This weekend, the pastoral leaders and staff of MSMBC met together for our annual retreat, in which we review the previous year and plan for the coming year (and beyond). While I noted that Friday's meeting went well; Saturday was a litter tougher. Our congregation worships at a location where there is no parking (members park a block or so away, behind a supermarket). We do not have much Christian education space either (we also use another building a block away for Sunday School). And our building needs much repair. And as we process the options that we have, it...

Here is the sermon skeleton from yesterday's message:Title: "The Way of Salvation"Text: Ephesians 2:8-10Theme: The way of salvationPoint: Christians need to understand how we got save just as much as non-Christians need to understand how to get saved.Outline:I. We need to understand the source of salvation: "by grace you have been saved" (2:8a)II. We need to understand the means of salvaiton: "through faith" (2:8a)III. We need to understand the nature of salvation: "It is the gift of God" (2:8c)A. Self does not save: "And this is not your own doing" (2:8b)B. Works do not save: "not a result of works"...

I am at the 2006 MSMBC Church Council Retreat. Actually, the staff and the pastoral leaders of the church are together this weekend - evaluating the past year of ministry and planning for the upcoming year. This is the fourth of fifth time we have done this. And it is usually a great time of prayer, fellowship, and vision-casting. This year is no different. No, I take that back. It is a little different this year. We have come here with a pretty clear and unified agenda of matters we need to process and made decisions about before we go...

I continued my exposition of Psalm 119 in our Midweek Worship Service last night. At this point, I am pressing to conclude this study by the end of the year. That's the plan. I hope I am able to accomplish it. Here is the skeleton from last night's message on the sixteenth stanza of Psalm 119.Title: “Praying your Way through Mistreatment”Text: Psalm 119:120-128Theme: A prayer for deliverance from unjust sufferingPoint: You can trust God to do what is right even when it seems that everything is going wrong.Transitional Sentence: In this Ayin stanza of Psalm 119, the writer shows us...

"If I Should write of the heavy burden of the godly preacher, which he must carry and endure, as I know from my own experience, I would scare every man from the office of preaching." - Martin Luther, The Table Talk of Martin Luther

Yesterday, I continued our exposition of the book of Ephesians with a message from Ephesians 2:4-7. It was a continuation of the message from the previous week, which focused on verses 1-3. Personally, the study of this passage has been refreshing and reinvigorating. I am so grateful for the grace and mercy of God that has saved me through Jesus Christ. And I praise the Lord that he has chosen me to be a herald of the good news. I am also grateful for the privilege of being the teaching pastor at Mt. Sinai Church. I am blessed to be...

Last night, we continued our study of Psalm 119 during our midweek worship service. I have not been there in several weeks. And I really missed the worship and fellowship. This particular section of Psalm 119 was not an easy nut to crack. It begins, in verse 113, with the writer declaring, "I hate the double-minded, but I love your law." I meditated on that statement for days, before I remembered that I had seven more verses to study. On the surface, it seems that this opening statement sets a rather stern tone for the rest of the stanza. But,...

Yesterday, I continued our exposition of Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus. I finally made it into the second chapter of the letter. The passage I am studying consist of verses 1-10. However, I only did the first three verses. I will take me at least two, possible three, more sermons before I finish this passage. I look forward to this being a rich study for me and MSMBC, seeing that this is one of the New Testament statements of the way of salvation: by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone to the glory of God...

This past Sunday, I preached the pastoral anniversary celebration for my longtime friend Reginald Payne. He has served the Full Gospel Baptist Church in Los Angeles for thirteen years now. (For the record, the name of the church does not reflect its theology. Reginald is as sound as they come. He has simply chosen to honor the previous pastor and the congregation’s history by not changing the name of the church.)We were junior deacons together at Mt. Sinai. I was eleven when I preached my first sermon. It was during the youth choir’s musical. Reginald was the president of that...

I am in Seattle. Last night, I preached the first of three nights for Pastor Curtis Taylor and the Progressive Missionary Baptist Church. The congregation is celebrating sixty-five years of ministry. And this three-night meeting is a part of the celebration, which will continue Friday night and conclude Sunday morning.I experienced a first yesterday. Of all my travels, it was the first time I had been on a plane with a medical emergency. An older gentleman began to have heart complications. The flight attendants seemed concerned that he was having a heart attack. And the pilots were considering landing, even...

Yesterday, I resumed our exposition of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians during our Sunday morning workship services. I preached the first part of the passage, verses 15-19, more than a month ago. I did verses 19-23 this time, finishing this opening chapter of the letter. Here is the sermon skeleton:Title: “God’s Power on Display in Christ”Text: Ephesians 1:19-23Theme: God’s Power on Display in ChristPoint: Jesus Christ himself is the ultimate proof of God’s power to change your life.Transition Sentence: Verses 20-23 highlight four ways God’s power to change your life was put on display through Christ.Outline: I. God raised Jesus...

During my flight home from Detroit today, I read God, Grits, and More by Dr. R.A. Williams, Jr., who pastors the McCoy Memorial Baptist Church in Los Angeles. He is also the president of the WHW Conference on Bible exposition. I was a boy preacher when I first heard him. I had gone to hear Pastor Melvin Wade speak at a local church. The two were doing the meeting together. But I had never heard of Dr. Williams. And I knew I would not make it back to the meeting. So I bought a tape of Dr. Williams. It was...