Old Paths Journal

01/01/2025

Discover the five hindrances that prevent people from accepting Christ’s salvation

Paul witnessed everywhere he went. When standing before Felix at his trial, he didn’t waver in giving the Gospel. When he gave his defense

01/01/2025

I would hate to be the type of guy who cast stones at people when they are down instead of trying to help them get back up

01/01/2025

David's greatest mistake that led to the sin and the great heartache he endured at the end of his life was that he tarried still. 2025 is here, and we have a choice to either tarry still in this year, and to be industrious and move forward by faith to make this the greatest year we have lived. If you choose to tarry still, 2025 will be a year of sin and heartache that will follow you the rest of your life. If you make 2025 a year of faith, growth, and moving forward to conquer, this year will become the greatest year of your life.
What are you going to do? My friend, life is short. The Scriptures say in James 4:14 that life is a "vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." We can waste this year by choosing to tarry still, or we can move forward by faith and accept the challenge to make this the greatest year of our existence.
Pastor, I challenge you to make this the greatest year of your church growth. Attempt to do something big for Christ in 2025 that makes your church grow tremendously. Christian, I challenge you to attempt to build something great in ministry. Get involved in a ministry and attempt to move forward to see the greatest year your Christian life has had.
2025 is fresh and waiting for you to either tarry still or take the challenge to make it a great year. Choose to move forward by faith and make it a great year; you will never regret it.

12/31/2024

How daily prayer can empower you to overcome challenges

God was declaring His power as He was saying that He would destroy Babylon. Babylon was the great country of its day; it was the world power

12/31/2024

No work continues to increase with people who have a “me” mindset

12/31/2024

A simple command is given that every believer must follow so they can be an encouragement to others. We are told about the Lord's return in the clouds, that which we commonly call the rapture. We are reminded that when the Lord returns in the clouds, the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive will be caught up TOGETHER with those who preceded us in death to be WITH the Lord. What great words!
However, we are commanded to "comfort one another" with these words. Notice, though these words do comfort us, we are to comfort others with these words. What does comfort mean? It means to encourage others with these words. It means to console people when they have lost a loved one with these words.
My friend, I want to simply comfort you with these words by saying, LISTEN FOR THE TRUMPET! Jesus is coming again! Oh, how the thought of Jesus coming again ought to comfort us that we will be together with our loved ones and with our Saviour. However, these words ought also to comfort us in the fact that we know our labor is not in vain in the Lord. Because the Lord's return is imminent, let us all be busy doing the Lord's works so that when that trumpet sounds, we will found busy doing His work of reaching the lost for Christ.

12/30/2024

How true obedience means following God’s will, even when it brings hardship

The test of your obedience is determined by what the stopping point is to obeying the LORD. Obedience is not

12/30/2024

You will never do anything great for God if you don't put pressure on yourself to attempt great works

12/30/2024

David indicted Abner because he did not protect Saul from the sword. Abner was a mighty man, but his duty to protect God's anointed he left undone. David said that Abner was worthy of death because he had not kept his master.
The word "kept" means to protect. Just like Abner's job was to protect Saul, it is the believer's responsibility to protect their preacher from that which could hurt them. There are many fools who want to attack men who have fallen in sin, and certainly, those men who have fallen in sin must bear their responsibility, but those who did not guard their preacher are also responsible. A believer should protect their pastor from gossip, sin, and those with a negative spirit.
Let me ask you, do you protect your preacher from gossip, or are you part of the gossiping team? You can shut down the gossip quickly by telling the gossip that you will go to the Pastor to discuss what they say is a problem, and you will be sure to let the Pastor know who told you about this. This will shut the gossip down.
Likewise, you can protect your Pastor from those with a negative spirit by running interference. When you know someone is negative and they constantly want to tell the preacher about it, you could easily show up about the same time the preacher does to shake their hand and let the preacher move on without have to listen to the negative of the naysayer.
Moreover, you can protect your Pastor from sin by praying for him. No, you can't physically stop him, but you could pray for him. Let me ask, have you prayed for your preacher today that God would protect him from sin? Don't gripe about preachers falling in sin until you spend much time praying for God to protect your preacher.
Satan is after the pastors of our churches. Let us be those guards that hold them up in prayer, and run guard of the gossips and naysayers who are out to destroy their spirit by being a person who shuts the negative down by spreading the positive that is going on in the church.

