Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
May 5, 2025
By Troy RustAssociational mission strategist • Holston Baptist AssociationFocal Passage: II Peter 2:1-3, 17-19; Jude 17-23 I am currently teaching Contemporary World Religions in Seminary Extension, because the nations are coming to our cities and we need to know what they believe. The course is mostly a study of spiritual darkness. It reveals the numerous […]
May 5, 2025
By Mike DawsonRetired Tennessee pastorNote: For most of our readers this lesson is for May 11, Mother’s Day. It’s appropriate to be focusing on the prophet Elisha’s encounters with one of the most courageous and faith-filled MOTHERS in the Bible. Focal Passage: II Kings 4:8-17, 32-37 From the series Elisha: Seeing the Hand of God […]
April 28, 2025
By Troy RustAssociational mission strategist • Holston Baptist AssociationFocal Passage: I Peter 5:1-11 A CEO is much different than a shepherd. In the final decades of the twentieth century, an excessive emphasis on numerical growth began to “flip the Script[ure]” and many churches put the shepherd model out to pasture. He was replaced by a […]
April 28, 2025
By Mike DawsonRetired Tennessee pastorFocal Passage: II Kings 4:1-7 Many Bible students see the prophet Elisha as a “type” of Christ — a person in the Old Testament who behaves in a way that corresponds to Jesus’ character and/or actions in the New Testament. One scholar identifies sixteen ways Elisha is a type of Christ! […]
April 21, 2025
By Tony RustAssociational mission strategist • Holston Baptist AssociationFocal Passage: I Peter 4:12-19 I had been a Christian for several years before I heard anyone speak on God’s purpose in suffering. I had heard preachers affirm Paul’s desire “to know Him and the power of His resurrection,” but they often failed to finish the verse: […]
April 21, 2025
By Mike DawsonRetired Tennessee pastor Focal passage: I Kings 19:19-21; II Kings 2:7-15 I’m very excited about the next five weeks of studies entitled Elisha: Seeing God’s Hand at Work. Elisha is one of my favorite Old Testament characters; I love his life stories! Plus, since retiring as a pastor twenty years ago, I’ve been […]
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’ […]