First Baptist Church Thomson, Ga

Advent is a season of waiting in great expectation, a time of hopeful longing. What are people longing for more than anything else? Peace--Shalom--Wholeness and well-being. The peace that Jesus brings is far superior to the weak, passive version the world promises (John 14:27). We turn to Isaiah 2, 6, and 11 to discover three important aspects of the powerful, passionate peace of God that passes all understanding.

Hope is something all people long to have. We wait for better days to come, for sorrow and pain to pass away, for new beginnings and second chances, for fresh opportunities. Isaiah 40 is written to the people of Israel, who after languishing in Babylonian exile, wondered if there was any hope that they would be restored to their land, for the temple to be rebuilt, and for their relationship with their God to be made new. As we begin Advent, we also wait. We lament the conditions of our world and we long for God to set things right. We pray and watch for signs of His presence. We need to hear Isaiah’s words and see the Christ who is their fulfilment.

In this final sermon in the Grace Enough series, we discover from 2 Corinthians that there is grace enough for us to give. Paul gives us three examples: the Macedonian churches, the Corinthian church, and Jesus, and helps us see that no matter our circumstances, as recipients of God's grace, we are called to excel in the grace of giving of our resources to the Lord, to meet needs and make disciples.

Service is a gift of grace, because it helps us keep an outward focus, to look up to God in gratitude for His generosity to us, and to look out to those around us in service so we can pass along His gifts to them. This sermon focuses on how God gives us the grace to serve others in His name, to serve the Body of Christ, and how that service helps us overcome our self-centered tendencies. (The sermon led into a deacon ordination for three men in our church, which is not included in this audio).

It's easy for us to grumble and complain in a culture focused on convenience and comfort. Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 9 and the words of Psalm 66 can help us discover that God gives us grace enough to be grateful in good times and bad, through the ups and downs of life, and how gratitude can cure us of selfishness and complaining.

God's grace is certainly amazing. It is also sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9), meaning it is "enough"--enough for our salvation and enough for our daily living. One gift of God's grace is our ability to grieve losses in this life, to deal with the effects of living in a sinful and fallen world, what the Old Testament often calls "lament." In this sermon, we look at King David's example to discover the times when we need to grieve and the tools God gives us to help us grieve.

Jesus calls Himself the True Vine--He is the only way to life in God's Kingdom. And He calls us to be connected to Him, as branches to a vine. In this message, we'll discover what that means, how remaining in Jesus gives us access to His life and love flowing through us to empower and motivate us as His followers. We'll look at some ways we can stay connected with Jesus and what that connection will produce in and through us.

Through this interactive lesson Jesus has with the crowd and with His disciples after the feeding of the 5,000, we discover that Jesus, the Bread of Life, is the true and better bread. Jesus calls us to make a decision about what we will do with the Better Bread. Will we be like the ancient Israelites and grumble, complain, question, doubt, and walk away? Or will we come to learn from Him, feast on Him, and believe and know that He is the Holy One of God? To whom else can we go? Jesus has the words of eternal life!

Jesus’ first recorded miraculous sign in John’s Gospel was at a wedding, and His final one was at a funeral. Both were meant to manifest God’s glory and to strengthen our faith. Jesus' statement, "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" is spoken in the context of this seventh and final of Jesus' miraculous signs in John (aside from His own resurrection).

In this next "I Am" statement, Jesus further expands on the ideas we looked at last time in John 7-9. In this message, we look at the first of two "I Am" statements in John 10--"I Am the Gate for the sheep." What does Jesus mean by referring to Himself as the “gate” or door for the sheep? We must look at how shepherds corralled their sheep at night in biblical times in Israel. Then we will look at four implications of this profound claim.

We are looking at Jesus' "I Am" statements in John's gospel so we can discover who Jesus is...in His own words. Today, we look at Jesus' statement, "I Am the Light of the World" from John 8:12 in the broader context of John 7-9. We will see that this profound pronouncement comes with three precious promises and is supported by one powerful proof--giving sight to a man born blind!

We are beginning a series of messages from John’s Gospel on the I AM sayings of Jesus. One of the key themes of John’s Gospel is to tell us WHO Jesus is. The best person to hear from to know who Jesus is, to evaluate our beliefs against—is Jesus Himself! So through these sermons, we will explore what Jesus said of Himself—His I AM statements allow us to hear who Jesus is in His own words. In this message, we unpack the astonishing statement from Jesus that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the only way we can come to the Father. We will discover how this statement is rooted both in the ancient Jewish customs of betrothal and marriage, as well as the events of the Exodus. It is vital we understand and believe that Jesus IS God. He is the Groom, and we are the bride, and the only way to the Marriage Feast of the Lamb is with Him.

In this final message of this series, we complete the circle of our Disciple’s Path by fully turning outward as we answer the Great Commission to Go for Christ to Make Disciples. Without the outward journey of making disciples, the inward journey of being disciples only leads to stagnation and stunted spiritual growth. In this sermon we walk through a few key moments in the book of Acts to see how we can go in the power of the Spirit to make disciples.

Jesus said that we serve Him as we love and serve others in His name. Service is as vital to our spiritual growth as is coming to worship and growing in groups as we study the Bible. We can think of serving as a connecting trail from the more upward and inward focus of worship and spiritual growth to the outward focus of making disciples.

Looking at Paul’s words to the Philippians, we discover two important truths about our discipleship journey into Christlikeness. While we are chiefly responsible for our own spiritual walk, we do not--and cannot--walk alone. We are saved into a community: the Family of God. And we believe the relationships forged in small group Bible studies are the best way to experience that community.

Sadly, worship is one of the most divisive and misunderstood functions of churches today. So-called "worship wars" break God's heart, harm our witness, and misunderstand the nature and purpose of worship. Using Paul’s words to the Colossian church, we will focus on the importance of how we worship together on Sundays as the gathered Body of Christ.

Today we begin a sermon series on The Disciple’s Path as we consider how we should follow Jesus on a lifelong journey of discipleship to become more like Him and less like the world. We’ll look at our church’s four-fold process of discipleship: Come to Worship, Grow in Groups, Serve in Love, and Go and Tell. But first, let’s think about this spiritual journey Jesus calls us to follow when we put our faith and trust in Him.

These last two verses of Jude's letter are a doxology, turning our focus up to God in praise and adoration. They also serve as an encouragement for believers to endure the attacks of the ungodly with hope, not giving up in keeping ourselves in God’s love. We are reminded that those who truly belong to the Lord, the Beloved who are contending for the true and holy faith, will endure to the end--not because of who we are or what we do, but all because of who God is and what He has done.

Jude concludes his criticism of the ungodly and moves to some commands for the beloved, those of us who are called and loved by God and kept for Christ Jesus. He gives us a battle plan for contending for the faith, and it involves three essential steps: remember, remain, and rescue.

Jude concludes the first half of his letter, explaining the challenge that faces churches in his day: false teachers who have infiltrated the faith by stealth. They may look good on the outside and talk a good talk, but inwardly they are dangerous and toxic. Jude gives us one final warning before he moves on to how we are to contend for the faith against these challenges. He tells us to watch out for the way of the wicked, because if we’re not careful, we might follow their example and discover we are far off the trail and in dangerous territory.