Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit | A People for His Name

Five Key Prayer Topics during This Pandemic

April 18, 2020

In a church-wide time of prayer this past Wednesday evening, my pastor directed six men to lead us online in a time of focused prayer on six key prayer topics. One topic was specific only to our church, but the other five apply to all believers in all local churches:

Reviving of God’s people

Salvation of lost people

Our church’s healthcare workers

Our missionaries and their churches

Our own protection and provision

Taking extra time to pray regularly about these prayer topics would be a great way to redeem the time during this pandemic.

In Discipleship, Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit, Prayer

“Finally, Christians, What Shall Be the Eternal End?”

April 13, 2020

The final question and answer of our Mount Calvary Baptist Church catechism:

Finally, Christians, What Shall Be the Eternal End?

The eternal end shall be that God shall be all in all, that the Lamb shall be served by us who see His face, and that these Divine Persons shall receive from every created thing blessing and honor, glory and power, dominion and praise forever and ever. Amen, and Amen.

These passages are cited in support of this final catechism:

1 Corinthians 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Revelation 22:3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

Revelation 5:13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

In Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit

“What is Repentance unto Life?”

April 18, 2019

Mount Calvary Baptist Catechism, Question 67: “What is repentance unto life?”

“Repentance unto life is the change of heart whereby out of a genuine grief and hatred of our sin, we turn unto God with the earnest intent to strive after new obedience (Adapted from C. H. Spurgeon’s, A Catechism, Q. 70).”

—Pastor Mark Minnick

In Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit

“Marriage of God’s Making”

November 2, 2017

Understanding what the Bible teaches about marriage is a crucial matter. Pastor Minnick’s recent message, “Marriage of God’s Making,” provides eminently biblical instruction about this vital subject.

In Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit

“Created Male and Female”

October 19, 2017

“Created Male and Female” is an excellent sermon by my pastor Dr. Mark Minnick that is worth listening to and will profit you.

In Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit

A People for His Name: Ministry Summary for 2016

December 31, 2016

My ministry this year was greatly blessed by my beginning this year by reading the entire Bible in 59 days! I also made it through the NT this year a second time and read much of the Bible in Spanish.

This year was an especially fruitful year for me in ministering the Bible because I had two new teaching opportunities. I also had many other opportunities to minister, especially in teaching, music ministry, and writing on my blog.

Preaching, Teaching, and Scripture Reading

I had two preaching opportunities this year: prayer meeting at my church, Mount Calvary Baptist in Greenville, SC, and a Sunday morning service in a church in Georgia. Although I had already preached both these messages before elsewhere, preaching them again allowed me to improve both messages substantially.

Two new opportunities to minister were given to me this year in teaching at my church: teaching a combined adult Sunday school class and teaching a 16-week adult Sunday school class in the fall. In addition, I taught Sunday school once at a church in Georgia.

I did the Scripture reading for two morning services at my church. For the first time, I also read Scripture for a morning service in my church’s Spanish ministry.

Music Ministry

I ministered with other instrumentalists in one opener for a service and in two offertories. I accompanied various people singing specials in our Spanish ministry four times this year.

Online, I was able to teach guitar to a developing guitarist overseas who has made encouraging progress in preparing himself for using the guitar for ministry. My teaching guitar this year also included instructing a few students personally.

I also sang with a group of men for a special in our Spanish ministry. I wrote one new Spanish hymn for children this year, “Dios es siempre bueno!”

Other Ministry

Regular participation in neighborhood evangelism this summer and in Spanish evangelism at various times throughout the year afforded me many opportunities to minister Scripture to both believers and unbelievers. I also worked in registration for our annual Neighborhood Bible School.

In our Spanish ministry, I prayed for and took the offering several times. For our Men’s Ministry, I wrote one article for the manual and attended all of our prayer breakfasts.

Tutoring a Seminary student in New Testament Greek for several months this summer provided me with a good opportunity to teach elementary Greek again. By regular participation in two discussion groups on Facebook, I was able to give God’s truths numerous times to lost people and saved people.

I gave a brief devotional at the beginning of the workday nearly every Tuesday this year. I also frequently shared Scriptural truths with my coworkers.

I posted on my blog 77 times in 2016, counting this post. The majority of my posts shared biblical truths that God has given me over the years in my own study of Scripture, which has been the major focus of my blog from the beginning.

I praise the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness to me in allowing me to minister so abundantly in 2016!

In Ministry, Mount Calvary Baptist Music Ministry, Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit, Music, Preaching, Spanish, Sunday School

“Faithful Spiritual Leadership” (1 Samuel 12)

February 11, 2016

I praise God for the encouraging feedback that I received last night about how God ministered through me as I preached my message, “Faithful Spiritual Leadership,” from 1 Samuel 12! May He see fit to continue to use it to advance His kingdom and righteousness.

Here is the audio of my message:

My message was enhanced through the use of two graphics that I made that bring out key features of this passage. This first graphic shows how 1 Samuel 12 records the extensive dialogue between Samuel (in green) and the people of Israel (in blue).

This second graphic shows how profoundly Samuel emphasized God as the Lord (Heb. Yahweh) to these people as he ministered to them (31x, highlighted in yellow; the people spoke of God as the Lord once, which is highlighted in blue).

