First Baptist Icard

09/07/2026

Taken from Billy Graham at the Cove Library

Celebrating Labor Day: Honoring God in Your Work
“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”
Colossians 3:23-24, NKJV
As Labor Day approaches, it’s a fitting time to reflect on the value of work in our lives. The holiday, often viewed as a last summer celebration or a break from our routines, offers an opportunity to consider the deeper, spiritual significance of our work here on earth.

Work can often feel like a relentless cycle of tasks and responsibilities. Yet, when we align our efforts with God’s will, our labor gains eternal significance. Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”

By dedicating our work to God, we invite His presence into our daily activities, infusing them with purpose and meaning. Billy Graham once said, “But Labor Day, I believe, should also be a time when we ask God to help us see our work from His point of view. Let’s be honest; work isn’t always exciting, and when we focus only on its problems or spend our time wishing we were doing something else, we’ll probably end up resentful, angry, or bored. But when we begin to see our work from God’s point of view, our attitude will be much different. We’ll begin to realize that God gave our work to us, and because of this it has dignity and importance.”

This Labor Day, we pray that you find rest in Christ.

09/07/2026

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." — Matthew 11:28
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men."
Colossians 3:2

09/05/2026

Read Judges 20: 1-21:25 for tomorrow's message with Pastor Micheal.

09/04/2026

Our Hope amid Suffering
by Mez McConnell

I have buried too many children in my ministry. I have watched helpless parents weep in torment. I have seen hopelessness face-to-face. I have seen cancer leave its calling card on ravaged bodies. I have seen dementia claim the lives of tortured souls. I have felt the destructive force of mental and physical abuse. I have seen and experienced suffering. It is a pitiless force of nature, sweeping aside all in its inexorable path. We can’t escape its grasp. We can never run fast enough. We can never shut our eyes tight enough. We know, if we live long enough, that one day it will come knock at our door.

Thankfully, the Bible is no stranger to these things. The Apostle Peter wrote a letter of encouragement thirty years after Christ’s death to the beleaguered Christians of Asia Minor. They were being abused by overbearing bosses (2:18), threatened by unbelieving spouses (3:1, 6), and ridiculed by skeptical neighbors and associates (4:14). On the horizon loomed the possibility of a much more violent form of persecution—a fiery ordeal (4:12–18). They were suffering, and they would suffer yet more. What were they to do?

Peter’s response in 1 Peter 1:3 sounds glib to the modern ear. “Bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” How helpful is that to Jane battling cancer? Or what about John whose father was killed in an accident at work? Why should they, and we, be blessing God? What have we got to bless God for?

According to Peter, we ought to bless God because of His great mercy to us in rescuing us through Jesus. He has given us new birth. We may not feel it, but our salvation is an act of God’s great mercy. We deserve death, yet He gives us life. We deserve punishment, yet He has achieved a great reward for us. We should bless God that our souls are safe in His hands. That is something that far outweighs all of our slight and momentary troubles. We have a God who has rescued us, even when we don’t feel rescued.

But there’s more. Peter writes,

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1:13)

Some people fill in their lottery tickets, lie back on their sofa, and hope their numbers will finally come in. But such a hope is uncertain, and it is temporary even if it comes to pass. Our hope is so certain that it actually lives. Our joy and certain hope for the future are tied up in the fact that He rose again (1:20–21). Don’t forget, Peter was a guy whose whole life was crushed when Jesus was killed. All of Peter’s greatest hopes died with Jesus. But then he heard the news of the resurrection and went running to the tomb to see for himself. Despite Peter’s denial of Christ, our Lord came to Peter in the upper room and once again his hope rose with Him. Like Peter, we have a living hope that is:

Eternal
Can never be defiled
Will never fade
Kept in heaven for us

Compare that to our earthly experiences. We live for an age and then we die. Not so our inheritance from God. It never decays. It is completely indestructible. That’s why the Lord encourages us in Matthew 6:19–20:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Several years ago, a Scotsman won about six million British pounds from the lottery. Within ten years, it was gone, squandered on bad deals. As a result, he was left penniless. Our inheritance, on the other hand, can never be used up. It is an inexhaustible, eternal treasure trove. How so? Because what has been secured for us is stored in the safest and most secure place imaginable. It is impregnable. Even though we will only fully receive it on the last day, it is ready for us even now. It is finished, perfect, and unchangeable. And it is reserved for each of us who have been chosen according to His great foreknowledge and love.

