First Baptist Church Thomson, Ga

The world-changing “Good News of great joy for all people” was and is always spread through people. Far more consequential than the angel chorus is the excited proclamation of some humble shepherds who rushed to see what God had done, and spread the news to everyone! Our task is to encounter the Jesus the angels sang of and to follow the shepherds' examples in coming to Jesus and sharing Him with others.

In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel announced good but unexpected news to two couples. This news announced to them will require surrender, commitment, and sacrifice. They had to receive and believe this news with faith, trust, and humble dependence on God. In their reactions to these announcements, we learn four truths to help us respond to God's unexpected plans, provision, and presence with faith and obedience.

The story of Christmas begins with an active, purposeful kind of waiting, with an expectation that the Messiah would come, and that God would make good on His ancient promises. As we begin Advent with the Hanging of the Green service, we think about how we can wait expectantly for God’s Good News in our lives and in a world that is all-too-often filled with bad news.

Jesus' Olivet Discourse in Mark 13 (see also Matthew 24-25 and Luke 21) is one of the most difficult to understand in the Gospels. Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, prompting the disciples to ask about when that will happen and what will be the signs preceding it. Jesus answers their questions, but uses this to point further into the future to an even greater tribulation before His Second Coming. In this sermon, we see that Jesus was far more concerned with preparing His followers for living faithfully in the face of persecution than He was in our trying to figure out the date and details of His return. We must live every day as if Christ was returning today!

Have you ever been amazed by Jesus? Has God’s love and what Jesus did for you at Calvary left you beside yourself with awe and wonder? As we look at Jesus' resurrection in Mark's Gospel, may we regain a sense of that amazement, as we see God's amazing love demonstrated not only in Jesus' death, but in His resurrection.

While Mark helps us understand Jesus’ identity, many people--even some of those closest to Him--didn’t understand or recognize Him. Now that we’ve come to the Cross, to the moment for which Jesus was born, it becomes clear. And looking through the eyes of three different people who witnessed Jesus’ death on the cross, perhaps we can learn to see clearly who that man on the Cross truly is.

In reading about the rushed trial Jesus faced in the middle of the night and the next morning, we discover that He wasn’t really the one on trial. Rather, Jesus is the Judge exposing the sins of those working to condemn and deny Him. The Sanhedrin, Peter, and Pilate are the ones on trial! And in exposing their guilt, Jesus forces us to look into our own hearts as well...for we, too, are on trial.

The call to Christian discipleship is the call to come and die to self, sin, and the ways of the world. It is a call to sacrificial giving and sacrificial living. When God calls us to sacrificial giving or to step outside our comfort zone or in faith to risk our reputation, friends, or possessions, how will we respond? In today’s passage we see four possible options for our response to the cup of hardship, sacrifice, and obedience.

We often encounter Jesus at a table in Mark's Gospel. Jesus always shared the table with His friends and His enemies, with insiders and outsiders. Everyone is welcome to sit at Jesus’s table. As we look at the Last Supper, we discover that Jesus has prepared a table for us, invited us to sit at His table, and that His table is meant to provide for us a vibrant relationship with God based on His gracious sacrifice.

Rev. Ben Tarver, Youth and Family Pastor, helps us think biblically and critically about faith and its relationship with our sports-oriented culture. Rev. Tarver challenges us to use our skills and interests in sports to glorify God and further His Kingdom and asks us to examine whether we get those priorities backwards.

Mark bookends this example of extravagant worship with the religious leaders' hatred for Jesus and Judas’ self-centered and jealous betrayal of Jesus. Mark is asking us to consider who we are more like when it comes to Jesus’ worth to us. What kind of price do we ascribe to Jesus in words and actions?

The call to discipleship and life in God's Kingdom is one of humble sacrifice, submission, and service. To experience the Resurrection Life and enter the Kingdom like children, we must overcome our pride. In Mark 12:35-44, Jesus teaches us how to lay down our pride and embrace the life He died to give us.

Jesus died on the cross to do no less than bring the dead to life. We are born spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. By God's grace, through faith, we are made alive with Christ, raised with Him and seated in the heavens. In today's passage, Jesus outlines four realities of this resurrection life. How do we live as ones raised to walk in the newness of life? Listen, read along in Mark 12, and discover!

The Jewish religious leaders questioned the nature and source of Jesus' authority. The "powers that be" in our own culture often question and challenge the authority of God, His Word, and His church whenever they come into conflict with their power, influence, and values. In this sermon we'll discover that God is in charge of His church and the nations, and that His authority extends to every sphere of life.

In keeping with one of Mark’s themes, the events around Palm Sunday tell us more about who Jesus Is—presenting Jesus as the King, Priest and Prophet who fulfils all three Old Testament offices to which someone could be anointed by God.

The story of Jesus giving sight to blind Bartimaeus forces us to ask how we are like that blind beggar, and whether we will leave behind our all to trust Jesus to make us whole, give us sight, and to follow Him on the way. We have to follow the same road to redemption as Bartimaeus.

Leadership continues to be an in-demand topic, with over 15,000 books on the subject in circulation today. Why then does there seem to be a dearth of good leaders? Why are so many institutions, organizations, businesses, and governments floundering? I believe it is the failure of worldly approaches to "leadership." Jesus was skilled in the art of servant leadership. And in Mark 10:32-45, Jesus unveils His masterpiece for us to see, and He teaches us how we can also master the art of being servant leaders.

In Mark 10:13-31, Jesus reveals four roadblocks that can keep us from entering God’s Kingdom, experiencing His forgiveness, and fully embracing the abundant and eternal life Jesus offers. If you think you can come to God without dealing with these roadblocks, you’ll discover that “you can’t get there from here.”

Jesus turned the debate over divorce into an explanation of the meaning of marriage. In these few versus, we discover some fundamental truths of how God made us and why He gave us marriage. If someone wants to know what Jesus taught about gender, sexuality, and marriage, Mark 10:1-12 lays it out for us!

We can struggle with following Jesus’ example of selfless service. We need to hone our knowledge and skills when it comes to being servants of God. In today’s passage, Jesus points out some weaknesses and bad habits and offers us better qualities and attitudes so we can improve our serve.