Notes taken from Chapter 1 of Paul’s Certainties by J. D. Jones. The book takes its name from this sermon. I think I could summarize the message this way: “There many things we don’t know and some things we do know. The things we do know are so certain that they give us strength to bear those things we do know.” “The &r…
In 1898 a young man named J. D. Jones became the pastor of the Richmond Hill Congregational Church in Bournemouth, a popular English seaside resort. The church building is located near the Central Square so that whoever preached there could draw people from all directions. That’s what J. D. Jones did for 40 years. He was called “the man…
Quickly now, a scene from a war move called Force 10 From Navarone. The good guys (led by Harrison Ford and Robert Shaw) have to blow up a bridge in Yugoslavia that is vital to the Nazis. After many harrowing adventures, including a plane crash, numerous shoot-outs and daring escapes, the good guys find and kill a German spy and then they go a…
After months of work our new video page has just gone live. At the same time our homepage has been redesigned to emphasize our new video content. If you check out the video page, you’ll see that we have video of sermons, interviews, answers to questions on our FAQs page, a video called “The Heartbeat of Keep Believing Ministries,”…
A few days ago bestselling author Anne Rice announced on her Facebook page that she is quitting Christianity. She started the ball rolling with this announcement:For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or t…
This week at Word of Life I preached through the book of Jonah using the theme “Outrageous Grace.” God seems to have used the messages to touch many hearts. Just this morning as I was walking back from breakfast, a woman stopped me and said that the messages had given her a lot to think about. “I never realized how much I’m …
A few weeks ago, I was conducting an “Ask Pastor Ray” session at Cannon Beach Conference Center. One of the questions I received was “Where does the world stand in the light of Bible prophecy?“.This is a question many people are asking in these uncertain times! 2 Timothy 3:1 says that in the last days “terrible&rd…
An email arrived from a friend with some discouraging news. She and her husband had launched out on a new venture that, so far at least, has not worked out, putting them in some financial difficulty. A friend at their church urged them to consider applying for help from a fund set up for that purpose (I am leaving out some identifying details). Wha…
Two things made me stop and think . . . 1) This editorial cartoon by Jeff Stahler of The Columbus Dispatch seems to perfectly catch the mood of so many people today. I cannot remember a time when I have encountered as much genuine anxiety in so many places among so many places. Truly we live in unsettling times.2) Writing in Mere Comments, La…
Since Monday I’ve been speaking on the of “Outrageous Grace” from the book of Jonah at Pinebrook Bible Conference. After I finished my final message tonight, it occurred to me that I left one important detail hanging in the air.Did Jonah ever repent?We know that when God told him to go to Nineveh (in modern-day Iraq), he boarded a…