Tom Schmidt's BlogHere’s my sermon notes from Jonah 1 “The Unexpected Mercy of God” preached at Cross of Christ Fellowship on 1/15/23. The audio can be found here. Jonah 1 “The Unexpected Mercy of God” (1/15/23) Intro: I’m not sure what you think of when you hear about the book of Jonah. Most likely you think of […]
Romans Wrap-Up: An Overview and Review of Paul’s Letter to the Church at Romeby Tom Schmidt Our church, Cross of Christ Fellowship, recently just completed a sermon series in the book of Romans. First sermon: 2/7/21 on Romans 1:1 (Midst of Covid; meeting at MMA Gym)Last sermon: 11/20/22 on Romans 16:25-27 (Post Covid; Back at […]
The task of a Christian preacher is not to entertain people but proclaim God’s Word. God’s Word tells us far more thrilling realities than any earthly excitements or titillating stories. It tells us about the glory of God, about the grace of God, about the love of God. It leads us to marvel at our […]
I recently read through Mortimer Adler’s book “How to Speak, How to Listen.” I think there are lots of applications for pastors and preachers–we do a LOT of speaking and listening. Drawing from Aristotle, Adler reminds us that effective persuasive speech contains the three elements of ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is establishing a rapport […]
Several years ago someone took me out to dinner and asked me, “Why have preaching in a church service?” I was challenged on theological and biblical grounds. That conversation always stuck with me. I think we do need to know why we have preaching of sermons in a church service, and I think there is […]
Clinging to God in the Midst of Pain and Perplexity Daniel 8 is an apocalyptic vision of future events. The vision tells us of the rise of Persia followed by the rise of Greece and a future king that comes from Greece who causes great suffering for the people of God. This king—whom most commentators […]
A Glorious Hope (This post is a continuation of a previous post on Daniel 7, found here.) Along with the troubling fact there is also a glorious hope given to us in Daniel 7. The beastly nations and our own beastly nature do not have the final word. God, who is eternal and majestic and […]
Our church in Naperville (Cross of Christ Fellowship) is going through the book of Daniel together on Sunday mornings. And as I write this post we have made it through the first five chapters so far. This Sunday a friend of mine is coming to preach chapter 6 and then we’ll be in a new […]
Our church in Naperville, Cross of Christ Fellowship, has recently begun working our way through the book of Daniel together. I’m looking forward to what God will do in and through this sermon series as we seek to behold Him and hear from Him. One commentator said that the theme of Daniel is this: “in […]
Reading God’s Word and books that help us behold the truths of God’s word is an experience that leads a Christian to behold God in our hearts. I remember reading through AW Pink’s “Attributes of God” and marveling at who God is and what He is like. I found the same thing by examining different […]