12/30/2024

God gave a tremendous way to end out the year with 9 saved, 5 baptized, 1 joining the church, and visitors in attendance in every service. What a blessed year God gave us. Looking forward to the “Miracle of Maranatha” moving forward in 2025

12/29/2024

Your character is what you revert to when difficulties arise

12/29/2024

The admonition of Christ when talking about the armour of God was, "Above all, taking the shield of faith." What was so important about this shield of faith? The shield of faith was able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. What are these fiery darts? When you see that the shield is faith, it is not hard to see that these darts are doubt.
It is interesting that God calls these darts fiery darts. These darts are like a wildfire that will spread and destroy everything in its path. Doubt is like a fire that spreads through your life and destroy any work of faith. The reason we must get rid of any doubt in our life is so that our faith can stay strong and we can accomplish miraculous works with the help of God.
My friend, one of the greatest battles you will fight your entire life is against doubt. Doubt tries to daily slip itself into your life so that it can destroy your faith. Why does the Wicked one want doubt in your life? Because he knows doubt will destroy your confidence, and once your confidence is gone, you will never attempt anything great for God.
The only answer to quenching the fiery darts of doubt is to live by faith. Keep attempting great things for God. Keep stepping out beyond your abilities. God will provide a way over the obstacles along the pathway of faith; therefore, by going forward through these obstacles, you quench these fiery darts. Let faith influence every decision and action of your life, and you will quench the fiery darts of doubt that Satan throws at you.

12/28/2024

The secrets of the early church that built a powerful influence despite historical darkness

To those who think their country is too far gone to build a church in their day, let me remind you that the early church was in one of the

12/28/2024

You cannot continue to run with the wrong crowd and stay with the right crowd. You become like the weakest crowd you run with.

12/28/2024

A sad statement is made about Israel in the days that Saul was king. The statement: "in the day of battle...there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people." Yet, later in the same verse we find the only two people that had a sword was Saul and Jonathan. Here, we find the leaders had a sword, but the people relied on the leaders to fight their battles for them. The problem with this is that the people would face battles themselves, and they needed a sword just like their leaders had one.
One of the biggest tragedies in Christianity is that many people wait to hear what God says in His Word from the leader when they can go to God's Word daily and read from it themselves. Yes, we ought to be faithful to every church service so that our sword is sharper throughout the week, but many people come to church to hear the preacher preach about what he got from God's Word, and that is the only time they get something from God.
I believe the biggest reason people fall in the battle is not because they have fallen in some "big" sin, but they fall because they have not used their sword. Many Bibles lay on a shelf unused until Sunday, and goes back on that same shelf after Sunday night services. The problem is if they don't read God's Word daily, they will fall in a battle they face during the week. The best protection against the daily battles you face is to stay in God's Word daily. Don't rely on the preacher to use the sword, but you need to use the sword by reading God's Word daily. This is the only hope of the battle not overtaking you and causing you to fall in sin.

12/27/2024

Learn how Jesus is the Master of life, joy, and comfort in the midst of heartache

The grief Mary and Martha had when Lazarus their brother had died was great. Both Mary and Martha said to Jesus that if He had been there

12/27/2024

Faithfulness is one attribute God looks for in every person, an attribute that any person can achieve

12/27/2024

One of Boaz’s remarkable character traits was his unwavering commitment to completing his tasks. Not only did he finish what he began, but he also diligently completed each day’s assigned tasks.
This type of character possesses the potential to achieve greater accomplishments in life. Many individuals initiate tasks, but few possess the self-discipline to finish what they start. While it is easy to initiate a project, it requires character to persevere and complete it. The initial excitement surrounding a task often fades as the work progresses, necessitating the development of character to maintain focus and determination.
Between the commencement and the culmination of a task, numerous challenges and obstacles arise. However, the satisfaction derived from completing a goal makes it worthwhile to endure the difficulties encountered.
The key to becoming a finisher lies in the daily practice of completing tasks. Observe Boaz’s unwavering commitment to finishing his work each day. Make it a daily goal to accomplish a specific task. At the end of each day, you need to have checked a box that you completed a task. This mindset of consistent completion leads to the successful completion of all tasks initiated. Developing a finishing mindset involves making a conscious decision to finish what you start each day. By adhering to this principle, you can extend it to various aspects of your life, ultimately achieving the desired outcome of completing everything you set out to accomplish.