Todd Still: Keep the Gospel Central

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.

Todd Still: Keep the Gospel Central (1 Thessalonians 1:1-10)

Todd Still, dean of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary and chair of Christian Scriptures, addressed the congregation of Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas, where he was serving as interim pastor, with the questions: “How do you begin again? How can you start well?” The congregation had just called Gannon Sims as its next pastor.

The earliest Christians weren’t the only ones proclaiming good news. Caesar Augustus, likened to a god, also was proclaimed as a bearer of good news, Still explained. Jesus’ good news, however, far surpasses that of Caesar, he continued.

Still described the historical and cultural background of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, referring to the Book of Acts. Affliction was part of that history and culture. Early Christians converted—turned—to Jesus’ good news in the midst of that affliction, as many Christians still do.

Conversion to the good news of Jesus entails turning from idols, serving God with gladness, and waiting for Jesus’ return. The congregation on the cusp of a new day must keep the gospel of Jesus Christ central, Still concluded.

This sermon was delivered April 24, 2022, for the morning worship service of Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas, where Still was serving as interim pastor. It is the first of a concluding series of sermons titled “As You Begin Again.”