Chris Gutierrez

Son of a gracious God - husband of a breathtaking wife - daddy to 2 beautiful girls - Lead Pastor of Arise Church

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@JoshuaDRollins I made the switch in 2023. I love it. Still use ESV for studying.

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@JoshuaBarzon @CSBible Love it and enjoy preaching from it.

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@juliosguarneri @TexasBaptists It was a wonderful dinner. Also great to meet you and your wife.

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@Chernandez214 👊🏽💪🏽

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@dougponder 👊🏽💪🏽

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@Chernandez214 Was hoping it was fake. 😩

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

Thanks to prof @dougponder for this podcast recommendation. Sinclair Ferguson has been blessing my mornings. 🥹

https://t.co/dQn9XoNcoj

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@dougponder Thanks for the recommendation Prof Ponder.

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@daytonhartman Ordered yesterday. Looking forward to jumping into it. 👊🏽💪🏽

[Grimké Seminary @grimkeseminary]

Grimké helped BDiv grad @NathanLSelko learn how central the local church is to God’s mission.

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@JoshuaDRollins @grimkeseminary @pastordeelowg 💯

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

For the preacher: “When we speak, we should remember that the message that we bring is a message of life and death, and that those who are listening to us may be listening for the last time, and that we who bring the message may be speaking for the last time” - Francis Grimké

[Doug Ponder @dougponder]

I start every class at @grimkeseminary with Acts 4:13 and this story from my own seminary days:

I took a summer intensive in my 1st year of studies. It was one of those classes where students are so few that each gets a bigger slice of the professor’s time. (On the other hand, no one could hide in the crowd either...)

A couple of hours into the lecture, I noticed that one of my classmates had been thumbing through a big red book that clearly wasn’t one of our course books.

The professor noticed too. (In hindsight, I suspect he noticed the off-topic reading a lot sooner than I did, given his front-of-the-class perspective.) When his patience for this low-key defiance had reached its limit, he walked over to the student and snatched the book from him.

“What book is so interesting that you can’t help reading it during my class?”

The student apologized as the professor seized the book. It was a dictionary. My classmate had been looking up a word that he didn’t understand (which had been mentioned a few times in the class lecture).

As my professor examined the dictionary, he noticed that a sizable number (dear reader, it was a sizable number) of entries had been highlighted. “Do you highlight all of these?” he wondered.

“Yessir,” replied the student (who was the professor’s senior by age). The professor was dumbstruck. We all were.

Sensing the need to explain himself—or perhaps merely desiring to fill the awkward silence that had filled the room—my classmate started speaking with an accent thicker than molasses in January: “I’m the first person in my family who ever gone to college. And I’m the first pastor from my church who ever gone to seminary.”

With an endearing touch of self-effacing humor, he added, “I’m not a very smart man. Reckon I was let in by the grace of God and the oversight of the registrar’s office.”

He went on to say that he had come to seminary with high hopes of getting an education that would bless the little flock entrusted to his care. After arriving, however, he kept bumping into words (in books and in lectures) that he had never heard before.

“I began to doubt God’s call on my life,” he said. And he got choked up—as did my professor—as he explained why he stayed in school anyway. “I didn’t want to let Jesus down, nor the good people from my community who never had a seminary-trained pastor before.” So he bought that dictionary, carried it with him everywhere he went, and looked up every word he didn’t know.

This brings me to Acts 4:13, which reads: “When [the rulers and elders and scribes] saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, ordinary men, they were astonished. For they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)

My former classmate was precisely the sort of man the Jewish leaders of Christ’s day would have snubbed with the labels “uneducated” and “ordinary.” I suppose they were right in a technical manner of speaking. But those wiseacres didn't realize that being educated isn't the same thing as being teachable.

Indeed, there are many educated men who are not teachable, and there are some teachable men who are not very educated. So, while the disciples may have been “uneducated, ordinary men” in one sense, they proved they were not unteachable men. For they followed our Lord’s example unto exile and death, every one of them, and blazed a trail for us to follow in faith, hope, and love.

And that, of course, is the sort of man that Jesus wants. He wants men who are humble enough to admit they don’t know everything, dedicated enough to do whatever it takes, and brave enough to follow God’s marching orders even when the stakes are high.

That’s my hopeful prayer for every one of my students, whether it’s their first foray into theological studies or another step in continuing their education. As they do become educated men (2 Tim. 2:2, 15)—through the guided reading, classroom lectures, and pastoral mentorships—my prayer is that they remain teachable men who become more like our Lord and Teacher in all things (Luke 6:40).

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@JoshuaDRollins Yea man. Right there with you bro. Stay encouraged. Praying for you today. 👊🏽

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@Rob_Castillo77 @grimkeseminary It’s been an awesome and challenging experience.

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

1st semester of reading has started. Let’s go! #grimkéseminary @grimkeseminary

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

Bible nerd question: What are your “go to” Bible Commentaries for personal study or sermon prep?

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

“It is vital that Christians learn this truth: that gratitude is redeemed humanity’s fundamental response to God and that the Scriptures were written in large part to teach us how to give thanks to the Lord.” — @dougponder #Thanksgiving #Gratitude

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

To the preacher: “Courage is good everywhere, but it is necessary here. If you are afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do something else.” - Phillips Brooks #Note2Self #pastors #preachers #grimkéseminary

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@daytonhartman 👊🏽💪🏽

[Chris Gutierrez @PsChrisG]

@daytonhartman @grimkeseminary @RedeemerRMT It’s a privilege being apart of your Church History class at @grimkeseminary Grateful for you Prof Hartman.