Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

Cary Killough: Causes and Cures for Backsliding (Galatians 3:1-14)

Cary Killough, senior pastor of Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Robinson, Texas tells a story about the discomfort of backsliding, a word that appears most often in Jeremiah. The Galatians didn’t backslide into hedonism but into legalism. Paul was angry with the Galatians, who let go of grace so easily in favor of working harder to earn salvation. After explaining Paul’s argument for faith over works, Killough ends with three take-aways.

This sermon was delivered on Aug. 16, 2020, for the morning worship services of Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Robinson. It is part of an expository series on Galatians.

For further reading:
• The Interpreter’s Bible Commentary
• Smyth and Helwys Bible Commentary: Galatians by Marion L Soards and Darrell J. Pursiful
• Galatians for You by Timothy Keller
• Insights on Galatians, Ephesians in Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary series by Charles Swindoll

The sermon script is available here. For a link to the sermon series click here.

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

Dana Moore: We Live the Greatest Virtues (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Dana Moore, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, shares a story from the TV show “American Pickers” in which a Hollywood cowboy wanted his name to go with his stuff; he wanted to be remembered. Moore transitions into how Christians will be remembered, focusing on the three virtues listed in 1 Corinthians 13:13—faith, hope and love. He describes the three virtues in relation to salvation, fear, the future and a person’s identity in Christ.

This sermon was delivered on Aug. 2, 2020, for the morning worship service of Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi. It is part of the Identity as Christians series.

Sermon notes are available here. A transcript of the sermon is available here.

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

Jake Maxwell: Even Better (Matthew 14:13-21)

Jake Maxwell, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas, begins with a twist, pointing back to Herod having John the Baptist beheaded, as background to Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. He opposes Herod’s narcissism to Jesus’ withdrawal; Herod’s hedonism to Jesus’ praying.

The bounty of life in Jesus follows the darkness of John’s death. The abundance available in Jesus contrasts the excess of Herod. In this light, the feeding of the 5,000 is even better than a miracle.

This sermon was delivered on Aug. 2, 2020, for the morning worship services of Second Baptist Church in Lubbock. Matthew 14:13-21 is the gospel reading for Proper 13, or the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, in the Revised Common Lectionary.

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

Pastor Eric Tarver: The Kind of Church God Uses (Revelation 3:10-13)

Eric Tarver, the pastor of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church in Beeville and director of church relations at Stark College and Seminary in Corpus Christi, opened by illustrating how some churches are like recalled medications. Just as a pharmaceutical company will recall an ineffective—or even harmful—medication, a church may be recalled from its ministry.

Tarver urged his congregation to make the most of the door Jesus has opened for the church, not shying away from the trials and troubles of persecution that accompany following Jesus. Some “want the title without the testimony,” he said. He ends with a charge to persevere.

This sermon was delivered on Mar. 24, 2019, for the morning worship service of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church in Beeville. It was part of a set of sermons on the churches in Revelation.

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

Phil Christopher: A Declaration of Interdependence (Matthew 5:21-24, 41-48; 6:22-23)

Phil Christopher, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas, asks his hearers if they ever feel like new sailors who have lost their bearings. The circumstances of freedom may result in a person going through life frantically, like a sailor without bearings. To get ones bearings is to understand “freedom is found from the inside out.”

Christopher turns to the Sermon on the Mount to find bearings—a North Star—for today. Within Jesus’ teaching on anger, he finds boundaries for our personal freedoms. These boundaries point to interdependence more than independence.

This sermon was delivered on July 5, 2020, for the morning worship service of First Baptist Church in Abilene as part of the series Finding Our Way Through COVID, Conflict and Chaos. A script for this sermon is available here.

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

Rev. Rosalind Spencer: The Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:23-34)

Rev. Rosalind Spencer, children’s pastor at Westside Baptist Church in Lewisville, Texas, continues the story she began teaching the previous week. She reads the parable about the unforgiving servant recorded in Matthew 18:23-34. Spencer reminds her hearers how hard forgiveness can be. She also reminds them sin hides in secrecy and must be acknowledged to be overcome.

Spencer offers three points for dealing with sin in our relationships. First, we need to give Jesus his rightful place as Lord of our lives. Second, we need to be prepared for the reality others will sin against us. Third, we need to forgive those who sin against us. Matthew 18:15-17 provides guidance for dealing with this kind of sin.

This sermon was delivered online on July 5, 2020, as part of a parable series for children’s church at Westside Baptist Church in Lewisville.