For the main points of this message, see this previous post.

In Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit, Preaching

“Who are the Apostles in the Body of Christ?”

November 9, 2015

Pastor Minnick preached last night on 1 Corinthians 12:28a and dealt with a key question: “Who are the Apostles in the Body of Christ?” This post provides some of the key thoughts (as I understood them) that he shared in the message.¹

Some people that are called apostles in Scripture were people that various local churches commissioned as their delegates, but these men were not among those who were officially the apostles of Christ.
Those who were the apostles of Christ possessed two cardinal qualifications: (1) they were chosen by Christ Himself; (2) they were eyewitnesses of the risen Christ.
The apostles of Christ performed the signs of a true apostle that demonstrated divine confirmation of their being true apostles of Christ.
The apostles of Christ performed two unique functions in the body of Christ: (1) they (along with the NT prophets) laid the foundation of the Church when they witnessed to the Resurrection of Christ; (2) they were recipients of new and inscripturated revelation for the Church.
There were only 12 apostles of Christ whose names are written on the 12 foundation stones of the holy city, New Jerusalem, and the identity of the twelfth apostle is a disputed matter that the Scripture does not seem to make clear with absolute certainty.

To profit fully from this vital message, you should listen to it fully² because undoubtedly my notes and this listing of some key ideas from the message provide an inadequate presentation of the truths brought out in it.

¹ These five statements are based on my notes from the message; for the most part, they are largely either direct quotes from the message or statements that I derived closely from direct statements made my Pastor Minnick.

² Who are the Apostles in the Body of Christ? November 08, 2015

In Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit, Theology

An Excellent Evangelistic Illustration

August 3, 2015

Many people think that as long as they are not hurting anyone else with what they are doing, they should be able to do whatever they want. At a funeral service this past Saturday, I heard a great illustration by my pastor Dr. Mark Minnick that explains in an excellent way why such reasoning is flawed.

Here is my version* of that illustration that so clearly explained why such a belief is false:

On a long, straight 40-mile stretch of highway in the middle of a desolate part of a Western state of the US, a lone vehicle speeds along at 25 miles above the speed limit with the driver completely oblivious for quite some time to the fact that he is going far faster than is legal. Given that there is no one else anywhere on the road on the entire stretch of the highway, the lone driver of this vehicle “innocently” exceeds the speed limit without even knowing it for a long time because he is caught up in his thoughts about many other things.

When the driver realizes that he is going way too fast, he thinks to himself that what he is doing is not wrong because there is no one else on the road that he is hurting by what he is doing. He decides to keep going at 80 mph instead of the posted 55 mph maximum speed.

About 25 miles down the highway, the driver notices flashing lights coming up behind him and realizes that a state trooper is coming after him. He pulls over and tries to tell the officer that what he was doing was not wrong because he was not hurting anyone else by what he was doing.

After all, there was no one else on the road with him at all. Of course, the office does not buy his argument and tickets him heavily for going way above the speed limit.

Just as the trooper in this illustration did not buy that what this driver was doing was right to do just because the driver thought that he was not hurting anyone, so God is not going to excuse anyone who breaks one of His laws simply because he thought that what he was doing was right to do because he thought that he was not hurting anyone else by what he did. Whatever God says is wrong to do is wrong to do whether we think otherwise because we think we are not hurting anyone by what we are doing.

To read the good news of what God offers to all of us because we have done wrong before Him, please read this post.

* My version maintains the key points of the illustration as it was told by Pastor Minnick. I wrote this version because I wanted to share this great illustration with others and do not have the time to listen to the illustration over and over again and transcribe it exactly as he told it.

In Evangelism, Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit

A Widespread, False Assertion about Corinthian Prostitutes and Paul’s Teaching about Head Coverings

April 18, 2015

Have you ever heard that Paul taught the Corinthians that it was shameful for women to cut their hair short or shave their heads because that was what the prostitutes in Corinth did? Pastor Minnick recently pointed out that Gordon Fee, who is a highly devoted egalitarian, wrote in his standard commentary on First Corinthians that there is zero historical evidence for that idea!

Here is what Fee has written about this very widespread false explanation for why Paul wrote what he did:

“It was commonly suggested that short hair or a shaved head was the mark of Corinthian prostitutes . . . But there is no contemporary evidence to support this view (it seems to be a case of one scholar’s guess becoming a second scholar’s footnote and a third scholar’s assumption).”¹

The apostle Paul did not teach what he did in 1 Corinthians 11:5-6 because Corinthian prostitutes cut their hair short or shaved their heads. For a superb treatment of why Paul did teach what he did about head coverings and much more, I encourage you to listen closely to this recent message by Pastor Minnick: Harmonizing 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14.²

¹ Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians in NICNT, 511

² For clear biblical evidence that shows that Paul is speaking about an external head covering, see my post Haman, Head Coverings, and First Corinthians 11:1-16.

In Interpretation, Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit, Quotes

Archives For Mount Calvary Baptist Pulpit

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Preaching, Teaching, and Scripture Reading

Music Ministry

Other Ministry

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: