Gospel – PaulThompsonBlog

Come and Get Me Next!

Posted on February 22, 2021Leave a comment

“Come and get me next!”

This is what every pastor in Canada, and the USA, should say this coming Lord’s day as they unlock their church house, and every born-again believer should say while exchanging their pajamas for their Sunday best as they prepare to gather in person on the Lord’s Day.

I’m convinced we need to stop saying we are living in unprecedented times and should rather call the day unpredictable. I don’t know of many people who could have predicted this would be happening in North America. However, this would be more accurate and in accord with the normal Christian life around the world. The problem is that the God-hating world doesn’t understand that Romans 13 is not theirs to interpret according to their philosophy.

This past Lord’s day, James Coates, pastor of GraceLife Church in Alberta, Canada, spent his day behind bars (and still is) because he, and his church, refused to comply with government mandates that unnecessarily restrict the gathered people of God. Seen by some as an act of civil disobedience, I call it humble obedience to the Almighty God who holds sovereign authority of the church.

The western church needs to be reminded of the days when the church was on the vanguard or at the tip of the spear of the great gospel advancing days of the last missionary expanse to the ends of the earth.

Think about it… when have you heard or seen a faithful shepherd say anything like C.T. Studd in his missionary article “the Chocolate Soldier”.

“In peace true soldiers are captive lions, fretting in their cages. War gives them their liberty and sends them, like boys bounding out of school, to obtain their heart’s desire or perish in the attempt. Battle is the soldier’s vital breath! Peace turns him into a stooping asthmatic. War makes him a whole man again, and gives him the heart, strength, and vigor of a hero.”
C.T. Studd

Battle cures the asthmatic church from her gasping for life. When the church forgets her duty and takes off her gospel shoes she will soon be a melted goo of chocolate because she set her shield down while getting too close to the flame and can no longer hold the shape of her former condition.

Are your gospel shoes in the back corner of the closet? Maybe you donated your gospel shoes to the Salvation Army? This much is most likely true, your gospel shoes have likely never been worn on the battlefield.

Finally, I want to lovingly say to my brother pastors who are not holding in-person gatherings. It’s time to relocate the keys to the church house and open the doors. There is a brother who has been found obeying God and charged by men as being a danger to society. I refuse to let this kind of brother stand alone on that field.

I’m praying for you. I’ve got you covered. You are not on the battlefield alone.

The Law Demands an Answer

Posted on December 24, 2019Leave a comment

Following is the preaching text (not narrative text) of my Christmas Eve service, December 24, 2019. Most of my sermons are hand written. But my tradition at Christmas is a typed bullet point text. Rarely do I write manuscript text of sermons.

Merry Christmas!

___________________________________

The Christmas story answers the law – The death, burial, resurrection crushes the enemy, death.

The Law demands a payment.

The payment is death of a worthy sacrifice

This worthy sacrifice must be blameless from beginning to end.
This worthy sacrifice must not be guilty of trespass against the Law, ultimately the Law Giver.
Because the payment for this sin requires death of the worthy sacrifice it becomes necessary for the sacrifice to be human.
God is altogether different than human, thus it would be fitting for God to put on human flesh to be the qualified, worthy sacrifice. Not just that Christ must take upon him a created nature, but that he should take upon him our nature. Not the nature of an angel, not the nature of an animal, but the nature of man.
This is God’s way, not God’s problem he is required to fix.
- Man broke the law of God – it is required of man to pay the penalty for breaking the law. God told man to “not eat of the tree.” This was a command to man, man is guilty.
- Man was told he would surely die. Not another thing, but “he” – mankind.
- The same place (temporal day with time/space/motion) that man broke the law would require man to satisfy the demand of the law.
The only solution was God’s doing… INCARNATION
- He would be born from the womb of the human race. Making him truly, the Son of Man. Like Adam, the uncreated God put on created flesh. Not the way of natural conception, but rather by the Power of the Holy Spirit.
- Christ was formed in the womb of an actual virgin. Not of a fallen man. Not by physical intercourse (God is spirit and must be worshiped in spirit and truth).
His birth, though conceived supernaturally, was of a common, simple way. Not of royalty of men, but in a manger in Bethlehem as foretold by God so that when it happened men might know it was God.
His birth was “in the fullness of time”. This is similar to how Isaiah tells God’s people that he is unlike the worthless idols of the imaginations of men who cannot tell of things before they happen.
- It was the complete, proper, right time.
  - Why not before the flood? most of the cursed were not yet even back to dust
  - Why not before Moses? Man’s mortality had not fully been known. Sin was well known but the mortality of man was confused.
  - Why not before the formation of the nation of Israel?
  - Why not before the prophets?
  - Why not during the Babylonian era, the Medo/Persian era, the Greacian era?
  - Why after a long stretch of silence and during the Roman era?
  - What qualifies that as the “proper time”?
The Incarnation of Christ came during the worlds greatest, most powerful display of what sinful man could accomplish. And in doing so with no awareness of the creator.
Greater than the act of creation is the incarnation of Christ in the promised city, of a virgin, under the rule of the most powerful nation the world would ever know.
Amos 9:11 “In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches, and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.”
Malachi 4 the announcement of John the Baptist (the last O.T. prophet) after centuries of silence.
The angelic visitation to the shepherds at the timely place, more than at any other time, more than at creation, the angels shout only when the uncreated Christ is incarnated to finish the work of redemption.

