Mitchell Landress

It often comes up in conversations at church, "How do you know someone is a Christian?" That is, how do you know whether they have really believed or not? The Apostle Paul had to answer this same question when he was writing to the churches in Galatia. His answer is something like this, 'When did you receive the Spirit?' (Galatians 3:1-9) The identifying mark of someone who has believed (converted, been born again) is the presence of the Holy Spirit. No Holy Spirit, No Salvation. But the Spirit is not something material that we can see with our eyes, so is this any help at all? Yes, because Paul goes on to say that if the Spirit is in you it will produce fruit. That is, visual works in your life that people can see and recognize. The fruits of the Spirit are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..." (Galatians 5:22) Do these things identify your life? It's a good time to stop and reflect isn't it? If ...

Before we meet together next week we will have celebrated Valentine’s Day. Now I do not know how you have chosen to celebrate it in the past, but this year I would like for you to consider with me how Jesus shows his love for his bride – the church. Maybe this will help us show love to our spouses, family, and close friends. 1. Jesus Chose His Bride Before The Foundations of The Earth Were Laid. (Ephesians 1:4) 2. Jesus Fights For and Defends His Bride Because They Share A One Flesh Union Together. (Acts 9:4) 3. Jesus So Desires The Companionship of His Bride That He Promises To Be With Her Whenever She Gathers For Worship. (Matthew 18:20) 4. Jesus Demonstrates His Love For His Bride By Laying Down His Own Life For Her Redemption. (Ephesians 5:25) 5. Jesus Promises and Ensures That He Will Never Leave or Forsake His Bride. (Matthew 28:20b) Jesus sets the standard when it comes to demonstrating love. So this year, whether you will be sending out valentines or n...

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...