Is it ever right to be angry with God? Can we even express our anger at God without being sinful? What should Christians do when they find themselves angry at God for the difficult circumstances of their lives?

In this episode of the Straight Truth Podcast, host Dr. Josh Philpot converses with Dr. Richard Caldwell about anger. The anger he refers to is not just any kind of anger; it’s the anger of a believer being directed at God. Is this right; is it wise? Should a believer be angry with God? Anger is dangerous and destructive. The book of Proverbs tells us a man of great anger will bear the penalty. The New Testament calls the believer to put off and put away all anger from their life. If a believer is angry at God about their life circumstances, how can they deal with it? Dr. Philpot asks if a believer can complain to God about these kinds of things, and in doing so, can it be done without being sinful?

Dr. Caldwell thinks that there are questions, as believers, we can ask and attitudes we have that are sinful. Questions and attitudes that are just dishonoring and disrespectful of God. However, in the Psalms, we find the pouring out of frustrations, questions of all kinds, asking about things that we don’t understand, and things that don’t make sense to us. These examples show us that God is not afraid of our questions. Therefore we can go to God with our questions like the Psalmist, but we need to be willing to stick around to hear the answers. Are we willing to hear what He has to say?

Dr. Caldwell says that there is nothing fruitful, godly, helpful, or right about being angry with God. Every kind of anger we would have with God is misguided. It is a result of wrong thinking. He reminds us to remember that we live in a fallen world. God allows things to go on in this world that grieves Him and us. But, this doesn’t mean He doesn’t care and that He won’t call people to account for it one day. Until that day comes, there are injustices and mistreatments that we all have to live through and try to manage.

If we are willing to ask why God allows it and what is produced through it, there are answers to be found in the Scriptures. But none of those answers will satisfy us if we aren’t willing to trust Him. Dr. Caldwell tells us that we need to see ourselves through the perfect lens of Scripture. We need to see all of what God has given us over and against what we really deserve. We need to know His character. We need to believe Him, trusting that all He does is good and right. But if we reject God’s answers and persist in our anger, it will not go well for us. (Later, Dr. Caldwell shares the example of Jonah as it relates here.)

So yes, we can come and share our complaints with God. But we need to come humbly, open, honest, and real. We do this, bringing our troubles, pouring out our hearts to the Lord, with the utmost reverence. Dr. Caldwell shares we have examples of godly people doing this in Job and throughout the Psalms. He shows us through a few examples how God’s people are taken care of forever through trusting Him. In addition to these, he encourages us to think about Lazarus, the beggar, and the rich man. The rich man received good things during his life, but Lazarus something far better at the end of life. Dr. Caldwell then reminds us of what the Scriptures teach us in 2 Corinthians. These difficulties and hardships are but light and momentary afflictions compared to the eternal weight of glory that awaits us. But none of this takes place outside the realm of trust. We must be willing to trust God, who has revealed His character to us in the Scriptures. And His character… is perfectly good!

To learn more about the many things discussed in this podcast, consider listening to these sermons below by Dr. Richard Caldwell:

 Joy in Our Suffering

Blessed Assurance

Misunderstanding the Goodness of God

Series on the Book of Jonah : Chapters 1-4

The Wonder of a Believer’s Life

The Two Answers for Discouragement

Learning the Trustworthiness of God

Trusting the Trustworthy God

The Reality of Everlasting Damnation

True Riches and True Poverty – Pts. 1 & 2

The post Angry With God appeared first on Straight Truth Podcast.

How should Christians think about addictions? What should Christians do to battle and overcome addictions? Can we be completely healed from our addictions? Is there real hope for those caught up in bondage to drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, pornography, food, smoking, etc.?

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast host, Dr. Josh Philpot approaches Dr. Richard Caldwell with these questions regarding addictions. He asks Dr. Caldwell is it possible for someone to overcome being held captive to their addictions? How would he offer hope to someone who struggles with addiction?

Dr. Caldwell says where we must begin when speaking with the person dealing with these kinds of things in their life would be with the genuineness of their salvation. Because, before we can even start to discuss dealing with the issues at hand, we must know if the person has access to the things in Christ to overcome patterns of sin. So first, is, do they know Christ, do they have the Spirit of God, are they a new creation?

If the person knows Christ, they must understand and recognize that addiction issues are sin issues. Dr. Caldwell says people need to stop thinking about addictions as diseases. An addiction is a habit we have formed; it is what we do. While diseases can and may develop in our bodies by reason of the things we do to and with our bodies, disease is not the action; disease is the consequence of the action. The action we choose and then do that forms the addictions is sin. Even though one may have predispositions toward certain sins or genetics that would easily explain an individual’s failings, they are still sin issues. These things must be identified, discussed, and handled biblically, using biblical language and thought of in terms of biblical categories. The Bible doesn’t deal with these things as diseases. The Bible deals with these things as sins against God. So we must deal with them as the sins that they are.

