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...

The National Missionary Baptist Convention is meeting in Los Angeles this week. My pastor, Dr. Melvin V. Wade, is the president of this convention. The meeting was kicked off today with the S.M. Lockridge Gospel Bowl, an all-day meeting of prayer, praise, and preaching. Even though I am not a part of this convention, I was asked to speak in this service today. I was scheduled to be on of the early speakers. So I expected that I would get there in time to hear one sermon, give my message, then go home to lay my burden down and recover...

This weekend, we began our month-long ministry involvement emphasis at MSMBC. As we celebrate our 64th church anniversary this month, we will challenge every member to join a Bible study fellowship group and getting involved in a place of service. Biblical community is one of the clearest evidences of authentic Christianity (John 13:34-35). So throughout this month, we will use various means to encourage the membership of Mt. Sinai to get connected to one another and the body-life of the church. I began this emphasis month today with a sermon on Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. Here is the sermon skeleton:Title: "Two are...

I'm on vacation!!!

I preached my second sermon in the Vallejo citywide revival last night. It was the fifth night of meeting. But the congregation was warm attentive, and receptive. I still don't think I was at my best. In fact, I struggled about what to preach all afternoon. I wasn't even sure what I would preach until I sat down in the worship service. But the Lord helped me to preach. I am convinced that I said what he wanted me to say. May the Lord give the increase. Today, Crystal and I are going to take the kids to a local...

Tuesday night, I had the privilege of preaching at the Three Oaks Baptist Church in Los Angeles for Pastor Raymond Chandler. Pastor Chandler and I kind of grew up together as young preachers in the Los Angeles area. And he is now in his third year at Three Oaks, where he is doing a fine work. This is the second year I have been invited to be a part of their summer revival series. It was a good meeting. Members of our congregation were present. And the Lord helped me to preach. Afterwards, we had to pack to get ready...

I didn't really take Jerry Jenkins seriously when I first heard of him. It was a rush to judgment. All I knew about him was that he was the co-author (he would say "author," no "co-") of the Left Behind series (It was Tim LaHaye's idea; but Jenkins' writing). But then I read Jenkins' book Hedges. It was good reading and spiritually enriching. But I did not expect that I would end of reading another book by Jenkins. Ever. Primarily, he writes inspirational novels and contemporary biography. I don't read much of either one of the genres. So while I...

My sermon preparation was in limbo the whole week. Last Sunday, I preached Ephesians 1:15-19, intending to follow it up with a message on the final part of the passage (vv. 19-23). But I was not sure if I would get to do it today. Months ago, I preached for Dr. "Fill-in-the-Blank," who was scheduled to be in town this weekend. And we discussed him coming to preach for me today. And when I saw him again not too long ago, we confirmed that he would preach for me today. However, we didn't talk again until yesterday. So I wasn't...