Mitchell Landress

Winter is a time when many people get sick and my body usually keeps the schedule open for at least one illness that will ultimately find me in the doctor’s office. The onset of a cold usually starts slow –sniffles, sneezing, coughs – and then moves down into my chest affecting my voice, my energy level, and worst of all - my mood. Sin is much like a virus or infection. That is, there is a problem on the inside, but the symptoms only show up on the outside. A runny nose or cough are not the real problem, but they are symptoms we can treat by ourselves through home remedies, over-the-counter medicine and cough drops. But in order to get to the source of the illness we usually need a trip to the physician. Over the past several months I have been in at least four conversations with people who describe their life before Christ in terms of “drinking and smoking.” One man based his “goodness” on having never done either. But these two items are only minor symptoms of a much larger problem, ...

Thanksgiving is a time to stop and reflect on all the wonderful ways that the Lord Jesus has extended grace to us in our lives. So this morning I wanted to just share a few things that I am thankful for: some serious and some not so serious. As the old song goes, “These are a few of my favorite things…” · I love the relationship I have with my Lord Jesus Christ; nothing is more precious to me than feeling his presence with me as I go through my day. · I really, really love preaching God’s word and I am thankful that Northside gives me both the time and the place to do what I truly enjoy. · I love to hear Jennifer laugh. Even though she is amazingly intelligent and extremely beautiful, our time together in the evenings laughing with one another over what Noah and Levi did during the day is priceless and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. · I love the fellowship we have together here at Northside, especially during our Wednesday night suppers. The stories, ...

Over the past several weeks I have been reading through the book of 1 Corinthians as my morning devotional time. The church at Corinth was unique to say the least, in fact there is no one word that I can use to describe this book of the Bible. As the book unfolds Paul has the task of addressing the issues there at the church. Many of the congregation are disagreeing over which minister they should follow - Paul, Apollos, Cephas or Christ. In other words they are divided when they should be united. Then we get to chapter five and Paul is amazed that there is a form of sexual immorality taking place in the church and no one is trying to deal with it. That is, they are united where they should be divided. But the thing that amazes me most about this letter is this; Paul refuses to give up on the church at Corinth. They had heard the gospel, made a declaration of faith and were baptized. Sin, however, is a hard beast to fall. Paul knows this and refuses to give up on them. So he takes deci...

As I approach my one year anniversary in December at Northside I hope that it has been abundantly clear that I am not a preacher who gets his sermon topics from the headlines of the daily newspapers and political columns. I do not in any way consider myself to be a political or social issues preacher. The reason for this, which I hope will be abundantly clear in the sermon this morning, is that I believe that our primary need today in every generation is not a new leader, but a new heart – brought on by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. But for the past couple of weeks I feel like I have been avoiding the elephant in the room by not speaking at least somewhat on the upcoming election. To be honest I am torn in many directions and what I really want to know is how does a Christian respond in times such as these? On one hand I come from a long line of Democrats in my family and I must admit that the charisma and fresh ideas of Barack Obama are appealing to a certain extent. On t...

Over the past several weeks I have been having my personal devotional time in the book of Isaiah. On Tuesday morning my reading concluded with chapter thirty-nine. This is how the story goes: Isaiah was a prophet in Israel during the reign of King Hezekiah. Babylon was the threatening nation at the time and God had been merciful to Hezekiah by healing him and extending his life. Then one day some envoys visited Jerusalem from Babylon and King Hezekiah gave them a tour of all storehouses in Israel, showing them their wealth and treasurers. For his foolishness God sent a word through Isaiah that a day would come when not only Israel would be plundered by the Babylonians, but Hezekiah’s sons would also be carried off to Babylon to serve the king there. And what was Hezekiah’s response to God’s judgment? He said that it was a good word from the Lord. How could plundering and captivity be a good word from the Lord? King Hezekiah’s explanation was this; “There will be peace and security in m...

