))
Messages of hope from Pastor Chris Smart of Hope Church Presbyterian, Tampa, Florida.
…
continue reading
Welcome to Smartalks, the podcast that brings you to the heart of real conversations with inspiring leaders and CEOs in Switzerland and Dubai. We bring you interviews with the biggest names, innovators and disruptors in the industry. From entrepreneurs to financial experts, digital strategists to executives, Smartalks gives you an honest, unfiltered look into their successes, struggles and everything in between. Whether it's stories of their journey to the top, opinions on the state of their ...
…
continue reading
Romans Chapter 7:1-12 : Two Weddings and a Funeral. How does a Christian relate to the Law of God? How do we escape a deep sense of condemnation in life? The two questions are joined together in this passage and help us to see the freedom Christ can bring into our lives. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/…
…
continue reading
Romans Chapter 6:15-23: A Different Kind of Freedom. Everybody searches for experiences where they feel free, often in extreme sports. But what happens if you live in a wheelchair? The freedom Jesus Christ can bring us is so deep that he can liberate us from our deepest addictions because he deals with their roots. Contact Pastor Smart from our Chu…
…
continue reading
Romans Chapter 6:1-14 : The Dynamics of Spiritual Transformation. At the heart of Christianity is the idea of transformation. But this is not something that you can gain separate from God himself. We don't snatch a ticket to heaven from Christ's hand, we grasp hold of his hand, knowing Christ himself is salvation. Contact Pastor Smart from our Chur…
…
continue reading
Romans Chapter 5:12-21 : Raised to Reign. We might feel it's unfair that the Bible teaches us that all have sinned in Adam. But the flip side of this is that anyone can be raised up to a newness of life by being in Christ. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk smartalk@hope4tampa.com Music: Achaidh C…
…
continue reading
Romans Chapter 5:6-11 - Love That Dies. Do you ever feel that you are walking on eggshells with some people? It is very easy to feel like that in your relationship with God but in these words we encounter the stupendous love of God that alone can fill the longing of the human heart for a lasting love. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or…
…
continue reading
Romans Chapter 5:1-5: Walking Free Through Life. Trusting in Christ brings many benefits in this life as well as the next. One of which is the interplay between peace and suffering which can strangely work together to grow your character in ways that otherwise would be impossible. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4…
…
continue reading
How to avoid making a car crash out of your faith! If anybody's faith could have suffered from a car crash it could have been Abraham as he was promised a child when he was in his old age. But in Romans Chapter 4:13-25 Paul walks us through his faith as an example of how we drive all the way home to God. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website…
…
continue reading
The Parable of The Orchard. By looking at Romans Chapter 4:9-12 through the lens of a parable about an orchard we see who is in and who is out of God's kingdom. The view may shock religious people! Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk smartalk@hope4tampa.com Music: Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin M…
…
continue reading
Boasting. Romans Chapter 3:27-31. Worship is like a well of water, it should refresh you. But it can be poisoned by boasting. If we think we have contributed even a tiny amount to our salvation we can’t put God on the highest level of gratitude. We “loom too large and God too small.” “We will not worship with the absolute sense of humility, depende…
…
continue reading
What Lies Beneath the surface of the people we think we know? Movies have been made to investigate that idea. In Romans Chapter 3:9-20 paints the darkest colors of humanity which Wester Civilisation for more than a thousand years gave strong credence to. It paints the picture of our inability to reach God through our efforts and thus sets the scene…
…
continue reading
One of the big changes in people's thinking has been to put God on trial for all the evil things we see in this life. So in Romans Chapter 3:1-8 we see a very different picture, that it's humanity that has to answer for evil, even if we come from a place of spiritual privilege like the Jews did in the days when the Apostle Paul wrote these words. W…
…
continue reading
Save Me From Religion. In Romans Chapter 2:17-29 Christianity claims that humanity needs to be saved from religion not by religion even at the same time as Christianity itself is a religion! Does your faith create pride or humility within you? If it's the latter then you are using God's Law as intended, as a means of pointing you to Jesus as the on…
…
continue reading
How can people be lost who have never heard about Jesus? The Bible addresses this question in Romans Chapter 2:12-16 by telling us that people will be judged based on what they know about God through creation and their conscience. They won't be judged for rejecting Christ when they've never heard of him but they still face the judgment of the One w…
…
continue reading
The Dangers of Criticism. It's very easy when you feel you hold the moral high ground to look down on others. But in Romans Chapter 2:1-11 God puts a stop to that as we see that religion by itself cannot stop our own hearts sinning in similar ways to those we are quick to judge. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4ta…
…
continue reading
When God Gives Up? Instinctively everybody knows there is a God. But what do people do with that knowledge? Romans Chapter 1:21-32 tells us that we push that thought away because we are so focused on fulfilling the desires of our heart. The real fall out of that though is if God gives us over to those desires. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church w…
…
continue reading
