By Scott Brown Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly Focal Passage: Ephesians 3:1-13 There is an old story I’ve often heard about a group of blind men trying to describe an elephant. You may have heard it something like this: “A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. They said:
By Jerry Price Retired Pastor, Spring Hill Focal Passage: Exodus 20:8-11; 31:12-17 Some of you, like me, are old enough to remember the old Sunday Blue Laws. Most businesses were closed except a few that sold essentials. Even most gas stations were closed. Sunday was set aside for worship and rest from the busy week. I remember one particular weekend when the power went off in our house during the
By Scott Brown Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly Focal Passage: Ephesians 2:11-22 Nothing can distract, discourage, and destroy, bringing God’s work in a church to a grinding halt like senseless division. In fact, the presence of ongoing, unending, and intentional division in a fellowship is a fairly clear indicator of the absence of prayer, the Holy Spirit’s power and presence, or purpose.
By Jerry Price Retired Pastor, Spring Hill Focal Passage: 1 Timothy 6:6-11, 17-19 The Jan. 3, 1955 issue of Sports Illustrated contains the story of one of the most unusual plays in football history. It occurred in the 1929 Rose Bowl between Georgia Tech and the California Golden Bears. During the second quarter, with the game tied at 0 to 0, Roy Riegles picked up a Georgia Tech fumble and
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 Jerry Price Retired Pastor, Spring Hill Focal Passage: Philippians 4:10-20 The late Dr. E. Stanley Jones once wrote: “The art of living is the least learned of all arts. Man has learned the art of existing, of getting by somehow with the demands of life, of escaping into half answers; but he knows little about the art of living, about being able to walk up to life, with all
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 Jerry Price Retired pastor Focal Passage: Philippians 4:4-9 I met one of my best friends in 1964 at Park Avenue Baptist Church in Nashville. We have been to school together twice, worked in the same place twice, and shared an apartment together at one school. He was the best man at my wedding 46 years ago. There is not a lot that we don’t know about each other. Someone
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
By Jerry Price Retired pastor Focal Passage: Matthew 6:25-34 Merrill Tenney, my major professor at Wheaton Graduate School, often admonished those in his classes with this familiar statement: “Any text, taken out of context, is nothing more than a pretext.” He hammered that point home so often that it became ingrained in me and my fellow-students. So, it has become natural for me to ask: “What is the context of
By Scott Brown Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly Focal Passage: Ephesians 3:1-13 There is an old story I’ve often heard about a group of blind
By Jerry Price Retired Pastor, Spring Hill Focal Passage: Exodus 20:8-11; 31:12-17 Some of you, like me, are old enough to remember the old Sunday
By Scott Brown Pastor, First Baptist Church, Waverly Focal Passage: Ephesians 2:11-22 Nothing can distract, discourage, and destroy, bringing God’s work in a church to
By Jerry Price Retired Pastor, Spring Hill Focal Passage: 1 Timothy 6:6-11, 17-19 The Jan. 3, 1955 issue of Sports Illustrated contains the story of
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
By Jerry Price Retired Pastor, Spring Hill Focal Passage: Philippians 4:10-20 The late Dr. E. Stanley Jones once wrote: “The art of living is the
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
By Jerry Price Retired pastor Focal Passage: Philippians 4:4-9 I met one of my best friends in 1964 at Park Avenue Baptist Church in Nashville.
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
By Jerry Price Retired pastor Focal Passage: Matthew 6:25-34 Merrill Tenney, my major professor at Wheaton Graduate School, often admonished those in his classes with
