First Baptist Blowing Rock

The faithfulness of God is on full display in this passage from 2nd Thessalonians as Paul explains how God will always bring comfort and relief to those facing persecution as well as punishment for those doing the persecuting. What does that mean for us today and how can we take comfort in knowing that God is faithful? How should we respond to those who mock Christianity and would seek to persecut...

In this message we make the transition from 1st Thessalonians to 2nd Thessalonians as Paul quickly follows his first letter to the church at Thessalonica with a follow up letter to clear up some ongoing misunderstandings and confusion. We lay out the theme and context of the letter as well as looking at his introduction that ties the two letters together. In that introduction he praises their pers...

As the Apostle Paul wraps up his first letter to the Church in Thessalonica, he drops some encouragement to the young church to not give up allowing God to continue what he started in their lives. All of us need to recognize that as Christians, God is continually at work transforming us into the image of Christ but it requires our surrender to the Holy Spirit and obedience to His word. Since we ar...

As he wraps up the 1st letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul encourages the early church to set up some guardrails to keep the passion flowing in their relationship with God. These practical steps provide for us a pattern to allow the Holy Spirit the freedom to not only lead, guide and convict us but to also flow in every area of our lives. So many Christians today allow their relationship...

All of us go through seasons where our relationship with God seems to struggle. Our passion and devotion seems to wane, and it feels like we are simply going through the motions. Sadly, it is easy to get comfortable with this distant and settle into a new normal. How can we guard against letting this happen and if we are there right now, how can we regain the spark we once experienced. In this mes...

We continue looking at the Apostle Paul's advice on how to create a culture of community within the church - a culture of Family. Last week we looked at the relationship between the spiritual leadership or Pastor and the people of the congregation and this week we look at our relationship one to another. How we treat each other is integral to building a community within the local church that...

The Apostle Paul closes out his first letter to the church at Thessaloniki with some advice on the importance of creating a culture of family and community within the church. The early church was a very diverse mix of several cultural and religious groups that was bound to bring conflict and trouble so in every letter that Paul writes he adds some correction and advice for dealing with conflict. I...

This is from our College Gameday Sunday featuring our guest Speaker Corey Lynch. Corey was a three time All American defensive back for the Appalachian State Mountaineer football team from 2005-2007 and a leader on the team that won back to back to back FCS National Championships and an App State Hall of Famer. He was instrumental in securing what many consider the "greatest upset in College...

We continue our discussion on Eschatology and the "end times" as the Apostle Paul moves from the discussion of what the "rapture" make look like from the end of Chapter 4 of Thessalonians into a discussion of "when" it might take place in Chapter 5. In this message we discuss how Christians are supposed to live in light of the Rapture as well as breaking down the main...

In this message we dig into Paul's teaching on "The Rapture" from 1st Thessalonians 4:14-18. Is the rapture a thing or was it created in the 20th century? Social media is full of clips of people questioning the rapture but you cannot get away from the Apostle Paul's very clear teaching that Jesus will come back, but not to earth like his second coming, but in the air to call th...

Grief is something that every one of us will deal with in our lives, not just when we lose a loved one. We can grieve a lost friendship, broken families, church splits, lost jobs, the loss of our health or independence, even loss possessions like when a car is stolen or a house burns down. Grief is natural but would we call it something "good"? The Apostle Paul shares with the Thessaloni...

One of the main teachings of the early church was the return of Jesus Christ to bring his followers to Heaven. In Thessalonica, when some early converts were passing away, other believers became concerned that since they missed the return of Christ then maybe they would miss Heaven. In the passage we look at in this message, Paul uses this opportunity to clarify what we believe concerning death an...

We continue studying the Apostle Paul's teaching on how we can live a life that is "pleasing to God". We have already learned that God's will for our life is to be "sanctified" or living our life pursuing holiness and now he continues by laying out some other important principles we should be pursuing or using our "ambition" towards. Our character and integr...

As the Apostle Paul encourages the Thessalonians Christians to pursue Holiness and Sanctification in their lives, he contrast that with living a life of sexual immorality which he identifies with pagan behavior. Why would he single out this one sin or struggle over all of the others as a danger to holiness? What does he mean by "sexual immorality" and what does that term mean in our mode...

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of our Declaration of Independence we examine the roots and background of our founding as a nation and why that still matters to Christians and the church in 2026. What are our responsibilities and obligations to uphold, treasure, share and pass along these founding principles and values to the next generation and how can we most effetely do tha...

What does Peter mean when he quotes Leviticus in saying, "Be Holy for I am Holy"? Is it something that God does for us, or something we do for ourselves? In our passage from Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul says that it is God's will that we all be sanctified and that living Holy lives pleases God but what does that look like in a practical sense ? In this message we answer all of th...

The Apostle Paul was a wonderful encourager to all of those who supported and benefited from his ministry and message and nowhere is that more evident than in his letter to the churches. Since Thessalonians is one of his first letters, it reveals why and how he saw encouragement to be a natural outflow of a Spirit filled and transformed heart. Join us to discover how we can become encouragers and...

How do we respond when its seems like everything we try to do, or feel like God is leading us to do, meets a brick wall? In our message today we will examine how the Apostle Paul dealt with Satan when he blocked him from gong back to visit the young believers at Thessalonika. Too many times we simply give up when the obstacles we face might be there to help us develop and grow in our faith and rel...

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encourages Christians to "store up treasures in heaven" as opposed to storing them up on earth. What are these treasures and how can we store them up? Why does it matter if we are already in Heaven? You might have heard someone talk about getting a "crown" in heaven, or even a jewell in their heavenly crown - are those the same things as what J...

The Apostle Paul is encouraging the young Christians at Thessaloniki as they face opposition and even persecution for their faith. Through this encouragement he makes some profound statements of truth about the message he has been preaching when he was among them. He declares that the gospel is not something put together by men or based on worldly philosophy but rather the actual voice of God. Thi...

As we celebrate mothers, I wanted to look at a mother from the gospels who gets a bad rap from many readers and see if we could not redeem her reputation. Join us as we look at the mom of James and John and her encounter with Jesus that reveals her heart and passion for her boys and a lesson for all mothers.  From Matthew 20:20-24 Thank you for listening to our podcast and we would love for you to...

What does it really mean to be a part of a church family? Why do we even call it a family, and who gets to be a part of it? Are their requirements and expectations? In this message we look as the Apostle Paul shares his heart with the Thessalonians about his passion for serving them and what he expects from them. In doing so, we catch a glimpse of what it means to be a part of God's family an...

     All of us have hopes, dreams and goals for our children and grandchildren; be a good person, be successful, do well in school, make and have friends. As they get older those goals grow more specific; get into a certain college, choose a career, be a success in athletics. All worthy and valuable goals; but what about spiritual goals? Most people never think about it in those terms and we can s...

All of us struggle with peer pressure or seeking the approval of others. It is part of our human nature - we want people to like us. What happens when that "want" becomes a "need" that we use as validation and identity? What happens when our desire to please others interferes with our desire to please and serve God? In our study from Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul deals with t...

When you look at the Apostle Paul's initial visit to Macedonia on his Second Missionary Journey it might be easy to label his efforts a failure. He was whipped, beaten and jailed in his first town Philippi. He was forced into hiding and snuck out of town in the middle of the night in Thessaloniki. He had to flee Berea in front of another angry mob and ended up in Athens. Might seem like a fai...