No Excuses For Unbelief. Is anyone alive who does not possess some knowledge of God? Paul answers that in Romans Chapter 1:18-20. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk smartalk@hope4tampa.com Music: Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.…
…
continue reading
The Heart of the Christian. The news that should travel through our lives is our faith. Romans Chapter 1:8-17 lays out the deepening, spreading, and emboldening nature of our trust in Christ. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk smartalk@hope4tampa.com Music: Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod…
…
continue reading
Have you ever wondered why Christianity has had such a massive impact on human history? Well, in Romans Chapter 1:1-7 we see the power that has transformed Western civilization. Here we see how Christ can bring the most unlikely of people together as we begin to understand the significance that Jesus is God's son. Contact Pastor Smart from our Chur…
…
continue reading
Looking For Wine But Finding Vinegar! Sometimes you can do everything right but things still go wrong! Being left with such unfulfilled expectations is hard but in Isaiah Chapter 5:1-7 it's God who expresses that with his people. But we also see a way back if we know we have let God down. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an emai…
…
continue reading
Critical Leadership - Isaiah Chapter 4:2-6 shows us how Christ leads us through life's challenges. We see who he is, what he's like, and what he can do. All this often comes clear to us when we are in survival mode, in the minority, feeling forgotten by God and feeling guilty. Yet he gives us real protection and a path to our true home. Contact Pas…
…
continue reading
A Hopeless World? - Isaiah Chapters 2 and 3 unpacks for us hope, even in the face of a realistic perspective on life, an offer of peace, and a call to walk in the light of God. He shows us what spiritual collapse looks like in a culture leaving us to ask what we put our trust in. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4t…
…
continue reading
Thankless Children - We can all get nervous about the world we live in and where it's heading. In Isaiah Chapter 1 shows three levels of collapse, national, religious and social. He illustrates what is behind this by taking us around a small town where we stop at home, a farm, a hospital, a church before finally stopping at the laundrette where our…
…
continue reading
Missing Jesus at the Festival. At Christmas it's easy to be caught up with everything that happens and miss its significance just as Mary and Joseph missed Jesus at the festival in Luke 2:1-12, 41-53. Instead, the greatest discovery of life lies open before us; that the Father of Jesus can become our Father too. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church…
…
continue reading
Jesus shows us that it's often those who think they have already got life figured out that are blind to the bigger picture (John 9 verse 41). While if we are humble enough to admit we don't know everything then we are in a better place to begin to see what God wants to do in us and through us. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an…
…
continue reading
Born to Die! The most devasting thing you can face in life is probably going to be the death of a loved one. In Hebrews 2:10-18 we see that one of the main reasons for Jesus coming into this world was to destroy the fear of death that still haunts humanity. Christ claims to have an answer to that fear and that is a claim we all need to listen to. C…
…
continue reading
Homeless at Christmas - God's love towards outsiders who are far from home is seen in the famous encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk smartalk@hope4tampa.com Music: Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons At…
…
continue reading
Opportunities in Difficult Times. Sometimes you can feel caught up in a great game of chess like Paul in Acts chapter 24 where he is attacked and defended. But then like digging in a coal mine, feeling overwhelmed by the darkness God can let you find some unexpected diamonds in the dust. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email…
…
continue reading
Providence and Protection. We often talk about chance, fate, and coincidence. But in Acts Chapter 23:12-24 we see the power of God's providence that works behind the scenes of life, including the most dangerous of moments in life. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk smartalk@hope4tampa.com Music: A…
…
continue reading
The Power That Protects: Christianity makes incredible claims about the influence and protection of Christ over the lives of those who trust him. In Acts 23:1-11 we see how Christ protects us in times of conflict. This in turn frees us to treat those we are in conflict with respectfully. Then we see how God can use our past, and his wisdom, along w…
…
continue reading
Sharing your Conviction with the Convinced. It's never easy to get through to folk who are very convinced of their ways and today our society is polarizing between very strongly held opinions. But Paul models for us a way to connect, communicate, and convict people like that, as seen in Acts Chapter 22:1-30. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church web…
…
continue reading
1
Guest Speaker: Alex Pettett, Mission Director of World Witness speaking on Reclaiming Boldness in Our Adoption
39:00
Reclaiming Boldness in Our Adoption. Ephesians 1:3-10. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk smartalk@hope4tampa.com Music: Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.co…
…
continue reading
When Plans Backfire: There are times in life when things seem to get worse, not better and you can feel like you are lost in a maze with every step taking you deeper into it rather than finding a way out. In Acts Chapter 21 Paul faces such a time through the misunderstanding of people, but in that moment he was following the model of Christ himself…
…
continue reading
Growing Pains : Growth in a church can bring its own trials. In Acts 21:15-25 we see friction arising, the filter we can put proposed solutions through and the right level of flexibility that is required to maintain unity. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk smartalk@hope4tampa.com Music: Achaidh C…
…
continue reading
