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

Focal Passage: 2 Samuel 9:1-13

Following an exhilarating performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, celebrated classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma went home, slept, and awoke the next day exhausted. He called for a cab to take him to a hotel on the other side of Manhattan and placed his cello, which was handcrafted in Vienna in 1733 and valued at $2.5 million, in the trunk of the taxi. When he reached his destination, he paid the driver but forgot to take his cello. [Read more…]

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

Focal Passage: II Samuel 7:8-21

Some days are not easily forgotten. Pulling up in my future father-in-law’s driveway for the purpose of asking his blessing to propose to his daughter is a day etched in my memory. After an attempt to make small talk, which completely tanked, I mustered up the nerve to ask the question: “Mr. Tillman, may I have your blessing to ask Tonya to marry me?” He replied to my question with a few questions of his own, “How certain are you that Tonya will say yes? What makes you think she will say yes? She very well may say no.” Besides death, taxes and a train perpetually crossing Hamill Road in Hixson, Tenn., are there any guarantees in life? [Read more…]

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

Focal Passage: 2 Samuel 5:9-12; 6:12-19

Franklin Graham visited Chattanooga on his first stop during the Decision America Tour in May of 2017. Graham mentioned a conversation he had with a man of a different theological persuasion in regards to his dad, the late Billy Graham. At the time of the aforementioned conversation, Billy Graham was still alive. Franklin commented that the charismatic man he was talking with said this about his dad, “I believe that when your dad (Billy Graham) dies, God is going to take His hand off of America.” What a statement! How ironic that since the death of Billy Graham, several pastors and leaders have heartbreakingly fallen. [Read more…]

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

Focal Passage: 2 Samuel 3:8-21

On the game show Family Fued, contestants are asked to guess how 100 people responded to various survey questions. On a 2012 episode, a contestant had to provide the top answers to the following survey question: “When someone mentions ‘the King,’ to whom might he or she be referring?” The results were as follows: (1) 81 people said “Elvis Presley,” (2) 7 people said “God or Jesus,” (3) 3 people said “Martin Luther King, Jr.” and (4) 2 people said “The Burger King.”

The truth is there can only be one king. At any given time, only one can sit on a throne and be crowned as king. In II Samuel 3:8-21, the Bible underscores this truth as David and Ishbosheth couldn’t both sit on the throne as king. David is a pre-cursor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one and only King of Kings. II Samuel 3:8-21 offers three insights to God’s one and only salvific plan.    [Read more…]

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

Focal Passage: 2 Samuel 1:22-27; 2:1-7

In his book, Immeasurable, Skye Jehtani writes: “Compare two leaders. Leader A lifted an entire nation, mobilized his people with clear vision coupled with inspiring passion and launched a movement that has impacted literally everyone alive today. He set in motion an industrial and scientific revolution that produced the first computer, the first jet airplane, began human exploration of space and unlocked the mystery of nuclear war. By the time he died at 56, everyone on the planet knew his name. Leader A changed the world. Leader B lived during the same era and died just 21 days before Leader A, but his life was much different. At the height of his influence, Leader B ran a school with 100 students and he wrote a few books, but he was not widely regarded. When he died, almost no one knew his name.” [Read more…]

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

Focal Passage: 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10; 13:2-8

Speech was the last class I registered to take my final semester of junior college. One of my greatest fears through the years has been speaking in front of people. The main reason for this fear is my propensity to stutter. I am a stutterer. When God called me to preach, like Moses, I reminded God of my weakness. How will I preach as a stutterer? God reminded me that He never strengthens the strong, He strengthens the weak. I still have a propensity to stutter, but God is greater than any stutter or stutterer. 

In II Corinthians 12:7b-10 and 13:2-8, Paul reminded the church at Corinth that God strengthens the weak through their weaknesses. As a believer, if you want to find strength, then look no further than your weakness. Paul offered four reminders when it comes to finding strength.

First, don’t exalt yourself! Paul the apostle was a sinner saved by grace. God’s grace was enough to save Paul. God’s grace was also enough to sustain him. Paul was a human being with the same bent that we all have, in the flesh, to make much of ourselves. In II Corinthians 12:7, the apostle was transparent about his “thorn in the flesh.” Paul the apostle was not one of the Avengers, like Thor, he was not a superhero. If he were an Avenger, then his name would have been “thorn” not Thor. Why “thorn”? After asking the Lord three times to remove the “thorn,” the Lord told Paul, that His power was made perfect in Paul’s weakness, which was the “thorn” in his flesh. (v. 9). Never exalt yourself, leave that to God!

