By Ray Luck
Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens

Focal Passage: Matthew 6:5-18

If we are ever going to know God then we must pray. It is through prayer that we are able to hear His heart speaking to our heart. In Matthew 6 Jesus challenged the people and religious leaders in regard to the following; their giving and fasting practices and why they fasted, where their treasure is, their lifestyle, and what was first place in their life. In the middle of this discourse He places before us a real challenge in regard to our prayer life. He pointed out that the length of our prayers is not what is important to God, but the quality and humility of the prayer. In Psalm 51:15-17 David talks about the kind of sacrifice God accepts, a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. This refers to a spirit that is broken down with sorrow over sin, is humbly, sincerely, and thoroughly repentant before God. As we look at this passage we see that Jesus is admonishing us about how not to pray and then tells us how to pray. In verses 5-8 Jesus follows up verses 1-4 which talks about our attitude in giving with words on how not to pray. [Read more…]

By Ray Luck
Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens

Focal Passage: Matthew 5:1-16

Evangelist Jay Strack tells a story about Chippy the smart mouthed Parakeet who was always an embarrassment to his owner. One day Chippy was accidentally sucked into a Wet-Dri Vac. His owner retrieved Chippy, washed him up, blow dried him and sat him back on his perch. A friend came over and noticed that Chippy was unusually quiet and asked why, to which the owner replied that he had been sucked in, washed up and blown away. At times we all feel that the world has sucked us into its worldly ways, washed us up in its backsplash, and blown us away by a whirlwind of activities. How then do we cope? In the sermon on the Mount Jesus taught us God’s standards and if we follow them we will be able to stand strong against the ways of the world. Professional tennis player Andre Aggassi once said, “Image is everything.” But Jesus said, “Godliness is everything.” In Philippians 2:5 Paul said, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Therefore, to be able to have a godly attitude that characterizes our life we must continually focus on the “Mind of Christ in us.” [Read more…]

By Ray Luck
Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens

Focal Passage: Matthew 4:1-10

Temptation is a word that often causes us to shiver because of the connotation attached to it. John McArthur in his New Testament Commentary on I Corinthians says this about the word “temptation” found in I Corinthians 10:13. The basic meaning in Greek is simply to test or prove, and has no negative connotation. Whether it becomes a proof of righteousness or an inducement to evil depends on our response. If we resist it in God’s power, it is a test that proves our faithfulness. If we do not resist, it becomes a solicitation to sin. The Bible uses the term in both ways, and I believe that Paul has both meanings in mind here.” I Corinthians 10:13 is an interesting passage that is often sorely abused and misquoted. Many times the emphasis is wrongly placed, “…but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able… .” Most people have come to think that we are able to withstand any temptation knowing that God knows our limits and He will step in when things get to be too much for us to handle and will bail us out. But what that phrase means is that as Christians we are to constantly seek God through prayer, trust God in all things, and keep our eyes on Jesus. What this does is take the focus off us and puts it where it should be — on Jesus. When that is the case in our lives then we will discover that we can endure far more than we ever thought we could because our focus is in the right place, on Jesus. [Read more…]

By Michael Crandall
Senior Pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Dyersburg

Focal Passage: Ephesians 3:14-21

What is strength? How can we measure strength? What does strength look like? These are all questions that a person could ask. And on the surface these are questions that have simple answers. From a purely secular point of view, strength could be defined as the state of being strong. And if we look at it from that point then we measure strength by how much a person can lift or by how far they run without stopping. Is strength that person we meet in the gym that looks like they should be on the cover of a health and fitness magazine?
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By Ray Luck
Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens

Focal Passage: Matthew 2:1-12

There is a song that is nearly always sung at Christmas time titled “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” The song assumes three kings based on the Scriptural fact that three gifts were presented to the baby Jesus (gold — royalty; frankincense — priestly role, and myrrh — a burial ointment). A pastor friend of mine, Bill Vest, preaches a sermon in which he states that there was most likely a whole entourage of Magi and servants that could have numbered a thousand or more. He also said that these Magi could have been part of the group that had been tutored by Daniel. If that were the case then they most likely were constantly scanning the skies looking for that special star that would guide them to the one born King of the Jews. These men were also known throughout the Middle East as king makers. Thus when they came to Herod great fear came over him and all of Jerusalem, because he would do anything to keep his throne. [Read more…]

By Ray Luck
Pastor, Oak Grove Baptist Church, Athens

Focal Passage: Matthew 1:18-25

If you watch television any at all you most likely have seen the commercial advertising ancestry.com. The company specializes in helping people trace their ancestors in order to discover their roots. The gospel according to Matthew leaves no doubt as to the earthly lineage of Jesus Christ. He begins in chapter 1, verse 1 with these words, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Then beginning with Abraham he begins to trace Jesus’ lineage all the way to Joseph the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus. There was a total of 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus.

Following the genealogy listing in verses 1-17 Matthew then proceeds to tell how Jesus’ birth was announced to Mary and Joseph followed by a brief word about His birth in verse 25. Luke is the gospel writer who goes into the most detail about Jesus’ birth and the events surrounding it. Luke 1:26 reads, “Now the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.” [Read more…]