The following sermon was delivered at Locust Grove Baptist Church, the 17th day of November 2019, during the morning service:
The Roaring Lion
There are thousands of good ideas in the world—entering into a lion enclosure at the zoo is not one of them. Earlier this year, a man miraculously survived a lion attack after doing just that. An employee at the Serengeti Zoo in Hamburg, Germany, entered into the enclosure to do a routine fence check. Usually, the lions are in their cages when employees enter, but not this time. One of the lions pounced and attacked the man and he sustained several serious injuries as a result. Needless to say, lions are dangerous whether they are in the wild or in zoos. They are territorial and always ready to fight anything that may challenge them. Not to mention, they are natural hunters that can reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour.
Another bad idea is walking around as a Christian, unaware of the fact that a more dangerous lion lurks around, waiting to chow down on your life. In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter gave a firm warning about this lion: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Peter says that Satan wants to devour and destroy you, just like a roaring and hungry lion.
Comparing the devil to a lion suggests at least four things about his nature and work. First, the devil wants to consume you just as lions consume their prey. Lions hunt by staying hidden so their prey will be inattentive to their presence. Once they get close enough to the unsuspecting animal, they chase them until they are caught. This is precisely what the devil does to believers. The devil is always hidden, disguised as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). And he will attack when you are ignorant of his presence.
Second, like a lion, the devil attacks the weak. Lions don’t normally hunt elephants or giraffes because they are too challenging to kill—they are much larger than lions. Instead, lions will stalk smaller and weaker animals—antelopes, zebras, or wild hogs. Likewise, the devil hunts the spiritually weak. The devil will tear you apart when you are frail and defenseless without your spiritual armor (Eph. 6:10-20).
Third, the devil intimidates just as lions do. Lions roar to show how big they are—to scare their prey and competitors. The devil also roars to instill fear and he does so through persecution, fierce trials, and strong temptations.
Finally, the devil devours just as lions devour their prey. Lions don’t eat with silverware and neither does the devil. Like a lion, the devil wants to consume you until there is nothing left and he will leave a mess.
The best idea is to be sober-minded and watchful, alert and prepared to fight when he attacks.
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie, Aries, and Dot.
Hungry Christians
The following column was published in the Murray Ledger & Times, Weekend Edition November 9-10, 2019:
Hungry Christians
Bible Gleanings by Brandon Bramlett
Pastor of Locust Grove Baptist Church
All babies cry. Their cry is one heard ‘round the world, too. One, because all babies everywhere cry, no matter their skin color or ethnicity. Their squeal requires no translation—every language understands it. And two, some cry so loudly that it appears to travel the globe. A variety of things may cause an infant to cry. Perhaps they need a diaper change. Maybe they want to be held. It may be that they are trying to break a world record for the loudest and longest cry. But every parent knows that infants often cry when they are hungry. It’s their way of saying, “Hey, I’m hungry—feed me.” It is healthy for a baby to be hungry—they need nourishment to be strong, growing, and healthy.
If you are a Christian, so do you. You need spiritual food so you can thrive, flourish, and grow. It is healthy to be spiritually hungry for spiritual nourishment. No wonder the apostle Peter wrote, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). Just as newborns naturally hunger for the nutrition that comes from their mother’s milk, it should be natural for you to hunger for the nutrition that comes from God. More specifically, this spiritual nutrition comes from, “the pure spiritual milk.” Clearly, this is referring to the word of God in the Old and New Testaments. The Scripture is pure—undefiled, free of contamination and error. The Scripture is spiritual—it deals with our spiritual lives. And the Scripture is like milk because we can digest it and be nourished by its contents.
As a believer, you are commanded to hunger and cry out for the word of God so you will feast upon it and “grow up into salvation.” The more you hunger for the word and are fed by it, the more you’ll grow in your salvation. This intense desire for the word of God has been characteristic of believers since the time of Job. Job described his intense longing for the Bible like this: “I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food” (Job 23:12).
But how can you maintain a hunger like this? Here’s the answer: understand that hunger is directly correlated to taste. Think about your favorite meal—you hunger for it because you know how good it tastes. Likewise, you will hunger for the word of God the more you taste it. Many have no desire for the word because they don’t know what it tastes like. But the more “meals” of God’s word you consume, the hungrier you’ll be, and the more you’ll grow. So, are you a hungry Christian?
6 Reasons for Preaching Christ
No one can say it like Charles Spurgeon. During one of his sermons, he expressed great astonishment at preachers whose sermons were not centered on Christ. And he gave this stunning exhortation: “No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.”
Jesus is worthy to be preached. Christ should be clearly and powerfully proclaimed in our sermons, brethren. If He is not, our sermons simply aren’t worth preaching. We who preach Sunday after Sunday (should) recognize the importance of preaching Christ. In our expositions, there should always be a connection with the person of Christ, the teaching of Christ, or the work of Christ. But why should we preach Christ in the first place? Why should pastors make effort to preach Christ in their sermons?
In his monumental work, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament, Sidney Greidanus gives us six reasons for preaching Christ.¹ Here they are:
1. Preach Christ Because the Apostles Did
The New Testament gives us dozens of instances where Peter, Paul, and the other apostles powerfully and consistently preached Christ. In fact, the book of Acts records that every sermon they preached was always centered on Jesus. Jesus was the shining light in their message, whether it was Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, Stephen’s sermon to the Sanhedrin, or the numerous sermons preached by Paul. Greidanus explains, “The heart of apostolic preaching is Jesus Christ . . . The New Testament church preached the birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus of Nazareth as the fulfillment of God’s old covenant promises, His presence today in the Spirit, and His imminent return.” We need to follow the example of the apostles and preach Christ in our sermons. The reason we may not have the results the apostles did when they preached is that we do not model our preaching after them.
