First Baptist Podcast

This week, our youth share memories from their mission trip to Indianapolis, Indiana, where they served alongside YouthWorks at food pantries, community gardens, and clothing distribution centers. Each student reflects on how their experience connects to their favorite verse— and what it looks like to be made to matter, made to mirror, made for each other, and made for mission.

What does the end of the road actually look like? This final message of The Journey Home walks through the complete picture of what God has been doing in every human life — from condemnation, through salvation and sanctification, all the way to glorification. The destination isn’t just heaven. It’s home. And the hope of what’s waiting there is what carries us through the hardest miles of the journ...

We all know the feeling — you’re driving down the road, and suddenly your car drifts. That’s exactly what sin looks like in the Christian life. In this week’s message from our series The Journey Home, Pastor Ryan unpacks the honest struggle every believer faces: knowing what’s right and still veering off course. Drawing from Romans 6–8, he tackles the three ways we try to handle sin on our own — m...

In this week’s message from The Journey Home series, Pastor Ryan digs into one of the most misunderstood words in the Christian faith — repentance. It’s not just feeling bad when you get caught, and it’s definitely not trying harder through willpower and self-improvement. True biblical repentance, or metanoia in the Greek, means a complete 180-degree shift in how you see everything — God, yourself...

Just like carbon monoxide — odorless, colorless, and silently deadly — sin causes damage you don’t see coming until it’s too late. In this message, Pastor Ryan walks through five real consequences of sin straight from Scripture: it separates us from God, it enslaves us in patterns we can’t break on our own, it places us under God’s righteous wrath, it leaves us spiritually dead — unable to fix our...

🛣️ Life is a highway — but what happens when we’re heading the wrong way? In this message we tackle one of the most misunderstood topics in the Christian faith — sin. Using the hilarious scene from Planes, Trains & Automobiles, it paints a picture of how sin blinds us to the fact that we’re going the wrong direction — and how we often don’t even realize it until years later. You’ll discover what t...

We spend a lot of time and money trying to hold onto life — but have you ever stopped to ask where life actually comes from? This Mother’s Day, we trace the thread of life through the pages of Scripture: from the moment God breathed life into the first human being, to the holy calling of motherhood, to the eternal life Jesus makes available to every one of us.

Two out of three Americans say they believe in Jesus. But belief without action isn’t saving faith — James calls it dead. In this final message of our Called to Serve series, we walk through James 2:14–26 and ask the honest question: if someone followed your calendar and your checkbook for the last year, would they find evidence of a living faith? James doesn’t ask what you believe about the poor....

In this powerful message from James 1:26-27, we learn that growing in faith isn’t just about what happens inside the church walls — it’s proven by how we serve others in the world around us. James challenges us to move beyond just talking about our faith and actually put it into action by caring for those who cannot care for themselves. God has always had a special heart for orphans and widows — t...

Who is God calling you to serve? In Luke 5, Jesus stops for a man with leprosy — someone no one else would go near. He didn’t have to. But he chose to serve anyway. We are called to do the same. To show up for the people on the outside. To serve even when it’s uncomfortable. This message looks at who the “untouchables” are in our world today, and what it looks like to show up for them with

What does the kingdom of God actually look like in practice? Three days before the cross, Jesus answered that question — and the answer might surprise you. In this message from Matthew 25, we dig into the parable of the sheep and the goats and discover that how we treat those in need is more significant than we ever imagined. Jesus makes an incredible claim: every act of service done for the least...

What would you do if your favorite show ended on a cliffhanger with no next episode? That’s exactly how Mark’s Gospel ends the Easter story — and he did it on purpose. In this Easter message, we explore Mark 16:1-8, the most unusual resurrection account in the Bible. No tidy ending. No appearance of the risen Jesus. Just an empty tomb, a frightened group of women, and a challenge left for you to w...