How then does a believer deal with and overcome sin? The answer, Dr. Caldwell says, is progressively and not in isolation from other believers. The believer must be faithful to the Lord’s Church and to the means that He has provided for growth and sanctification; His Word and prayer. Dr. Caldwell offers some practical insights regarding accountability for help and encouragement, the importance of vulnerability, honesty, and transparency, along with the absolute necessity of putting away pride.

Dr. Caldwell says it comes down to this: there are no magic bullets! There is not some prayer that we can pray for it all to be gone. God in His sovereignty has chosen to deliver some people almost instantly from certain addictions they have had, but that is not true for every person. We must take the disciplines spoken of in the Word of God and practice them. We must confess our sin, repent of it, and we must turn from it. However, it isn’t just a matter of stopping the sin we’ve been doing and now saying no to it. We must also be pursuing the will of God by saying yes to something else. Sometimes we lack the strength to say no because we aren’t pursuing the right things.

Lastly, Dr. Caldwell says that there is another area of dealing with our sin that is related; our thought level. He asks, are we dealing with sin artificially? Are we attempting to deal with it according to human philosophy, the best that man can offer? Any lost person can approach dealing with sin in these kinds of ways. But, there is no therapy, number of steps, or quick fix remedies that will heal or alleviate our sin problems. As Christians, we want what God gives. We want what is explained by the Spirit of God and the Word of God. If we pursue dealing with addiction this way, the result is that there is long-term help concerning our sin issues.

To gain a deeper and more biblical understanding of these issues, consider listening to the following sermons by Dr. Caldwell:

The Certainty of New Life

The Application of Doctrine

Salvation’s New Abilities

The Outcome of Our New Slavery

God Given Motivations for Spiritual Growth

The Believing Life

How To Heed the Warnings

Resurrection Living

Such Were Some Of You

Wisdom & Wine

Powerful or Permissible

A Love the Christian Must Reject

The post How Should Christians Overcome Addictions? appeared first on Straight Truth Podcast.

In this episode of the Straight Truth Podcast, host Dr. Josh Philpot says that there seems to be this renewed interest by some, who say that Christ ought to be preached from every Scripture. Some say that every verse is about Jesus in one way or another. In Luke 24:27, we read of a conversation Jesus has with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, Jesus interprets the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures to them. The Psalms are included in these same interpretations when He appears to others in Jerusalem (verse 44 of the same chapter). But does this mean that every text or verse of the Old Testament speaks about Christ? Dr. Philpot asks Dr. Richard Caldwell if this is how he understands it? He asks, is it important to preach and teach Christ from every text or verse of Scripture?

Dr. Caldwell responds by saying that he thinks it is important to preach Christ from every part of Scripture. But, he would not agree with the idea that every verse of Scripture refers to Jesus. He believes that this is where preachers and teachers can get into dangerous territory. The Scripture gets allegorized, and the imagination gets preached instead of the actual text. Preachers and teachers need to be faithful to the Scriptures. They need to remind themselves that there is no one more interested in magnifying God’s Son than God. God is the One who has given us the Scriptures.

The Scriptures are God’s self-revelation; they are His special revelation. In them, God has revealed and made Himself through His Word known to mankind. The crescendo of God’s special revelation is God’s Son. Consequently, it should not surprise us that as God glorifies Himself, that is, makes Himself known in the Scriptures, the high-point of that self-revelation would be His Son.

So, while Dr. Caldwell says he doesn’t see Jesus in every verse of Scripture, every part of the Scriptures has a reference to Him. This, he shares, is the whole of the Old Testament; the Law, the prophets, and the wisdom writings, all of it, he says, had to do with Christ. But this doesn’t lead him to believe in a Christocentric interpretation of Scripture. However, he does believe in a “Christotelic” sense of reading the Bible.

This requires one to ask, how does this section relate to God’s Son, to God’s redemptive mission in His Son. For as Jesus says in John 5:39, the Scriptures testify about Him. Then, with this understanding, if he is faithful to say what the Scriptures say, he is doing the will of God with respect to magnifying His Son. Dr. Caldwell doesn’t have to invent teachings about Christ or read something into the Scriptures; it’s there. He simply needs to say what the Bible says, and Christ is preached.

Next, Dr. Caldwell gives a few examples from the New Testament of the manner in which the Apostle Paul preached Christ. In 1Timothy 1:11, Paul says that he shares the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which he has been entrusted. That gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4 and then goes on to share that God reveals His glory in the face of Christ. Right now, human beings can only know God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because as Paul says, it is in the face of Christ that we behold the glory of God.

