Hold Up The Book

It is God's nature, as revealed through the whole Bible, to be creative. That is, he often creates new things, bringing life again and again. This message highlights that element of his nature and shows why we can have the hope of salvation by seeing that nature at work and trusting in him to create new spiritual life in us.

God creates. God resurrects. And God redeems.

The most important determining factor for our effectiveness in worship is this: Do we understand who GOD is? If we can  tune our hearts to that reality, then our ability to worship will take a qualitative leap forward. This message reminds us of his nature as it pertains to how we worship him.

In the years that I have spent teaching and preaching, a few subjects have garnered a good deal of pushback from Christians. One of those subjects is the virtue of Christian joy.

This message was one lesson in a series on basic Christian character traits that I and several other men participated in. The goal was to give some clarity on the subject and to help people who genuinely struggle with the practice. I hope that it does the same thing for you!

Some believers are more accustomed to the term "The Lord's Supper" than to the designation, "Communion." But both terms are biblical, and they both describe an element of this worship activity that is important for us to consider. In this message, we talk about the fellowship aspect of communion—that it's something we share with Christ and with our fellow believers.

This was my message spoken on the last time I will have the mic before my preaching predecessor moved away. He and his wife are beloved by this church and by me, so it was particularly important for me to get an opportunity to publicly express our love for them.

Jehoiada the High Priest is not a particularly well-known Bible character, but his story of integrity serves as a powerful example for us if we take the time to notice it. This message shines a light on his life and his interactions with the kings of God's people.

In John 17:1-5, Jesus begins offering a long prayer to God on the night of his betrayal and crucifixion. He begins the whole thing with a prayer that God's splendor and glory will shine through him, and for those who have the faith to see it, that's exactly what happened.

This Throwback Thursday message covers some basic, empowering reminders about evangelism:

1) That it's a responsibility for all Christians—not just those employed as ministers.
2) That it's something we can all contribute to, just by the ways that we handle ourselves in our church assemblies.
3) That it works!

This is part of Northside's 2022 preachings theme from Phil. 4:13, "I Can Do All Things Through Him Who Strengthens Me."

Here's the sermon that inspired the podcast's title — four lessons from the people's behavior when they gathered to hear Ezra read from the God's law. Their behavior serves as an example for groups of God's people everywhere in how we think about and approach the Bible when we are assembled together. There are also a few reminders here for preachers about how we prepare sermons and how we approach the word in our teaching.

Someone asked me, "In 10 years of preaching, what have you learned that you think is the most important message for God's people?" This is what I came up with. It's a reminder that our beliefs about God—our theology—is the most important element of how we hold to our faith. If individuals and churches are going to hold fast to our convictions, then we'd better make sure that those convictions are based on a true understanding of God himself.

In this short message for communion, we talk about when God passed over the Israelites' homes during the 10th plague on Egypt, about the feast that God gave them to commemorate that event, and about the profound connections between that episode from Hebrew history and the crucifixion of Jesus.