IS 'DEPRESSION" A BIBLICAL RESPONSE?

I must say, if you allow events in your life get to you, you could be in trouble with your emotions. You could get into the secular mode that is called depression. But since I don't believe in depression for more than ten minutes as a biblical response to events in our lives, I try to respond in a manner that will allow me to react better than what my emotions are telling me.

MY PERSONAL TRAINING IN COUSELING:

Since I have my counseling training in several schools of thinking. One in the Liberity University of Life Long where I worked on my master's in counseling. Second, Institute For Nouthetic Studies training for a number of years, while in Kansas as Pastor/Teacher for 17 years. Thirdly, the Master's College where the training emphasizes the proper interpretation and specific application of Scripture in ministering to people. And, a number of other, Charity loves Dr. Bill and Anabel Gillham counseling. And I have a number of other resources on the subject of counseling both in the secular and in the Christian community.

"It is true that NANC (which stands for the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors) once had their office at Faith Baptist Church, Ind, , it is also true that Bill Goode (former Senior Pastor at Faith Baptist Church – now with the Lord) served as a president of NANC. However, FBCM and NANC have always been separate organizations. Technically speaking, NANC is a certifying organization that does counseling training where FBCM is a counseling and counseling training center which is part of the overall ministry of Faith Baptist Church. "I have taken these courses a number of years as well while in Kansas.

MY TOPIC HERE IN THIS POST IS DEPRESSION:

• Depression is the buzzword for our time and culture. Every other commercial seems to be an advertisement either from a mental health institution or a drug company offering a sure cure for people who find themselves depressed. If you have ever been depressed, you know that it is a terrible state in which to exist. It is as if you are carrying around a 300-pound pack on your back, being forced to walk uphill, while having a terrible case of the flu. So those who are depressed will pursue any possibility for a cure. But before a cure for depression can be found, we must be sure we have a proper understanding of this terrible condition.

Depression is the name we have given to the spot where a person has had a “crash landing” after reacting sinfully to one or more difficult or undesirable situations that God has brought into his life. Jay Adams explains depression this way:

• Almost anything can be at the root of the counselee’s depression: a recent illness in which he gets behind in his work, hormonal changes, a reversal of his fortunes, the consequences of simple negligence, guilt over a particular sin, self-pity arising from jealousy or a disadvantageous turn of events, bad feeling resulting from resentment, worry, etc. The important fact to remember is that depression does not result directly from any one of these factors, but rather comes from a cyclical process in which the initial problem is mishandled in such a way that it is enlarged in downward helixical spirals that eventually plunge one into despair.


• The downward cycle of sin moves from a problem to a faulty, sinful response, thereby causing an additional complicating problem which is met by an additional sinful response, etc.

What is depression?

According to the DSM-IV, a manual used to diagnose mental disorders, depression occurs when you have at least five of the following nine symptoms at the same time:

1. a depressed mood during most of the day, particularly in the morning


2. fatigue or loss of energy almost every day


3. feelings of worthlessness or guilt almost every day


4. impaired concentration, indecisiveness


5. insomnia or hypersomnia (excessive sleeping) almost every day


6. markedly diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activities nearly every day


7. recurring thoughts of death or suicide (not just fearing death)


8. a sense of restlessness -- known as psychomotor agitation -- or being slowed down -- retardation


9. significant weight loss or gain (a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month)

Depression Types (for the secular point of view)

• All depression types are not the same. Major depression, also known as clinical depression, and chronic depression, also known as dysthymia, are the most common types. But there are also other types of depression with unique signs, symptoms, and treatment.
  What is major depressive disorder?


• According to the National Institute of Mental Health, major depressive disorder is characterized by a combination of symptoms that interfere with a person's ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy once-pleasurable activities.


• There are times you may feel sad, lonely, or hopeless for a few days. But major depression -- clinical depression -- is disabling. It can prevent you from functioning normally. An episode of clinical depression may occur only once in a person's lifetime. More often, though, it recurs throughout a person's life.


