Second Thoughts with Austin Gentry

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | At the end of the age, the great battle takes place between Good and Evil, once and for all. According to Revelation 16, it transpires at a place called 'Armageddon.' But what is it? Where is it? Is it a literal place, or is it a grand symbol pointing to an ultimate event? Wherever it takes place and whenever it happens, one thing is sure: the victory is Christ's.

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | The Kidron Valley is arguably the most significant valley in all of ancient Israel because it is layered with history, nuance, tradition, and prophecy unlike any other. And in amazing way, it points to both Jesus and the end of days with absolute hope.

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | Romans is the explanation of Genesis to Jesus, answering the long-awaited question, "How can I be right with God?" The reality is, the desire for righteousness is encoded into people's hearts. We all want to be proven 'right'  and 'made right' in the deepest of ways. But as Paul shows us, that righteousness can only provided from the outside, from heaven - not manufactured from within or accomplished from around. A rightness with a perfectly righteous God must only come from Him, by grace, which we receive through faith.

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | God's deliberate answer to the vicious, destructive cycles in Israel was not another law, a better economy, a greater healthcare system, or more opportunity. It was a king. In the background of national chaos and catastrophe, God was quietly working redemption through a wayward family and broken situation. Through this, King David would one day come. And further down, King Jesus would come to ultimately deliver us from the bondage of vicious cycles. 

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | Asaph opens up about his own struggle with envy, and how it almost derailed his entire life. As he addresses the assumptions, actions, and accusations that got him there, he warns us about the subtleties of envy that lurk in our heart. But like him, in Christ, we worship can be our last word - the vertical, not the horizontal.

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | The apostle Paul argues that greed is more than just about riches or possession; it's a deep-seated, default-mode spiritual posture that looks to money to meet soul needs in only the way God can provide. He uses three images - a trap, a root, a dagger - to show the nature and danger of greed in our lives.

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | After the people of God enter the land and conquer the land, chapters 13 and 14 mark a new phase in the storyline: their time to inherit the land. As each of the twelve tribes stands by to receive their apportioned territory, one man steps up: Caleb. And based on what little we know about him from the wilderness, we see even more: a faith that hasn't waned one bit.

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | In Matthew 22, the political and religious groups of the day band together to question Jesus of the very thing many political and religious groups question Christians of today: defining the right relationship of "church and state," if any. Oftentimes, the question is not sincere, but manipulative - intended to trap the individual instead of to clarify a complexity. Jesus' answer, however, breaks through their rigid categories and provides a better way. 

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | Dual citizenship can oftentimes feel like 'dueling' citizenships - because there will come a point when the authorities and expectations of one kingdom will conflict with another. In Jeremiah 29, the people of God find themselves in a new land, under a new king, for a limited time. How will they live in it? And as believers today, how will we live in this tension as well, being both citizens of heaven and earth? 

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | The book of Joshua opens as the people of God reach a definitive end of one era and a very beginning of another. How will they move forward? God speaks to them, 8 words of encouragement for them to take their next step.