Whatever else we lose in this life, we cannot lose our salvation. It is cancer proof. It is abuse proof. It is even death proof. These are the truths we run to when life kicks us in the teeth. When a relationship is shattered, when the dreams of what we wanted to be in life have been eaten away and eroded by the sands of time; when our health fails, when we feel like nobody cares anymore, when all seems lost—the Christian still has reasons to hope. We hang fast to Jesus. Keep our eyes fixed on Him. We have a wonderful Savior. He will never let us down. He’s done all the hard work and one day we will cash in—even if for a little while we have troubles.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:10–11)

Rev. Mez McConnell is senior pastor of Niddrie Community Church in Edinburgh, Scotland, and founder and director of 20schemes. He is author of several books, including Is Anybody Out There? and The Creaking on the Stairs.

09/03/2026

Understanding Suffering

Psalm 23

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Ps. 23:4).

Christian or not, suffering remains an inevitable result of living in this world. Human beings often find themselves asking “why?” any time they encounter a terminal illness, a child with birth defects, unjust imprisonment, or any other such tragedy. Non-Christians have offered several answers to this question, and it is helpful to examine some of them since these replies can influence us. Some non-believers adopt a docetic view of suffering, which denies the reality of pain altogether. Suffering is merely an illusion in this view. The docetic view is held by the Christian Science cult, and it has many affinities with the teachings of Eastern religions. Our culture has embraced the hedonistic view of suffering more than any other. This worldview seeks to reduce pain and acquire pleasure, at any cost. To dull their physical and emotional pain, men and women turn to sexual infidelity, illegal drugs, gluttony, and other sinful behaviors believing that “if it feels nice, don’t think twice.” The stoic view of suffering says that we have no control over what happens to us externally. All we can do is choose how we will respond internally; the goal here is to let nothing bother us. We should do our best “to keep a stiff upper lip” and to “let nothing get us down.” Evangelicals have probably been most affected by the stoic view. Regrettably, we are often prone to minimizing the reality of our grief and will act as if the proper way to face suffering is to pretend nothing of any consequence has happened. But this is not the approach of Jesus; after all, John recorded that He wept (John 11:35). It is not sinful to mourn the loss of a loved one or to admit our pain. Christians ask God “why?” when we suffer, and sometimes we find that it results from the Lord’s discipline (Heb. 12:3–17). However, Job’s life shows us suffering is not always due to our sin. And as with Job, God may not tell us the “why” of our pain in every case. God is not obligated to give us the reason for our suffering. Still, whether He is disciplining us or not, we know He is always with us in our pain (Ps. 23:4) to use our suffering for good, redemptive ends and to bring glory to Himself (Rom. 8:28).

Coram Deo Living before the face of God

The Lord never tells His people that they will not suffer. This is all the more important to remember in the midst of a culture that wants instant gratification and believes it is a divine right to avoid pain and have a comfortable life. Knowing that suffering will surely come encourages us to look for God’s presence in our troubles. For as we see in today’s passage, we can be assured that He is with us even as we go through the darkest times.

09/02/2026

Why Do We Suffer?
by Robert Rothwell

Throughout my life I have always been a voracious reader. I can remember being enamored by books at a very young age and becoming excited during my preschool years as I was first taught to read. Even today, hardly a day goes past when I am not reading something, whether it be a magazine, a newspaper, or any other kind of print media. In addition, I usually am reading one or more books on a variety of topics.

Since high school I have been particularly enamored by theological literature. Reading the great theologians of the past and the present helps me to answer the questions that I have, and it invariably raises new ones. Of course, all this does is spur further research and reading.

