Bruce Snavely

We are living in anxious times.  We have more reason for anxiety and worry today than ever.  Our world seems to be ready to explode.  Our country is divided, the world is full of uncertainty and war.  Our budgets are broken, debt is out of control,  and anxiety is prevailing in many hearts.   When Paul the apostle wrote his letter to the Philippian church he was chained and under house arrest in Rome.  For two years he knew no freedom, had few friends, and appeared to have an even more fragile and uncertain future.  However, as he penned this letter Paul appeared to be oblivious to any challenge to his own personal peace.  Remarkably, he reminds the church in verse 5 to continue in an attitude of rejoicing and then reminds the church that Jesus is at hand or near. These are two essential elements for establishing a context in which to live our lives.  It is virtually impossible to suffer anxiety when living in light of these two a...

Now that we have passed the recent and much deserved recognition of the Reformation anniversary a few months ago, it is important that we recognize as Christians another important view of our Christian roots that extend back far before Luther and the rest of the Reformers.  Although Luther and other Reformers helped establish some clear doctrinal tenets that remain fixed features of biblical Christianity today, they were certainly not alone in their efforts to stand for Biblical truth in the face of a morally and doctrinally corrupted church.   In brief terms, Christendom has historically been plagued by two opposing views of the church.  One is that of historical Catholicism and the Reformers, which believed that the Church and the State co-exist to support and extend each other in perpetuity.  This union began with the Roman emperor Constantine who believed that God had given him and Rome victory over his enemy by seeing the sign of the cross of Christ in a vi...

Today, as Christians we celebrate Passover.  For the Old Testament believer, the event had its root in the ancient story of God's deliverance of His people from Egypt in the fifteenth century BC.  On that momentous night Jews were to slay and eat a fresh, young lamb without blemish along with bitter herbs and bread without leaven.  The lamb, chosen by the family for its purity, had been living in the house with them for four days. On that fourth night, after the lamb had been slaughtered, its blood was to be applied to the outside of the front door frame on the sides and top.  God had told them that later in the night,  a death angel would pass through Egypt to judge the nation for its evil treatment of God's chosen people.  That night those who had applied the blood to the doors of their homes would be spared from the death of their firstborn sons, and at the same time were delivered from the tyranny of Egyptian bondage. It was the most glorious occasi...

The world is reeling right now as we speak.  Drought, wild fires, lawlessness, crime,  gas prices, and economic hardship are throttling the planet.  .  So just what is really happening?  What is God doing and why is He allowing all of this now?  These are legitimate questions and they are not out of the realm of possible answers or solutions.  The fact is that God uses these very issues to get the attention of the world as well as the attention of His people.   If we are honest we must admit that our world is fallen, wicked. and off course.  Mankind is sick and the world is estranged from God because of our determination to forge a world without Him.  This is not anything new and God is not going to sit idly by indefinitely while the world careens off the paths of His will for creation. Many today are wondering what all of these events have to do with the book of Revelation and the ultimate fulfillment of prophecy concerning the...

We are well aware that there is a lot that goes on in the name of Christianity that is far from our Biblically-based faith.  I spend a lot of time teaching in developing nations (some not developing), and it is amazing what passes for Christianity in some places.  For example, because of the systemic poverty that abounds in Africa, the prosperity gospel (PG) movement is alive and well. The prosperity gospel, as it is commonly called, promises wealth to those who cannot even buy clothes for their children or send them to school.  The lies of this theology don't come near to what God teaches us in His Word about our stewardship of money and material things, and yet impoverished people will hold out with desperation that it just might work for them to bring them wealth.  It is truly one of life's saddest spectacles, not just for the victims, but for how the Scriptures are cheapened and misused in this process. Jesus said “ It is Written”  on several occasions t...

In the previous blog we discovered two important things about contentment.  The first thing we saw was the fact that contentment does not rest or depend on the performance of others.  If it did a person would be looking to mom, dad, a husband/wife, or literally anyone for the contentment they seek on any given day.  Paul reveals in Phil 4:10 that even though his friends among the church at Philippi hadn't helped him in months, he was not angry or feeling betrayed but rather was very much content. The fact is biblical contentment is the ability to be satisfied with God's provision for me today! How could that be true?  Paul demonstrates in verse 11 that he had  learned  to be content through a litany of life experiences he had gone through in his momentous ministry.  However, the word learned here does not guarantee contentment, it simply bears out the reality of contentment.  In verse 12 Paul uses yet another word in the Greek original which...

