Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact [email protected].
Mark Newton: God, We Need to Talk! (Psalm 13)
Mark Newton, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Lufkin, noted three levels of communication: frivolous, factual and feeling. Each is more honest and expresses something deeper about us. Each expresses more intimacy with others, including God. As a person grows more intimate with God, paradoxes will be revealed—seeming discrepancies between God’s promises and God’s actions. Psalms of complaint express a person of faith’s experience of God in the midst of such paradoxes.
Psalm 13 demonstrates we can question God honestly. God is big enough to handle our questions, anger and hurt. The psalmist didn’t say what the specific concern was, nor did the psalmist say the problem was resolved. Even so, the psalmist expressed confidence in God and finished with hope.
This sermon was delivered June 13, 2021, for the morning worship service of First Baptist Church in Lufkin.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.