Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

The battle of Armageddon will be a tragic day. The Old Testament Prophets call it the Day of the Lord because the battle for Jerusalem will usher in Judgment Day for all of humanity. But what if the strategy to win the battle is not in mighty military power but rather in the Grace and Love of God burning in in the hearts of HIS people? Armageddon will be real. The day of battle with be vicious and...

Devoted to Prayer The opening chapter of Luke's account of the Acts of the Apostles lays the groundword for the work of the Spirit of God through the Church. Jesus commanded the disciples to go to Jerusalem where the promise of the Holy Spirit would come (vv 1-5). Then the twelve expected Jesus to restore the kingdom to Israel (v 6). Jesus then ascended back to the Father in Heaven (vv 7-11). Our...

So the work of redemption was completed on the cross as far as the sacrifice of Christ is concerned. However, the work of gathering the redeemed goes on, and it continued in that first generation of the church through the apostles, and then through the church as the apostles established the church. This is the history of the good news in the fallen world. The spel and the establishment of churches...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

Jesus' 40 days with his disciples began in Galilee and ended near Jerusalem. Whereas Jesus' commission to the disciples in Matthew 28:16-20 was in Galilee, further discipleship occurred near Jerusalem. This passage in Luke's account was an appearance of Jesus to his disciples following his encounter with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. Jesus ‘opened their minds to...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

All action has some purpose. The preaching/proclaiming of the gospel is action. Therefore preaching/proclaiming the gospel must have purpose. But let's pause and consider what has purpose in this statement: "preach the gospel". Is it the act of preaching that has purpose? Is it the gospel that has purpose? Preaching as an action can have any number of subjects to proclaim. Marketing executives can...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

Ideas have power. We used to call misdirected ideas propaganda in times of war. Now in the era of the war of ideas, we call our enemy's ideas 'fake news' or 'misinformation.' At no other time will the power of ideas be more important than after the death of a loved one. How that person is remembered matters. Memories are powerful. "The power of the memory is great, O Lord. It is awe-inspiring in i...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

While Jesus’ substitutionary suffering and crucifixion means that he took upon himself what suffering and judgment was rightly due us; the gospel narratives of the crucifixion also challenges the Christian to share Christ's suffering. Via Dolorosa literally means “The Way of Sorrows”, marking the Stations of the Cross, the route that Jesus supposedly took from Pontius Pilate’s palace where he was...

Difficult times do not last forever. Likewise, times of oppression do come to an end. Israel was defeated and humilated by enemy nations. Yet Zechariah is given promises by God to the people that the LORD will conquer those who conquered and oppressed Israel. This promise looks to a day when pease is restored to Israel who was troubled by war. The high point of these chapters [The LORD's promise]...

Violence and abuse are symptoms of a fallen humanity. We fight for what we want and will often harm others to show our power over them. A key truth to gospel salvation is that Jesus submitted himself to sinful abuse as providentially directed by the Father’s grace. This seems to us illogical. How can divine grace providentially direct violence and abuse for the purposes of undeserved forgiveness?...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

The Church can be too political. There are forces among God’s elect that see the dominance of the Church in earthly rule as God’s design for His kingdom. Kingdom now theology falls far short of the Christ intent of the Kingdom of Heaven. Kingdom Now proponents believe that God lost control over the world to Satan when Adam and Eve sinned. Since then, the theology goes, God has been trying to reest...

Sometimes a priceless heirloom breaks never to be the same again. Imagine children roughhousing and knocking over a priceless vase. Imagine dropping a cherished dish, a piece of fine china, that shatters never to be replaced. The fall of both the chief priests and the betrayer Judas fulfilled the prophecies of Jeremiah and the prophet Zechariah concerning broken pottery and a potter’s field. The p...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

It has often been said of the Apostle Peter that no disciple was placed higher than Peter, and almost no disciple fell lower. No one protested loyalty more insistently, yet almost no one denied Jesus more inexcusably. Jesus especially set apart Peter for the important task of establishing the Church. Peter would be the “rock” on which Jesus himself would build the church as the embassy, the ambass...

This podcast feed hosts the public teaching ministry of Dr. Bryant K. Owens. I am an independent scholar exploring Christian Studies in today’s secular world. I believe that thoughtful Christianity can bring meaningful change in our churches, classrooms, homes, and communities. With years of experience as both a pastor and educator, I am passionate about the historical Christian worldview and the...

One of the strangest realities of the human condition is that we will hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see resulting in truth being defined by our own perceptions. This is the problem in politics. This is the problem in child rearing. This is the problem in marriage relationships. This is the problem in relationships within the church. This is the problem with a sinner’s faith in...