August 14. 2016 | Micah 6:1-8 | Do. Love. Walk.

This week we will role out our new mission and vision statement along with our new tagline and logo. This change marks a significant transition in the life of First Baptist and we will talk about how the future of where we are going is connected to where we’ve been, how God has used First Baptist to further the ongoing creation of the world, and how Micah 6:8 reminds us of the type of work we should be focused on: doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly.

August 21, 2016 | Matthew 5:3-11 | Do. Love. Walk: Communing with Christ | Pastors Larry and Ben

Focusing on the bread and cup and how they connect to God’s call on our lives to do, and to love, and to walk in Christ. 

August 28 | John 4:1-26 | Do. Love. Walk: Doing as Christ Does

Jesus meets the woman who is shamed, ridiculed, abandoned, hated, and abused in the middle of the day at the well. He speaks to her. Listens to her. Asks her questions.  Jesus meets her in the midst of her anguish and encourages, loves, and commissions. We will do well to do this kind of justice, to love this kind of kindness, and to walk with this kind of humility. We should do as Jesus does in John 4. 

September 4 | 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 | Do. Love. Walk: Loving as Christ Loves 

The love of Christ urges us on . . . urges us on to pursue reconciliation . . . urges us on to pursue righteousness . . . urges us on to pursue what it means to be a new creation. When we love as Christ loves, then the old has gone and the new has come. Seeing how Paul writes in a reverse argument, we will read this text backwards to better understand what it means and why we are called to love as Christ loves. 

September 11 | 1 John 2:1-6 | Do. Love. Walk: Walking as Christ Walked

Using 1 John’s phrase, “By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked,” this sermon will offer an overview of just how Jesus ‘walked.’ Jesus spent time with the poor, the dirty, the outcast, the Pharisees, the tax collectors, the masses, the disciples, and even himself. He lived for the people and served the people out of love. 

September 18 | Mark 12:28-31 | Do. Love. Walk: An Inward Journey

Jesus calls us to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This inner journey is required of Christians. We must do the hard work of loving God with our heart but also our mind and soul and strength. This inward journey is why we practice spiritual disciplines. This sermon calls us to embrace the spiritual journey of finding and loving and embracing our selves. 

September 25 | Mark 12:28-31 | Do. Love. Walk: An Outward Calling

Jesus calls us to love our neighbors — period. We don’t get to judge our neighbors, define our neighbors. We are to love them. This love is an outward calling. And the best way we can do that is letting the stranger remain strange. We don’t get to reorient people to our wishes. The most hospitable thing to do is let the stranger remain strange. 

October 16 | Mark 2:1-12 | Doing Something Together

A paralyzed man needed to get to Jesus. Four of his friends took him up to a roof and lowered him down through the ceiling. This work to help people get to Christ, to overcome their inadequacies, to befriend the broken, and to take them to Jesus is what we are called to do as church. Too often the church is what are blocking broken people from getting and seeing Jesus. It takes a church willing to do something together to think about getting on the roof and lowering a person down to Jesus’ feet. This is church. 

October 23 | Luke 19:1-10 | Loving Something Together

This is the story of Zacchaeus. He lived an independent life that preyed on the weak and powerless. He wasn’t well liked. But when Jesus walked into the city, Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. By the end of the story, Jesus went home with Zacchaeus and eventually Zacchaeus is moved to give away his possessions to the poor. He realized his place was to give what he had to those who needed it, not hoard it for himself. He realized the power of loving something more than himself and working together to affect change. We should do the same. 

October 30 | John 1:43-51 | Walking Somewhere Together

Jesus calls his first disciples saying, “You will see greater things than these . . . come, follow me . . . come and see.” Jesus is saying the same to you and me. Come and see. Come and follow me. Come and you will see greater things than you can imagine. The call to follow Christ is the call to walk somewhere together. We must be people on a journey who are ready to come and see. 

November 6 | Matthew 5:3-11 | Do. Love. Walk. is More than a Phrase

Those of us who’ve gone ahead are Saints. Their faith mirrors that of the Beatitudes. Their mercy and meekness paved the way for us to be here. Their stewardship made possible our faith and practice. Our stewardship must do the same. We must be people who do for the next generation. We must be people who love the next generation. We must be people who walk in a way that opens doors for the next generation. To do this, we must give to the church. 

November 13 | Luke 12:13-21 | Do. Love. Walk: A Vision for the Future

This sermon is about the parable of the rich fool. He is about to die so he goes out and builds a bigger barn to store more of his things. God admonishes this kind of foolishness for him and for us. We must be people who have a better vision for the future. It can’t be only for us. We’re here for a short about of time and have limited resources with limited availability, let’s make the biggest difference we can for people. 

November 20 | Luke 17:11-19 | Do. Love. Walk. A Thankful Heart

The sermon is about the ten men healed of leprosy. Only on returned to thank Jesus and praise him. Jesus’ response was, “Your thankfulness and humility and faith have saved you.” We must be people who are thankful. We are not self-made. It takes a village and we all affect one another. We must be people who show our thankfulness.