First Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church

02/22/2025

03/22/2024

I arise today, through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to secure me:
against snares of devils,
against temptations of vices,
against inclinations of nature,
against everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and anear, alone and in a crowd.

03/05/2024

A Witness to a Divided World

“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”
—Ephesians 4:3

One of the wonderful things about a healthy church is the diversity in it. That, in itself, is a witness to a divided world. It’s a powerful testimony when someone can come into an assembly of believers and see that we have set aside our differences and there is unity.
That doesn’t mean there is uniformity. It doesn’t mean that we all dress a certain way or wear the same hairstyle. That is not what the church is about. It is about unity, but it is also about a blessed diversity as each one of us discovers the gifts that God has put into our lives.
Christians are not supposed to be like assembly line products where each unit looks exactly like the others. God can take the same gift and place it into the lives of two people, yet it might manifest itself a little differently in each individual. They’ll have certain things in common, but they also will have unique traits as the Holy Spirit works through human personalities.
In chapter 4 of Ephesians, the apostle Paul wrote, among other things, about the various gifts God has placed in the church. This chapter shows us how important our individual place in the church is and the incredible gifts of the Holy Spirit that God has made available to us as believers today.
The gift that God gives to each believer is always the right one. We never should feel that we have to return it. It’s a perfect gift, and it’s always appropriate.
Sometimes, we may see the gift that another believer has received and feel envious. As a result, we’re not thankful for the gift that God has given to us. But we must realize that the gifts God has placed in our lives are always the best for us.
Sadly, many of us are not using these gifts. We don’t understand what our role in the church is, and we don’t even realize what we’re supposed to do when we come to church.
So, why does the church exist? The purpose of the church is threefold: the exaltation of God, the edification of the saints, and the evangelization of the world. We’re here to worship God, to build up one another, and to reach out to a lost world. We could sum it up in three words: upward, inward, and outward.
However, a lot of Christians drag their feet when it comes to going to church every week. The same excuses they make for skipping church don’t keep them from going to a movie or to the mall. Their excuses simply show their lack of desire to go.
The problem is that we think of church as something we attend merely as spectators. Yet Ephesians 4 shows us that God wants us to participate. He wants us to be involved in what He is doing, not just as observers but as laborers in the work that He has called us to do. Amen.

03/02/2024

Love in Action

Scripture has a lot to say about the way we treat people. If we have been saved by God, and have been shown the mercy and goodness of God, then we ought to show mercy and goodness to other people. Essentially…

…what we believe should determine how we act.

All of us who have received grace freely from God ought to also give grace freely to others. In Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, he encourages them to be kind and compassionate to others. This idea is spread across all of God’s Word…

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
1 John 4:11 NIV

“…All of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.”
1 Peter 3:8 NIV.

“You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”
Luke 6:36 NLT

Showing other people compassion is one of the primary ways that we can communicate God’s love to other people. If we fail to love other people, we also fail to show them God’s love.

Paul also says we should forgive other people in our life, just as we have already been forgiven by Jesus. Forgiveness and compassion go together. When we do not forgive others, we fail to show them the same compassionate love that Jesus has shown us. A love that, as it suffered for us and because of us, still allowed Jesus to say, "Father forgive them—because they don't know what they're doing." We ought to be careful that we do not deny others the same love we’ve been freely given.

If you want to learn more about how to be kind, compassionate, and forgiving toward others, you can read through the stories of Jesus’ life and ministry found in the books Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

But right now, take some time to think about the people in your own life who you may have the opportunity to show compassion to. Is there someone in need who you can help? Is there a person you can forgive? Is there someone who you can encourage?

Today is a great day to show people the same love, compassion, and forgiveness that you have received.
Amen.

02/07/2024

Join us for an Introduction to Grant Writing: Part One and Part Two. Free Webinars on February 15 and March 21. Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtce-orDIvHdaPhgzeaGGAVd6QvRp7JHqu

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

01/27/2024