Resources by Baker, Al

‘And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.’ –Revelation 20:15 Can there be any more sobering reality than what we read in the verse noted above? And should you not, my dear friend, contemplate your own eternal existence after your earthly demise? […]

‘For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.’ — Romans 5:6 It goes without saying that we must have compassion for all who are outside of union with Christ, including the homosexual. I think you know that I have ministered extensively in the past to the homosexual community, […]

I was recently speaking with an evangelist friend of mine who said that he has a friend working in a very poor, developing nation, who is assisting the poor and malnourished children of that nation by providing them a food which helps them overcome the ravages of malnutrition. My friend asked, “Well, that’s good, of […]

Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. –2 Corinthians 6:2 As I listen to most Reformed preachers today, I hear a very weak appeal in their preaching for people to be saved. Perhaps there are several reasons for this weakness and shall we say, reluctance, to ‘ask for the […]

I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you? –Acts 19:15 Paul’s ministry in Ephesus was truly remarkable. I love reading about it in Acts 19. It always inspires me with what God can do through men filled with the Spirit who consecrate themselves to Christ, willing to live for him and […]

‘Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.’ — 2 Corinthians 6:2 I tried to show last week that many of us in the Reformed and Calvinistic world are woefully weak in asking for the order in our preaching and one-on-one evangelistic work. I know some are very quick to ‘get […]

‘These men who have upset the world have come here also.’ — Acts 17:6 How do we motivate the millennial generation to take up the challenge of world evangelization? As I wrote last week, many define the millennial generation as those born between 1980 and 2000. In the United States roughly 75 million millennials were […]

‘Do not grieve the Holy Spirit’ –Ephesians 4:30 | ‘Do not quench the Spirit’ — 1 Thessalonians 5:19 | ‘Insulting the Spirit of grace’ –Hebrews 10:29 |’Repent. . . be baptized. . . receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ — Acts 2:38 After his resurrection and just prior to his ascension, the Lord Jesus gathered his disciples and […]

‘They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’ –Acts 2:42 James the apostle, in his letter to the twelve tribes who were disbursed abroad, was seeking to bring them back to the revival culture they had first experienced on the day of Pentecost, […]

‘They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’ — Acts 2:42 I, for one, am very thankful that many of our Presbyterian and Reformed churches observe the Lord’s Supper each Sunday. After all, we believe that the Lord’s Supper is more than a […]

‘They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’ –Acts 2:42 Why does preaching do so little to transform people in the pew? When the Apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, after the promised Holy Spirit had been poured out in fulfilment […]

‘They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’ — Acts 2:42. In fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2:28-32), in fulfilment of Jesus’ promise (Luke 24:46-49, Acts 1:8), after ten days of earnest prayer, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the one hundred […]

‘Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.’ —Psalm 119:11 From time to time I have people ask me how I go about memorizing Scripture. These same people also have asked me to write about this topic. So here I go. First of all, I have found that […]

‘He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides in him.’ — John 3:36 Have you noticed the many sermons, the many books and blogs telling the church of Jesus that our purpose is to reweave the […]

‘. . .instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. . .who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.’ –Titus 2:12, 14 In the fall of 2001, while being the Senior Pastor at Golden Isles Presbyterian […]

‘Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.’ — Genesis 15:16 We find in Genesis 15 that Yahweh Elohim reaffirms His covenant with Abram (Genesis 12:1-3), saying that He will be Abram’s shield and great reward. He would have a son and his descendants […]

‘. . . they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also.”‘ –Acts 17:6 When Paul the Apostle answered the Macedonian call and travelled from Troas to the Roman province of Macedonia, to the city of Philippi, God did a great […]

‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing…teaching…’ –Matthew 28:19, 20 There is a long history of Christians, on both the political right and left, who find themselves being seduced by Babylon, the political spirit of the age. The seduction is real, but it often goes unnoticed, slowly gaining a grip on our […]

Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. –Acts 2:38 Perhaps this heading takes you by surprise. You have come to know, over many years from my writing and preaching, that this is not […]

‘God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.’ — Acts 17:30 A few weeks ago I raised the question of why there is so little preaching of repentance in the modern, western church when the Scriptures are replete with references to it. I suggest three reasons for this. The first has […]

‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ — Matthew 4:17 In what Biblical scholars call Jesus’ early Galilean ministry (beginning in Matthew 4:12), after his baptism by John and his temptation in the wilderness, Jesus began his ministry in Capernaum which was located on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Matthew […]

‘But we have the mind of Christ.’ — 1 Corinthians 2:16 A Pew Research poll,1 released on December 16, 2015, asked the question, ‘Should homosexuality be accepted by society?’ The percentage who are ‘okay with that’, in all denominations, not just historically liberal ones, but also conservative ones, is very large, and the trend continues […]

‘…and He gave some as evangelists.’ , Ephesians 4:11 My friend, William Hatcher, once said to me, ‘A company can have a nice, new beautiful building with the latest equipment to make the company profitable. It can have a great research and development department. It can train its employees very well, and position them strategically […]

‘Do the work of an evangelist.’ , 2 Timothy 4:5 In my many travels around Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in the United States, one thing is now very clear to me-I almost never see an evangelist on the staff of these churches. To be sure, on rare occasion the Senior Pastor is an evangelist and […]

‘You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?’ , James 4:4 In a most insightful blog in The Masculinist,1 author Aaron Renn takes up the issue of the American evangelical church and why we lack powerful impact in our culture. He writes of positive world Christianity, neutral world Christianity, and […]