Sermons

I preached my first “real” sermon at Leighton Baptist Church—in the fall of 1975. I was a junior at the University of North Alabama at the time and was on staff at Leighton. I was the “Associate Pastor in Charge of Music and Youth” — longest job title I’ve ever had. When people asked what […]

I remember my baptism. I was seven years old and the church my father was pastoring at the time was in Seaford, Delaware. It was a church plant—a new church start so we didn’t have a church building and met in the basement of a Walgreens Drug Store. Of course this meant we didn’t have […]

As I told you a while back, those two weeks last fall when we literally walked in Jesus’ steps during our visit to Israel…made me feel led to do a sermon series on the life of Christ. This morning we’re continuing that series. We started it with a four week study of Jesus’ birth during […]

  17 – Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, Who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  18 – Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous […]

  Matthew 1:18 – This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child, through the Holy Spirit. 19 – Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yetdid not […]

  Acts 2:42 – They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 – Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 – All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 – They sold property and […]

    John 10:10b – “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”   When I was a senior in High School I remember being fascinated with the Greek Mythology unit in my English class because it was full of very entertaining stories. Our text was Edith Hamilton’s book, […]

  1 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 – He was with God in the beginning. 3 – Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. 4 – In Him was life, and that life was the light of […]

If you’re our guest I need to let you know something that everyone else here PROBABLY knows: I just returned from a two-month Sabbatical. Redland is a church that loves its pastoral staff so much that every five years it gives them a two-month break for study and personal renewal. This was my second sabbatical and I […]

As a young baseball fan, I remember that Nolan Ryan was one of my favorite pitchers.  I am not the only one who held that opinion, because Nolan Ryan is one of the greatest pitchers baseball has ever seen.  He said to have thrown the fastest pitch ever clocked: 108.1 MPH! [1]  Ryan’s prowess on […]