First Baptist Family of Asheboro, NC

 In the past year we have been concerned about how to stay connected to people, to church, to our families and to our friends.  Today, on Valentine's Day we are reminded we want to be connected to the people we love.  As kids we passed out Valentine cards to our class as an expression of caring.  We have love for one another because God first loved us.  God sent His son into the world for us, Jesus was resurrected for us.  How do we stay connected to God?  Colossians 4:2-4 will help us today.   Keep talking to God.     As we talk to God we have questions about how we get through times like these.  The church at Colossae had challenges and so do we.  The church at Colossae is similar to us today.  They had a good economy, good jobs and people would travel to their area.  People enjoyed living there.  Believers were in the minority in their community.  It was difficult.  How do we serve God in a wo...

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...