Pastor's Blog | First Baptist Church

Jon Hoover • February 07, 2021

Good morning church family!

I have chosen to once again write a devotional instead of record a video. We did not know we would need to cancel church until late Thursday afternoon. I could record the sermon I prepared for Sunday, but I have to believe that recordings simply do not carry the weight of preaching live in person. Also, this sermon coming up is so good that I was getting fired up about it in my office on Thursday and began preaching it out loud to myself, HA! That sermon is just going to have to wait until a live church service.

Assuming we are in the building next week, we will also do communion. If you are watching on Facebook right now, please feel free to come by the church and pick up communion supplies, and you can participate at home. We are happy to deliver them as well. Please feel free to let us know if we can help you with that!

WORSHIP

God Omniscient, God All Knowing by Matt Boswell

Christ our Hope in Life and Death by Keith and Kristyn Getty

If interested, please watch the video about the writing of Christ our Hope in Life and Death. I am thankful for people today who are still writing new hymns with doctrinal depth that are rooted in Scripture.

Behind the Song: Christ Our Hope in Life and Death

GIVING

You can tithe online at FBC Giving.

DEVOTION

I have to admit that I was a little frustrated at the need to cancel church today. I knew this day would come when a few people may have Covid, and it would be better to cancel than to risk exposing more people, especially when the vaccine is becoming readily available to so many people. However, I woke up this morning with Psalm 118:24 on my mind:

"This is the day that the Lord has made,

Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

That's an incredibly simple statement, but it is also an incredibly powerful statement. Many of us live with various frustrations these days. You might be frustrated with politics (aren't we all?). We are all frustrated with Covid policies and Covid in general. You might be frustrated with a family member or friend. The list could go on. The truth is that all of us deal with life's frustrations, and these days seem to provide plenty of opportunity for frustration.

Yet, I wonder how often we stop and consider this one simple verse. As a preacher, I enjoy breaking down longer passages and digging into the original languages, but oftentimes, simple can be better.

So, let's break this passage down for just a moment.

First, the Psalm says this is the day that the Lord has made. This should focus your attention on what is before you today, not yesterday or tomorrow. Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow (or the day before, for that matter). Your focus as a believer in Christ is to realize that what is before you today is exactly what the Lord had planned. Live in the light of knowing that today is where you must focus your heart for Christian living.

Secondly, the Psalm says that this is the day that the Lord has made. Why is it that you should focus your attention on today? Well, for one thing, you can't do anything to change it. More importantly, today is the day the Lord has made. I love science and the laws that God created that govern the universe, but, without God, the sun would not rise today. The rain would not fall. You aren't promised tomorrow. You are only promised what is put in front of you today, and today is the day that the Lord has made. Frustrations may abound, but today is the Lord's day!

Third, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Rejoice? "But...but...this world seems so hopeless, and you don't know what my life is like." Yes, I still say, "rejoice." It seems counterintuitive, but the truth about how you feel is more determined by how you act than it is how you feel. Feelings follow actions, not the other way around. You don't have to "feel" a certain way in order to act a certain way. Feelings are not a very good guide for your actions. What if we approached each day with reasons to rejoice instead of reasons to be frustrated? Yes, life is messy and the world has gone mad, but this is still the day that the Lord has made, and we should all rejoice!

"But, I don't have to be happy about it, right?"

Wrong.

Fourth, this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." I think there was a reason David put this statement last. If all we do is focus on what there is to be frustrated about, we will never get to the point where we can be glad in whatever the day may bring. Here's the deal though - if you want to be glad in whatever today might bring, you cannot skip over the first three things above. You must recognize that today is the day that is before right now. You must recognize that today is the day that the Lord has made, and because it is His day, then you have reason to rejoice. If you get your heart and mind around those three things, then I bet you can begin to be glad in whatever today may bring.

As the hymn says:

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost

Count your many blessings, name them one by one

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Once again:

This is the day that the Lord has made,

Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

There is always something to be frustrated about, but today is the day that the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it!

I hope you have a wonderful day! It is my hope that we will be back in the building again next week!

Sincerely,

Pastor Jon

PRAYER REQUESTS

I would encourage you at some point today to take some time and pray for the following individuals:

Charles & Doris Davis

Gene and Linda Woody

Donna Barnette

Kitty Ham (she is home from the hospital)

Lorraine Gooding

Terry Gooding's son and grandson

Megan Lynch

Mary Alice Beaman

Martha Poythress

Sunday Devotion

Jon Hoover • January 23, 2021

Good morning church family!

I certainly wish we were able to meet at church today, but I do believe it is best that we take at least one week off to make sure there is no spread of COVID within the church. Again, if you were exposed to COVID and develop any symptoms, please let us know so that we can make a quick and wise decision about church services on Sunday, January 31st.