• In addition, with major depression, one of the symptoms must be either depressed mood or loss of interest. The symptoms should be present daily or for most of the day or nearly daily for at least two weeks. Also, the depressive symptoms must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning. The symptoms cannot be due to the direct effects of a substance -- drug abuse, medications -- or a medical condition, such as hypothyroidism, nor occur within two months of the loss of a loved one.

And what happens, how the culture and the medical field define depression, we as Christians pick up the same definitions, and symptoms. And as a Christian believer we all could say we have some form of depressive symptoms daily.

Of course most people know the symptoms:

• Most of us know about the emotional symptoms of depression. But you may not know that depression can cause physical symptoms, too.


• In fact, many people with depression feel pain or other physical symptoms. These include:

1. Headaches. These are fairly common in people with depression. If you already had migraine headaches, they may become worse if you're depressed.
   
2. Back pain. If you already suffer with back pain, it may get worse if you become depressed.
   
3. Muscle aches and joint pain. Depression can make any kind of chronic pain worse.
   
4. Chest pain. Obviously, it's very important to get chest pain checked out by an expert right away.


5. It can be a sign of serious heart problems. But chest pain is also associated with depression.
   
6. Digestive problems. You might feel queasy or nauseous. You might have diarrhea or become chronically constipated.
   
7. Exhaustion and fatigue. No matter how much you sleep, you may still feel tired or worn out.


8. Getting out of the bed in the morning may seem very hard, even impossible.
   
9. Sleeping problems. Many people with depression can't sleep well anymore. They wake up too early or can't fall asleep when they go to bed. Others sleep much more than normal.
   
10. Change in appetite or weight. Some people with depression lose their appetite and lose weight. Others find they crave certain foods -- like carbohydrates -- and weigh more.
    
11. Dizziness or lightheadedness.

I guess all of us have had some of these physical symptoms at one time or another.

So it seems we all at times want to get depressed when we have these physical symptoms. Well maybe we don't want to get depressed, but we do.

DEFINE DEPRESSION: Biblically. While I do not see the term depression in Scripture, there are other terms that might describe the word.

1. Overcome by fear
   
2. Anxiety
3. Worry

SO IT'S TRUE WE ALL AT TIMES STRUGGLE WITH THESE SYMPTOMS.

And if I read the scripture correctly, it is SIN to be overcome with fear, worry and anxiety.

So the issue is how do we control our emotions, our fears, our worry, or anxiety?

• Life is hard and full of drama and we respond in various and troubling ways. People have problems and tend to react problematically, struggling with big and small issues alike: everything from annoying habits that are hard to kick to full blown addictive behavior, from little conflicts in relationships to complete communication break down, from anxious thoughts and mild anxiety to severe panic attacks and the deepest, darkest depression. Human beings often live lives of quiet desperation, wearing masks, fearing what others think, feeling like hypocrites, longing to be different, but having no real hope for authentic and lasting change.
• 
  
• I will address in another post. Which will deal with:

• Biblical counseling is built on the simple truth that God has spoken to us in his Word, and revealed everything we need to know about him, ourselves, and how to live in his world. The Lord, who made us, sees, evaluates and speaks to every aspect of human life and understands the deepest complexities and struggles of the human heart. Scripture speaks to the heart, where we trust and love either the true God or some other God-replacement in our lives such as pleasure, control, peace or prosperity. The Bible is not an encyclopedia or a how-to book of techniques for change, but rather a grand story of redemption that ultimately points to a relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. It is in relationship with this Jesus –through his life, death, resurrection and rule that people become different and experience true and lasting change in the midst of their various human struggles.

We will review some Biblical ways of handling these emotions and struggles

The Creation of Day Five Continues

Creation Day Five The Birds from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

July 29 2009, Charles E. Whisnant, continues the lesson on Creation from day five. Part one of the lesson.

1. When God created the fish and all those mammals and all those animals, whether you're talking about fish or whether you're talking about whales, or whether you're talking about sea-going dinosaurs, or whether you're talking about eels, or whether you're talking about plankton or whatever anywhere in the food chain.
2. When God created all of that there was no evolutionary process,
   He literally in a moment spoke into existence all the creatures that swim...just instantaneously at the same moment on the same day they call came into existence.
3. They were not somehow in a process of development as species evolved into other species and mutated into other species.
4. They were all instantaneously created in massive abundances moving through the seas.

