Yahweh our “Rock”–“His Work is Perfect” | Deuteronomy 32-34

Posted on November 29, 2025 by PastorDave

Lesson Notes / Talking Points from another of our recent Sunday School lessons–a very brief survey of some of the most prominent highlights of Deuteronomy…

SS.L10.Deuteronomy 32-34.Yahweh our ‘Rock’–‘His work is perfect’Download
Posted in Bible Studies, Deuteronomy, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Minister of Reconciliation

Posted on November 27, 2025 by PastorDave

THE STORY OF THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST | Lesson 20

These messages/Bible study lessons are over 20 years old. There are 34 of these lessons in the series. I prepared and delivered them over 2005-2006 during my former pastorate. And, yes, I confess that I capitalized on the popularity and cultural interest in the Mel Gibson film which had just come out–though yet to this day, I haven’t seen the movie. But I have studied the Scriptural texts in their historical, cultural, and theological contexts for over fifty years. This is not only the Story of the Passion of the Christ, but more, it is the Story of God’s covenant love and grace in Christ that has redeemed and saved us! I have since shared them with other groups and audiences who have expressed an interest in sharing them still with others. So, I am posting them here in this format as I first prepared them without making any effort to revise or edit them. Since I wrote them in this Word format for the purpose of printing and creating paper handouts, the text doesn’t copy and paste well into this blog space–hence posting only the pdf. I pray God will use them for His Glory, to make Christ known to others, and to deepen our love and worship for God and His marvelous saving grace!

Passion of the Christ.#20.The Minister of reconciliationDownload
Posted in Bible Studies, Lesson Notes, Passion of the Christ, Story of the Passion of the Christ, The Story of the Passion of the Christ | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 1-4 | REMEMBER…LEST YOU FORGET

Posted on November 26, 2025 by PastorDave

Yahweh renews His covenant with the new generation as He prepares them to enter and live in the Promised Land

Lesson Notes / Talking Points from another of our recent Sunday School lessons–a very brief survey of some of the most prominent highlights of Deuteronomy…

SS.L6.Deuteronomy 1-4.God renews His covenant with the new generationDownload
Posted in Bible Studies, Deuteronomy, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 6 | Yahweh’s Covenant of Love

Posted on November 26, 2025 by PastorDave

Lesson Notes / Talking Points from another of our recent Sunday School lessons–a very brief survey of just a few of the most prominent highlights from Deuteronomy…

SS.L7.Deuteronomy 6.Yahweh’s Covenant of LoveDownload
Posted in Bible Studies, Deuteronomy, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pastoral Prayer | Psalm 136 | Thanksgiving to God

Posted on November 24, 2025 by PastorDave

I was asked to deliver our Scripture Reading and Pastoral Prayer during our corporate worship service on 23 November 2025. We cultivate the exercise of ‘praying God’s Word back to Him’ as we have just read it. Our Scripture Reading was Psalm 136. Since this Psalm was written and delivered to the Choirmaster to be read, chanted, or perhaps even sung to a tune long-since lost—and even as a responsive reading with the whole congregation participating—I asked our fellow worshippers to join me as we recited the repeating refrain after each of the twenty-six thanksgiving confessions: “for His steadfast love endures forever.” After our “giving thanks to The LORD, for He is good,” I then offered this Pastoral Prayer as our collective response to God for being so good. For those who have requested a copy of the text of the prayer, I humbly offer it with the prayer that it will contribute to yet more “overflowing in many thanksgivings to God” (2 Corinthians 9.12).

PASTORAL PRAYER | Psalm 136 | Thanksgiving to God

O God,

You are good in every way and all the time.

You are good and goodness in Your very being, Your character, & all Your ways—and all good and goodness comes from You.