So the task for the preacher, as they preach through the Scriptures, says Dr. Caldwell, is to ask, what is God saying in this context. From Genesis to Revelation, God is making Himself known. So it must be asked, what relationship does this section of Scripture have to that story. Dr. Caldwell shares an example of how he does this from Genesis 1.

Dr. Caldwell reminds us that all of Scripture has a relationship to God’s Son. Therefore, it is important and necessary to preach Christ from all of Scripture. But not by adding to it or reading into it something that isn’t there. It is by God’s will that Christ would stand in this place in God’s self-revelation. In fact, what God has chosen to do in terms of reconciling all things both in heaven and on earth, all finds its nexus at the cross of Christ. What Christ came into this world to do brings everything to its intended end.

During the conversation, Dr. Caldwell touched on several other topics that relate. Those topics range from symbolism and theophanies, from the nature of the progressive revelation of Scripture and what could be known in Old Testament times compared to New Testament times; to the fulfillment of hopes and expectations.

To learn more about these things discussed in the podcast today, consider listening to the following sermons exposited from the Word of God by Dr. Caldwell:

Christ, The Word of God, & True Righteousness (2)

Christ’s View of Scripture

The Model For The Ministry of The Word

The Road To Emmaus

The End & The Beginning

God Has Spoken In Son

The Glorious Agent of Creation

The Sustainer of All Things

God’s Glorious Son

God’s Glorious Heir

The post Preaching Christ From Every Scripture appeared first on Straight Truth Podcast.

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast host, Dr. Josh Philpot questions Dr. Richard Caldwell about young people. He says that society at large is not improving; it is not getting better but seems to be getting worse. This presents challenges for all Christians for sure, but definitely some very different challenges that weren’t as prevalent in years past for the younger people of our day. Dr. Philpot asks Dr. Caldwell to share what he believes to be the biggest challenges for young men and young women today?

Dr. Caldwell believes the biggest issue for both groups, young men and young women, is disconnection. The young people of today are disconnected from generational instruction. He shares that what has come with the explosion of sexual immorality in our culture is an implosion of the nuclear family. Families are fractured all around us; the result is a lack of fatherly and motherly instruction. This has perpetuated a great breakdown of respect across the board of the younger generation towards the older generation. What gets lost in this is the wisdom and experience that older people bring. By having no respect for older people, young people cannot benefit from their knowledge and experience; this is a great danger.

However, says Dr. Caldwell, this isn’t only a problem in society at large. He also sees it in the realm of the church. There is an attitude among many young people as if spiritual life just sort of began with them. If there is something they don’t know or are unsure about, they determine they will make up their own minds about it. They go about this by studying, reading, listening to podcasts and sermons on YouTube. Often neglecting to live their lives in the context of a local church and among family, where they can be taught, guided, and instructed.

Instead, they live their lives out in a sort of isolated, self-willed, self-directed kind of experience. This then bleeds over into many other areas of their lives – marriage, raising children, how friendships are regarded, recreational things, what they engage in the culture, etc. In all these areas, there is a danger where one is not willing to be taught anything, it is pride, and it is destructive.

Dr. Caldwell next shares some specific guidance for young men. In the New Testament, young men are, specifically, tasked with being submissive to their elders. This, he says, tells him that young men struggle with authority. So one of the greatest qualities he would like to see built into young men’s lives is respect. They need to be learners, teachable, and have hearts of humility. A young man who respects authority, experience, and age, will benefit from it for a lifetime. Dr. Caldwell gives several examples where a young man’s life can be impacted by giving heed to this.

Concerning young women, Dr. Caldwell says it’s important that they not be led astray by feminism but instead embrace the biblical model of womanhood. They are to be key players in their home, loving and caring for their husbands and children as Christian women. He also tells them not to buy into the egalitarian movement within the church culture. Young women can do these things by knowing and understanding what God has made women do and be.

Dr. Caldwell says maybe, just maybe, the front burner issue is- Will men be men and women be women according to the will of our Creator? He believes that many of the challenging issues young men and women face today have a genesis in their upbringing. They have not seen these God-given roles modeled and lived out properly in their homes. Dr. Caldwell believes this is where older, godly, wise, biblically saturated people can be so helpful to the younger generation if they are willing to listen to them.

Lastly, Dr. Caldwell also offers some advice for the older generation. He emphasizes that they need to not put up such a grumpy old man front. They need to realize the strength in younger men that the New Testament speaks of. In them, there is courage, boldness, and a willingness to risk for the Kingdom of God that often dissipates from the older generation. Older men need to be able to applaud what is good about the younger generation and be humble enough to be good helpers to them.

