I pray we will become so gripped by God’s righteous vocation that we cannot help but give up our self-interest in order to live as Christ in this life, opposing the forces of this world in the name of Christ so all may know the joy and life of eternity.

My concern is not with speaking truth to power—if that actually is what people like Jeffress and Graham are doing. My concern is with using worldly terms—the political designators “conservative” and “progressive”—to define who is and who is not a Christian.

There is a wealth of incredible stories being crafted in the lives and ministries of Texas Baptist people, churches and institutions. From those stories, I hear about the difference Jesus is making in lives around the world. More people need to know the difference Jesus is making.

In keeping with our desire to inform, inspire and challenge people to live like Jesus, Baptists Preaching is an attempt to provide a selection of important sermons preached in Texas Baptist churches and, over time, to create a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research.

Things must be going really well for a church to have time to debate what Jesus meant by the story of the sheep and the goats or the Good Samaritan.

There once was a king who had 400 prophets, and whenever the king wanted affirmation, he called the 400 prophets together. One year, the king wanted to take land he counted as his and asked a neighboring king to join the fight. They decided to ask God.

John McCain didn’t seem to measure right by what church he attended or what words he used to define “being a Christian.” He seemed to understand these are outward displays that may have no correspondence to one’s inner character.

There was a time when the problem with sex in religious circles was we didn’t talk about it. We didn’t talk about the gift and the wonder of part of God’s design. We didn’t talk about the blessing of sex.

When the world poses challenging questions, what are we telling the kids?

Texas Baptists can be a lot of fun when they come together as they did this week at the Family Gathering in Arlington. As friends reunited, one might have heard Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World:” “I see friends shaking hands, saying, ‘How do you do?’ They’re really saying, ‘I love you.’”

“In an age of misdirection, it is critical we know who defines truth, faith and salvation.”

This week marked my son’s last summer of children’s camp. Next year, he begins the glorious (cough) teenage years. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.