Pastor Shaun Marksbury

  Ministry Amid Spiritual Warfare (Eph. 6:19–22) Series:               Ephesians: Building the Church          Text:                 Ephesians 6:19–22 By:                    Shaun Marksbury                         Date:                September 10, 2023 Venue:              Living Water Baptist Church             Occasion:          PM Service   I.    ...

Our Lord commands in Mark 9:50 to  “ be at peace with one another.” We must beware becoming too enamored with our particular corner on Christianity.  Note one commentator ’ s understanding: Bill Leonard takes the title of his book God’s Last and Only Hope from a convention sermon delivered in 1948.  The preacher had no doubt that God could work only through his group: ‘I am more tremendously Convinced than ever before that the last hope, the fairest hope, the only hope for evangelizing the world on New Testament principles is the Southern Baptist people represented in that convention.’  Those who are not Southern Baptists may demur. Mark’s text should cause us to reflect on our role and other’ role in God’s plan with greater humility.  We must recognize that God’s mission in the world is bigger than we are.  We need to recognize who the real enemy is who must be exorcised from our midst and from others. [1]    I can appreciate this—after I e...

Mark Dever's ministry has been a blessing to the church at large.  With books like Nine Marks of a Healthy Church and the resulting 9Marks ministry , he has helped many Evangelicals better understand biblical ecclesiology.  His booklet entitled By Whose Authority? Elders in Baptist Life is also useful; it rightly argues for the importance of elders.  For many in Southern Baptist circles, this will be a difficult sale, as self-identifying “traditionalist” congregations (those ironically not following the traditional ecclesiological beliefs of the founders of the SBC) are typically deacon-run, even if they have multiple pastors.  It is, however, the more biblical model, and this book is worth the read simply for that. Another reason it's a difficult sale is the concern that church members will lose their say.  Interestingly, Dever doesn't counter here with what Scripture says about the authority of elders.  Instead, he argues that the congregation...

As you reflect on the Reformation 500 years later, you'll notice that there's growing support for reversing it.  Folks are building bridges on both sides of the Tiber River in an effort to bring Protestants back home to Rome. In 1994, an ecumenical document called “ Evangelicals and Catholics Together ” shook the Christian world. In 2014, megachurch evangelical pastor Rick Warren called Pope Francis “our pope,”   erased the major differences between Catholics and Evangelicals , and recently made headlines again when he said that Catholics were partners in ministry and recipients of God’s grace . Last month, Pope Francis met with Catholic and Evangelical Charismatics and said that the Holy Spirit gave them all forgiveness and “unity in diversity.” Let us not forget that the Catholic church anathematized anyone who believes that a sinner can be justified by grace alone apart from works.  This means that they teach anyone holding to this belief will go to hell beca...