The Backwoods Baptist

The debate between expositional and topical preaching has drug on for years. On both sides we have those who say their method is the only way or the best way to preach. I seek to give the pros and cons to each approach as well as great preaching examples of each. In the end I offer my opinion for a healthy way forward.

A healthy view of rest walks a fine line between laborious and lazy. Wether you burn or rust out, either way, you are out. The world around has their own ideas about what rest looks like and how much each of us need. I find no hard and fast rule in Scripture about how and how often we should rest but I will give you some practice insights about gauging your own work load and rest cycle. I also poke at golfers little. Ok, I poke at them a lot.

This is a plea to speak and preach in the common language of the people. Using big words or your knowledge of other languages might impress your friends and family but it doesn't advance the gospel.

It seems revival are becoming a thing of the past. As Baptist we shouldn't let revival meetings fall by the wayside. Yes they can be misused and abused, but they can also be a tool to encourage the church and stir out hearts to evangelism. Let's revive the revival meeting.

Christians are recipients of God's generosity in Christ and He has withheld no good gift from us. Shouldn't we be the most generous people on the planet? Yes, we should but all too often we are not. The cares and patterns of this world cloud our judgement and we can find our naturally generous spirit to be waning. Let pray for a revival of generosity in 2023 among the household of faith. Here are some practical areas in our lives where we can refocus our generosity in the coming year.

Baptist need to return to the practice of baptizing converts in public bodies of water. This is a great way to publicly proclaim the death burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Go to the boat ramp, city park, swimming hole, or any body of water where people gather and sing a few hymns, explain the ordinance, lower the repentant believer into the water and lift them out to walk in newness of life. Do it all to the glory of God in obedience to His commandment and for a public declaration that our God is still saving sinners through the proclamation of His gospel.

Lets get acquainted before we go any further.