Al Mohler published a blog article today entitled Is the Abortion Argument Changing?. It’s excellent. At the end, he references a sermon by Russell Moore that makes the argument that Joseph (Jesus’ step-father) was a “single-issue evangelical.”

I’m fairly progressive. I’m quite forward-thinking. But when it comes to the issue of life in relationship to politics, elections, legislation, etc., abortion is still a deal-breaker for me. Am I a narrow-minded single-issue evangelical? Absolutely. Why? Because the whole time we’re focused on…

• The environment.
• Unemployment.
• Taxes.
• Welfare.
• Healthcare.
• The war.
• Foreign relations.
• The economy.
• Defense.
• New energy sources.

God is focused on the innocent. He always has been. He always will be. We can say “just look beyond this one issue.” As far as I’m concerned, that’s like asking the guy who is having a heart attack to focus on his runny nose. We have a problem for which God will surely pour out His wrath. They are ultimately his babies, after all.

And here’s another point: Abortion IS Racism! Read or watch…

If you’ve never checked it out, Pulpit Magazine is an awesome site, authored primarily by John MacArthur and some other guys. Today, they posted this from Charles Spurgeon…

Pulpit Magazine » Blog Archive » Let Us Preach Christ!.

Paul addressed the issue of sincerity in preaching on several occasions throughout the New Testament. One such instance is 2 Corinthians 2:17, “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” As I have reflected on this verse, it’s given me some comfort to know that the issues that plague modern Christianity also faced the apostles. I’ve also found an important principle in preaching - sincerity.

There are false teachers, hucksters, and impostors in pulpits across the land today. There were in Paul’s day too. It’s nothing new and it will only worsen as we approach the day of Jesus’ return. But the contrast to this trend is a new trend of sincerity in the pulpit. Preaching has been defined by D. Martin-Lloyd Jones as “the communication of God’s truth through human personality.” So we preachers get to represent God’s truth through our very personality. The prayer, “hide me behind thy cross, O Lord,” doesn’t reflect an accurate understanding of what preaching is all about. God has calledme to represent Him as only I can, and for you to do the same.

WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

It’s been a while since we’ve posted new sermons on the Bible Journey site, but there are at least 4 from the past two weeks now. We had a lot of issues when we upgraded some of the scripts that run the site, and those issues are now fixed, so spread the word. We’ll be adding a lot more sermons from 2008 in the very near future. By the way, how do you like the little Bible reader guy?

Just a quick announcement that I’ll be posting some Bible study notes here on my blog. These will be primarily Wednesday evening message notes which don’t have an audio counterpart over at BibleJourney.org. You can browse the collection as it grows by clicking “Bible Study Notes” in the right column.

This week is very monumental for me. I am preparing to begin preaching through the entire Bible this Sunday morning. It has been a ministry-long dream. Since reading the autobiography of Dr. W. A. Criswell, who preached through the Scriptures over an almost eighteen year period at First Baptist Church in Dallas, it has seemed an unreachable and impossible task. I can’t tell you how much I’ve thought and prayed about this assignment.

In my mind, I’ve tried to place myself into the shoes of my church members, some of whom may not survive to hear the end of it all in the Revelation. Won’t we get bored? Won’t we get bogged down in the law, the plans of the tabernacle, the genealogical tables? Will people really be interested? Will the messages be relevant to my life? Nobody has asked any of these questions yet, except for me, but they have lingered in my thinking.

Then I think on the positive side. God’s Word is the source of all the divine wisdom we have at our disposal. He grows people through His Word. My calling to ministry is a call to shepherd God’s people by feeding them the truth of God. No book is more special, no other subject matter is appropriate. Why not preach “all the counsel of God?”

One dominating thought, however, is “what if I mess this up?” What if I don’t cover enough material? Life is too short to rely on “do-over’s” and I will probably get only one or two shots at a series like this in my lifetime. From that thought flows the bottom line issue - I have only this life to spend for God’s glory. This may very well be the last series of sermons I ever preach. Will it be worth it in the end? Absolutely! My life and the lives of the people God assigns to me to shepherd will be forever changed and enriched by hearing the whole counsel of God.

The question I’ve come to grips with is, if preaching through the entire Bible in a single series was the only feat I ever accomplished, it would be worth it - I would have to do nothing in addition to it to have fulfilled my calling as a Pastor.

Already, I’ve become familiar with the greatness of modern science. Many Christians today are at war with the scientific community over evolution, the Big Bang, and other modern ideas. I’m not threatened by these, but rather encouraged, albeit for a strange reason. Both of these theories, hard to swallow as they are, actually substantiate the greatness of the Bible. Let me explain…

The Big Bang proposes that the universe is not infinite, that it had a beginning in time. Until 1913, the world thought the universe was infinite, that it had no beginning and would have no end. But because of the discovery that the universe is expanding rapidly, we can postulate that if you work backwards, everything was once together, before the expansion began. In other words, the universe had a starting point. What baffles modern scientists is, what then? What did things look like before the universe began its explosive expansion? To this the Bible says, in the beginning… God!

And what of evolution? Why in the world would I appreciate this crazy and impossible to believe prognostication? Because evolution is really a fragment of a larger idea that there is a logical progression to the development of life on this planet, and that development concurs with the first chapter of Genesis in its order and structure. The only differences are that what science assigns to billions of years really happened in six literal, twenty-four hour days. First the rocks, then water, then marine and plant life, then the beasts of the earth, and finally man. I was taught in Astronomy 101 that all of this took place over about thirteen billion years. The Bible declares God did it in six days. I choose the Bible, but I stand amazed at science’s validation of the order of creation. I’m no more impressed with the Bible, I’m just more impressed with scientists.

