Sermon Series (Page 3)

At our Tuesday evening prayer meeting this week, Rik Budd was our leader, and he asked that we focus our attention and prayers to the CIC week (Community Impact Celebration) at LifeWay. And as he began our prayer time, he read from Acts 20:24 which is a strong testimony from the Apostle Paul as he was accounting for the purpose of his life. Acts 20:24  “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the…

If we are forced about the battle of good and evil, some of us would first consider the original movie Star Wars. The cosmic battle of good and evil is the centerpiece of this blockbuster movie series. The “good guys” (Luke Skywalker and Princes Leia) versus the really – really – really bad (evil) guys Emperor Palpatine. But in between them is the conflicted character that was good, then turned to the dark side, before FINALLY at the last minute…

Hello Lifeway! Thank you for having me this coming Sunday, I’m looking forward to being together again! We’ll be continuing your current series in Romans. For those who like to prepare, we’ll be looking at chapter 7 verses 14-25. In this passage the apostle Paul addresses that age old question many of us have yelled in traffic, “what the heck is wrong with these people?!” No, he wasn’t really addressing traffic, but something of much greater significance; the nature of…

One of the challenges of jumping into a sermon series is trying to figure out how to address everything that I want to address within a given passage because of the richness and depth of God’s word. There is a part of me that wants to spend a few weeks on only a few verses diving deep into scripture. But unfortunately, that is not an option in this season for this passage. But with such complex passages as Romans 6:15-23…

There are different shapes that biblical sermons can take. The late great Haddon Robinson, who was a professor on preaching, talked about this in his book, Biblical Preaching. Among other shapes, Robinson talked about a sermon being a proposition to be proved, a principle to be applied, or an idea to be explained. It is that last shape that I believe Paul is utilizing in this section of the letter to the church in Rome. Though perhaps he wouldn’t have…

In the world of literature and writing, one of the ‘hooks’ that is often used in the opening line of a story or in the title of the book is a question.  In the famous children’s story book “Charlottes Web,” the opening line is… “Where is papa going with that ax?” (as the spider is saving the life of the pig friend). I  drove by a church property this week and on the reader board out front was a sermon…

I don’t know if this is a badge of honor or a mark of shame or somewhere in between, but many years ago I began doing garage sales shopping with my wife. At the beginning I tolerated it, and as time went on I really got into it. The reason is because I really found some amazing bargains for some things that I really needed and wanted. I’m not much of a general shopper but I really got into the…

Shame:  Was there a time in your life as a child that a parent said to you… “You should be ashamed of yourself! That is just NOT the way we behave!” Think back on that time and see if you can remember what it was that you should have been so ashamed of. We not only have had that said of ourselves, but we likely have said that statement to someone else. Shame is a part of our life’s history.…

Hello, all. My name is Andrew Stubblefield, and I have the honor of preaching at LifeWay this Sunday.  I’m sure some of you might be thinking, “Wait, that Andrew Stubblefield?”  Yes, this Andrew Stubblefield!  Pastor Billy reached out to me in August asking if I would like to preach, but after prayerful consideration, I realized that I didn’t have time to properly prepare given how busy my life was at the time.  So when work slowed down in November, I…

I am likely much like many of you in that I enjoy a few of the traditional American Christmas movies. I am NOT a Hallmark Christmas movie fan (they are all the same to me) but I love some of the comedy that comes with a few of the movies. Most of them end up with something about Christmas cheer – good tidings – positive thinking – and making good family memories. There is nothing wrong per se with any…

Behold the Lamb of God! For 20 years our church presented the outdoor walk through event called “The Living Nativity Tour.” It was a reenactment of the birth of Jesus story complete with angels, wise men, shepherds, sheep, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. We saw thousands of people come through those tours over those years (20 years of doing it, and about 450 performances! That’s lots of walk around our property in the cold of December!). At the end…

We’re throwing a party for our neighborhood!This coming Sunday afternoon we are hosting our Christmas Fest party that is geared heavily to children and their families. Let me make sure that we all understand why this event is so important to us. For many of us if you don’t have kids you may think that this is not for you. This is far from the truth.As we have discovered in recent years it is more and more difficult to open…

