Author Archives: Anthony Baker

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About Anthony Baker

Husband, dad, pastor, artist, and musician. Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2006 (no joke!). Loves coffee (big time), good movies, and sarcastic humor. Holds a Doctorate in Ministry. Most importantly, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. All glory belongs to Him! Matthew 5:16

Ranting About Realty

The following is a rant I’m making on my cell phone via talk-to-text. I’ve just got to get some things off my chest, even if I have to talk a lot. Forgive me.

Here we go…

Today is the day we close on a house. Oh, don’t get me wrong, however. This is not a house that we are buying; it is a house that we are selling.

Let me further clarify, the house that we are selling is not a house that we are going to be profiting from; it is part of a trust for which I am the trustee. And let me tell you, this has been more of a pain than I ever thought it would be.

Honestly, the whole process of buying and selling property, especially an older house, has been enough to make me never want to buy a house for myself! Sure, I guess if I ever get rich enough to do so, I can have other people do everything for me. However, if I have to go through all this stuff again, I might go insane! I’d rather rent, or live in a van down by the river!

Regardless, all we’ve gone through up unto this point – the day when the papers are to be signed and everything is finalized – has made me think of my future home, the one in heaven.

Just think about it for a moment. Up there we won’t have to deal with contractors, sales people, home inspectors, and realtors. There will be no commissions, no closing cost, no concessions, no negotiations, no allowances, and no last-minute repairs before anyone can move in.

No, when I finally get to move into my heavenly home, I won’t have to worry about a title company getting my name spelled correctly, collecting all the keys and garage door openers, or signing on any dotted lines. I won’t have to worry about any upkeep, any unfulfilled promises, or property taxes (hallelujah!). When I get home, it will be my home, bought and paid for by my heavenly Father!

And I won’t have to sign any more contracts, or revisions, or even more revisions of more contracts… My name has been written in the Lambs Book of Life, and that’s all that matters.

I’m through ranting, now.

Be blessed, y’all 🙂

8 Comments

Filed under General Observations, Struggles and Trials

Do You Have Hope Without Jesus?

In Acts 16:30 the Philippian jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?

“Forgiven” by Thomas Blackshear

William MacDonald wrote the following comment in his commentary:

“This question must precede every genuine case of conversion. A man must know he is lost before he can be saved. It is premature to tell a man how to be saved until first he can say from his heart, I truly deserve to go to hell…Many people today seem to have difficulty knowing what it means to believe. However, when a sinner realizes he is lost, helpless, hopeless, hell-bound, and when he is told to believe on Christ as Lord and Savior, he knows exactly what it means. It is the only thing left that he can do!” (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer’s Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

Do you have hope without Jesus? Then you’re without hope. Simply hopeless.

And that breaks my heart.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” – Acts 16:31


If you would like to talk with someone, there is a phone line open 24 hours a day. Call 1-800-NEED-HIM (1-800-633-3446). Someone will be happy to show you how to be sure you have eternal life. Don’t wait.

2 Comments

Filed under Christianity, salvation

Our Proverbial Future

The Other Blog

Many of you may know that I have another blog, and some of you may take advantage of it on a daily basis.

The other blog is ProverbialThought.com, and it has been a daily/semi-daily part of our lives for several years, bringing to us the wisdom of Proverbs – with a twist.

But here’s the thing… we are coming to an end to another rotation, and I’m wondering what to do next.

The Future of “Proverbial Thought”

If you haven’t yet gone to my other blog – one that has been co-written by some wonderful people – go there now and see what you think.

Where should we go from here?

Start over – again? With a fresh group of contributors?

What about listing all of the past posts in pages, just like I started doing with the first two chapters?

I would love to know what you guys – you other bloggers and readers, you Bible students – think.

10 Comments

Filed under Bible Study, blogging, ministry

Updating the “Sermon Archive”

It has been a long while since I last updated my “Sermon Archive” page. As a matter of fact, up until today, the last sermon I uploaded was a video recorded back in 2016!

Well, since then, as many of you know, I’ve been pastoring South Soddy Baptist Church (since Feb. 2017). But it’s only been just recently that I’ve started recording my preaching. Part of the reason was that I didn’t have a way to record any better than times past – I wanted something better than the onboard mic of my iPhone.

Enter the RØDE SmartLav+.

With the SmartLav+ and Audacity (free online audio editing program) I’ve got a winning combination which allows me to easily record in high quality and edit out my stupidity 😉

So, if you don’t mind listening to a twangy, unpredictable, southern preacher, here’s your chance – and it’ll sound gooooood!

2 Comments

Filed under Preaching

Why Blogging Scares Me

This is only the second post I’ve read on “Devoted Together,” but it seems like Pastor Brandon Langley, even in his inaugural post, get’s what Christian blogging is all about. Let’s welcome him to the community.

Brandon Langley's avatar

Blogging scares me and it should scare you too. In fact, all Christians should approach any form of social media with fear and trembling. I have been in Christian ministry for seven years now and have benefited much from the online writing of others, but I have avoided any writing endeavor of my own because of this fear. I fear blogging because I know what is in man and more specifically what is in me.

The Danger Within Us

Ever since the garden of Eden, man has believed the lie of the Evil One – that the best pursuit of life is the pursuit of joy in being praised as a god rather than the pursuit of joy in praising the one true God. We unknowingly and subconsciously long for, fight for, and sacrifice much for the affirmations and praises of men at the expense of our own souls.

Romans…

View original post 1,356 more words

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Filed under Uncategorized

A quick question for men about lust

It is rare that one comes across a post so straight to the point and convicting. Guys, this is a truth we should be taking very seriously, and it’s a post that should be shared a whole lot more.

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Filed under Uncategorized

Do You Even Know the Difference?

