Sermon: From Ordinary To Extraordinary: The Church In Antioch (Acts 11:19-26)

This past Sunday I had the privilege of visiting Parish Park Baptist Church in Marion, IL again and preaching from the book of Acts.  They’ve been going through the birth of the early church in Acts for some time now and I was asked to speak on Acts 11:19-26, the beginning of the church in Antioch and where believers were first called “Christians”.  It was a blessing to my soul to dwell on and study this passage for the past week, and I pray that this sermon is just as much a blessing to those who listen(ed) to it.  To update you on the church, though there are still many struggles, it was a joy to see brothers and sisters excited about their faith, their church, and their obedience to the calling of making disciples of all nations.  They are now debt free, and though the future is still uncertain, they are stable and looking forward to what the Spirit of God wants to do in their midst.

Since I don’t have a whole lot of preaching experience, I would love any feedback you as a reader/listener can give.

Listen to the sermon here or download it by clicking the arrow on the far right of the embedded player:

~ t

Sermon: Thank God For The Gospel

This Thanksgiving weekend I had the privilege of preaching at my family’s church in Marion, IL.  Parish Park Baptist Church has been struggling for a few months now.  There have been multiple splits, the budget is almost nonexistent now, and the pastor bailed; yet, this body is still a beacon for the lost in their community.  It was a blessing to join them in worship and open the word of God to discuss the gospel.  I figured that people expect to hear a Thanksgiving sermon on Thanksgiving weekend, so what better is there to be thankful for than the gospel?!  Not to mention that in Romans 1:21, Paul shows us that one of the reasons God’s wrath is revealed from heaven is  “although they [mankind] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Getting a lot of insight from Greg Gilbert’s What Is The Gospel?, I used Romans 1-4 to outline the basic tenets of the gospel message for those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.  My goal was to lead the people into a time of thankfulness for the cross of Christ and his victory over sin.  I’m definitely not an experienced preacher, nor am I a scholar, but hopefully putting this sermon out there will edify fellow brothers and sisters, as well as point the lost to Jesus the Christ.

Please keep Parish Park Baptist Church in your prayers.  My step-dad is the youth minister and he’s the one who’s been tasked with leading the congregation through this time of transition and renewal.  It’s been difficult, but so goes pastoral ministry.

Listen to the sermon here:

Or download it at Soundcloud here:

Thank God For The Gospel

~ t

Don’t Wast Your Life Sentence

I know it’s been awhile since Danielle or myself have posted.  I promise that an update is coming soon, as well as pictures of my 32-week pregnant beauty.  But for right now I wanted to share a video with you.  If you remember a while back I posted a Q&A with John Piper at Angola Prison, Louisiana’s state penitentiary.  It seems that they have made a documentary on the faith of some of the men there and I wanted to share the trailer with you.

Serving a life sentence or not, I hope that Jesus Christ is “precious beyond anything in this world” to you.  It’s so good to have my affections stirred the way that this short trailer does, and I praise God for it.

~ t

Piper In Prison

The following video is Pastor John Piper having a questions and answer session with inmates in a prison.  If you’ve got a half hour to watch or listen to this video, I’m sure it’ll be nourishing to your spirit.  Visiting prisoners is a direct act of obedience of Christ’s command, and this video reminded me of the importance of prison ministry.

For more information on John Piper, visit Desiring God Ministries.  If you would like to read any of his books, they are all available for free online through the website.

~ t

Logos 4

I don’t know if you have heard of Logos Bible Software or not, but if you haven’t, it is well worth your time to look into.

Today Logos just released an updated form of their software deemed Logos 4, and it is probably the premier program for electronic bible study on both Windows and Mac computers.

If you are a student of the Bible and are interested in delving deeper into God’s word, whether it be for intensive study or devotional thought, I encourage you to consider investing in Logos Bible Software.  You can get literally thousands of dollars worth of resources for a fraction of the cost, and if you are a student, you’re eligible for steep discount.  And if you’re still on a tight budget, they’ll even let you pay for the software in monthly increments over 12 months.

Check out a video demo here.

Check out a comparison chart for different packages here.

