Richmond's First Baptist Church

Jim Somerville: "Is it just me, or does it seem that things have been shifting in this country? That we've moved from the cultural accommodation of Christianity during the churchgoing boom, to a kind of cultural indifference to Christianity in the past few decades, and now, more and more, to a cultural opposition to it? There are people who seem to think that Christians, and Christianity, are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Some people seem to think the country would be better off without us..."

The sixth in Dr. Jim Somerville's Lenten sermon series, "Everything Must Change", from Palm Sunday, April 9, 2017.

Jim Somerville: "What will the spiritual body look like? I don't know. But I like to think it will look enough like us that people will be able to recognize us. That it will look like us when we were young and strong and really did believe that we just might live forever. Is that wishful thinking? I don't think so..."

The sixth in Dr. Jim Somerville's Journey to the Cross series, "No One Stays the Same", from Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

Jim Somerville: "I don't know about you. I don't know what you're feeling hopeless about, but there are probably many different kinds of hopelessness in this room. There is probably something you have given up on completely. You know what it is. And when the word of the Lord comes to you and asks, 'Can these bones live?' your first thought might be, 'No. They can't. I've been trying to resurrect those bones for years. Nothing works...'"

The fifth in Dr. Jim Somerville's Lenten sermon series, "Everything Must Change", from Sunday, April 2, 2017.

Dr. Jim Somerville's "Talkback" from Sunday, April 2, 2017. Topics include how to handle political and theological differences, and what the pastor has learned from the 2017 Talkback Tour (so far).

Jim Somerville: "Once we put the ego to death in the waters of baptism, once we nail it to the cross by considering ourselves dead, God can raise up something wonderful and new from the remains. ... Is it possible that you have never been dead enough to be resurrected?"

The fifth in Dr. Jim Somerville's Journey to the Cross series, "No One Stays the Same", from Wednesday, March 29, 2017.

Dr. Jim Somerville's "Talkback" from Sunday, March 26, 2017. In this visit with the church youth group, questions include: "What problems did you have as a youth?" "How do you know what to write about in your sermons?" "What is your opinion on homosexuality?" "What was your biggest mistake?" and "What's your weapon of choice in a zombie apocalypse?"

Jim Somerville: "God had other plans for Israel. God had David. That's a good thing to remember when you're in a place where you don't think things will ever get better, when all you can do is sit in a corner and sigh about how life used to be when you were younger, or stronger, or had more money, or had more friends, or had that job you loved, or had that person you loved..."

The fourth in Dr. Jim Somerville's Lenten sermon series, "Everything Must Change", from Sunday, March 26, 2017.

Jim Somerville: "If we want this new life, we have to go through death. Something in us has to die before something else can rise. How do we do that? How do we crucify the ego?"

The fourth in Dr. Jim Somerville's Journey to the Cross series, "No One Stays the Same", from Wednesday, March 22, 2017.

Jim Somerville: "When life is hard, when the future is uncertain, when it seems that the world itself has been turned upside down... is the Lord among us or not?"

The third in Dr. Jim Somerville's Lenten sermon series, "Everything Must Change", from Sunday, March 19, 2017.

Jim Somerville's "Talkback" from Sunday, March 19, 2017. Topics include the reviews of the film THE SHACK, whether God is male or female, the Holy Trinity, miracles in the Bible, and the beauty of the Old Testament.