Pastor Craig Carter Whenever a setback occurs, a normal response is a desire to return to the way things were. The baseball pitcher who suffers an arm injury just wants to return to the mound. A business that faces financial ruin longs to get back to operating in the black again. Do you remember how…
Pastor Craig Carter By definition, for a comeback to occur, some adverse circumstances must be experienced. It may be an athlete that suffers a career-threatening injury, a business that faces financial ruin, or a church like ours that loses its facilities in a Cat-5 hurricane. In each instance, a setback occurs that prevents the person…
Pastor Craig Carter Everyone loves a comeback story, don’t they? I was recently watching the Baseball All Star Game Homerun Derby and found myself rooting for Trey Mancini, even though I know little about him and am not a fan of the team he plays for – the Baltimore Orioles. But I do know a…
Pastor Craig Carter The Old Testament books of Joshua and Judges are a study in contrasts. Joshua describes the successful invasion and conquest of the Promised Land by the Israelites while Judges chronicles a sad time in the history of the nation of Israel. Rather than obeying the Lord as they promised to do, God’s…
Pastor Craig Carter Having finished reading through the Old Testament Book of Joshua in our Summer Book Club, we are now turning our attention to the Book of Judges. Our Adult Discipleship Director, Mindy Clemons, an Asbury Theological Seminary student, pointed out in a message last week that Judges chronicles a sad time in the…
Pastor Craig Carter Like many adults, I enjoy some good summer reading. I took a couple of books on a recent vacation, one of them being Greenlights, the autobiography by actor Matthew McConaughey. It was an interesting read as he is a fascinating character, to say the least. Another fascinating biography is found in our…
Pastor Craig Carter In our current sermon series, we’re looking at some English words consisting of four letters that help us live as God intends us to live. But they are not the type we normally associate with the phrase, “four-letter words.” Instead, they are Sacred 4-Letter Words that enable us to be holy as…
Pastor Craig Carter Today is the second Sunday of Advent. As we anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas we also look forward to the day when Christ will come again. The Apostle Paul describes Jesus’ promised return in this way… The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, …
Pastor Craig Carter This fall, we are exploring the New Testament Letter of James. It begins with a claim that life is a series of tests consisting of trials and temptations. While Satan wants us to fail these tests so that we stumble and fall, God wants us to pass them all because they enable…
Pastor Craig Carter It’s sometimes said, “You are what you eat” (so don’t become a cinnamon roll!). That’s true to a degree, but it’s more correct to say, “You are what you do.” It’s not an oversimplification to suggest that if you help, you’re a helper or that if you encourage, you’re an encourager. On…