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

Rev. Byron Stevenson: A Proper Perspective in a Troubled World (1 Peter 1:1-9)

Rev. Byron Stevenson, founding pastor of The Fort Bend Church in Sugar Land, Texas, focuses on 1 Peter 1:7. He speaks to the reality of some amount of trouble in every person’s life. In the midst of such trouble—and referring to the funeral of George Floyd—Stevenson proclaims God’s miraculous work to change the world.

A miracle might not seem likely in the midst of the double pandemic of racism and COVID-19, but God sees the end from the beginning and knows the good that’s coming.

This sermon was delivered on June 14, 2020, for the morning worship service of The Fort Bend Church in Sugar Land. Sermon audio is available here.

https://vimeo.com/429735162

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

Dr. Delvin Atchison: A Prophetic Response to ‘I Can’t Breathe’ (Ezekiel 37:1-14)

Dr. Delvin Atchison, the senior pastor of Westside Baptist Church in Lewisville, Texas, addresses race head-on, saying he “will stop preaching about it when it stops being an issue.” While other pastors in other contexts can avoid talking about race, he cannot. He challenges preachers to become prophets in these times, not just speaking to their congregations, but speaking to their generation.

Atchison said, “I refuse to give up hope.” He refuses to give in to despair, what Atchison calls a “heresy against God.”

He examines Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones in the valley. This vision shows extensive division and destruction. God confronts Ezekiel with a weighty question, the answer to which is only in God. What follows illustrates Atchison’s reason for hope.

This sermon was livestreamed on June 28, 2020, for the morning worship service of Westside Baptist Church in Lewisville. 

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

Dr. Ira Antoine Jr.: Praying Through a Pandemic of Prejudice (Habakkuk 3)

Dr. Ira Antoine Jr., the pastor of Minnehulla Baptist Church in Goliad, Texas, and the director of bivocational pastors ministry for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, draws his congregation to a part of the Old Testament infrequently visited. Habakkuk’s concern that God wasn’t listening to his pain relates to today’s outcry about racial injustice. Antoine suggests sometimes we need understanding instead of an answer. He challenges his hearers to remember God’s past provision and promises for the future.

This sermon was livestreamed on June 7, 2020, for the morning worship service of Minnehulla Baptist Church in Goliad. The sermon script is available here. 

https://vimeo.com/435159309

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

Dan Wooldridge: Six Life-Changing Promises (John 10:1-10)

Dan Wooldridge, the senior pastor of Crestview Baptist Church in Georgetown, Texas, was drawn to reconsider John 10 after hearing Sanj Kalra, Ravi Zacharias’ “walking stick,” testify to how that passage changed his life. In this passage, Jesus compared himself to a shepherd leading sheep. It is a passage that inspired numerous songs of the Christian faith. Wooldridge details six promises found in John 10:1-10 that culminate in the good news of salvation.

Demonstrating the influence of Jesus’ shepherd metaphor on Christian songs, Wooldridge ends by singing a spiritual.

This sermon was livestreamed on June 7, 2020, for the morning worship service of Crestview Baptist Church in Georgetown. An outline for this sermon is available here. 

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

David Lowrie: The Potter’s House (Jeremiah 18:1-6)

David Lowrie, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Decatur, Texas asks how his listeners would describe God. He lists descriptors adults might use: good, merciful, kind and patient; holy, just and righteous; giving and forgiving; love; Father and King. Theologians and philosophers use descriptors like omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Children describe God in more interesting ways.

What do descriptors of God like these mean during a time of pandemic and crisis? Lowrie explains their contemporary significance using a story from the book of Jeremiah.

This sermon was delivered on May 3, 2020, for the morning worship service of First Baptist Church in Decatur.

Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.

John Crowder: Under a Broom Tree (1 Kings 19:1-8)

John Crowder, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in West, Texas, asks his congregation if the old church song about being “happy all the time” is true. Elijah wasn’t happy all the time. Despite the wonders God worked through him, he came to the end of himself after Jezebel threatened to kill him. He ended up depressed and sitting under a broom tree, talking “straight” with God.

Crowder notes we also sometimes find ourselves depressed and ready to quit, pointing to his community’s recovery from a fertilizer plant explosion. “Everyone has down times, even people of faith,” he said. For such times, Crowder offers steps for determining how we got there and what to do while we are there, being careful not to promise these steps make everything better.

“Don’t be afraid to get help when you need it,” he concludes.

This sermon was delivered on August 19, 2019, during the morning worship service of First Baptist Church in West, as part of the series “Rooted.” The sermon outline is available here.

Audio for the sermon is available here.