Who was the first family on mission? If you said, “Joseph and Mary,” you’re correct. In the midst of a threat on Jesus’ life (Matthew 2), and the deaths of other babies in Bethlehem, God directed Joseph through a dream to protect Jesus and move to Egypt. This was not the first Joseph to experience […]
Read More »
On Sunday, I’ll be reciting the Sermon on the Mount by heart with the help of a few friends at FBC. To help you prepare to hear the Sermon, here are five things to know. The Sermon isn’t everything Jesus taught, but these are the main things. The Gospel of Matthew is structured around five […]
Read More »
In staff meeting this week, Josh Hall reflected on 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Connections Weekend gave us a chance to come together and do what this verse says. “To encourage” literally means to put courage inside someone else. “To build […]
Read More »
This weekend at First Baptist, Matt and Margaret Reynolds challenged us to “Live Sent.” Our lives become integrated into God’s mission in Tallahassee with others who care deeply about our city. The apostles discovered in Acts 2 and in Acts 5, they could gather in two places. They met together in the temple and broke […]
Read More »
Before the first chapter of Mark is finished, Jesus takes a retreat to pray. Occasionally, we just need to get away as a church and reconnect to the Lord and each other. This weekend is our chance. Whenever I have a retreat, I’m usually just grateful to get there. By the time I arrive, I’m […]
Read More »
We have boarded the bus and are on our way to the airport. We’ve had a fantastic day full of surprises. We began at the City of David, the archeological site on the Ophel below the Temple Mount. This place is the original site that David conquered from the Jebusites. We descended into a […]
Read More »
For most pilgrims, walking the old city of Jerusalem is the highlight of the trip. Everything leads to Jerusalem. Normally, groups break up the journey in the city into two parts. You descend from the Mount of Olives and down to Gethsemane for half a day. On another day, you walk from Lions’ gate to […]
Read More »
Today we descended to the depths of humanity and divinity, the place where God reached down to man, where the word of God was born in Jesus of Nazareth. To get there, we had to travel through some of the worst pain that humanity as ever inflicted on each other—the Holocaust. We awoke to a […]
Read More »
“John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.” Today, we departed the hotel in Aman at 7:00 […]
Read More »
We began the day in one of the seven wonders of the ancient world– the city of Petra. This place was the capital of the Nabatean empire that ruled this area from the 3rd century B.C.-2nd century A.D. Their name, which means “the carvers,” suggests their legacy. They carved massive buildings out of sandstone that […]
Read More »