David Platt

David Platt: SBC Pastors Conference 2009 from Todd Thomas on Vimeo.

A sermon delivered by the pastor of The Church at Brook Hills at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting's Pastors Conference.

The Son

I found this story on another site and just had to share it.


A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art.. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The fatherwas notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.

He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.' The young man held out this package. 'I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.'

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture.. 'Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me.. It's a gift.' The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.

On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?'

There was silence..

Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the famous paintings.. Skip this one.'

But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?'

Another voice angrily. 'We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh's, the Rembrandts. Get on with the Real bids!'

But still the auctioneer continued. 'The son! The son! Who'll take the son?' Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room.. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. 'I'll give $10 for the painting...' Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.

We have $10, who will bid $20?'

'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.' The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son.

They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!'

A man sitting on the second row shouted, 'Now let's get on with the collection!'

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. 'I'm sorry, the auction is over.'

'What about the paintings?'

'I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time.. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.

The man who took the son gets everything!'

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: 'The son, the son, who'll take the son?'

Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHO SO EVER BELIEVETH, SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE...THAT'S LOVE

Thanks To A Blind Man, I Can See A Little More Clearly

When I went to the laundry room today, I did what I normally do. I put my laundry in my truck and drove over to the building where the laundry room is and parked at the end of the sidewalk and took my stuff in to wash it. Then I left and ran a few errands and went back to put my stuff in the dryer. When it was time to pull the stuff out, I once again drove over there and parked right on the end of the sidewalk so it wouldn’t be far to carry it. Since I only get the chance to do laundry every couple of weeks there’s quite a bit and it’s pretty heavy.

At the end of the sidewalk where it meets the street are the diagonal painted lines indicating not to park there. I’ve always ignored it since there’s no ramp and that entrance isn’t wheelchair accessible. Let me first say I’ve learned my lesson and will never park there again.

As I was folding my clothes a blind man came in and it was obvious he was upset. As soon as he heard me he justifiably let me have it. Thanks to my truck he had a lot of trouble finding the sidewalk. Honestly, considering how upset he was I was surprised he kept his calm so well. I’m not sure I’d have been so nice. Anyhow, after he finished loading his clothes in the washer (and calmed down some) he explained the situation to me and asked me not to park there anymore.

I’ve not been so embarrassed at my inconsideration in a really long time and the more I think about it, the more I realize that there’s probably been dozens of times I should’ve been equally embarrassed but those around me were too kind to say anything. If you’re one of those people, I apologize.

If I Were The Devil - by Paul Harvey

If I were the Devil. . .

I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;
I would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man's
effort, instead of God's blessings;
I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of
the other way around;
I would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;
I would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to
leadership;
I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;
I would make it socially acceptable to take one's own life, and invent
machines to make it convenient;
I would cheapen human life as much as possible so that the life of animals
are valued more than human beings;
I would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was
grounds for a law suit;
I would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I
would get sports heroes to advertise them;
I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the
mind of every family member for my agenda;
I would attack the family, the backbone of any nation.
I would make divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable. If the family
crumbles, so does the nation;
I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and
movie screens, and I would call it art;
I would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that there
lifestyles should be accepted and marveled;
I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who
call themselves authorities and refer to their agenda as politically
correct;
I would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, and
the Bible is for the naive;
I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is
not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are good enough to get by;
Hmmm...I guess I would leave things pretty much the way they are."

Duck Tales Inflation Lesson

What with all the monetary problems perhaps its time politicians/Wall Streeters were sent back for a refresher course in basic economics. Here's a tutorial that hopefully even they can understand.

AL QAEDA TARGETS ARAB EVANGELIST FOR PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO MUSLIMS

You have probably never heard of Father Zakaria Botros. But you need to know his story. He is far and away the most-watched and most-effective Arab evangelist reaching the Muslim world, and by far the most controversial.

Read More..

Ponderings of a Christian American

Today I was thinking about a sermon I heard back on the 4th of July. The pastor indicated that as Christians we shouldn't complain about our leaders, instead we should support our government leaders and pray for them. While I do agree we should support them as best we can and definitely we should pray for them, at what point do we quit supporting them? America was founded as a Christian nation, but there's no denying the Declaration of Independence was an act of treason against the English crown.

Thinking about this has led me to some conclusions about the true responsibility of a Christian. While we are citizens of the nation in which we live, our real citizenship isn't America or Germany or South Africa or China, it's Heaven.

While we can and must maintain participation in the community of humanity in order to provide witness to everyone for Christ, we needn't concern ourselves so much with the laws of the land that get passed (homosexual marriage for instance), though we should continue to effect the process so government coincides with biblical teaching when possible. Rather, we should concern ourselves more with winning our lawmakers and judges to Christ and electing Christian lawmakers/judges and they'll be in the position to pass and maintain godly laws for us all.

Yes, homosexuality is certainly is a sin and shouldn't be condoned, but you cant legislate morality. Jesus said anger is tantamount to murder - should we make anger illegal? The argument that homosexuality is a "worse" sin than anger, or lust, or sticking your tongue out at your mother (disrespecting one's parents) doesn't wash in God's eyes and it shouldn't wash in ours either. Sin is sin, period.

By the same token there should be laws passed expressly giving ministers the right to deny marrying anyone he or she so chooses, for any reason he or she chooses. This is necessary not to keep the homosexual from getting married so much as protect the minister's legal ability to not condone the unbiblical act of a homosexual union. If the minister marries them he is, in effect saying "I believe this to be good in the sight of God." This puts the pastor in the untenable position of going to jail for not marrying them or giving up his ministry. Any other option would be going against the God he vowed to serve. The law hasn't gone down this path quite yet in the U.S., but it has in Canada and several other countries; it's only a matter of time.

The thing I have a problem with regarding homosexuality is the attitude within that community that regards the public school system as a legitimate indoctrination camp whereby they can force their moral agenda onto the children of America and stifle any opposing viewpoint by screaming "separation of church and state!" which isn't even a law much less part of the Constitution like they love to claim.