No matter what age we are, embracing what the Scriptures have to say about our lives and what God requires of us is the answer to most, if not all, of the challenging issues we will face in this life. Often this is easier said than done because pride inhibits us. But if we will turn and humbly seek the Lord, He hears us. It is from Him that abundant grace flows to enable us to walk in a manner that honors and pleases Him.

Consider listening to the following sermons by Dr. Caldwell:

The Contrast of Healthy Teaching

The Church’s Older Men

What God Would Have Women To Be

The Young Men of The Church

A Slave’s Life

What Every Brother Needs To Remember

Respecting God’s Order For Men & Women

Generational Instruction

A Model For Young Men

A Godly Young Woman

Women Teaching Women

Six Marks of Godly Manhood

The post Christian Advice For Young Men and Young Women appeared first on Straight Truth Podcast.

Should the role of pastoral leadership be self-appointed? Is it wrong for an individual or group of individuals to decide to start a church on their own if they see a need? Who should determine if, when, and where a church should come into existence?

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, a listener has written about a church setting where they were blessed by the preaching but found themselves confused over how that church body came into existence. The listener writes with several questions regarding this. Dr. Josh Philpot brings these questions to Dr. Richard Caldwell for a helpful discussion on church startups, church planting, and the role of church leadership. As Dr. Caldwell shares his thoughts and opinions, he seeks to answer these questions from the Bible and the examples we find there.

Dr. Caldwell begins by saying when we look at the expansion of the Church in the New Testament, there is no doubt the Church was built on the foundation of the Apostles. What we see are churches that are planted by the Apostles or by representatives of the Apostles. Each of those churches is subject to Apostolic authority. The Apostles either appointed elders themselves or appointed men who were given the task of appointing elders in the churches that were planted. So the New Testament pattern seen is that of the church planting churches where there is accountability, responsibility, and oversight. Dr. Caldwell tells us that he believes this is the pattern even for today. Churches should be the ones to plant churches.

However, having said this, he reminds us that there are faithful men like Apollos in the New Testament. Apollos, as far as we know, was not sent nor appointed by anyone. The response to Apollos and his teaching was not to rebuke him or tell him to stop. Priscilla and Aquila heard him, took him under their wing, and instructed him further in the way. Apollos went on to be very active within the realm of Apostolic ministry and very useful. Therefore, Dr. Caldwell says he wouldn’t rule a man out just because the church he pastors didn’t start the way he thinks it ought to.

He shares that we need to be discerning in this situation. The following are some questions he suggests that ought to be considered. Is this a man who is self-will? Is he a man who has gone out on his own, not willing to be accountable to others? Is this a godly man? Is he a man who is not rejecting New Testament ecclesiology and The Church in its larger sense? Is he dismissive of accountability and responsibility? Does he reject it outright? Does he have a humble, submissive attitude at the church that now exists? Is he seeking to glorify God?

Not knowing all the situations and circumstances that brought this man and the others to start a church on their own makes it difficult to give precise and concise answers. Yet Dr. Caldwell gives careful thought as to some of the reasons why this may have come about. But no matter how this particular church started, he believes the better way to start a church is through church planting. As he has explained, it is by an existing church being presented with the need for, or seeing the need, themselves and seeking the Lord in that process.

If this man and the others were in a church body that didn’t see this need as they did, it would have been good for them to find a church that did. It would have been better to have found a church that reflected what they believed and saw the need as they did. Then to have submitted themselves to the church planting process, allowing themselves to be evaluated by the church leadership.

Dr. Caldwell points out that pastors and all those leading in church ministry need the affirmations of godly people to do the ministries that they do. In fact, he says, it is one of the things that will keep them where they need to be in difficult times. Those in leadership need to know that other people have affirmed their giftedness and godliness and that these same people stand behind them and the ministry that they have. It is vital to have this knowledge for longevity and faithfulness in ministry.

The Church is not a human institution. It is not something we build and grow. God has instituted the Church and, it is God who gives the growth. The Lord Jesus Christ said that He will build His Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It is through His commission we get to be a part of this. This requires us to have a correct view of ecclesiology.

Right understanding our Lord’s Church really matters as we desire and seek for His kingdom to grow and expand across the globe to all nations, tribes, and tongues. We must go forth knowing that He has provided the way for this to be done that honors and glorifies Him best. May we humbly seek Him and His Word as we go about our endeavors to participate in such a privileged and high calling.

Consider listening to the following sermons by Dr. Caldwell:

A New People, a New Life, and a New Fellowship

The Temperament of a Godly Leader

Foundational Thinking for Faithful Ministry

The 13 Marks of an Effective Church – Parts 1 & 2

The Word of God Advancing

The Ministers of the Word in the Life of the Church

The Men Who Lead the Church

A Healthy Church

The post Self-Appointed Pastors? appeared first on Straight Truth Podcast.