Now, Go! The time since the incarnation (including the death, burial, resurrection) is our appointed day. In this time, it is fitting that those whom God has saved from His judgment must be the most active of all time in the missionary cause of the advancement of the Gospel. We are given a command from a military field general, go! Take the field!

The enemy of the Messiah has launched a full front attack. He began with babies. He’s so pathetic in his arrogance that he gives no regard to babies. This strategy is still employed. This has confused the powerful. This causes the foolish to think themselves wise. This numbs the masses. Rise up in our day o church, rise up and shout for joy in Christ.

You deserve hell, Christ secures heaven.

You deserve death, Christ gives life.

You deserve the wrath of God, Christ gives you sonship, with full inheritance.

Special Guests at Eastside Baptist Church

Posted on July 11, 2019Leave a comment

This coming Lord’s day at Eastside Baptist Church we will have two special guest speakers.

July 14, at 10:30 a.m. Scott Brown, pastor of Hope Baptist Church in Wake Forest, NC and president of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches will be preaching. Scott and Deborah Brown are the parents of 4 children and have 17 grandchildren.

____________________________

July 14, at 6:30 p.m. one of our missionaries to Senegal, West Africa will update us of the ongoing gospel work. Matt is a former pastor of NorthRidge Fellowship in Jerome, ID. Matt and Gayle have 3 children.

Both opportunities will be of a blessing to you and your family.

Recent Sermons

Posted on April 30, 2019Leave a comment

Here are the sermons delivered on the past Lord’s Day gatherings of Eastside Baptist Church.

If you ever miss a public gathering due to illness, travel, unexpected conflict, or you want to listen to a sermon again you can utilize our archived sermons at SermonAudio.

Created in the Image of God

Posted on April 4, 2019Leave a comment

Following is my “Pastor’s Corner” column scheduled to appear in the Twin Falls Times News on Saturday, April 6, 2019. If they agree to print it, it will be printed the day before a special feature on transgender citizens in the Magic Valley. To my neighbors who identify as a transgender person, you will find the church of the Lord Jesus Christ loves you enough to speak the truth on these matters. All of humanity should live with peace that God speaks into all passions with truth so we might live in greatest joy by glorifying God in obeying Him.

____________________________________

Created in the Image of God
-by Paul Thompson-

As a Bible believing preacher of a local church, I hold to truth held by the authority of the Holy Bible. Meaning everything is up against this plumb-line. The growing confusion in our culture will continue to unravel the fabric of a pleasant and happy society that governs how we live our lives and how society exists when that same society wants to invite ideas foreign to the laws of nature.

When one considers the most basic starting place for a secure and happy estate, the Bible shows that God’s creation is in happy existence when it obeys God. If one chooses to disobey God, then it would be right to conclude that disobedience of God’s created order would invite unhappiness.

The Bible is clear, God created male and female. In humanity, that is all he created.

Think about God’s creation. He created all things and established them. Day and Night are established. Fish and birds are established. Cattle and insects are established. Humanity is altogether established. The sun is never the moon. Water is never air. Male is never female.

In creation of mankind, the bible clearly describes humanity as male and female. The Bible does not offer another philosophy or path. It is clear that man will want to pervert this truth, but this perversion can not be argued as a biblical truth.

To say that gender no longer matters is to speak against the spoken order of humanity created by God in His image. To speak against the order of God is to say gender no longer matters, the distinctives of male and female are merely socially influenced rather than Holy and unchangeable.

If the sexes were interchangeable or not fixed, this would place the perception of sinful humanity as superior to Holy Almighty God. This attitude places man as the supreme and not God, who is altogether different.

To suggest that there is a fluid transition of the sexes, depending upon how one feels, is unscientific. One would have to reject the scientific clarity of male and female. If one is a male, he will not need to have hormone therapy to manipulate his scientific DNA. If one is female, she does not need to have her anatomy surgically adjusted to match the female gender.

