First Bible Church Messages

The pain and suffering already caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) naturally raises questions we would like to ask of God. Why this? Why now? Why here? Why us? In other words, we want God to explain himself. Many in this season will doubt God's love, ability, knowledge, or even his existence. But these questions are not unique to our generation. Every generation has had to wrestle with these thre...

When we started our study of Philippians on November 2, 2019, no one had heard of the coronavirus. As we close this series, everyone has heard of the coronavirus, which has now spread from China to over 120 countries. Among other things, this challenge is an opportunity to apply the truths we have learned in Paul's letter to the Philippians. As followers of Christ, we face the coronavirus with joy...

When we started our study of Philippians on November 2, 2019, no one had heard of the coronavirus. As we close this series, everyone has heard of the coronavirus, which has now spread from China to over 120 countries. Among other things, this challenge is an opportunity to apply the truths we have learned in Paul's letter to the Philippians. As followers of Christ, we face the coronavirus with joy...

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." - CS Lewis

[Paul] does not use his circumstances as an opportunity to extract more money from [the church]. Rather he uses his circumstances as an opportunity to teach them the principle of contentment. The "secret" of contentment is a secret that any believer can learn.

Disciplined Thinking: intentionally feeding my mind the information that influences me to love God and my neighbor, while rejecting the dis-information that permeates a proud culture in moral rebellion, for the advance of the gospel, to the glory of God.

Control means that God has the power to direct the whole course of nature and history as he pleases. Authority means that God has a right to do that. Presence means that God is with his creatures to bless and to judge in terms of the standard of his covenant. (John Frame, "Systematic Theology")

Immediate circumstances are the facts that "stand around" us on any given day (weather, sickness, arguments, bills, imprisonment, etc.), but they are temporary and ever-changing. The ultimate circumstances are the facts that "stand around" our immediate circumstances that are eternal and never changing. The believer must keep these facts in mind: the inevitable fame, sovereign lordship, imputed ri...

God designs our present suffering to accomplish our preferable future. Justice delayed seems like justice denied, but the delay is not as long as it seems.

Church conflict is often a positive sign that people care about the church and the mission Jesus gave us. They are invested in the ministry and have strong feelings about what ought to be done and how to do it. But unmanaged conflict can soon divide a church, and that division decreases the level of joy. A happy church is not a church without conflict, but a church with conflict that is managed we...

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." - CS Lewis

The Liberal Error: Because god made me this way, I am lord of my life and live according to the law of Me (license). The Law of Moses: Because I selectively obey the law of Moses, and even add to it, God is obligated to accept me (legalism). The Law of Christ: Because God has accepted me for Christ's sake (imputed righteousness), I find job in obeying the Law of Christ.

After demonstrating the futility of legalism (a self-righteous dependence on our own law-keeping to earn a right standing with God), Paul now turns to the only way, the only hope, of being reconciled to God: imputed righteousness. To impute means "to credit, to debit, to ascribe, to assign, to lay something to the account of a person." Paul knew that the righteousness that came from him was worthl...

Job's friends not only believe THAT God ultimately ordained this pain in Job's life (which is true), but also believe they know WHY God ordained this pain in Job's life (which is false). They operate on an airtight rule that the wicked suffer and the righteous are rewarded. Since Job is suffering, he must be hiding wickedness. . . . Job's friends compliment themselves by criticizing Job. ("We are...

The Apostle Paul grew up and entered adulthood in an environment of legalism. Legalism views the commands of God as a means to earning his love. By law-keeping, the law-keeper seeks to obligate God, the law-giver, to pardon and promote him. When Paul came to know Christ, he left legalism behind and opposed it for the rest of his life.