By Sam Greer
Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga

Focal Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

What is love? How might love be defined in our world today? According to Neil Genzlinger, there are over 10,000 songs on file at the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C., that begin with the words “Love is ….” Some of those songs, which attempt to define love, are as follows: “Love is Like a Dizziness,” “Love is Like a Shoogy Shoo,” “Love is Like the Influenza,” “Love is a Sickness Full of Woes,” Love is a Traitor,” “Love is Doggone Mean,” “Love is Good for Anything that Ails You,” “Love is for Suckers,” and “Love is a Losing Game.” From the world’s perspective love is often connected with that which is erotic or romantic. [Read more…]

By Sam Greer Senior
Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga

Focal Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:4-12, 21-26

The three smallest bones in the human body are found in the middle ear ossicles, more commonly known as the hammer, anvil and stirrup. Although these bones work in obscurity, totally invisible to the outside world, they are essential to our ability to hear. [Read more…]

By Sam Greer Senior Pastor
Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga

Focal Passage: I Corinthians 11:17-29

Anytime death invades our lives we respond in different ways. When a loved one dies some lash out in anger, or fall into depression, or retreat into isolation, while others grieve in a host of other ways. [Read more…]

By Sam Greer
Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga

Focal Passage: 1 Corinthians 9:19-27; 10:31-33; 11:1

One hot and humid Mississippi day, I was jogging on a neighborhood street. The last leg of the run was uphill. About half-way up the hill, I noticed an SUV coming down the hill. While panting for air and pouring sweat, I realized the vehicle was drawing closer to me. The window rolled down and an arm extended out with a cold, refreshing soft drink in hand. I grabbed the soft drink and said “thank you!” At that moment, I heard the lady in the front seat of the SUV scream, “Wait, stop!” I stopped. The SUV stopped. The lady who handed me the drink said, “Could you open this bottle for me?” As they pulled away, the lady in the front seat laughingly said, “He thought that drink was for him.” [Read more…]

By Sam Greer
Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga

Focal Passage: I Corinthians 7:1-13

Marriage is work, but the way God designed it, it works! In our social media saturated culture, the work of marriage continues to get tougher. In a recent issue of Computers and Human Behavior, the authors noted that those who didn’t use social media sites at all reported being 11.4 percent  happier with their marriage than heavy social media users. And heavy social media users were 32 percent  more likely to think about leaving their spouse, compared with 16 percent for a nonuser. Very few, if any, would argue that marriage is indeed work, but there may be some, if not many, who might question whether or not marriage works. How can we know that marriage, the way God designed it, works?  [Read more…]

By Sam Greer
Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga

Focal Passage: I Corinthians 6:12-20

According to dailywire.com, in 2016, Americans dedicated well over four and a half billion hours to watching porn on one porn site. The site had over 90 billion video views and 44,000 visitors every minute of every day. It all adds up to over 500 thousand years worth of porn consumed in the span of 12 months. Since 2015, human beings have spent one million years watching porn. The porn industry grosses more in a year than Hollywood and the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. Has porn become America’s favorite pastime? [Read more…]

By Sam Greer
Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga

Focal Passage: 1 Corinthians 1:10-25

Every four years the Winter Olympics are headline news. The 2018 Olympic games in Pyongyang were no different. One of the most fascinating stories from the 2018 Olympics regarded the nation of Korea. The sister of North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un attended the 2018 Olympics, as she was the first North Korean Dynasty member to visit South Korea since the Korean War. What is more, she called for the “unification” of North and South Korea. Is the spirit of the Olympic games enough to unify a divided nation?

In I Corinthians 1:10-25, Paul was dealing with divisions in the local church at Corinth. Yes, even churches in the first century were dealing with divisions. Paul argues that the church is only united in Christ alone. Furthermore, Paul reminded these believers that he came to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to promote divisions. The purpose of this commentary is to unpack I Corinthians 1:10-25. [Read more…]