By Scott Brown Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly Focal Passage: Ephesians 2:1-10 Paul takes the time here to outline clearly our desperate need of Jesus and the importance of His grace as the root of our salvation. He contends that, apart from Christ, we were not just sick in sin but dead in our trespasses. We were entirely helpless and utterly hopeless apart from Christ. Being made alive in Christ

By Scott Brown First Baptist Church, Waverly. Focal Passage: Ephesians 1:15-23  It’s nice to be thought of. A thoughtful note, an e-mail, or just a quick text can really change your day. Paul was reminding the Ephesian believers that they were on his mind and in his heart.  He wanted them to know they were prayed for. Paul is enduring his first imprisonment for proclaiming King Jesus, and rather than

By Scott Brown Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly. Focal Passage: Ephesians 1:3-14 This passage is a beautiful statement revealing each member of the perichoresis of God at work in salvation and our blessed receipt of that work. This beginning passage of Ephesians establishes that each person of the Triune Godhead is fluidly and actively working interdependently in our salvation.  The Father, having predestined the gift of salvation according to His

Mickey D. Brackin Senior Pastor, Mars Hill Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg Focal Passage: Titus 3:1-11 Found throughout the pages of the New Testament is the glorious truth and simple fact that nobody meets Jesus and stays the same. A crazed demoniac, living in the shadows of the tombs, an outcast Samaritan woman of questionable character and even a zealous religious Pharisee on the Damascus road, all became living testimonies of this

By Mickey D. Brackin Senior Pastor, Mars Hill Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg Focal Passage: Titus 2:1-15 In today’s focal passage (Titus 2:1-15), Paul presents a level of godly expectations, not only for church leaders but for all believers. According to Charles Ray, “The goal of his instructions was for believers to be above reproach (v. 5), to preempt opponents from having reasons to accuse believers (v. 8), and to make the gospel

Mickey D. Brackin Senior Pastor, Mars Hill Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg Focal Passage: Titus 1:1-5, 10-16 Are you familiar with the term “smokejumper?” A smokejumper is a highly trained firefighter who specializes in fighting wildfires.  Often, they must parachute into rugged and remote areas to provide a frontline defense against raging wildfires. Upon examination of a young pastor named Titus, I believe he could have been given the title “pastoral smokejumper!”

By Mickey D. Brackin Senior Pastor, Mars Hill Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg Focal Passage: II Timothy 3:12-17; 4:1-8 I grew up in Town Creek, Ala., a small town in northwest Alabama. My dad was a sharecropper and construction laborer. His formal education was completed in the sixth grade.  Although lacking in formal education he was a wealth of wisdom for my brothers and me. One important truth he taught us was

Mickey D. Brackin Senior Pastor, Mars Hill Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg Focal Passage: II Timothy 2:14-26 In today’s passage, II Timothy 2:14-26, Paul continues to address the problem of false teachers spreading false doctrine within the church at Ephesus. He begins in verse 14 with the words, “remind them of these things.” In reference to “these things” Paul is no doubt calling attention to the preceding verses in II Timothy 2,

By Mickey D. Brackin Senior Pastor, Mars Hill Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg Focal Passage: II Timothy 2:1-13 Paul begins chapter two with an imperative yet loving command for Timothy to be strong and to remain strong in the faith (II Timothy 2:1). Unlike those of chapter one that have “turned away” Timothy is instructed by the present passive imperative to “be strong,” and “keep on being strong,” strengthened by God’s grace

Mickey D. Brackin Senior Pastor, Mars Hill Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg Focal Passage: II Timothy 1:3-14 It had been more than 30 years since that moment when the light “had shown around him from heaven” (Acts 9:3). His journey had taken him many places since that day. From the dusty road of Damascus to a Roman prison cell, Paul now waits for the inevitable, his own execution! All alone he sits