Moore to the Point
By Russell D. Moore. Russell D. Moore serves as the teaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. In addition, Dr. Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Find sermons and other resources to help Christians engage the culture from a biblical worldview at www.russellmoore.com.

God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck

— Sunday, August 29th, 2010 —

A Mormon television star stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial and calls American Christians to revival. He assembles some evangelical celebrities to give testimonies, and then preaches a God and country revivalism that leaves the evangelicals cheering that they’ve heard the gospel, right there [...]

Of Christ and Katrina, Five Years Later

— Friday, August 27th, 2010 —

I always feared seeing my hometown turn into Armageddon, and five years ago, sure enough, that’s just what happened. As a small child, I would sit in the pews of my church and imagine, as our pastor flipped through one apocalyptic scenario after another in his prophecy charts, what our town—Biloxi, Mississippi, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico—would look like after the seals of the Book of Revelation had been opened, after all hell broke loose on the world as we knew it.

When I’d mention such things, the Southern Baptist adults around me would try to comfort me with the details of our then-trendy 1970s pop-dispensationalist eschatology: “Don’t worry about that, honey; the Rapture of the church will have happened by then, and you won’t be here to see it.”

That really didn’t comfort me, though, as much as they thought it would. Yes, my raptured soul would be safely sequestered in heaven, while tsunamis and locusts and horse-riding specters ravaged our hometown, but it would still be gone, washed away in a flow of blood and debris. I would be exiled from it. And home would be taken away from me—forever.

I knew I wasn’t supposed to think that way. This world is not our home, you know. We are citizens of heaven, resident aliens here for a vapor. But, still, the idea of my little beachfront community buried beneath the collapse of unbelieving civilization was hard to take, so I tried not to think about it, focusing instead on the scenarios the preachers actually talked about: the sudden evaporation of New York or Washington or Hollywood or Rome, all those Babylons that, we were told, were exalting themselves against God, and corrupting our values with prayerless schoolrooms and primetime soap operas and heavy metal music and nuns (though with a half-Catholic family, I never believed that last part).

I outgrew the dispensationalism (while holding onto the gospel underneath it all), but I still lived to see my hometown face an apocalypse. And rather than watching it all helplessly from a cloud in heaven, I had to watch it all, even more helplessly, on CNN.

Why Conservative Evangelicals Should Thank God for Clark Pinnock

— Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 —

I was sad to see Gregory Boyd’s announcement that his fellow theologian Clark Pinnock has died. Clark Pinnock led me to faith in Christ. Now, it’s true, I never met Pinnock until many years after I came to know Jesus. But the gospel I believed came through preachers who were trained by Clark [...]

The Power of Words (Proverbs 1:1-7)

— Thursday, August 12th, 2010 —

The Power of Words (Proverbs 1:1-7) from Russell Moore on Vimeo.

This sermon, “The Power of Words: Wisdom, Counsel, and Decision Making” (Proverbs 1:1-7), was originally preached on Sunday, July 25, 2010 at Highview Baptist [...]

Should I Marry My Non-Christian Pregnant Girlfriend?

— Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 —

Below is the latest “Questions and Ethics” query. Help me answer this question by telling me your thoughts in the comments. I’ll weigh in later. And remember to send me your real-life ethical dilemma to questions@russellmoore.com.

Dear Dr. Moore,

Man, have I messed up. I’m a Christian, but I walked away from the Lord and [...]

Shut Up (Proverbs 6:12-19)

— Thursday, August 5th, 2010 —

Shut Up (Proverbs 6:12-19) from Russell Moore on Vimeo.

This sermon, “Shut Up” (Proverbs 6:12-19), was originally preached on Sunday, July 18, 2010 at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. You can find more sermons [...]

The Power of Words (Proverbs 4:1-27)

— Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 —

The Power of Words (Proverbs 4:1-27) from Russell Moore on Vimeo.

This sermon, “The Power of Words” (Proverbs 4:1-27), was originally preached on Sunday, July 11, 2010 at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. You [...]

Anne Rice Hasn’t Betrayed You

— Friday, July 30th, 2010 —

Yesterday the Internet was abuzz with news that Anne Rice has renounced Christianity. The best-selling vampire novelist, who professed faith in Christ several years ago and has since written several books about Jesus and her conversion, publicly quit Christianity on her Facebook page. There’s a real opportunity here that hinges on how we respond [...]

Is It Wrong to Display a Picture of Robert E. Lee? My Response

— Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 —

Back before I went on this extended hiatus (finishing up this new book), I received a question from a reader about whether it was ethical and neighbor-loving to display a picture of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. You can read his query here, along with comments from other readers about what he [...]

Patriotism and the Gospel

— Monday, July 12th, 2010 —

This lesson on “Patriotism and the Gospel” was originally taught on Sunday, July 4, 2010 at the Kingdom First Bible fellowship of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. You can find more sermons and other audio from Dr. Moore at our media page.