Dying to Live: A Sermon
Preached on Sunday, September 18, 2016 at First Baptist Church, Jefferson City, Missouri. Click here to listen to the audio. Luke 9:18-27 We are launching a new sermon series today titled “Because of Christ, everything has changed.” This series is the second in a series of sermons related to our Setting Sail visioning process. Over the past two years we have prayed and dreamed together about what God is calling us to be and do and now we are launching out in faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit, setting sail in obedience and anticipation of God’s dreams for us. Today we begin our focus on Life-Changing Faith. Our preferred future is that First Baptist Church leads every person to follow the Way of Christ, discover their giftedness, and experience continual life transformation. All generations are rooted in a Biblical, hope-filled faith and experience the joy and significance of service. In short, we follow Christ. And because of…
Seek the Welfare of the City: Some thoughts after Mission JC
Let us seek the welfare of each other’s congregations and our community organizations and let all of us together seek the welfare of our city. Let us love her and work for her shalom. Let us be neighbors and not just consumers.
A Sent Church
I don’t know if I can honestly say I’ve ever been more proud to be a member of the family of First Baptist Church, Jefferson City, then I was this past Sunday. That is saying a lot because I’ve had many moments where I’ve been humbled and proud of FBCJC. Like any of the multitude of mission trips we take to go support our partners and to visit our “extended family” in the Dominican Republic, Kenya, Belarus and South Dakota. I’m been touched when I’ve walked into a hospital waiting room only to find an entire Sunday School class already present and ministering to their friends. I’ve been overwhelmed with the generous offering we receive each month for benevolence that allows us to help individuals and families stay in their homes or keep the electricity on. I’ve beamed when I see our church members advocate for the rights of the economical disadvantaged in our community. I’m humbled every time I…
If Church was like an AA Meeting
From The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning: On a sweltering summer night in New Orleans, sixteen recovering alcoholics and drug addicts gather for their weekly AA meeting. Although several members attend other meetings during the week, this is their home group. They have been meeting on Tuesday nights for several years and know each other well. Some talk to each other daily on the telephone; others socialize outside the meetings. The personal investment in one another’s sobriety is sizable. Nobody fools anybody else. Everyone is there because he or she made a slobbering mess of his or her life and is trying to put the pieces back together. Each meeting is marked by levity and seriousness. Some members are wealthy, others middle class or poor. Some smoke, others don’t. Most drink coffee. Some have graduate degrees, others have not finished high school. For one small hour, the high and the mighty descend and the lowly rise. The result is fellowship. The meeting…
Watching Somebody Love
“Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.” Donald Miller in Blue Like Jazz I love this line from Donald Miller’s book and was stoked it made it into the movie by the same name. Miller was talking about sometimes people learn to love something – like jazz music or God – because they witness someone loving jazz music or God and it moves you. You can’t argue with it and sometimes it doesn’t make sense at all yet the proof is in front of you in how a person loves. Like that odd couple. You know the one I’m talking about; the one that makes everyone wonder, “How in the world did those two get together?” or “What does he possibly see in her?” If I ever get married, I hope people are whispering that about me and my man because that means…
What the World Needs Now
“What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. Not just for some, but for everyone.” Hal David, Song writer I was reading about a church plant, Imago, the other day in the book, Blue Like Jazz. In the book, author Don Miller talks about their humble beginning and the difficulty they experienced in growing because of their focus internally. Then the group committed itself to simply loving others because they deserve to be loved. No other agenda, no other motivation, no outreach plan for the church. Just love. In a short time. their community grew and within two years, they have grown to over 500 members. Now, the number here isn’t important but the reality of what happens when we honestly and genuinely love is. Nothing clearer in Scripture than this, right? Love God, love others. But it isn’t easy, is it. Loving others is messy and complicated and…
Giving Jesus a Ride (Repost)
A couple of years ago, I gave Jesus a ride. He was a middle-aged woman with a yellow backpack and a cane walking north on Highway 63. I almost missed him. After finishing the second service at church, I was running late for a meeting in Ashland, a little town 15 minutes away. Speeding up the highway, I was on him before I knew it. I quickly recognized the woman walking with her thumb outstretched as the woman who had visited our church earlier in the day looking for help. She was passing through mid-Missouri on her way from Portland, Oregon, to wherever the road took her. After one night at our local shelter, she was forced to look for help elsewhere. So she came to the church. One of our members visited with her and gave her some warm food. He came and found me and asked me what else we could do. I was getting ready to…
Do For One
This is the sermon I shared on May 27, 2012, at First Baptist Church, Jefferson City, MO Title: Do For One What You Wish You Could Do For Everyone Text: Mark 1:35-45 In 1998 in Fort Worth, Texas, Ron Hall, a white, wealthy art dealer met Denver Moore, a black, homeless drifter. Ron’s wife, Debbie, had convinced him to volunteer with her at the local homeless shelter, the Union Gospel Mission. This was way out of Ron’s comfort zone but his wife could be very persuasive so he went. As they served meals and visited with the homeless guests, they were drawn to an allusive Denver Moore. Miss Debbie, as Denver referred to her, was convinced that Ron needed to become friends with Denver. Ron didn’t see how they could be friends with so many apparent differences in their lives. But as I said, Miss Debbie could be very persuasive. Ron and Debbie tried to make conversation with Denver. To ask…
Be Careful What You Wish For
First Baptist Church, Jefferson City, Missouri January 29, 2012 I Samuel 8:1-22 “Be Careful What You Wish for Cause You Just Might Get It” If you are a fan of the Wii game “Just Dance 2” than the title of this sermon may sound familiar. I would play part of the song for you this morning but I’m afraid a third of you would stand up and start doing the dance moves from the game. And while that might be incredibly entertaining for many of us and in some venues might be classified as charismatic worship, it probably isn’t entirely appropriate for this time or place. The sermon title comes from the pop song “When I Grow Up”. The chorus goes like this: When I grow up I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies When I grow up I wanna see the world, drive nice cars, I wanna have groupies … But be careful…
TED Talk: SAME Cafe
I wrote yesterday about the SAME Cafe in Denver and the “pay-what-you-can” model. I’d love for you to hear in Libby’s own words the heart behind the cafe. Libby Birky, co-founder of SAME Cafe, gave a TED Talk about the heart behind SAME CAfe.