This Wednesday, we will continue our Guest Lecture Series at MSMBC. Irvin Busenitz, Vice President for Academic Administration and Professor of Bible Exposition and Old Testamfrom at The Master's Seminary, is teaching on "A Biblical Approach to Christian Parenting." His opening lecture, last Wednesday, was a great blessing. On the many helpful, challenging, and encouraging things he said, there is one statement that I have been chewing on every since last Wednesday: "A strong family can survice a weak church. But a strong church cannot survive weak families."

Lately, several people have made statements to me about the fact that we upload my weekly messages onto our website for free. The concern is that we ought to be selling those messages, rather than letting people listen to them for nothing. Why do you we it? Well, let me be clear that we do not do it because I feel that I am such an outstanding preaching. I am an average preacher who is striving to get better. I have some good weeks and some bad weeks, like every other preacher. Honestly, it is somewhat difficult to have my...

Over the past week or two, I have received emails that reported the (alleged) scandalous sin of a high-profile pastor/Gospel Music artist (or is that Gospel Music artist/pastor?). Then, other emails began to come in, retracting the news reports. I have not searched out to the matter to see which story is true - the report or the retractions. And I don't intend to. But there is a larger lesson that I think we, as Christians, should consider as a result of this incident. Christian leaders (I'm not sure if that ought to be in quotation marks, in this case)...

Today is my daughter's birthday. Natalie Marie Charles is four-years-old today. Praise God! I was preaching in Atlanta the night my son, H.B. III., was born. But I was blessed to be right there with Crystal when Natalie was born. Crystal wasn't feeling well. And we didn't take any chances. She had gone into premature labor with our son. And the doctor tried to delay my son's birth as long as possible. But after about a week, he was born six weeks premature. So when Crystal started feeling pains, we went straight to the hospital. They ran all kinds of...

The Shepherds' Conference is meeting here this week at the Grace Community Church, where Dr. John F. MacArthur, Jr. serves as pastor-teacher. This conference is an annual meeting held for pastors, church leaders, etc. And it is always a great blessing. In the providence of God, John MacArthur has been one of the greatest influences for expository preaching in my life. I have learned much from his teaching and writing. His commitment to sound doctrine and Bible exposition has been a model that I have tried to follow. Likewise, the congregation he serves in many ways reflects the the message...

Here is my sermon skeleton from my midweek message:Title: “Becoming a Faithful Witness of Scripture” Text: Psalm 119:41-48Theme: Becoming a faithful witness of God’s word Point: Devotion to God’s word is marked by a growing commitment to personal witnessing. Outline: I. The Prayer of a Faithful Witness (119:41-43)A. You need God to strengthen your witness (vv. 41-42).B. You need God to sustain your witness (v. 43). II. The Pledge of a Faithful Witness (119:44-48)A. Be a obedient witness (vv. 44-45)1. The life of obedience (v. 44) 2. The liberty of obedience (v. 45)B. Be a courageous witness (vv. 46-47)1. You...

I heard a Charles Haddon Spurgeon quote this week about the importance of biblical preaching that has been very challenging and convicting: "Life and death and eternity and worlds unknown may hang on the preaching and hearing of one sermon." Amen.

Yesterday. After having breakfast with Crystal, I pressed on further in my study for Sunday. I actually got done much more than I expected. Praise God! My afternoon was spent in meetings with some of my coworkers here. Last night, we worshiped with the Liberty Baptist Church here in Los Angeles. It is the first pastoral celebration of my friend, Pastor Terry L. Brown. This service was the first time preaching at Liberty Church. And it was the first time our two churches had met together there since I have been the pastor of MSMBC. So it was good to...

Here is my sermon skeleton from midweek service on Wednesday, February 22, 2006:Title: “Teach Me!”Text: Psalm 119:33-40Theme: A prayer for greater understanding of and deeper devotion to God’s wordPoint: We need God to teach us how to live right.Outline: I. A prayer for personal admission into God’s school (119:33-34)A. You need spiritual instruction (v. 33)B. You need spiritual insight (v. 34) II. A prayer for continual progress in God’s school (119:35-37)A. Your feet (v. 35)B. Your heart (v. 36)C. Your eyes (v. 37) III. A prayer for steadfast perseverance in God’s school (119:38-40)A. Assurance (v. 38)B. Vindication (v. 39)C. Revival...

This week, the WHW Ministries board meeting is taking place here in Los Angeles. Dr. R.A. Williams and Dr. George Waddles lead this ministry that emphasizes training local pastors in expository preaching and teaching. The morning sessions have consisted of lectures on various matters of pastoral ministry. In the evening, Dr. A. Louis Patterson, Jr. of the Mt. Corinth Baptist Church in Houston and Dr. Frank Ray of the New Salem Baptist Church in Memphis are preaching. All of these meetings are taking place at the McCoy Memorial Baptist Church, where Dr. Williams is the pastor. Please pray for this...

Sunday night, while waiting in line at a fast food joint, I started checking emails and web surfing on my palm. When I checked out Dr. Ray Pritchard's website, I was suprised to find that he gave given me and Mt. Sinai a shout-out ("Look, ma, I'm hip!") in one of his posts. Dr. Ray Pritchard's sermons and writings have been a great blessing to me over the years. I was introduced to his ministry by his book, In the Shadow of the Cross. I read it and was hooked. Now, I automatically buy a book if it has Ray...

I am in Orange County at the "On-Target Evangelism Conference," sponsored by the California Southern Baptist Convention. Yesterday was very helpful and encouraging. The afternoon sessions were about leadership styles and ministry teams. I needed to hear everything that was said. I still have so much to learn about leadership. And some of the things I had to deal with this past week were discussed in the lecture. The evening session was inspiring. I heard a great message on "How to Make the Good News Good Again" by by John Avant. I'm sure most of us in the conference felt...