For the past few months I have devoted many of my bulletin articles to issues concerning our personal time with the Lord, or what I usually call ‘my quiet time’ or ‘personal devotion time’. This morning I want to speak again to this issue to try and clear up one issue that I may have been vague on and to add a new element or aspect to the issue of quiet times. First, I would like to draw a distinction between devotional time and Bible study. Both are great and both are needed for growth in your spiritual life. Bible study, however, usually involves writings about the Bible instead of the Bible itself alone. Let me give an example. Many of us own Study Bibles. They are great resources and the notes at the bottom of the page can be really helpful. But during my devotional time I use a Bible with no notes in it. That is, I simply read quietly and patiently waiting for the voice of God to echo in my heart. If I do not understand every single phrase or historical reference, it is ok – I sim...

Tuesday began like every other day of the week and it turned out to be extremely productive. In fact I was almost to the point of being proud of myself for all that I had gotten accomplished in a single day. As I was packing up my things for the day to head home I decided to check the news headlines at CNN.com. About halfway down the page I saw the title “Bandit star Reed dead at 71.” To most people this would have hardly even given cause for a second glance, but to me it was something so much more. Jerry Reed was the co-star of my favorite movie of all time, “Smokey and The Bandit.” I do not argue that the movie is great movie, by all rights it is not. It is filled with foul language and makes a mockery of police officers, neither of which I approve of. But the movie holds a special place in my heart. When I was five years old my parents took me to see this movie while we were on vacation in Knoxville, TN. It was my first movie in an actual cinema. The images on the screen were captiv...

We have been going through the book of Ephesians on Sunday morning and for the past few weeks the Apostle Paul has been writing to the church in Ephesus telling them how to “walk” in the Christian life. That is, how do we, as Christians live; how do we talk, how do we act, how do we treat our family and our fellow believers in the faith? But almost every person I speak to these days has one pressing question on their minds and that is the place of money in their day to day life. If we ask ourselves how we are to live the Christian life we would be wrong to skip over the place of money and possessions, because it is such a central part of our everyday lives. The Lie About Tithing One burning question needs to be dealt with right off the bat, because I was taught a lie and there is a chance that maybe you were taught that same lie. In the Old Testament the tithe (a giving of the first tenth of your income) is taught abundantly and in the New Testament the word tithe only appears 7 times ...

While visiting family this summer my wife, son and I was invited to lunch by some old friends. The food was great and the conversation was pleasant. Then, out of the blue, came the Bible question. Normally I love these questions - after all, one of the reasons that I enjoy ministry so much is seeing people grow in their knowledge of God's word. The question struck me as odd right off the bat. She was questioning Moses' decision to marry Zipporah, a woman of Midian. At first I thought that she had picked up on the danger of marrying someone from a different religious background, but that was not it. Her next comment was this; "But Mitchell, she may have been black!" In an instant I saw the problem. She assumed that Moses was a white person like her. I truthfully, but gently directed her mind back to the truth that Moses was a Hebrew, a middle eastern man, and most likely had skin almost as dark as Zipporah's. Then, I reminded her that their problems would not be re...

God demands humility of us and he will go to great lengths to teach us humility. Why? Because our sin nature, or the remnants of it, seek to fuel our pride. The sinful self will constantly tell us that we do not need God, that we are good enough - better in fact, than those around us, and smart - possessing the best knowledge. Just like Adam and Eve, we have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and we think that we are "like God." Nowhere is this more evident than in our reading of the Bible. We have our minds fixed before we even open it's pages. Then, when and if we do decide to read the it - we comb through it looking for evidence that supports our own opinions. Because we think that God is surely like us. Surely he thinks like we think and surely he would act as we act. And this is pride, thinking that God is like us. In Psalm 50 we read: "For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you...These things you have done, and I kept silence; Yo...

On Sunday night I made a statement in my sermon that I would like to amplify a little bit. I stated that in our marriages we are to model Christ to our spouse. That is, we are to be a visual demonstration of who Christ is - in our homes. So that when our spouse looks at us and our children look at us they see someone who looks like the Jesus they read about in Scripture. With that said, let me remind you of what Jesus said in Matthew 11:19; “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Did you catch that? You will find rest for your souls if you learn from Jesus to be gentle and lowly in heart. Let’s just take one of those for a second. Jesus is gentle. He is gentle in his words and he is gentle in his actions. So we must ask the question, “Are you gentle in your words and actions?” Are you gentle with your spouse when they say something wrong or speak out of turn? Are you gentle when you speak to your children? E...