The Large Sea Monster continue from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

Part two from the lesson by Charles e. Whisnant July 29, 2009 at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church. 2 of three.

• Isaiah 27:1 you have mentions of these sea gods who were so much a part of Canaanitish culture, when the children of Israel went into the land of Canaan, they came across this Canaanite poetry, Canaanite legends about the gods taking on the form of these great sea monsters.
• So the sea monster then became a picture of the principle of evil, the anti-God evil was sort of personified in the great sea monster, the great dragon of the sea, the great dinosaurs of the sea. A number of verses, as I said then, refer to leviathan, the great sea monster...always seemingly depicted as the great enemies of the true God, implying that they were somehow a super-natural deity or supernatural force that rose up against their creator. That was all in the ancient epics.
  
  
  

The Sea Monster and Reproduction of Life from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

Part three of lesson from Genesis 1:24 Creation Day 5 Charles E. Whisnant, July 29, 2009

If you study the Old Testament you find several Old Testament references to sea creatures. There's Leviathan, remember reading about Leviathan? Leviathan is this massive, massive, powerful sea creature. Job 41:1 God, you know, says to Job, "Where were you?" you know, can you...He says, "Where were you when I created everything?" And then He comes to chapter 41 and He says, "Can you put your hooks in and control leviathan?" And then he goes on to describe this massive beast, fierce...you can read Job 41:1 yourself and read the characteristics of this beast. I wrote a little note on it. Some have suggested it might be an alligator or a crocodile, but they're not in the sea as such. The best guess is that He's describing some kind of dinosaur, some kind of massive sea-going monster, leviathan.

John Piper says we should guard the powerful role of preaching in worship.

What are your thoughts on drama and movie clips in church services?

Should churches use movie clips and drama to get people in to the church, and make preaching better?

Paul Talkes about Living life and Heaven

To Stay On Earth to Serve or to go to Heaven from Charles E. Whisnant on Vimeo.

Paul's Take on Earth living or Heaven

Paul's Desires And God's Choice from Charles E. Whisnant on Vimeo.

Four Options To The Creation of Universe

Only Four Options for the Origin of the Universe. from Charles E. Whisnant on Vimeo.

Now Sproul says there are only four options for the origin of the universe. You only have four.

1. Option number one, the universe is an illusion, it doesn't exist. That's option number one.
2. Option number two, it is self-created.
3. Option number three, it is self-existent and eternal.
4. Option number four, it was created by someone who is self-existent.

Sproul says there aren't any other options.

1. Either it doesn't exist
2. or it created itself,
3. or it always existed,
4. or somebody created it.

Rivers of Joy Baptist Church

Pastor/Teacher

The Choir at Rivers of JoyBaptist Church

Now isn't this a fine couple

Bible Study is our objective. Teaching the Bible is our objective in all our services.

BILL AND LINDA ALDRIDGE, ELDER

BOB TEMPLE, CHURCH'S WORSHIP LEADER AND CHOIR LEADER

BILL BOWER OUR ASSO. PASTOR

CAUTION: ALTAR CALLS ARE NOT IN THE BIBLE.

REASONS NOT TO GIVE AN ALTAR CALL

One might ask as I am often ask when I mention that I don't give an altar call. "But what about Romans 10:9, 10?" There we read, "…that if you confess with your month the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

For some reason some believe if one is going to be saved, that person needs to go forward in a church service. And they use Romans 10 to address this issue.

So does God require a person to be saved in church, at an "altar call," in order to be saved?

Simple answer: NO.

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

The "saved" Paul speaks of here is not salvation from damnation, but salvation from the damages of sin in present-day living. How does one escape these damaging consequences?

Paul's answer is, "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness." The words "believes unto righteousness" are a translation of the Greek word for "justified" – the same word used in Romans 5:1. There we read, "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God." Paul continues in Romans 9:10, "And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."


