First Baptist Church - Troy, TX - Audio

In the early days of the church, God’s people saw exponential growth. In a matter of a few years, the church had grown by thousands of people who had come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Was this an isolated event or can we see a move of God in our communities and church bodies like that today? In this message we’ll see the priority that the church placed on prayer and the power of God demon...

What importance does God put on the priority of prayer in the lives of His people? What does it look like when God’s people pray? What does it look like when God’s people fail to pray? Maybe you’ve never considered these questions. In the following two messages in our series entitled, “Forward: Advancing into God’s Dream for His Church”, we’re going to see that God places the highest priority on p...

The first nine verses of the book of Joshua are the rudder on the ship for everything God will tell Israel to do to realize His dream for them in the new land. If Israel was going to succeed in realizing God’s dream for them in a new land, careful obedience to His word would have to be their highest priority. As we go forward into the things that God wants for us, His dream for this church body, t...

God has a dream for His church; a foreseeable future of the church as it can and must be. God has called us to come and join Him in realizing His dream for His church. What is God’s dream for His church? Jesus said in John 14:3, “I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too.” That’s God’s dream for the church. As we journey through this series, we’re going to lea...

We’ve seen that God is our encourager, that we can find encouragement from God’s word, but there’s one more source of encouragement we need – one another. God created us with the capacity for relationships – both with Him and with other people. When we encourage one another, we’re joining God’s work in another person’s life to build them up through our encouragement to be who He wants them to be. ...

When we need encouragement, we need it. Where can we find the encouragement we need when we’re discouraged, disillusioned, or struggling to maintain our direction in following Christ? Answer: the Bible. It sounds very cliché and simplistic, but it’s the best tangible resource we have to find encouragement we need. The Bible is God’s word given to us. When we read it, believe it, and apply its trut...

In the Gospel of Matthew we read the biblical account of the visit of the wise men. These men came from far in the East to seek the one who was “born King of the Jews”. Their example of faith, worship, and obedience to God sets a standard that all of us can learn from. From them we learn that faith and worship must be accompanied by obedience to what God has shown us. Are we giving the Lord Jesus...

In Luke 2:25-38 we meet two people who are often overlooked in the Christmas narrative: Simeon and Anna. This man and woman had served God faithfully all the long years of their lives, patiently waiting for Him to reveal the promised Messiah. God generously rewarded their patience and faithfulness when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple shortly after his birth. Their joy at finally seeing...

To most people in Jesus’ day shepherds were undesirable outcasts, but to God they were precious in His sight. The first proclamation of the gospel came to these men who lived on the ragged edge of society. His generous grace cut through social stigmas to bring them the light of the glorious good news, “Unto you a Savior is born! He is Christ the Lord!” If you’ve ever felt like you don’t “measure u...

God’s outpouring of His generous grace to all mankind took hold of Mary’s life in a way that changed everything. In one moment her plans for marriage, family, and her future hung in the balance of God’s plan. Her response? “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as You have said.” What do you do when God wants to pour out His generous grace through your life in a way you never imagined? When His...

As we begin looking into the biblical narrative leading up to the birth of Christ in Luke’s Gospel, we will meet an elderly couple who discovered that God’s generous grace can break into our unwanted circumstances, our disappointments, and even our struggles to believe His promises. Though our individual circumstances differ, God has generous gifts of grace in store for all of us as we follow Him...

From Genesis to Revelation we discover that God is generous. He delights in pouring out His generous grace upon people who come to Him in faith to follow Him. The greatest outpouring of God’s grace happened when He sent His only Son Jesus to be our Savior from sin. Jesus set aside the riches and glories of heaven to become human and die in our place to set us free from sin.

How does cultivating a lifestyle of giving thanks affect our relationship with God and other people? How does it change us? Learn what the bible teaches us about the transforming power of gratitude. 

What should it look like for us respond to God’s goodness in our lives with thanksgiving? The account of the grateful leper in Luke 17:11-19 provides us with a powerful example of gratitude on display.  

There are several roadblocks to prayer, the first being simply not praying! Some additional roadblocks are asking with the wrong motives, unresolved sin in in our lives, busyness, unresolved conflict with another person, and unbelief. Let's look at all of these.

Paul Malmin, Bubba Ellis, Larry Bulls, and Craig McMurtry share testimonies and great music with us this morning.

The key to praying prayers that get answered is not necessarily praying longer or harder, with better words, or with more people, but in praying from a life that is being transformed (Rm 12:2), in the leading of God’s Holy Spirit as He directs our hearts toward His agenda and the things He wants to accomplish for the glory of His name.  

Getting answers to our prayers isn’t about praying longer, harder, or with more heart; it’s about asking God to do what will glorify Him most. We learn to do this as we deepen our relationship with Him. When we start to pray this way, things come into focus and we’ll experience joy we never imagined we could.

Ray and Martha Blundell were missionaries for many years in Africa. They share how they became missionaries and some of the highlights of their lives on the mission field and after.

What do you think God is like? What I really think God is like will do more to affect my praying than anything else. What we believe about God – what we think He is really like – affects our expectations of what He really can and really will do. The beginning place of praying like you've never prayed before is getting a view of God that you have never had before.

When they are powerless, God comes through for His people and does for them and for His glory what they never could have done on their own. Let's look at 3 snapshots of prayer – King Hezekiah when Assyria threatens Israel, Nehemiah as he faces the huge task of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, and the church praying for the imprisoned apostle Peter.

Titus: Getting the big picture. If you and God sat down and He gave you His evaluation of your everyday behavior, not to condemn you, but to help build you up, how would do? How would your behavior line up with sound teaching from the bible?

Keeping our focus sharp. Summary and final instructions.

In our last sermon, we looked at our conduct toward authority. Today we will look at our conduct toward people other than those in authority. Through our words and our actions we are to show grace toward other people.

Conduct toward outsiders. Our relationship with the culture around us has a profound effect upon our ability to carry out our mission to reach the lost with effectiveness and real impact. Not only must we be known as those who are good for God’s glory, we must be known as those who do good to those around us, whether they are believers or not—for God’s glory.