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, host Dr. Josh Philpot speaks with Dr. Richard Caldwell about habitual sin. What is habitual sin? Is a habitual sin different than other sins? Is practicing sin the same thing as habitual sinning? Is someone who habitually sins an unbeliever? Are there differences between how a believer and an unbeliever deal with habitual sin in their lives? Dr. Philpot asks Dr. Caldwell to help us gain insight into the differences regarding practicing sin, habitual sin, and sinning habitually.

Dr. Caldwell says that where there is new life there are new desires. It results in new hatreds and new loves. Where eternal life has come, the believer has received a new nature. That new nature is internal, and it desires to please God. Before this, we were unregenerate, living in the flesh, slaves to sin with no power to overcome it. But with new life in Christ, the power of sin has been broken. So even though the flesh still abides with us as believers, we are no longer enslaved to it. We now battle sin daily through the power of the Spirit. The trajectory and direction of our life have been forever changed. That change results in a new lifestyle and a new course of life. While we still sin, we aren’t just given over to it; we don’t revel in it; we battle it. As we grow in the Christian life, there is maturing that takes place. And through it, we learn what it is to overcome sin, though, in this life, we will never be sinless. Dr. Caldwell turns to 1 John 2:4-5 and shares from it to help us understand what the pattern of growth should look like in the life of a believer.

Next, Dr. Caldwell turns to 1 John 3:4-5, reading and sharing, from this passage. He explains that salvation brings with it respect for God’s authority. Before we are saved, we don’t respect God’s law, His commandments. Instead, we cast off these things and live our lives as if there is no authority over us. Salvation changes all this; we do not go on making a practice of sinning. Anyone who goes on in their sinning reveals they have no regard for the authority of God. That is not what belongs to a believer’s life.

Dr. Caldwell picks up again at 1 John 3 and reads from verse 6 to verse 9, which he tells us teaches us about our new nature. The new nature we receive has changed everything. Not only should we not practice sin as a pattern, but we can’t if we are born again. In fact, says Dr. Caldwell, this is what verse 10 teaches us. As believers, we pursue righteousness, not sin. We have a respect for the Word of God and desire to be submitted to the authority of God. We don’t make a practice of living to our flesh in habitual, ongoing, unrepentant sin. However, as previously mentioned, this doesn’t mean that believers are sinless; 1 John 1:8 makes this clear. The Christian knows they sin. They grieve over their sins, want to be free from them, and long for the day when the battle will be over. Until then, we engage in war against it, seeking to put sin to death.

When it comes to whether we are a believer who is dealing with habitual sin or an unbeliever who is just habitually sinning, there are differences. Dr. Caldwell gives a few examples of how we can understand these differences. One he has already mentioned. Believers want to be out of their sin; they want to be rid of it. For them, it involves grief, godly sorrow, and repentance that turns to God in faith to deal with it. The unbeliever is not troubled over their sin. But if they are, it is usually related to remorse. This reveals itself in sorrow over being caught in the sin and sorrow over the repercussions of the sin. It is regret that does not look to God; there is no solution. The result is that the unbeliever goes on sinning because there is no power to overcome it. The unbeliever has no faith that looks to God to overcome sin.

The battle to mortify our sin as Christians is a life-long engagement. We are to be killing sin, or sin will be killing us. We cannot claim to know Christ and live in disregard to our sin, the Bible is clear about this. We either know Christ and are in the Spirit, controlled by the Spirit seeking to please God, or living in the flesh controlled by the flesh and cannot please God.

To learn more about the things discussed in today’s podcast, consider listening to the following sermons exposited from the Word of God by Dr. Caldwell:

The Fleshly Mind & The Law of God

Life In the Spirit

Salvation’s Obligation

The Reality & Finality of Salvation

The Seriousness of Easter

No Chance to Repent

Genuine Repentance

The Believer’s Obligation Regarding Sin

Worship & The Mortification of Sin

Heed the Warnings

How to Heed the Warnings

The post Habitual Sin appeared first on Straight Truth Podcast.

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, host Dr. Josh Philpot speaks with Dr. Caldwell about prayer and the Christian life. Dr. Philpot has several questions he presents for discussion: Should we have a specific time devoted to prayer? Is praying in our prayer closet the same as praying without ceasing? What does Pastor Caldwell mean when he speaks of laboring in prayer? How do our prayers work since God is sovereign?

