First Baptist Church St. Paris

Who, and what, is man? I use the term “man” in a very generic sense here; one devoid of gender. Jeremiah in our passage, and those before, is trying to get the nation to see how God answers this question. We too must answer the question. Follow your heart our world says. This is a popular phrase in our…

What is Biblical prayer? Have you ever thought long and hard about this question? Most of us, and for many years I have been similar, the answer is probably not. We know some of the great “prayers” of the Bible but it is the unknown prayers we may want to consider. Having faith when God is silent. It…

Life is unfair! This is a hard truth everyone one of us faces, sometimes weekly and sometimes not as often. Right does not always win. The better team sometimes loses. Why do evil people succeed? Ever wonder this? I struggle to use the word “evil” because it is so easy to see others as being awful, incompetent,…

The future is… How would you finish the statement/sentence? We want certainty and security. Nothing wrong with this and I believe it is one of the primary needs we have as humans. This is why the future can be so scary and we want to look backwards, for the past we already know. This is what the Lord…

We all want independence. This is a basic need but I am starting to wonder we have taken this too far in our present culture. This was not the view of the ancient world We can easily become isolated. This was part of what Jeremiah was telling the nation, look around and learn. Yet in true independence…

We live in a throw away world. As soon as something doesn’t work for us we are sometimes quick to throw it away or put in a pile for “some day”. We want a quick fix. Similar to this is the “silver bullet” mindset. May I call this is the “Amazon mindset”—meaning we want what we want and we want it now!…

Change happens! In fact, I could argue the pace of change has only accelerated in the past 15-20 years. We grasp at anything that will give us security. Some of the things we go towards are not bad, others very much so. We need a voice of truth AND hope! Not just one or the other but both. I am becoming…

We are people of the future. We talked briefly, and will go in much further details on Wednesday morning, about the future and our hope. We cannot forget where we are going! We need to be people with good memories. We are not people of the past per se. We don’t just need to remember. We need to remember…

We all want clarity. In a world where there is chaos, confusion and more of the such we seek clarity. What is the best way to…? This is where in previous sermons I have talked about praying for wisdom. Without wisdom we will never see things clearly. In Jesus’ day there were 613 commands from the OT.…

Who are humans? A foundational question of life. The answer we give will reveal much about how we treat others, ourselves, and the purpose of humanity. Who/What has authority? Tied to our first question but yet distinctly different is the one of authority. Mark asks, “Who is Jesus?” This is one of the…

Over 43 million people are physically blind in our world. A quick search gives us this number from 2020. Some research says close to 33 million of the cases of blindness could be preventable. The world is difficult for those who aren’t “normal”. Physical disabilities, mental disabilities are health issues,…

Why so much evil in our world? We like to ask this question, and sometimes we must. Even this day we have at least two full scale wars going on, a potential for at least a 3rd, and may other calamities. We have children suffering the effects of not having food and many more homeless in many ways. Why…

Our world is confusing. We live in a very confusing time. We need wisdom to live in our world. This should be one of our most prayed prayers. If we pray for wisdom I guarantee God will answer it. Then we must live wisdom out. We need the Holy Spirit! Jesus says in John 14 about the role of the Holy Spirit…

What does greatness look like? This is not a bad desire nor wrong in many ways. By greatness I may also mean we want someone to notice us and what we do. Is greatness a stat like in baseball? Who is the greatest baseball player? This can lead us to comparison. Once again this is not necessarily a bad…

Life is full of ups and downs. I think we all can agree on this point. Who does not love this. In fact, take a quick moment to recall one of your recent mountaintop experiences. Also, if you would like take a moment to remember a valley moment in life. Following Jesus does not take away the ups and downs.…

Fear is constant in our world. Fear is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be very beneficial. However, I am observing that fear is becoming greater and greater in our world to the point that others are trying to use it for their own gain. Our fears can reveal our needs. Fear can be a tool that is used…

How we think, what we believe, shapes our world. Our thoughts and beliefs are very powerful. Our world shapes what we think and believe. Yet, the world we live in also shapes our beliefs and thoughts about things. The location is important. Jesus is in Caesarea Philippi the capitol of pagan worship,…

Bridges are important. As you drive around this week notice how many bridges, of many kinds, you go over. My guess is we will all be surprised by the number. Our text this morning serves as a bridge. As you look at our world what do you see? I think it is important for us to answer this question often.…

We want to be right. No one likes to lose or to be wrong. Failure seems like the worst experience. This goes along with the first point. We do not want to fail and we have started to experience that failure means we are “worthless”. Our culture has become so toxic in this way we have given rise to anxiety…

Who/What gets the last/final word? When determining matters of faith, life, and relationships what gets final say? How do we determine what is right and wrong? How do we determine what is best from good? Everyone has traditions. All of the world has a tradition. Every culture has their own. Every religion.…

A single event can change everything. We know this to be true from our lives. Weddings, births, moves to a new location all change everything. In those moments we may find ourselves no longer “belonging” into the crowd we used to. Now this is even more true when tragedy strikes. The unexpected death…

The journey is over. Can you imagine the relief of knowing the journey you have been on is over? Our text this morning with some of the OT quotations you are used to hearing, if you grew up in church, were those indicating the long awaited journey to Jerusalem and Passover was over. Just because the…

We need reminders. We do not always get things right the first time. We must continue to be reminded of what we should know and do know in order to live out our faith well. Life can be exhausting. As a church we know this to be true right now. We have had a long 5 weeks hosting 4 funerals. Church we…