Walmart lines can be insanely long, as many of you know well. Therefore, as I am standing in one with my wife, I decided to pull out my phone and watch something on YouTube. She is looking at something in a magazine, probably about how Queen Elizabeth ordered Meghan to boot camp…or that she’s actually an alien.

Anyway, I came across the following video featuring a favorite of mine, Ravi Zacharias. No doubt, the modern church is becoming less and less equipped to handle threats against our faith, and much of the problem lies in the desire to have one’s ears tickled.

Do you know the difference between Christianity and Islam? I hope you do.

3 Comments

Filed under Apologetics, Christianity, salvation

What Is Your Testimony? Do You Have One?

I Was At a Retreat

Man, it has been a while since I sat down to write. You wouldn’t believe how hectic it has been if I told you, so I won’t.

So, one thing I did do is start up a new Sermon.net account and uploaded my most recent sermon to it.

Now, you may not agree with me on all things Christian, but one thing we should agree on is that one is not born a Christian; one becomes a Christian. That is the main point I tried to push in the sermon I preached before we went to the TBC’s (Tennessee Baptist Convention) Ministers and Wives Retreat in Pigeon Forge, TN.

I’ll share more about this event a little later, but this photo is from the first evening during a Q&A time.

Have a Testimony?

I believe there are a lot of people who call themselves Christian but have never been “born again.” You see, becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is one thing, but becoming a child of God, redeemed, a “new creation,” is something that should be narrowed down to an event, a point in time, a moment of “rebirth.”

Sure, I’m sure there are individual examples of those who could not point back to a specific time when they confessed Christ as Savior; C. S. Lewis is the first name that comes to mind. But I do believe that, as a general rule, most people aren’t like Lewis.

So, when you have the time, listen to the sermon I’ve uploaded and let me know what you think. Do you have a testimony? If so, what is it? If not, well… maybe we should explore things a little deeper.

Click on the link below 🙂

https://anthonycbaker.sermon.net/21098584

4 Comments

Filed under Christianity, Preaching, Southern Baptist

Obamacare (Affordable Care) Reality

For your information…

Today I am starting my first day of physical therapy for my shoulder (a month after rotator cuff surgery).

Being that it’s the first month of the year, and since I’ve not yet used my health insurance, here is what I’m looking at.

Up to 26 visits this year.

Each visit costs $100.

Insurance will pay 50% of each visit, up until my total out-of-pocket expense of $6,000. That’s six thousand.

So, just for 26 visits (if I go) I pay $1,300.

And all that for a policy that covers my two girls and me…

For $1,700 a month… for the “silver” plan.

$1,700 a month.

Thank you, Obama.

Truly affordable.

7 Comments

Filed under current events, fitness, General Observations, politics, Struggles and Trials

“If You Could Pick Your Dream Career…”

In my last post, I gave you an update regarding my shoulder surgery and a head’s up about a job interview. Let me tell you a little about the interview.

The Interview

First of all, I am not at liberty to tell you where I had a job interview, at least I’d rather not at this point. I feel it’s best to keep a possible future employer’s name out of the conversation and off the internet; I’m not sure how they’d appreciate it, and I’d hate to jeopardize anything.

Let me just say that I met with several people during my interview, each one representing a different department in the company, including a person from their HR department. The atmosphere was intended to be low-pressure and rather casual, but it did start off a little stressful, at least for me. It was the first job interview I’d been on in a long time and the first time with an employer of this size, so it took a few moments to find my stride.

But after a few moments, not long after introductions and the first question or two, I was able to settle into some confident conversation. Since I was not there to be quizzed on my knowledge of their company or industry, only to be questioned about myself and my abilities, I did my best to present the best version of me I could. If I was the product being sold, I think I sold myself well.

The Question

Now, there was this one question they asked that really brought out some passion. The Human Resources lady asked, “If you could pick your dream career, no limitations or restrictions, what would it be?”

I didn’t have an immediate answer. I was at a loss for words.

Even now I can’t think of anything akin to a “dream job,” at least not one like what you might think. I mean, to be honest, I am doing what I want to do – I’m a pastor! All things considered, there’s nothing else I really dream about doing.

You’re probably wondering if I’m already a pastor, then why would I look for something additional to do? A simple answer is that I want to provide for my family, and sometimes – if not most of the time – little churches don’t have the means to do that.

Is my “dream job” a big church? No, not at all. I’m really happy to be where I am.

So, what was my answer?

“I want to make a difference.” When I die, I want to be missed. I want to know I’ve made an impact on people’s lives. And should it be possible to make a lot of money doing that, I could live with it, sure.

Then I narrowed it down a bit. I said, “I love to teach…I love to see the look on someone’s face when they get it.”  I love to take something complicated and make it simple. My perfect job is one where I can create passion in others so they can do the best they can at what they do.

A gentleman then asked if I thought I could stand before a group of 200 drivers…from all walks of life, with varying degrees of desire and commitment…and convince them of the importance of understanding “driver fatigue.”

“Absolutely,” I replied with a grin. Then I explained how.

Keep Praying (and giving)

I do appreciate the well-wishes and prayers so many of you have offered. Should I be hired for the position being considered, believe me, life would be a little more comfortable and less stressful; it would be a game changer, for sure.

I’ve yet to receive any feedback from the interview, but when I do I will certainly let you all know. Just keep praying God’s will be done.

Remember, because of my surgery, it’s now been over a month that I’ve been out of work. If you would like to help alleviate the financial burden we are under, please consider going to the sidebar and clicking the Paypal donation button.

Every little bit helps.

In the meantime, I’ll just continue being the one-armed pastor of a little church where God is doing great things! 🙂

P.S. At one point I did say, “Being the President would be a good gig, but it only lasts eight years, so…” 😉

4 Comments

Filed under current events, ministry, Struggles and Trials