Memorial Baptist Church Jefferson City

In the first 52 chapters of the Bible, God never gives a name. Then Moses asks — and everything changes. I AM WHO I AM. Not a title. Not a proper noun. A verb. The only being in existence with the power and authority to completely self-identify. In this message, Pastor Nathan walks through Exodus 3, the meaning behind Yahweh, and the moment Jesus stands in the temple and says — before Abraham was,...

Every ancient culture had a creation story. In most of them, the gods are at war. Creation comes from violence. Humans are an afterthought. Then Genesis opens. God speaks. No conflict. No chaos. He simply speaks - and calls it good. This God is different. He speaks to His children, not as slaves, but with blessing. He gives boundaries not to cage them, but to keep them. And when they broke those b...

When musk oxen are threatened, they don't scatter and fight alone. They form a tight, outward-facing circle — every animal protecting the one beside it. That's closer to what Paul had in mind in Ephesians 6 than anything Hollywood has given us. Paul wasn't writing to lone soldiers. He was writing to a family- the church. And the armor he describes was never a private kit. It's God's own armor, wor...

"There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan." — C.S. Lewis Paul opens Ephesians 6 with a command: be strong. Not in yourself- in the Lord and in the strength of His might. The same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power available to you right now. But you need to know what you're up agains...

Paul doesn't give us a code. He gives us wisdom. In Ephesians 6:1–9, he addresses children, parents, slaves, and masters - not with an equation, but with a posture. A direction. A heart. And two words that sound similar but mean something very different: obey and honor. One is for a season. One is for a lifetime. In this message, Pastor Jimmy unpacks what it means to listen under your parents as a...

We used to ask marriage to help us survive. Then to make us happy. Now we're asking it to complete us - without the time, investment, or foundation to carry that weight. Paul wrote Ephesians 5:21–33 into a first-century Roman world where wives were property and household codes told everyone their place. What he said instead was a bomb detonating in that culture - and it still is. In this message,...

Music is fascinating. Singing lowers cortisol, raises oxytocin, releases endorphins, and bonds strangers faster than any other group activity. God didn't invent singing for humans - He built it into the human body and wired it into every culture on earth. And Paul says: when you are filled with the Spirit, you sing. In Ephesians 5:19–21, Pastor David walks through what a Spirit-filled church actua...

We live in the most entertained, most medicated, most connected moment in human history. And we are emptier than ever. We reach for things to fill us. And they don't. Paul saw this same pattern in Ephesus two thousand years ago - a city drunk on wine and the worship of Dionysus, chasing fullness in all the wrong places. And into that world he wrote: don't be drunk with wine. Be filled with the Spi...

We live in a culture that worships sex. And honestly? So did Ephesus. Temple prostitutes. Sensual parades. Fertility rituals. The city Paul was writing to wasn't so different from the billboards lining the highway today. And into that world, he writes: be imitators of God. That's an impossible standard. And that's exactly the point. In this message, Pastor Jimmy walks through Ephesians 5:1–16 and...

Last week: put off the old self. Be renewed. Put on the new. This week Paul gets specific. The new self has to show up somewhere - in your words, your anger, your hands, your forgiveness. It has to have a face. In Ephesians 4:25–5:2, Paul gives a list. But this is not random moral advice. Every command is anchored to one controlling truth: we are members of one another. What you do in the body eit...

Everything is technically there. Nothing is missing. But the order is completely wrong - and it changes everything. That's the image Pastor David opens with. Socks over boots. And it's the perfect picture of what disordered desire actually does to a human soul. Johnny Cash wrote "I Walk the Line" as a pledge to himself - play it straight, be faithful, hold the line. Then came the pills. The drinki...

We throw the word diversity around a lot. But what if we've been thinking about it all wrong? In Ephesians 4:7–16, Paul picks up right where unity left off — and then pivots. He says: yes, we are one body. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. We're not just united. We're uniquely, individually equipped. In this message, Pastor Jimmy traces the language o...

What if the greatest threat to the church isn’t from the outside- but from within? In Ephesians 4, Paul calls believers to “walk worthy” of their calling by maintaining unity in the Spirit. This message from Pastor Adam reveals why unity is not secondary- but essential to the life and mission of the church. 🔥 In this message, you’ll discover: ✅ Why unity carries weight in God’s eyes ✅ How Satan...