Dr. Caldwell jumps right in and says there is probably nothing harder or more difficult in our Christian life than prayer. Prayer has a work aspect to it in that it requires our time and devotion. He shares that in Colossians 4:12, we read of Epaphras struggling in prayer for the Colossians. The Greek word translated as ‘struggling’, means to agonize, to labor. But, it isn’t just something that we labor in time devoted to it that pleases God; it’s not offering up long prayers for an extended time that pleases God. In fact, Jesus warns about these kinds of prayers in Mark 12:38-40. So then, we need to think about what prayer is and what it expresses.

Prayer is a discipline, but it’s a relational discipline; it isn’t something without fellowship. Prayer is communication from our hearts and minds to our God. There ought to be a motivation that stirs us and moves us to pray based on what God teaches and promises us regarding it. We have to come before Him aware of our own needs and the needs that are all around us.

Dr. Caldwell explains that to pray without ceasing is about ongoing prayer that happens throughout the day. No one prays 24/7, but what is intended is that we live our lives mindful of God and the spiritual needs around us. Prayer in this sense is somewhat spontaneous, where there are ongoing conversations that are taking place in our hearts and minds all day long with the Lord. Yet, there is this other kind of prayer, the going into our closets, where we need to pull away from other things. This kind of prayer allows us time to be alone with our God in undivided devotion.

Dr. Caldwell has said that he doesn’t want people to think in terms of prescribed times for prayer, as much as he wants them to understand the spiritual discipline. Having said this, he does think it’s a good thing to begin our day with prayer, believing that it sets the trajectory for everything else in the day. He also believes that it is good to end our day in prayer, communing with our God as we prepare to close our eyes in sleep for rest.

Lastly, Dr. Caldwell tells us that if we are constantly aware of our neediness and are mindful that without Christ we can do nothing, we will pray. If we are unaware of our needs, we won’t pray. Our lives will be prayerless because we are self-dependent. A self-dependent, prayerless life is a proud life. But, if we are praying, depending on God to work in situations, bring salvation to the lost, and more, then we are believing that God is sovereign over these situations and He alone can bring the change. This is true about everything in life; there is not anything that God is not sovereign over. He is Lord over everything He has made, and there is nothing too difficult for Him. Prayer doesn’t change the mind of God, but prayer is the means God has determined to work through, so prayer matters. So, when we come to Him in prayer, we come submissively. We come asking God to do things, desiring His will to be done and for Him to be honored and receive glory in it. While we don’t always know what His specific will is for a situation, we can humbly surrender the outcome to Him, being content and satisfied with whatever He deems as best.

Prayer is difficult, it is hard, it takes time, and we must discipline ourselves for it. God has provided it as a means for us to come and ask, seeking Him in love, reverence and humble adoration, submitting and surrendering our needs, requests and, desires to Him. While our prayers do not change God’s mind, prayer does change things, and it changes us. To learn more about these things, consider listening to the following sermons from Dr. Caldwell as he digs deep, mines out, and delivers the truth from the Word of God:

Contrasts In Prayer

The Model Prayer

The Motivation For Prayer

Prayer, God’s Willingness & Our Reluctance

Our Prayers & God’s Will

The post Practical Steps For An Effective Prayer Life appeared first on Straight Truth Podcast.

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Richard Caldwell and Dr. Josh Philpot are recording as we enter the Christmas season. Dr. Philpot reflects that it’s a significant time in the life of the Church as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. It’s an important time, a wonderful time, and a time of great joy of fellowship that happens within our church body and with our families. There are many different things we do to celebrate the birth of our Savior. At times, though, even for Christians, we can get caught up in the season and place our emphasis on the wrong things. Dr. Philpot asks about what we can do to keep Christ central during this time of year. He asks Dr. Caldwell to share how he has done this over the years.

Dr. Caldwell says he will answer and share from his perspective. He doesn’t believe that his views need to be that for everyone else. Thinking about this, Dr. Caldwell tells us that Romans 14:5 is on his mind. He explains that he realizes that there are conscience matters wrapped up in discussions about holidays, so he prefers to share his own point of view. He is thankful for the Christmas season and the opportunity to reflect on the incarnation.

It is an opportunity to teach our children the truth about how God has loved the world, and it’s a time for us to celebrate that as a church. Personally, he lands on the ‘regards every day alike’ section of Romans 14:5. So in a sense, he celebrates Christmas all the time as a believer. Still, it is a time to enjoy, a time of reflection and expression of our thankfulness and gratefulness in a unique way for what God has done in saving us. The season and Christmas day itself are celebrated worldwide. Most in our culture go about it celebrating, oblivious to the Believer’s and the Church’s reason for celebrating it. Yet, it often presents opportunities to share the gospel, the love of God, the good news of Christ.

As far as things they did as a family, Dr. Caldwell says that he and his wife were very careful to teach their children what is being celebrated at Christmas. They were careful to distinguish the truth from myths and legends, and they were careful to get the facts of the incarnation straight. For them, it has always been a sweet family time. He shares that families don’t have to be fearful of having fun during this season when they are careful and diligent to teach their children these truths.

