On August 6, 2017, I preached my final sermon at Immanuel Baptist Church as pastor. Lord willing, I hope that it is not my final sermon, or even my final sermon at Immanuel, but it is my final one as pastor.

As I considered what I should say in my final address, I concluded that the best thing I could do was "keep moving foward" in my Essential 100 series, and as God would have it in His good

Audio 

Over the last thirty years or so, the world of banking has

changed tremendously. I can remember when the use of ATM machines became

prominent. No longer did you have to go the branch during business hours and

deal with a teller to make your transaction. You could make transactions 24

hours a day, and many times somewhere other than at the bank. Then we started

using debit cards

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Why are you here? I suppose that there are a variety of

reasons that people come to church on Sunday morning, so what is your reason?

Have you come out of a sense of duty or tradition? Have you come to socialize

with your friends? Have you come because you had nothing better to do? Or have

you come because you realize that man does not live by bread alone, but by

every word that

Audio  Some years ago, I struck up a conversation with the gentleman seated beside of me in the lab where I was having some blood-work done. It was just the kind of small-talk that one does to break the tension of an awkward moment, nothing serious or substantial. We exchanged words about the weather, about the news, whatever, as the nurses prepared their materials to begin drawing blood.

Audio For many of you, maybe for most, as you were growing up, when you heard the word “God,” you knew exactly what that word – that name – meant. In the American South, until the later part of the 20th Century, as in many Christianized societies, the name “God” only and always represented the all-powerful deity who speaks and acts in the pages of the Bible. In fact, even when I was an atheist

Audio  If this were a creative writing class, and I were to ask you to write the most ludicrous news headline you could imagine, what would you write? If I were to let my imagination run completely wild and come up with the strangest possible notion, it would pale in comparison to this actual headline which I read a few weeks ago: “Lesbian bishop in Sweden calls for church to remove crosses

Audio “Preach to hurting people, and you will never lack an audience.” That is what one of my preaching professors told me over twenty years ago. As a young man barely over 21, relatively new in the Christian faith, I didn’t know much about the Bible or much about life. So, it sounded to me like bad advice – I mean who would want to hear messages about comfort and overcoming suffering all the

Audio  Some of us, myself included, grew up as part of the MTV generation. If you did, not only will these words be familiar to you, but you will also be able to envision a very specific visual in your mind as I read these words: And you may find yourself Living in a shotgun shack And you may find yourself In another part of the world And you may find yourself Behind the wheel of a large

Audio Surveys are often conducted about the things we fear in life. Invariably, and understandably, the fear of death and dying ranks high on the list. If it were possible to broaden the research out to cover the entirety of human history, based solely on anecdotal and literary evidence, it seems that this has been the most fearful thing for people, regardless of the place or time in which

Audio Twenty years is a long time. And that is approximately how many years had passed since Joseph and his brothers last saw each other. You recall the details of that encounter. Joseph had been sent by his father to check up on his brothers, who were supposed to be shepherding their flocks their flocks in Shechem, but had wandered off to Dothan (37:12-17). When they saw Joseph coming from