1 Cor. 6 lablels men behaving/dressing feminine as an abomination. With this conclusion regarding men behaving effeminate, it is accurate to conclude that it is also an abomination for a woman to behave/dress masculine. This encompasses the expression of gender identity through clothing, hairstyle, makeup, mannerisms, or even surgery.

To undergoing “sex reassignment surgery” is actually a statement of rejecting the identity of the birth gender. It is a logical flaw to suggest that the gender one was born with is not the correct gender. To undergo reassignment is to acknowledge the current, reject it, and then assign an altogether different gender.

If a blind DNA test were done for Bruce Jenner, the science will tell you he is a male; in spite of his claim, dress, mannerisms, and choice of public restroom. He is a man and cannot be anything but a man, ever. To claim otherwise is an abomination against the image of God.

The duty of the believer in the bible is to exegete the text. In other words, the authority of the text governs the conversation. If the bible says that God created humanity male and female we must let the creator instruct the reader. The reader doesn’t have permission to impose his or her feelings above the authority of the text.

The church that claims the bible to be the “word of God” has no other choice but to accept what God has revealed. To reject this authority or equate other books equal to it is to not be Christian.

As it was from the beginning, so it is to this very day.

(For further reference see Genesis 1:28-29; Genesis 2:23-24; Matthew 19: 3-6; Mark 10: 6-9; Ephesians 5:28-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Pastor Paul Thompson is the preaching pastor at Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho. Eastside Baptist Church gathers on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. www.esbcTwinFalls.com You can email Paul at paul@esbcTwinFalls.com

A Disciple Must…

Posted on October 3, 2018Leave a comment

I was away from my preaching duties for five Sundays. There is only one other time when I was away from the pulpit for this long… Those God ordained days were character building days too.

Just like then, I was blessed with peace of mind that the pulpit of Eastside Baptist Church was secure and in the capable hands of a faithful church with faithful pastors/elders.

Pastor Mark King preached a five sermon series entitled, “A Disciple Must…”

Desire the Word
Continue in Prayer
Worship Daily
Be A Good Steward
Share the Word

Here are all five of those sermons, and I highly recommend all five.

Take Every Thought Captive

Posted on July 24, 2018Leave a comment

Last night I began a new evening series entitled “How Do I Do That”.

The first topic we picked up from Scripture was a matter of controlling our tongue. The background text for this was James 3:1-12 where James warns of the massive damage the tongue can do. Humanity has learned to tame nearly every wild beast on the planet, yet cannot control his own tongue.

How do I do that? How do I live in such a way in this temporal day as to discipline my tongue?

This is a matter that the follower of Christ must take a personal examination to determine how much damage they are capable of with their tongue.

For example: When we find ourselves tempted to be rough and severe towards another, we should first think of the meekness and gentleness of Christ when in the days of His flesh. He is seen in all exchanges in acts of grace toward poor souls. While others spoke harshly of the apostle Paul, they thought ill thoughts of him and questioned his motives he showed that he had a disciple to behave like Christ, his Lord. We too should be sensible of our own shortcomings, think humbly of ourselves when others incite us or reproach us as they did our Savior.

In 2 Corinthians 10:1-6, the Apostle Paul reminds us that we are not separated from the world; we do worldly things altogether different that mere men. We do everything now under the lordship of Christ. Everything we think and say are kept under a crucified, mortified flesh. We must not seek to please the flesh. The flesh must be crucified. The doctrines of the gospel and the disciplines of the church are now our weapons. The old way is “Tit for Tat”. The new way is what I’ll call the “Gospel way.”

The Gospel way is with patient truth not brute force.
The Gospel way is with humility not “I know better than you, you dummy.”
The Gospel way is not the natural way. It is now disciplined. Stop and think, consider, hear, process…
The Gospel way doesn’t think highly of oneself.
The Gospel way doesn’t shut the other person down in a conversation from thinking. The Gospel is not anti-thinking.
The Gospel way doesn’t need a victory in the win column of keeping track. It rests upon truth.

The old way or the fleshly way depends upon ignorance, prejudices, loved lust, imaginations, carnal reasoning, conceits, self boasting.

NOTE: There are times the church needs to exercise sharp discipline with a false doctrine or false professor. But it is never a bully pulpit condition or reasoning. It even is a grace and a mercy of God, this too is the Gospel way.

2 Corinthians 10:5 “…take every thought captive…” is different than to simply modify a behavior.

If all you ever do is modify your behavior you will always be susceptible to doing what you do in your own strength and you’ll always find your flesh too weak to do what only God can do.

