First Baptist Church of Mableton

#LoveYourEnemies

“We're never to let our love grow cold. We're never to let our love be only for those who will accept it, but also for those who won't, who don't. Our responsibility is to keep loving, to keep loving people who don't love us back, and to elevate the level of our compassion and concern, and I would say our evangelistic zeal at the same time. When someone shows that they don't love you, when somebody shows that they despise you, when someone shows that they hate you, then that should be your charge to love them even more, to douse them, to shower with them with love even more.”

#WalkWithJesus

“You see, Jesus is waiting for you. He's already done his part to make the way. He's waiting for you to receive the way and to stop trying to achieve the way because it's impossible to achieve. God's not looking for your perfection. He's looking for your progression. Where are you at on this journey with Jesus? What's your next step of obedience.”

#SpiritualParenting

“The fourth stage of spiritual growth, being a spiritual adult, that means you can feed others. And I pray and hope that so many of you in this room are able to spiritually feed others, to be a Sunday school leader, to be a small group leader, to be a bible study leader, to gather people together and to help feed them God's word. But look at me. Are you a parent spiritually? The difference in being a spiritual adult and a spiritual parent is this one can feed others. This one can feed others. But the spiritual parent has reproduced. They've made another disciple. You want your life to grow spiritually? You want your church to grow spiritually? Become a spiritual parent that reproduces and multiplies more disciples.”

#ChurchCommunity

“I think we see that within the context of the church. The very purpose of the church, to walk arm in arm with each other, to encourage each other, to keep on keeping on, to stay strong in our faith. It's the purpose of the church to help restore the broken, to speak God's words of encouragement in a person's life. No matter the past, no matter how you've lived, because God so loved the world. Because God so loved you. And we need to be reminded. God knows how to take all old things and make them new.”

#FaithfulWhileWaiting

“There is a difference between waiting on God and wasting time. There is a difference. Waiting on God doesn't mean you stop praying. Waiting on God doesn't mean you stop serving. Waiting on God doesn't mean you stop obeying. Waiting on God means, Lord, while I'm waiting on you to move, I'm going to remain faithful to what you have already told me to do.”

#GospelHope

“In it, we have the gospel. We have the story of our creator reaching out to us, taking on flesh, walking amongst us, experiencing life with us, loving, weeping, caring, showing kindness, instructing, informing, teaching, encouraging, and laying down his life as a sacrifice for our sins, rising again on the third day to show victory over sin and death in the grave, and then welcoming us into His work. His work is sharing what we have seen and witnessed and heard to a lost and dying world.”

#ClimbToJesus

“And if you feel harassed and helpless, if you just wonder, is this all that there is in life? If you feel lost and alone, rejected or dejected, let me encourage you to do this one thing. If that's how you feel, let me encourage you to do this one thing, Climb. Climb up into that tree and get a glimpse of Jesus. Climb up into that tree and get over the crowd, over the noise, over everything else in the world. Climb up into that tree and fix your eyes on Jesus because he's already looking your direction. And he's calling your name.”

#CarryYourCrossDaily

“And what God has done is that he has he took what was once a coal, he turned it into a cross. And it was on that cross that he laid down his own life as he sent his son, Jesus, to die and to shed his blood to pay for the full atonement of each of our sins if we would confess it, if we were a pin of it, if we were proclaim the person and work of Jesus Christ, his life, his death, his burial, burial, and his resurrection, That we allow that to then be that wrecking ball through our life that totally changes us from the inside out, that restores, that renews, that cleanses, and that gives us a true purpose for living, to carry our cross daily as we deny ourselves and proclaim the Lord's death until He comes again.”

#StoryGivesHope

“Because when you tell your story, you're just not talking about your past. You're giving someone hope for their future. Someone might hear, God forgave me, and think, maybe God can forgive me too. Someone might hear, God restored my family, and they can think, maybe God can restore mine. Someone might hear, God brought me through depression, grief, failure, addiction, or heartbreak, and think, maybe God hasn't given up on me.”

#RenewYourMind

“Renew your mind by taking on a godly worldview. Paul doesn't just just leave us with stop doing these things. He doesn't just give a list, although he's known for his list. Don't just do these things. Stop believing these things. He gives a a positive imperative here. He says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The Greek word for transform here is metamorpho, and, that's where we get our word metamorphosis. He's essentially saying, god's mercy ought to lead us into a metamorphosis where you go in as a caterpillar and you come out as a butterfly. It's a change in heart, a change in mind, a change in spirit because of that mercy, that mercy that we're keeping in sight and the holy spirit's conviction to change us from the inside out.”

