There are some people who have an amazing ability to walk into any situation and immediately take charge. There was a Stephen Spielberg movie that came out 20 years ago — Catch Me If You Can – which was about a guy like that. It was based on the real-life story of Frank Abagnale, Jr.…
Shaped BY the cross into the shape OF the cross
Sermons by Alan Smith
The great classic novel Moby Dick is a story of obsession and revenge. If you’ve read that book, you know that almost everything from the beginning of that book leads up to a final confrontation. From the moment we are introduced to Captain Ahab with his peg leg and we’re told that it was the…
I want to begin this morning by giving you a pop quiz. I’m going to give you an advertising slogan and I want you tell me what the product is. “Snap! Crackle! Pop!” (Rice Krispies). “The Quicker Picker-Upper” (Bounty). “Just Do It” (Nike). “Melts in Your Mouth, Not in your Hand” (M&M’s). “Plop, Plop, Fizz,…
Sueanne and I were thinking recently about some of the safety features that cars have today that we didn’t have when we were growing up – air bags, antilock brakes, backup camera system, seat belts (well, we had seat belts back then but nobody used them). And I think you would all agree that safety…
In astronomy, every now and then, there will be some unusual event that really captures people’s attention. For example, Haley’s Comet comes around every 75 years or so and it always gets people excited. Every couple of years, there will be a lunar eclipse. But probably the most spectacular astronomical event is a solar…
Does anybody here remember when tents were simple? There was a time when, if you wanted to go camping and you went to the store to buy a tent, they only came in one style: a simple two-man pup tent – two poles, some canvas, and a few pegs for the ropes. But that is…
Most of us are familiar with Albert Einstein. We know him as this brilliant professor, head covered with white hair, writing E=MC2 on the blackboard. We regard Albert Einstein as a great genius. But there is another side to Einstein that you may not be as familiar with. Before he achieved a place of honor and…
This morning we continue in our study of the gospel of Mark, and if you’d like to follow along in your Bibles, we’ll be in Mark chapter 4. The story of Jack and the Beanstalk has been a children’s favorite for many years. And you know how the story goes. Jack and his mother were…
I’m sure you’ve all heard the story about the blind men and an elephant. In this story, none of these men knew what an elephant was, because they had never seen one. And so, one by one, each man was led into a room, asked to find the elephant, and was told to describe the…
As we continue in our study of the gospel of Mark, I want to talk with you this morning about a movement that began a number of years ago. This movement became necessary because, despite the fact that God has set forth certain guidelines in his word, over the years, people became unfaithful and weren’t…