Truth Promoter
Kent Carroll pastors First Institutional Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida.This blog is intended to promote Biblical truth and to give you, the reader, a glimpse of the personal spiritual journey of a pastor-teacher. The content is meant to edify the reader and bring glory to God.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Many are surprised to know that pastors struggle to maintain prayer as a priority in their lives. In his blog, Tim Challies gives a quote from David M'Intyre in his book, The Hidden Life of Prayer. In the book he says prayer, "In its nature it is a laborious undertaking, and in our endeavor to maintain the spirit of prayer we are called to wrestle against principalities and powers of darkness." Read more.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
THE MINISTRY OF PAUL WASHER
Monday, August 2, 2010
LOOKING FOR A CHURCH THAT WILL PRAY LIKE THIS
SCRIPTURAL - Acts 4:24-28 - Their praying was according to the revealed truth they knew from the writings of the Old Testament and from the revelation they had received from the mouths of the Apostles.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
THE OTHER SIDE OF FAITH
The Christian life is described in Scripture as a walk of faith (II Cor. 5:7). Just as there are two sides to a coin, there are two sides to the walk of faith. On one side of our walk of faith there is comfort and ease. One this side, God seemingly answers our prayers rather quickly and we flow in almost uninterrupted victory.
On the other side of faith (the coin) there is suffering, trials, tribulations, persecutions, disappointments and sometimes flat out misery. If the truth be told, this is the side of faith that molds and fashions us into the kind of persons God what have us to be.
Normally, we do not grow spiritually when the road is easy. Therefore, God pre-ordains and decrees that we experience the other side of faith. If you are experiencing the other side of faith, here are a few nuggets of wisdom I have learned:
- Faith doesn't always know where its going, it trusts the One who is leading.
- Faith doesn't demand an explanation, it merely summons the grace and strength to endure.
- Faith is not a blind leap into the dark, it is a deliberate step into the hands of a loving God with our eyes wide open.
- Faith is not praying and getting from God what I asked for, it is praying and rejoicing over what He has chosen for me.
- Faith is not a chance, but a certainty.
- Faith is not a guessing, but a knowing.
- Faith is not a mere contentment with human misery, it is a calming satisfaction in glorifying God.
Just as there is no one-sided coin, there is no one-sided walk of faith. Each aspect of our walk with Him is sovereignly decreed - the smooth, the rough and all that is in-between.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
THE MINISTRY OF JUSTIN PETERS
Sunday, January 10, 2010
TIGER WOODS, BRIT HUME AND JESUS CHRIST
However, you may not have heard about a bit of unsolicited advise given to Tiger Woods by news journalist and former Fox News anchor, Brit Hume. Hume, in a bold, cut to the chase fashion urged Tiger to accept the "forgiveness and redemption offered by the Christian faith." For this advise, Hume has been vilified and ridiculed.
MSNBC's, David Shuster, called Hume's advise, "embarassing." Hume was lampooned and caricatured by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Additionally, he has been accused of proselytizing and disrespecting the Buddhist faith - the purported religion of Tiger Woods.
In my own, cut to the chase fashion, here are four things to keep in mind:
- If Tiger is a Buddhist or follows some other religion, he needs the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
- Yes, salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. To say or imply this will always invite the wrath of those who are enemies of the Cross.
- Brit Hume did what any true Christian (assuming he is one) should do - point a sinner to Jesus Christ and Him alone.
- We must never kowtow to the pressure of putting Christianity on an equal plane with other religions.
The real crisis for Tiger Woods is not salvaging his marriage and career (though his marriage is immensely important.) The real crisis for him is the condition of his soul. A soul without the forgiveness of Jesus Christ will face eternal damnation and separation from God. Tiger Woods, just like all of us, needs a foreign rightousness that is outside of himself - an extraneous rightousness imputed to him by God through Christ.
This is the most important advise you can ever give a sinner. Brit Hume or any other Christian will pay a price for daring to do so. Tiger Woods will pay an infinitely higher price if he rejects it. This is no doubt the most important piece of unsolicited advise he will ever hear.
I pray that Tiger accepts it.