Author Archives: Anthony Baker

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

by Anthony Baker | December 26, 2018 · 9:24 am

After Christmas Is Proof We Need to Be Redeemed

As I was thinking about some things I wanted to write this morning, a thought popped into my head which was far more profound than my original idea correcting other peoples’ spelling…

The feelings we have after Christmas point to the fact that we have not been fully redeemed. Our bodies are still waiting for that final transformation.

[We] also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. – Romans 8:23b CSB

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. – 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 CSB

What does this have to do with “after Christmas“?

Celebrating Christmas has completely worn me out. I’m tired of carols, smiles, joy, and jingle bells… even eggnog. I need a break.

So, just imagine how difficult it would be to survive heaven for more than a day or two?

Not only will we need new bodies that never grow old, get weak, and want to go to bed before sundown, but we will need to be set free from all the chains of this mortal flesh – everything that turns an elf into a Grinch around December 26th or 27th.

Our corruptible minds and bodies must be exchanged for that which is incorruptible, else we won’t be able to endure the celebration that is to come.

Without being changed, heaven would be full of worn-out billion-year-olds leaving the dirty dishes for the angels to deal with.

Heaven will be a celebration of the Redeemer by the redeemed. If the corruptible got in, it wouldn’t be long before they felt like hell.

3 Comments

Filed under Apologetics, Christmas, clothing, salvation, the future, worship

Tagged as Celebrations, Christmas, heaven, hell, parties

by Anthony Baker | December 24, 2018 · 11:11 am

The With Us God: The God Of Peace!

If Pastor Randy said nothing else in this post but the following, it would still be worth reading and “liking”: “If your confidence that God is with you only when the circumstances are good, then your faith is shallow and insincere. Our Confidence In God Must Be Rooted In The Character Of God, not in what God will do for you.”

But Pastor Randy Burbank (not a Baptist, sadly), makes some solid points in this piece which are as applicable around Christmas as at any other time. God is with us the whole year round.

Kingdom Pastor

(This is the final installment of my current message series, The With Us God)

Here are the names we have looked at thus far. Yahweh Yireh—The God Who Provides.Yahweh-Nissi—The Lord Who Fights For Us.Yahweh-Shammah—The God Who Is There! William Shakespeare wrote in his tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” a famous line: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would be as sweet.” His point was that a name did not change the essence of a thing or a person. There is nothing significant about a name. And to a degree he is right, but not always. Change the name of the skunk to honeysuckle and he will still stink. It doesn’t change its nature.

However, when it comes to Immanuel, the With Us God, the name is uniquely special in both meaning and power. These names of God from the Old Testament say something about…

View original post 2,120 more words

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

by Anthony Baker | December 23, 2018 · 10:11 am

Fear In the Christmas Story

This was from last year, but it bears repeating.

The Recovering Legalist

Christmas Sermons

You may have never considered it, but it’s a challenge to come up with Christmas sermons year after year without being too repetitive. Sure, one could simply preach through Luke 2 every year, but a little creativity can go a long way.

This year I will preach a couple of sermons I have preached in other places, but they will be new to the folk here at South Soddy Baptist. The first Christmas sermon of the year will be based on the notes I’m going to share with you this morning.

To Fear, Or Not to Fear

Did you know there are actually some honest-to-goodness phobias related to Christmas? Here are just a few.

Selaphobia – the fear of flashing Christmas lights.
Ghabhphobia – the fear of presents or gifts.
Krikophobia – the fear of church services.
Cyssanophobia – the…

View original post 517 more words

Celebrating His Coming: Thoughts for the 4th Week of Advent

I know this might appear a little self-serving, since what I’m reblogging today is a post from a blog I’m a part of, but it’s more than that.

Daniel Klem has been doing a wonderful job holding down the fort through the Christmas season, submitting encouraging posts dealing with the Advent season. Why not go read what he has written for today, along with previous posts throughout the past four weeks. I’m sure you’ll be blessed, and so will he 🙂

Merry Christmas

Proverbial Thought

Welcome to the fourth week of Advent!

