Last night, I began three nights of preaching at the Oakland Avenue Baptist Church in Detroit. Pastor Larry Walker is my host this week. He is kind and generous. And it always a joy to be with around him. This is the third straight year I have had the privilege of ministering to this congregation during the annual Christian education institute and church revival. Dr. William Burwell is doing the Bible institute. He is a provocative teacher, who is zealous about sound doctrine. I am always inspired and challenged when I hear him speak. Please pray for the next two...

Today in my son's seventh birthday. Seven years ago, when he was born, I was on an overnight trip to Atlanta. He was born six weeks premature. I guess he was in a hurry to get here and to get on with things. And I don't think his attitude has changed. This weekend, he informed me, "I am seven now. So I am almost a man." Well, not quite. But he is surely on his way. For months, he has been asking me when he will be able to shave. I told him it will be a while. But I...

Yesterday, I preached one more message on our "Getting Connected" theme before I return to exposition. It was basically a sermon on forgiveness from the story of Joseph and his brothers. Here is the sermon skeleton:Title: “Getting Even God’s Way”Text: Genesis 50:15-21Theme: Confidence in God that enables forgiveness of othersPoint: Your faith in God is authenticated by your complete forgiveness of others.Transitional Sentence: Joseph’s response to his brothers' appeal for forgiveness teaches us three ways to get even God’s way.Outline: I. Don’t play God (50:19). II. View life through the lens of God’s good providence (50:20).A. Come to grips with...

I am at the airport in Atlanta, awaiting my flight home. I have been in Georgia the last two days, with Pastor Maurice Watson. His congregation, Beulahland Bible Church (one church, two locations - Macon & Warner Robbins), is in revival this week. And Pastor graciously asked me to bring the message for the Wednesday night service. First of all, Pastor Maurice Watson is one of the best Bible preachers in this country - hands down. And the Lord is doing a great work through him at Beulahland. The Tuesday night service was held at the Warner Robbins location. Last...

I am in Atlanta. I am here to preach Wednesday night for Pastor Maurice Watson at the Beulahland Bible Church in Macon. This is an unscheduled trip for me. The scheduled speaker for Wednesday night was not able to come. So Pastor Watson asked me to fill in. All he had to do was ask. And here I am. Pastor Watson is a homiletical hero, a pastoral mentor, and a dear friend. And I am honored that he asked me to come and share the word with his congregation.I flew in a day early to hear the Tuesday night speaker:...

Here is the sermon skeleton from tonight's message:Title: “Are You Determined to Live For God?”Text: Psalm 119:105-112Theme: The steadfast determination of a sanctified lifePoint: Your commitment to scripture must go from desire to determination in order to live for God.Outline:I. Be determined to follow the guidance of God’s word (119:105-106) A. The spiritual nature of biblical guidance (v. 105)B. The proper response to biblical guidance (v. 106II. Be determined to trust the sufficiency of God’s word (119:107-108)A. You can give God your burdens (v. 107)B. You should give God your best (v. 108)III. Be determined to obey the wisdom of...

I have been quite busy since my last post. Wednesday through Friday of last week, our church hosted a series of "revival" services in connection with our church anniversary. We were blessed to sit under the preaching of Pastor Tellis Chapman of the Galilee Baptist Church of Detroit for three nights. His messages truly ministered to our congregation each night. Saturday morning, I flew to Chicago to preach. My friend, Romell Williams was celebrating two years as pastor of the Lilydale Progressive Baptist Church. I preached the two morning services. And then went to two afternoon services, one at 3:30...

This past Sunday, I preached a message from 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. It was intended to a warning and challenge to the church to keep the main thing the main thing. I was also preaching to myself. Once again, I struggled to organize my thoughts for preaching. And I felt the weight of that struggle in presenting the message. If the Lord would have allowed me, I would have preached something else during the second service. But I had an assignment that I could not shake. So, with fear and trembling, I stood and admonished the church (and myself!!!) to be...

Following are the notes that I wrote for this past Sunday's bulletin, as Mt. Sinai Church celebrated its 64th church anniversary:Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in him!” – Lam. 3:22-24 (KNJV)Today, we celebrate sixty-four years the Lord God has faithfully blessed, sustained, and utilized the ministry of MSMBC to his glory. At this point, only God knows how many souls have been saved and how many lives have been changed through this...

Thanks for praying for me as I finished my preparation for our Midweek Service yesterday. I was finally able to organize my thoughts for preaching, and type them out. The Lord helped me to write myself clear. And the Lord was with me as I preached the message to the congregation. Here is the sermon skeleton:Title: “Falling in Love with God’s Word”Text: Psalm 119:97-104Theme: The wisdom and walk of one who loves the word of God.Point: To know the word of God is to love the word of God.Transitional Sentence: In verses 98-104, the psalmist gives three major reasons why...

There is both an art and a science to sermon preparation. It's a science, in that there are rules and principles you should follow in order to get it right. But it's also an art. More specifically, it's a mystery. Ultimately, it's a God-thing. I am being reminded of that this week as I prepare for our midweek service tonight. I am working on Psalm 119:97-104. I was planning to preach it last week. But I just didn't have enough time to work through it. So I preached a message on prayer from Philippians 1:9-11 last week. And you would...

"Jesus’ Response to a National Tragedy" (Luke 13:1-9) I had been up late struggling to prepare myself to preach the next night. And it was early morning before I finally passed out on the couch. But it wasn’t long before I heard the phone ringing. I ignored it. But moments later, the ringing began again. And, again, I ignored it. But when the ringing began a third time, I rolled over. But I didn’t get up. I just laid there starring at the phone sitting on top of the television. I was thinking, “This had better be good.” And it...