Posts by Michael Nelson (Page 3)

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,…

Weekly Update – May 30th, 2024 In his book titled, Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper says, “God created us to live with a single passion:  to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life.”  In other words, we live life to marvel at the grace of God and to display his greatness.  And we do this in every realm and in every function of our life.  So if we think about all spheres of life, we…

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…

Weekly Update – May 16th, 2024 Over the last year, we have been slowly walking through our newly adopted statement on Biblical Sexuality.  There are nine points to this statement.  This week we will look at point eight.  Point one can before found HERE.  Point two, HERE.  Point three, HERE.  Point four, HERE.  Point five, HERE. Point six, HERE. Point seven, HERE.  Point eight is as follows: The grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power. This pardon and power enable a…

Weekly Update – May 9th, 2024 As Christians, I doubt that any of us would say that we feel satisfied in how often we pray or in how committed we are to other spiritual disciplines.  We should always find ourselves striving to know the Lord better and seeking to deny ourselves and to serve other people.  But in the goal setting and striving for more, we ought not to find ourselves seeking to change everything.  Yes we want to follow…

Weekly Update – May 2nd, 2024 At our members’ meeting last Sunday (4/28), the elders announced a new segment under our section on membership.  It is called “ the care list.”  The purpose of this list is to give the members of the church an opportunity to provide extra care for other certain members.  It is our attempt at presenting a loving way for the church to pursue those who might be straying, as well as others who might be…

Weekly Update – April 25th, 2024 In James chapter 4, our writer begins by asking the question, “what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?”  James is not asking because he doesn’t know the answer here though.  He is asking because he knows the answer and he is trying to make a point with his readers.  The reason for their fighting and quarreling is because their “passions are at war” inside of them. (Jas. 4:1).  What makes this worse…

Weekly Update – April 18th, 2024 Money is not an easy topic to bring up with anyone.  Nobody wants to think about a debt they owe, just as no one likes to come face to face with how much or how little money they have.  Yet in our world, we have accountants, financial planners, and the IRS that all tell us what we should do with our money.  No matter what our thoughts are here, the question we should ask…