God. Real. Right.

This message is about Matthew 9:14-38. The will of God is fulfilled in Christ, who has already come. It is right to wait for Christ. But once He has come, it is time to choose, to obey, to act. I delivered the message going through the book of Matthew as interim pastor of Glen Meadows Baptist Church in San Angelo, TX.
(More from James and the Sermon on the Mount to follow!)
Audio sermons posted to date, including this one, are also freely available on the sermons page, which is also linked on the sidebar, including as an RSS feed (for subscriptions, like with iTunes).
As with every audio link on this blog, you can click the text just left of the playable arrow and the audio will open in a new page, or you can right-click that text and select “save linked file” (or something similar) and download the file to your hard drive, or you can click the little arrow next to an audio file and it will play the sound on this page.

This message is the second on the way through the Sermon on the Mount. The text is Matthew 5:13-16. It was recorded while I served as interim pastor at Glen Meadows Baptist Church in San Angelo, TX.
(Yes. The final messages from James are still forthcoming!)
Audio sermons posted to date, including this one, are also freely available on the sermons page, which is also linked on the sidebar, including as an RSS feed (for subscriptions, like with iTunes).
As with every audio link on this blog, you can click the text just left of the playable arrow and the audio will open in a new page, or you can right-click that text and select “save linked file” (or something similar) and download the file to your hard drive, or you can click the little arrow next to an audio file and it will play the sound on this page.

A new leader means a new home.
This message is about Matthew 8:18-34. There are those who say they will follow Jesus but are told what it will cost about their home. Then there are those who leave Jesus and tell Him to leave their home alone. I delivered the message going through the book of Matthew as interim pastor of Glen Meadows Baptist Church in San Angelo, TX.
(The final messages from James are still forthcoming!)
Audio sermons posted to date, including this one, are also freely available on the sermons page, which is also linked on the sidebar, including as an RSS feed (for subscriptions, like with iTunes).
As with every audio link on this blog, you can click the text just left of the playable arrow and the audio will open in a new page, or you can right-click that text and select “save linked file” (or something similar) and download the file to your hard drive, or you can click the little arrow next to an audio file and it will play the sound on this page.

Or, Why You Might Not Want to Be a Disciple (and Why You Might!)
This message is about one of the most famous and influential passages in scripture, Matthew 5:1-12, the beatitudes. I delivered it as interim pastor of Glen Meadows Baptist Church in San Angelo, TX.
(The last two sermons from James are completed, but I have not received the recordings yet. They will be up over the next few weeks.)
Audio sermons posted to date, including this one, are also freely available on the sermons page, which is also linked on the sidebar, including as an RSS feed (for subscriptions, like with iTunes).
As with every audio link on this blog, you can click the text just left of the playable arrow and the audio will open in a new page, or you can right-click that text and select “save linked file” (or something similar) and download the file to your hard drive, or you can click the little arrow next to an audio file and it will play the sound on this page.

KJV
Let there be light: and there was light.

Comments
Let there be light: Later biblical authors make much of the relationship between light and God. Psalm 104 uses all the elements of Genesis’ creation account to praise God. Verse 2 of that Psalm says God wraps Himself in light. John uses the image of light frequently, even saying in 1 John 1:5 that God is light. (Of course, that claim is not the same as the claim that light is God–a claim which would be a huge theological error.) But it is important throughout the rest of scripture that God creates the means by which the whole concept of revelation takes on significance. God is revelatory.

…and there was light: This part of verse 3 is interesting because it exactly replicates the first part. That is, in Hebrew the grammar and spelling of what God says matches exactly what results. In English it would look like this: “God said be light and be light.” Of course, the Grammar is wrong in English, so the translation must conjugate “to be” into “let there be” and “there was”. But in Hebrew the fact that what happens in creation is a direct reflection of what God says is unmistakable. That fact makes even more sense of why God’s Word is inviolable (as it is preserved in passages like Psalm 12:6-7) and why a false prophet’s unfulfilled word is sure evidence of his fraudulent claim to represent God (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).

Expanded Paraphrase
Exactly what God said came to pass. He said, “be light,” and the very next thing was light.