Second, expose your weakness! Never discount your weakness, God specializes in using the weaknesses of the weak. Paul was not ashamed of his weakness because he realized that when he was weak, God made him strong. For Paul, the only way to become strong was to remain weak (v. 10). Furthermore, he not only became content in his weaknesses but he boasted in his weaknesses (v. 9). As a believer, don’t be ashamed of your weaknesses, God isn’t!

Third, don’t exempt yourself! Paul was the apostle of the apostles! Yet, he would not allow himself to exempt himself when writing to the local church. When calling the believers at Corinth to test themselves, Paul includes himself as one who had not failed the test (II Corinthians 13:6). No human being, this side of heaven, is exempt from having their faith tested or being tested in the faith. Don’t exempt yourself, Paul didn’t!

Fourth, examine yourself! What a powerful word in II Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether or not you are in the faith.” Why was Paul so adamant about these believers examining themselves? In II Corinthians 13:10, Paul gave his reasoning. The apostle wanted them to examine themselves and adjust their hearts and lives appropriately before Paul arrived. Upon his arrival and under the authority given to him as an apostle, Paul was required to examine the believers. Depending upon their spiritual condition, he would either build them up or tear them down. 

Paul’s coming to the church at Corinth is a forecast of Jesus’ coming for His church. How important it is for people to examine themselves in this life before God gets the last word in the after life. Examine yourself before Jesus comes! Why? Strength is found not in the avoidance of fatigue, but in the presence of faith! Are you in the faith? B&R

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

Focal Passage: 2 Corinthians 9:1-15

In a report released by Oxfam, an international charity dedicated to finding solutions to global poverty, the richest 80 people on earth are now as wealthy as the world’s 3.5 billion poorest people. To put this into perspective, 80 people control as much wealth as half the population of planet earth. One of these multi-billionaires enjoys playing basketball on one of his luxurious yachts. Following closely behind this multibillionaire’s yacht is a powerboat to retrieve any balls that bounce over the railing.

Having that much money may be hard to imagine. Truth is, what matters is not how much money one may or may not have; rather, what matters is how one spends one’s money. Regardless of what value lies in our wallets, we show what we value with our wallets. Furthermore, how we give with our hands shows what we value in our heart. Paul encouraged the believers in Corinth to take up a generous collection for their fellow believers in Jerusalem. In 2 Corinthians 9:1-15, the Holy Spirit gives three principles of giving faithfully. [Read more…]

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

Focal Passage: II Corinthians 5:16-21; 6:1-2

Think about your most recent conflict. Do you believe that conflict can be resolved or do you believe that the word “conflict” is inherently a bad word? Does conflict always hurt a relationship? Conflict can be resolved by attacking the problem and not the person, by not overreacting, by not letting problems fester and by clearly defining the issue that needs to be resolved. Resolving conflict is possible, but rarely enjoyable.  [Read more…]

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

Focal Passage: II Corinthians 4:5-18

After a laboring but rewarding week of sermon preparation, my wife Tonya and I celebrate with a Friday night date night. Friday is sermon manuscript day, that is, the day of the week when the writing of the sermon manuscript for Sunday is completed. Going to the “picture show” (the movie theater) is what we like to do on date night. My favorite part of going to the movies is watching the previews. If we are too late to watch the previews, then I would rather not go to the movies at all. Seeing what is “coming soon” comes with an anticipated excitement attached. In fact, sometimes the previews are much better than the movie itself.

In II Corinthians 4:5-18, Paul was arguing that as believers and followers of Jesus, we are to display the gospel of Jesus. We are not to “proclaim ourselves” but we are to proclaim “Jesus Christ as Lord.” As people take a seat in the movie theater of our lives and watch us follow Jesus, they are not to see us but Jesus. We are to be like the previews before a movie, using the movie of our life to show and proclaim who and what is to come. [Read more…]

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

Focal Passage: II Corinthians 1:3-14

Webster’s Dictionary defines empathy as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being senstive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience” of someone else. [Read more…]