Telling the Story of Tennessee Baptists Since 1835
By Tim Frank
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Carthage
Focal Passage: John 15:9-14
The subject of most conversations during the past weeks has been COVID-19 and the social distancing requirements that have been established to attempt to curb its escalation. Prayerfully, in the coming weeks, we will begin to move back into closer social gatherings and reacquaint ourselves with friends, neighbors and our church families. [Read more…]
By Tim Frank
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Carthage
Focal Passage: Job 11:13-16; 23:8-12; John 9:1-3
Two lessons ago, we established that pain and suffering can ultimately be traced back to sin, specifically the original sin in the Garden of Eden. It is easy, then, to assume all pain and suffering comes from specific sin in a person’s life. This is the driving force behind the questions, “Why am I suffering? What have I done to deserve this?”
The Bible is filled with numerous examples of persons who endured suffering without a specific cause or result of sin. Sometimes suffering has a direct cause in sin; however it is wrong to assume that a person’s suffering is the result of something sinful he has done. The poster child for this is a man named Job. An entire book of the Bible is written to establish that not all suffering is a direct result of sin. [Read more…]
By Tim Frank
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Carthage
Focal Passage: Isaiah 44:6-11; John 14:5-7
A common expression says, “All rivers flow into the sea.” The meaning is clear. There are many streams, but, ultimately, they all end the same place. This thinking has been applied in the world to all religions being roads to the same destination — heaven. In fact, it is popular in today’s tolerant, all-inclusive culture to affirm coexistence and the belief that all religions are basically the same. [Read more…]
By Tim Frank
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Carthage
Focal Passage: John 1:14-18; 8:30-32; 18:36-38
When my older daughter was in high school, one of her assignments was a debate on absolute truth. She had the side in favor of absolute truth.
In order to make the argument for absolute truth, she had to first establish there is one God who is Lord of all, maker of all and above all. Once established, the one true God is absolute truth and what He says is absolute truth. Apart from God, there is no absolute truth. In Him, there is absolute truth. [Read more…]
By Jerry Price
Retired Pastor, Spring Hill
Focal Passage: John 11:1-4, 38-45
When I was 8 years old, a lady named Maureen Ellis came to my grandfather’s mobile home park (we called it a trailer park back then) and led a Vacation Bible School-type event in the laundry room that was attached to the bathhouse.
Most mobile homes did not have bathrooms in those days, much less laundry rooms. The situation was less than ideal as women came in and out doing their laundry. But Mrs. Ellis made the best of it and shared the love of Christ with several of us kids during that week.
As a result, I began attending Ivy Memorial Baptist Church in Nashville. A friend and I would sit on the second row and try to out-sing the choir — in quantity if not in quality. I eventually invited Christ into my life at age 9. [Read more…]
By Mike Kemper
Interim Pastor, First Baptist Church, Dyer
Focal Passage: John 4:10-18, 28-30
The shortest distance between Jerusalem and Galilee was to travel through Samaria. However, in order not to be defiled, many Jews preferred detouring, going the long way to avoid the Samaritans. By the time Jesus came this way there was a strong hatred between Jews and Samaritans. Evidently Jesus felt He must confront this hostility in taking this route.
At Jacob’s well, the disciples are away. Jesus meets “a woman of Sychar” and He asks her for a drink of water. A simple request, but the woman is completely surprised that a Jewish man would even speak to her, much less ask the favor of a drink of water. [Read more…]
By Clay Hallmark
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lexington
Focal Passage: John 11:25-27; 20:24-29
John Paton is not a name that we hear very often when we think of great missionaries. Paton served for 10 years as pastor of a growing Scottish congregation, but God burdened his heart for the New Hebrides, a group of Pacific Islands inhabited by unreached people. Moreover, the inhabitants were cannibals.
Paton set his heart on one particular island. Twenty years earlier, a missionary couple had gone to that island. They were killed and cannibalized, so it was no surprise that many people attempted to dissuade Paton from going to that particular island. [Read more…]
By Michael Koontz
Pastor, Pine Ridge Baptist Church, Harriman
Focal Passage: Matthew 6:11; John 17:11–23
Praying for others is one of the greatest privileges we have as a Christian.