Facing Challenges in Life: There are times in your life when you don't just fear what is going to happen but know that something difficult is just around the corner. In Acts 21:1-14 Paul stands as a great example of how God can take us through such experiences. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk s…
…
continue reading
Experiencing Mountain-Top Prayer: Prayer is more than a shopping list for God, it has to be about glimpsing the glory of who Christ is. In Luke Chapter 9:28-43 we see a prayer meeting on a mountain revealing Christ's glory and preparing his followers to face the darkness at the foot of the mountain. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or s…
…
continue reading
The Lord's Prayer: If you want to learn something well in life it's good to learn from the best. When it comes to prayer, Jesus is the best teacher. In Matthew 6 we follow him up the mountain of prayer like a guide, leading us through the gateway of the fatherhood of God and up the mountain pathway. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or s…
…
continue reading
The Power of Waiting in Prayer. Everyone may pray and everyone finds waiting for an answer really challenging. 1 Kings 18 and James 5, encourage us with the example of Elijah's perseverance in prayer. Despite being just as human as the rest of us such waiting can be met with the power of God. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an …
…
continue reading
Intercessory Prayer. The heart of prayer is dependence on God. In Exodus 17 there is a very graphic picture of that total dependence as Moses stretches his arms up to heaven while Joshua fights in a valley below. This is the first of four mountains of prayer that we will be looking at as the congregation prepares to reach out with the Good News of …
…
continue reading
Decision Day. Life is filled with major decisions. None come bigger than deciding on the overall direction of life. In Proverbs Chapter 9 that choice is stripped down to its most elemental, portrayed as a choice between two women who will lead you in two very different directions in life. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an emai…
…
continue reading
Designed For Delight: What is life when there are no connections? Very lonely, very broken. Apps on our phones are so addictive because they give us a sense of connectedness- you can see where friends are all over the world, and you can reach out to them and get an immediate response. Yet visit people in hospitals all around any city, and people ar…
…
continue reading
Derailing The Good Life: Even good company in life can sour if you let finances get in the way of friendships. Proverbs Chapter 6 lays out a warning about that as well as painting some unflattering portraits of the kind of men no one should ever marry! These are different ways that threaten our ability to build a healthy community around us. In tur…
…
continue reading
For Your Eyes Only: Sexuality is a hugely important part of our humanity. But it's very value means we have to look after it. Through the lens of Proverbs Chapter 5 we can spot danger some of the danger signs of temptation that threaten it, see our defenses and discover the deepest love that making love points to. Contact Pastor Smart from our Chur…
…
continue reading
Your Spiritual Health Check - Proverbs Chapter 4 runs us through something like a physical, mentioning various parts of the body: Eyes and ears, hearts and body, foot and mouth! Run through them and you will get a spiritual health check that helps us touch base with Christ, the Physician of our souls. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or…
…
continue reading
Married to the Good Life. To make sense of this world we need a source of insight from outside of this world. Proverbs 3 wants to make this as attractive to its original audience of young men so wisdom is portrayed like the kind of woman you would want to marry to make your life complete. She celebrates life by enriching it, sustaining it, and prot…
…
continue reading
The Good Life in Smallville. Everybody needs the wisdom that should come from good parents and talks around the kitchen table to help us navigate life like we'd use a compass. But we also need wisdom that comes from a higher, divine source, that acts like a map giving us the big picture of life, sometimes called a worldview. Proverbs chapter 3 desc…
…
continue reading
Treasure Hunting. If you want your life directed by wisdom then don't sit back you have to go looking for it like you would if you had a treasure map. That's what Proverbs 2 calls us to do. Here we see the need to search for treasure, what discovering this treasure looks like, and how to spend it well. When you do it can bring you deeper success th…
…
continue reading
The Voices You Hear: There are many voices that are ready to speak into your life. Here three different ones are revealed to you; one that can influence you for harm and two that will bless you. Proverbs is one of the richest resources of wisdom that humanity possesses and contains profound resources to nurture the growth of our character and wisdo…
…
continue reading
Strength for Life's Journey. Life can be like going on a long journey, filled with many tough days and challenges. In Acts Chapter 20:32-38 we examine our spiritual health and guard against spiritual infections by developing good spiritual anti-bodies. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk smartalk@h…
…
continue reading
Valued and Protected: What you value in life, you protect. God does the same with us when we trust him. In Acts Chapter 20:25-31 You see that you are protected by him like a sheep with a shepherd and protected from the wolves. Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email. hope4tampa.com/smartalk smartalk@hope4tampa.com Music: Achai…
…
continue reading
www.jcrousseau.com Jean Christophe Rousseau (aka JC), artist and specialist in gold leaf for twenty years, former President of the National Union of Gilders, first worked with gold leaf in a traditional way before creating and developing products and know-how. unique in the world.Among other things, he invented the first champagne with 24K pure gol…
…
continue reading
