Chronicles of the Sermonator

God’s Blessings

pastorgarycarroll — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:40:58 +0000

I’m sitting here in my office (which is nothing new) finishing up Sunday’s sermons, and was just thinking about the goodness of God. Have you thought much about how good God is? We deserve nothing good from Him – only justice and judgment – but yet, in His great grace and mercy, He has poured out all kinds of blessings that we absolutely do not deserve.
• He’s blessed me with a wonderful, godly wife.
• He’s blessed me with four fantastic daughters, and all of them love the Lord.
• He’s blessed me with a great church family – such wonderful and patient people.
• He’s blessed me with so many other great friends and mentors in ministry.
• He’s blessed me with technology – a computer that has all the resources I need to study God’s Word and prepare to teach God’s people.
And this list can go on and on.

I’m becoming more and more aware that I’m not worthy of any of these blessings, but I’m so thankful for them. Have you thought much lately about God’s blessings in your life? What, you don’t think you’ve been blessed all that much? How about that next breath you take – that’s a blessing from God. Start there and just keep on counting!

Well…

pastorgarycarroll — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:00:15 +0000

I’ve been kind of lax on posting to this blog. I could give you a whole list of excuses, but I know you don’t really want to hear them, so I won’t. I’ll get back to it… soon.

New Year’s Resolutions?

pastorgarycarroll — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:38:26 +0000

Well, another year has come and gone. They sure do move mighty quickly (and the older I get, the quicker they move on by!). But here we stand on the edge of a brand new years with all the possibilities that it holds. There will be new challenges, new victories, and new joys. But there will also be new pains, new sorrows, and even new defeats. In the midst of what seems so uncertain to us right now, there will be one constant this new year: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Although we don’t know exactly what this next year holds, Jesus does. And He’s already preparing a way for us through all that this new year brings. Just as Jesus saw us through 2009 with all it brought our way, He will do the same in 2010. Aren’t you glad that you have a Savior like Jesus!

I’m not a big New Years Resolution fan (because I never can keep them). But there are some things I want to do this new year.

I want to spend more time in the Bible this year.
I want to spend more time praying.
I want to spend more time with my family.
I want to be a better preacher.
I want to be a better pastor.

I guess I can sum it all up this way. I want to honor Christ in all areas of my life like never before. I’m not anywhere near perfect, and I continue to fail the Lord so many times. I don’t know about you, but I get so tired of failing in the same old ways. My prayer is that I would daily renew my commitment to Jesus and live my life in such a way that it brings glory and honor to Christ and draws others to Him. I hope that’s your prayer, too.

“What’s It All About?”

pastorgarycarroll — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:34:54 +0000

What’s it all about? Do you ever get so busy that this one question fills your mind? What’s it all about? Well, I don’t know about you, but right here at the beginning of our Christmas Season, I’m already close to asking this question.

So, when it comes to Christmas, what’s it all about? What’s the answer to this question?

It’s about a miraculous birth – a virgin conceiving and giving birth to a child.
It’s about a monumental gift – this little baby was the gift of the Father in heaven for all mankind.
It’s about a momentous sacrifice – that the very Son of God would come to this earth, live a perfect life, and become that perfect sacrifice for our sins.

What’s it all about? In one way, it’s all about Jesus. It’s a celebration of His birthday. It’s a celebration of the giving of God’s greatest gift.

But in another way, it’s all about us – you and me. You see, we are the recipients of this precious gift of God.

Jesus wasn’t just born. He was born for us.
Jesus wasn’t just any gift. He’s our gift from our Heavenly Father.
Jesus wasn’t just any sacrifice. He’s our sacrifice. He took our place on that cross.

Be sure and share this precious gift this year. Be sure and tell someone about what the Father has given each of us – a baby, born of a virgin, born to be the sacrifice for their sins, born to make us sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father, born to give us eternal life. Share the gift. Tell someone what Jesus has done for you.

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Faith Brings Conflict

pastorgarycarroll — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:39:08 +0000

Did you know that sometimes faith in God gets you in trouble? It does! Here’s a few Biblical examples of what I’m talking about.
• Daniel 6 tells us of how Daniel’s faith in the One True God caused him to defy the kings command not to pray to his God. Daniel prayed, and he ended up in the lion’s den. But, the lions didn’t lay a paw on him!
• Daniel 3 tells us of Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego. Because of their faith in God, these three guys refused to bow down to the statue of the king, and they ended up in the fiery furnace. But they came out just fine, not even the smell of smoke.
• Matthew 4 tells how John the Baptist refused to keep quiet about Herod’s sin. His faith in God caused him to point out the king’s sin. It cost him his head! Of course, that just sent him straight to glory!
• Acts 7 tells how Stephen wouldn’t quit preaching Jesus Christ. Remember what happened to him? He was stoned to death, and again, that just caused him to go straight on to glory!
• And how ‘bout ole Paul? By faith he wouldn’t quit preaching Jesus, and what happened to him? Church tradition says that he was beheaded with a silver sword. I’m not sure what difference it makes that it was a silver sword – he still lost his head! But, again, that just sent him straight on to glory!

I see a trend here. Each of these heroes of the faith ended up in trouble because of their faith. But, each of them would rather die than deny their faith. I believe that they were confident that God would be with them in their trouble.

We can be just as confident today! Our trouble might not be a lion’s den, or a fiery furnace, or being stoned or beheaded. Our faith may only cause us to be ridiculed or made fun of. But even in that, God is right there with us. I’m convinced that God is especially with us when our faith brings about conflict.

Are you certain of His presence today? I hope so.

“Church Is a Privilege”

pastorgarycarroll — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:05:23 +0000

I held a funeral last week for one of our older ladies. In visiting with her family, I was told how she believed that attending church was a privilege. All throughout the rest of the week and on into the weekend I thought about what she had taught her children – attending church is a privilege.

I must admit, as a small child it was not a privilege for me. It was a requirement, and one that I often tried to get out of. I had very little use for church then, and it wasn’t until I was well into my teen years that church began to feel like anything more than that. I understand now what a privilege it truly is, but I just didn’t “get it” as a child.

So last week and this, I’ve been wondering how many others don’t “get it” yet. I think that once we really understand the price that was paid so that we can gather together and worship God, it’s only then that we “get it.” Jesus Christ, God Himself in the flesh was falsely accused, beaten, put to death on an old rugged cross, buried in a borrowed tomb and rose again on the third day to grant us this privilege of coming to church; of coming together to worship our Heavenly Father.

Yes, my friends, church is a privilege.

Prayer Meeting Report From Wednesday, October 28

pastorgarycarroll — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:14:48 +0000

We did something a little different for us during our prayer meeting. The devotion was on how praying did not make Jesus passive. The encouragement was that we don’t stop with prayer, but we put feet and hands to those prayers (when possible) and serve other in the name of Christ.

After the devotion, we prayed. We spent about 30 minutes praying – all of us.

I passed out 2 or 3 3×5 cards to each person present and we put prayer requests on them. Then, we passed them to the person on our right and prayed for that request. As we finished one card , we passed it on and prayed for another. Each of us prayed for every requests on every card.

It was one of the more powerful prayer services we’ve had in quite a while. I’m really looking forward to next Wednesday. God is so good!

pastorgarycarroll — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:14:02 +0000

This is my first attempt at this blog thing. I’ll try to update once a week or so – we’ll see what happens.