SBC President Clint Pressley preaches at First Baptist Church Rockwall, Texas, Sunday, June 8, prior to the start of the 2025 SBC annual meeting in Dallas.
ROCKWALL, Texas (BP) — The gospel is potent in pointing out our inadequacies and failures, Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Clint Pressley said to members and visitors at First Baptist Church on June 8. But it ultimately reminds us that we are never out of a fight.
Pressley preached at all three of First Baptist Rockwall’s worship services. Michael Criner, the church’s senior pastor, will nominate Pressley for a second term as SBC president on Tuesday afternoon (June 10).
First Baptist has been a historically strong giver through the Cooperative Program (CP) and is currently among the top 10 SBC churches, with 18% of its budget dedicated to CP.
Preaching from Mark 14:26-31, Pressley’s sermon was titled “Live to Fight Another Day.” It focused on Peter’s declaration that he would never betray Jesus, his actions to follow and how the gospel heals and rebuilds us all.
“In this passage, Jesus told (the disciples) of a coming disaster,” said Pressley. “But out of this disaster, they would live to fight another day just like some of you. You don’t have to look over your shoulder to see some sort of spiritual or emotional or even mental disaster.”
The passage, he pointed out, puts the “wind back in your sails.”
Pressley outlined his sermon with the following points:
- Singing is more important than you think it is.
- You are worse than you think you are.
- The Bible is better than you think it is.
- God is smarter than you think He is.
- Life is more hopeful than you think it is.
The first point addressed the unexplainable ways that singing affects a person. In the same way that modern worship services begin with singing today, the disciples started with singing a hymn.
“There’s something to this,” said Pressley. “Singing to the Lord does something for your soul. (The disciples) didn’t know what they were going to run into the next day, and these songs were preparation for the ordeal that awaited them.”
Points 2-4 addressed common misconceptions about our sinfulness and how the gospel addresses it. Pressley’s message can be viewed on First Baptist’s Facebook page and website.
In verse 27, Jesus predicts terror (“All of you will fall away”), Pressley said. But verse 28 promises hope in the phrase “after I am raised up.”
“This promises victory, that Christ will be raised from the dead (and) reminds me that my sins have been atoned for,” he noted.
Furthermore, it made clear that Jesus is our “pathfinder,” Pressley said, our leader. Stating that he will also go into Galilee is another way of Jesus saying, “I’ll meet you back home.”
“One of the great promises of Christianity … of the gospel, is we go to the death of Jesus on the cross, His burial and then His resurrection,” Pressley added. “It’s a reminder that Christ has the keys to life and death. And that in Christ, regardless, you can live to fight another day.”
Pressley then added a sixth point.
The Gospel of Mark is the only one that includes how Jesus told Peter the rooster would crow twice before he renounced Christ. This detail reflects the church tradition that Mark’s gospel was based on Peter’s preaching and so would be something only Peter would mention.
“This was the worst moment of Peter’s life,” said Pressley, “and the only way John Mark, the writer, knows is that Peter told him. All his pride, self-assurance and confidence were before the cross. He was not ashamed.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.