So what does "confession is made", that is the point here. Do we need to made a confession in an altar call to be saved?

The point could be made.. One becomes a Christian by trusting Christ call in his heart. But to experience victory over sin, one must be willing to confess Him publicly. Which doesn't mean at an altar call, but to confess Christ before friends, and family.

Confession is important not for justification, because salvation is by Christ alone, but instead for living the Christian life. Need help making such a confession? Paul exhorts them to "Call upon the name of the Lord" (Romans 10:13), a phrase that has the idea of worshipping God and invoking His assistance (cf. Acts 9:13-14, 1 Timothy 2:22). These statement do not refer to getting saved. But calling upon the Lord after one has already received the gift of salvation from our Lord.

It is therefore not surprising that Paul continues in Romans 10:14-15 by saying, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!'" Note the clear distinction made between a public profession of Christ and believing in His name.

In Scripture, a public confession of Christ is never made a requirement of salvation.

To continue....

GOD'S WONDERFUL CREATION OF BIRDS AND FISH

CREATION DAY FIVE

The series on Creation and Origns.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY

RIVERS OF JOY BAPTIST CHURCH

MINFORD OHIO

JULY 22, 2009

GENESIS 1:20-21

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moved, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

-

Why did bring up great whales or literally sea monsters? Genesis 1: 21 And God created great whales, sea monsters. Hebrew word is tannin

Video of the sermon forth coming.

So Few Have Died So Hard

The sermon was okay, the video stop recording after 22 minutes. Of course there are times when you feel negative about how you are delivering the message.

How Few There Are Who Die So Hard! from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

There are some who die hard in ministry, in sharing the Word of God to a lost world. This message from Philippians 1. This introduction to the message. While the video stopped at 22 minutes, I might record the last half of the message.

Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) was an American Baptist missionary, lexicographer, and Bible translator to Burma. Is the subject of this lesson I gave at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church July 19, 2009.

Ann Hasseltine Judson

• (1789-1826): Teacher, translator, author and first missionary wife of Adoniram Judson, she was the first American woman missionary to go overseas. Born in Bradford, Massachusetts, Ann became a Christian at sixteen, studied at Bradford Academy, and taught school for several years. Married Adoniram on February 5, 1812, and within a few days they began a four month ocean journey with some other missionaries on the brig "Caravan" bound for Calcutta, India. Ordered to leave India, the Judsons went to Rangoon, Burma, arriving on July 13,1813. Ann learned the Burmese and Siamese languages, did translation work, taught Burmese girls, and managed her household and cared for her husband during his 18 month imprisonment in 1824-25. When home in the United States briefly in 1822 because of ill health, she wrote a history of the Burmese work titled American Baptist Mission to the Burman Empire, which was published in 1823. She died October 24, 1826, at the age of thirty-seven. Both a son, Roger Williams (born 1815) and a daughter, Maria (born 1825) died in infancy (8 months and 27 months respectively).
• 
  

Sarah Hall Boardman Judson.

• (1803-1845): Translator, author, hymnist and second missionary wife of Adoniram Judson. Born in Alstead, New Hampshire. Her family knew the Judsons well, and when she was thirteen she wrote a poem on the death of the first child of Ann and Adoniram. Sarah and George Dana Boardman were married in 1825, and went to Burma to work with the Judsons. Later they settled at Tavoy to work with a mountain tribe (Karens), where she founded a school for girls. Her husband died in 1831, and she continued the work with her small son, George. Sarah married Adoniram in 1834, nearly eight years after the death of Ann Judson. During eleven years of marriage, they had eight(?) children: Abby Ann (born 1835), Adoniram Brown (born 1837), Elnathan (born 1838), Henry (born 1838; died age 1 yr., 7 months), Luther (stillborn, 1841?), Henry Hall (born 1842), Charles (born 1843), Edward (born 1844). She translated hymns and other materials into the Burmese language. She died September 1, 1845, exhausted and ill, on a ship sailing back to the United States.