I have to admit, however, that I have not always been the most discerning reader. During high school and the first year or so of college I read a great many popular works on eschatology — works that never claimed an exact date for Christ’s return although they did strongly hint that He would return before the year 2000. Even those that did not mention timing at all were convinced that true Christians would escape the great tribulation and not have to suffer at the hands of the coming Antichrist.

In addition to these books, I also read a few books claiming that it was never God’s will that His people suffer sickness or poverty. The key to abundant health and wealth is in the tongue. All one had to do was to “claim” their healing or financial blessing in order to receive it. Illness and poverty were never seen as a calling but as a sign that faith was weak or lacking.

Over time, I began to see the trouble with these ideas. The fact that such views are eagerly embraced, not by countries where suffering abounds but in America where we experience comparatively little suffering, made me question the truthfulness of some of these claims.

My understanding of these things was altered primarily because of the teaching of Scripture. I was blessed to get a hold of works written by theologians who had a better grasp of the multi-faceted view of suffering presented by the Bible. A study of the book of Job one summer also made it clear that suffering even illness is a calling for some even though the reasons for this suffering may not always be clear to us.

That we cannot always discover the reasons for our suffering is what makes our trials so hard to bear at times. This is not to say that Scripture gives us no explanations for our suffering. In fact, our study of 1 Peter has given us many reasons why a believer might have to suffer.

In the first place, we have been told that we are grieved by various trials in order that our faith might be purified and proven (1:6–7). We are even told that such suffering is necessary for us. So in the midst of our difficulties, we can be confident that God is working in us to refine our trust in Him. Peter’s repeated emphasis on suffering for being a Christian (3:14–17) makes it clear that the persecution we experience simply for confessing Christ is the kind of suffering God especially uses to strengthen our trust in Him.

Peter’s admonitions against suffering as an evildoer (4:15) imply that sometimes our suffering is a direct consequence of our sin. The wisdom literature of the Bible tells us that there is not always a one-to-one correlation between sin and suffering; nevertheless, it is clear that sometimes we suffer because of our misdeeds. We deserve such suffering, yet we can honor God in it if we turn from the sin that we suspect is behind our trouble.

Related to this is the fact that Peter tells us that judgment begins with the house of God (vv. 16–17). Sometimes God uses suffering to judge His church for sin, or to refine the faith of the corporate body. In this case, the church as a whole must honor God through repentance and reformation.

As helpful as these things are, they do not really address all of our questions. Our pain still hurts. We wonder why God has not chosen some other way besides suffering to make us into whom He wants us to be. We look at others who have indulged in the same sins as we, yet they seem to have worry-free lives. We see churches, which flagrantly violate the Scriptures, continue to operate as usual.

These teachings help but they do not exhaustively explain our suffering. Yet Peter and the rest of the biblical authors never try to give God’s intent behind every individual instance of pain in our lives.

Rather, Peter ultimately calls us not to spend too much time analyzing the exact purpose for our suffering. Instead, we must respond to God properly in our trials. We must remember that suffering is our calling, and we must look to Jesus as our example in it (2:21). We must continue to remember that our proper place is in submission to His mighty hand so that we will be exalted one day (5:6). We must throw ourselves wholly on Him, as in His hidden providence, He uses suffering to prepare us more fully for eternal glory (vv. 7–11).

Rev. Robert Rothwell is a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He formerly served as senior writer for Ligonier Ministries and associate editor of Tabletalk magazine.

09/01/2026

Suffer in Hope
by C.N. Willborn

I often tell our church children—kindergartners through college students—that they think they are going to live forever, but, I faithfully add, “You are not!” In fact, I say, you are going to die, and you may even suffer physically before you die. You certainly will suffer emotionally. We all suffer in some way at some time in our lives. We may suffer physical hardship, deprivation of physical goods, and/or emotional distress, and this sometimes because of our faith. Our Lord said: “In the world you have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Tribulation includes suffering.

