First Baptist Church, Milton, LA

Called To Be Holy - 1 Peter 1:13-16

In 1 Peter 1:15-16, Peter calls us to be holy as God the Father is holy. In this sermon, we look at what holiness is, what holiness looks like for us as the children of God, and the place of grace in our pursuit of holiness.  

Commanded to Hope - 1 Peter 1:13

In this sermon, we look at the first command given in 1 Peter, "set your hope on the grace that is to be yours at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Pastor Matt explains the importance of the indicative/imperative structure of the Scriptures and then shows us that hope is a command and how we can live in obedience to that command. This is so important for us because, when it comes to our hope, we are tempted to either lose hope or to put it in something other than Christ. Listen in and see what steps you can take to keep your hope fixed on Christ. 

Overcoming Worldliness - James 4:7-12 - Pastor Kirk Alexander

We had the privilege of hosting Pastor Kirk Alexander from Christ Church Northside on Sunday, October 16, 2022. We hope you'll listen in and be encouraged as he exhorts us to overcome worldliness, particularly in how we relate to one another as Christians, from James 4:7-12. 

Living in the Fulfillment - 1 Peter 1:10-12

In 1 Peter 1:10-12, Peter shows us that, despite the sufferings and trials of this life, which we talked about last week in verses 6-9, we are living in the best times to live as Christians. We are living in the fulfillment of God’s great plan of salvation. 

Rejoicing in Trials - 1 Peter 1:6-9

Peter is addressing here a common experience for all Christians everywhere, which is the fact that we have this gracious savior, the hope of an imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance, all of these great promises for the life to come, and yet, our experience of life on this earth is filled with trials and hardships. How are we to understand the call to worship God and rejoice in our salvation in the midst of the very real, very difficult circumstances of life? Peter ties all of this together for us in 1 Peter 1:6-9. We hope you'll listen and be encouraged in your faith by God's Word. 

A Living Hope - 1 Peter 1:3-5

The big idea of 1 Peter 1:3-5 is this: God is worthy of worship, he ought to be praised, because He has saved us from our sin - He has given us new life - with the result that we have hope in this life and in the life to come, and nothing can take that away from us.
In this sermon, we walk through 1 Peter 1:3-5 and see the precious truths of our salvation - that the God who has caused us to be born again will keep us born again, and that these truths give us hope in the midst of all of the troubles and difficulties of this life. 

A Trinitarian Salvation - 1 Peter 1:1-2

1 Peter 1:1-2 is probably labeled “Greeting” in your bible. This is not only the most theologically dense greeting of all the epistles - the New Testament letters, but it also ranks up there with the most theologically dense two verses in all the Bible. In these verses, we see what it means for Christians to be "elect exiles" and how each person of the Trinity - the Father, the Son, and the Spirit - is at work to secure for you an eternal salvation. 

Peter: From Fisherman to Apostle

In 1 Peter 1:1, Peter identifies himself as the author of 1 Peter and as an apostle of Jesus Christ. In this sermon, we look at Peter's journey of faith from fisherman to apostle - from his call to follow Christ on the shores of the Sea of Galilee to his restoration on those same shores after he denied Christ the night before his crucifixion. In this sermon, we see that Peter's journey of faith was a lot like ours - full of ups and downs, victories and defeats, and courage and fear - and if Christ can use a man like Peter for his kingdom work, he can use people like us.  

Peter Walks on Water

Before we begin a new series on the book of 1 Peter, we're going to spend a week or two looking at the man behind the book - Peter the fisherman turned disciple. Today we’re in Matthew 14 verses 22 through 33. It is the story of Jesus walking on water. This is such a great passage of Scripture, and it serves as an illustration of the truth of Hebrews 12:2, that we run the race of the Christian faith by looking to Jesus, by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, especially in the midst of crazy circumstances. We hope you'll listen in and be encouraged in your own faith. 

The Minor Prophets: Malachi

Malachi’s ministry is several decades after Haggai and Zechariah, somewhere around 480-450BC. The temple has been rebuilt. God’s covenant presence is being restored to Jerusalem following the Babylonian exile. There is a functioning priesthood, but the people’s zeal for walking in faithfulness to God has waned. They have fallen back into some traditionalism and they’ve gotten lax with the commands of God. And he’s going to call them back to covenant faithfulness. In this sermon, we see what it looks like to walk in covenant faithfulness with God.