Emily Chubbuck Judson (1817-1854):

• Author and third missionary wife of Adoniram Judson. Born in Eaton, New York. She was a professional writer under the pen name of Fanny Forester. Judson had read some of her writings and contacted her to write the biography of his second wife, Sarah. After working together on the biography, their acquaintance lead to their being married in 1846, about a year after his return to the United States following the death of Sarah. They returned to Burma, where Emily finished the biography of Sarah, which was published in 1848. They had two children, a daughter Emily, born in 1847, and a son Charles, born (and died) the same day in 1850, three weeks after the death of Judson. She returned to the United States in 1851 and died of tuberculois in New York in 1854.

11 Things You Might Not Know About Apollo 11

11 Things You Might Not Know About Apollo 11

On Wednesday Night, our Bible Study is on Creation. God was there Proverbs 8 gives us an insight into the wisdom of God, and Christ. Proverbs 8:22-31. The Eternal Eternity of the Godhead.

Apollo Sites Spotted by Lunar Scout

Space.com

Skip over this content

(July 17) - For stubborn folks who still believe the Apollo astronauts never landed on the moon, NASA has new images — definitive proof — that clearly show the Apollo 11 lander that carried the first astronauts to the lunar surface 40 years ago.
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The images were taken by NASA's first lunar scout in more than a decade, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. They show the Eagle lunar lander at Tranquility Base, where Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on July 20, 1969. They were snapped between July 11 and 15 of this month and released by NASA on Friday.

THE LORD'S GLORY AND MAN'S DIGNITY

The Complexity and Diversity of God's Order of Creation

God's Amazing Diversity in Creation 1 of 3 from Charles E. Whisnant on Vimeo.

God's Amazing Diversity in Creation 2 of 3 from Charles E. Whisnant on Vimeo.

All living organisms characteristically have three properties.

1. They are self-sustaining, that is they have the capability to sustain their own life, like those little tiny, tiny wheels going around inside of you. They are self-sustaining.
2. Secondly, they are self-repairing. That is they fix themselves as they go.
3. And most definitively, they are self-reproducing. A wheel of life machine is self-sustaining or self-perpetuating, self-repairing and self-reproducing.

So far we have never by all of our science been able to manufacture anything like that. We can't come up, for example, with a computer that sustains its own life and its own energy, repairs itself and has little computers. You don't have such a machine.

The Complexity and Diversity of God's Creation 3 from Charles E. Whisnant on Vimeo.

I AM GOING TO PUT THE LESSON OUTLINE OVER ON MY CHURCH (click)

Why Another Social Network Service?

So why do I need another social network service? I don't really. But trying to reach different groups of people is the purpose. So what about BEBO? Don't know? But I have signed up and posted some events with photos and also some Blog post.

I don't believe you need to sign up. You can. But I believe you can go to this link and just look at my bego. http://bebo.com/cwhisna so we will see if that works.

I have posted on bebo two events: Alan Harris family event and Chad Whisnant birthday event.

Family as a teen great

My sister Ellen came across this photo of our family, that I had not seen, I was there but don't remember.

Chad R. Whisnant one find young man

TODAY JULY 12, 2009 IS MY SON'S BIRTHDAY
THAT IS OUR BOY CHAD

The Drama Of Coming To Minford

The drama of coming to Minford
Upon arrival Alan and Angie to our house, they had come from a Wedding
and a wanted a photo shot for the Sunday church bulletin.
I of course turn this photo in a different slant.

Just before leaving to go back to Connersville, Becky took this photo

Of course we love the Harris's, for over 28 years.

Yesterday and today Charity and I visited with our 28 year friendship with Alan Harris and 25 with Angie Harris. There is always some drama when they come. Well, this date was no different. When we went over to set up for the Sunday Service, we discovered there was a major storm and the electric was out.

The show must go on, and they set up for their program on Sunday.

Today when I got to church, I discovered that the electric was still out and the program went on. With the door open, a little light was able to get in and the 11 a.m. service was on.

Alan is a very good evangelist preacher. He has a heart for people. And today, again as he has done for the last 25 years, gave a great, biblical, and powerful, passioned delivery of the sermon.

