First Baptist Church Thomson, Ga

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!

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.