Posts by Bryant Perkins (Page 5)

Last week, we considered a question many people have asked over the years: will we know each other in heaven? While Scripture does not address this directly, it seems clear that the answer to that is affirmative, both from the great principles of the Bible as well as implications of passages found in both the Old and New Testaments. But there are some objections that have been raised to that idea before; let’s consider those here. Sometimes it’s suggested we…

We are considering going back to passing trays when we take the Lord’s Supper in the near future. In conjunction with that, I was thinking about our practice more generally this week and ran across this article from Wes McAdams. You have likely heard me say similar things to all 3 of these suggestions on occasion; I not only endorse them, but thought they might be helpful for you, too, because sometimes hearing another voice make the same point drives…

Do you remember what it felt like to be young? For some reading this, that was a long time ago. For others, it was a really long time ago. One of the things I remember is that it seemed like it took forever to grow up; you can probably relate to that. Most of the time, as children, we are ready to be older and bigger than we are; it’s why when we are really little, we put that “and…

Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter. Ecclesiastes 10:20 Have you ever wondered how people find out things? Statements we made and actions we took which we thought would never be known suddenly become public knowledge; what we thought was a secret is published abroad. We have an expression for that mysterious process that…

1 O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; 2 many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah 3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. 4 I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah 5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. 6 I will…

Over the last few weeks, we have explored why we should have more confidence in our salvation. We examined what the overarching narrative of Scripture reveals about God’s nature and purpose, that he takes the initiative to restore the relationship with humanity that has been broken by sin; he is reaching out to us, earnestly desiring us to be reconciled to him. He has achieved that reconciliation through Jesus; if we are incorporated into Christ through faith, repentance, and baptism,…

We have had a couple of articles here in this space on why we should have more confidence in Christ. We focused first of all on the big picture of Scripture and what it reveals to us about God’s nature and purpose: he is perpetually reaching out to his Creation, acting on behalf of humanity to restore the relationship he had with us in the beginning that has been broken by sin. We must always keep in mind that his…

Last week, we began a short series in this space on why we should have more confidence in Christ. We focused on the big picture of Scripture and what it reveals to us about God’s nature and purpose. In short, God is perpetually reaching out to his Creation, acting on behalf of humanity to restore the relationship he had with us in the beginning that has been broken by sin. We must always keep in mind that his heart is…

One of my favorite old hymns that we sing is “Blessed Assurance,” by Fanny J. Crosby. Crosby speaks of the confidence we have in Jesus. When we are born of water and the spirit, washed in the blood of Christ, we become heirs of God. We have a foretaste of eternity. This is our story. And it is certain! It is assured! Yet, so many of us lack certainty in our salvation. We have talked about this before, but particularly…

In the text in James covered in last week’s sermon, he presented the example of Elijah for consideration when it comes to prayer. He makes the point that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours—he was just like us, in other words—and look at all the great things he accomplished through prayer! That might come as a bit of a shock: Elijah? Like us? But he’s one of the greatest heroes of the OT! What in the world…

On this Father’s Day, I would like for us to consider the fact that God has revealed himself to us as Father. That is how Jesus taught us to address God; the Aramaic term is abba. This is not “daddy,” as is often said; it is the only word for father in Aramaic. But that does indicate an intimate relationship that God wishes to have with his children—and that model, of God as our Father, then presents a great challenge…

Last week, people all over the Western world commemorated the 79th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Just after dawn on June 6th, 1944, nearly 160,000 Allied troops, including about 73,000 Americans, began landing on five code-named beaches on the coast of Normandy. The operation also included parachute landings at strategic sites. A total of 4,414 Allied troops, 2,501 of them from the United States were killed that day; in the ensuing Battle of Normandy, 73,000 total Allied troops were killed,…