Ultimately, what I’m discovering is that Genesis was never intended to be a science or history textbook. It was not intended to stir up debate over the literal nature of the word “day” or whether there was a gap included for the geological ages. Rather, Genesis’ creation account is a hymn of praise to the Creator! Don’t miss this. The story of creation wasn’t given so that we might use it as a source of scientific data (though I believe its perfect, literal accuracy). It was given that we might know our Creator, be impressed with His creative acts, and choose to serve and glorify Him for eternity!

What an awesome discovery for me! I can’t wait to share it all with the congregation of Bethel Baptist Church. Please pray that I will have the necessary time to invest in the study of God’s Word so that I might not fail to present the whole counsel of God with pastoral wisdom and compassion. Pray that I’ll always see the relevance of each passage to our daily living. Pray that lives will be changed for the glory of God as we “journey through the word” together!

I just finished reading Bill Hybels’ newest book Just Walk Across the Room. I was so impacted by its content that I changed my sermon for this past Sunday. Instead of preaching on “The Power of Proper Life Stewardship” I preached on “The Power of a Walk Across the Room.”

Hybels’ basic message is that seeing someone’s life changed by the power of the gospel is usually as simple as walking across a room… or a soccer field, restaurant, or doctor’s office waiting room. The point is, our task is to share the gospel by reaching out in friendship with other people. He speaks about living in 3D, which refers to Developing Friendships, Discovering Stories, and Discerning Next Steps.

The greatest secret to witnessing effectively is living in step with the Holy Spirit and being sensitive to His leadership moment-by-moment. When prayer becomes as natural to us and as much a part of our lives as breathing, we will be in tune with heaven. We will develop a kind of sixth sense for people with whom we can build a rapport and present the gospel (in the right time and in the right way).

This is all a part of living a supernaturally natural lifestyle of sharing Christ with others with whom God brings us into contact. My prayer is that you’ll read the book and be on the lookout for opportunities to walk across a room today to befriend someone, to serve someone, or to share the gospel with someone.

Great preachers and professors today differ on the best way to communicate the gospel. I’m still a strong advocate of book-by-book, expository preaching and I’ve found it to be a very divinely blessed method in the spiritual growth of God’s people. I also believe that expository preaching is the greatest way to preach the gospel of Jesus to our generation. Nonetheless, there is a more important aspect of preparing sermons than the method used. There is also the spiritual aspect, the prayer factor.

WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

“But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching…” -Titus 1:3

To every preacher of the Word, God has committed a sacred trust. He has called and commanded us to proclaim the content of His everlasting word week after week. There are many challenges to preaching as an effective means of communication today. We battle against popular sports on Sunday, longer work weeks which displace Sunday as “the Lord’s Day,” and the decreased attention span of Americans who are addicted to high-resolution, image-oriented marketing. But perhaps the greatest danger to preaching today is the preacher himself.

There is a constant challenge from within the field to weaken or water down the proclamation of God’s Word. Church growth gurus tell us that the world doesn’t want lengthy sermons anymore, but I would contend that the church is as much to blame for this trend as the world. Rather than giving into the pressure to preach all-positive little sermonettes, let us return instead to the biblical idea of proclamation.

One temptation the church has faced is to use the pulpit as a veritable soapbox, spouting the latest political or moral opinions without much scriptural backing. At best we often loosely attach a remote verse and contort its interpretation to fit the principle we desire to communicate. Or worse, we attempt to compete with the world by offering a better self-help message than that which may be found in thousands of bookstores in the self-help section. The pastor, instead of being a theologian before the congregation becomes a mere pop-psychologist.

Another obstacle to biblical preaching is the overwhelming tendency to compete with the world’s marketing strategies, a tactic doomed for failure. Lacking the resources and expertise for the field, the church ends up being seen as a cheap imitation of the culture. In our drive to stay “relevant” we forget that the Word of God, if preached accurately and passionately, is timeless in its application to the needs of mankind.

So, what is the purpose of preaching? It is to proclaim, to make manifest, and to put on display the content of the Word of God. John R. Rice said that our preaching should be filled with “profundity wrapped in simplicity.” It is not our task to make God’s Word interesting, neither is it justifiable to make it boring. The Bible has an intrinsic, transforming power all its own. It merely needs a herald, one who will announce the good news of God to a world gone mad.

If I could think of a word to describe the approach of the Old Testament prophets to preaching, it would be “simplicity.” In a culture of idolatrous self-gratification the prophets faithfully proclaimed their message of “thus saith the Lord.” The last thing the world needs on Sunday is a shallow rehashing of world events by armchair politicians or another self-help message in an age of self-obsession. Rather, let us put on display the Word of God, as it is.

We dare not dumb down the Word, make it boring, or market it to the flesh. Rather, we must live up to the command and the calling to proclaim it loud and clear. If we want to restore preaching to a place of prominence in our culture today, we must remain faithful to this basic task of being God’s spokesmen. The world may not like our message, but they will come to listen. We may end up in chains in the end, but as Paul said, “the word is not bound.” Let us unleash God’s truth to do it’s proper work in the hearts of mankind!