First Baptist Church Thomson, Ga

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.

Jude accuses the false teachers of “relying on their dreams.” The Bible has a balanced view of dreams and visions—sometimes they are from God, and sometimes they are not. Spiritual wisdom and discernment are found in knowing the differences. Jude warns us that when we follow godless dreams, we all end up in a nightmare. But it’s not too late for us to wake up and see what is happening for what it really is.

In our human sinfulness and pride, we tend to forget God’s truth and neglect to learn from the lessons of the past, and so we need to be reminded. The three examples from the Old Testament in Jude 5-7 can remind us today how serious God takes sin, and the certainty of His judgment on those who seek to deceive God’s People, Distort God’s Grace, and Deny God’s Son.

We begin this sermon series in Jude, A Faith Worth Fighting For, by looking at how Jude1-4 defines who we are and what we have in Christ, what we must believe about "The Faith" and how we must beware of those who seek to deceive God's people, distort God's grace, and deny God's son. Jude calls us to contend for the faith, and it's an urgent call for us today.

A legacy is what you leave for the people you care about and lives on after you die. The question is not if you will leave a legacy, but what kind of legacy are you going to leave? However, we don’t just leave a legacy, we lead our family into a living legacy every day. In this message, we will look at Psalms 127-128 for some vivid word pictures perfect for men: construction, weaponry, and gardening. Let’s dive into these two psalms to see what they say about how we can lead our family to a legacy of faith.

This week's #FamilyGoal is to create a culture of grace and forgiveness in our families. And to do that, we look at the dysfunctional Old Testament family of Jacob. What can we learn from this highly dysfunctional family about the power of forgiveness and how we can give and receive forgiveness in our homes?

As we continue to think about setting goals for our families, let’s think about goals for how we talk to each other. One of the rules I always had on youth trips was “No drama.” What I meant by that was, no arguing over pointless things, no gossip and name calling. Drama is one of the fastest ways to ruin a trip, a friendship, or a family. How can we handle differences and make decisions as families without unnecessary drama? This was a question the church family in Ephesus needed answered. I think we can adapt Paul’s instructions to them to how we relate and communicate in our own homes and families.

Deuteronomy 6:1-9 is one of the foundational passages of Scripture for the Jewish people—defining who God is, who they are, and how they are to love and follow God as His people. I find it remarkable that so much of this passage deals with parenting! It demonstrates that how we raise our children is directly connected to our purpose in life, our identity as a people, and our relationship with our God. One affects the other in ways often overlook. I think of this passage as the Great Commission for Christian parents. If we want to succeed at raising children who know, love, and follow Jesus, we need to do the right things, as outlined here.

What kind of goals could we set as brothers and sisters in Christ? What about working on loving one another as Jesus loves us? Jesus has set a very high bar for how we should love each other as members of God’s family! But what does that look like in our day-to-day life, as we rub elbows with each other—and the inevitable friction that happens? How can we love each other in Christlike love when we sometimes aren’t very lovely people? The NT gives us a great example and a practical look at the working-out of that kind of Christian love within the church. It’s found in a personal letter written by Paul to his dear friend, Philemon. To help us think through becoming a stronger church family, loving one another as Jesus loves us, let’s look at Paul’s letter to discover some of the qualities we need to embrace and embody.

In this new sermon series, #FamilyGoals, we'll spend six weeks exploring topics like communication, forgiveness, faith, and more, equipping and encouraging us to thrive by embracing God’s design for healthy families. In this first message, on Mother's Day, we look to Hagar, to help us discover how we can overcome the chaos of life and find peace and calm in God’s care.

This message concludes the Easter series, "This Is Not the End." The good news is that we don’t have to wait for death to experience the power of the Risen Jesus. His Resurrection has implications for life today, not just for life after death. Maybe it can help us to see it illustrated in Luke’s account of Jesus’ Resurrection. In the post-resurrection experiences of those closest to Jesus, we see what it looks like to move from death to life.

Easter answers the age-old question, “Is there life after death?” The Resurrection of Jesus gives us the definitive answer: "Yes!" There is life after death, for death does not get the final word—life gets the final word! Death’s turn is nearly over, and what comes next is beyond our wildest dreams. In this message, we will discover three realities of Life… after Death has lost its power. And there aren’t three better words to express these new realities than “Faith, Hope, and Love.”

The Corinthians struggled to understand the importance and impact of Jesus' Resurrection on their own lives and eternal future. They believed in the Risen Jesus, but failed to capture why its reality mattered. In this message, we study 1 Corinthians 15 to see what a world without Easter...without a Risen Christ, would be like. In this sermon, we are blessed to hear from Mrs. Amy Lemley, as she shares how God's goodness, grace, and love has been a source of hope for her through her battle with cancer. She demonstrates how blessed we are to live in a world where there IS an Easter and an Empty Tomb!

C.S. Lewis famously said that every person must decide if Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or the Son of God. In a similar way, either Jesus' first century followers were lying, hallucinating, or telling the truth about a Risen Jesus. In this sermon we focus in on the claims of some people that the disciples lied about Jesus' resurrection. If they did, they broke every rule for telling a convincing lie.

The Cross was not the end of Jesus's story. The Tomb wasn’t the end of the story. But neither is the Resurrection—Instead, it’s a new beginning to a new story that never ends! Just as Easter allows us to look back at Crucifixion Friday and call it Good, so the reality of Christ’s Resurrection reframes all our lives going forward. We must see all suffering, grief, and fear in light of the Empty Tomb. No matter what you’ve experienced before, or what you will face tomorrow, know that “this is not the end.”

In this message, I finish this sermon series with a focus on the last two words from Jesus before He died on the Cross. Together these two words are spoken at the finish, as Jesus completes the race He came to run, finishes the work He came to accomplish, reveal two truths about Jesus's saving work, it's finality, its completion, and the promise of future rest for all who believe in Him.

In his first three sayings from the cross, Jesus focused on those around Him—forgiveness for those putting Him to death, a promise of eternal life to the thief at His side, and provision for His mother. The next two sayings continue to reveal Jesus’s human and divine nature, of the eternal weight of our sin, the incomprehensible grace of our God, and how Christ meets our great physical and spiritual needs.