Mitchell Landress

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...