Messages by Brent Clark (Page 26)
MentalFit
Sermon Podcast Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Introduction Since the beginning of the new year, we have been talking about something that is usually on everyone’s mind when a new year begins — how to get fit. We have talked about the obvious things, the things people aren’t usually afraid to talk about, some that often we even joke about. We began with discussing how to become BodyFit. The important part isn’t the number on the scale or…
RelationFit
Sermon Podcast Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Introduction We are in a series we call “GetFit – Being Whole and Holy in the New Year.” Statistics show that after the first week, already 25% of you would have given up or failed. So, way to go, quitters! Just kidding. Even though many of us, me included, are not resolution makers, for many of us, the new year represents a fresh start, a chance to start over, to…
A Picture Perfect Christmas: The Message of the Angels
Sermon Podcast Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. The Picture It’s Christmastime, so each Sunday we are talking about the birth of Jesus. We are currently in a series called “A Picture Perfect Christmas.” Each week we are taking a look at the scene that occurred a couple of thousand years ago and asking what the significance is of this part of the nativity. We began by looking at the shepherds. We saw how the announcement to…
A Picture Perfect Christmas: The Magi
Sermon Podcast Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. The Picture Last week we began our Christmas series and we are calling it “A Picture Perfect Christmas.” We are looking at the original Christmas scene—the nativity and those people or images that we normally associate with that one night in Bethlehem so long ago. When we think of a picture perfect Christmas, we think of things like a Norman Rockwell painting, or we might even envision perfect family photos. We…
The Right Kind of Rich
Introduction It is Thanksgiving week and I hope that your plans are all made and that you’ve already begun to think about what you are thankful for this year. We can easily forget that most countries around the world don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. I think it is probably one of the best holidays we have, not just because of the food, although I am a BIG fan of that. I was talking to my daughter Hannah, who is currently serving as…
Thanksgiving 2015: Our Imperatives
November is Special For us as a church, this month is special. Forty four years ago, November 21, 1971, the first worship service for what is now Ashworth Road Baptist Church was held. A lot has changed over the years, but the original mission that set this church on our current path is still the same: to be a church that reaches out to people in our community with the message of Jesus, to show our community Jesus and his love,…
Racial Reconciliation
Introduction Last year, the pastoral team and I went away to plan our preaching calendar for this year. One of the topics we thought we should cover was the issue of racial reconciliation.A couple of months before our meeting, we had seen the reporting of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Images flashed across the television of the response of the people in the community and in the nation. We knew this would be an important topic to…
Can’t We All Just Get Along: Racial Reconciliation
Introduction Last year, the pastoral team and I went away to plan our preaching calendar for this year. One of the topics we thought we should cover was the issue of racial reconciliation. A couple of months before our meeting, we had seen the reporting of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Images flashed across the television of the response of the people in the community and in the nation. We knew this would be an important topic…
The Big Story of God: The Savior
Introduction Have you ever been given a task to plan or a project to oversee only to have your best laid plans go horribly awry? In my previous life, when I was in banking, I had the job of overseeing bank operations. One of the tasks I was charged with was new projects. Back in 2005, our small community bank decided it was time to enter the 21st century and that we would pursue document imaging for all of our…
The Big Story of God: The Law
Introduction This entry is part of a series called, “The Big Story of God.” We are looking at the overarching theme or narrative running in the Bible from the start to the very end. In previous entries, we saw a personal God that creates everything and desires his creation (you and me) to know him. We saw that humanity disobeyed him, destroying our relationship with him, and allowing sin to enter the world. Even then, God’s desire for his creation to…
The Big Story of God: The Fall
From Good to Fallen Earlier, we began a series called, “The Big Story of God.” We started at the beginning of the story. Our story doesn’t begin with “Once upon a time.” It begins with, “In the beginning God created…” As we started looking at the story, we saw from this passage that the most important take-away from the creation story wasn’t the “how” or the “when” of creation, but the “who” and the “why.” We saw that the “who”…
The Big Story of God: Creation
Once Upon a Time “Once upon a time…” These four words bring back good memories for many of us. Perhaps it is the memory of a mom or dad sitting beside you after they tucked you into bed and began to read you a familiar story before you nodded off to sleep, or possibly it is the memory of you saying these words to your own children. These words were just the beginning, introducing a tale sure to capture the…