Series: APPROACHING THE CROSS

Pastor Tom Pfingsten preached "The king of humility" on May 7, 2023 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fallbrook, California.

The Big Idea: Jesus fulfills the popular expectation of his day while at the same time contradicting the content of it—all by choosing to ride a donkey. The king has finally arrived, and he’s here to provide the salvation that no one was looking for. That’s the Triumphal Entry.

Series: LAZARUS.

Pastor Tom Pfingsten preached "Marked for death" on April 30, 2023 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fallbrook, California.

The Big Idea: When Jesus raises you to life, you might think everything is going to be peachy, but in fact, you’re now associated with Jesus in a way that makes you a threat to his enemies. Nearness to Jesus looks for all the world like a death sentence—but it’s actually a new life.

Series: LAZARUS.

Pastor Tom Pfingsten preached "St. Mary's prodigal hearts club" on April 23, 2023 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fallbrook, California.

The Big Idea: In pouring out this ointment, Mary is being prodigal with Jesus—prodigal means “​​wastefully extravagant, spending money or resources freely and recklessly.” She is being immoderate, immodest, excessive and irresponsible. All life-changing worship is like this—it is an outrage to decent human sensibility. It is prodigal. It is too much.

Series: LAZARUS.

Pastor Tom Pfingsten preached "The conspiracy against life" on April 16, 2023 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fallbrook, California.

The Big Idea: Whatever your heart wants the most—even if that thing is something good, like the temple—if it is getting in between you and Jesus, it either has to die now or destroy you later.

Series: LAZARUS.

Pastor Tom Pfingsten preached "The voice of life" on April 9, 2023 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fallbrook, California.

The Big Idea: A world that doesn’t believe in resurrection can only offer platitudes to those who are in the shadow of death, but Jesus speaks no platitudes. He speaks to the dead, and they live again.

Series: LAZARUS.

Pastor Tom Pfingsten preached "You had to be there" on April 2, 2023 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fallbrook, California.

The Big Idea: Jesus didn’t just come to make some things a little better—to make life a little easier for us—to solve some of our problems. He came to make everything brand new.

Series: LAZARUS.

Pastor Tom preached "Taking his sweet time" on March 26, 2023 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fallbrook, California.

The Big Idea: Jesus is not afraid to let something really, really bad happen in order to bring a bewildering and indelible kind of beauty out of it.

Pastor Tom Pfingsten preached "Believe the works" on March 19, 2023 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fallbrook, California.

The Big Idea: If you really get a clear sight of Jesus, you either want to kill him or worship him. If you feel that you’re on some middle ground between those two poles, then you actually aren’t hearing him clearly yet.

Pastor Tom Pfingsten preached "We the sheep" on March 12, 2023 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fallbrook, California.

The Big Idea: When you are ready to lay aside your self-sufficiency, you will find that you are already being led by a Savior who is like a shepherd to us—gentle, wise, protective and strong.

Pastor Tom Pfingsten preached "All you need to say" on February 26, 2023 at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fallbrook, California.

The Big Idea: The one thing any of us know better than anyone is what Jesus has done to us. Nobody knows Jesus like you do. And so the one thing any of us really needs to say is our "one thing I know."