Mark 14:1-11 | “A Traitor and a Treasure”
Sermon audio from Preston Highlands Baptist Church.
Mark 13:24-37 | “Jesus Is Coming Back, Are You Awake?”
Sermon audio from Preston Highlands Baptist Church.
Mark 13:14-23 | “The Coming of the Antichrist”
Sermon audio from Preston Highlands Baptist Church.
When Will Jesus Come Back? A Short Defense of Post-Tribulationalism
One thing all Christians agree upon is that Jesus will come back one day. There is, however, much debate about when he will come back, specifically in reference to the Great Tribulation (Rev. 7:14). In this article, I will argue why I think that Jesus will come back after the Great Tribulation. The position I’m going to put forward is called “posttribulationalism” and it differs from the “pretribulational” position in one primary way. The pretribulational position says that Jesus returns before the tribulation to gather the church, but does so [...]
You Shall Love Your Neighbor as Yourself Meditation on Leviticus 19:9-18
When a scribe asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” (Mk. 12:28), Jesus answered with two different passages from the Old Testament. First, he quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5, saying that we should “Love the Lord your God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength” (Mk. 12:30). Then he quoted from Leviticus 19:18, saying that we should “Love our neighbor as ourselves” (Mk. 12:31). Jesus said that these two commandments are the most important commandment. They are [...]
Jesus Was Born to Serve: Meditation on Mark 10:45
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 Christmas is a beautiful season – probably my favorite time of year. The beauty of the season is found in the reason for the season. The coming of God into our world is a profoundly beautiful truth. Why did God come into the world he made? The Bible gives lots of answers to this question. One of them is in Mark 10:45, “The Son [...]
Psalm 86 | “Help for the Day of Trouble, Part One”
[display_podcast] “Few of Days and Full of Trouble” The Bible, and our experience, teaches us that our lives are “few of days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1). Jesus says that each day will bring “its own trouble” (Mt. 6:34). As David Powlison says in his excellent book God’s Grace in Your Suffering, “God never establishes a no-fly zone keeping all problems away. He never promises that your life will be safe, easy, peaceful, healthy, and prosperous. On the contrary, you and I are certain to experience danger, hardship, [...]
Ephesians 6:14-20 | “Armor through Prayer”
[display_podcast] Two Temptations With escalating violence and unrest in our country, there are two temptations followers of Jesus face. One is to live in fear. To live in paralyzing anxiety about what may happen next. To always be looking over our shoulder. To circle the wagons and hunker down until the storm blows over. The other temptation we face is to fight against the violence and unrest with the wrong weapons. We can be tempted to assume that victory will come if we align ourselves with the right politicians or [...]
Political Idolatry
I’m not old enough to remember much about politics in America before the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. But as a kid growing up in a Christian family in the 1990’s, I knew that I was supposed to like George H. W. Bush and not like Bill Clinton. I was told that Bush was good and Clinton was bad. There was no discussion about why one was better than the other. It was just the way things were. The purpose of this article is not to debate the political or [...]
Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire
There is a scene in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit where Bilbo Baggins escapes from danger only to find himself in more danger. With the help of a mysterious ring he stumbled upon in the dark and gloomy caves under the Misty Mountains, Bilbo escapes from the slimy creature Gollum and makes his way out by slipping undetected through a regiment of Goblins. As chance would have it, he found his friends almost immediately and they set off on their adventure once again. As they begin to descend [...]