Hallelujah! What a Savior! Wasn’t that a great day at church? Resurrection Day service followed by baptisms was a great way to celebrate our Savior. I was reminded on Sunday about Luke 15:7, when Jesus said, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” The joy of our people hearing testimonies and observing baptisms was heaven-like. What a day!
One point I didn’t have time to cover in the sermon is something that I find very important when thinking about God doing the impossible. Often, people get frustrated or disillusioned with God because they believe He hasn’t come through for them on issues not clearly addressed in His Word. Let me explain.
I don’t know if enough attention gets drawn to the idols of our hearts. Idols are generally not evil or sinful things. Usually, they are good things that we want too much and want now. They move from desires to needs. They become things we crave and think we cannot live without. And they dominate our thinking.
In the last two posts, I have mentioned how I’ve been dealing with some spiritual ‘heart’ issues. In the 34 years of Christian ministry, I have found that the Lord does not leave me alone, and He normally walks me through texts that I’m preaching on to get my attention. That has been true over the last several weeks. Some of you have asked me about this. You’ve noticed a sober approach to my preaching that you haven’t seen before or that the sermons seem more personal than usual to me.
One point of clarity that I want to bring up from Sunday is that I believe there should be a time to discuss things like “old-earth,” “young-earth,” science challenges to the Bible, and so forth. I just don’t think that it has a place in the pulpit for a Sunday morning gathering. I think the point of that moment is to preach the author’s intent and draw conclusions for the congregation from the author’s intent.
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS OUT ON THE FELLOWSHIP.