Pastor Shaun Marksbury

Here are the seven most popular sermons downloaded this year.  It was a year that favored end-times studies, though our most popular always seem to be those dealing with marriage and family.  It is also interesting that the first six entries are only from January and February, with the last item being from April. It's a blessing and a privilege to preach and teach God's Word, and I hope you come to know the Lord and His ways more in  2021. The first two are from January 2020, from our Ephesians series, when we were still at Perkins: 1.  The Loving Headship of Husbands | Ephesians 5:26–33 It's only in Christ that we see precisely the kind of love men should share with their wives. We can divide the lessons in this passage into two parts: Husbands must love as Christ does (vv. 25–30) and wed as Christ does (vv. 31–32), with v. 33 serving to sum everything we've studied concerning marriage. Unfortunately, we won't be able to get through all this passage today, so for p...

Here is the video I mentioned this morning in my sermon.  This arose about a year ago and still hasn't been resolved.  A group called Enemies Within the Church created a mini-documentary covering the events: If you are curious as to some of the recent fallout, here is Jon Harris engaging in an extended roundtable discussion: For more video content, here is the Sword and the Trowel broadcast discussing the situation a year ago, after the news broke: Finally, here is the Conversations that Matter video from earlier this year discussing the same:

At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention. As I was working through this passage, this verse made me think about some of what we see with discernment blogs and ministries.  I’m in favor of them in general because they can provide a valuable service to the church.  Yet, not all is good with them. For instance, we sometimes see them dipping into tabloid-like reporting.  They may follow a questionable teacher so closely as to judge personal activities, many of which are insignificant to the evaluation of the individual or ministry in question.  Unless there is some disqualifying sin to discuss (like a husband leaving his wife for his secretary), there’s little reason for extending commentary beyond evaluating public teaching. More to the point, much of what gets posted in the “survivor blog” community is often speculative, tawdry, an...