Tradition holds that the final week of Advent is all about Love and Adoration for our Lord and Savior.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. -Philippians 2:9-11, KJV

christmas holly beside white painting concrete wall Photo by Markus Spiske temporausch.com on Pexels.com

Jesus, the God-Man, came and lived as one of us to redeem us from death into life. Because of this, He has been exalted by the Father. How much more should we make Jesus famous around the world?

The day is quickly coming when the choice to love and worship Jesus will be taken away. We…

View original post 62 more words

Reaching out with the Good News of Jesus Christ

I don’t get to read all of Charlie’s blog posts – who has the time? You see, Charlie is about the most prolific Christian blogger I’ve ever seen, and he can post as many as 10 Bible studies a day! But let me tell you, everything he writes is worth reading, and I don’t read enough.

I would encourage you to check out Learning From God’s Word and tell Charlie I said “hello!”

Learning From God's Word

‘Reconciled’ to God through Christ, we have received ‘the ministry of reconciliation.’ Saved by Him, we are to ‘work with Him.’ We are ‘not to accept the grace of God in vain’ by living for ourselves. We are to be ‘ambassadors for Christ.’ We must proclaim the urgent message of salvation – ‘now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.’ We must call men and women to respond to God’s message of salvation: ‘Be reconciled to God’ (2 Corinthians 5:18-6:2). If we are to be effective ‘ambassadors for Christ’, we must dedicate our lives to Him: ‘Let us cleanse ourselves… and make holiness perfect in the fear of God’(2 Corinthians 7:1). Without this heartfelt commitment to godly living, we cannot really serve the Lord at all. Our wrong lives will drown out our ‘right’ words. We need true lives as well as ‘true’ words.

View original post

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

by Anthony Baker | December 21, 2018 · 6:00 am

Ready for Christmas?

If it was this easy!

If I have been asked once, I have been asked a thousand times: “Are you ready for Christmas?”

Well, if by “ready” you mean “have you purchased gifts for every relative and friend, cleaned your house, wrapped everything in red foil, watered the tree, mailed the cards, etc.,” then NO! I’m definitely not ready!

On the other hand, if you’re asking if I am ready for Christmas to get here, then yes, I am.

Am I the only person in this situation? I would suspect most people probably wish they had at least another month to get everything on their lists done. On the other hand, I hope that we are always ready to celebrate the birth of Christ, which is, of course, the point of the whole day.

But aside from getting ready for the Christmas celebrations, there are other things for which we should be prepared.

As a matter of fact, below are three things we all should be prepared for, maybe even more so than Christmas.

Be Ready to Preach

Paul said, “So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel…” (Romans 1:15). I should be able to say the same, for, just like the apostle, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…” (1:16). I should, and YOU should be ready to preach/teach/share the gospel at anytime with anyone.

But you may say, “I am not a preacher, though.” Really? Well, the words of Jesus apply to all of us. He said,

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. – Mar 16:15

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. – Mar 16:15 ESV

Even though you may not be a pastor or Sunday School teacher, if you are not ashamed of Jesus, then it is still your responsibility to “proclaim” the message Christmas, the gospel (“good news”) of Jesus coming to save.

Be ready to preach.

Be Ready to Give an Answer

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer [a reasonable defense] to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…” – 1Pe 3:15 NIV

If Jesus is the “reason for the season,” are we able defend the Reason based on reason and evidence, not hollow, empty faith?

There are so many who are quick to attack Christians and the God of Christianity. They claim Christmas is based on a myth no more verifiable than the existence of Santa Claus himself. These same folk who deny Jesus was the Messiah then choose to follow some other pagan god, or no god, and say their “reasons” are more logical. Really? Where is their evidence?

The Apostle Peter, when he said to “always be ready,” knew that there would be those who would question us and ask, “why do you have so much hope?” There are still plenty of people who are without hope in this world. They are looking for answers. What they are not looking for is a fairy tale to make them feel good; they are looking for Truth that will make a difference in life, both on this earth and in eternity.

