Summer Series

Weekly Update – May 23rd, 2024

One of my desires is that the preaching ministry of our church would cover the full range of scripture.  The reason for that is because we are not just New Testament Christians, but whole Bible Christians.  What that means is that not only should you find yourself reading Bible stories that you like, or only reciting popular verses, but you should seek to study everything from Genesis to Revelation.  That means that as an individual, there is value in reading Deuteronomy or Jeremiah in your Bible reading plan.  The Bible is one connected book with Jesus Christ as the central focal point of it all.  Therefore, every book contributes to the whole, as you read in light of the central focus, Jesus Christ. 

Here is what that means for the preaching ministry at First Baptist Church.  My desire is that we would grow together in understanding each part of the Bible as we consider the entire book.  So then we not only hear from New Testament epistles, such as James, but we spend time in Old Testament history like 1^st and 2^nd Samuel, as we did last year.  It is true that we might spend a bit more time in some of the New Testament books as application for us as Christians in view of Christ’s resurrection may be a bit more abundant, but that doesn’t mean that we neglect Old Testament books.  Therefore, this summer, we will spend 7 weeks hearing from one of the Old Testament minor prophets named Amos.

I know that Amos is not the most common book to hear preached in a summer series, yet I believe that it is just as necessary and applicable today as the rest of Scripture is.  Amos includes prophecy and visions, like many of the other prophets do, but he seems to be a bit more straight-forward than some of the other prophets might be.  Amos speaks of justice (5:24), he calls for repentance for those who have become too comfortable (5:14-15), and he teaches us what rightful worship ought to look like (7:10-15).  In fact, a good summary of the book of Amos might be: God’s wrath will come upon Israel because they are oppressing the poor and the righteous.

As we spend 7 weeks in this Old Testament prophetic book, you will have the opportunity to hear a variety of people preach.  We will begin on Sunday with Jason Franklin preaching from Amos 1-2, take the next two weeks and finish our series in James, but then come back for the next 6 weeks in Amos.  Throughout that time, you will hear from some other men in our church.  Clint Blankenship will preach on June 23^rd, Nathan Sharon on June 30^th, Matthew Klika on July 14^th and Dan Holsten on July 21^st. 

I am looking forward to this summer with you.  I trust that you will be blessed by hearing from Amos, just as you would be blessed hearing from any other book of the Bible.  I’m also looking forward to you hearing from other men that God has gifted in preaching as well.  It is such a privilege to have many others within our congregation who can publicly handle the word of truth.  I hope that you will encourage them as they do. 

Serving Him with You,
Pastor Michael Nelson