By Russ Wilkins
Dir. of Missions, Shiloh Baptist Assoc., Adamsville

Focal Passage: Luke 7:40-50 

Several years ago, I was early in my time as a youth pastor and there was a boy in the children’s department that was a “ring tailed tooter.”

Right before I got on staff, he had thrown an unopened coke can in the bonfire. Of course, it exploded, and as a result, a couple of people had minor injuries.

There were always stories about what he and his friends did and just about every one of their Sunday School teachers resigned from teaching. For two years, I heard, “I feel sorry for you when he gets into youth.” [Read more…]

By Russ Wilkins
Dir. of Missions, Shiloh Baptist Assoc., Adamsville

Focal Passage: Luke 6:1-11 

How do we show that Jesus reigns in our life? “But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Why I am starting our focus of the first eleven verses of Luke 6 with a verse from 1 Corinthians 13? That is a fair question so let’s back up and look at those verses from Luke.

Jesus and His disciples are walking through a grain field and the disciples begin to pick some “heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.” Big deal, right? Maybe you’ve done something similar walking through a soybean field or even picking apples off of a tree.  The only problem was that they were doing it on a Sabbath so the “Sabbath police” (Pharisees) were watching and of course they had something to say about it. [Read more…]

By Russ Wilkins
Dir. of Missions, Shiloh Baptist Assoc., Adamsville

Focal Passage: Luke 5:17-26  

This is one of those Scriptures where I love to picture being there. Imagine that you are in a primitive home with very few windows or doors in the first century.

The room would be fairly dark even in the middle of the day. It would be dusty and hot as people were packed in so tight in this room that no one else could fit. People were even outside the windows and the door listening.

As Jesus is speaking, pieces of the ceiling begin to fall in, and your attention is drawn upward. Suddenly, light pierces into the room and you and everyone else shades their eyes to see what was happening. [Read more…]

By Russ Wilkins
Dir. of Missions, Shiloh Baptist Assoc., Adamsville

Focal Passage: Luke 5:4-11, 27-32 

As I am writing this article, we are knee deep in football. The national championship game has been played and there are some exciting NFL playoff games ahead this weekend.

By the time you receive this it will be time for the Super Bowl. I know many of you could not care less about football but just bear with me, I have a point. [Read more…]

By Russ Wilkins
Dir. of Missions, Shiloh Baptist Assoc., Adamsville

Focal Passage: Luke 4:16-30 

Remember how much you loved fast food as a kid and now as an adult the thought of eating it makes you sick. Or how “flybacks” looked great in the 70s but now you can’t imagine having that hairstyle ever again.

Do you remember how convenient it was to have a phone in your kitchen with a cord on it that would reach halfway around the house? Would you ever go back to that now? [Read more…]

By Russ Wilkins
Dir. of Missions, Shiloh Baptist Assoc., Adamsville

Focal Passage: Luke 6:27-38 

This Scripture is too hard to live out so come back next week for a new set of Scriptures to talk about.

Are you still here? Okay, let’s talk about it then. Today’s Scriptures are so challenging and to make matters worse, Jesus is the one who spoke them. They are “red letter” Scriptures. When I think of my faith, I sometimes like the easy faith.

You know, the believe and receive type of faith but Jesus is clear about the “take up your cross daily,” “follow Me” and “no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom” type of faith too. [Read more…]

By Russ Wilkins
Dir. of Missions, Shiloh Baptist Assoc., Adamsville

Focal Passage: Luke 3:7-18 

Occasionally I’ll try to build or repair something around the house. Inevitably, it will always be harder and take longer than I imagined. Why? Because I am not skilled in this area so I am not as prepared as I should be. I believe this is often true spiritually. We rush into God’s presence to “ask a favor”, we call on Him only when we are desperate, or we pray to mark it off of our to do list for the day. [Read more…]

By Russ Wilkins
Dir. of Missions, Shiloh Baptist Assoc., Adamsville

Focal Passage: Luke 2:41-52 

On Passover, the Jewish people would recite Psalm 113-118. In one of those we read “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Jesus, Joseph and Mary would have recited this during the Passover time in today’s reading.

Jesus knew He would be rejected by the very men that were teaching Him and yet He was still mature enough to listen to them as we read in today’s Scripture. [Read more…]

By Russ Wilkins
Dir. of Missions, Shiloh Baptist Assoc., Adamsville

Focal Passage: Luke 2:25-38 

In 2020 there have been some things that we thought were necessities and we thought were so important but then we realized that they were just things we wanted or enjoyed or looked forward to.

Maybe for you it was March Madness. Every year you get excited, fill out your brackets and compete with your friends to see whose bracket did best. It is something you look forward to every year. In 2020, March Madness was canceled. How disappointed were you? [Read more…]

By Russ Wilkins
Dir. of Missions, Shiloh Baptist Assoc., Adamsville

Focal Passage: Luke 2:4-19 

Today’s title is “PROCLAIMED” and the first thing I thought about when I saw that word was the old Fanny Crosby hymn, “Redeemed how I love to PROCLAIM it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; redeemed through His infinite mercy-His child, and forever, I am.”

We think of Luke 2 as “The Christmas Story” as we read about the birth of our Savior; the promised Messiah, but is this where it begins? Why did the angels PROCLAIM Jesus? Why did the shepherds PROCLAIM, “about this Child?” Because that child was and is the redemption of all mankind. [Read more…]