Dr. Caldwell does not usually change up his teaching series during this time of year to follow what many would call the advent season. He tells us that he has done this occasionally, and there are times to do that. But, by and large, he wants the congregation that he shepherds to understand that the worship of our God is not compartmentalized. The truths that God’s Word teaches us matters every day.

Lastly, Dr. Caldwell speaks of the importance of not becoming unbalanced during the season. We don’t want to go overboard in a materialistic way to express our love for one another by going into debt. Nor, on the other end of the spectrum, do we want to strive so hard to make it all about the spiritual truth where a lack of enjoyment is present that misses out on the glory of God. We want our children and others to see our love and worship of God in the good gifts that He gives us. We can have joy throughout the season and thoroughly enjoy Christmas day with one another, all to the glory of God.

The following sermons by Dr. Richard Caldwell will help to further your understanding of keeping Christ central in your everyday celebration of our Savior and Lord, not just that of Christmas, and Easter:

Unity in Christ’s Lordship

The Unchanging God

God Has Spoken In Son

What A Savior

A Holy Responsibility

Living In Light of the Incarnation – Parts 1,2,3,4

Why Christ’s Burial Matters – Parts 1 & 2

Christ’s Resurrection & the Believer

A New Creation Perspective

The Believing Life

Matters of Conscience

The post How Do We Keep Christ Central In The Christmas Season? appeared first on Straight Truth Podcast.

What is wrong with doing or having church online? Isn’t virtual church attendance still being present and active with the body of Christ? Why is it so essential that churches meet face-to-face?

These are questions that Dr. Philpot presents to Dr. Caldwell on this week’s episode of the Straight Truth Podcast. Dr. Caldwell seeks to guide and instruct us biblically in our thinking about these questions. He explains what the Church is. Why meeting face-to-face is an act of obedience, not just essential, and why doing or having church online does not reflect church body life.

Dr. Caldwell begins by telling us that the Church is an assembling of God’s people. It is the body of Christ gathering together for the purposes that God has set forth in His Word; it is what He has commanded. Therefore, the Church does this on the Lord’s Day, gathering to mutually encourage one another, sing songs of praise, study God’s Word and partake of the ordinances. This is church life that God has commanded for His people.

Dr. Caldwell speaks of 1 Timothy 3:14 and 15, where Paul writes to Timothy so that people will know how to conduct themselves in the Lord’s household. He tells us this instruction is absolutely unnecessary if there is no need to gather together. Paul speaks of things here that take place in the Church through the fellowship of God’s people. So through Timothy, Paul wants the people of God to know how to do these things. Next, Dr. Caldwell turns to Hebrews 10:24 and 25, where the people who belong to the Lord are explicitly commanded to gather together.

Dr. Caldwell says that all of the mutual ministry verses of the New Testament require interaction with one another; they cannot be lived out without other people. Sitting at home accessing truth online does not equal obedience to these sorts of commands. He shares that we can be thankful and rejoice in our ability to access and obtain sermons and written material over the internet. Yet, he grieves over the lack of Biblical ecclesiology that he sees in many believers in our time (ecclesiology: the doctrine and study of the Church, her being, ministry, mission, and worship.).

Many people are accessing truth like they are going through a cafeteria line, picking and choosing from a variety of sources. This, he says, reveals a real lack of understanding about what it means to love the head of the Church if we are not listening to the head of the Church regarding His household.

Lastly, Dr. Caldwell speaks about the New Testament. While it is written and communicated through letters, there are still things those writers wanted to share and impart to people that could only be done so face-to-face. There is something about face-to-face communication with other human beings that is needful for us. There are things that we cannot communicate well any other way. Things can easily be misunderstood when not done in person.

While email and texting are helpful ways to communicate, they are voiceless communication. These are absent and void of facial expression, intonation, body language, and more. There is nothing in these forms of communication beyond bare words. The value of engaging with one another in person cannot be overestimated.

While we can watch live-streamed church services online and can download sermons, sermon notes, and entire messages in print, we cannot download the Christian life or church life. These are for sure wonderful means available to us when we are temporarily unable to gather with our local church body. However, they should never replace our physical gathering. To do so does not constitute participation in church life. A digital church is not the household of God. Interested in gaining a better understanding of the Church, the Christian life, and church life?

Consider listening to the following sermons that Dr. Caldwell has previously delivered to the flock at Founders Baptist:

The Church – Part 1

The Church – Part 2

Considering Others

A Holy Responsibility

Perseverance and the Local Church

The Supernatural Nature of The Church

A Believer’s Relationship to The Church

The Ministers of The Word in the Life of The Church

The Behavior of a Healthy Church

The post Virtual Church – Online Church Only? appeared first on Straight Truth Podcast.