Recently I got into a conversation with a teenage relative of mine about their name. We all call him Jack – and that’s the name he goes by – but his first name is really John. That led to a discussion about how that at his birth his parents named him John, but immediately they began to call him Jack. Why? That led to a little historical review and another famous person in history, President John F. Kenedy, wasactually called…

Peace with God As I write this article to you I am sitting on the deck of a very peaceful place… floating along the Mississippi River in one of those river cruise boats. Why am I here?  I didn’t come here in order to write this article. Quite sometime ago my mother-in-law wanted to go on a trip with her children and their spouses, of which I am one of those who got to be included! So we are enjoying…

A Worship Service of Giving Thanks!  This coming Sunday morning, November 19, we are dedicating our worship service to celebrate Thanksgiving. We will NOT have Turkey and dressing (you can do that this week with your family and friends) but we will take the time to learn what it means to when the Bible says… “Give Thanks…” and then we will practice it. So here is your assignment as you prepare for worship this Sunday morning… Before you come Sunday…

There may not be a more significant word other than the word, “Faith” in Christianity. Our parents taught us about faith in our homes. We heard the children’s Sunday school teacher repeat it Sunday after Sunday. Then, as adults, we heard even more about God’s righteousness that comes through faith. It is not our works that brings righteousness. It is our faith. And this is why it is surprising to me what happened to the Jewish Christians in the days…

Most of us when we hear this question immediately identify the commercial on TV, the main actor who is featured, and the product being pitched. Being able to identify the product being advertised makes a really quality commercial. The actor: Samuel L Jackson. The product: Capital One credit! See… they are even getting some free air time from us in this newsletter! But let’s think about that phrase… “what’s in your wallet?”  It implies so many things that tug at…

Crossing the Continental Divide In North and South America our combined continents are divided east and west — and this line is of greater significance than any divide that might show us north and south. All water that east of the continental divide flows essentially into the Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Mexico and its direct connection to the Atlantic). All water that hits west of this divide flows into the Pacific Ocean. When I was a kid our grandparents took…

Seems like a regularly get either an email or a brochure in the mail about a cruise to some wonderful destination. Many of you have been on cruises before – but oddly, with all my travels, I never have been at least to this point in my life. But either way, I enjoy looking and dreaming when looking through those brochures. There are a couple of cruises that especially intrigue me. One of them is one that leaves western Europe…

I do enjoy a good movie, and one came out in 2020 staring Tom Hanks (a great actor) that was called “News of the World.” Set in that late 1800’s post Civil War Texas, the main character would travel around to small villages in the frontier of Texas and read newspapers to people. Even though these farmers and ranchers in the tough frontier land of Texas were not able to go anywhere outside their own county, they could feel attached…

In and around the years 2008 to 2010 here at LifeWay Church, they were tough years here, and we began wrestling with how to follow God’s lead to make a difference in the world. The leadership of this congregation were deeply moved and began to take distinctive steps to leading our church in very specific ways into how to take on the responsibility of making footprints for the gospel in specific places in the world that He has guided us…

Welcome to GIC season! LifeWay’s annual Global Impact Celebration will take place Wednesday, October 18- Sunday, October 22. We hope that you will prepare your calendar (ie, clear it!!) so that you can get the most out of this awesome time. But we also want you to prepare your heart and mind so that God can speak to you during that time. On Sunday, you will receive booklets with lots of information about the GIC, but also information about how…

Have you ever had an autopsy performed on yourself? Silly question… of course not! If  you are reading this article then you are still around, still alive, and haven’t needed an autopsy.  We have to first die before an autopsy, right? An autopsy is something we perform on the dead to try to figure out what happened to them. Why did they die? We often learn from autopsy’s how to help others who suffer from the same disease. This is…

We all have a mirror but we may not all have a telescope. But we certainly know the difference between them. We use a mirror when we want to get dressed and make sure that everything is in its proper place. We use a mirror when we really want to take a closer look at ourselves – our face, our hair, or any blemishes we might want to find on ourselves. A telescope of course is useless to us if…

It’s the Gospel Truth!! This might be an expression that you are familiar with. Have you ever heard it used? Have you ever used it yourself? If we follow its original intent, it implies that I am telling you something that is so true and so correct, that it is backed up by the absolute truthfulness of the gospel itself. It implies that the gospel is absolutely true, so now my story is just as true as the gospel. There…