I recently heard a preacher say that one of the older members of his congregation told him that before his arrival, she had never heard a single sermon on any of the Old Testament prophets. And she had been a member of that church for over 40 years! Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising, though. …
I heard a story recently about President Calvin Coolidge. As the story goes, he returned home one Sunday afternoon after attending morning worship services. His wife was unable to attend, so she asked her husband what the preacher’s lesson was about that morning. He said, “Sin.” His wife asked for more details and Coolidge said,…
Memorials are important. Some of you may have visited the Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC, or the 9/11 Memorial in New York City, or the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. These memorials are moving because they capture moments of traumatic loss in ways that help us to process them while honoring…
This morning, in our study through the Bible, we come to the book of Jeremiah. I told Scott last Sunday that I wasn’t sure yet what my specific topic would be, but that it would probably be pretty sad, because there’s not much joy in the book of Jeremiah. He’s not called the “weeping prophet”…
Last week, we began a look at the book of Isaiah, and I made the statement that Isaiah is sometimes referred to as “the gospel according to Isaiah” because he had so much to say about the coming Messiah — his birth, his death, his resurrection. But, as important as the entire book of…
This morning, I’d like to introduce you all to the fifth gospel. I’m sure you’re already familiar with the four gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. What you may or may not know is that over the years, some people have tried to add a fifth gospel. There is supposedly a gospel according to…
I heard a story about a little boy who asked his mother where he came from. His mother gave him a tall tale about the stork and how the stork brought him. The little boy asked his mother where she came from, and she said, “The stork brought me, too.” The boy went to his…
This morning, we continue in our study through the Old Testament and we come now to the book of Ecclesiastes. If you were here with us two weeks ago when we looked at the book of Proverbs, you may recall that in our video from the Bible Project, we learned that the proverbs in…
One of the things that I enjoy doing is discovering the origin of words, finding out where our English words came from. One of the words that I think has a most interesting origin is the word “sophomore”. Becoming a sophomore in high school or college is a big step because it means you’re…
There’s something about singing that is profound and powerful. Social scientists tell us that music does something to human beings physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We are creatures that need to and love to be around music and participate in it at some level. Music has a powerful effect on the human soul. In…