Tag: Worship

Woman sitting cross-legged on a blanket meditating on a mountain overlooking a valley at sunrise

Morning Musing: Philippians 4:6-7

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“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Our world is awash in anxiety. It’s popular in many places to have a therapist or counselor these days which is a good thing, but the very fact that so many feel like they need that help is an indication of the problem. The truth is that many more people could use it than actually get it. Yet while there is undoubtedly anxiety that is genuinely clinical, a great deal more of it is more situational in nature. It is the result of not having the worldview resources to deal with the challenges life throws our way from time to time. Christianity has such worldview resources, and one of the best of them is right here. Let’s take a look.

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Morning Musing: Romans 15:8-12

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“For I say that Christ became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers, and so that Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, ‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praise to your name.’ Again it says, ‘Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people!’ And again, ‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples praise him!’ And again, Isaiah says, ‘The root of Jesse will appear, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; the Gentiles will hope in him.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The Gospel is for everyone. No one is exempt from it. No one gets left out of its offer of life if they will receive it. But because of our natural tribalism, this broad availability hasn’t often been so easy for us to wrap our minds and especially our hearts around. We want the Gospel to be for us and people who are like us. Other people…not so much. And yet, as much as we might be inclined in this direction, the biggest obstacle to our walking this way is the New Testament itself and passages like this one. Let’s talk about it.

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Advent Reflections: Romans 11:33-12:1

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“Oh, the depths of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?’ And ‘who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.” (CSB – Read the chapter here and here)

Christmas is a time for giving gifts. That has been the tradition at least in the West for hundreds of years. And how interesting it is that even as Christmas has been thoroughly secularized and commercialized by our culture, stripping away almost everything that saw to the creation of the holiday in the first place, gift giving has remained. I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, whenever we got a gift we had to write a thank you note. It’s a practice we have instilled in our kids as well. When you receive a gift, it is right and proper to respond in some way to demonstrate your gratitude. Well, the gift that sparked all the gift giving we still celebrate today was the gift of Jesus. It is only right that we respond to this gift. Let’s talk about how.

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Buildings Matter

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A year ago, we started out on a journey to expand and renovate our facilities here at First Baptist Oakboro. Over this week and next, we are checking back in on where we are, what God is doing, and why the work we are pursuing is still worth the effort. We’ll start today with the prophet Haggai and his call for the people of Israel to rebuild the temple. When we put God’s things first, He blesses the effort. Let’s dive in.

Buildings Matter

Have you ever hit one of those seasons when everything just feels like a rat race? You wake up, get dressed, go to work, come home, go to bed, and start it all over the next day. It feels like nothing ever really changes. You aren’t really going anywhere. You’re just doing the things that need to be done because they need to be done. You never feel like you get to the things you do just because you want to do them. No sooner do you get to what seems like it will be the end of one season than you find yourself back at the start having to run the whole thing over. It can all start to feel pointless. It can be depressing. How do we find purpose again when we get stuck like this? The answer is found in putting first things first. 

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The Owner’s Kid

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Having a bunch of stuff is nice. Being able to afford basically whatever you want to do is convenient. But not many have access to that kind of wealth, to those kinds of resources. Thankfully, there’s another way to be rich. This other way doesn’t come with quite as much stuff as the first way, but the benefits are still pretty great. As we continue our conversation about living in God’s big world, this week we are talking about another way we can be sure to do just that. Let’s dig into it together.

The Owner’s Kid

Have you ever been to one of those trampoline parks like Urban Air? Those places are great. We don’t get to them very often, but the kids always have a ball when we do. But they tend to require large places to be able to set up, they’re pretty expensive to visit, and they are usually pretty far away from the country. Several years ago, there was a brief flash of businesses designed to be an answer to this problem: Bouncy House places. They weren’t as big or elaborate, and they tended to be focused on slightly younger, smaller kids, but they could operate much more inexpensively than their bigger cousins, they didn’t need as much space—a simple storefront is fine—and what kid doesn’t love a bouncy house? And if one is good, a whole building full of them is obviously better. 

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