#BrotherhoodInChrist

“In the eyes of the Roman world, Onesimus was a slave. Philemon was the slave owner, and their relationship was defined by status, power, and social rank. But Paul says the gospel has introduced a new reality. Onysimus may still be Philemon's servant or slave, but he has become something more. And what he says here is something even better. He is now a dear brother. He is Philemon's brother in Christ. The world saw master and slave. The gospel made them brothers.”

#MangerToCross

“``The manger points towards the cross. The baby in Bethlehem became the savior at Calvary. Christmas tells us Jesus came. The gospel tells us why he came. See, we shouldn't wait for the perfect opportunity to talk about Jesus. Because if you're waiting for the perfect opportunity, let me tell you this, it is never gonna come up because you and I will find an excuse to not make it the perfect opportunity.”

#AllInNotAlmost

“``And the invitation of the gospel is the same today. It's not to be half hearted. It's not to be almost. It is to be all in. There is no almost. There is no kind of commitment but to give yourself a 100% in repentance and commitment. Some come to faith quickly. As I was saying earlier, it it may be because it was part of your family culture to love Jesus and to have him as part of the household, and it was and it and that came naturally to you to give your life. Others was through a time of questioning and reasoning and trying to figure things out. But there comes a point in each of our lives when we have to move from almost to all in.”

#ApprovedInChrist

“``You don't have to wait for approval. You don't have to wait for success. You live from approval, from the one approval that matters most, the approval we receive whenever Jesus entered into our life and changed us from BC to AD. Our approval comes from proclaiming Jesus, not on our success, not on our work, but based on who he is. And we when we learn to live by, to abide by, to serve the name above all names, the work will find its success.”

#BridgeToLife

“``recognizing that our sin has built such a big chasm between us and God that there is nothing that we can do to fix it. But thanks be to God that he laid a cross over that to form a bridge that we can cross over from death into life. Amen? That we recognize that that bridge that has been given is we're standing there with the gates open saying, come. Cross that bridge. Come back to God. Come to God. Our responsibility is to tell the broken that they don't have to live broken anymore. That missing piece in their heart, that missing piece in their lives, that's the piece that God created you that's meant for him to fill.”

#NameOfJesusIsSalvation

“``His name is more than just a name. It represents the very presence of God, the very salvation of God, his peace, his hope, his salvation, his presence, all of that is wrapped up in the name of Jesus. And understanding the meaning of Yeshua should transform how we hear that name. It seems as if the name of Jesus has been used in a number and a variety of different ways today. Some of it derogatory, some of it profane, but we understand and we capture the very meaning and essence of the name Jesus, of our salvation. It's not just a simple name to be spoken. When we speak the name of Jesus, we are speaking of God's salvation. It should never be a curse. It should never be used as profanity. It is meant for his praise.”

#ReadGodsWord

“``What we need what we need is for the word of God to be read. The word of God to be read out loud. It is the word of God that is sharper than any two edged sword. It is the word of God that pierces hearts. It is the word of God that brings conviction. See, there is hope. For if six chapters in second Kings reveal leader after leader after leader to do and to incorporate the most profane in a nation? What happens whenever there is a leader who recognizes the word of God as his or her authority. There is hope. There is a Josiah kind of hope. A hope that god's word will and can convict, that god's word will and can lead a nation to repentance, a hope that god and Christ will once again be lifted above all.”

#InviteTheOutcast

“``Go get the people who never thought they would be invited to such a feast. Go get the ones that nobody else wants. Go get the ones that everyone rejects. Go get the broken. Go get the hurting. Go get the ashamed. Go get the forgotten. And God fills his table with those who actually to be there, who sees the value of that table, who sees the value of receiving such an invitation, is compelled to respond.”

#CountTheCost

“The days of comfortable, socially accepted Christianity must come to an end. We are in a battle. We are in a war for people's souls. It's time we count the cost. The cost for carrying the cross is for those of us today who have bought into a comfortable Christianity. It does not exist. It is not part of God's word. It is a false notion.”