There are at least a dozen books in my pastoral library that deal with battling lust. It is true that this is a huge issue for men and a great source of stumbling to many men and many pastors for that matter - so on one hand I am glad they are there and I am grateful for the insight they have given to me. But I was really struck by a verse of Scripture this morning from 1 Peter 4:1b-2. "for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions, but for the will of God." Simply put, I believe Peter is telling us that those who are suffering for Christ's sake have their mind on Christ and suffering and not on the passions of the flesh. The reason so many men battle with lust and fleshly temptations (and I include myself in that group) is that our minds are far from the things of Christ. Suffering in the flesh is the direct opposite of indulging the flesh. The man who is getting lashes on his b...

Self control is an identifying mark of a Christian. When the Apostle Paul lists the nine fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 self-control is on the list. That is, if the Holy Spirit lives inside us (and He does for all those who have believed in Jesus Christ for salvation) then you WILL produce self-control. It is not a possibility that you might, you definitely should and must! Self-control is not standard equipment on the human being. From our mother's womb we come forth screaming frantically until we get the things we need. Then in childhood our parents have to teach us to control our appetites, desires, and emotions - even if they cannot reach into our hearts they must attempt, as good parents, to at least govern our actions. But for the Christian this goes beyond simple behavior modification. If we have been born again by the Spirit of God, our heart is new and genuine self-control is possible. But it is not automatic. Simon Peter writes to us in 2 Peter 1:5-8, "For...

On Wednesday night we concluded our Bible study at church with a brief discussion of heaven. I believe it is good and fitting for us to think about heaven for in those thoughts rest the fulfillment of all of God's promises. So I wanted to share a few verses of Scripture with you, so that we can think rightly about heaven. The following verses speak volumes: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4) First and foremost, the greatest thing about heaven is that we will live for all eternity in the presence of God. This is the treasure that was lost in the Garden of Eden that Jesus recovered for us. We can dwell in God’s presenc...

As I have often shared with the people of our congregation, coming to church is a great joy for me. No matter how hard my day may have been or how tired I am it simply makes me feel better to be around the people of our congregation. We laugh together, cry together, share excitements and disappointments, pray for each other and help one another as we walk through this life together. They are great friends to me, part of my church family and in this they bring me great joy. Let me share a verse with you that helps to explain it. “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” (1 John 1:3-4 ESV) Did you notice the word joy? The Apostle John writes to those who have not seen or heard of Christ, so that they might have the same joy that the Christians are having. And the most striking thing of ...

This Sunday, January 20, 2008, is sanctity of human life Sunday. And all over our nation preachers will be preaching sermons filled with statistics and graphic descriptions of abortion and the underlying mindset of it all. But I for one, cannot bear the statistics and the descriptions of abortion. I cannot bear it. It may be my weakness to keep my head buried in the sand as it is, but it simply pains me too much to read. The reason, I think, for the pain of it all is the heartache that my wife and I have had over having children. First, in the thirteen months that it took us to conceive our son, thinking that it would never happen. And then, through the pain of our miscarriage last year. The sheer value that I place on babies is much too enormous to even think about someone who would not want a child. But, it would be very easy for me to look at someone who has had an abortion or to look at a doctor who has performed abortions and to say, “How could you?” and refuse to offer grace to ...

I grew up in a car family. We would eat, sleep, and breathe cars; talking about cars at the dinner table, dreaming about cars at night, and literally breathing the dust and paint fumes that constantly flowed from the body shop behind our house. Cars involve a lot of work, but the finished product can be very rewarding. Many cars entered our paint shop as old, dented, and often rusty pieces of junk. But on the day of their completion we would all stand outside the doors of the garage and listen as the car roared to life and slowly backed into the sunshine with fresh paint and shiny chrome glistening off every corner and smooth body surface. I can still close my eyes and smell the newness of the finished product. What I remember most about those days in the body shop was my dad's ability to take what was damaged; worn by weather, owner abuse, and the effects of time - and restore it to its original state. The old became new right before our eyes in miracle like fashion. It is no coin...