By Chuck Williams
Interim Pastor, First Baptist Church, Milan

Focal Passage: John 15:9-17

Some things for me are hard to believe. It’s hard for me to believe that I grew up in a home where the telephone was attached to the wall. Hard for me to believe that when I changed channels on the television I had to get up from the couch and walk over to it. Hard to believe that I rarely got to see Bonanza because it played from 6:30-7:30 on Sunday night. It’s hard for me to believe I actually survived!!

Please indulge my sarcasm, but on a serious note, what is really  hard to believe is that Jesus chose me, became my friend, loved me and laid down His life for me. How is that magnificent love manifested? We discover how in John 15:9-17.

Obedient love — This love was to be the number one mark of a believer. It was not to be whimsical, mystical, or purely emotional.  Obedience to His commands would be the natural flow of a believer. It is the thermometer showing  how hot or cold our passion for Jesus ran. [Read more…]

By Chuck Williams
Interim Pastor, First Baptist Church, Milan

Focal Passage: John 13:36-14:6

One of the most popular performances at a circus is the flying trapeze. As the daredevils swing and turn through the air into the arms of the ‘catcher’ the crowd wonders, “Will they slip and fall to the ground?” Why is the ‘flyer’ willing to do such a dangerous act? Answer: The flyer trusts the catcher to hold him in his grip.

In these verses, in essence, Jesus is saying to His perplexed disciples, “I know what I am telling you is difficult to comprehend, but trust Me, I have a grip on this.”

Even our best promises can falter and fail. Jesus had said, “You can’t go where I am going.” Peter, full of emotional fervor, boasted, “I will lay down my life for your sake.” But the Lord knew Peter better than Peter knew Peter. Peter had always been there with Him and for Him, but He also knew Peter was making a promise he couldn’t keep. [Read more…]

By Chuck Williams
Interim pastor, First Baptist Church, Milan

Focal Passage: John 13:21-27, 31-35 

The worst betrayal (vv. 21-27).Loyalty in times of crisis is one of the greatest gifts a person can give someone. Disloyalty in times of crisis makes a wound that hurts like no other, causes grief beyond comprehension, and can linger a lifetime.

The Emperor of Rome, Julius Caesar knew about such treachery. Some of his closest colleagues had secretly become sinister conspirators. One of those was a very close confidant named Marcus Junus Brutus whom he loved as a son. 

The Senatorial conspirators with knives drawn, suddenly attacked Caesar. Historians say initially he fought them off but when Brutus emerged from the group with knife in hand, he slumped in his chair and asked this very famous question “Et tu Brute?”, which translated means — “And you too, Brutus?” This Latin phrase is now seen as the epitome of betrayal. [Read more…]

By Chuck Williams
Interim pastor, First Baptist Church, Milan

Focal Passage: John 13:3-10, 14-16

Elon Musk, the world’s most famous inventor and entrepreneur, sarcastically remarked, “I don’t want to brag, but I am the best at humility.”  This tongue-in-cheek remark garnered him lots of laughs but also produced a window into the human soul.  

For many of us, it is our hope that our ‘humble service’ will be spot-lighted. Being a servant of Christ is not about recognition, platforming, networking or titles. He profoundly stated that He didn’t come to be served and waited on; He came to serve sacrificially (Matthew 20:28).

Let’s see what “spiritual” looks like in these verses. [Read more…]

By Kenny Bruce
Pastor Emeritus, Leawood East Baptist Church, Memphis

Focal Passage: Genesis 50:15-21 

When we see our lives from God’s perspective, His providence shines through the events that seem tangled or meaningless.

1. Providence revealed (vv. 18-19). After Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers were afraid Joseph was holding a grudge against them and would punish them for the suffering they had caused him when they sold him as a slave years earlier (v. 15). That fear led them to tell Joseph that their father had commanded that he forgive their wrongdoing. Whether or not Jacob said that, they knew that the final wishes of their dying father would have a tremendous impact on Joseph.

Joseph shed tears because he knew firsthand of his father’s desires that his family stay united, and it crushed him that his brothers still feared him. He wanted to relate to them on their level in a familial relationship. It certainly grieved him that his brothers did not trust in his forgiveness. [Read more…]