Messages by Brent Clark (Page 29)
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…
Faithful: Revealed Faith
Sermon Podcast Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Faith Themes in Second Timothy Today we are wrapping up a series called “Faithful.” We have looked at each of the major themes in a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to his protégé, Timothy. This is Second Timothy in our Bibles. Paul penned this letter while he was in prison. It is the last preserved correspondence we have between Paul and Timothy. In the letter, Paul wants to guide Timothy…
Faithful: Enduring Faith
Commitment One of thehardest things for me as a parent is getting my kids to followthrough with the commitments they’vemade, and even more so on the commitments I have made for them. Maybe you’ve experienced this as well. Your child says they wantto play a sport or do some activity, but after abouttwo days or weeks into it, after a few practices, or after having to get upearly one time for it, they decide they don’t wantto do it anymore.…
Faithful: Persuasive Faith
Sermon Podcast Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Jury Duty Several years ago in Arkansas, I received the dreaded letter in the mail from the county courthouse informing me that I had been given a very special honor. I had been selected for jury duty. What I loved about the letter was that it didn’t really ask if I wanted to be on jury duty; it just said I was. Congratulations. During my “sentence,” I was fortunate enough…