In March of 2016 I had the opportunity to travel to Israel and Jordan with a tour group from Lubbock Christian University led by Dr. Jesse Long. Among the many highlights of that tour for me was the opportunity to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Within that building is the “Edicule,” a small building built during the crusades over the remains of what was believed to be the cave tomb of Jesus.
About six months after our visit, the Edicule was closed for major repairs and the National Geographic magazine and cable channel was granted permission to video what was uncovered in the center of that small building. A documentary and magazine article are available from them. But in brief, when the flat marble stone (dating from about AD 1100-1300) supposedly covering the “tomb bed” was removed, another much older stone slab dated to about AD 345 was discovered beneath. Then when that slab was shifted to one side, only the original limestone tomb bed was found beneath! And then within a few hours it was all cleaned and repaired, and hidden once again from human eyes.Continue Reading
I have long held the strong conviction that professed Christians have too little knowledge and understanding of “apologetics” – the study and presentation of the strong evidence and reasons for believing the fundamental facts of the Gospel message. This includes the reliability of the Bible as a historical record and the existence of a real person named Jesus. The facts concerning Jesus would further include His doing of miracles, His teachings, and His death by crucifixion and then resurrection from the dead! Failure by those of us who teach and preach to regularly present this evidence to our people has left many of them weak in faith and more easily misled by the skeptics in our culture and educational systems. Therefore, I often incorporate the “evidence that demands a verdict” in my messages and classes. And there is no better time to do that each year than during the Easter season.Continue Reading
On Easter Sunday, April 1 2018, I delivered the following sermon at the Church of Christ in Friona, Texas. No recording was made, but I have included my outline below.
On This Day
Scripture Text:Luke 24:1-3
Introduction:
As a teacher of Christian History at Sunset International Bible Institute, I have the opportunity to teach about the various controversies in celebrating Easter that occurred in the early centuries of the church.
Controversy was primarily over what date it should be celebrated.
The questions and differences first appeared in the 2nd century.
It is interesting to note that no evidence exists for or against the New Testament (1st century) era church keeping an annual specific day, but only Sunday itself.
It is also important to note that there was no doubt in the 2nd century about the actual historical event of Jesus’ resurrection. Only the heretical Gnostics rejected its truth. Mainstream Christianity only squabbled over what date they should celebrate it on.
Now Christian history does tell us is that three practices of the church go all the way back into the 1st century of Christianity – and all three of these practices declare the historical truth of Jesus’ resurrection. We will speak more about these 3 practices in this lesson.
As I write this, “Easter” is two weeks away on April 12. For the eighteen years I preached at Tanglewood in Odessa, Texas I delivered a message specifically for that holiday almost every year. Over the next two weeks I want to share a few of those messages.
I am not suggesting that this specific time each year is exactly when the Lord was resurrected. We don’t know the real day of the year other than that it was on a Sunday. But I do know this time each year is an opportune time to remind our people and our visitors of the truth and importance of His resurrection.Continue Reading
One of the many great benefits of living in the Information Age is the accessibility of materials from others who have sought to preach the Gospel of Christ. By this I mean there are many books available of the sermons and writings of men of earlier generations who were effective proclaimers of the Biblical message. Of course, for those who lived more recently or are contemporaneous with us, we also may also have audio or video recordings.
Being a teacher of Christian history, I always value reading after the Apostolic and Early Church Fathers. This is no endorsement of some of their teachings, but there is still much to be gained by listening to those who lived much closer in both time and culture to the New Testament period. Men such as Ignatius, Origin, Justin the Martyr, and others still speak today through writings which have survived for 1700+ years.Continue Reading
I realize that some feel uncomfortable with the idea of delivering a message this time of year which touches on the connection between the Gospel and Christmas. Perhaps they are shocked at the emphasis on spending money and buying things, maybe it’s the pagan roots of several holiday customs, or even the acknowledgement that there is actually no emphasis in the New Testament on commemorating the birth of Jesus, only His death and resurrection. I get it. I agree. But I still deliver holiday influenced sermons most years… whether Christmas, Easter, Independence Day or Thanksgiving!
Why? Let’s think primarily about Christmas for now:Continue Reading
Attendance at churches in America is in a downward spiral. Religious critics increasingly malign and belittle people of faith in Christ who do attend. More and more professed Christians have essentially joined them by abandoning their participation in “church.” Why? Did God make a mistake in creating the church? Has the gathering together of believers become optional as public attendance seems to indicate? While I may not be able to answer these and other questions to everyone’s satisfaction, I would like to share with you today why I have neither abandoned nor given up on the church. Here is why I go to church. Click here to listen.
Here are four messages I delivered in 2010 exalting the Bible’s view of the Church. It was originally planned as a 7-lesson series, but was shortened to four. Following this series I will post two additional sermons I delivered in 2012 and 2013 as follow-ups to this series.
