Here is the sermon skeleton from my message this past Sunday.Title: “Be Careful with God’s Name”Text: Exodus 20:7Series: The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)Theme: Honoring the name of GodPoint: Our lips and lives must reflect the unique honor God’s holy name deserves.Outline:I. The prohibition against misusing God’s nameWhile this commandment does forbid blasphemy, profanity, and perjury; there are other ways we can be guilty of taking God's name in vain:A. IrreverenceB. False teachingC. The presumption of direct revelationD. Promise-breaking (I never got to this point in the actual presentation of the message.)II. The penalty for misusing God’s nameHere are three ways...

John Piper is the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and the featured speaker of Desiring God Ministries. Piper's message can be summarized in one simple but profound statement: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied with him." Recently Piper has proven his personal sincerity about this statement, as he has been recently diagnosed with prostrate cancer. Dr. Piper had a successful surgery this week. To God be the glory! And he was released from the hospital this past Wedneday. Please continue to pray for him. Recently, in one of his regular newletter articles to...

This week, I finished reading a book entitled, "Love Worthy Finding." It is the story of the personal life and preaching philosophy of Adrian Rogers. It was written by his childhood sweetheart and wife of fifty-four years, Joyce Rogers. Dr. Rogers was the pastor of the historic Bellevule Baptist Church of Memphis, Tennessee. He served there for thirty-two years, until his retirement in the March, 2005. He was the featured speaker of Love Worth Finding Ministries. And was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention three times during its conservative resurgence in the 1980's and 90's. Dr. Rogers died on...

We are in the middle of revival services at Mt. Sinai. Our guest speaker is Dr. R.A. Williams, Jr, who is the pastor of the McCoy Memorial M.B.C. here in Los Angeles and president of WHW Ministries. Dr. Williams is one of the men God used to introduce me to expository preaching. And the Lord has used him to encourage and enrich my life and ministry in many ways. This is the third or fourth time Dr. Williams has preached a meeting for us. And I am honored to have him minister the word to our congregation this week. Last...

Today, February 10, is my mother's - Ellen Louise Charles - birthday. My birthday is tomorrow. And as I understand it, I would have shared my mother's birthday if I would have arrived three hours earlier. My mother lives in Oklahoma City, where she is caring for my ailing grandmother. And I love her very much. She has sacrificed much in order to facilitate God's plan for my life. And I appreciate it more than she will ever know. Happy birthday mom!

I am feeling much better today. I even put on a short sleeved shirt today, in order to enjoy some of the wonderful weather we are having here in Los Angeles this week. Yesterday, I mostly rested. This is usually the most effective remedy when my body gets sick. And it seems to have worked again. And it happened in good timing, I might add. I have quite a busy weekend ahead of me. Today, I have a couple of writing assignments to finish and some pastoral care updates to make. I also have to finish my preparation for my...

Here is the sermon skeleton from my midweek sermon last night on Psalm 119:Title: “Up from the Dust”Text: Psalm 119:25-32Theme: God’s word encourages the depressed soulPoint: The person who is devoted to the word of God may be down, but their not out.Outline:I. The prayer of a soul that is depressed (119:25-28)A. God’s word revives (v. 25)B. God’s word enlightens (v. 26-27)C. God’s word strengthens (v. 28)II. The prayer of a soul that is determined (119:29-32)A. The desires of the determined soul (119:29)B. The decisions of a determined soul (119:30-32)1. Choose God’s word (v. 30)2. Cling to God’s word (v....

I am sick. I didn't have much energy Thursday afternoon. And Friday morning, I was in bad shape by the time I made it to the office; cough, congestion, the works. I rested as much as I could Friday evening. But I had to get up quite early to finish preparations to teach the "How to Study the Bible" seminar we held at MSMBC Saturday. Not feeling well, I taught for four hours on the principles and practice of personal Bible study. Truly, the Lord's strength is made perfect in our weakness. I tried to rest as much as I...

If God allows, I will begin a series of sermons on the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)tomorrow in the corporate worship service at MSMBC. Here are some of the the resources I am using in my studies. Some of these works are newer; others I have had for some time. My reference to these books should not be taken to mean that I agree with every statement in them. But I have found them to be helpful in my studies. Here they are, listed in no particular order:1. Disciplines of Grace - R. Kent Hughes (Crossway)2. Pathway to Freedom - Alistair...

I have just finished teaching our first Christian Life Development Seminars of the year. This is a quarterly series that I will be teaching to explain our doctrinal convictions and philosophy of ministry to our congregation over the three year period. It's our goal to cover the major areas of doctrine and special areas of ministry emphasis for our church members. Because I am most often teaching and preaching a series, there are a lot of important subjects that don't come up for quite some time in our church. Hopefully, this seminar series will be one way for us to...

This coming Lord's Day, I plan to begin a series of sermons on the Ten Commandments, recorded in Exodus 20:1-17. I intend to preach the commandments one at a time. I did this in the beginning of 1997, almost ten years ago. In fact, I wasn't even using a computer when I last preached this series. All of my study notes and sermon manuscripts are handwritten. But I took really good study notes the last time. This will be of great help in the upcoming weeks of study. However, I do not intend to merely re-preach the previous messages. In...

Here is the sermon skeleton from my sermon last night in Midweek Worship:Title: "Sustaining Grace in God's Word"Text: Psalm 119:17-24Point: There is sustaining grace in the word of God that can hold you up when people are trying to pull you down. I. God’s word sustains the servant (119:17-18)A. True servants desire to live the word of God (v. 17)B. True servants desire to learn the word of God (v. 18)1. There are wonderful things in the word of God.2. You cannot see the wonderful things in God’s word without your eyes being opened for you.3. Pray that God will...