I watched my godly mother suffer in many ways, often emotionally as she reared three children who didn’t always walk in the ways of the Lord. I watched her suffer the death of my wonderful father, her husband of fifty-eight years. Finally, I watched her suffer the loss of her health and her mobility, and finally the pains of cancer. In and through it all, her refrain to me was simple: “I trust the Lord, son.” That was not some quip derived from pietism. That was faith talking. That was real, and that helped her live an exemplary life—a patient resolve, a sweet disposition, and longing for her Savior—through all her suffering that impressed everyone. She lived with the hope of heaven and Christ, and it was real. All her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will remember Nana’s trusting disposition through all the hard times as long as we shall live. She lived with the blessed hope of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

Hope—not “I think,” but genuine hope—doesn’t just happen. It is cultivated and lived by faith in Christ alone.

Two years ago, the doctors told us our nineteen-year-old son had “a growth on his brain.” The “growth” turned out to be an abscess the size of a turkey egg. Three surgeries ensued within a week. A fourth surgery came one month later due to a medication failure. On the night of the initial diagnosis, I had that “talk” with our son. I asked if he understood how serious this was. “Yes,” he said. I said, “I know you must be scared, because I sure am.” He said: “Dad, we’ve trusted the Lord for everything else. We can trust Him now.” I wept and said, “Amen.” He then said, “I’ll be OK no matter what happens, Dad.” I won’t tell you that my faith and that of the family was strong enough to move a mountain that night or over the subsequent months. It was weak. How often I prayed, “Increase my faith, Lord Jesus,” and He did. Sometimes a little; sometimes a little more. We hoped in the Lord, and the Lord was all we needed. Oh, by the way, the Lord spared our son, and he just graduated from college and is headed off to grad school. But even if He had not spared our son . . . praise the Lord for the hope we have in a sovereign God.

For my young readers, my mom was eighty-five years old. You’d expect her to suffer and die. But, my son was nineteen years old, and he did suffer (and still has to take medication that has side effects). He could have died so easily. But the point is this: you can face suffering—those bullies at school, those fashion critiques from “friends,” those relational disputes with best friends, cancer, brain abscesses—with your best friend always by your side. That is, if your best friend is Christ Jesus. “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24) and Jesus claims to be that friend—“I have called you friends” (John 15:15). He is our hope.

My mother had this hope because she knew the Savior, Jesus Christ. Her faith was in Him alone. My son had this hope in his sufferings because he knows the Savior, Jesus Christ. They both knew their Bibles and the promise of the hope we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. They both attended worship faithfully and soaked up the means of grace—Word, prayer, and sacraments. They loved and enjoyed the communion of the saints found in His church. Hope—not “I think,” but genuine hope—doesn’t just happen. It is cultivated and lived by faith in Christ alone. Prepare well, young friends, for the sufferings ahead, so you can glorify God with your hopeful life, even in hard times.

Dr. C.N. Willborn is senior pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and adjunct professor of church history at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

08/31/2026

We Never Suffer Alone
by Christina R. Fox

“How can I pray for you this week?” my friend recently asked. It’s a question she asks on a regular basis, and it’s one I’m glad to answer. Whether it’s prayer for an immediate need or a request for a family member or prayer for strength in the temptations I face—whatever I ask her to pray for—I am encouraged in knowing that she brings those things to the Father. But there’s more. As I share those prayer requests, my friend also encourages me with the truth and hope of the gospel.

As she does so, I am reminded that I’m not alone.

We Never Suffer Alone
As believers, when we face trials, heartaches, temptations, or other challenges in our life of faith, we often live as though we have to bear those burdens on our own. Yet God did not create us to live in isolation; He made us to live in community with others. The church is our God-created community, made up of brothers and sisters adopted into the family of God through the saving grace of Christ. Every redeemed saint—past, present, and those yet to be born—are our siblings in Christ. We are united to Christ by faith and also united to one another.

In John 17, Jesus describes this union in His prayer for the church when He prays:

that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (vv. 21–23)

Christ is one with the other members of the Trinity, we are one with Christ, and we are one with other believers.

