Today is a pretty special day for me. I signed contracts this morning to publish my first book. It has been my prayer to write a work for publication for many years. In fact, this blog was initially started to give me practice in writing. The Lord has graciously opened the door for me to write a book to be published. And the Lord held it open! But I need your prayers. My deadline for submitting the completed manuscript is October 15. I have more than half of the work complete already. For the most part, I have more rewriting...

Thursday and Friday, I preached for Pastor Terrace Floyd as a part of the 10th anniversary celebration of the Mt. Gilead Baptist Church. I first preached for Pastor Floyd when the church was less than a year old. We became fast friends. It is great to see the progress of the church. May the Lord's continued blessings be upon their labors for Christ. Congratulations to Dr. and Mrs. Rudolph McKissick, Sr. as renew their vows today, marking 50 years of marriage. Dr. McKissick, who serves the Bethel Baptist Church with his son, R. McKissick, Jr., is one of the senior...

Going directly from a call to preach to leading a church is extremely rare. Good! Preachers need the maturation that comes from serving with or under another pastor, before leading their own congregation. Yet many associate ministers wish they could just skip this process. Pastors treat associates as flunkies. Congregations neglect the vital role associate ministers play. Members view associates as step-parents, substitute teachers, or “garbage-time” bench riders. It can be discouraging. But it doesn’t have to be. Your time as an associate minister can be an affirmation of your ministerial call, a time of spiritual development, and a fruitful...

I am a student of expository preaching. I believe in expository preaching. I am convinced that expository preaching - preaching that explains what the text means by what it says - is the most faithful way to preach. Yet I cringe when someone brings up the subject. Expository preaching is a new buzzword. Everyone is doing it. But not really. They used to sing, "Everybody talking about heaven ain't going." New verse: "Everybody talking about expository preaching ain’t doing it.” That’s fine. Really. It is. If your preaching is not expository, that’s okay. But it is not okay to be...

Jesus sensed their ambition for power. He said, 'Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). This power will not be military or economic or political. You will not have titles of office. "Ye shall be witnesses." You shall have a testimony. Testimonies are more important than titles. A title is a rank, office, or an attainment bestowed by people. These titles and offices may be canceled by the act of people. Testimonies are more important than titles. Pharaoh had a title, Moses had a testimony. Nebuchadnezzar had a title, Daniel had a...

The Progressive National Baptist Convention is meeting this week in Memphis. The PNBC was established in the early 1960s, during the Civil Rights Movement. Black Baptists were divided on the role the church should play in the struggle. Those who supported the efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr. established a new, "progressive" convention. My father was a part of this movement. He was also a part of the group that established the Progressive Convention in California. This picture is the cover page of a newsletter from my father's presidency of the Constitutional Baptist Convention of California and Nevada dated April...

The Bible has always been a central part of my life. And the translation of my youth was the King James Version. My home church was not “King James Only.” But the KJV was the only translation we were exposed to. I had a children’s story Bible that I loved. But I knew it was not THE Bible. The KJV was. I assumed it was the Bible Jesus and the apostles read! My father – who was my pastor – studied and preached from the KJV. But he often read devotionally from the Moffat Translation, I later discovered. It was...

It rained pretty hard this weekend. It scared many of the saints away from church today. But we still had a great day of worship at Shiloh. In spite of the rain, we had many guests today. A family reunion. And the football team from Edward Waters College. We observed the Lord's Supper in both worship services. What a blessing! Praise God for the new members who received the right-hand-of-fellowship today! I was politely warned today that I need to get back to teaching Sunday school soon. Warning heeded. I finally made it back to 1 John. Long story. Really...

Thanks to all the new readers of this blog. I am glad to have you. And I hope you find much that is useful here. It is August already! In just a couple of weeks, the kids will return to school here. Boy, the summer went by fast! I am planning to resume my study of 1 John this Sunday. Can't wait! A big shout-out to all who have been praying for me and my preaching. Much appreciated. Please, don't stop! As I prepare to lead our congregation in the Lord's Table this Sunday, I am grateful for the deacons...

In the physical real, when a baby is born, he is at once endowed with all the faculties of the human race. He has eyes, hands, feet, and brains. He never gets these later. Although they grow and develop, the whole person is there at the first. So it is when a person is born again. He has at that moment all the faculties that he will ever have, although there will be endless possibilities for developing them. - William MacDonald, The Believer's Bible Commentary (NT), p. 1130

An antichrist is a religious teacher who proclaims a Christ who is not the Christ of the Bible. He may be a Christ who is not quite God and never quite saves (as the cults teach), a Christ who offers health and wealth (as proclaimed by many television evangelists), a Christ who is repeatedly sacrificed in the mass (as Roman Catholicism teaches), or a Christ whom you invite into your life to make you feel good (as so much of modern evangelicalism teachers). For all their variations, those are the teachings of religious antichrists. We need to be aware of...

The sermon title is not the most important part of a sermon. And choosing a title is not an essential part of sermon preparation. Some preachers slap any title on the sermon after the hard work of preparation. Others decide not to give the sermon a title at all. This is understandable. It is also unwise. Your sermon needs and deserves a good title. To present a sermon without a title is like trying to sell a book with no title. The title promotes the content. It is the first impression the congregation will get of your message. It gives...