control.” Joni
Eareckson Tada
“Calvary is God’s great proof that suffering in the will of God always
leads to glory.” Warren Wiersbe
“Our sorrows and our sufferings are just splinters of His cross.” Anonymous
I trust this video will be an encouragement to you. I am praying for all of you that the Lord will draw near and bring His gracious presence and peace to your hearts at this time.
