March 22, 2024, marks 15 years since my ordination at First Baptist Atlanta. This special occasion marks my first ordination without having my ordaining pastor, the late Charles Stanley, who died in April of 2023. As far as I know, I stand last in a long line of men ordained into the gospel ministry under Dr. Charles Stanley's time at First Baptist.

As strange as it sounds to speak,

Christians say there is an eighth day of the week.

Of course we know our calendar has seven,

But Christians say eight to suggest there is a heaven.

The first day of the week refers to the beginning of something new

But when Christians say eighth we are looking ahead to all that God will do.

Jesus was dead as dead, but that is not all that was said,

We wait to hear the amen, for tomorrow he rises again!

On Friday Jesus took the cross.

His hour had come,

The world would see,

What it means for God to love you and me.

Realizing our dependence does not mean we have moved beyond ourselves and towards a true heart of worship. Asking God can be turned inward. Our passions are stubborn and not so easily defeated.

Though London Bridge has fallen, the materials to build what lasts are there for us. Will we be wise enough to follow her example and give our lives in service to the incorruptible Crown?

Through the Bible, we know Jesus. Through Jesus, we know God. We have a Word, and we have a Book.

What we know of God moves from one direction - either from below, where we read our knowledge back into God, or allow God to speak to us from above. One way is idolatry - where “God” becomes an echo chamber of our voice. The other way starts with God first, listens to God speak, and responds to his reality. When we listen first, we begin to think God’s thoughts after him instead of reading our thoughts into him. With God, listening is more important than speaking.

By belief, we cannot mean simply a thing that we dream up; we must mean a discovery of a reality that exists before us, above us, and beyond us. Otherwise, belief is shallow.

As you look upon these new images, remember you are but a gazer you didn’t create, you didn’t order, you merely gaze. Those images are not yours though you captured them. They belong to another who orders the stars and sets them in place. He ordains every light; knows every expanse and extinction of light. He sets them in the heavens to declare his glory.

You are invited to consider the cross and stay there forever.

When we refer to freedom in Christ, we don't mean simply going to heaven when you die. Freedom in Christ means coming from death to life. You once were blind, but now you see. You once were lame but now can walk. You once were dead but now are alive!

Throughout his letter to the Galatians, Paul is confronting false teaching. The false teachers have a message. Their message is not Jesus paid it all, but Jesus plus all these things. The false teachers have no confidence in the cross of Christ. When you lose confidence in the cross you substitute confidence in something else. Anything else is worthless.

No doubt there are many concerns that attend us today, but we are mindful that you are aware of all of our concerns. So Father in the quietness of this moment, may we turn our concerns overt to you with full confidence because of your demonstration through the blood of Jesus Christ that you care for us.

Justification is the way to refer to what the death of Christ on the Cross accomplished for those who trust in him. Through Christ, we are justified, that is, pardoned and accepted by God in Christ.

Does your confession take you towards self-reliance and self-justifying, or does your confession take you towards marvelous grace that says, my only comfort in life and death is that I am not my own? Do you boast in your good deeds, or is your boast in your Redeemer? An honest answer to those questions will tell you the road you are traveling.

Paul took his knowledge of the Scripture and saw Jesus as their true fulfillment, and Paul studied and prayed and read the Old Testament as Christian Scripture!

How do we know that truth has come to us? What happens if we encounter what Paul warned in Galatians 1:7, those who come preaching a distorted gospel to trouble you? They will come to you. Sometimes they come knocking on your door. Sometimes it is as subtle as your thinking salvation comes through what you can do or what you will do other than what Christ has done.