• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Sermons
The beginning of everything except God himself is found in this book we call “Genesis.” It is at once thrilling and intimidating to dive into this book, for “the truth—and this may sound shocking—is that almost every important church doctrine is found in ‘seed’ form in the book of Genesis.”[1]
The title of the book is a word that has come to mean “origin” or “source” in English just because of this Old Testament book. It was called genesis in the Greek Old Testament, because the word is found in key places throughout the book (2:4; 5:1; 6:9;…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Sermons
“Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.” (Prov 26:17)
This is what we call a “proverb,” and it’s from the Old Testament book of Proverbs. This is a favorite part of God’s word, because of verses like this one: you get bite-size nuggets of truth about things that help us know how to live well. Some have even defined the “wisdom” we get from Proverbs and other Wisdom books of the Bible—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon—as “skill in living.” Given the complexity and unexpectedness…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Sermons
It's hard not to slow down to look at car wrecks. Even though you know it's wrong and you feel guilty for doing it, it's hard not to. Reading 1 Corinthians is a bit like looking at a wreck—except in this case, you're supposed to look! This Sunday, that's what we're going to do, slow down and begin our look at this glorious letter of Paul's to a church he loved.
The Corinthian church is famous for its dysfunction—relationally (they struggle with unity, so much it even affected their celebration of the Lord's Supper), sexually (they have all kinds of bad…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Sermons
Tomorrow (Oct 2, 2022) we begin our series in Ezra-Nehemiah, so let’s get oriented to these great OT books. (We’ll pretend for a minute that we all have power and the church building will have power, and these remnants of Hurrican Ian are behind us).
Leslie Allen opens his Ezra commentary by writing,
Ezra-Nehemiah is the OT equivalent of the Acts of the Apostles—it is a book of new beginnings. Acts opens with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit promised to God in Joel 2 (Acts 1:4–5; 2:16–21, 33). The fulfillment of ‘the word of the LORD spoken by…
• John McLeod • Posted in Bible, Devotions, Sermons
Here are some thoughts and excerpts from this sermon on January 31, 2021. You can listen, watch, or read the entire sermon here.
Listen! Look Here! He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Pay attention to what you hear! These are the commands from the mouth of Jesus in Mark 4. His listeners’ and our spiritual lives depend on our response to it. Jesus goes on to warn his disciples that if they don’t understand this particular parable (of the Sower), they will have trouble understanding the rest of what he will tell them. We would do well to pay attention as well.
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Old Testament, Sermons
This Sunday we begin a sermon series from the book of Isaiah: "Holy, Wholly, Holy." The prophet Isaiah is the Shakespeare of the Bible. He covers the heights and depths of human experience, takes us from the cesspool of our depravity to the very glory of the presence of God, and calls us from his first words to his last to be wholly God's. Our tendency is to be immersed in our own lives and to dabble in the things of God. Isaiah beckons us to stop and consider the King who gave us the breath....
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Discipleship, Grace, Sermons
It is fitting that our sermon on Mother's Day happened to be on the grace of God. There's nothing a mom needs more than that. And both prove to be very different than we at first expected.
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Sermons
A tired, older ex-convict once sent a letter to a younger minister of the gospel. The two had worked together for years, and now the younger minister was venturing off on his own. The older man had traveled extensively for the sake of the gospel and wanted his younger protege to do well in the face of significant challenges. He would need guidance on some critical areas, courage to face the inevitable challenges to gospel ministry in a hostile land, and a heavy dose of reminders about the grace of God. We call this writing, "The Letter of Paul to Titus."
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Sanctification, Sermons
This summer we have been thinking about Personal Reformation in our sermons. The first series was on change—How Can I Change? The second series, Scandalous Mercy, challenged us in many ways through the Minor Prophet Jonah. The third series of the summer, How Firm a Foundation, will focus on the Bible.
To think rightly and live rightly as Christians we have to think rightly about the Bible. If we get off here, we don't just get off a little bit. We create Grand Canyon-sized gaps in our thinking and living. Before long we will be…
• Daniel Baker • Posted in Bible, Old Testament, Sermons
There aren't many Bible stories that can claim a recent Bruce Springsteen song and a Veggie Tales movie, but Jonah can. And it makes sense. The story offers everything we love: a villainous hero (or is he a heroic villain?), fast-paced action, profound insights about the human condition, and a mesmerizing look at God's scandalous mercy. It is one of the few Old Testament books that seems to speak to everyone—scholar or preschooler, the specialist in Hebrew syntax or one who barely knows English (and it's your mother tongue!).
Of course, the best way…