I have decided to write a Sunday morning devotion that you can do by yourself or with your family. I want to save the sermon I prepared for this week for when we meet at church again. It's an important sermon in this series in Galatians, and I believe it will better serve more of our church to preach it live.

WORSHIP THROUGH SONG

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

Christ Our Hope in Life and Death

WORSHIP THROUGH GIVING

Tithes and Offerings

DEVOTION

My encourage to you is to work through the following passages in your Bible. Don't use a phone or a tablet. Get out your Bible and read through it by yourself or with your family!

Read:

Hebrews 4:12

Matthew 4:4

2 Timothy 3:16-17

John 1:1-14

These passages focus on the Word of God, and the passage in John focuses on Jesus being the eternal Word of God who came to the earth to save you from sin!

There is a very real sense in which I believe Christians must renew their commitment to the authority of God's word - the Bible. Everything in our culture screams at us to trust other sources and worldly philosophies that clash with the Bible. This is to be expected in a post-Christian society that would rather "go along to get along." It's easier for a fish to swim downstream than it is against the current. Likewise, it will be far more difficult for Christians to remain faithful in the years and decades to come. This should not come as a surprise.

However, if you are to remain faithful, what is it that you are to remain faithful to? The answer to that is obviously the teachings of the Bible. If you are going to take your faith seriously, you must take the Bible seriously, and that means that you must have a rock-solid faith in what it teaches and proclaims.

The passage in Hebrews says that the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It discerns your motives, intentions, and thoughts.

Matthew 4:4 states that you cannot live on bread alone, rather you will need every word that comes from the mouth of God. Of course, Jesus knew that people must have food to physically survive. That was not his point. He knew that spiritual survival was far more important than physical survival. There's an interesting point to make here. The hungrier you get, the more food you need to sustain life. Likewise, the more the world starves you of truth, the more you will need the word of God to survive. If anything is true right now, it is the fact that truth is elusive. Many people have lost their grip on reality. I believe it is because they are starved for truth and are searching for it in all sorts of places except the one place they can ALWAYS find it - in the Bible. Unfortunately, this can be true for many Christians, too. You need the Word of God to survive spiritually just like your body needs food to survive physically. If you've lost your desire to feed on the Word of God, then I encourage you this morning to pray that God will renew in you a hunger for the Word of God.

The passage in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 also serves as a reminder that the Word of God is perfect. In fact, the text there says that it was "breathed out by God." This means that God used human authors to write down exactly what he wanted them to have. This is why it says that is useful for correction and reproof. The Bible is not just a good book with some good moral suggestions. It is the Word of God, and you must yield to it in every aspect of life and faith.

Finally, the passage in John reveals to us that God didn't just give us words. He gave us his Son, Jesus Christ, the eternal Word. How amazing is it that God stepped into history to save you from your sin?

If you've lost your passion for the Word of God, then this morning is a perfect time to renew It and to commit yourself again to trusting the Bible as a reliable source of spiritual nourishment and truth!

You can do that by using the following prayer as a model for yourself or your family:

Dear God, thank you for speaking to me through the Bible. In a world gone crazy, please help me and my family to trust your Word. Please renew in me a desire to read, study, and apply the Word of God to every aspect of my life. It is my desire to follow you, and I know that faithfulness to you requires that I follow your Word. Please convict of sin and apathy, and renew in me a desire to follow you all the days of my life. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

As they say, "if you fail to plan, plan to fail." What's my point? You need to develop a plan to read the Bible on a regular basis. Devotionals are great, and I encourage you to use them. New Morning Mercies by Paul Tripp and I highly recommend it to you. However, devotionals must be secondary to Bible study and reading. Below are a few plans you can use to study the Bible on a regular basis.

Read Scripture - This is my personal favorite for daily Bible reading and study. It's an app you can download, but I encourage using your actual Bible to read the Scripture.

Ligonier Ministries Bible Reading Plans - Here is a helpful roundup of Bible reading plans for 2021.

In any case, whatever you do to read the Word of God, make sure you do it regularly! I have always been told that you will develop an appetite for what you are fed. If you fill your life full of worldly ideas, then expect to find yourself craving for more of the world. However, if you continually feed on the Word of God, you will find yourself desiring to know God more and more!

All this talk about food and hunger has me quite hungry already! So, like any good Baptist after church, it's time to eat!

Have a blessed and restful Sunday afternoon!

Pastor Jon

Sunday, June 7, Song Lyrics

Jon Hoover • June 07, 2020

How Great Thou Art #10

Verse 1

O Lord my God

When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds

Thy hands have made

I see the stars

I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout

The universe displayed

Chorus

Then sings my soul

My Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art

Then sings my soul

My Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art

Verse 4

When Christ shall come

With shout of acclamation

And take me home

What joy shall fill my heart

Then I shall bow

In humble adoration

And there proclaim

My God how great Thou art

Glorify Thy Name #249

Verse 1

Father we love You

We worship and adore You