Pastor Alistair Begg delivered his final sermon as senior pastor of Parkside Church earlier this month, ending greater than 4 many years of ministry with a message of religion within the sufficiency of God “through all seasons of life.”
In his final sermon on June 8, the 73-year-old pastor continued a mini-series on Moses, using the encounter between Moses and God on the burning bush to focus on themes of human inadequacy and divine strength.
“You may say that it is not just an unfinished series, but tonight was an unfinished sermon, and I say that not to your discouragement, but actually, hopefully, to your encouragement,” he said, turning to Exodus 3:11–22. “Moses is a beauty, is not he? Because now he has one other query.”
“My hope and prayer for today is that the services will probably be odd, and by that I mean doing what’s routine,” he said. “Instead of a closing message that focuses on our parting, we simply look to the subsequent passage in our mini-series on Moses.”
Begg walked the congregation through Moses’ persistent questions — “Who am I that I should go?” and “What is his name?” — noting that God didn’t seek to bolster Moses’ self-esteem but redirected him to divine presence.
“God doesn’t say, ‘Oh, you are terrific.’ No, you are perfect for this. No, what does he say? You see it within the text, he says, ‘I will probably be with you,'” Begg said. “The issue will not be who Moses is. The issue is who’s with Moses.”
“We come to know God by revelation,” Begg said. “He makes himself known. Otherwise, we could never know him. We don’t find God by a consideration of ourselves after which project into divinity. We discover who we’re by being made known of it through God himself.”
The sermon, which concluded in reverent silence followed by song, echoed a phrase carved into the granite at Parkside’s fundamental entrance: “You have exalted above all things your name and your word.”
“Moses must know that God has exalted above all things, His name and His Word,” Begg said. “His inadequacy will not be denied. It is assumed, and the reply lies in God’s sufficiency.”
“Can I just say to you what I say to myself, that God, due to who He is, is sufficient for each season of life? He is sufficient for each responsibility that He entrusts to us. He is sufficient for all of our needs, and He keeps all of His guarantees.”
The Scottish pastor and voice behind the radio and online teaching ministry Truth for Life has served as Parkside Church’s senior pastor since 1983.
Begg announced his planned retirement in September 2024, stating the prolonged notice was intended to “give the church time to regulate to the prospect of and to organize in a timely way for what this transition will mean.”
“It will not be precipitous,” Begg told the congregation in September. “It’s not driven by anything of which I’m personally aware, apart from my ambition to pass the baton safely into the hands of my successor.”
Over the years, Begg has turn out to be probably the most recognizable voices in conservative Evangelical circles, largely through Truth For Life.
Last yr, during a speech on the Getty Music Sing! Conference in Nashville, Begg warned of a decline in biblical literacy inside churches. “Expositional preaching gives solution to inspirational talks, which supplies solution to therapeutical endeavors,” he said. “You cannot proceed to make your journey through life without your Bible … not as something simply to be revered in a corner, but as our day by day source of information and encounter with God.”
Begg’s time at Parkside was not without controversy.
He got here under fire for comments he made in 2023 advising a grandmother to attend her grandson’s wedding to a trans-identified individual as an act of affection. He later addressed the criticism publicly, saying, “I’m not able to repent over this. I haven’t got to.”
In his final sermon on Sunday, Begg recited a Twentieth-century hymn quoted within the church bulletin:
“I don’t understand how many days of life are mine to spend, but one who knows and cares for me will keep me to the top. I have no idea the course ahead, what joys and griefs are there, but one is near who fully knows. I’ll trust His loving care.”
“Let’s tell the Lord that we trust Him with the stuff we all know, the bits that we do not know, our fears, our failures, all the pieces,” he concluded.
 Pastor Alistair Begg delivered his final sermon as...){kind=link}