Be ready to give an answer.

Be Ready to Go

I know that Christmas is just around the corner, but who can assure me I’ll be around to see it? There are no guarantees about tomorrow; one day life on this earth will be over and eternity will begin. However, for many of us, we believe that Jesus is coming back one day.

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. – Mat 24:44

I want to be ready for His return. I want to be ready to go with Him. Being ready for that day, I believe, is a lot more important than getting everything wrapped just so, or cleaning house. If any “cleaning house” is done, we should always make sure our spiritual “house” is clean and ready. One day, someday, a trumpet is going to sound…

1 Corinthians 15:51-54 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Are you ready to go? If not, then there is good news: You can be!

You may say that you are not good enough. You may think that you have done too many things to be forgiven. You may think that if God is real, then there is no getting right with Him, because you’re just too bad. Well, if you are willing to put your faith in the Christ of Christmas, the good new is that God is also ready…ready to forgive.

For thou, Lord, [art] good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. – Psa 86:5

Get ready for Christmas; but make your heart ready for Christ. The Jesus born in a manger wants to give new life to you.

Are you ready?

Questions about faith in Jesus Christ?

Call 1-800-NEED-HIM

4 Comments

Filed under Apologetics, Christmas, Culture Wars, Preaching, salvation

Tagged as Christmas, Getting ready for Christmas, Jesus, preaching, Ready for Christmas, Santa Claus

by Anthony Baker | December 20, 2018 · 9:49 am

When Life Doesn’t Match Up With the Postcard

As I was composing the title for this post, the thought came to mind, “Maybe I should write about that.”

However, this post is not about me; it’s about my Christian sister, The Sister Christian (a.k.a. Karen).

I noticed that Karen didn’t include a button to “reblog” her post, so what I’m doing here is simply sharing a link to her original post. I would encourage you to click it and give it a read.

What I found encouraging – as I’m sure you will, too – is that when life doesn’t seem to match up with the stereotypical example, the kind that drives the commercial aspect of Christmas, getting back to the true meaning of Christmas puts everything in their proper perspective.

So, continue to “like” and “share,” and go tell The Sister Christian I said “hello.”

Blessings!

“This Is What Christmas Is Really About”

This photo is from The Sister Christian’s post.

4 Comments

Filed under blogging, Christmas

Tagged as blogging, Christmas, commercialism, Family, meaning

by Anthony Baker | December 19, 2018 · 7:02 am

Are You in the Wilderness This Christmas?

If you’ve never read any of Keith Haney’s posts, you’ve been missing out. This post is especially encouraging.

Becoming Bridge Builders

A man walks on a path under a colorful night sky.

You ask, what is the wilderness? Here are the characteristics of the wilderness. A wilderness experience usually follows a season of highs. For Jesus right after He was baptized (which was more accurately a coronation), He was taking His rightful place as the final and greatest king of Israel. As soon as the event was over Mark’s gospel says He was immediately thrown into a wilderness experience where Satan would tempt Him after 40 days of fasting. Wilderness experiences usually happen when you are at the end of your spiritual rope. It is a time of seeking God’s will and direction for your life.

In a previous post, we talked about the valley. When you are in the valley you get to know Him in a deeper way because you are forced to rest on Him. We enjoy Him on the mountaintops, but get to…

View original post 754 more words

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

by Anthony Baker | December 18, 2018 · 10:35 pm

Things NOT to Hang On Your Christmas Tree

The Old Lights

For those of us who were born after the advent (see what I did there?) of electricity, the most dangerous Christmas tree lighting we experienced were the glass light bulbs that tended to heat up too much. Long before there were those tiny cool-to-the-touch diodes, we had colored spot lights that broke into tiny shards of foot-stabbing cheer!

These are actually for sale!

Man, I miss those lights! The best one can do nowadays is find plastic reproductions that look like the old bulbs. However, you could take an extra risk of burning down your house by plugging in some vintage ones you buy online.

