Posts from 2024 (Page 2)

Weekly Update – August 22nd, 2024 Last Sunday we began an in-depth study into the gospel of Luke.  I preached through the entirety of the gospel of Mark back in 2015, but I think it is necessary for us to return to the gospels once again and simply soak in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  My hope through this series is that we would not only gain a deeper appreciation for Christ and his work for us,…

Weekly Update – August 15th, 2024 I have said on several occasions that everything we strive to do at First Baptist Church is deliberate.  We are not looking to merely fill your time, nor are we looking for additional meetings to take up nights of your week.  Instead, we want to use the time that we have together as a church to its fullest as we seek to fulfill our mission to proclaim and display the truth of the gospel…

Weekly Update – August 8th, 2024 On Sunday morning for the last two weeks, we have been talking about evangelism.  Two weeks ago, we saw the apostle Paul’s desire for his fellow countrymen to be saved (Rom. 10:1). This desire flows out of the agony that he has in his heart because of their separation from God (Rom. 9:3).  Though they have a zeal for God, Paul says that their zeal does not come with a knowledge of the truth…

Weekly Update – August 1st, 2024 During our members’ meeting last Sunday, there was a lot of discussion about what it looks like to remove non-attending members from membership.  Ten years ago, we had 2200 members connected to our church.  Since then, we have removed those who have passed away and those who we are unable to contact.  That amounted to around 1400 members.  Now we are in the process of removing members we have contact information for but who…

Weekly Update – July 25th, 2024 Our summer sermon series in Amos has been one of my favorites this year.  Not because I love to hear of judgment as given by Amos in his short book, but because of the number of men we had communicate it to us as a church.  It is probably no surprise to say that Amos is not the easiest book to understand.  You read about “the cows of Bashan” (4:1), “Sikkuth your king, and…

Weekly Update – July 18th, 2024 On Saturday, July 13th, just before 6:15pm, a shooter at a rally for Donald Trump shot the former president in the ear in an assassination attempt.  There has not been a president injured in an assassination attempt since Ronald Reagan was shot on March 31st, 1981. Therefore, what we witnessed just a few days ago, makes this a rare event in American history.  The next day, when we as a church gathered, we prayed…

Weekly Update – July 11th, 2024 This week, we have had the opportunity to host our annual Vacation Bible School. The theme for this year is, Breaker Rock Beach: God’s Rock Solid Truth in a World of Shifting Sands. Every day children from our church and all over our community have come to learn about truth is found in God and we should therefore follow his plan shown to us through Jesus Christ. Our memory verse for the week is from Romans…

Weekly Update – July 4th, 2024 Today is Independence Day. Many of us will celebrate it with cookouts, family get togethers, and fireworks. It was almost 250 years ago that the United States broke off from England, yet that revolutionary spirit still characterizes our country. As with those from other nations, many of us are proud of what our country stands for when it comes to freedom, liberty and the pursuit of whatever it is you want to become.  At…

Weekly Update – June 27th, 2024 Last Saturday morning, 13 youth and 4 adult volunteers loaded up two 15 passenger vans to head off to Ascend Camp.  After months of planning and fundraising, we were finally ready to travel over to Lake Williamson in Carlinville, IL. Ascend Camp has been hosted by Mission Road Bible Church since 2012 and now has over 1000 students who attend every year.  I had the opportunity to have a front row seat at this…

Weekly Update – June 20th, 2024 Every year, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) meets in June for its annual meeting.  The convention contains just over 50,000 churches with an average of 10,000 or so messengers attending this annual meeting on behalf of member churches.  The SBC was formed in 1845 with the singular purpose of, “eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the Baptist denomination of Christians, for the propagation of the Gospel.”  First Baptist Church is an active member…

Weekly Update – June 13th, 2024 On Sunday morning, we took the time to read through the entire book of James.  For the last six months have spent most of our Sunday morning gatherings dissecting this letter written by James, the half-brother of Jesus. James is writing to many within with the church who have been scattered throughout for their faith in Jesus Christ (1:1).  They have undergone suffering (1:2, 5:7), injustice (5:4) and persecution (5:6) leading to the temptation…

Weekly Update – June 6th, 2024 In James 5:17-18 we read, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.  Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” Last Sunday we looked at James 5:13-18 and the call to “Pray with Faith”. This passage is often debated, and for good reason,…