By Ray Luck Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens Focal Passage: Matthew 5:1-16 Evangelist Jay Strack tells a story about Chippy the smart mouthed Parakeet who was always an embarrassment to his owner. One day Chippy was accidentally sucked into a Wet-Dri Vac. His owner retrieved Chippy, washed him up, blow dried him and sat him back on his perch. A friend came over and noticed that Chippy was unusually
By Michael Crandall Senior Pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Dyersburg Focal Passage: I Corinthians 12:4-11 What are gifts? Are gifts the things we wrapped up in shining paper or placed in a decorative bag or maybe gifts are the things we place beautiful bows on! Maybe gifts are the things we shared with others just a few weeks ago! And to answer the question we would have to say yes! Yes,
By Ray Luck Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens Focal Passage: Matthew 4:1-10 Temptation is a word that often causes us to shiver because of the connotation attached to it. John McArthur in his New Testament Commentary on I Corinthians says this about the word “temptation” found in I Corinthians 10:13. The basic meaning in Greek is simply to test or prove, and has no negative connotation. Whether it becomes
By Michael Crandall Senior Pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Dyersburg Focal Passage: Ephesians 3:14-21 What is strength? How can we measure strength? What does strength look like? These are all questions that a person could ask. And on the surface these are questions that have simple answers. From a purely secular point of view, strength could be defined as the state of being strong. And if we look at it from
By Ray Luck Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens Focal Passage: Matthew 2:1-12 There is a song that is nearly always sung at Christmas time titled “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” The song assumes three kings based on the Scriptural fact that three gifts were presented to the baby Jesus (gold — royalty; frankincense — priestly role, and myrrh — a burial ointment). A pastor friend of mine, Bill
By Michael Crandall Senior Pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Dyersburg Focal Passage: John 1:1-5, 9-14 Have you ever thought about what life would be like if you never married the person of your dreams or if you never had your children or grandchildren? At times when we think about things such as this, we wonder what life would be like! Now let me ask you this, think about your life before
By Ray Luck Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens Focal Passage: Matthew 1:18-25 If you watch television any at all you most likely have seen the commercial advertising ancestry.com. The company specializes in helping people trace their ancestors in order to discover their roots. The gospel according to Matthew leaves no doubt as to the earthly lineage of Jesus Christ. He begins in chapter 1, verse 1 with these words,
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector Focal Passage: John 8:2-11 When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our sins were forgiven by God. What a wonderful feeling that was. The question that we must answer in our own lives is this: Are we willing to forgive others when we feel they have wronged us? Even for Christians, forgiveness can be hard. Though we have been beneficiaries
By Ray Luck Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens Focal Passage: Matthew 3:1-12 Years ago I was serving a church in another state as associate pastor. One Wednesday I was in charge of the service and before the service someone came in and said there was a man sitting on the steps in front of the Fellowship Hall. I went out greeted the man and discovered he was from another
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBC Focal Passage: 1 John 3:1-10 About a year ago, a friend of mine and his wife finalized the adoption of their son who is Ethiopian. The little boy was about five at the time, living in an orphanage with dozens of other children and had little more than the clothes on his back. Mostly, he lacked the love of a mother and father.
By Ray Luck Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens Focal Passage: Matthew 5:1-16 Evangelist Jay Strack tells a story about Chippy the smart mouthed Parakeet
By Michael Crandall Senior Pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Dyersburg Focal Passage: I Corinthians 12:4-11 What are gifts? Are gifts the things we wrapped up in
By Ray Luck Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens Focal Passage: Matthew 4:1-10 Temptation is a word that often causes us to shiver because of
By Michael Crandall Senior Pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Dyersburg Focal Passage: Ephesians 3:14-21 What is strength? How can we measure strength? What does strength look
By Ray Luck Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens Focal Passage: Matthew 2:1-12 There is a song that is nearly always sung at Christmas time
By Michael Crandall Senior Pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Dyersburg Focal Passage: John 1:1-5, 9-14 Have you ever thought about what life would be like if
By Ray Luck Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens Focal Passage: Matthew 1:18-25 If you watch television any at all you most likely have seen
By Lonnie Wilkey Editor, Baptist and Reflector Focal Passage: John 8:2-11 When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our sins were forgiven
By Ray Luck Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens Focal Passage: Matthew 3:1-12 Years ago I was serving a church in another state as associate
By Chris Turner Director of Communications, TBC Focal Passage: 1 John 3:1-10 About a year ago, a friend of mine and his wife finalized the