2. Preach Christ Because Jesus Commanded It
Every believer knows the chief mission of the church is to make disciples who will follow Christ in obedience. Jesus commands us, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20). There is a lot to say about this passage, but one thing to notice is that every component of the Great Commission is centered on Christ. Disciples of Christ are to be made. They are to be taught to observe all that Jesus commanded. And the presence of Jesus will be with us as we do.
Disciples will be produced when we teach people to observe all that Jesus promised, warned, taught, and commanded. Just like the disciples of Jesus’ day, we are commanded by our Lord to preach Him today. His command is an enduring one and nothing has changed about the mission of the church since the day Christ uttered these words. Greidanus comments, “Christian preachers today also live under the command to preach the name of Jesus Christ, for the command to preach Christ reaches far beyond the first apostles and Gospel writers – it reaches ‘to the end of the age.'”
3. Preach Christ Because It Is Exciting
What could be more exciting than preaching Christ? What Christ accomplished for His people is the greatest thing in history. It is only logical to preach Christ because of the nature of the message. I love how Greidanus put it: “Even today when a President or a Queen visits a city, the arrival itself is a newsworthy event. No one needs to command broadcasters to tell the story, for the story itself begs to be told. If this is true for the arrival of a President or a Queen, how much more for the arrival of ‘the King of Kings.'” Yes! We need to preach the story of Christ because it has to be told.
4. Preach Christ Because It Is Life-Giving
We need to preach Christ because of what God does when we do. God saves people through the hearing and preaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:14-17; Eph. 1:13). Our sinful world is spiritually dead, cut off from God, and headed for an eternity in hell. The message of Jesus Christ gives people spiritual life, reconciles them to God, and guarantees a new eternal destination. Because of the life-giving nature of preaching Christ, we are compelled to preach Christ. Woe unto us if we don’t preach Christ (1 Cor. 9:16)! Greidanus powerfully illustrates this point: “When there was an outbreak of polio in British Columbia, Canada, in the 1970s, the government wasted no time getting out the message to all parents to have their children inoculated against polio. It was a vital message; it needed to be broadcast immediately. The need to tell was obvious in the light of the disease and the availability of an antidote. [In the same way] People need to be told about the cure [the gospel].”
5. Preach Christ Because It Is Exclusive News
The need to preach Christ is also seen in the exclusive nature of the message. We need to preach Christ because, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). There is no other message available which saves people from their sins. There are not “many ways to God,” and if there were, preaching Christ would be no big deal. It would just be one path among many. But the Bible teaches that Christ is the only path – the only way to God (John 14:6). Therefore, Greidanus says, “If Jesus were one of many ways of salvation, the church could relax a bit, hoping that people might find some other way to be saved from death. But now that Christ is the only way, the urgency of preaching Christ is all the more pressing. There is salvation in no one else but Jesus.”
6. Preach Christ Because Our Culture Is Anti-Christ
Finally, we need to preach Christ because we live in a non-Christian culture. As our culture continues to move on from Judeo-Christian values, the need for preaching Christ continues to increase. This culture shift unfortunately affects both believers and unbelievers. We cannot assume that believers know Jesus as we think they do, or that unbelievers know that the Jesus we worship is the Bible’s Jesus. More than any other time in history, our culture is in desperate need of preaching Christ. Greidanus observes, “The early church, in the nature of the case, addressed people living in a non-Christian culture. People needed to hear about Christ and the difference he makes. But contemporary preachers equally address people living in a non-Christian or post-Christian culture. If contemporary hearers were living in a culture saturated with Christian thinking and action, one might perhaps take for granted that people hearing a sermon would sense how it is related to Christ.” But we cannot, and therefore should not, assume this.
- Greidanus, Sidney. Preaching Christ from the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999), 10-14.
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their two dogs, Susie and Aries.
The Persecuted Church (Rev. 2:8-11)
The following sermon was delivered at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky, on the 5th day of May 2018, during the morning service:
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their two dogs, Susie and Aries.
The Loveless Church (Rev. 2:1-7)
The following sermon was delivered at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky, on the 29th day of April 2018, during the morning service:
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their two dogs, Susie and Aries.
The Preservation of Christian Unity (Eph. 4:2-3)
The following sermon was delivered at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky, on the 28th day of October 2018, during the evening service:
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their two dogs, Susie and Aries.
Introduction to Unity: Living Worthy of Who You Are (Eph. 4:1)
The following sermon was delivered at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky, on the 21st day of October 2018, during the evening service:
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their two dogs, Susie and Aries.
All Sermons – BLESSED Series (Ephesians 1:1-14)
Discover how blessed you really are as a believer, through this verse-by-verse exposition of Ephesians 1:1-14. This series was preached at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. It began August 12, 2018 and ended October 28, 2018.
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their two dogs, Susie and Aries.
You Have an Inheritance (Eph. 1:14)
The following sermon was delivered at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky, on the 28th day of October 2018, during the morning service:
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their two dogs, Susie and Aries.
Brandon's Desk 