I hope that this is beneficial for you.  Some people may not want all their bible resources in electronic format, and that’s fine – I struggled with the question for quite a while before purchasing Scholar’s Library Silver.  But if you want to be able to take your full bible study library with you wherever you go (for Danielle and myself that hopefully includes overseas), and if you want to shorten research time by hours (and by research I mean gather ingbooks and flipping pages and comparing notes – NOT less time in the word), then you should definitely consider this investment.

~ t

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that with the new Logos 4, you’ll also be able to use some of your bible library on your iPhone for “on-the-go” bible study.

Guilt Trips Galore, You Should Do More

Guilt trips are hard to take at times, and they seem to come from every direction: you should do more to shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, support this ministry . . . there are so many terrible things in this world, and YOU should be doing more.

But the worst guilt trips always seem to come from ourselves. We seem to lay the burden of saving the word on our own shoulders rather than resting in the sufficiency of Christ and his work.

This is a personal issue for Danielle and myself because we’ve been struggling with the question of what more we can do.  After an evening of tears laying out these struggles and subsequent guilt concerning what more we could be doing, it was extremely refreshing to wake up and read a post by Kevin DeYoung called “On Mission, Changing the World, and Not Being Able to Do It All”.  Here’s a quick excerpt:

“Maybe it’s because I’m Type A or left brained or a beaver or an ESTJ or a good pastor or a people-pleasing sinner, but I often feel like I could, perhaps should, be doing more. I could do more evangelism. I could pray more. I could invite people over for dinner more. Because of this tendency I actually prefer the “do not” commands of Scripture. ‘Do not commit adultery’–that’s tough if you take the whole lust thing into account. Obeying this command requires prayer, accountability, repentance, and grace. But it doesn’t require me to start a non-profit or spend another evening away from my family. I just (just!) need to put to death the deeds of the flesh, die to myself and live to Christ. Not committing adultery is, of course, easier said than done, but the command doesn’t overwhelm me. Changing the world, doing something about the global AIDS crisis, tackling homelessness–those things overwhelm me. What can I do? Where do I start? How will I find the time? I have four small kids, a full-time job, I give much more than 10% away to Christian causes, I try to share Jesus with my neighbors, I pray with my kids before bed, I’m trying to be a better husband. So is it possible, just possible, that God is not asking me to do anything about sex trafficking right now?”

I highly recommend this lengthy but spectacular article.  If you’re like me, there is always a lingering since of guilt of what more you can be doing.  And I know that at times I am lazy and I should do more, but at other times the personal guilt trips only serve to diminish Christ in my own life.  I pray that this article can encourage you.  DeYound makes some stellar conclusions, and you should read the whole thing to appreciate them, but here are some wonderful final statements:

“I’m not for a minute advocating a cheap grace or an easy-believeism. But the yoke still is easy, right? And the burden still is light, is it not? The danger–and it’s a danger I’ve fallen foul of in my own preaching–is that in all our efforts to be prophetic, radical, and missional, we end up getting the story of Pilgrim’s Progress exactly backwards. ‘Come to the cross, Pilgrim, see the sacrifice for your sins. Isn’t that wonderful? Now bend over and let me load this burden on your back. There’s a lot of work we have to do, me and you.’ A cross, yes. Jesus said we would have to carry one of those. But a cross that kills our sins, smashes our idols, and teaches us the folly of self-reliance. Not a burden to do the impossible. Not a burden to always do more for Jesus. Not a burden of bad news that never lets up and obedience that is always out reach . . . the secret of the gospel is that we actually do more when we hear less about all we need to do for God and hear more about all that God has already done for us.”

The painting of Sisyphus (again taken from DeYoung’s blog) complements this post very well.  If you don’t know much about the myth of Sisyphus, he was a man stricken by the gods to carry a large boulder up a hill for eternity.  As he would near the top, the gods would stretch down their hands and send the boulder back to the bottom, causing Sisyphus to return down and start again.  Too much of our religiosity puts us in the same position – we are commanded to do things FOR God (as if he needed them), and when we near completion, there is always some other task that we must complete.  Our God is not one of heavy burdens but of a light yoke.  And yes, there is always more we can be doing, but those things are not outside the lordship of Christ.  We are commanded to do good deeds, and we should, but let us remember that our own salvation is not dependent on such.  We do good works to magnify Christ, not diminish his dominion over all things.

~ t