First Baptist Church Cedar Vale

  I woke up with this verse on my heart. ‘Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!’ -2 Cor. 13:5 I grew up in the church. My dad is a pastor. I have been around the church world my entire life. I went to camp; I went to youth retreats; I walked to the front of a church; I prayed prayers…I did all that stuff. It was not until the summer of 1998 that it truly connected, and made sense.  The pastor  was preaching out of this text: ‘Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!’ -2 Cor. 13:5 ‘TEST YOURSELF.’ Then he went to the following text…. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead pe...

  “By faith Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward”   ( Hebrews 11:24-26, ESV ). Many people view churches as an unnecessary, or even manipulative, institution not particularly valuable for spiritual growth or personal well-being. This mindset has only increased in our post-modern and post-Christian culture. Because of this, joining a church is one of the most counter-cultural things a person can do. Becoming a church member means leaving behind the comfort of individualism and voluntarily allowing yourself to be bound to others. It is a beautiful picture of the Gospel. And we do this because Jesus joyfully left behind his comfort and bound himself to us. Many find church membership a complicated topic. They aren’t sure why membership i...

Philippians 4:6 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. I know the world is a place of worry, fear, and dread.  This is something that should never shock us because Jesus told us in John 16:33 that in this world we'd have tribulation.  Because of sin's destructive nature, we have worry and anxiousness.  But we have to also remember that Jesus followed up in that verse and said 'I have overcome this world.'  Jesus won the war on the cross. When he shed his blood on Calvery He destroyed death, sin, and hell.  So because of that fact we who belong to Jesus don't have to be anxious about what MIGHT happen, rather in all circumstances we have the access to enter into the throne room of God and bring our concerns to the Sovereign King of the universe.  We can come into His courts with a thankful heart and know that we, as a child of the King have an audience with ou...

    The Bible says, "No!" One who is saved "has everlasting life, and ... is passed from death unto life" ( John 5:24 ). Eternal life by definition cannot be temporary. It is the present possession of all those who have truly trusted Christ. Romans 8:28-39  reveals clearly that there is nothing in the universe that can separate the elect from the love of God. The One who chose to save you "is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy" ( Jude 24 ). Those who fall away have never been thoroughly imbued with the knowledge of Christ but only had a slight and passing taste of it. - John Calvin  According to Scripture, people who profess to know Christ at one time but later deny Him were never really saved, to begin with.  First John 2:19  says, "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order th...

We need each other more than ever.  This is not hyperbolic terminology, it's fact.  We as Christians need each other.  The community of faith, (actual BIBLICAL faith) is in need of each other.   I am watching as proper biblical doctrine is being flushed down the toilet in favor of this breed of me-centered feel-good theology, it's a weak theology that cannot stand up against the onslaught of tyranny and deception in the world today.  Weak theology and doctrine create weak churches that cannot stand in the day of trial.  When we have weak men standing in the pulpit and teaching weak theology the foundations crumble.   The Lord Jesus Christ gave us an admonition to stand in these days.   13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Eph 6:13  We are called by God himself to stand up against evil in our own lives and in the community in which we ...

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons[a] of God. Matthew 5:8-9 I woke up this morning thinking about this text.  As my eyes popped open and my mind began to start the thinking processes of what needed to be done today.  This was the very first thing that came to my mind.   As  I continued down the hallway these verses continued to bear weight on my own heart and mind.   I think of my own sinfulness and there are moments I am not either of these things.  There are moments when I have an unpure intention or I want to get even rather than seek forgiveness.    What am I to do with that?  I read this quote from Joel R. Beeke 'Does your sin place you under a terrible burden of guilt, binding and enslaving you to the Devil and the powers of corruption?  Find hope in the cross of Christ.  He is the redeemer and has paid a price worth more than all t...

The NorthField Podcast Network · Eight Things Used By Government To Take Over a Population   I came across a sermon that shook me this week.  Here is a quote from this sermon here:   Back in 1932 a devout atheist by the name of Aldous Huxley wrote  Brave New World .  Brave New World  was a dystopian novel that looked at the future and assumed that it wouldn’t be very long before the West was completely captive to totalitarianism—that is rule by a dominant force, where you have only two classes: the ruling class and all the people who are subjected to them. In  Brave New World , he portrayed what life would be like. It was about seventeen years later that George Orwell, another devout atheist, wrote  1984 , another dystopian novel that looked at the future. And just examining those recently in my own thoughts, I drew out of those two pictures of totalitarianism in the future of the West, what are pretty amazing, prescient insights from a cou...