Sermons

According to Luke: A Place For You Opening Illustration: It is hard to imagine there has ever been a time when my wife and I were not either married or dating. We met at a very young age and we dated nearly 6 years before we were married. Looking back on those dating years, I can remember some highs and lows. Some bumps and bruises. Some good times and hard times. Such is the nature of dating. During my Freshman year at Samford University, Angela and I took a short break. She was a senior in high school and I was enjoying my first year of college and the separation caused some strain in our relationship. So, we did as teenagers do and broke up. I can remember one Friday night when I was feeling a bit down in the dumps that a buddy of mine invited me to go out with he and his then girlfriend. Well, I didn’t want to sit in my dorm room by myself so I went along. It was just the three of us. Him. His girlfriend. Me. They held hands at dinner. We went to a movie and because we...

According To Luke: Messy Grace Opening Illustration: It was nearly 3 years ago that Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina experienced a horrific scene. A gunman entered their prayer meeting packed with parishioners and opened fire. He killed dozens of people. On June 21st, 2015, a Sunday after the gunman opened fire, Reverend Norvel Goff said these words, where only half a week before such great evil had descended upon his church that nine had been killed during Bible study by racial hatred and evil. As he spoke in the first sermon after the massacre, he said this: "We ask questions, Lord; we ask 'Why?' We cannot help it. It's our human nature. But through it all, those of us who know Jesus, as we find ourselves engulfed in sadness and darkness, and as we find ourselves walking through the shadow of the valley of death, for those of us who know Jesus, we can look through the windows of our faith and we see hope and we see light, and we hear your vo...

Our Reminder  Friends this morning I am going to share with you some exciting news. Today I am going to relay to you the state of the church. Maybe you are wondering what exactly is a state of the church address. The other day I went to the doctor. It was a routine checkup. She looked in my ears, throat, and she listed to my heartbeat. While I was there they weighed me and took my blood pressure. Overall it was a good visit. She told me that for the most part things were pretty good. However, there were a few places that I needed to work on. Opportunities to improve if you will. That was a “State of Stuart Address” if you will. Well, the state of the church is just that. It is a spiritual checkup. I asked some of the same questions that a doctor might ask. How are you feeling? What hurts? Can I listen to your heart beat? Do you need some new medicine?  So, before we begin our spiritual check up of the church, lets discover who or what the church is.  When m...