Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Book of Ruth #5: The Old Shoe
Here is the final sermon I preached from the book of Ruth. It's from chapter 4 and is entitled "The Old Shoe." There is no audio of the 4th sermon I preached in the series so we are missing one. More to come. Hope you are blessed
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Book of Ruth #3: "Gleaning in the Field of Grace"
Here is a link to the audio of sermon #3 from the book of Ruth. It comes from chapter 2, verses 1-17 and is entitled "Gleaning in the Field of Grace"
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Book of Ruth #2: "How to Finish Well"
Here is a link to the second sermon from the series on the book of Ruth. It's from the end of chapter 1 and entitled "How to Finish Well!!!"
Book of Ruth #1: Three Grim Graves on Godforsaken Ground
Last year, I preached a series of 5 sermons from the book of Ruth. Here is a link to sermon #1 entitled "Three Grim Graves on Godforsaken Ground." I'll be posting the remaining sermons in days to come
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
"JUST MESSED UP"
This is your pastor with a thought from my daily studies. I posted this a few years ago on my blog I kept up when I was in evangelism. It's for those of us who don't walk around with halos on our heads. Those of us who struggle to walk in a way that's holy and acceptable to God. If you've got sin whipped and your flesh under full subjection this post isn't for you. But, if you are like me and you fight your flesh every moment of every day, this is for you. I wanted to enter this into my blog for you preachers out there and everyone else reading.
I'm sitting here in my classroom using a few moments God gave me to listen to some preaching. I just listened to a sermon that was quite unusual. Instead of getting up, dressing up his sermon in alliteration and illustrations to captivate the mind and fulfill people's appetite for entertainment, the preacher just opened his soul and poured out what was in. It was an unusually honest sermon. I don't mean honest about the Word of God (while that is absolutely imperative we do that). I mean it was honesty about himself. He stood for 30+ minutes and just told how broken and "messed up" he and all of us can become. As I ponder this sermon I realize, as a pastor, I'm often not honest enough in my preaching. I know exactly how to dress, act, and speak the language of a preacher. I can make you think I've got it all together and have no problems in the world. I can get up to sing and do it without the touch of God and most any person without a lot of discernment will never know. I can stand and preach and struggle without the real dynamic power of God and I've preached so many times these 14 and a half years, you'd never know how much I'm struggling. I'll hit some high points of other sermons, say some things that always stir some emotions of good old-time Baptists (KJV, yesteryear, etc), and folks will think "he was hooked up today" and it wasn't anywhere near what God wanted me to preach. Truthfully, I think many times I'm so concerned with looking and talking like a preacher, I don't allow myself to be honest with God and in turn, with the people to whom He's blessed me to preach. Bro Gene Lambert told me many years ago "Son, always be honest in your preaching." That seemed so simple at the time but that was probably 15 or 16 years ago and I still haven't completely figured out how to do that. The Holy Ghost has to be the author of that kind of preaching and a pretentious person shuts Him out.
So, for today at least, let me be completely honest and say I can get pretty "messed up" at times. I've struggled with sin more than anyone knows besides me and God. If most Pastors I preach for knew half of the sins I've committed in the past and the evil, vile thoughts that have gone through my mind at times, they'd never put me in their pulpit (though many of them would never admit it but they've done and thought the same things). I have laid in my bed many a nights these 26 years I've been saved and questioned everything I was living for. I've begged God for signs that never came. I've tried to quit preaching and even living for God a thousand times or more. During the time of my sickness, I laid on my face many times telling God how wrong He was for not helping me. During that time, I would be around people and claim to have peace about the situation but peace was a million miles away it seemed. All of this sounds kind of "messed up" huh? However, if we'd take the halos off our head for awhile and be honest with ourselves and God, we'd see how "messed up" we can be. But, in all of that, God still loves us. He can take a "messed up" mind, a "messed up" body, a "messed up" heart, bathe it in His marvelous grace and use it for His glory!