#EmbraceChristLikeSacrifice

“You know, Jesus didn't just talk about love. His message wasn't just a feel good message. It wasn't one that patted us on the back and said, you know, everything's gonna be okay. No. What Jesus modeled for us was sacrifice. Throughout this epistle, Peter consistently goes back to what Jesus sacrificed for us on our behalf. He does it once in chapter one. He does it two times in chapter two. He does it once in chapter three, and now he's saying, so church, so believers, so follower of Jesus Christ, take on the same attitude of sacrifice. The same attitude.”

#DanielUnshaken

“No. What Daniel does, Daniel responds. He goes and keeps doing what he does. He prays. He goes back to his section. He goes back to his he doesn't hide, doesn't go to a closet. He doesn't go to the deepest, darkest corner in the kingdom to pray to god. No. He doesn't. He still does what he what he was he has been doing. So we learned that Daniel's character is still is tested, and we learned that his character is still true.”

#ShareYourTestimony

“There is no greater good that we could have than to share our gospel testimony with someone who is lost and without hope and without an eternity or a future with God. There is no greater good that we can do than to share our gospel testimony with our friend, our neighbor, our classmates, our coworkers. Nothing greater than maturing to the point where you can't help but include Jesus in your conversations with others.”

#JesusFirstMarriage

“Being married is not easy, but god has a method for making it right, And it isn't in doing the a, b, and c's to a happy marriage. Although doing things like finding your spouse's love language may be on that list. Knowing what you can do to encourage her and support her or him may be on that list. But you can't forget the first part of the recipe, and that first part of the recipe is Jesus.”

#GospelWitness

“``In the end, what exactly is the mark of a Christian life? That everything goes our way, that we get everything that we want out of life, that we have a simple life, with an easy life, a life where everybody loves you and nobody hates you. No. The mark of the Christian life is in regard to your gospel witness. It's in modeling and imitating Christ even when things aren't going your way or when life is hard or in the face of opposition or in fear of losing your job or when betrayed or when mocked or when rejected because the gospel matters most.”

#FaithForForgiveness

“Without that profession of faith, without acknowledging who Jesus is, unless until you get to that point in your life where you acknowledge that he is the Christ, that he is the son of God, that he came to Earth, and that he put on flesh, that he lived a perfect life, that he died on the cross to pay the full atonement of your sin, that he was dead, and he was buried, and he rose again on the third day until you have that settled in your heart. There is no forgiveness.”

#GraceComesFirst

“Grace comes first. God's grace comes first. It always comes first. We're reminded in first John four nineteen that we did not love God first. He loved us first. His grace comes first. No one earns God's grace. Otherwise, it wouldn't be called grace. No one earns it. If we had to earn it, then it wouldn't be free. It wouldn't be the free gift that Paul refers to in Romans six twenty three, the free gift of God.”

#NoCompromiseFaith

“And that's hard because some of us wanna have Christ, and we wanna have the world at the same time. We wanna have Jesus, and we wanna have that drink at the same time. We wanna have Jesus, and we want to have that relationship without marriage at the same time. We wanna have Jesus, and we wanna be able to cuss at the same time. We wanna have Jesus, and we wanna have fill in the blank at the same time. And Peter here says, you can't do that.”

#ServantSavior

“The first to enter is Jesus, the son of God, the lamb who has come to take away the sin of the world, the teacher who spoke with authority, the servant who has now washed the feet of those who would serve him, the savior who would lay down his life. This table was not a surprise to him. He knew the betrayal that was to come. He knew the suffering that would follow. And still, here he is, our God who took on flesh, who took on the form of a servant, who has come to pay for our atonement, a debt we should be paying ourselves.”

#PersistForGodSizedResults

“So what if the Israelites stopped circling after the sixth day? Or what if on the seventh day, after six times around, they said, I'm pooped. I don't think I can go one more. What if Naaman stopped after six dips? What if Elijah had stopped asking his servant to go up after the fifth or sixth time? Let me know the answer. But but here's the thing, We wouldn't have god sized results if we did not pray persistently for god sized results.”

#FollowJesus247

“on Sunday mornings, you're not just waiting to finally, quote unquote, be a Christian. Right? Because we should be followers of Jesus Christ twenty four seven from the first moment that we give our life to him to our last breath. Right? We should be telling people about Jesus Christ. Again, it's not going to be easy. It's not. People will make fun of us 100%. We will probably lose friends 100%. We will a lot of things are gonna happen. But you know what's gonna also happen? Jesus is also gonna come back. Jesus is gonna come back for his children.”

