First Baptist Family of Asheboro, NC

We know well what’s wrong with the world.  We do a fine job of discussing this.  This is Romans 1.  Paul presents this clearly; our world is broken.  Chapter 2 asks another question: What’s wrong with us?  Asking this question can create a holy silence!  One person might answer this question and say, “sin.”  Another person might say, “we all need Jesus.”  Paul brings us face to face with the reality of what’s wrong.  There’s something wrong in each of us.  Before we can get to hope we need to understand what’s gone wrong.  What is wrong with us?  Why haven’t we taken responsibility with what’s wrong with us?  It’s easier to see faults in others than to see the faults within ourselves.  Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount told us that before you tell your brother about the speck in his eye, you better take a look at the log in yours.  We have a tendency to be blinded to what’s inside of us.  It is sometimes easier to see the faults in others than our own faults.            

Romans shows us how we have a relationship with God, and how God reaches out and pulls us into relationship with Him.  Question: Are we ashamed of the Gospel?  Of Jesus?  In our culture we are confronted with whether we are ashamed.  Paul starts with this question.  He says he is not ashamed and he tells us why. Have you ever been ashamed?  In college, I worked in maintenance.  We had a huge project to restore old church buildings.  I’d go out and tear old barns apart and use those old materials to restore churches.  One day I was driving back and the load on the truck shifted and busted out the glass behind me.  I forgot to secure the load!  What a shame!  I could not believe I did that!  I had to tell my boss what I did.  I was ashamed. Paul is asking, “Are you ashamed?”  Why would we be asked such a question? Rome was the most predominant city full of highly educated people.  Paul goes into this city telling a story of a carpenter from a remote village who the Romans

Recently, I have been working to teach my daughter and son how to ride a bike. My daughter, who jumps into everything with both feet, took to it like a duck to water. It took very little time and she was off on her own zooming around on her bike. My son, who is very analytic and thinks about all possible outcomes, was more difficult. He took much longer because he was afraid that he would crash into something or fall off. Many times he would try and jump off the bike when it was still going which placed him in a much more dangerous position than just sitting and riding the bike. The one statement that I said to him numerous times was, “don’t be controlled by fear!” I can see myself in the various personality traits of my children. I, like my daughter, tend to jump on an opportunity when I see it. I have traveled to China, Thailand, India, and Europe as an ESL teacher. I never knew my mother tongue would afford opportunities to travel the world and meet people. It’s only when

The book of Hebrews in the New Testament is a book that has an Old Testament feel.   We see the faith of Old Testament peoples.   All centers on the person of Jesus.   This book deals with a question that we wrestle with too.   How do we know our faith is secure?   We have our hope placed in Jesus, but how do we know?   We are full of uncertainty.   Will it rain?   Will the rain cancel my event?   Even with the advanced technology we have we cannot predict the weather perfectly.   How can we be sure of salvation?   Hebrews 3 takes us to the person of Jesus. Consider who Jesus is and who He is not.   This is the reason we can be certain today, because of who Jesus is.                          1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,  Two words are combined together here to describe who this word is for, “holy brothers.”   Brothers means, mankind, all people, all believers.   We cring

The most believers I’ve been with at a time is just a small number.  It’s overwhelming for me to be in a large group of believers.  We were here four years ago and we’ve been coming to visit with you for about ten years now.  This feels like a family to us.  I love Asheboro.  Yesterday I was out running and I got lost.  As I ran I was looking at the homes for sale dreaming of owning a house here.   We love Jeni, thank you for loving Jeni.  We experienced college and seminary together.  Thank you for letting her be a part of your lives here.  It’s incredible to see all the places you’re going out on mission and how God will use you.  I look forward to hearing from Jeni what God will do.  We work in Central Asia.  This region begins in Turkey and includes all the “stan” countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan etc…  This region includes 365 million people.  It looks a lot like Europe but has a hyper conservative governments.  Christianity is clamped down on.  One people gr

We have celebrates Easter, so what do we do now?   What does Easter mean for you and I today?   Matthew 18:16-20 answers this question.   It answers the question of why we are here. The disciples didn’t know their purpose and went fishing.   God sent His son.   There’s hope in Jesus Christ.   What do we do with this? In Europe on a college campus a student told me he was an atheist.   He said he believes in science.   I asked him, “What do you believe is the purpose of life?”   He said he didn’t know and that he’d never pondered that question.   As we gather together this morning, this is the great question.   We have the answer in Matt. 28.   You are not here by accident.   You’re not just a random collection of cells that collided.   You were created for a purpose and meaning.   I pray God will speak into your life and give you purpose. After Jesus had appeared to the women he met with the disciples.                          16 Now the eleven disciples went to