First Church Podcast

The first thing the angel said to the women visiting Jesus' tomb was, "Don't be afraid." The first thing Jesus said to his followers when He appeared to them alive was, "Don't be afraid." On this Easter Sunday, Pastor Daryle Williams gives us 6 reasons the resurrection should take away all our fear and give us complete confidence in Jesus.

When God rescued His people Israel from their slavery in Egypt, it was both an end and a beginning. It was an end to slavery, but the beginning of freedom, victory, and promise. The same is true with the death of Jesus. While it was an end to His time here on earth physically, it was the beginning of salvation, new life, and blessing for those of us who trust in Him.

We would all love for God to take us from where we are now to where we want to be in our lives and in our relationship with Him in an instant. And He can, but often He chooses to take us there little by little. In this message in the "Me in 5 Years" series, Pastor Daryle Williams challenges us to take one small step toward God each day and be amazed at how God will bless those small steps and use...

What do you do when something, some unexpected event, some tragedy, some big surprise wreaks havoc on your 5-year plan? Remember that God is trying to get your attentions, God always has better plans than we do, and, most importantly, God wants us to trust in Him in all circumstances.

God has good plans for your life and He wants you to be better in 5 years than you are today. In this first message in the "Me in 5 Years" series, Pastor Daryle Williams shares several challenging principles that will help you point your life in a direction that will carry you to your goals.

Lynita Williams continues our February series, "Family Values," with a message challenging us to make sure our lives are in order with God's priorities. Lynita encourages us to make certain the mission is always greater than position, choose motivation over expectation, and choose legacy over temporary.

In this second message in our "Family Values" sermon series, Pastor Daryle Williams asks professional counsellor Donisa Hammond to discuss with him the four horsemen of marriage. Based upon the research of Dr. John Gottman, this study will help you analyze your marriage relationship for indicators that could lead to struggles.

In this first sermon in the "Family Values" series, Pastor Daryle Williams challenges us to • Surrender our Life and Family to Jesus • Trust God Completely • Think About the Generational Consequences of Today's Actions • Keep our Family in a Bible Believing Church If we will do these things, we will build a lasting family.

We all need something to lean on in times of struggle and trouble. For followers of Jesus, the Bible is our crutch - it is a stable and reliable foundation on which to lean when times are tough.

God designed each of us to be fulfilled only when we take our eyes off ourselves and learn how to be generous toward others. In this message in the "I Love My Church" series, Pastor Daryle Williams shares how First Church is generous in our community and around the world.

Everybody needs a fresh start. And God knows this about us and He reminds us over and over again in the Bible that God gives us a fresh start whenever we need it. In fact, the Bible says that, "His mercies are new every morning." First Church is a church that believes in fresh starts, and that's why I Love My Church!

Jesus compared those who are filled with the Holy Spirit to the wind. The physical wind is a necessity to our world and the same is true of the Holy Spirit. If we want our lives to be full and complete, we will ask Jesus to fill us with this great gift.

All throughout the Bible, God describes His presence as being like fire. In this message in the "Christmas Gifts" series, Pastor Daryle Williams challenges us to keep the fire that God started alive in our lives everyday.

Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit is a gift that God wants to give to every one of us. He also said that the Holy Spirit is like a river of living water overflowing from our lives. In this first sermon in the Christmas Gifts series, Pastor Daryle Williams encourages us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

God understands that all of us, even the closest followers of Jesus, will sometimes fall. The true test of a Christian is whether he or she will get back up after they fall. In this message in the "How to..." series, Pastor Daryle challenges us to determine to get back up, determine to go to God for help, and determine to use this knock down to make us better.

Everyone lives their lives with one of two mindsets: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. A fixed mindset says, "I'll never be anything other that what I already am;" a growth mindset says, "I have potential to make progress in my life." God has great plans for our futures and wants us to live with a spiritually growth mindset - trusting that God is able to take our insufficiency and do the miracu...

Everybody is talking about work/life balance. But how can we live a live that is balanced in God's eyes? Pastor Daryle launches the new "How to..." sermon series by challenging us to live in every opportunity, have fun, leave some things undone, define your purpose and values, and live to glorify God.

Everywhere we turn there are voices speaking into our lives. Too many of those voices are negative, harmful, and deceitful. It is absolutely critical that we, as Christians, listen to the right voices when it comes to our identity, our family, and the way we interact with the world around us.

On this Baptism Sunday, Pastor Daryle Williams reminds us that tomorrow’s experience follows today’s obedience. When we obey Jesus' command to be baptized, God blesses us with forgiveness, righteousness, new life, and blessings.

In order to love Mondays, we need to have a constant source of power to overcome the mundane, the obstacles, and the challenges we face in life. God knew this and provides us the Holy Spirit to give us that power.

Jesus told us what we must do to be His disciples - deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. We can check our progress by asking ourselves these questions: Who is calling the shots? How much do I love Jesus? How do I feel about His Word and His house? How well do I love others? and How well am I glorifying Him with my actions?

How can we love Mondays instead of dreading them? In this message in the Love Mondays series, Pastor Daryle Williams helps us discover that serving and blessing others actually aligns us with God and His blessings. That makes any day - including Monday - a great day!

When you see all the wickedness that is advancing in our world, how do you keep an undaunted faith in God? Pastor Daryle Williams encourages us to hold on to God's presence, God's power, and God's promises. In doing so, His light will shine so bright in us that the darkness will have no power.

The Biblical figure Job found out that life was uncontrollable. Yet, he had prepared himself for the chaos of life by worshipping, connecting with others, and knowing his purpose long before the tragedies hit. Pastor Daryle Williams helps us prepare for chaos in this sermon from the Undaunted series.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow in the face of opposition from society and the king. How can we do the same? Pastor Daryle Williams launches a new sermon series, Undaunted, with the answer to these three men's courage.