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast host, Dr. Josh Philpot says that a big topic nowadays, specifically within Baptist circles, but more broadly within the Evangelical world, is plagiarism among pastors. He shares that in the past, pastors have been fired from their congregations for plagiarizing. Yet today, it almost seems like this is a more acceptable thing to do. We are hearing of pastors agreeing with another pastor to share their sermons without telling their church.

There is this borrowing, taking, and replicating, of the work and ideas of another pastor, then presenting it and representing it as their own. Is this appropriate? Is it ever a good idea to preach someone else’s sermons? Have the men who are doing this or have done this disqualified themselves? Dr. Philpot tells us that Dr. Richard Caldwell has pastored for over 30 years now, working hard to prepare and deliver sermons from the Word of God. He asks Dr. Caldwell to share what he has to say about this, and what is his perspective on the borrowing of sermons, in part or whole?

Dr. Caldwell says he sees all sorts of concerns wrapped up in this and several problems with what has come to light recently regarding the plagiarizing of sermons. The first and primary issue that he sees is a fundamental misunderstanding of the task of a pastor. Many pastors see themselves as managers of an organization instead of shepherds. Therefore, they become a mouthpiece and communicator of a message, but not a New Testament shepherd that feeds the people of God with the Word of God.

Dr. Caldwell desires us to see and hear what he speaks of and gives voice to as he shares on this matter. He opens the Word of God and turns to passages in 2 Corinthians and 2 Timothy. He reads and comments on some of the aspects that he has in mind as he goes along. Following are highlights he shares from each passage of Scripture:

2 Corinthians 1:12:
Sincerity, simplicity, straightforwardness, and divine wisdom should characterize the ministry of pastors.

2 Corinthians 4: 1-2:
Preaching is meant to be the open statement of the truth as it is found in God’s Word.
Pastors are not looking to superficially, artificially influence people.
Pastors are not seeking to affect people emotionally or to bring about some sort of response.
Pastors are not putting together a package that will have an intended outcome or influence that they mean to bring about.
Pastors ought to want to study the Word of God, know what it teaches, and want to communicate it to their flock the best way they know how to.
The process of being a pastor means that they first wrestle as a student before being a teacher.

2 Corinthians 4:13-14:
Pastors are to be men who genuinely sincerely believe; therefore, they speak.
The pastors preaching process ought to reflect a conviction that comes from studying God’s Word for themselves.
Pastors ought to be men who have studied well and believe what they have learned so that what they preach and share with their congregation comes from their own hearts and mind.

2 Timothy 2: 14-15:
Pastors have the charge to present themselves to God as approved, as workmen unashamed, those who rightly handle the word of truth.
The process of being a preacher involves proving oneself to be a good student.
Pastors have to study the Word of God rightly to communicate it rightly.
Pastors have to have a reverence for God and His Word, understanding what the Scriptures are.
No one has the right to trifle with the Word of God, doing whatever they want with it.

2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Timothy 4:1-2:
Pastors must have these truths on their hearts and mind.
Pastors must recognize the weighty reality of standing before Jesus one day and having to give account for everything they have said in His name.
Pastors are not CEOs. They are shepherds.
What a pastor delivers to their congregation should be the overflow of God’s work on their own heart.
Pastors can benefit from the work of others, and they should.
Wherever a pastor benefits from the work of others and wants to communicate what they have learned from someone else, it needs to be attributed.

Dr. Caldwell says that plagiarism does not reflect what ought to be in the process that a pastor undertakes. He sees plagiarizing as a matter of qualification for ministry. For those men who are guilty of plagiarizing the sermons of others, they need to not only acknowledge it but repent of it. If they are not willing to walk through the process that requires them to work hard and make sure they rightly handle the Word of God, they need to step out of the office. To do otherwise is irresponsible.

To learn more about the responsibility of preachers and preaching, consider listening to the following sermons prepared and delivered by Dr. Caldwell to the congregation he shepherds at Founders Baptist Church. Several will expand on the passages shared in the podcast today; others are included to offer further guidance, instruction, and encouragement for approaching God’s Word.

The Model for The Ministry of The Word

Confidence & Conscience

God’s Word in a World of Chaos

The Two Answers for Discouragement

A Great Divide – Our Profession vs. Our Living

The Faith Necessary for Faithfulness

A Mindset for Faithful Ministry

Preparing for Spiritual Difficulty

A Time for Itching Ears & Accommodating Preachers

Clear Thinking About the Ministry

How To Remain Faithful in Ministry

Selecting and Training Men for Ministry

The post Sermon Plagiarism appeared first on Straight Truth Podcast.