Advancing Word Podcast

In the second sermon of the 2023 Advent Series, Dr. Stubblefield explores the implications of Luke Chapter 2, verses 11 – 14 for the Christmas season.  This passage amplifies the magnificent merger of cradle and cross that causes angels to erupt in heavenly praise and thanksgiving.   God enters this world of sin and suffering through the cradle and cradles a cross to rescue and redeem us from spiritual darkness.  

The Gospel of Mark begins with the sentence,” The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God”.  Unlike the parallel accounts of Matthew and Luke, Mark does not share a genealogy of Jesus.  His use of the word “beginning” is not accidental but intentional, announcing that four-hundred-years of prophetic silence was disrupted by the appearance of Jesus on this planet.  He announces the beginning of something big.  This sermon tells us why.  

His life threatened, his kingdom in turmoil, In Psalm 27, David sought God's presence.  In his distress, he expressed a fervent desire to "dwell in the house of the Lord".  In this place of refuge, he experienced a perfect getaway.  We can too!   

The 100th Psalm is a universal call to all people to render praise to the LORD who is both Creator and Redeemer.   God’s people should be in the vanguard of the response to this summons, praising God for who God is and thanking God for what God has done.  Our worship should be multi-generational, multi-cultural and multi-faceted.  We should be poised for praise.  This sermon tells us why.  

The calling of Matthew or Levi, the tax collector by Jesus to be a disciple recorded in Mark, Chapter 2, verses 13-14 is very compelling.  This passage and its parallels in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke reveal a Divine perception or perspective that should encourage every believer.  Jesus “saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office”.  When Jesus saw him, He saw him personally, professionally or positionally and potentially.  He sees us in the same way.  

After two nights of lectures on “Biblical Spirituality” drawn from the first Chapter of the Epistle of James, during the 2023 Church Development Conference at New Covenant With Harmony Baptist Church in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Stubblefield concludes with a sermon on verses 2 – 4 of that chapter.  Despite what they were going through, and the difficulties they were facing, James, a prominent leader in the early church and the half-brother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, encouraged his audience to exercise a “calculated joy”.  Dr. Stubblefield shares, in this compelling and memorable message, what that means!   

In the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 14, verses 12-16, Jesus’s earthly ministry was ending, and his arrest, trial and crucifixion loomed like a threatening dark cloud on the horizon.  He sends two of His disciples into the city and tells them to look for "a man carrying a waterpot.”  This man would lead them to the place where Jesus would observe the Jewish Passover with His disciples.  While performing a task that was usually done by women in this culture, this man is a timeless reminder that there is significance in insignificance.  Preaching during the 2023 Big Enough Conference at the Clay Street Missionary Baptist Church, Shelbyville, Kentucky, Dr. Stubblefield tells us why.      

At the historic Clay Street Missionary Baptist Church, Shelbyville, Kentucky during their first ever “Big Enough Conference”, Dr. Stubblefield offers encouragement to pastors and churches with memberships less than two hundred by powerfully and creatively parsing a passage from the prophecy of Zechariah, Chapter 4, verses 6 – 10 that reminds us all not to discount, diminish or denigrate what God is able to do with small things.  Not to “despise the day of small things” requires that we acknowledge a perspective, advance a pattern and anticipate a provision.  

First Chronicles Chapter 24, verse nineteen is a short yet profound passage that erupts with a significant salute and timeless tribute to the ministry of the prophets.  Prophets were “essential workers”, devoted servants who, through the ministry of the Word of God, challenged God’s people to faith and faithfulness as they struggled to recover their national dignity and destiny after seventy years of exile.  They were, like pastors today, God’s “first responders”.  This sermon tells us why.  

During the Pastoral Anniversary Celebration at the historic Chantilly Baptist Church in Chantilly, Virginia, Dr. and Mrs. Stubblefield encourage their journey friends to be faithful.  Ministry is characterized “not just by donation but also duration”.  This is the essence of Apostle Paul’s principled, passionate and personal declaration from prison in 2 Timothy Chapter 1, verses 11 – 12.  This segment of Advancing Word offers a compelling profile of a “leader who lasted”.  Share the link to this message with your pastor or minister and a note of gratitude during Clergy Appreciation Month.