#AnchoredInHope

“Living in hope doesn't erase questions. It doesn't erase grief. It doesn't give us a neat reason for every circumstance, but it does anchor us. It anchors us in God's love, and it reminds us that he is weaving good in ways that are bigger than we can see.”

#JoyAmidTrials

“Joy doesn't deny a difficult life exists. It learns to coexist with it, but with Christ present in your life. It doesn't deny it. This is where faith becomes deeply practical. Trusting God through every season means choosing obedience. Choosing his joy even when it's hard. It means believing God is at work even when you keep tripping over the potholes. It means trusting that the story God is writing is bigger than the moment that you're currently living in. It's having an eternal mindset for momentary temporal adjustment. And the resulting expression of those realizations is an everlasting joy, an eternal joy.”

#SpurgeonKissTheWave

“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages. He understood from his own battles, and from from what I understand, it was from depression and from physical pain and enduring physical chronic physical pain, that God used that moment not to break him, but to throw him up against God, to cause him to lean on God, to turn to God. Life will give you more than you can handle. That is the truer phrase.”

#InviteJesusIn

“And I want I want you to understand that you will never truly recognize or know love till you love Jesus that way, until you allow him to be drawn in and be your partner in life, to be next to you in life, to be a part of your life. It's more than just having a respect for god or a respect for Jesus or just simply acknowledging what he did for you on the cross. It's now inviting him into your life and having a phileo relationship with with Jesus.”

#ReceiveGodsGrace

“It's time we receive god's grace. We receive god's forgiveness. It's found only in Christ. Let him change us from BC to AD. Totally renew us. Give us a new perspective. Give us a new lease on life. Give us a new way of doing life, and then keep in step with the spirit. And that's that daily sanctifying work that the spirit is doing in our life that we are allowing that spirit to work out in our life where we're saying no to me and yes to him.”

#DisciplesOfAllNations

“``This passage has been one of my favorite, and I get to do something that I truly believe is is the true intention of making disciples of all nations. We have this great opportunity today where we have more, I would say, than one nation. I would even say more than one language.”

#RunToTheWell

“``We need to make if we're gonna exert ourselves in any sort of way, it ought to be to walk towards the well that God has built for us. If we're gonna if we're gonna exert ourselves in any way, in any measure, it ought to be to run to the well that has already been built for us. This is what Jesus says in John seven. He says, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

#SeekTheLostHome

“``Or we see the stories that he shares about the father that's standing at the ending of the driveway waiting for his son to come to his senses and come home. Or the woman who is feverishly cleaning up her house looking for that 1 coin that she has lost, or the shepherd who has left 99 aside to go and find the one that has wandered away to bring him home.”

#MakeJesusLord

“``a calling as he's learning to make Jesus lord over his life. This is the same calling that you and I have to make him lord of our life. We talk so easily about the savior part, but it's the lord part that most of us wrestle with. Allowing Jesus to have that first place, to have that prominent place in our life where he gets to dictate to us, where his word says to us, where his command tells us how we should respond, In every every area of our life, our struggle is in that.”

#GospelFirst

“``We must commit ourselves to the ministry to see heaven crowded. Again, our first responsibility is the gospel. Our first responsibility is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our first responsibility is the very thing that saves. What best puts a church in alignment with God's will? It's a church where God's word is rightfully taught, where people pray for God's will to be done, where people are mobilized to minister and serve, and where the lost are coming to Christ.”

#ScriptureInPersia

“Whatever skeletons you have in your closet, whatever it is that you are currently running away from, that is the very thing that Jesus died for to set you free from. And with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, take on something that’s worth investigating. That is a question that you need to have answered.”

#ChooseFaithToday

“that's possible when you experience the loveif you're here this morning and you realize that that is exactly where you are in life you realize you need that kindof gift where you need that sort of relationship and friendshipGod's here admit that you're a sinner you're separated by God by your sin believe that he came in the fleshthat he took on your sin and died on the cross yet rose again on the third day to show that your sin is not so heavy that it kept him in the ground and commit your life to living for himdo that today and experience the love of God”

#GoodNewsGreatJoy

“This is the turning point in Scripture.Luke chapter 2 is the turning point in Scripture.Where everything leading up, everything that had been prophesied before, leading up to this moment, here is where B.C. turns to A.D.Here's the moment when the life that was now is the life that is and can have the Lord present.And what did the angels proclaim?You go back to verse 10.I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.That's what was proclaimed.It is a joy that erupts when you find yourself in the presence of Jesus.”

