Posts from 2022 (Page 4)

Weekly Update – April 21st, 2022 The Great Commission is a well-known and popular call that many Christians are familiar with in the New Testament.  It says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I (Jesus) have commanded you….” (Matt. 28:19-20)  Typically when we read that verse, the first thought that comes to our minds is…

Weekly Update – April 14th, 2022 Since 2015, First Baptist Church has had a Maundy Thursday service the Thursday before Easter.  This night is primarily meant to function as a time to reflect and prepare ourselves as we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Now when we say Maundy Thursday, there is still likely some confusion over its significance.  Good Friday we know, and of course, Easter Sunday we know, but what is so special about this day…

Weekly Update – April 7th, 2022 As we continue to watch the downgrade of our culture, we must remember how important it is for the church to remain counter-cultural to all that we see around us.  There is pressure from many angles to capitulate to what are quickly becoming the norms of society in terms of the sexual revolution, the idolatry of self, and the general acceptance of immorality.  Over the last few months in 1 Timothy, we have seen…

Weekly Update – March 31st, 2022 One of the hardest aspects of living in community with others is practicing forgiveness.  Someone says a wrong word against us, goes behind our back or tells others something untrue and it hurts us.  On many occasions the advice given to us might be to avoid the person who has wronged us, never trust them again, sit on the opposite side of the church and “warn” others about their sin.  But if we examine…

Weekly Update – March 24th, 2022 In just a few weeks, we as Christians celebrate the cornerstone of our faith.  As the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “if Christ has not been raised, then our faith is in vain.”  What this means is that the resurrection does matter.  We can’t simply resort to saying that Christianity is about doing good for others or living a morally pure life.  If Christ has not been raised, then he is just…

Weekly Update – March 17th, 2022 As Covid restrictions have relaxed and people seem to be moving beyond the pandemic, we have begun to see a number of visitors on Sunday morning once again.  Some are repeat visitors, others try for a Sunday and then we may see them again in the future, but either way, our church has had a number of new people walk through its doors.  In the New Testament we see a command given to Christians…

Weekly Update – March 10th, 2022 This coming Sunday night (3/13), we will begin a new series titled, Follow Me.  This six week series is designed to challenge us on what Jesus truly meant when he uttered the words, “follow me” to those who would be his disciples.  Here is a brief description of the study: “What did Jesus really mean when he said, “Follow Me”? In this new book, David Platt, author of the New York Times bestselling book,…

Weekly Update – March 3rd, 2022 In the big picture of Paul’s letter to Timothy, we have quickly seen that all is not right in the Ephesian church where Timothy is stationed.  False doctrine is being taught with an emphasis being placed upon “myths and endless genealogies” (1:4).  These so-called teachers were teaching what is “contrary to sound doctrine” (1:10), so much so that some were making “shipwreak of their faith” (1:19).  One of the ways that the apostle Paul…

Weekly Update – February 24th, 2022 This past Sunday, we took time to pray for the situation involving Ukraine. Since then, tensions have escalated with Russia now posting over 190,000 soldiers on the Ukrainian border. It is expected that many peaceful Ukrainian cities will soon find themselves under Russian aggression. Send International is a missions organization, and they have posted 11 ways for you and I to pray for the Ukraine. Here they are below: 1. Ask God to redeem…

Weekly Update – February 17th, 2022 Last week, we considered 1 Timothy 5:1-2 in our church gathering.  The emphasis on the church being the family of God especially came to the forefront of this passage.  Consider these short two verses again, “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.”  Through our common redemption in Jesus Christ, we are not…

Weekly Update – February 10th, 2022 On Sunday evenings, we have been going through a study called The Explicit Gospel.  As the study explains, and as many of you have surely noticed, is that there are a lot of people out there, some of whom claim to be Christians, who have no idea what the gospel actually is.  On a regular basis I will have conversations with people who confirm this claim.  One conversation may be a man telling me…

Weekly Update – February 3rd, 2022 Last week I explained why it is we pray the way we do in our morning services.  I said that we pray together as a church with intentionality, as we come before the Lord unified as one, following the pattern given to us in the scriptures.  As we pray, we have four prayers during our service.  These prayers are meant to give us the full breadth of what prayer is, as we come before…