On Maundy Thursday — the final night before the cross — Jesus packed more love into a few hours than most of us show in a lifetime. He washed His disciples’ feet, predicted His own betrayal, taught them about what was coming, and then broke bread and poured wine and said: remember me. In this message we walk through the full story of the Last Supper using all four Gospels, uncovering what Jesus wa...

What would you do with your mom’s diamond ring — bury it, keep it, or sell it? That question opens up one of history’s most haunting betrayals: Judas Iscariot. In this message, we explore what really drove Judas to betray Jesus, why it matters more than we’d like to admit, and the uncomfortable truth that we’re more like Judas than we think. But there’s also the story of Peter — another betrayer w...

Tuesday of Holy Week reveals intense confrontations between Jesus and Jerusalem’s religious establishment. The chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and elders felt threatened by Jesus’ growing popularity, especially after raising Lazarus from the dead. They challenged His authority and tried to trap Him with three questions about taxes, marriage, and the greatest commandment. Jesus answer...

Jesus’ dramatic actions in the temple weren’t about corrupt business practices—they were about a broken religious system that had become spiritually unfruitful. The temple was supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations, but it had become exclusive and ritualistic. Jesus wasn’t trying to reform the old system; he was declaring it finished and replacing it with himself as the new temple. Throu...

Palm Sunday reveals three distinct responses to Jesus that still exist today. The crowd correctly identified Jesus as the promised Messiah but wanted him to be a political king who would restore Israel’s former glory. The Pharisees completely rejected Jesus because he threatened their power and authority. Only Jesus himself understood the true purpose of this moment – that he came not for politica...

Marriage wasn’t humanity’s idea but God’s perfect design from the beginning. When God saw that it wasn’t good for man to be alone, He created woman as a gift and helper. Husbands are called to love their wives sacrificially, just as Christ loved the church, demonstrating this love through actions, not just words. Wives are called to submit to their husbands out of love, creating harmony in the rel...

Conflict is inevitable in relationships, but how we handle it determines the outcome. While forgiveness and love are powerful tools, sometimes biblical confrontation becomes necessary for true healing and restoration. Many Christians mistakenly believe they should never speak up or challenge wrongdoing, but confrontation is actually a biblical principle when done God’s way. Jesus provided a clear...

It takes two people to fight, but only one person to choose love. What if the secret to preventing conflict isn’t winning the argument, but refusing to enter the battle? Most fights have deeper roots than what we’re actually arguing about. When you stop keeping score and start looking for the heart behind the hurt, everything changes. Are you ready to become known for love instead of the battles y...

Conflict is an unavoidable reality in every relationship because we are imperfect people with different experiences and perspectives interacting with other imperfect people.  The goal isn’t to avoid conflict entirely, but to learn how to navigate through it in healthy, God-honoring ways that lead to genuine resolution and healing.  Most people default to one of three ineffective responses when con...

Many Christians find themselves stuck in a perpetual cycle of receiving – attending church services, reading devotionals, and participating in Bible studies – without ever transitioning to actively living out their faith. While spiritual growth and learning are essential, Jesus designed discipleship to move beyond endless training into purposeful action. Just as medical students must eventually tr...

Discover the transformative power of viewing others through the lens of Christ’s compassion. Many people around us are struggling despite appearing successful or put-together on the outside. This message explores how Jesus viewed crowds of people and what we can learn about developing genuine compassion for others. Learn about the three ways Jesus saw people: with deep compassion that moved Him to...

Discover what Jesus actually called us to do – and it might surprise you. Many Christians focus on being good or completing programs, but Jesus had a different invitation entirely. This message explores the crucial difference between following Jesus from a distance versus true discipleship and what it really means to take up your cross daily. Learn about the two main ways we fall short as follower...

What if the antidote to our hopeless world is sitting dormant in your heart? In this message, we’re kicking off a new series called Rise Up by tackling the most urgent question facing the church today: How do we become God’s hope to a community drowning in anxiety and despair? But here’s the catch—we can’t give away what we don’t have. Before we can offer hope to our neighbors, we need to rekindle...