This message covers the end of James’ fourth chapter; that is, James 4:13-17. I delivered it on the day we honored graduates at FBC of Madisonville, TX. It was appropriate for the graduates because the passage deals with the presumptuousness with which we make our own plans and disregard the fact that we are not powerful enough to make things happen, and the fact that it is God’s will we ought to be pursuing instead of our own. The passage concludes that we often fail simply because we let our plans for an uncertain future interfere with the Lord’s will for our immediate present.
Audio sermons posted to date, including this one, are also freely available on the sermons page, which is also linked on the sidebar, including as an RSS feed (for subscriptions, like with iTunes).
As with every audio link on this blog, you can click the text just left of the playable arrow and the audio will open in a new page, or you can right-click that text and select “save linked file” (or something similar) and download the file to your hard drive, or you can click the little arrow next to an audio file and it will play the sound right on this page. Amazing!

Here is the next message from the book of James. It’s on chapter 4, verses 6 through 12. It was the final sermon I delivered as interim pastor at First Baptist, Madisonville, TX. Christians must resist pride and self-service by yielding to God, they must actually desire God more than other things, and choose to become servants to others in order to be real disciples.
Audio sermons posted to date, including this one, are also freely available on the sermons page, which is also linked on the sidebar, including as an RSS feed (for subscriptions, like with iTunes).
As with every audio link on this blog, you can click the text just left of the playable arrow and the audio will open in a new page, or you can right-click that text and select “save linked file” (or something similar) and download the file to your hard drive, or you can click the little arrow next to an audio file and it will play the sound right on this page.

KJV:
And God said…

Comments:
At this point in the text, God has created a world which has no form and is empty though He is pervasively present in it. So the next thing He does is make clear that His presence will not be secretive. The activity with which He will give shape to the formless and content to the void is revelatory–it is speech. This point, though it may seem strained with a reading of nothing but Genesis 1, is undoubtedly a portion of this event as it is recognized throughout the Old Testament. Psalm 19 is one of the best examples. Creation language deliberately marks the first six verses of that Psalm, a poem about how God reveals Himself first through the creation, then through the law, then through individual lives. Another way of saying it is that without God’s revelation, all is formless and void.
It is important to point out that this reading is not allegorical. If the scripture were not all inspired by the same God, it could be characterized as reader response theory. But since God inspires all the scriptures, including later passages’ readings of earlier passages, it is perfectly legitimate to point out what the passage comes to mean throughout Hebrew history in scripture.

Expanded Paraphrase:
So God began to give form to the world by speaking–

Here is the next message from the book of James. It’s on chapter 4, verses 1 through 5. I delivered it as interim pastor at First Baptist, Madisonville, TX. This passage deals with the most fundamental ethical issue, and with the reason practical discipleship (practiced Christianity) often fails. It deals with the inherent problem with egoism (of any form), and the value of altruism. The reason Christians often end up with unanswered prayer and acting as the enemy of God is not that they imitate just any immoral, worldly behavior, but that they choose self over others. It is a very important passage for contemporary theology and practical Christian living.
Audio sermons posted to date, including this one, are also freely available on the sermons page, which is also linked on the sidebar, including as an RSS feed (for subscriptions, like with iTunes).
As with every audio link on this blog, you can click the text just left of the playable arrow and the audio will open in a new page, or you can right-click that text and select “save linked file” (or something similar) and download the file to your hard drive, or you can click the little arrow next to an audio file and it will play the sound right on this page.

KJV:
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Comments:
This phrase leaves no room for a deistic view of the world. Deism claims that God started the world, but is no longer involved in it, either normally or at all–depending on how developed the form of deism is. But here Moses uses a word implying that God settles, hovers, or flutters over His new creation. In fact, he uses the same word again in Deuteronomy 32:11. There it is translated as “flutters” and describes how God stayed with and led His people through the wilderness. The importance of God’s constant and total involvement in the world is also made clear in passages like Colossians 1:16-18: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” And when Peter speaks of skeptics who deny that God will ever judge the world, he reminds them that before God judged the world in Noah’s day, He was already maintaining that world (at creation, in the water and out of the water) with the power of his word. That’s the point in 2 Peter 3:5: “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.” Peter goes on to speak of Noah’s judgment, making the point that God was involved in the world immediately after its creation, and when it was time for that first cataclysmic judgment.

Expanded Paraphrase:
But after God created the cosmos with His word, He did not leave it alone. Instead, His Spirit settled down over it to remain involved in what is not Him, but is most definitely His.