Preparing for the Judgment Seat of Christ

This coming Sunday, I have the privilege of preaching at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. I am going to preach on the importance of the Judgment Seat of Christ. The Judgment Seat of Christ lays a foundation of accountability for all followers of Jesus Christ. Accountability is a cornerstone of personal growth, as it establishes a framework for responsibility, integrity, and continuous improvement. Accountability provides a structured framework for monitoring and evaluating tasks, projects, and processes, ensuring that they align with overall goals. It helps identify potential risks, errors, or inefficiencies early on, allowing for timely corrections. The practice of being held accountable is essential for fostering a resilient and high-performing work environment. Our passage for the message is II Corinthians 5:9-10, 14-21. There are three essential truths about accountability that we learn from the Judgment Seat of Christ; the catalyst, the character, and the calling.

There is NOTHING new under the sun

Yesterday was a great day at our church. We had our regular morning activities and then in the afternoon, we hosted our annual church picnic. There is nothing like the smell of grilled burgers and dogs while you sit around in the shade and socialize with others. It is a great way to celebrate the changing of seasons as summer finally gives way to fall.

The Heart of a Servant Leader

I have the privilege of teaching this lesson on Sunday during our Connect Groups at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. Do you have the heart of a servant leader? When you hear the phrase, “servant leader” who is the first person who comes to mind? Books and seminars galore claim to teach people about the essence of “leadership“. When we open the Book of all books, the Bible, we learn many principles of leadership. Leadership explained in the Bible is servant leadership. Moses was a servant leader. Joshua was a servant leader. The Apostles were servant leaders. The concept of servant leadership permeates the Bible. This is what our lesson is about this week. Jesus is our prime example of servant leadership. He taught servant leadership and more importantly, He modeled servant leadership.

Forgiveness of Sin and Spiritual Healing

As Father’s Day approaches this Sunday, we are all remembering the men in our lives who have impacted us in a positive way. When we think of influential men, the primary example is Jesus Christ. In our Connect Groups this Sunday, we are going to study a powerful passage of Scripture in Matthew 9.

Only God can forgive sins

As I sit and prepare our Connect Group lesson for this coming Sunday, I’m simply amazed at how clear the Word of God is! The more I studied, the clearer things become. This week, we are going to study Luke 5. Our main passage is verses seventeen through twenty-six. In the first eleven verses, Jesus teaches by the seashore. He calls Peter and his coworkers to follow Him and become His disciples. As He gives the calling, He performs a miracle. Peter and his coworkers are amazed and answer the call to follow Jesus. After this amazing moment, as Peter and his coworkers are following Jesus, another miracle takes place. Jesus heals a man suffering from leprosy. These events cause Jesus to become very popular and people want to hear Him teach. This is where we will pick up this week as we study.

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer, a beautiful tradition that began in our country when President Harry S. Truman proclaimed a National Day of Prayer to be observed on July 4, 1952. Each year since that date, Americans have observed the day in their own way. The observance moved to the first Thursday in May by President Ronald Reagan and has been proclaimed each year since.

Battlefield of the Mind

I am preparing a sermon that I will soon preach at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. I’m actually going to have a trial run today with some teens at our home school Co-Op at our church. We are all engaged in a daily battle over what occupies our thoughts because whatever occupies our thoughts will determine our actions. To whom do you surrender? That is an important question because the answer to that question will determine whom you worship. We were all created to worship God but, if we do not worship God, we will worship something or someone else.

Godly Discipline

What do you think of when you hear the word, “discipline”? Some people read it with a negative connotation. Others read it with a positive connotation. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as, “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience“. Discipline has it’s roots in Latin and is defined as, “instruction given, teaching, learning, knowledge“. Used as a verb, it means, “to correct, chastise, punish“. Based on the definition and etymology of the word, discipline is portrayed as positive. It is necessary. God deals with the subject of discipline all throughout His Holy Word. In this article, we are going to focus on one passage, Hebrews 12.

Cancel Culture: Not a new phenomenon

I am preparing to study the Word of God tonight with our middle school kids at AWANA. Our lesson is about transformation. These kids have been studying the book of Acts this school year and their passage tonight is Acts 9:19-31. Saul encountered the resurrected Jesus Christ and it transformed his life. He even demonstrated that transformation by changing his name from Saul to Paul. We know him today as the Apostle Paul. Before encountering the resurrected Jesus Christ, Saul was a murderer. He hated Christians and persecuted them in every way possible. From this moment on, Paul preaches the Jesus he once opposed. This proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ leads us to our examination of Cancel Culture. It is not a modern phenomenon. It has been around as long as sin has been around.

Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus

Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending our church’s ministry to one of our local public elementary schools. The ministry is called, “Good News Club“. We meet weekly with over 20 elementary students and study the eternal Word of God. Over the past 4 weeks, we have been learning about the miracles performed by Jesus, recorded in the Gospel of John. We have learned about how Jesus turned water into wine and the reason behind it. We learned about Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus and the miracle of being born again. Then we covered Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and how He forgave her sins. After that, we learned how Jesus healed the royal official’s son and transformed an entire family. Finally, yesterday, we covered Jesus’ encounter with blind Bartimaeus. The story of blind Bartimaeus is not found in the Gospel of John. The Gospel writer Mark mentions this encounter in Mark 10. Chapter 10 in the Gospel of Mark is all about faith. The word “faith” means being convinced of the Truth of reality based on the Word of God. A synonym for faith is “trust“. Another word that could be used for faith is, “surrender“. Faith literally means trusting the Word of God and surrendering to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In the Gospel of John, the author informs us of why Jesus performed all of these miracles.