I tease him that it will take me a month to get our people back on track. Our people love good evangelist preaching. That is why I like Alan. I am a bible teacher by design. I am not an evangelist. Alan is one of the better biblical ones.

While they had trouble with the music today, Anthony Harris was able to sing two songs. But come to thank about it, Alan did not sing at all.

Our folks was blessed and so were we.

Charity as she does so well, had a great dinner at the house. She is one of the very best persons I know who does a great service in cooking and taking care of the needs our our guest, friends and family.

Alan and Angie are perhaps one of the best teams in ministry today. They are honest, love the Lord, love their ministry, love their kids, love their friends, and love to reach people with the Word and music.

Alan Harris Family Connersville, Indiana

ALAN AND ANGIE HARRIS WILL BE OUR GUEST SUNDAY JULY 12, 2009
11:00 A.M.

RIVERS OF JOY BAPTIST CHURCH
State Route 139 and Shade Lane
Minford Ohio
740 353 0525

Grtand daughter visits her grandfather

This Is Pretty Cool Party

How Huge Is The Universe Sermon

WHICH IS BIGGER IN LENGTH, THE UNIVERSE OR THE BRAIN IF LAID OUT STRAIGHT

GOD’S CREATION DAY FOUR
GENESIS 1:14-19
CHARLES E. WHISNANT
RIVERS OF JOY BAPTIST CHURCH: JULY 1, 2009

OUTLINE

If God did not create all this vast universe and all that is in it, then we are really just wasting our time on this subject.

Evolution has struggled incessantly to explain all the bodies that exist in the universe.
When Genesis one says that God made the stars along with the moon and sun, it is saying something about His immense power.
Light travels 186 thousand miles a second, or six trillion mills a year.

• The speed of light normally refers the speed of light in a vacuum, and is an important physical constant in modern physics. Light travels at different speeds through different materials, but in vacuum light travels fastest, and the speed does not vary with the color, intensity, or direction of travel.


• This is roughly a million times faster than sound, and fast enough to circle the Earth more than 7 times in one second.

Day Four Light Years, DNA and the Brain. from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

Charles E. Whisnant, Wednesday Night as it was recorded on Creation: Day Four. Part one of the message. July 1, 2009

OUTLINE

The Milky Way Galaxy is the spiral galaxy we call home, and so do 100 billion other stars.

• There are 50 billion galaxies in the known universe.

• The end of the Andromeda galaxy which is approximately 2.5 million light-years away, and . contains one trillion (1012) star and close enough to earth to be seen with the naked eye.
  
• Most stars that you see are not actually stars, but are rather multiple star systems revolving around a center mass.
  
• The edge of the known universe is over 20 billion years of travel with about 50galaxies behind it with about a hundred billion stars.
  
• Psalms 8:3 Job 26:14

Genesis explains all this by saying this, ‘HE MADE THE STARS.”

Day Four God Created the Stars from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

Charles E. Whisnant, Wednesday Night July 1, 2009 Bible Lesson, part two of Day Four

Charles E. Whisnant Message pt 1 from July 5, 2009

So I am standing in my library office.

Our men are a little funny sometimes.

Rivers of Joy Baptist Church, might be the only church in Ohio that has more people in the choir than in the seats. But that is good, in a sense. They were practicing Sunday Evening before the service. They do really have a good time, and Bob Temple has really done great, and Johnny Edwards who plays the piano really does well too.

Paul is the Example of what he wrote from Charles E. Whisnant on Vimeo.

Music in a different style

Uncle Chuck sent this to me email tonight. This is rally great. Thanks.

Reflection Over the Last Year at ROJBC

Charity and Charles E. Whisnant today July 05 2009, one year later at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church, in Minford Ohio
I am sitting in my library today

Charity gets this photo of me teaching in the Bible Study today

Okay who are these men?

Bob Temple, Jimmy Grant and Bill Aldridge

today.

Today we started our second year at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church, Minford Ohio. The last year, what a great time. Simply "Wild." And ithas been for a year.

How do you measure the last year in terms of "wild?" By amazement.

