Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
April 6, 2025
By Troy RustMission strategist • Holston Baptist AssociationFocal Passage: Mark 15:33-39; 16:1-8 The suffering of Christ on Calvary is impossible for us to fully understand. The Son of God who laid aside His glory (Philippians 2:6-7) and took on our flesh (John 1:14) experienced all our temptations (Hebrews 4:15), and went to the cross to […]
April 6, 2025
By Mike DawsonRetired Tennessee pastorFocal Passage: John 20:1-2, 11-18 Through the years blockbuster films often billed its stars like this: “Gone with the Wind, with Clark Gable — featuring Viven Leigh.” A more famous actor would be designated “with,” while an upcoming star was labeled “featuring.” Today’s lesson might seem to be titled “The Resurrection, […]
March 31, 2025
By Troy RustMission strategist • Holston Baptist AssociationFocal Passage: 1 Peter 4:1-11 When I was in elementary school I received a report card every six weeks. In addition to the fear and trembling activated by the grades, there was a preprinted set of behavioral concerns that teachers could mark each grading period. Multiple times […]
March 31, 2025
By Mike Dawson Retired Tennessee pastorFocal Passage: John 11:25-27 38-44 Sometimes a chapter of the Bible is so filled with excitement and life-truths that to focus on only a few verses of it seems almost irreverent. That’s the case today; our focal passage is just ten verses (out of 57 jam-packed ones) in John 11. […]
March 24, 2025
By Troy RustMission strategist • Holston Baptist AssociationFocal Passage: I Peter 3:13-22 As Christians our lives should draw a clear line between good and evil. Our suffering should be for the sake of righteousness and our testimony should affirm the same truth. First Peter 3:15 puts “Lord” first (the emphatic position), revealing the Lordship of […]
March 24, 2025
By Mike DawsonTennessee pastorFocal Passage: John 9:1-11; 30-33 Many people have eye diseases, but only about 4 out of every 10,000 are born blind. Today’s study from John chapter 9 tells about one such rare individual. He became even more rare by being healed of congenital blindness. His story was the sixth of seven ‘sign-miracles’ […]
March 17, 2025
By Troy RustMission strategist • Holston Baptist Association Focal Passage: I Peter 3:1-12 Submit is not a dirty word, but some Christians have tried hard to redefine it. As Jerry Vines said, “they use our vocabulary, but not our dictionary.” Ephesians 5:21 tells us we should submit to one another “in the fear of […]
March 17, 2025
By Mike DawsonTennessee pastorFocal Passage: John 6:16-21 If people say a person “walks on water,” you know they consider that person to be a Godlike miracle-worker. You also know that the phrase walking on water originated with something our Lord Jesus Christ did during His life on earth. We see Him working that miracle in […]
March 17, 2025
By Troy RustMission strategist • Holston Baptist AssociationFocal Passage: I Peter 2:11-17, 21-25 Most transient people have one thing in common – they travel lightly. How often have you seen a hitchhiker pulling a wagon? They tend to have the clothes on their backs and only a few very portable possessions, because they know they […]
March 17, 2025
By Mike DawsonRetired Tennessee pastorFocal Passage: John 6:1-15 “Little Is Much When God is in It.” Those are words from a song that goes way back in my memory. But they’re more than words in a tune; they’re the truth. And they are the underlying truth of this week’s focal passage, John 6:1-15, from the […]
March 10, 2025
By Troy Rust Mission strategist • Holston Baptist AssociationFocal Passage: I Peter 2:1-10 Have you ever noticed the singular focus of a baby’s diet? While we as adults are scarfing down pizza, cheeseburgers, macaroni and cheese and an endless list of other foods that are not good for us, newborn babies simply want milk […]
March 10, 2025
By Mike DawsonRetired Tennessee pastorFocal Passage: John 5:1-11, 17-20 Today’s study is one of my all-time favorite stories from the life of Jesus, especially because of the question He asks. Out of one-hundred and thirty-five questions Jesus asked in the New Testament, this story contains one of His most startling! Our series is entitled All […]