Author: Tom Schmidt

Ed Clowney’s “The Church” is a thoroughly helpful, biblical, theological portrait of the Christian church.  The book helps you understand questions like, ‘What is the Church? Why is it relevant today?  What is the mission of the church?  What is the relation of the church to Israel?’  Although written nearly twenty years ago (1995), the […]

I wrote a new song this past month called “Why are you downcast O my soul?” based on Ps 42-43.  Here it is: [youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtIfVfK9yWk[/youtube] Why Are You Downcast O My Soul? (Ps 42-3) All of your waves and your breakers wash over me, Deep calls to deep, at the roar of your waterfalls. […]

The other day I was tasked with preaching Eph 2:11-22 at Christian Fellowship Church in Chicago  (My sermon can be found here and was entitled “How To Get Along“).  To help me preach the tone and content of the text, I completed a sentence diagram. Once again, diagramming the text truly helped me understand the […]

PRACTICAL APPLICATION VERSUS HEAVY DOCTRINE Many sermons you hear these are divided into two camps: heavy on practical application (how to live out the Bible in your daily life) or heavy on doctrine (what does this text teach us about God).  Those who are heavy on application tend to tell a lot of personal stories […]

WILLIAM PERKINS SUMMARY OF THE BIBLE This past weekend some guys from my church and I spent two hours discussing William Perkin’s ‘The Art of Prophesying.’  We had different guys take turns presenting summaries of the chapters (my friend Dan’s summary can be found here) and helped each other think through the content and application […]

“Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.  The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of […]

With so much hype these days, it’s helpful to hear an ancient authority like Eusebius (260-340) speak on church planting.  Eusebius was a historian in the Early Church, and wrote what is likely the first historical account of the church’s early days (time of Jesus to the 300’s).  In this passage, he describes how the […]

There are many things which destroy the unity of the Christian church.  Here’s 7 common enemies to unity and how the gospel kills the hostility caused by them. 7 Enemies of Unity in the Church: 1. Sin.  Gossip, slander, adultery (in the heart or in actions), lying, stealing, and any sin which is practiced and […]

I used the following sermon illustration  recently, and think it was helpful (my first ever sports analogy used in a sermon!): Imagine the following:  Two baseball teams agree to play a game together and are all set for the opening pitch.  To the surprise and shock of everyone, the first batter strolls up to home […]

We’re a David and Not a Uriah (2 Sam 11) Those familiar with the Bible know well the account of David and Bathsheba.  David, the great king of Israel, had it all: wives, power, fame, intimacy with God.  Yet within David, like all us, arose a discontentment and a desire to have what was not […]