Author: Heath Lambert

Praying for Revival

Written by Heath Lambert on January 23, 2023. Posted in Marked By Grace.

We are living in dark days. I think if there’s anything Christians know and agree about, it is that we are living in dark days. Just everywhere you look, you see it, you look at global politics, and you see regression and pain and conflict and moving in the wrong direction. You look at American national politics for American Christians, and you see politics are moving in the wrong way. You get some victories every now and then. But the broad scope of history over the last couple of decades seems like a slide in the wrong direction. And then you look at churches, oh, my goodness, you look at churches, and you see churches in decline. Everybody I know is trying to figure out how to do ministry in an environment that is harder to do ministry than it was even just a decade ago. Even our...

Books on Revival

Written by Heath Lambert on January 23, 2023. Posted in First Thoughts.

I am desperate to see a mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God in our day. I am desperate for revival. A mighty and great work of God is the only thing that can solve the overwhelming problems Christians are currently facing. It is the only reality that can stem the tide of cultural decline currently pulling our world into full-scale collapse. The Spirit of God alone can do what all our programs, politics, and striving have failed to accomplish. On Sunday mornings in 2023 at First Baptist, we will be preaching through the book of Acts. Each week we will examine how the story proceeds and pay attention to the relevant biblical and theological principles, but our emphasis each week will be to evaluate God’s work in the revival that was the creation of the early church. The series is called...

Does First Baptist Church Fight About Calvinism?

Written by Heath Lambert on January 16, 2023. Posted in Marked By Grace.

One of the most common questions I’ve received over my years of serving First Baptist Church is something like, what is the church’s commitment or position or standpoint regarding Calvinism? Now, there are a lot of reasons why that’s been a frequent question that has been asked of me. But the most important reason, I think, why that’s been asked of me at First Baptist Church has to do with a family who used to attend our church who was very committed to the issue of Calvinism and was very upset about the issue of Calvinism. This family was very upset, and over a long period of my ministry, they just demanded that I declare war on Calvinism in our church. They said they knew people who were Calvinists. They said they knew people who were spreading Calvinism. I never...

What is a Good Bible Reading Plan?

Written by Heath Lambert on January 9, 2023. Posted in Marked By Grace.

We’re here at the beginning of the year in 2023. It is still that time of year when people are thinking about New Year’s resolutions. They’re making their plans for the year, and one of the things that Christians do every year, is talk about (even if they don’t do it), they talk about how to have a plan to read the Bible for 2023. I think that you should have a plan to expose yourself to the Bible on a regular basis. I do that. There are all sorts of Bible reading plans and all sorts of methods that you can use. I want to talk to you today about how I read the Bible in a year. And I want to talk to you about giving you a challenge about how you might read the Bible this year in 2023. It’s not too late. My Method I started reading the Bible through every year...

Why You Should Read the Bible in 2023

Written by Heath Lambert on January 2, 2023. Posted in First Thoughts.

For years, I have had a commitment to read the Bible through each year. As I look over my adult life, I see that as one of the most spiritually significant commitments I have ever made. The Blessings of Bible Reading That is why I experienced such a struggle when I was asked to write about why you should read the Bible this year. The truth is that I feel so many benefits of Bible reading that I feel overwhelmed at where to start. But I must say something. I opened the Bible to the longest chapter in Scripture which also happens to be exclusively devoted to God’s Word. It is Psalm 119, and it is rich with reasons to read the Word. Here are just five really good reasons from the Bible itself about why you should read that Word this year. 1. You Need Blessings First, God will give you his blessings...

How Should Christians Think About the New Year?

Written by Heath Lambert on January 2, 2023. Posted in Marked By Grace.

The New Year All right, well, I want to welcome you to 2023, I want to welcome you to the first week of 2023, and I want to welcome you to the first anniversary of the Marked by Grace podcast. We began this weekly topical podcast in January of 2022. And we are now starting our second full year here at the very beginning of 2023. When we get to the New Year, everybody starts to think about time. We’ve been thinking about the passing of time with the conclusion of last year, we’re thinking about the preciousness of time at the beginning of this year, and many of you are thinking about how you’re going to spend your time. You’re thinking about your plans once you return from vacation. You’re thinking about New Year’s resolutions. I have been thinking about...

My Favorite Books for 2022

Written by Heath Lambert on December 26, 2022. Posted in Marked By Grace.

It is the last week of 2022, and in then this last week of 2022, there are all sorts of things happening, all sorts of retrospectives, where people are remembering the year that we’re just about to complete. There are all sorts of things where people are making these sorts of year-end recommendations of the best movies of 22 and the best books of 22, and the best television series of 22, and all these kinds of things. As we reflect, I want to give you some book recommendations for the best books I read in 2022. I’ll tell you at the start; I’m going to make two recommendations. I’m telling you at the start that I’m doing this a little bit reluctantly. I don’t know that the books that I like are the books that you’re going to like. I certainly don’t...

Where Did Santa Claus Come From?

Written by Heath Lambert on December 19, 2022. Posted in Marked By Grace.

Here we are in the height of the Christmas season, just a little less than a week before Christmas Day, and on Marked by Grace, we are talking about the various Christmas traditions that are central to our celebration of Christmas. This week, I want to talk about the Christmas tradition of Santa Claus. There might not be a more popular tradition for folks with kids than Santa Claus. He is everywhere at this season of the year. You see him in commercials and advertisements in stores. You see him in Christmas decorations. People are baking cookies for him. He is world famous with regard to Christmas. I want to talk about where he came from. Well, the man we call Santa Claus is actually a man whose name is Nicolas. His actual real existence is shrouded in mystery. We know that Nicolas was a...

Where Did the Christmas Tree Come From?

Written by Heath Lambert on December 12, 2022. Posted in Marked By Grace.

We are here in the middle of December, and that means we are in the throes of the Christmas season. Everybody is thinking about their Christmas traditions, their Christmas celebrations. And as we are in the lead-up to Christmas, I want to focus on some of our Christmas traditions over this week and next week. The reality is we don’t just celebrate Christmas; we celebrate Christmas with all sorts of traditions with all sorts of customs. And what I want to do is evaluate some of those traditions and customs and find out where we get them and what they mean. There are a few traditions that are as noticeable and as apparent as the Christmas tree. Most of you listening to this, maybe every single last one of you listening to this, will have a Christmas tree. Many of you will have multiple...

What is a One-Woman Man?

Written by Heath Lambert on December 5, 2022. Posted in Marked By Grace.

I love answering your questions each week. I try to always address things that are of interest to you. And always try regularly to answer specific questions that you have asked. Several questions have come in lately about what it means to be a one-woman man, what it means to be the husband of one wife. If you are familiar with Paul’s instructions in 1 and 2 Timothy and in Titus called the pastoral epistles, you know that this language of being the husband of one wife is language that is used in those books to refer to qualifications for pastors and deacons. For pastors, the requirement turns up in 1 Timothy 3:2, where we’re told that a pastor, an elder, and overseer must be “above reproach the husband of one wife.” We read about it again in Titus 1:6 if “anyone is above reproach...