The Apostle Paul often describes the church’s union with Christ and one another like the union of a human body with Christ as the head and us as the parts. We all work together to make the body—the church—grow (Eph. 4:15–16). And just like a human body, when one of our members is hurt, we all feel it. “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Heb. 13:3). Because we are united to one another, their pain and sorrow becomes our pain and sorrow. We weep with each other in our losses, griefs, and suffering (Rom. 12:15). We walk with one another in our battles against sin and temptation. We bear each other’s burdens.

This means we never suffer alone.

Walking Together in Suffering
There are many ways we share one another’s trials and sufferings. Here are three practical ways:

Preach the Gospel to One Another

Many believers have heard the phrase “preach the gospel to yourself.” It’s an important practice we all need to do, for the gospel isn’t something we hear and respond to only at the moment of our salvation; rather, it’s the truth that we need to turn to over and over throughout our lives. We need to remind ourselves of who Christ is and what He has done. We need to look to the cross each time we sin and remember anew what Christ has done to redeem us, appropriating that work in repentance and reliance upon Christ’s perfect life and sacrificial death in our place. We need to remember the gospel in our sufferings as well, reminding ourselves of Christ, the Suffering Servant, who is familiar with grief and sorrow. He is our hope and peace in the midst of sorrows.

Serving and helping one another in the body of Christ is part of what it means to be united to one another.

But the truth is, when we are in the midst of a trial, we are often weakened by that trial so much that preaching the gospel to ourselves seems impossible. That’s when we need fellow believers, our brothers and sisters in Christ, to preach the gospel to us. We need them to remind us of the Man of Sorrows who came in answer to the deepest cries of our heart. We need them to remind us that He knows the pains and heartaches of life on this earth and that He entered it, taking on human flesh so that He could conquer sin, death, and evil for us. We need them to remind us who we are in Christ. We need them to remind us that Christ is our hope and the only source of life. As Kelly Kapic wrote, “The flame of individual faith weakens when it is alone, but in true community the fire of faith illumines the night.”1

Pray for One Another

Praying for one another is one of the ways we practically live out our union with one another. When we pray, we beseech our mutual Father to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters. The Reformer Martin Luther suffered from chronic physical ailments as well as emotional torment and despair. He relied upon other believers to encourage him and to pray for him. In 1527, Luther wrote a letter to his dear friend Philip Melanchthon after he suffered from a severe illness:

I was for more than a whole week in death and hell, so that I was sick all over, and my limbs still tremble. I almost lost Christ in the waves and blasts of despair and blasphemy against God, but God was moved by the prayers of saints and began to take pity on me and rescued my soul from the lowest hell. Do not cease to pray for me as I for you.2

In our sufferings, we are often engaged in battle against Satan and his minions. Luther recognized this and depended upon the prayers of fellow believers to help him in that battle. In a letter to Johannes Agricola, he wrote:

Please do not stop comforting me and praying for me, because I am poor and needy. . . . But Satan himself rages with his whole might within me, and the Lord has put me in his power like another Job. The devil tempts me with great infirmity of spirit, but through the prayers of the saints I am not left altogether in his hands, although the wounds he gives my heart will be hard to heal.3

Serve One Another

A third way we walk with one another in our suffering is by serving one another. When we face a trial or experience a season of suffering, the practical details of life are difficult to manage. Doing simple things such as going to the grocery store or returning phone calls can be overwhelming. We can serve our brothers and sisters by taking over those practical tasks of life. It might be making them a meal, watching their children, driving them to and from the doctor, mowing their lawn, or keeping their refrigerator stocked with food. Serving and helping one another in the body of Christ is part of what it means to be united to one another. And Scripture teaches us that when we serve one another, we serve our Savior.

We never face suffering alone. Share your burdens with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Rely on their prayers, receive their acts of service, and rejoice when they preach the gospel to you. For in Christ you are united to them as one.

Christina Fox is assistant director of alumni relations at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga. She is the author of many books, including Closer Than a Sister, Like Our Father, and A Holy Fear. She is a member of East Cobb PCA in Marietta, Ga.

08/30/2026

08/29/2026

Read Judges 19: 1-30 for tomorrow's message with Pastor Lor.