So, friends, today, if you think you're the only one that's "just messed up," get in line! Get in line behind Noah, the father of all mankind lying drunk and naked in his tent, a shame to his sons. Get in line behind Abraham lying with a bondservant because he couldn't be patient enough to let God fulfill His promise in His time. Get in line behind Elijah under the juniper tree. Get behind David peering from his rooftop at Bathsheba. Get in line behind Jonah sitting under a gourd, wishing to die after one of the greatest revivals in history. Get in line behind John the Baptist in his last days on earth, questioning the very Christ for whom he had been sent to prepare the way. Get in line behind every preacher and every Christian who's ever lived! You're not alone and just like God didn't turn them away and cast them aside for their doubts, thoughts, and actions, God won't do that with you either. Just look up to Heaven and be honest with your God. He knows who and how you are anyway. He's just waiting to hear you say "God, I'm just messed up and I need you."
I'm sitting here in my classroom using a few moments God gave me to listen to some preaching. I just listened to a sermon that was quite unusual. Instead of getting up, dressing up his sermon in alliteration and illustrations to captivate the mind and fulfill people's appetite for entertainment, the preacher just opened his soul and poured out what was in. It was an unusually honest sermon. I don't mean honest about the Word of God (while that is absolutely imperative we do that). I mean it was honesty about himself. He stood for 30+ minutes and just told how broken and "messed up" he and all of us can become. As I ponder this sermon I realize, as a pastor, I'm often not honest enough in my preaching. I know exactly how to dress, act, and speak the language of a preacher. I can make you think I've got it all together and have no problems in the world. I can get up to sing and do it without the touch of God and most any person without a lot of discernment will never know. I can stand and preach and struggle without the real dynamic power of God and I've preached so many times these 14 and a half years, you'd never know how much I'm struggling. I'll hit some high points of other sermons, say some things that always stir some emotions of good old-time Baptists (KJV, yesteryear, etc), and folks will think "he was hooked up today" and it wasn't anywhere near what God wanted me to preach. Truthfully, I think many times I'm so concerned with looking and talking like a preacher, I don't allow myself to be honest with God and in turn, with the people to whom He's blessed me to preach. Bro Gene Lambert told me many years ago "Son, always be honest in your preaching." That seemed so simple at the time but that was probably 15 or 16 years ago and I still haven't completely figured out how to do that. The Holy Ghost has to be the author of that kind of preaching and a pretentious person shuts Him out.
So, for today at least, let me be completely honest and say I can get pretty "messed up" at times. I've struggled with sin more than anyone knows besides me and God. If most Pastors I preach for knew half of the sins I've committed in the past and the evil, vile thoughts that have gone through my mind at times, they'd never put me in their pulpit (though many of them would never admit it but they've done and thought the same things). I have laid in my bed many a nights these 26 years I've been saved and questioned everything I was living for. I've begged God for signs that never came. I've tried to quit preaching and even living for God a thousand times or more. During the time of my sickness, I laid on my face many times telling God how wrong He was for not helping me. During that time, I would be around people and claim to have peace about the situation but peace was a million miles away it seemed. All of this sounds kind of "messed up" huh? However, if we'd take the halos off our head for awhile and be honest with ourselves and God, we'd see how "messed up" we can be. But, in all of that, God still loves us. He can take a "messed up" mind, a "messed up" body, a "messed up" heart, bathe it in His marvelous grace and use it for His glory!
So, friends, today, if you think you're the only one that's "just messed up," get in line! Get in line behind Noah, the father of all mankind lying drunk and naked in his tent, a shame to his sons. Get in line behind Abraham lying with a bondservant because he couldn't be patient enough to let God fulfill His promise in His time. Get in line behind Elijah under the juniper tree. Get behind David peering from his rooftop at Bathsheba. Get in line behind Jonah sitting under a gourd, wishing to die after one of the greatest revivals in history. Get in line behind John the Baptist in his last days on earth, questioning the very Christ for whom he had been sent to prepare the way. Get in line behind every preacher and every Christian who's ever lived! You're not alone and just like God didn't turn them away and cast them aside for their doubts, thoughts, and actions, God won't do that with you either. Just look up to Heaven and be honest with your God. He knows who and how you are anyway. He's just waiting to hear you say "God, I'm just messed up and I need you."
"Where is God When Life is on the Left Hand?"
Have you ever been in such a tough situation that you wanted to seek God for answers as to what He was doing but you were unable to find Him? This sermon seeks to answer that question we ask during the "abmormal" times of life. It's entitled "Where is God When Life is on the Left Hand?" I preached this when I visited Maryville FCM on October 19, 2015 under their pastor Bro. Gregg Jacobs.
Sermon - Where is God When Life is on the Left Hand
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