• The Lord has allowed us to be in this church for a year. The Lord has allowed us to preach and teach, sometimes four times a week. The Lord has brought to our church some great people. Bill and Mary Bower, who now is our asso. pastor and they are just a blessing. Pauline Lesmaster and her son Richard, Pauline teaching with Frankie the teens, and sings special and is in the choir. Richard takes up the offering and sings in the choir. John and Peggy Hall, Peggy is now my "pastor's secretary." Then Kindra Tumbleson joins us with her daugher Amber and Gavin. And Bob Temple has joined us, he now is our asso. pastor as well, and is our worship leader.
• To have four preachers in your church is "wild" plus four.
• To see the church support Charity and I for this whole year is "wild." I keep saying that.
• To lead the church into Eldership leadership is "wild."
• To see a great choir, in which the numbers are bigger than those who sit in the auditorium is really wild.
• To see those who started out with us in July 2008, Bill & Linda Aldridge, Jimmy & Lois Grant, Johnny & Phylis Edwards, Dorothy Fields, Bill & Janet Ramey, Leona Arthur, Danny & Frankie Dawkins, Stephanie Oppy, Mandy and Brandon have stayed with us.
• We have 99 percent of our folks listed above come in all four services during the week. That is wild. We have some who come when they are able like Rosie, she is a special friend. Others come on special occassion, and we have a few children who come.
• Of course we have had several families leave, that is always true in any change of leadership. Some of the old members came back to see what we were about, and they chose to leave.
• The transition of leaderhip was very smooth. We have thrown the bricks at the membership and they have responded with grace and patience.

What can I say, other than, Praise to the Lord. I pray that the Lord will turn us around as a church body and He will give us the increase as He desires. I pray that we can become a place where He is glorified and magnified and worshipped.

His Only Begotton Son Message Plus

This is the last half of a message I taught on John Three Sixteen. The Johnny Edwards song at the end of the message. Johnny does a wonderful job singing for us each week

Study the Word and Preach the Word

Study the Word from Philippians and First Thessalonians

I was at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church, yesterday, and last night I was studying for the message on Sunday Morning, from Philippians. Usually I teach from First Thessalonians but this week from Philippians. There is great joy in study of the Word. A cup of coffee, good books, a great Bible, John MacArthur, a good pen and paper, and thinking, and grace from the Lord, goes a long way in preparation of a message. Just love this.

The message below is from February 15, 2009 part one. From I Thessalonians

What Is The Truth Paul Speaks Of from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

Do Trips to Argentina South America

TODAY’S NEWS FOUND IN PROVERBS SIX-EIGHT
DO NOT PLAN TRIPS TO Argentina

Charles E. Whisnant

Rivers of Joy Baptist Church June 28 2009

Sunday Bible Study Lesson

TO GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD LOVE AND TO LOST YOUR OWN SOUL

My favorite after sermon comment is the young guy who came up to me three times and said 'That's the worst sermon I ever heard.' Eventually, one of the elders realized he was bothering me but hadn't heard the young man; so the elder put his hand on my shoulder and said 'don't worry about him. He's a bit simple and has a tendency to repeat what he hears others saying...'

Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life. Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. (Proverbs 6:25-29) Or Provers 8:1-6

1. We Christian men need to be diligent with guarding our hearts

2. Ladies, do not underestimate the power of sex in marriage and how important it is to your husband.

3. Realize our sinful actions also impact others.

4. Marvel at how sin can make the most sober-minded, intelligent person to act stupidly.

It ought to serve as a sobering reminder of our own depravity.

Here are some lessons that I'm pondering today in the wake of this news:

1. We must acknowledge that our biggest problem is not "out there." It is "in here."

2. We must measure ourselves against the right standard.

3. We must guard ourselves in our friendships--and especially in our counselees.

4. We must seek accountability.

5. We must be sobered by how our sin affects others.

6. We must repent of putting our hope in people.

7. We must look away to Christ.

To Magnify The Lord Jesus Christ

To Magnify the Name of Christ from Charles E. Whisnant on Vimeo.

To Magnify The Lord in our Living Part Two from Charles E. Whisnant on Vimeo.

The outline of this message is on MyChurch

Philippians 1:20=21