By Clay Hallmark
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington

Focal Passage: John 11:25-27; 20:24-29

John Paton is not a name that we hear very often when we think of great missionaries. Paton served for 10 years as pastor of a growing Scottish congregation, but God burdened his heart for the New Hebrides, a group of Pacific Islands inhabited by unreached people. Moreover, the inhabitants were cannibals.

Paton set his heart on one particular island. Twenty years earlier, a missionary couple had gone to that island. They were killed and cannibalized, so it was no surprise that many people attempted to dissuade Paton from going to that particular island. [Read more…]

By Clay Hallmark
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington

Focal Passage: Matthew 12:22-32

It has jokingly been said that there are three types of people in this world: Those who can do math and those who can’t. 

What about the math of sin? How many sins is too many? How many can you commit before forgiveness doesn’t apply to you? Can you count one sin as larger and worse than another sin?  [Read more…]

By Clay Hallmark
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington

Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 11:7-10; 12:12-14

There was once an elderly gentleman who loved playing golf. But he was almost 80, and his vision was not very good anymore. He always had partners with him when he went out to play so they could watch his ball and tell him where it went.

One day his buddies did not show up. It was a beautiful day for golf, and as he waited at the clubhouse, he got more and more upset that he wasn’t going to get to play his round. Another elderly man in the clubhouse saw him and asked, “What’s wrong?” The man explained his predicament: “I was really looking forward to playing golf today. But I don’t see very well anymore, so I need someone to watch the ball after I hit.” [Read more…]

By Clay Hallmark
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington

Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 5:10-20

Jean Paul Getty was born in Minneapolis in 1892. He was educated in California and attended Oxford University. He became an independent oil producer in 1914 and held presidential and directorial positions with several oil companies during the 1930’s.  [Read more…]

Clay Hallmark
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington

Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:18-23; 3:9-13

Somebody has well said that there are only two kinds of people in the world — there are those who wake up in the morning and say, “Good morning, Lord, it is time to go to work” and there are those who wake up in the morning and say, “Good Lord, it’s morning and time to go to work.” [Read more…]

By Clay Hallmark
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington Focal 

Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:12-17; 7:23-29

In the movie “Forrest Gump,” the main character sat on a bench and said, “Mama always said, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.’ ” When we read Ecclesiastes 2 and 7, it appears that Solomon had a similar outlook on life. [Read more…]

By Clay Hallmark
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington

Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

A disciple of a great Rabbi asked, “Rabbi, I mean no disrespect, but why is it that each time I pose a question, you respond with a question.” The Rabbi asked, “Is it wrong for Rabbi to answer his disciple with a question?”

Life is filled with questions. In 1991 James Peterson and Peter Kim wrote a book entitled The Day America Told The Truth. In the book 2,000 people were asked, “What would you be willing to do for 10 million dollars?” The results were shocking: [Read more…]

By Clay Hallmark
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington

Focal Passage: Ecclesiastes 1:1-14

An 8-year-old boy came to his mother and asked, “Where did I come from?” The mother took a deep breath but was determined to answer it truthfully. So, she started explaining “the birds and the bees” in explicit detail. About 20 minutes later, her horrified little boy interrupted her and said, “But mommy, where did I come from? My friend Jimmy said he came from Memphis.”

Where did I come from? Why am I here? Does my life have a purpose? These were the questions in the mind of Solomon and is a question that is in the minds of people all around us today. [Read more…]

By Greg Steele
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Jasper

Focal Passage: I John 2:18-29

Building off of what we talked about last week. John has been teaching “his children” how to tell truth from a lie and how to tell if  a person is really a Christian or not. It doesn’t depend on just what a person says, but also what they do.

He begins by saying, “it is in the last hour.” This message was delivered over 2,000 years ago. How do we know it’s the “last hour?” According to the text many antichrists have come. Antichrists are the enemies of the Messiah.

Antichrists are both in a sense the “opposite” of Jesus Christ, and someone who comes “in the place of” Jesus Christ. They come trying to take His place in our lives. This is where we find ourselves today. There are many “antichrists,” many who are opposed to Jesus, many who would try to take His place. [Read more…]

By Greg Steele
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Jasper

Focal Passage: 1 John 2:12-17; 3:16-18

Billy Sunday, the once professional baseball player turned evangelist, once said, “To talk about a worldly Christian makes about as much sense as talking about a heavenly devil.”

We live in a world where there are many people referred to as worldly Christians that have never become Christians at all.

I think there are some people whose lives are so different to the Christian faith that though they may claim to be a Christian, the fact of the matter is they have never really experienced the love and grace of Christ.  [Read more…]