First Baptist Church, Union, NJ

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 7,10-14,16 Date of Delivery: July 5, 2026 The book of Revelation is about judgment, but isn’t all about judgment. There are moments between the scrolls, trumpets, and bowls that gives us brief interludes of events transpiring both in heaven and on earth. These are not to meant to fill us...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 6,8,9,16 Date of Delivery: June 28, 2026 Scrolls, Trumpets, and Bowls are judgments that fall upon the earth. While it is easy to see the pain, suffering, and despair that arises out of such judgment, we must also see amidst the destruction, the Creator and Redeemer and Spirit, who still show patien...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 5 Date of Delivery: June 21, 2026 We remain in the heavenly throne room as our first conflict arises, a sealed scrolls rests in the hand of God but no one is worthy to open it. As sin itself has corrupted not only man, but the entirety of creation, God’s word is locked away with no one ab...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 4 Date of Delivery: June 14, 2026 As we conclude the letters to the 7 churches, John’s vision now is cast into heaven and upon the throne of God. Here we are bombarded with colors, creatures, and kings, each with their own dazzling descriptions, but also ones we have heard before. Ezekiel...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 3:14-22 Date of Delivery: June 7, 2026 Reading the Bible requires a level of context for complete understanding. What is natural for us is to interpret the word according to our own experiences and understanding. Generations of culture, history, and language are built into the Bible. Is hot water go...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 3:7-13 Date of Delivery: May 31, 2026 Doors are means by which we control the space around us and choose who is allowed to occupy that space with us. When a door is open it invites, when closed it restricts. Christ is the door, the means by which we have access to heaven. Christ asks that we come to...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 3:1-6 Date of Delivery: May 24, 2026 In 546BC, the city of Sardis was surrounded by an impenetrable wall, protecting the city and it’s inhabitants. But Cyrus the great was able to capture the acropolis after sending spies to scale a secret undefended path. With no watchmen to patrol and g...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 2:18-29 Date of Delivery: May 17, 2026 The longest letter goes to the church we know the least about. Yet the text speaks plainly for itself. As opposed to Ephesus, the church in Thyatira was rich in love, but they lacked the proper theology to rebuke a false-prophetess that was destroying their chu...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 2:12-17 Date of Delivery: May 10, 2026 Being in the world but not of it poses the challenge of the world constantly demanding we conform to it. The world demands we conform to it’s morality, it’s indulgences, it’s present and pressing issues. But our eyes cannot be w...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 2:8-11 Date of Delivery: May 3, 2026 Just 30 miles north of Ephesus the letter now turns to the city of Smyrna. Rebuilt buy Alexander the Great, it is known for its gymnasium and theater, as well as its deep dies to the Imperial Cult. The church in Smyrna is one of two church letters not to receive...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 2:1-7 Date of Delivery: April 26, 2026 The first letter of the book of Revelation is directed towards the church of Ephesus. A “Free City”, Ephesus is not constrained by the Roman government or the Imperial Cult. Instead Ephesus has their own god, a version of Athena that promo...

Subject: 7 Churches Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Revelation 1:1-20 Date of Delivery: April 19, 2026 As we enter into the book of Revelation we must hold to the purpose of the letter, to encourage the church through troubled times that God is in control. Whatever may assail us or this world, God will bring about a right and good end for those who believe upon...

Subject: 2026 Easter Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): John 3:16 Date of Delivery: April 5, 2026 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.~John 3.16

Subject: 2026 Easter Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Matthew 21:1-22 Date of Delivery: March 29, 2026 After the raising of Lazarus has put both the people and the Sanhedrin into a frenzy of anticipation and animosity respectively, Jesus enters Jerusalem. There are palms and praises; driving out thieves and welcoming in children at the temple, and an unfortunate...

Subject: 2026 Easter Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): John 11:1-53 Date of Delivery: March 22, 2026 Death is the natural consequences of sin. Yet death is an immensely unnatural event. It is not right that beings made in the image of the God of life should perish. But that’s what sin does, it separates us from the Father in rebellion against Him and b...

Subject: The Acts of the Apostles Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Acts 28:30-31 Date of Delivery: March 15, 2026 As the book of the Acts of the Apostles comes to a close, we are left on an odd note. There’s no resolution, no final court-case confrontation, no repetition of moral. What we have is Paul finally in Rome and still proclaiming the Kingdom...

Subject: The Acts of the Apostles Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Acts 28:17-28 Date of Delivery: March 8, 2026 While in house arrest in Rome, Paul reaches out to the Jewish leadership to proclaim to them the “hope of Israel”, who is Jesus. After hearing him teach they are divided amongst themselves. Some are persuaded but others inflamed...

Subject: The Acts of the Apostles Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Acts 28:11-16 Date of Delivery: March 1, 2026 This official journey to Rome began 5 months ago. After a slow start, storm throws them into open waters for 2 weeks. After crashing on Malta they must stay through the season, until sailing such waters is safe again. Surrounded by prisoners, soldiers...

Subject: The Acts of the Apostles Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Acts 28:1-10 Date of Delivery: February 22, 2026 All 276 people aboard the shipwrecked boat survive, just as God had spoken, and they find safety on the Isle of Malta. Populated by “barbaroi” or “Barbarians”, they receive unusual kindness from a people...

Subject: The Acts of the Apostles Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Acts 27:1-44 Date of Delivery: February 15, 2026 The journey to Rome takes to the seas and encounters troubled waters along the way. From dead winds to week-long storms, the ship and its crew struggles to hold together their vessel and sanity. Yet Paul brings light and truth during this time and...

Subject: The Acts of the Apostles Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Acts 26.1-32 Date of Delivery: February 8, 2026 As Paul begins his defense before Herod the Great’s great-grandson, he makes his appeal based on Moses and the Prophets, who speak of the Christ, on how He must suffer, on His resurrection, and on His mission to bring light to the Jews an...

Subject: The Acts of the Apostles Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Acts 25:1-27 Date of Delivery: February 1, 2026 The charges brought against Paul are insufficient, but being released from Roman captivity will only return him to Jerusalem and into the authority of those seeking his life. As long as he remains “detained” Paul is both protec...

Subject: The Acts of the Apostles Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Acts 24:1-27 Date of Delivery: January 25, 2026 Today, over 388 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith in just 50 countries world-wide. As Paul suffers under 2 years of house arrest and an impending death sentence, we are reminded that this world s...

Subject: The Acts of the Apostles Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Acts 23:11-35 Date of Delivery: January 18, 2026 As Paul awaits the tribunes decision his enemies are not complacent. They conspire together and bring a vow before the Sanhedrin, lure Paul into a trap that they may kill him and be rid of this heretic. Paul’s nephew discovers this murde...

Speaker or Performer: Pastor Anthony Rodriguez Scripture Passage(s): Acts 22:22-23:10 Date of Delivery: January 11, 2026 Paul finds himself standing between two worlds and being a part of neither. To the Jewish mob he is a Jew, to the Roman tribune he is a citizen. This is not deception, but Paul using the past crafted for him by God to be able to speak into both worlds. This not only offers him a...