#JesusInOurProblems

“Again, it's not the resolution of our problems.It's having Jesus in our problems.It's not in our lack of confidence.It's having Jesus who can be and is our confidence.It's not that, you know, fix this heartbreak.It's Jesus, carry me through this heartbreak.It's in those times that we can achieve peace.And not because we made it.Not because something was given to us.But because our hearts and our minds are guarded in Christ Jesus.”

#CrossAndCradle

“``Christmas isn't just about a baby in Bethlehem it's about a savior on a cross. They are two sides of the same coin Christmas and Easter. He was pierced for our transgressions because humanity needed rescuing he was crushed for our iniquities because he took our sins upon himself and the punishment that brought us peace was upon him because of Jesus we can have peace peace with God hope in our salvation trust in a savior no more fear of judgment no more fear of death no more fear of separation no more trying to earn our way back no more having to sacrifice a lamb on an altar no more shedding of blood because as Isaiah says here by his wounds we are healed.”

#GodsAngerAtComplaints

“Their complaining infuriated God. Now, I don't know where you are in your discipleship or in your maturity. Whenever it comes to understanding the Lord and understanding Scripture. But anger. God can be moved to anger. Some people don't like to hear that. Some people want to say, no, God is just so loving. There is just no way that God could ever get angry. But Scripture shows us. That his anger can be aroused. And here in this moment, in Numbers chapter 11. What arouses God's anger? It's his people complaining about what God has purposely provided them.”

#ApplyScriptureDaily

“There is more to the Bible than that. There is more that is to be gleaned from Scripture than our basic fundamental need for salvation, and it's not just in some of the areas of our life, it's in every area of our life. And our biggest issue is learning that, of applying that, or being willing to apply it.”

#CommandToBeCourageous

“Three times the Lord spoke the command here in these three or four verses. Three times the command to be strong and courageous. Now I usually follow that up every time that I preach. And I talk about the commands of the Lord. I usually follow it up with this statement. This is not a suggestion. This is a command.”

#TechDependence

“We live in an area where these devices have really become our third appendage. You know, they really are an appendage, you know, something that, you know, it's almost as if they're glued to our hands. We have to carry these around. In fact, if you've ever left home and you left your phone at the house whenever you were about, you almost felt a little lost not having this, because we have become so truly dependent on this.”

#UnshakableBelonging

“When you put your trust in Jesus Christ, he is the only one that you can be totally sure and secure in. This God, this Savior, this Jesus will never leave me. That gives us security. And it's not only where he is. We're in Christ. He's in us. We belong to him. We have his love, which is his total complete commitment.”

#SpiritInAction

“The Holy Spirit is never meant to be passive. It was meant to be every day, constantly at play in our lives. We don't get to tell the spirit when it can and when it can't. Our responsibility is to allow our hands, our feet, our voice, our actions to all be taken over by that spirit.”

#LightPointsToGod

“``Our sermon in the sentence today, if we put this entire sermon into one sentence, is simply, the purpose of our light is to point people to God and not ourselves. The purpose of our light, the light that shines within us, is to point people to God and not to ourselves.”

#FearRobbsPurpose

“Fear is the thief of purpose. Fear is the thief of purpose. It doesn't just steal, it robs. It robs you of your purpose. It doesn't just steal, it robs. When you say that something is stolen from you, something is stolen from you when you're not looking. When someone steals something from you, they steal it from you whenever your attention is given to something else. But when you are robbed, it happens in front of you. It happens while you are watching.”

#ReadyToCarry

“God gives what we're ready to carry and what you're ready to carry is indicative of your discipleship habits it's indicative of of who you are becoming in Christ.”

#ArmorOfGodStandFirm

“We must understand clearly what kind of battle this is. Ephesians 6 does not lie. It says be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil.”

#UseYourGodGivenGifts

“``He isn't telling us to work harder. He's calling us to serve differently. We're serving someone else differently. We're not serving ourselves. We're serving the Lord. And how ought we to approach that? And that is recognizing that everything that you have is on purpose and for a purpose. Everything you have is on purpose and for a purpose.”

#UnfailingPresencePromise

“There's no promise of a cushy life. There is no prosperity gospel. There's no guarantee of laying your head on a soft pillow. There's no promise of a family who will support you. There's no promise that you're going to have everything that you will need to live in this world. No promise other than that he will never leave you nor forsake you.”