We met for our Sunday morning worship this morning but it was not business as usual. The Lord manifested Himself in a great way this morning. We had a great crowd in attendance, and as the choir sang, people began to use the altar. Many people came before the Lord for help, and some seven people came for salvation! Praise the name of the Lord! One after the other they came and gave their hearts to the Lord. There was no preaching, just the glorious power of the Almighty saving souls and changing lives. Then, at the close of the service, 13 people came forward to unite with our church. It was a great morning. We do not deserve such blessings as that, but He gives them and I am thankful for it. Pray for us. There are many more that need to be saved.

Alan Carr

This has been a very busy week with several of our members in the hospital and two deaths. Thus, I have been away from the keyboard. At any rate, the sick are improving and things look a little better for the next few days. We do have a funeral tomorrow, and that will occupy the afternoon. I could sure use your prayers as we move through these hectic days.

If you are a Baptist Pastor you will not achieve fame, glory or riches. If those things are your goals in life, you would be better off heading in a different direction. If, however, you are interested being involved with people, you are in the right place. If you want to make a difference in people’s life day by day, you are in the right place. If you want to give your life to a worthy cause, you are in the right place. If you want to be a blessing to the hurting; the fragrance of life to those dead in sin; and if you want to go to your grave feeling like your life mattered, you are in the right place. Preacher, the days get long and the nights very short sometimes, but from one who is in the trenches with you, let me encourage you to carry on. The people you serve, God’s precious children, they need you. The Kingdom of God needs you. Your work is relevant, important and timeless. The people around may not tell you that your ministry is a blessing, but if you listen close, you might hear the Father in Heaven as He whispers in your heart, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” That after all, is why we ought to serve anyway. It’s all about Him! Carry on Preacher, you are making a difference.

Alan Carr

Well, it’s Sunday afternoon and I am getting ready to go back to church and preach again tonight. We had a good service this morning, but it could have been better. I thought my message was terrible! It didn’t seem to come together for me and I struggled from start to finish. When I got done, some of the folks, and my wife, told me how much they enjoyed the preaching. Go figure! It’s better when the Lord gets the glory for all that we do. I would have loved to have seen some people saved. There were several lost people in the service, but the salvation of souls is in the hand of the Lord.

A busy week lies before me. I have a class at 8:30 AM here in Lenoir, a funeral at 11:00 AM in Wilkesboro NC and an 83-year-old church member is having triple by-pass surgery tomorrow; plus we have another lady in intensive care. I am tired just thinking about it. Pray that the Lord will be with these sick and grieving folks for His glory.

I don’t have much time, so I am going to go and get ready for church. Keep this preacher in your prayers. Thanks and God bless!

Alan Carr

The Lord helped this preacher in the Wednesday evening service and I praise His name! We had a good crowd and the Lord spoke to hearts through His Word. We should never take that for granted! Something supernatural takes place when a mere man opens the Bible and preaches its truths. That truth is set aflame by the Spirit of God and the Lord uses it to speak to the hearts of other mere men. That truth is declared, received and lived out. A life is changed, a family is altered, a community is touched and God is glorified. Yes, I would say that it is a supernatural thing; a God thing! Isn’t He good to meet with us like He does?

Here’s a bit of web site news for you. I have added a Ministry Resources page. I am making available some of my sermon series and some single sermons as well. I am not interested in making a lot of money, but several people have asked for CDs and I have acquired the equipment necessary to produce the disks, so I am making them available. Each series will be sent out in a 2-ring binder on good quality CDs. I only have three series available at the moment, but more will be posted soon.

So, I am looking at a busy day today. I am leaving here in about 15 minutes to go to the hospital. One of our men is having surgery. After that, I need to do some preparation for Sunday’s sermons. Then, I have a meeting tonight with a young man in our church. Excellent! Today is the best kind of day for it is a day filled with His business.

God bless you as you live out your day!

Alan Carr

Praise the Lord! One of our precious little girls was saved in her home this morning. She told her mother that she needed to talk to the preacher. Her mother asked why and the girl responded that she was a lost sinner and did not want to go to Hell. The Mom called me and my wife and I went to their home. Before we arrived, the mother led her daughter to Jesus and she was wonderfully saved by God’s grace. Praise His name! God is so faithful!

There are times when you get your eyes off the things that really matter. What matters more than anything is the glory of God; and nothing glorifies Him more than souls being saved. That is the main thing! All the other stuff we get hung up on like our little power trips, issues related to money, positions and opinion, simply do not matter in the end. What matters most is carrying out our Lord’s command to share the Gospel with a lost world. When we do that, we can be sure that God will save souls and that HE will be glorified. Praise the Lord for His grace in salvation!

