By Sam Greer Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga Focal Passage: 2 Corinthians 9:1-15 In a report released by Oxfam, an international charity dedicated to finding solutions to global poverty, the richest 80 people on earth are now as wealthy as the world’s 3.5 billion poorest people. To put this into perspective, 80 people control as much wealth as half the population of planet earth. One of these multi-billionaires
By Rick Elsey Pastor, West End Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Esther 7:1-10 How many times have we found ourselves taking matters into our own hands before allowing God to meet our needs? At the heart of our decision is a lack of faith or trust in God’s response. I appreciate the testimony of a young church planter who struggled with waiting on God. He said, “God wasn’t moving fast
By Sam Greer Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga Focal Passage: II Corinthians 5:16-21; 6:1-2 Think about your most recent conflict. Do you believe that conflict can be resolved or do you believe that the word “conflict” is inherently a bad word? Does conflict always hurt a relationship? Conflict can be resolved by attacking the problem and not the person, by not overreacting, by not letting problems fester and
By Rick Elsey Pastor, West End Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Esther 5:1-14 Proverb 16:18 warns us, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Our culture has condensed the verse to simply say, “pride goes before a fall.” The point is well taken. Excessive pride sets us up for disappointment and possible disaster. Humility, on the other hand, stands in stark contrast to a prideful spirit. This
By Sam Greer Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga Focal Passage: II Corinthians 4:5-18 After a laboring but rewarding week of sermon preparation, my wife Tonya and I celebrate with a Friday night date night. Friday is sermon manuscript day, that is, the day of the week when the writing of the sermon manuscript for Sunday is completed. Going to the “picture show” (the movie theater) is what we
By Rick Elsey Pastor, West End Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Esther 4:1-3, 10-16 Have you ever been warned not to go off “half-cocked?” The term dates back to the days of flintlock or caplock firearms. Half-cocked describes the position of the hammer that allows the primer to be loaded as well as serving as a basic safety measure against the gun firing prematurely. Today the term describes the danger
By Sam Greer Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga Focal Passage: II Corinthians 1:3-14 Webster’s Dictionary defines empathy as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being senstive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience” of someone else.
By Rick Elsey Pastor, West End Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Esther 2:21-3:6 At the start of the legislative session on April 18, 1947, Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall made the following request to God: “Give to us a clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for — because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.” Another writer states, “You’re only as good
By Sam Greer Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga Focal Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 What is love? How might love be defined in our world today? According to Neil Genzlinger, there are over 10,000 songs on file at the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C., that begin with the words “Love is ….” Some of those songs, which attempt to define love, are as follows: “Love is Like a
By Rick Elsey Pastor, West End Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Esther 2:5-10, 15-17 Over the next six weeks, our lessons will focus on the book of Esther and the theme of standing up to fight injustice. With our so-called modern-day ethics, one might think injustice would not be an issue. Unfortunately, injustice still runs rampant all around our world. In my lifetime, many have taken up the call to
By Sam Greer Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga Focal Passage: 2 Corinthians 9:1-15 In a report released by Oxfam, an international charity dedicated
By Rick Elsey Pastor, West End Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Esther 7:1-10 How many times have we found ourselves taking matters into our own
By Sam Greer Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga Focal Passage: II Corinthians 5:16-21; 6:1-2 Think about your most recent conflict. Do you believe
By Rick Elsey Pastor, West End Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Esther 5:1-14 Proverb 16:18 warns us, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before
By Sam Greer Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga Focal Passage: II Corinthians 4:5-18 After a laboring but rewarding week of sermon preparation, my
By Rick Elsey Pastor, West End Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Esther 4:1-3, 10-16 Have you ever been warned not to go off “half-cocked?” The
By Sam Greer Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga Focal Passage: II Corinthians 1:3-14 Webster’s Dictionary defines empathy as “the action of understanding, being
By Rick Elsey Pastor, West End Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Esther 2:21-3:6 At the start of the legislative session on April 18, 1947, Senate Chaplain
By Sam Greer Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga Focal Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 What is love? How might love be defined in our
By Rick Elsey Pastor, West End Baptist Church, Columbia Focal Passage: Esther 2:5-10, 15-17 Over the next six weeks, our lessons will focus on the
