“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
There are two ideas in Jesus’ words here that are absolutely essential to understand if we are going to do life well during our time on earth. The first reminds us that how we live now matters. The second reminds us of our desperate need for grace. We’ll tackle one this morning, and one on Monday morning. Read the rest…
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
At first read, this is a pretty far-out there claim for Paul to make. I mean, as far as an objective fact goes it is totally false. He was not crucified with Christ. As far as we know, he was not anywhere nearby when Jesus was crucified. More than that, given where he was theologically then, he would have been part of the crowd cheering on the event. He would likely have been glad to have been able to drive the nails into His hands and feet himself. So what does he mean? Read the rest…
Yesterday was Resurrection Sunday! We celebrated our risen Lord together by telling the incredible story of which we can be a part if we will receive Him as our Lord. We celebrated our part in this great story as individuals, but also as a whole community as we finally put together the three key pieces of our identity into one clear and compelling idea: First Baptist is a place where people can connect to grow in Christ and reach out for His kingdom. Keep reading to see how this all unfolded.
Telling Our Story
Three weeks ago, we started a journey together. It was a journey that came out of a conversation about who we are as a church; what our God-given identity is. The idea here is that while each individual person has a unique, God-designed identity, so do whole churches. The church is the body of Christ and we are individually members of it. That means we each have a specific role to play in the body, but one local church does not by itself comprise the whole body of Christ. That means that each individual local church is itself part of the larger body of Christ and thus has a specific role to play as a community in that larger body. Read the rest…
“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (ESV – Read the chapter)
One of the things I have told my congregations many times over the years is that we have to get God’s character right. If we don’t get the character of God right, much of the rest of our lives will be incredibly more difficult than they would otherwise be. Read the rest…
“The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?'” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Put yourself in the shoes of the woman at the well for a moment. Jesus was offering her something which sounded way too good to be true. Even thinking literally, this was the case. She thought Jesus was talking about a literal kind of water that you could drink and never be thirsty again. Spiritually, it sounds even better. But, as good as it sounded–or rather, because it sounded so very good–she did not believe it was really something He could do. How often have we been in the same kind of place? Read the rest…
The Nexus 