Those of you who are mothers, I’m sure you can relate to the story of the mother who put her 5-year-old son to bed. And, after a few minutes, she heard him call out, “Mom, can you please bring me a drink of water?” And she said, “Now you had your chance when we…
Shaped BY the cross into the shape OF the cross
Sermons by Alan Smith
This morning, I am absolutely overwhelmed as we gather together for the very first time in this building to worship God. I am overwhelmed with God’s goodness, overwhelmed with God’s love, overwhelmed with God’s provision. This part of our journey began in March of last year when we became aware of this two-acre…
For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been looking at a couple of men whose lives were changed by an encounter they had with Jesus. Two weeks ago, we looked at Jairus, the synagogue leader, and we saw that Jesus brings hope when voices around us tell us that there is no hope. And…
Last week, we talked about Jairus, the father whose 12-year-old daughter passed away from an illness. And we saw that Jesus brings hope when there is no hope. We all have times in our lives when we hear this voice that says, “Why bother?” But then we hear the voice of Jesus who says. …
I’m sure you all heard the story in the news recently about how billionaire Robert F. Smith spoke at the graduation ceremony at Morehouse College and in his speech, said he would pay off the loan debts for all 396 graduates. What an incredible display of grace and love. But Robert Smith was not the…
This morning, I want us to look at one of the parables of Jesus in Luke chapter 16. In scripture, we have recorded about 40 different parables of Jesus. This particular parable has to do with money, which isn’t very surprising because over one-third of Jesus’ parables dealt with the topic of money. In…
Over the past several years, we’ve heard a lot about “fake news.” And without meaning to be political, I would simply make the observation that fake news is nothing new. “Fake news” is simply what happens when something is reported that isn’t true. Probably the most famous example of this happened in 1948 when the…
This is Memorial Day weekend, one of the most significant holidays that our country observes. A time for us to remember those who have given their lives so that we might enjoy the freedoms that we do in this country. It is an especially significant time for those of you in the military who know…
If someone were to ask you, “What’s the most important part of Christianity?”, how would you answer that? Obviously, everything in the Bible matters, but among all the do’s and don’ts and shoulds and shouldn’ts, what’s at the heart of it all? What do we tell people around us who have all but…
I heard recently about a mother who put her son to bed on the night before his fifth birthday. And she was trying to communicate the whole birthday idea to him. She said, “Kevin, this is the last night that you will be 4 years old. Do you understand that?” Kevin was trying…