Billy Graham's grandson reemerges from scandal with new sermon on God's redemption
Tullian Tchividjian, who faced several scandals during his career as a pastor, recently came out with a new sermon highlighting God's redemptive work.
Tchividjian, a grandson of famed evangelist Billy Graham, stated on his Facebook page that he was invited to speak at Spring Hills Community Church in Santa Rosa, California.
In his Oct. 31 sermon, he spoke about his teenage years when he was caught cutting school by his father. He explained that there was a part of him that wanted to get caught because he knew that he needed help in getting out of trouble.
"I knew what I was doing was bad. I felt guilty about it, but I also knew that there was no way I was getting out of this on my own," he said, as reported by The Christian Post.
He stated in his sermon that Christians can become self-righteous sometimes which "keeps us from seeing God." He added that Christians will fail to see God's grace "unless we recognize just how desperately we need it."
He pointed out that many people see Jesus as an example for Christians but he explained that the Gospel actually teaches something else.
"The Good News of the Gospel is not Jesus as our example. The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus is our substitute. What has Jesus done? Because Jesus being my example is not good news to me and it shouldn't be good news to you. He was perfect," he said.
Tchividjian resigned as a pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in June 2015 after he admitted that he had an affair. He filed for divorce later that year.
Last March, he was fired from his position as the director of ministry development at Willow Creek Presbyterian Church after he admitted to the elders that he had "some previously undisclosed failures in his life." Liberate Network, a ministry he founded in 2013, was discontinued following his confession.
In September, Tchividjian revealed in a blog post that he came close to committing suicide because of his scandals.
Tchividjian has since remarried. He has kept silent about his new marriage but his wife, Stacie, posted a picture of the wedding on her Facebook page.