Today begins a very long weekend for me. It should be busy. It should be memorable. It should be enjoyable. I will spend most of the day finishing some writing I need to submit and preparing my Sunday sermon. I plan to continue my study of the Beatitudes - "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" (Matt. 5:6). This evening I will be preaching the closing night of the youth revival at Peace Chapel Baptist Church, where the DeAntwon Fitts is the pastor. In the morning, Crystal and I will try to attend the funeral service for a young man...

I felt that our Tuesday Night Worship Service should be an extended time of prayer last night. So I temporarily ditched our study of Ephesians. My goal was to have a time of prayer for our first service in our remodeled auditorium this coming Sunday. I also wanted to to lead the assembly in a time of prayer for the Lord to bless this season of MSMBC's life to be fruitful and that he would be pleased to use us to reach many souls in Los Angeles with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In preparation for our closing time of...

This morning, I listened to a message by Dr. Ray Pritchard, president and primary teacher of Keep Believing Ministries, on Proverbs 3:5-6 entitled, "When You Need to Know, You'll Know." And the Lord has already begun to use this message this morning to help me stop worrying about things that I have absolutely no control of. Really, all I - or any of us - have to do is fully depend on the Lord and submit to him and trust that as we walk according to his will, he will do what needs to be done. I am admittedly biased...

Happy Memorial Day! I missed being in corporate worship with my own congregation yesterday. And I can't wait to get back to work this week. I spent this past weekend on the other side of the country. It was a grueling, but encouraging weekend. And I believe the Lord blessed the preaching of his word. I lost my voice during the first of my two messages yesterday. I was nervous. Not enough water. Not enough sleep. But it didn't really bother me during my second message like I thought it would. I had two long flights home last night. Thank...

I am in a Borders bookstore with my family. While browsing through the world history section, I bumped into this great quote on the wall:"When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food." - Desiderius Erasmus

In his wise providence, the Lord has used Christian authors to be among my good friends and trusted counselors over the years. Most of these authors I have not and will never meet until we get to heaven. But reading them has often been the important conversation that I really need to have at a critical time in my life and ministry. Such is the case with the book that I finished on a plane yesterday: Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson by D.A. Carson. D.A. Carson's books are often formidable reading. But I...

Summer is a much needed time of rest and relaxation for many people. And this break from the various responsibilities of home, work, or school is a good thing. However, there is no such thing as a vacation, leave-of-absence, or sabbatical from your responsibilities as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Mark 6:31, Jesus told his disciples, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while" (ESV).This call also applies to present-day disciples. Even though your life in Christ is supernatural; it's not superhuman. And if you don't ever come apart, you'll fall apart. All...

When I was introduced to the expository method of preaching, I was quickly and totally convinced that it is the most faithful way to preach the word of God. I was also surprised by how novel it was. Not many preachers that I heard were doing expository preaching. Some proudly rejected it. But fast forward a few years. Now, it seems that everyone claims to be an expository preacher. Respectfully, I think so many of us are comfortable calling ourselves expositors because we don't really understand the hard work of Bible exposition - which includes both faithful explanation and clear...

Sorry that I have been missing-in-action over the past several days. I have been hanging out with Crystal. I have been holding my baby daughter. I have been unpacking my books. I have been adjusting to my new office. I have been wrestling through the Sermon on the Mount. I have been doing some pastoral care work. I have been in quite a few meetings. I have been... Well, you get the picture. It was a sweltering, mid-May day here in Los Angeles. I felt like I was going to melt today. I continued our study of the Beatitudes with...

Last week, Bob Franquiz wrote a brief, but insightful post about so-called "deep" and "shallow" preaching. Click here to read it.

Last night we resumed our Tuesday night services. When the church that bought our old building moved in, we switched the time and location for this midweek service. And we started meeting at our new location on Wednesday nights. But we have not met since Easter, as the move has been in full swing since then. So last night, we began again on Tuesday nights. And I picked up my study of Ephesians, which I have been away from since the end of last year. Did you get all of that? Me neither. Bottom-line, we resumed our Tuesday night services...

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are symbols of salvation. No, they cannot produce salvation. We are saved from our sins by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But baptism and Communion are meaningful illustrations and reminders of how God gives sinners new life in Christ. They are not mere memorials. They are fundamental statements of faith, essential acts of obedience, Christ-ordained expressions of devotion, true acts of fellowship, and biblical elements of worship.Unfortunately, many Christians do not take baptism and the Lord’s Supper seriously. Some churches do not even have Communion. Others share the Lord’s Table infrequently. Still...