First Baptist Church

“God hates you! God is against sin and sinner!” Did you just cringe a bit? So did I. The above statement is how some Christians share the “Gospel.” Is it just me, or is something missing?

One could look to Scripture and see examples of God hating specific sins, and specific types of sinners. However, when it comes to being a Christian and being watched by the world, we need to be careful about how we present things we see in the Bible to the World. It’s called tact. I have a vague idea, but most unbelievers would probably shake their head and go: “God hates? I thought God was love.” Then they would turn, walk away, and close the door on any sort of witness we could ever have with them. Some Christians only seem to get half the message.

If we leave the message out there that ‘God hates sin,’ but we don’t speak of redemption, we’ve missed the point of the Bible. We’ve missed the purpose of Jesus’ life. Particularly when dealing with unbelieving ‘sinners,’ Jesus did not ignore their sin, but pointed to himself as the means of forgiveness. Consider the Woman at Samaria and Jesus not only acknowledging her sin, but pointing her to true worship of God:Read More

Last Friday evening our church was host to the Moody Men’s Collegiate Choir under the direction of Dr. H. E. Singley. It was a wonderful evening of music; I think it was the most outstanding event at our church in the last 15 years. The voices of those 28 young men absolutely filled our sanctuary. At times I was moved to tears, especially during their acapella version of Be Still, My Soul. And the young men themselves were a breath of fresh air: respectful, polite, enthusiastic and unashamed of the Gospel. They were of different races, backgrounds, and even nationalities, but they were unified by their faith in Jesus Christ. I hadn’t really expected the diversity. And I hadn’t expected to have a close encounter with a Chinese Christian, right here in our home church.

Some of the men were a little older than the rest, and had already been involved in ministry before coming to Moody Bible Institute. My wife and I hosted two of the men in our home that night. One was an energetic pastoral studies student named Garrett. (He played guitar, so we hit it right off.) The other was a soft-spoken Chinese man from Beijing, named Enoch. I pronounced his name “Enuk”, and he politely corrected me: “E-nock”, he’d say. After a couple of times I caught on.Read More

I was on the internet when I first heard that Davy Jones died. I immediately emailed one of my friends and asked if he had heard this news. His response perfectly summed up mine: “No; that’s terrible!”

Davy Jones died on February 29, 2012 of a heart attack at age 66…pretty young by today’s standards. Now you might be thinking how silly it is to be affected by the death of a celebrity I never met. But I have to admit it did affect me. Weatherman Al Roker summed it up in his response to the news: “A little bit of my youth just died.”

It was more than a little bit for me. I have played guitar for 46 years, and The Monkees are the reason why. My Dad had tried to get me interested in guitar by playing Chet Atkins records. While I eventually became a big Chet Atkins fan, my initial response was to lay my Dad’s archtop guitar on my lap and beat on it like a bongo drum. (Dad wasn’t encouraged.)Read More

We believe that relationship with God is personal. My walk with God will not look like your walk with God. Some of us tend to lean towards the side of emotional connection, what we feel in worship, what we can point to and say that God did in our lives. Others tend to connect with God on an intellectual level, with what we can think through, give an apologetic to, and reason for. Neither of these approaches is wrong, in fact both are essential for a healthy understanding of God.

When we look to the Old Testament prophets, particularly Isaiah or Jeremiah, we see some harsh denunciations of sin. But the prophets are not merely saying to Israel “God is Holy, so be holy,” which seems to appeal more to a head knowledge or doctrinal understanding of right and wrong. Instead they point back to God delivering Israel from Egypt and caring for them in the wilderness.Read More

Not long ago I was having lunch with a friend of mine, and he looked at me and said: “You and I are becoming old men.” (Isn’t it great to have friends who will encourage you like that?) I quickly pointed out to him that he was five years older than me, and therefore way ahead of me on the downhill side of life. But, after reflection, I had to admit he was right. Not only was he getting older, he was dragging me along right behind him!

My mother used to tell me that she didn’t mind getting older, except that the parts wore out. I’m beginning to understand what she meant. I’m not really depressed about being the age I am, just surprised (as in: “Wow, I’m here already?”).

My Dad just turned 80 years old last November. That seems unreal, to me and him, both. My Dad still does 50 dips a day (where you support yourself with your hands, on the backs of chairs or the corner of a countertop, and lower and raise yourself…kind of like an upright push-up). He tells me, “On days when I’m tired, I can only do 40.” (I don’t think I can do 10!) He said if he doesn’t do them, his neck and back get stiff.Read More

I always thought Christmas lights were…you know, nice. I loved to see them as a child, and when I became an adult, they’ve always made me smile, when they start appearing on houses every December.

But I have gained a whole new perspective on Christmas lights since my grandson came along. Somehow, when we see the world reflected in the face and eyes of a little one, it seems new and wonderful to us again, too.

I loved holding Andrew up to the Christmas tree to show him the lights for his first Christmas. I didn’t enjoy it as much trying to keep him from eating the lights during his second Christmas. But let me tell you, we both have a real blast looking at Christmas lights from “Gwampa’s dok-wed Fod Wanger twuk!” (Translation: “Grandpa’s dark-red Ford Ranger truck”)Read More

This is a generalization and doesn’t apply to everybody… but it does apply to somebody.

When you tell us “I am a church-hopper,” and you go from place to place, what that sometimes tells us is that you can’t be counted on to stick around and be a part of our lives… and that is what Church is supposed to be… sharing life together in the body of Christ. A family.

If you were a relationship, I would call you a fling. You can’t be counted on to hold my heart for the long hall. You get a piece of my heart, but then you leave and I am hurt because I trusted you with a part of me, and now you are gone.

If you were an employee, I’d call you a temp. You contribute for a while, but I can’t invest too much in you because you are going to leave and all I’ve built in you will be lost. I can’t count on you for the big stuff… because I never know when you will leave for the next big thing.Read More

The other day, in a moment of happy coincidence, I found myself in the glad company of two older preachers, and the three of us spent a few minutes together, laughing and talking and encouraging each other. It was wonderful. And once again a thought occurred to me that I say rarely but live constantly: I love preachers.

I love to be with preachers, I love to hear them talk, I love to hear them talk about what they do, I love laughing at their stories. I treasure their advice (well, most of it, anyway), I’m grateful when I can benefit from their experience, and I’m glad when there is something I can do to lift their spirits. I love to serve them, to bring them glasses of water, to stand up straight when they talk to me, and to say “Yes, sir!” and “No, sir!” when they ask me questions. I love hearing of their triumphs in the Lord’s work, and my heart breaks to hear of their heartaches through years of dealing with people and churches.

No offense, but this is sort of a private club. I really believe it is a rare person who truly understands the joys and heartaches of being a preacher, who is not a preacher themselves.Read More