Mitchell Landress

When I was in my last year of seminary my wife and I began trying to have children. This had been our plan from the beginning; to finish school first and then start our families. We wanted the timing to be "perfect" and being as we were eager to have children we started trying to conceive nine months before graduation. The first few months were disappointing, but we were assured by everyone that these things just take some time. Then (as it seemed to us) all of our friends began to announce that they were expecting. It seems that many of the students shared our same game plan. So we were happy for them, but began to be more and more impatient as time went on. We began to resort to desperate thinking, like many people do. Maybe we have done something wrong, maybe God is made at us, maybe we are out of his will. As we passed the "one year" mark we noticed that our hearts had taken on a new and more dangerous characteristic. We were jealous. We would look down on othe...

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...