How do you come to know something that is beyond knowing? That's the question driving Ephesians 3:14–21. Paul kneels in a Roman prison and prays for believers to know the love of Christ - a love that surpasses knowledge. Not the kind of thing you think your way into. The kind of thing you receive your way into. And at the center of it is one of the most intimate images in all of Scripture: Christ...

Paul sits down to pray - and can't do it. He gets one sentence in and goes on the most theologically explosive detour in all of his letters. He can't help himself. What God has done in Christ is too staggering to skip past. What stopped him? A mystery. Not the kind you solve with enough brains - the kind only God can reveal. In Ephesians 3:1–13, Paul finally names it: Jews and Gentiles, insiders a...

You were far off. Now you are near. Ephesians 2:11–22 is one of the most radical passages in the New Testament. Paul declares that the dividing wall — the hostility that separated Jew and Gentile, insider and outsider — has been torn down by the blood of Christ. And in its place, God is building something new: a temple not made of stone, but of people. His people. With Jesus as the cornerstone. In...

Are you breathing but not really alive? Paul opens Ephesians 2 with the most uncomfortable diagnosis: without Christ, we are the walking dead — not just sick, not just struggling, but spiritually dead. Cut off from the One who is life itself. But then come two of the most hope-filled words in all of Scripture: But God. In this message, Pastor David walks through Ephesians 2:1–10 and shows that the...

Because God has already blessed His people in Christ, Paul doesn’t move to pressure - he moves to prayer. In Ephesians 1:15–23, Paul prays that the Father would give believers Spirit-given wisdom and revelation so they truly know their hope, their inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward them - power proven in the risen and reigning Jesus, Head of the church. In this messa...

In Christ, we have redemption through His blood, forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance secured by the Holy Spirit.   In Ephesians 1:7–14, Paul unfolds a sweeping vision of salvation that began in eternity past and stretches into eternity future — all according to God’s wisdom and for the praise of His glory. We are redeemed, united, and sealed in Christ.    This passage reminds us that our story...

Before the foundation of the world, God set His love on His people. In Christ, we are blessed, chosen, adopted, and secured — not by our performance, but by His grace.   In Ephesians 1:3–6, Paul begins with praise, reminding believers that every spiritual blessing flows from being united to Jesus. Our adoption into God’s family reveals His sovereignty, love, and redemptive plan unfolding through C...

Who really has power? Who can be trusted with authority? And what happens when Jesus enters a city built on rival names? In Acts 19, the gospel confronts confusion, exposes counterfeit spirituality, topples borrowed authority, and provokes costly repentance. Pastor David walks us through five movements in the text: 1️⃣ Confusion — good but incomplete faith 2️⃣ True Authority — the Word of the Lord...

The book of Ephesians begins with some of the deepest Gospel doctrine in the New Testament and ends with some of the most practical instruction for Christian living.   This week, Pastor Jimmy opened our Ephesians series by showing how Paul writes to a church in a cultural crossroads- a place full of competing ideologies, pagan spirituality, and social tension- and equips them to live confidently f...

Guest Speaker Pastor Rob Pochek (MBC Team Leader for Prayer & Evangelism) brought a powerful message reminding us that every Christian has a story, and God intends to use it.   From John 9 and the healing of the man born blind, we learn that Jesus is on a mission to bring people to belief — and one of the greatest tools He gives us is our own testimony. If you love Jesus, you can talk about Hi...

Words are never neutral. What we speak- and what we sing- forms us. From the opening pages of Scripture, God creates by His Word. GOD SPEAKS! Yet again and again, humanity rebels by rejecting His voice. In Jesus, the Word became flesh, fulfilled what we broke, and now- by the Spirit- dwells richly among us to form a new people. In this message, Pastor David walks through the story of Scripture to...

Christmas has passed. The lights come down. The pace changes. Life resumes. And the question lingers: Now what? In 1 John 1–2, the apostle John reminds us that Jesus didn’t just come to be celebrated—He came to be followed. Jesus is Light and Life, given from the Father so that we may live in fellowship, joy, and honest obedience. In this message, Pastor David walks us through what it means to fol...