One of the key elements of successful living is the art of being content.  It's funny,  but contentment is similar to humility in some ways.  The moment you think you have learned humility you realize how proud you are of yourself!  The moment you think you are content with life, some shiny object attracts your desires.  It's really a never ending process in some ways. However, Paul the apostle taught us how we can truly be content with what we possess, and I want to share his explanation today.  If you have read Philippians 4:10-14 you immediately see several things that contentment involves.  First, it's not about having everything you want, and, therefore, needing nothing!  That is an impossibility.  We always want more even when we have all we want at any given time.  Someone asked Joe Louis, the great boxer how much money it took to make him happy, and he replied, "Just a little more, just a little more."  In our passage Paul...

Very few things come easy in this life.  The things that do come easy are usually not worth much or worth dying for.  Value in our world is normally tied to objects that either have intrinsic worth or become valuable through an extended period of time.  That is the way of the world we live in.  Why? The primary reason is the entrance of sin into our once perfect living environment.  When Adam sinned, his innocence was forfeited along with his unstained conscience and perfect garden world.  The roses that once bloomed constantly would now only be seasonal and would be joined by thorns and thistles.  What was a garden that only required light maintenance, if that, would now demand the sweat of the man's brow and the laborious toil of his hands.  The woman would bear children only through long, intense, and arduous laboring.  Nothing would come easy or without significant cost. Life, therefore, demands persistence.  Edison, the great inve...

Have you stopped to consider your life-span lately?  I'm not trying to be morose or bring on a dark mood, but it really is important to ask ourselves these kinds of questions once in a while to make sure that we stay focused on what is truly important.  Now many will say, "Nobody knows when their time is up, so why worry about it?"   I couldn't agree more!  It is not something to worry about, but it is actually something to plan for! I just got back from a fairly long domestic trip where we invested a lot of time (nearly a month) in our foundation, but intermingled were short jaunts to visit grandchildren and spend valuable time with those we love.  I can tell you that I spent considerable time preparing for nearly every day of that month.  No details were intentionally overlooked or minimized.  From on the road travel schedules to public presentations, we had to consider and plan a ton of minutia.  Sometimes it can get a little overwhelmin...

The Christian life is based on relationship .  It is rooted in your relationship with God through Jesus His Son.  Actually, when a person trusts Jesus Christ to save him or her from the penalty of sin, that person is born into the family of God and becomes an adopted son or daughter with all the privileges belonging to Jesus Himself.  You now have a heavenly Father who stands ready and wanting to meet your physical and spiritual needs.  Just like anyone of us who are parents, we love to have our children come to us when they need something they can't get for themselves.  It provides us with a wonderful opportunity to show our unique love for them!  This is also a spiritual reality and one which most of us as believers either don't fully comprehend or take advantage of in our walk with God. One of the primary relational privileges that we practice as believers is prayer.  Prayer is simply the communication of the believer with God  It can involv...

I remember early in my Christian life I was growing like a proverbial weed when all of a sudden I realized that my spiritual growth had slowed to a crawl.    Why?  I didn't know.  My Christian walk had slowed, and I wasn't enjoying reading the Scripture anymore, but how could this happen?  I honestly couldn't get to the bottom of it. Over the next few days I saw the following verse in I Peter 2.  It hit me right between the eyes and forced me to do something that I would have probably never done on my own.  What was it?  Well, it was simply the failure to forgive.  I had harbored pure hate and anger in my heart for over a decade toward my stepmother who had orphaned me, my brother, and sister, and had stolen my late father's inheritance with the help of a crooked lawyer. For years this hate had literally gotten me out of bed in the morning, and now the Lord, who had forgiven me all my sin, had shown me the toxicity of my own malice and an...

Americans love to shop!   I guess you knew that, but the question is why?  There may be a lot of other reasons for why, but I believe the main reason is because there is an almost limitless number of choices a shopper can make in our economy and culture.  This allows the customer the opportunity to browse and consider what he or she considers to be the best option.  Another reason many people love shopping is the fact that much of what we shop for is not strictly need based.  We may buy it, but we may not really need it to live or function normally.  Consequently, shopping in many ways may just be a random act of being a consumer of unnecessary stuff.  Peoples’ garages are usually filled with it! Personally, I must admit that I do not enjoy the shopping experience, and my usual modus operendi is the "get in and get out approach.”  I would think a lot of men feel the same way.  Of course, there are exceptions, so if you're a man who loves t...

It's easy to live life in mediocrity.  The vast majority of people are satisfied with getting by in life and basically just "surviving.”  I would say that is a recipe for little achievement and an even smaller impact upon one's environment.  One of the greatest enemies of the soul is the mere satisfaction with the way things are........right now.  However, if you desire for more and want to live a life that matters there must be a fundamental difference in the way you view the possibilities around you.  For others, like those James is talking about here in his epistle, there is the danger of living by worldly wisdom and seeking success without God and without the Spirit's guidance.  They had chosen man's ways over God's ways.  The two are often diametrically opposed to each other.  So what did James tell them to do that they might get on the right track? James, the brother of Jesus, who likely didn't believe in his Messiah brother until after th...

