First Indian Baptist Church-Mcalester

04/11/2026

02/01/2026

Refreshments afterwards

01/29/2026

First Indian Baptist Church of McAlester Due to the weather conditions we will be postponing the singing for Friday night (safety precautions)

01/27/2026

Due to the road and Churchyard not cleared, Bible study and prayer service will be cancelled. For Wednesday service

09/26/2025

Cares which come upon us

Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. 2 Cor. 11:28

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:6-7

The Greek words for "care" and "be careful" are related and both have to do with anxiety. The apostle admits that he was daily assaulted with anxieties about the churches.

Paul knew how to deal with anxiety because he was no stranger to it. Cares came upon him, unbidden, and we will often find that to be the case with us. There are many things to worry about. We are daily confronted with problems. The life of faith is not a life free from stress. It is not wafting through life on clouds of bliss and joy. Sometimes, it is very, very hard. Sometimes it is very, very discouraging. That doesn't mean we are in the wrong path or doing the wrong thing. It just means that we live in a fallen world.

When cares come to you, take them to God. Lay them at his feet. Ask for his help and counsel. Do it with thanksgiving lest we forget God's kindness in the midst of grief and pain.

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." This is the only peace to have; for it is the only peace that is real and lasting.

Believer, bring your cares to God!

09/25/2025

Moved with compassion

And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. Mk. 1:41

Lepers were separated from the rest of the community, they were not allowed to participate in public worship, and you weren’t even supposed to touch them. Mark’s account of it: “And there came a l***r to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean” (Mk. 1:40). Jesus stayed and listened to him when most would run. “And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean” (41). First, he was moved with compassion – he didn’t just heal him because it was the right thing to do, he did so because he was genuinely touched with the feeling of this l***r’s infirmities. Second, the way Jesus healed him is significant: he touched him. He could simply have spoken and he would have been healed. Because Jesus can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, he reaches out to touch us with the hand of his mercy and grace. When everyone else forsakes us, then the Lord takes us up.

Where are you today? Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you feel like you need help but no one can give it to you, except God? Do you feel that God would never help you because you’ve sinned against him and deserve only his judgment? We can get help through the grace of God, grace which is obtained at the throne of grace through prayer, because Jesus our high priest has made atonement for sins by his death on the cross. Thanks be unto God for his indescribable gift!

09/24/2025

Rejoice in the Lord always

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Phil. 4:4

The follower of Christ is to rejoice, no matter the circumstances. That does not mean, of course, that we put on plastic smiles or that we pretend that the pain we are experiencing is not real. For this is not a rejoicing that depends upon our moods or our circumstances. Paul is not telling us to have fun. He is telling us to rejoice, and this kind of rejoicing is deep enough to survive deep grief and painful sorrows. In fact, Paul can say in another place, "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Cor. 6:10).

But how can this be? How can we have this kind of joy? The answer is that this is a joy which rests not upon anything in us or around us but in the sovereign and good and wise and loving and holy purpose of God in Christ, a purpose that produces hope and joy in us. It is the reason why the apostle will tell the Romans, "Rejoicing in hope" (Rom. 12:12). The basis of our joy is in heaven, with Christ (Col. 3:1-3), and there is nothing in this universe that can touch that. It is secure, more secure than the gold in the vaults of Fort Knox, more firm than the Rock of Gibraltar, more lasting than the sun in his courses.

Dear saint, hold on therefore to your hope. And rejoice in it. You don't need permission to do so: in fact, it is a command. Rejoice!

09/23/2025

The God who quickens the dead

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Romans 4:16-17

The God who is the object of faith is the God of creation and resurrection. This was especially relevant to Abraham because in order to believe in God’s promise he had to believe that God could create what didn’t exist, and that he could give life to the dead.

Abraham had to believe that God could create what didn’t exist because when the promise came that he would have a son, none of this existed. This promise came to a old man and to a woman who was barren. Yet Abraham believed that God would fulfill his promise. Notice Abraham’s faith in verse 18: “ Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.” When everything around him told him that there was no chance it could happen, Abraham persevered and trusted that God would fulfill his promise.

Abraham had to believe that God could give life to the dead. “By faith Abraham...offered up Isaac...his only begotten son...Accounting God was able to raise him up, even from the dead (Heb. 11:17-19). Abraham had such faith in the promise of God that he knew that nothing, not even death, could prevent it from taking place.

We need to understand that trust in God is not trust in ourselves, that we can do a better job, or be better people. Rather, it is trust in the God who acts for those who trust in him, who wait for his power to work for them.

09/20/2025

The God who shows us great and sore troubles

Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. Psalm 71:20-21

God is the one who shows us "great and sore troubles." God is not only over the small difficulties, but over the great ones and the sore ones as well. And in this we can find tremendous comfort. It means that there are good and wise and loving reasons behind the troubles we are experiencing. It means that we have good reasons to persevere in hope through the trial. It is because of this that the Christian can rejoice in hope and be patient in tribulation (Rom. 12:12).

We see the goodness of the Lord in the fact that, no matter what trial he is bringing us through, the fact of the matter is that he will "quicken me again" and "bring me up again from the depths of the earth." Note well that word "again." No matter how far we have fallen, no matter how deep the pit into which we find ourselves, we can cry to the Lord out of the depths and have confidence that he will hear our voice and answer our cry. There is always an "again" to which the Christian can look; evil cannot and will not have the last word.

And not only that; but the Lord will "increase my greatness and comfort me on every side." The final reality for the Christian is the greatness of future glory and eternal comfort in the presence of God. Yet even now he gives us glimpses of this through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who communicates to us the power and grace of the risen Christ.

Today, let us rejoice that we serve a God who is over our troubles, who will bring us through them, and into greatness and comfort in the end.

09/18/2025

The God unseen yet sovereign

And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. Esther 8:17

The gates of hell will never prevail against the church. Indeed, it is not the church which is being besieged; it is hell itself, and the church will win in the end.

Though God is at work, it is not always obvious that He is. We need to be careful that we don't gauge the extent to which God is working by our ability to see it. God is all over this little book - and yet His name never occurs even once! God is not like men; He does not need to be seen in order to get His will to be done.

After the mighty encounter with the prophets of Baal on the top of Mount Carmel, Elijah was perplexed that fire from heaven and the overthrow of false worship was not enough to bring about the needed change in the land of the northern kingdom of Israel. Jezebel was still threatening to kill him. "Lord," he cried, "they have killed your prophets, and cast down your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek to kill me." But God reminded Elijah that He doesn't need earthquakes and fires and windstorms. All God needs is a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12). We need not despair in the day of small things (Zech. 4:9-10).

God was at work in Esther's day, and He is at work in our day, bringing people into His kingdom despite all the devil may be doing. The Spirit is still like the wind, blowing where he sovereignly wills and yet none can see him (Jn. 3:8). So let us not lose heart but be of good courage. God's people will be finally triumphant. We will yet praise God and no matter what we face today or tomorrow, the reality is that days of joy and gladness are coming for the people of God.