You are good to us …

-“You give us life, and breath, and all things.” (Acts 17.25)

-“You richly provide us with everything to enjoy.” (1 Timothy 6.17)

-You have given us Yourself to be our gracious and faithful God…

-You have given us Your one and only Son to be our Redeemer and Savior…

-You have provided for our every physical and spiritual need…

-You have directed the paths and courses of our lives by Your loving purposes and faithful            Providences.

“How shall (we) say ‘Thanks!’ for all the things you have done for (us);

things so undeserved, yet you do to prove Your love for (us)…” ~Andrae Crouch

We confess with our father Jacob: “We are not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love that You have shown to Your servant…” (Genesis 32.10) … but, O God, you have not given us the least of anything! “You did not spare Your own Son, but delivered Him up for us all—how shall you not with Him freely give us all things!” (Romans 8.32) —and in Your rich mercy and lavish grace, “You have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places … in Christ!” (Ephesians 1.3)

And we are here today to thank You! We “enter Your gates with thanksgiving, and Your courts with praise! We give thanks to You…and bless Your Name!” (Psalm 100.4)

You have commanded us in your Word “None shall appear before Me empty-handed” (Exodus 23.15) because our hands and our lives are full of the blessings of God. And you have also commanded us to worship You … always rejoicing with thanksgiving … ‘with our hearts full of joyfulness and gladness—we and our households—for all that You have blessed us.’ (Deuteronomy 12.7; 28.47)

May our worship today—and every day in the conduct of our lives—be happy days … full of thanksgivings to You! (Ephesians 5.20)

Forgive us of our stingy thanksgivings and our grievous sins of ingratitude … whether it be in our bitter attitudes and words of griping and complaining against Your Providences or the private murmurings of our hearts in our discontentment with You … and Your ways with us.

Give us Grace, O God—even in our most painful experiences / our most disappointing turns of events / our darkest valleys / when our souls are scrambled with confusion and our hearts are breaking with grief and all our ‘why?’ questions…–teach us, O God, to ‘give thanks always for all things, in all circumstances’ (1 Thessalonians 5.18) … as we trust in the goodness of Your heart of love for us, and in the wisdom of Your perfect plan for our lives. 

And now…Pastor Will is coming to deliver your Word for us today. May Your Word to us through him fill our hearts, our mouths, and our lives with Grace, hope, joy, and thanksgivings … “For You are good; Your steadfast love endures forever, and Your faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100.5)

And all this we humbly pray—with thanksgiving—(Philippians 4.6; Colossians 4.2) through the merits of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord … Amen.

brbc.11-23-25.PASTORAL PRAYER-Psalm 136Download
Posted in Pastoral Prayer, Prayer | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Covenant Blessings and Responsibilities | Deuteronomy 27-31

Posted on November 24, 2025 by PastorDave

God grants His Covenant blessings to us by His Sovereign Grace, but requires gracious responses of obedience from us–also by His Grace–and ALL through Christ (see Ephesians 2.8-10; Titus 2.11-14; et. al.)

Sunday School Lesson Notes / Talking Points

SS.L9.Deuteronomy 27-31.Covenant Blessings & ResponsibilitiesDownload
Posted in Bible Studies, Deuteronomy, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 12 | Yahweh’s Prescription for His Acceptable Worship [see Hebrews 12.28-29]

Posted on November 17, 2025 by PastorDave

From the beginning of creation and time, God has commanded us that we should worship Him, and Him only–and specifically prescribed how we should do so…

Sunday School Lesson Notes / Talking Points from our current course surveying some of the most prominent highlights in Deuteronomy.

SS.L8.Deuteronomy 12.God’s Prescription for Exclusive WorshipDownload

Posted in Bible Studies, Deuteronomy, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS: “In the beginning…”

Posted on November 12, 2025 by PastorDave

We will be gathering next week for our annual BFM Thanksgiving Conference in New Hope Baptist Church, Dearborn Heights MI. I have been asked to prepare and present a brief historical sketch of the origins of Baptist Faith Missions: how BFM, as we know it, got started and where we have come from to be where we are today.