Rwanda is entering a new era of productivity and prestige.  Twenty-five years ago nobody would have ventured a Rwandan dollar that the nation would ever come back from near extinction.  In the summer of 1994, over a million Rwandan citizens lay slaughtered over the length and breadth of this small African state.  Genocide had, in a three-month period, bankrupted the moral capacity of the nation.  It was bankrupt in every sense of the word.  The government lay in shambles,  and the populace, which remained, was devoid of any purpose for themselves or those who might come later. Out of that darkness came those who knew that reconciliation between the warring tribes must begin or else the nation would be utterly destroyed from within.  One of those who came forth was our host Pastor Denys, as he is affectionately called, and he began walking and riding a small motorcycle all over the country preaching reconciliation and forgiveness.  He instinctive...

Today marks the beginning of a fresh outreach of training nationals in both Rwanda and Uganda.  In Rwanda,  this marks Global Baptist Training Foundation's  eighth classroom.  In Uganda it will be our second with a third planned for October.  Only God knew when He laid this ministry on our hearts eight years ago that we would now be training indigenous men and woman on three continents in eight countries. In Liberia alone in the past year and a half, in connection with Advance, we have seen one hundred new church plants started with trained pastors, and  every one viable and growing!  Only God can do such things.  The God-sized goal we have set for this country is five-hundred new churches by the close of 2021. In Rwanda this week I will have the privilege of mentoring our newest member of the GBTF team in East Africa, Shinga Fidele.  Fidele will soon begin holding multiple classrooms a year in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Congo, and Burundi ...

We live in an age of cheap grace.  Eric Bonhoffer, the German churchman who defied Hitler and died a martyr, spoke of this kind of grace.  He said, Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?... Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is...

When we become believers in Jesus Christ we begin an eternal relationship with the God of creation and redemption.  Just thinking of that is nearly overwhelming!  However, there is something that is core to our relationship with God that is really at the center of every important relationship in life.  It's called trust.  Without trust, relationship is impossible.  Without trust, friendships cannot be established.  Without trust, marriage will never become what God intends, and without trust, our relationship with God will always be bereft of blessing and joy. Soloman, in his landmark work of Proverbs gave us the key to establishing trust on an unshakable basis in our walk with God, and it stands as the foundation of how all our relationships must be built. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make straight your paths. There are two ...

Growing is not normally something we give alot of thought to....most of the time.  After all, everything God has created appears to grow naturally, especially weeds!  However, in the Christian life there are growing conditions which need to be understood in order for maximum spiritual growth to happen without the weeds.   I've known Christians in my life who have grown almost exponentially from the moment they believed on Christ.  Sometimes they grew so fast it was hard to keep up with them.  Then I have known other believers who appeared to have restraints on their spiritual growth.  What's the difference?  Usually it has to do with the type of person the Spirit of God is working on. One good way to explain this is by using Jesus' parable of the sower and the seed.  In this parable there are four soils; the pathway, the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and finally the good soil.  In the Lord's interpretation of the parable, the only soil which...

Many believers struggle with sin in their lives that is more than just temptation or cultural provocations to sin against the moral standards of God.  These struggles involve rooted habits of behavior that have become part of the personality and, therefore, the practical lifestyle that marks a person's life.  I believe that it is these kinds of spiritual issues that most of us fight against each day when we get out of bed. I remember when I was a new believer in Christ, I had my own set of struggles with sin which seemed to be winning more battles than I was winning in my Christian walk.  I didn't know or immediately understand the kinds of spiritual strategies that God outlined in the Word.  Therefore I had little victory and a lot of defeat early on.  But as I encountered key passages in Scripture that dealt with some of my ingrained lifestyle, victory became more common than defeat.  Let me share one of those with you today. In Colossians 3:5-9, Paul...

Growing is not normally something we give alot of thought to....most of the time.  But growth, just like anything else, needs our focus from time to time.  Let me explain.  When seasons change we are immediately award to it.  When autumn comes, we easily recognize the changes, cooler nights, falling leaves, and that silent preparation for the coming winter months.   When old man winter arrives the days shorten, the trees are barren, and the skys are often grey.  When Spring comes we immediately see the new growth, flowers bloom, and the days slowly get extended.  When summer arrives we welcome the longer, hot days of joyful summer.  But summer as it arrives this year, we need to be reminded of one other steady feature of summer, and that is that everything is constantly growing!  The trees, our shrubbery, grass, and yes, weeds! Let me remind us as believers that the summer season of growth should also be reflected in the spiritual patterns ...