Bay Leaf Baptist Church Weekly Sermons

Drawing from 1 Timothy 2:1-7, Pastor Jared Richard opens with a pointed and convicting question: do we actually value prayer, or do we simply say we do? Much like a gym membership that never gets used, many believers confess the importance of prayer while their lives tell a different story. Paul's charge to Timothy — "first of all" — was not merely the beginning of a to-do list, but a declaration...

In this sermon drawn from 1 Timothy 1:12-21, Pastor Jared Richard opens with a tender illustration about whispering "Dad loves you" into his children's ears — not because they don't know it, but because he wants that truth pressed so deeply into their hearts that it carries them through their hardest moments. In the same way, Pastor Jared reminds us, the gospel is something we need to hear again a...

Pastor Jared Richard launches a new series through 1 Timothy by grounding the church in a simple but weighty truth drawn from 1 Timothy 3:15 — that the church is "the household of God, a pillar and buttress of the truth." The local church, he argues, is not merely a gathering of people who enjoy one another's company. It is the place where the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, protected, and p...

Jonah 4 hits like a speed bump we didn't see coming. After the remarkable repentance of Nineveh in chapter three, we expect a celebration — but instead we find a rage-filled prophet shaking his fist at God. Pastor Patrick Austin unpacks the deep heart issue beneath Jonah's anger: Jonah believed that mercy should only be extended to those who are deserving of it. He despised the Ninevites, and rath...

Preaching from Jonah 3, Pastor Jared Richard opens with a striking observation — the greatest miracle in the book of Jonah may not be the great fish at all, but the repentance of Nineveh, one of the most wicked cities in the ancient world. Drawing on the deliberate literary parallels between Jonah 1 and Jonah 3, Pastor Jared shows that God's second call to Jonah is more than a plot device. It is a...

In this sermon on Jonah 2, Pastor Jared Richard draws a compelling parallel between Jonah and the prodigal son of Luke 15, calling Jonah "the prodigal prophet." Like the younger son who wanted the blessings of the father without the father himself, Jonah fled the presence of God, convinced that life in Tarshish would be better than obedience in Nineveh. But God, like the waiting father in the para...

Pastor Jared Richard opens Bay Leaf Baptist Church's new series through the book of Jonah by grounding the entire story in who God has revealed himself to be — "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love" (Exodus 34:6-7). Against that backdrop, Jonah's shocking rebellion becomes all the more striking. Called by God to arise and go to Nineveh, the great and wicked Assyrian ci...

Pastor Patrick Austin brings Leaf's journey through the Book of Exodus to a close with a message centered on Exodus 40:34–38, titled "The God Who Dwells With Us." From the very beginning of Exodus, God's people were suffering under the crushing weight of Egyptian slavery, crying out in darkness and despair. Yet as Pastor Austin reminds us, even then, "God heard. God remembered. God saw and God kne...

Pastor Jared Richard opens Exodus 32–34 by grounding the sermon in Romans 15:4, where Paul reminds us that everything written in the Old Testament was written for our instruction, that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. With that foundation laid, Pastor Jared sets out to answer one of the most important questions the Bible addresses: how can a holy God co...

In this sermon from Exodus 25–31, Pastor Jared Richard opens with a memorable story about a pop quiz designed not to test knowledge, but to form students into the kind of people who slow down and follow directions. In the same way, he argues, God's exhaustive instructions for building the tabernacle were never merely architectural — they were formational. God wasn't just building a tent; He was bu...

In this sermon from Exodus 25, Pastor Jared Richard takes the church on a guided tour through the tabernacle, unpacking one of the most important visual aids in all of Scripture. From the outer courtyard's bronze altar and basin, through the holy place with its lampstand, table of bread, and altar of incense, all the way to the ark of the covenant resting in the holy of holies, every element was d...

Drawing from Exodus 20–24, Pastor Jared Richard unfolds God's covenant with Israel through the lens of a marriage ceremony. Just as premarital counseling and wedding vows are meant to help a couple fully understand what they're committing to, God walks His people through a declaration of intent, a detailed set of expectations, a promised blessing, and a blood-sealed covenant. God's heart in all of...

