Second Thoughts with Austin Gentry

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | Maybe you remember singing the song 'Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he...' back in Sunday School as a child. It's true, the song makes light of Zacchaeus and his small stature; but Zacchaeus' story is a heavy one, packed with large biblical themes. 

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | The Triumphal Entry is more than just Jesus' celebratory entry into Jerusalem during Passover. It's laden with strangeness, irony, and prophesy. There's darkness and destruction, but there's also truth and hope. 

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | Luke 5 features back-to-back stories where Jesus heals someone: first, to a leper; then, to a paralytic. In the following message, we'll see how these two stories are intricately connected, and what they teach us about God, our relationship with Him, and our impact on the world. 

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | Luke 4 recounts one of the most interesting interactions of Jesus with the religious leaders. In referencing a story of Elijah and Elisha, Jesus shows us a sure-fire recipe for missing God: trying to control and redefine Him on our own terms instead of His. 

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | Scripture recounts only one picture of Jesus Christ between the time he is a baby and turning 30-years-old when he starts his public ministry. What's significant about this one story? Here's how a story of Jesus' childhood is relevant to us in our adulthood.

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | The book of Revelation may be one of the most confusing, complicated, and cryptic books in the entire Bible, but it nevertheless may be the most hopeful, confidence-giving books of the Bible as well. Revelation 5 focuses on repentance, a key tenet throughout the Bible, and certainly the most critical prerequisite for life.

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | Acts 9 recounts the story of Saul's conversion, and how he is brought from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight. His story, while it might sound extreme, is actually a template for our own. 

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | The word 'Pentecostal' usually refers to an emphasis on the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, or intense spiritual experience. But Acts 2 shows us an even larger thrust: the gospel for all peoples, the start of the church, and its health moving forward.

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | Jesus' statement "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" may be seen as one of his most controversial statements, but it is perhaps one of his most comforting. In his statement, Jesus also confronts the three biggest prevailing worldviews of our culture: Universalism, Relativism, and Humanism.

Second Baptist Church - Houston, TX | When Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd," He is pulling across the pages of Scripture and invoking one of the most cherished, familiar images of God as a shepherd; and He is also reaching down deep into our own hearts and tapping into what what makes this image resonates so powerfully within us. Everything that God describes himself to be as a shepherd, Jesus comes in the flesh and says, "I AM."