Since there are so many intricate details providentially woven into the history of our origins, and since some may have forgotten some of the connecting persons and events and others may have never heard of them, I wanted to get some paper copies of the presentation produced so that the attendees could follow the PowerPoint presentation with a more detailed paper manuscript in their hands. But the cost was prohibitive.

So here’s the next best thing (maybe): I have created this post with the text of the manuscript.

Due to time constraints for the presentation, I have left out volumes of details, but I pray this ‘skeleton’ outline of “BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS: ‘In the beginning…’” will be helpful and encouraging. And may we all be as burdened for the glory of Christ through worldwide missions as these were who got us started on our way.

We don’t want to ‘rest on our laurels,’ but we are so indebted and thankful to be standing on them. And we want to wear them well as we continue running our race with perseverance.

“Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”

~Romans 16.25-27

bfm.BFM-in the beginning.presentation text-illustrationsDownload
Posted in Baptist Faith Missions, BFM, MISSIONS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Dogs Who Surrounded Jesus

Posted on October 21, 2025 by PastorDave

THE STORY OF THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST | Lesson 19

These messages/Bible study lessons are over 20 years old. There are 34 of these lessons in the series. I prepared and delivered them over 2005-2006 during my former pastorate. And, yes, I confess that I capitalized on the popularity and cultural interest in the Mel Gibson film which had just come out–though yet to this day, I haven’t seen the movie. But I have studied the Scriptural texts in their historical, cultural, and theological contexts for over fifty years. This is not only the Story of the Passion of the Christ, but more, it is the Story of God’s covenant love and grace in Christ that has redeemed and saved us! I have since shared them with other groups and audiences who have expressed an interest in sharing them still with others. So, I am posting them here in this format as I first prepared them without making any effort to revise or edit them. Since I wrote them in this Word format for the purpose of printing and creating paper handouts, the text doesn’t copy and paste well into this blog space–hence posting only the pdf. I pray God will use them for His Glory, to make Christ known to others, and to deepen our love and worship for God and His marvelous saving grace!

Passion of The Christ.#19.The dogs who surrounded JesusDownload

Posted in Bible Studies, Passion of the Christ, Story of the Passion of the Christ, The Story of the Passion of the Christ | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“O GOD, HEAL OUR LAND!”

Posted on September 22, 2025 by PastorDave

During our quarterly Family Meeting, we set aside some time to discuss, seek counsel from the Scriptures, and pray for discernment to know how we should respond as Christ-followers to this latest season of tragedies, violence, and unrest that has plagued our nation.

And, it is only the latest and most recent season…

We convened a three-pastors panel to address the many issues and questions that we must struggle with:

  • What should we think?
  • What should we feel?
  • What should we say?
  • How should we respond as Christ-followers and representatives of our God, Savior, and King?
  • How should we conduct our daily lives especially under the counsel of Scriptures like 1 Peter 1.17: “And if you call on Him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile…” and 1 Peter 2.11-12: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” … and many other such exhortations.

At the conclusion of the panel discussion, the congregants broke up into small groups among themselves to pray with each other. Then, at the conclusion of these small prayer groups, I led us all in a pastoral prayer. I prefaced my prayer with these words: “When we don’t know how or for what we should pray, the Holy Spirit helps us in our infirmities and weaknesses by interceding for us—mediating the will of God to us, bearing witness with our spirits; and mediating our prayers back to God, bringing us into conformity and agreement with God’s will. I have prayed much over these past few days, specifically to know the will and mind of God concerning these issues—and how we should respond as ambassadors for Christ. I offer some snatches of my personal prayers to you…and ask that you join me as we implore God together.”

I humbly offer it now to you, praying that God will help us all to know how to pray and how to respond in His Name…  

brbc.250921.Pastoral Prayer.Heal our landDownload
Posted in Pastoral Prayer, Prayer | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment