First Baptist Church Thomson, Ga

As we think about Jesus entering the gates of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we should focus on Jesus as the one and only narrow gate through which we must pass to have life eternal and abundant. In this message, we focus on Jesus as the Gate through which we gain access to God.

The Kingdom of God is both the theme Jesus taught on the most, and it is the most often misunderstood by His followers. What is the Bible talking about when it mentions the Kingdom of God/Heaven? What difference does the Kingdom have in our lives as we seek to live for Jesus in a day and age where there are so many kingdoms competing for our allegiance? We will discover the answers to these questions through this look into God's Word.

Is the Lord’s Day only a Christianized Sabbath Day, or is it about something else? Are we as New Testament Christians bound to the keep Sabbath as the Israelites did under the Old Covenant? What does the Bible have to say about worship on the first day of the week? We will unpack the history, meaning, and observance of Sunday as a day of worship in this message.

Some Christians wonder if the church is relevant anymore. Can’t they worship, love, and serve Jesus without belonging to a local church? Can’t they just “do church” online—on their own terms? These questions reveal an ignorance of the doctrine of the church and why the church matters to our faith, growth, and God’s redemptive mission in the world. In this message we'll look at the Nature, Purpose, and Power of the church in our lives and God's mission in the world.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are signs and symbols of that salvation. Whenever someone is baptized or we partake of the Lord’s Supper, it’s like we are acting out a parable. We are using all our senses to experience, remember, and proclaim the truth of the Gospel. And both ordinances not only remember the past, but they anticipate what is yet to come when Christ returns.

The Gospel is about a great exchange—taking away our filthy, unrighteous garments, and giving us a new wardrobe—robes of righteousness so we can stand before a Holy God. Paul’s clearest explanation of God’s redemptive mission and the plan of Salvation is found in Romans. In this sermon, we use passages from Romans 1-3 to examine the truth that Jesus alone saves, and He saves all who come to Him in repentance and faith.

Once we know Who God is and what God does, then we can more accurately answer, “What is man?” for what we believe about humanity flows directly from what we believe about God. The #1 theological issue of today, the Christian doctrine most debated and under attack, is the doctrine of mankind. And the implications of our view of humanity is enormous, ranging in issues from families, marriage, gender, racism, government policies, abortion, medical ethics, the justice system, etc. It is vitally important we get this right!

There are lots of misconceptions and fears about God the Spirit. Disagreements and debates about the what the Spirit is like and what He does swirl around churches and denominations. In this sermon, I aim to help us gain a clearer understanding of what the Spirit is like and what He does in our lives—His attributes and activities.

Jesus reveals the Father both in who He is—Jesus IS God, just as the Father IS God; and in what He does. In other words, we can know God’s attributes and His activities—WHO God is and WHAT God does through Jesus! In this sermon, I look at Philippians 2:5-11 to give us a 30,000-foot overview of God the Son.

In this sermon, we explore the mysterious truth of the triune God. What does it mean for God to be Three Persons in one Godhead? We look at the personal attributes of the Father, Son, and Spirit that are united in the singular divine essence, nature, and being of the One God. Then, we look at God the Father. When the Bible talks about God as Father, it's vital we let Scripture define what that means—what kind of Father is our God? How does He embody and model Fatherhood for us? How can we know and relate to God the Father?

A.W. Tozer said that what we think about God is one of the most important things about us. In this message, we look at the core truth that God of the Bible is the only One Living and True God, and we can know what God is like and we can experience His activity in the world.

In this sermon, we continue to explore what it means for the Bible to be God's inspired, written Word, how it points us toward salvation and enables our sanctification, and that it is truth without any mixture of error. How can trust any of the Bible, if we can't trust all of the Bible? It has authority over our lives because it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter.

My goal in this sermon series is to help us determine if we are embracing, teaching, and living by “sound doctrine.” And to help us do this, I’ll be using the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. In this first message, we look at the bedrock of all our theology--the Bible, God's inspired and written Word. Particularly, we talk about what it means for the Bible to have God as its Author.

Psalm 34 can give us guidance in how we should pray and plan for a new year as followers of Jesus.

On this first Sunday after Christmas, we look at the significance of the gifts the Magi brought to the child Jesus. And we ask ourselves, what kind of gifts are we bringing the Lord? Are we giving God our best, or our leftovers? Are we giving God our all, or only what's convenient?

In this message we consider how Jesus is the Final and Ultimate Fulfillment of God’s Good News of great joy to all people! The Old Testament law, sacrifices, temple, and prophecies were all meant to point the way to Jesus.

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!