Pastor Billy Driver opens by pointing to a sobering reality: we live in a world that spends over a trillion dollars a year convincing us that contentment is just one more purchase away. Drawing from Exodus 20:17, he defines covetousness as an illicit desire for what God has not given us — a heart that is dissatisfied with God's provision and seeks satisfaction somewhere other than Him. Paul reinfo...

Pastor Jared Richard opens with the sobering story of Naboth from 1 Kings 21, an innocent man stoned to death because two worthless scoundrels bore false witness against him at the orchestration of the wicked Queen Jezebel. That story, Pastor Jared argues, perfectly illustrates why God gives the ninth commandment in Exodus 20:16: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." The comman...

Pastor Patrick Austin opens by pointing out that while we live in a $16 billion home security Market — a world full of people desperate to protect their stuff — we are also surrounded by people who are perfectly comfortable taking what doesn't belong to them. But before we point the finger at the burglar or the carjacker, Pastor Patrick brings us back to the garden, where Adam and Eve stole the ve...

Pastor Jared Richard opens by challenging the common assumption that the Ten Commandments are merely a list of prohibitions. While the "don'ts" are real and important, every prohibition is ultimately protecting a gracious gift from God. In the case of the seventh commandment — "You shall not commit adultery" (Ex. 20:14) — the gift being protected is marriage. Drawing from Genesis 2:24-25, Pastor J...

Preaching from Exodus 20:13, Pastor Jared Richard opens the sixth commandment — "You shall not murder" — and immediately pushes past the comfortable assumption that most of us are safe from its conviction. While many may not have committed physical murder, Pastor Jared argues that we live in a culture that has grown increasingly comfortable with the destruction of human life. From the rapid legali...

On Graduate Sunday, Pastor Jared Richard opened Exodus 20:12 to walk the entire congregation — not just the seniors — through the fifth commandment: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." He was careful to note that "honor" carries far more weight than simple obedience. Drawing from the Hebrew word meaning heavy or weighty...

Pastor Patrick Austin opens with a warm and relatable childhood memory — sneaking a peek at the Sunday sports section before church — to introduce what he calls one of the most misunderstood and most neglected of the Ten Commandments: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). Rather than offering a checklist of what is and isn't allowed on Sundays, Pastor Patrick reframes the enti...

In this message from Exodus 20:7, Pastor Jared Richard continues Bay Leaf Baptist Church's series through the Ten Commandments by turning the congregation's attention to the Third Commandment: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." Using a word association exercise with names like Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, and Adolf Hitler, Pastor Jared establishes that names are far more t...

Preaching through Exodus 20:4-6 on Mother's Day, Pastor Jared Richard makes the case that the Second Commandment is far more relevant to parenting than it might first appear. While the First Commandment addresses the who of worship — worship the right God — the Second Commandment addresses the how — worship the right God in the right way. God's generational language within the command makes His in...

Pastor Jared Richard opens by grounding the Ten Commandments in the framework Jesus gives in Matthew 22:37-40 — that all of the law hangs on loving God and loving your neighbor. With that lens in place, Pastor Jared turns to Exodus 20 and makes clear that the commandments are not a God-given checklist to earn His acceptance. Rather, they are expressions of love — a loving response to a God who has...

In Exodus 19, Pastor Jared Richard unpacks what he calls the "proposal of God" — a breathtaking invitation for God's rescued people to enter into covenant relationship with Him and become His treasured possession. Just as God reminded Israel in Exodus 19:4, "You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself," the foundation of this rela...

In his sermon from Exodus 17-18, Dr. Jamie Dee reminded the congregation that God is always faithful to His people and His promises, even when circumstances seem overwhelming. Drawing from Israel's surprise attack by the Amalekites after their Exodus from Egypt, Dr. Dee highlighted the strange but powerful moment when Moses held up his staff and Israel prevailed in battle, but when his arms grew w...

Pastor Jared Richard drew from the image in Jeremiah 18 of God as a potter working with clay to frame his message on Exodus 15-17. He explained that after delivering Israel from Egypt, God led them into the wilderness not to punish them, but to continue His shaping work - getting Egypt out of them, not just getting them out of Egypt. The wilderness serves as God's workshop where He reveals and res...