First Baptist Family of Asheboro, NC

  Thanksgiving is on our minds this week.   I want us to pause and think about our hearts and our souls.   I want you to take good care of yourself and I’m not just talking about the pandemic.   I want you to let God be your Shepherd and take care of your soul.   400 years ago, in 1610,   a group of people left Plymouth, England and boarded a ship called the Mayflower and headed to what we now call the Unites States.   These people were religious separatists.   They were tired of the rules of worship and they had an ideal in their hearts that people should be free to worship as they feel led.   We still have that same spirit in us today.   There’s a sense of this spirit in Colossians chapter 2.   We have a tendency to squelch faith and worship and this can be done by people who sometimes don’t even know what they’re doing.   One of our Baptist distinctives goes all the way back to colonial days.   It’s called, “soul competency.”   It means we are completely capable to walk with God a

  We are living in some of the most challenging, difficult, frustrating and confusing times.   People’s emotions, relationships, fears, and sense of security are all over the place. During these times I have been asking God two questions: 1.     God, what are You trying to teach me? 2.     How should I respond? My prayer is that when we leave this place, the Holy Spirit will so speak that we will have a greater resolved to live daily with Jesus. Prayer:   Lord, let Your blessings be upon the message today.   Have mercy on the speaker.   He is a sinner in need of Your grace.   Have mercy upon the listeners, we might hear what You might have in store.   Will You speak to all of this morning through your Holy Spirit, so when we leave this place, You will see that our desire to live daily with Jesus has increase.   We thank You for this time to be a gathered church.   We offer this prayer relying upon J esus in whose name gather and we pray. Amen. Challenges from the Holy Spi

A good mystery is fun for us.   As a kid we love to solve mysteries.   As a child Scooby Doo was so much fun.   As an adult you realize the plot is the same every time.   Scooby and Shaggy get separated but they always figure things out.   Paul talks about a mystery we have in Colossians 1:24-29.   Paul will solve it.   In Paul’s time period people thought only a few could have knowledge of God.   You had to think the right way to connect to God.   We too struggle with whether or not we know God.   We think if things are going well we’re ok with God.   It’s when we struggle that we question God.   Paul gives us a basis for how we know God.   Struggles can make us question our relationship with God.   Walking with Jesus is costly and worth it. When things become costly we evaluate if they’re worth it.     Our culture evaluates suffering as bad.   In our culture we minimize suffering, but in the New Testament suffering is highlighted.   Verse 24 can take us aback.