By Clay Hallmark  Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal Passage: Luke 9:57-62  Fans of Southeastern Conference Football are some of the most devoted people in the country to their teams. They will spend hundreds of dollars for tickets, travel mile after mile to watch their team play, sing their fight song with greater joy than a Chris Tomlin church chorus, wear their team colors, paint their bodies, and some

By Clay Hallmark Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal Passage: Luke 6:27-36 Two brothers were arguing at breakfast over the final pancake. Their mother walked in and said to them, “Boys! Is this how Jesus would act? I think Jesus would say, ‘Let my brother have the last pancake.’ ” At that, the older brother turned to the younger brother and said, “Congratulations Bobby! This morning you get to

By Clay Hallmark Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal Passage: Matthew 19:21-30 Have you ever watched a TV show called “Hoarders?” I did recently and to be honest, I was amazed and astonished at the degree to which some folks will hold on to things (stuff). This one particular lady (the hoarder), had so much stuff that she didn’t even have a place to sleep or sit down in

By Clay Hallmark Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal Passage: John 11:25-27; 20:24-29 John Paton is not a name that we hear very often when we think of great missionaries. Paton served for 10 years as pastor of a growing Scottish congregation, but God burdened his heart for the New Hebrides, a group of Pacific Islands inhabited by unreached people. Moreover, the inhabitants were cannibals. Paton set his heart

By Clay Hallmark Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal Passage: Matthew 12:22-32 It has jokingly been said that there are three types of people in this world: Those who can do math and those who can’t.  What about the math of sin? How many sins is too many? How many can you commit before forgiveness doesn’t apply to you? Can you count one sin as larger and worse than

By Clay Hallmark Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 11:7-10; 12:12-14 There was once an elderly gentleman who loved playing golf. But he was almost 80, and his vision was not very good anymore. He always had partners with him when he went out to play so they could watch his ball and tell him where it went. One day his buddies did not show up. It

By Clay Hallmark Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 5:10-20 Jean Paul Getty was born in Minneapolis in 1892. He was educated in California and attended Oxford University. He became an independent oil producer in 1914 and held presidential and directorial positions with several oil companies during the 1930’s. 

Clay Hallmark Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:18-23; 3:9-13 Somebody has well said that there are only two kinds of people in the world — there are those who wake up in the morning and say, “Good morning, Lord, it is time to go to work” and there are those who wake up in the morning and say, “Good Lord, it’s morning and time to go

By Clay Hallmark Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal  Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:12-17; 7:23-29 In the movie “Forrest Gump,” the main character sat on a bench and said, “Mama always said, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.’ ” When we read Ecclesiastes 2 and 7, it appears that Solomon had a similar outlook on life.

By Clay Hallmark Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 A disciple of a great Rabbi asked, “Rabbi, I mean no disrespect, but why is it that each time I pose a question, you respond with a question.” The Rabbi asked, “Is it wrong for Rabbi to answer his disciple with a question?” Life is filled with questions. In 1991 James Peterson and Peter Kim wrote a