When we were told to unplug the lights before going to bed, it wasn’t just the energy we were trying to conserve.

The Older Lights

Source: Huffpost.com

But before there were electric lights of any kind, our forefathers and foremothers evidently had the ability to hang flaming wax sticks on combustible evergreens and not die as a result. Of course, these were the same people who survived lead-painted toys and smoked Marlboro Lights for “better health.”

Yes, believe it or not, people really did put candles on Christmas trees, even up until the 1940’s! And what’s even more shocking to me is that there are actually people who still do! Literally, according to some, candle-lit Christmas trees are on the comeback!

If you don’t believe me, here’s a link you can follow to buy your own Christmas tree-burning ornaments.

By the way, has anyone noticed an uptick in house fires, lately?

The What Not’s

I don’t know about you, but it would seem to me that there are some things one should never place on a Christmas tree; the old incandescent bulbs and even older, match-lit torches are only two of them.

But as family conversation would have it, the subject of Christmas trees came up over lunch the other day. Sitting with my wife and my mother, between sips of eggnog and nibbles of Christmas cookies and sugar plums, we determined what things should NOT be put on a Christmas tree – besides candles.

Tinsel. I don’t know why one is not supposed to put tinsel on a Christmas tree, other than because cats love to eat it. But what’s wrong with that? All it does is make their litter more festive, right?
Mini Christmas trees. I mean, why? After all, it’s it enough that you have the real thing in your house? Why put little imitations on it? Isn’t that redundant? A little overkill?
Old ornaments with your ex’s picture on them. That’s just asking for trouble. Fires are started by people, too, you know.
Cheese. Ever heard the story about it being quiet in the house, right before Santa arrives? Remember how not a creature was stirring, “not even a mouse.” Well, put cheese on your tree and all mistletoe could break loose!
Mousetraps. Let’s just say your really do want to put cheese on your Christmas tree, you know, to go with the string of popcorn. In an effort to keep the mice from steeling your cheddar-flavored ornaments, you might think it’s a good idea to hand a few well-placed mousetraps. But seriously, what will the children think when dead vermin are found bleeding all over their presents come Christmas morning? Not good.
Knives. (I thought of this one) My mother literally asked me after I made the suggestion, “Why would anyone put knives on a Christmas tree?” I answered, “Why would anyone hang a lit candle on a piece of kindling right in the middle of the living room?” “Good point,” she replied. But even though knives are shiny, reflect light, and, depending on the color of the handle, can blend in nicely with the decorations – don’t shake the tree when reaching under it for a present. You might end up needing the ribbon for a tourniquet.
White-corded lights on a green tree (or visa versa). This was my wife’s suggestion of what NOT to put on a Christmas tree, but then I reminded her that such a suggestion might get her into trouble. Why? Because what if the boxes in which the wires came were mislabeled? What if the white strand of lights self-identified as a green strand of lights? Who needs a law suit on Christmas Eve? Just wrap them around the tree and let them twinkle.

So, in a chestnut shell, try to avoid anything that might cause bad memories, set your house on fire, harm pets, or offend trans-colored wiring, and your Christmas tree will bring you hours of entertainment and joy – until you have to take it down.

Do you think the real reason there may have been “no room in the inn” was because Joseph mentioned something about putting up a birthday tree?

I hope you laughed. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine…” (Proverbs 17:22a).

11 Comments

Filed under Christmas, Humor

Tagged as candles, Christmas, Christmas tree, Humor, ornaments

by Anthony Baker | December 18, 2018 · 8:58 am

Collection of 50 Apologetics’ Illustrations

This is such an impressive list of illustrations that I’m reblogging it for no other reason than I need a bookmark. I mean, if I share it then I’ll be less likely to forget it, right?

Jim and his crew have followed my blog for a while, now. I don’t know why I haven’t shared his posts more often.

If you get a chance to read these illustrations before me, let me know which one is your favorite… and let Jim know I said “Hi!”

The Domain for Truth