See this; your selfish thoughts will never be dealt with, disobedient thoughts are never subdued, worldly thoughts are never conquered, murmuring thoughts are rather encouraged. These are all springs of the outward evils that afflict and curse us.

The Gospel way address the thoughts first.

It addresses the heart. The heart will not give up naturally by brute force. It will require a total captivity of the heart, soul, and mind of man. Without it, all that will ever happen is a behavioral modification that may adjust for a few days but will grow restless under the new desire that never conquered the heart.

The Gospel way addresses the motive.

Here is the message I preached recently addressing this matter.

Sermon Excerpt

Posted on January 17, 2018Leave a comment

Decay of Nations

Posted on October 4, 2017Leave a comment

I began preaching through Isaiah several weeks ago and am very thankful to God for these strong warnings. As one looks and listens to Isaiah warn the nation of Israel it is not missed why they were judged by God so harshly as they ignored God and His preacher.

I began preaching chapter three last Lord’s Day. Here, Isaiah informs the nation of what it will look like as the decay of the nation is in full effect. There are many things along the way that lead to this but Isaiah makes it very clear what the last days of the nation that rebels against God looks like. All nations should look closely at this. All Churches should pay close attention to this. Every family should stop and look into these words. Every professing believer should examine his life closely against the plumb line of holy Scripture.

Here is a general look at the entire chapter three. (Based on Isaiah 3:1-12)

There will be a removal of the great and mighty men. One of the first marks of decay is not a falling away of great men, but a removal of them. There will be a noticeable shortage in the land of wise, prudent, disciplined, discerning, honorable, skilled men of honor and valor.
The shortage of men of honor and valor will be replaced with incompetent, undisciplined, dishonorable, and childish desires will seize them to attract selfish attention upon themselves and prolong childhood by delaying manhood.
There will be a rise of weak willed, moody, rude, arrogant, disrespectful, children who will demand from and oppress the elders. Many cities will notice a shortage of reliable and discerning leaders. Churches will water down the criteria for biblical leadership in light of this great shortage. Children will rule their homes with demanding behaviors that parents will give in to for fear of tyrannical tantrum raging children.
A generation or two of this without widespread correction of course will only intensify selfishness among society at large.
Disrespect for elders becomes the norm of the day. Where there is a lack of biblical social order in the home, in the church, and in the society, anarchy becomes a path most desired and appears appealing to the majority. This kind of chaos replaces peace with widespread unrest.

It is necessary for this progression to happen for a total collapse of a nation. If foolishness attempted to overthrow a nation ruled by men of valor and godly honor it would be thwarted with ease and a corrective course would happen quickly.

The family must recover. Husbands must pray that God would grant them courage and pray that God would give mercy to their wives. Fathers must instruct the children and mothers must gather and nurture the children. Parents must co-labor in this God ordained duty.

Where are you family?

The church must come out of her slumber. Pastors must lead, deacons must serve, congregations must secure the preaching post with heralders of truth. She must advance this gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ without any mixture of the philosophies of men or fallen angels.

Where are you church?

Where the family and church was once the birthplace and training ground that society looked to for principles of justice and good will, the majority are now petri-dishes of undisciplined selfish little boys and girls who demand others give them what they want while redefining and rebuilding a society that more impoverishes and distresses with the markings or the Judges of what it’s like when everyone does what is right in their own eyes and hates that which is true and just.

Arise Church! to your duty! The day demands it! Our Lord commands us!

Go into this day and advance this Gospel, now!

An Open Letter to Crossway Church, Keene, New Hampshire

Posted on September 5, 2017Leave a comment

Dear Pastor Craig Johnson and to the Saints at Crossway Church, Keene, Hampshire,

My name is Paul Thompson, I pastor Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho. This past Sunday evening we had the privilege of having Sam, Sarah, and their sweet children with us as they introduced their hope to soon relocate to Croatia for the training of Pastors, planting churches, and strengthening the church.

I want to express joy in the Lord for the opportunity to meet Sam and Sarah Wulbrandt. It was a blessing to have a few occasions to visit with them while they are here in Idaho and to hear of the desire God has planted in them to obey His word and of the intentional work of your church in Keene, New Hampshire.

Sam and Sarah were so kind in how they spoke of our God and the seriousness of this gospel work before them in Christ. Sam was faithful in his exposition of 2 Timothy. His preaching was timely, passionate, and articulated with the precision of the word of God.

May the Lord be pleased to raise up in our churches many like Sam and Sarah.

To the uttermost with the Gospel,

Paul Thompson
Eastside Baptist Church
Twin Falls, Idaho

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