1. The Church in God’s Eternal Plan – “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ephesians 3:10-11) This morning we begin a seven lesson series we call, “7 Things to Know about the Church!” Our first message focuses on the role of the church in God’s eternal purpose. Some religious groups teach that the church is simply a “stop gap measure” by God until He can bring in the Kingdom at Christ’s second coming. Many groups and individuals seem to believe the church should be whatever they want it to be – in organization, worship, practice, finances, and purpose. Paul’s statement in Ephesians 3 (above) says that “through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known.” The church reflects God’s planning, wisdom and purpose! It is not an afterthought or temporary measure.Continue Reading
The video of this lesson can be viewed on the Sunset International Bible Institute YouTube channel by clicking on this link.
INTRODUCTION:
Our passage is called the “Sh’ma” (pronounced She-MAH, and meaning “Listen” or “hear”). It has been used as a prayer by devout Jewish people since before the time of Jesus.
It is the first verse in the Torah every Jewish child memorizes.
It is still the first prayer in the morning and last prayer at night a religious Jewish person offers.
CONTEXT
Moses is speaking to those ready to enter the Land of Canaan under Joshua.
They and their parents have spent almost 40 years after leaving Egypt learning to fully believe in, trust, and obey the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
They had to learn that the core of their Law and their obedience was that YHWH was the only God there is!
“I am YHWH your God, who brought you out of Egypt”
“You shall have no other gods other than me”
“You shall not make a carved image… you shall not bow down to them or serve them”
They had learned many hard lessons in the desert, and a whole generation had died there, because of their idolatry, rebellion, disobedience and grumbling.
Part of the unique nature of humankind, God’s highest creation, is language
Language allows both the expressing and transferring of knowledge, feelings, thoughts, dreams, and history
It also allows – through similes, metaphors, parables, and other forms of symbolic expression – the describing of otherwise unknowable things using comparisons to those things that are known
The Bible has many descriptions of spiritual realities by means of this symbolic imagery. Examples: Jesus’ parables and the amazing “pictures” in the Book of Revelation
This imagery is also used to reveal spiritual realities involving prayer
Here we will look at just two aspects of prayer through these images:
The “Jesus Documents” is a study of the writings we call the New Testament, but which are, in fact, the “Jesus Documents,” because they are the primary sources of our information and knowledge concerning Jesus. In this 8-lesson sermon series, we look at the criticism and challenges to these documents, and the reasons I believe we can trust in their reliability. Click here to access these messages, or find our title, The “Jesus Documents” in the Series list in the right-hand column of this page.
In this Preaching Series, we are focusing on people with whom Jesus had relatively brief contact, but which were chosen by the Gospel writers to appear in the records about Jesus. We hope these studies illustrate the use of Biblical research resources to help assemble a coherent and appealing story about each person.
We don’t see Jesus spending much time with people in “high places,” and most of those important people He did encounter produced negative results:
Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas and Annas the High Priests, and King Herod
Sadducees, Pharisees, lawyers, scribes, teachers of the Law, and priests
To the contrary, He was criticized for those He did often keep company with:
Tax collectors (publicans) and “sinners” (outcasts) – Matthew 9:10; 11:19
Prostitutes and sinful women – Matthew 21:31; Luke 7:37; John 4 (Samaritan woman at a well)
Fishermen, common people, and the poor
Non-Jews like Samaritans, a Canaanite woman, and possibly a Roman centurion (Luke 7:1-10)
As I write this, “Easter” is two weeks away on April 12. For the eighteen years I preached at Tanglewood in Odessa, Texas I delivered a message specifically for that holiday almost every year. Over the next two weeks I want to share a few of those messages.
I realize that some feel uncomfortable with the idea of delivering a message this time of year which touches on the connection between the Gospel and Christmas. Perhaps they are shocked at the emphasis on spending money and buying things, maybe it’s the pagan roots of several holiday customs, or even the acknowledgement that there is actually no emphasis in the New Testament on commemorating the birth of Jesus, only His death and resurrection. I get it. I agree. But I still deliver holiday influenced sermons most years… whether Christmas, Easter, Independence Day or Thanksgiving!
Attendance at churches in America is in a downward spiral. Religious critics increasingly malign and belittle people of faith in Christ who do attend. More and more professed Christians have essentially joined them by abandoning their participation in “church.” Why? Did God make a mistake in creating the church? Has the gathering together of believers become optional as public attendance seems to indicate? While I may not be able to answer these and other questions to everyone’s satisfaction, I would like to share with you today why I have neither abandoned nor given up on the church. Here is why I go to church. 
Here are four messages I delivered in 2010 exalting the Bible’s view of the Church. It was originally planned as a 7-lesson series, but was shortened to four. Following this series I will post two additional sermons I delivered in 2012 and 2013 as follow-ups to this series.
The video of this lesson can be viewed on the Sunset International Bible Institute YouTube channel by 
The Privilege of Prayer
The “Jesus Documents” is a study of the writings we call the New Testament, but which are, in fact, the “Jesus Documents,” because they are the primary sources of our information and knowledge concerning Jesus. In this 8-lesson sermon series, we look at the criticism and challenges to these documents, and the reasons I believe we can trust in their reliability. 