How do you respond when things don’t go your way? One of the sobering things about being a parent is that you see yourself in your kids, and sometimes, you don’t like what you see. Our children can often act as a mirror revealing to us what we are really like. When it comes to hard or disappointing times I’d…
“I have ceased from my wandering and going astray, since Jesus came into my heart” -Since Jesus Came Into My Heart Last Sunday, we sang the hymn “Come thou fount of every blessing”. ‘Prone to wander’ was one of the lines that we had focused on in our devotional last week. We saw a story in 1 Samuel 25 where…
The lyrics throughout the beloved hymn “Come, thou fount of every blessing” speak to different ways God shows his mercy toward us…Mercy that rescues us from danger and Mercy that rescues us from ourselves. From our own wandering. Mercy is something that King David had experienced on countless occasions. He wrote of God’s mercy all over the Psalms. Not just…
Introduction: There is a quote that I used all the time during my young adult years. You may be familiar with it. The quote is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi and it says: “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” I think the main point of this quote is valid…if all we do is ‘talk’, and…
I’m quickly growing in the belief that hope is one of the most powerful forces on the planet. I’m not sure if I made this up or if I stole/adapted it from someone else, but “if you want to destroy a person, destroy their hope.” Our main focus for this Sunday is on praying that God would open our ears…
“Open the eyes of my heart Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.” As we continue in our new sermon series: ‘Open’…we had the special blessing of celebrating a baptism last week and will be celebrating another one next Sunday! Last Sunday we heard of the amazing impromptu baptism of one of our youth. This,…
This Sunday, we are beginning a new series focused on seeking God’s will in our prayer lives every day. This series pairs well with our closing hymn for this Sunday, “Open My Eyes, That I May See.”[we wrote previously about this song here] In this series, we will be exploring the following topics: – Open our minds to understand the…
This Sunday is Rally Day at First Baptist Church—a time to celebrate what God has done and look with anticipation to what lies ahead. God has been up to some great things in the ministries and lives of the people of First Baptist. We have no shortage of reasons to praise God for what He has done over the past…
Scripture references: Isaiah 53:3, 6. Mark 14:22-25, 27, 29-31, 51-52, Mark 15:46, Mark 16:5-6, 8, Amos 2:6-16. Introduction: “Man of sorrows, Lamb of God. By His own betrayed. The sin of men and wrath of God has been on Jesus laid.” On this communion Sunday, we come together to remember what Jesus accomplished in His death, burial and resurrection. This…
Introduction: “I need thee every hour, stay Thou nearby; Temptations lose their power when thou art nigh.” As we approach Labor Day weekend and the end of our first summer meeting together as one unified body…I am struck by the focus our combined worship format has put on the theology behind the songs we sing on Sunday mornings. This week…