Recently we spoke about the spiritual discipline of prayer at our church. At the end of the service we gave out prayer Bible bookmarks that had several spots to list prayer requests. This was done to help us remember how important it is that we pray for others.
Let’s look at why we pray for others and what we can pray about for others. [Read more…]
By Sam Greer
Senior Pastor, Red Bank Baptist Church, Chattanooga
Focal Passage: John 20:2-9; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
In his sermon, “Easter is for Everyone,” Greg Laurie shared about an athiest who was upset because of all the holidays that people of faith celebrate. The atheist said to a friend, “You Christians have Christmas and Easter. And Jews celebrate their holidays, like Passover and Yom Kippur. But we atheists don’t have recgonized holidays. It’s unfair discrimination.” His friend thought about it for a moment and said, “Well, you atheists could celebrate April 1. That could be your holiday. You know, April Fool’s Day. It fits, because the Bible says, ‘the fool has said in his heart there is no God.’ ”
April Fool’s Day and Easter Sunday fall on the same day this year, April 1, 2018. Those who are like the criminal on the cross who rejected Jesus may be called the greatest of fools on April Fool’s Day 2018. At the same time, those who are like the criminal on the cross who accepted Jesus may truly call April 1, 2018 Easter Sunday. Which is it for you?
Greer
The resurrection of Jesus the Christ is the hinge on which the door of Christianity swings upon. What’s more, the resurrected Jesus is the foundation on which Christianity is built. Easter Sunday is the day where churches all over the world celebrate with laser-like focus the resurrection of Jesus. How can we avoid being fools and have assurance of the resurrection of Jesus?
The resurrection of Jesus is real. John and Peter raced with anticipation and excitement to the tomb of Jesus that first resurrection day. Upon arriving, John peeked in and Peter barged in while both realized that the body of Jesus was gone (John 20:3-9). When something is gone it means it’s gone. Some people’s hair is gone. Some people’s original hair color is gone. Jesus’ body was gone because Jesus’ resurrection was real. He really did bodily resurrect from the dead. John saw that Jesus’ body was gone and he believed (John 20:8).
Although one disciple believed, neither disciple understood the Scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead (John 20:9). They didn’t strategically lie about Jesus being resurrected to fit with the Scriptures; for they didn’t understand the Scriptures which spoke of Jesus’ resurrection. These two disciples’ inabliity to understand the prophetic passages of resurrection is further evidence that their account of the empty tomb was factual. We can have assurance in the resurrection because of the empty tomb.
The resurrection of Jesus is relevant. We know the resurrection of Jesus really happened in the past, but how does that affect us today? Paul wrote about the relevance of Jesus’ resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. All people are sinners by nature and by choice. Adam, the first to sin, passed his sinful nature on to all of mankind. Therefore, all are dead because of the sin of Adam. Yet, all are made alive who trust in Jesus because He died for the sins of all and was resurrected from the dead (1 Corinthians 9:22). Jesus was not the first to be resurrected; however, Jesus is the first to be resurrected to never die again (1 Corinthians 9:23). Jesus’ death put death to death. Jesus’ resurrection resurrected ressurection to the point that those who die in Christ will be rasied never to die again.
The resurrected Jesus reigns everyday as we look forward to that Day. Easter Sunday is not the only day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrected Jesus reigns everyday (1 Corintians 9:25-28). Celebrate the resurrected Jesus every day! B&R
By Nathan Washburn
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Greenbrier
Focal Passage: John 1:35-42; 12:20-26
We who know Jesus bear the responsibility of connecting others to Him. We will either connect people to Jesus or we won’t. There are no passive witnesses — a witness who never witnesses is not a witness. Therefore, we must be about the work of giving witness to Christ actively throughout our daily comings and goings.
It takes all kinds of people to connect others to Jesus. John (the Baptist) spoke loudly, fulfilling his role as a voice (Isaiah 40:3) by boldly calling people to repent and trust in Jesus (Mark 1:4-8). Andrew was more of a silent worker in evangelism, quietly connecting people with Jesus, whether it was his own brother, Peter (John 1:41-42), or a group of Greeks looking for Jesus (John 12:20-22). Similarly, regardless of our diverse gifts and various personalities, we all bear the same responsibility (and privilege!) to connect people to Jesus. Here’s a simple progression of how it unfolds: [Read more…]