Alan Carr

All right, I am back at the keyboard after a long absence. I could plead a busy schedule. I could make up a thousand excuses. Or, I could just let by gones be by gones and do better from here on out. Anyway, it is Monday morning and the Lord is still a wonderful Lord.

We had a good day at the Lord’s house yesterday. I preached in the AM service and the Lord gave great liberty to do that. Yet, there at least six lost souls in the service, (I am sure there were many, many more), but none came forward to receive Jesus. Help me pray for these folks. The Lord is speaking to their hearts and I would like to see them saved by His grace. Last night we had a missionary name Tom Shuford. Brother Tom has a powerful testimony that will stir your soul and make you grateful for the Lord’s blessings on your life. God has called Brother Tom to a unique ministry. He has a burden to minister to people who suffer from chronic and terminal illness. He is well qualified for such a ministry. Please pray for Brother Tom and his wife Terrie as thy seek the Lord’s will for their ministry and as they try to raise the necessary support.

I am getting ready to head out into the cold (It is 11 degrees here right now, brrrrrr!) to go teach my classes. After that I have a busy afternoon filled with several visits that I need to make. Later this evening, I will join a group of our men as we gather for our Monday prayer meeting. God bless you all as you seek the Lord’s will for your day today. Please keep this preacher in your prayers.

Brother Alan

Once again I have been slack in posting to this blog. I apologize. It seems that lately, I have lacked the zeal and the time necessary to make one of these things successful. At any rate, I am preaching this week at Hibriten Baptist Church here in Lenoir and I covet your prayers for the meeting. The Lord truly met with us and helped us last night and I praise Him for His touch. Keep checking back here from time to time and I will try to do better. I have to go now because I have two classes to teach this morning. God bless.

Alan Carr

I am sorry for the long absence from the keyboard. Joan and I took a few days off to get some much needed rest and I didn’t have Internet where we were staying.

So, I just wanted to stop by for a moment this morning to say “Merry Christmas” to all the faithful visitors of The Sermon Notebook. This ministry exists for you, and it is only by the grace of God that it even exists at all. I praise Him for how He has blessed and expanded our ministries. Please pray for us as the New Year dawns. I hope to add more content and I hope to improve The Voice Of Calvary Internet radio. We are still looking for preachers to help fill up some of the airtime. If you are interested in having your message heard twenty-four hours a day, around the world, please let me know. Within the last thirty days, we have had listeners from Romania, The Peoples Republic of China, The Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Nigeria, Bulgaria, Australia, and from many opther countries around the world. Of course, we have also had listeners from all fifty states here in America. It is a growing ministry, and you can be a part of it!

Have a great day with your families. Enjoy one another and love one another, for those are among the greatest of human gifts. Above all, remember the reason for the season and give Jesus the worship He deserves today, and every day. God bless!

Alan Carr

Well, it’s done! My son Jesse and his wife Amy are married and they are on their honeymoon. (I hope it lasts for many years!) Pray for them as they begin their life together.

The wedding went well and I pray that the Lord was glorified through the service. We tried to make Him the centerpiece of the service.

While the wedding went well, the run-up to the wedding, and the aftermath of the wedding, is a different story! It takes a lot for a couple to get married these days! I was amazed at the amount of work that was required to be sure that everything was just right. It’s a far cry from how things were when my wife and I were married.

In those days I was a poor mill worker and she was a poor shop girl. Although Joan would have loved to have had a church wedding, we couldn’t afford one and neither could either of our parents. So, we went to the Justice of the Peace. Our families went with us, as did our witnesses. Imagine the scene.

There we stand, me in a new suit. My wife in a homemade wedding dress, standing before a man who is a total stranger in the courthouse in Marion, NC. The Justice of the Peace is in front of us. In the right back corner of the room, a Highway Patrolman is booking a man caught driving drunk. The man is in handcuffs. They stop what they are doing while our wedding takes place. After the wedding, the Patrolman and the guy in cuffs both come over to offer their congratulations. It was quite a scene. We still laugh about it today. But, you know, it worked! Twenty-seven years later, Mrs. Joan is still the love of my life, and we are still just as married as if we had spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on a fancy wedding.

Is there a moral to this story? Perhaps! Maybe it teaches us that real, lasting marriages are not forged on the anvil of glitter, flowers and elaborate ceremonies. Real marriages are the work of God putting two people together for a lifetime. If I had it to do over again, I would give my wife the wedding she wanted the first time. If it were left solely up to me, however, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Of course, all this begs another question. Who decided that Pastors have to be the ones to stand and join couples together in marriage? Is this something left over from the dark ages when the Roman church dominated every aspect of people’s lives? I sure can’t find it in the Bible. Oh well, I guess it just comes with the territory for now.

Have a blessed day at the Father’s house. Go to worship Him and for no other reason. Look for Him in every part of the service and you will have a great Sunday, even if no one else does!

Alan Carr