Maranatha Baptist Church

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10/08/2026

I'll Tell the World That I'm a Christian

10/08/2026

Title: What Kind of Christian?

Series: Measuring Ourselves by a New Testament Pattern

Text: “We give thanks to God always for you all” (1 Thess. 1:2).

Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1–4

This month we will begin a thirteen-part series of devotional studies of 1 Thessalonians, using the theme “Measuring Ourselves by a New Testament Pattern.”

Introduction

A pastor awakened in the middle of the night with a question running through his mind. He awakened so suddenly and completely that it was as if the question had been shouted audibly. The question that had so abruptly captured his attention was, “What kind of Christian am I?” As he struggled with the issue that night, he was forced to acknowledge some painful realities about his own spiritual life. Out of that soul-searching experience, he was led to a recommitment of his life to Christ that has changed his manner of living to this day.

The question is very basic, but one we all need to deal with from time to time. “What kind of Christian am I?”

The apostle Paul gives us a description of an admirable Christian as he opens his first epistle to the Thessalonians. He begins his letter by expressing thanks for them because of the qualities of Christian life he has observed in them. His expression of thanksgiving and commendation toward the Thessalonian believers provides us with a useful description of the kind of Christians we should strive to be.

I. A Lifestyle of Faith

A. Paul talks of the work of faith that he observed in these Christians. The word “work” here should not be understood to refer to one’s vocation.

Rather, it refers to the working out of a person’s entire life, a total lifestyle. Paul implies that Christians should conduct their lives with continual evidence of faith at work.

B. In Romans Paul says that the Christian life is to progress “from faith to faith.”

In other words, we are to move through life step-by-step from one faith experience to the next. The faith that enabled us first to trust Christ to be our Savior is the same faith by which we are to live a trusting lifestyle. Living in a deceitful and untrustworthy world as we do, it is most difficult for us to exercise the simple Christian quality of childlike trust. How long has it been since you made a major decision or took an important step in your life solely on the basis of faith?

This is the kind of Christian lifestyle we are called to live.

II. A Labor of Love

A. The “labor” referred to in this context is “arduous toil.” Paul gave thanks for those in the church who work hard.

B. He also notes this work is motivated by love. It is possible for church workers to give themselves on the altar of service to the church but to do so with a sense of resentment and self-pity.

The model presented is one of hard work motivated and characterized by genuine, self-giving love. Our church work should come from a genuine love for the Christ who first loved us and died for us. Our work should be inspired by a love for the church, which is his body. Our work should be motivated by a love for individuals for whom Christ died. First Corinthians 13 reminds us that without this kind of love, all of our eloquence, all of our self-denial, all of our mountain-moving faith amounts to nothing.

III. A Steadfastness of Hope

A. The steadfastness that is to be a part of the Christian life is firmness in the faith. It is a kind of stability that allows the Christian to be consistent in lifestyle.

B. The kind of stability that Paul commends is based on an unwaning hope.

This hope is more than wishing: it is confident expectation. Our hope is in the Lord; our confidence is in him. We may not always understand the mysteries of life or the paradoxes of the faith, but we remain firm and patient in our relationship with Christ because of the hope we find in him.

Conclusion

The same three concepts that Paul mentioned here in describing an ideal Christian are also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. These three important qualities—faith, hope, and love—appear to be a key to the apostle’s theology and practical Christianity. Faith is that Christian quality that helps us survive day-to-day life. Love is the Christian quality that helps us work hard and yet do so with joy and thanksgiving. Hope is that which enables a Christian to remain firm and steadfast in the Christian life. Paul expressed thanksgiving to God for people who live this way. Can’t we all join him in thanksgiving for this kind of Christian? Don’t you want to be this kind of Christian?

10/05/2026

In His Time

10/04/2026

Title: The Biblical Perspective on Bitterness

Series: Facing Emotional Problems from a Biblical Perspective

Text: “When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, . . . we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10).

Scripture Reading: Luke 17:3–10

God has given Christians access to his wisdom. Many of us, however, are not guided by his wisdom but by our emotions. This often leads to upheaval, chaos, and distress. “Facing Emotional Problems from a Biblical Perspective” is the suggested theme for messages to help us handle our problems using God’s wisdom instead of our feelings alone.

Introduction

Bitterness is a malignancy of the spirit: it is a cruel disease that does to the soul what cancer does to the body. Intense, internalized anger produces emotional, spiritual, and physical consequences. Several years ago a man came into my office for counseling. He complained of migraine headaches that could be somewhat controlled only with strong drugs. He was obviously a very unhappy man, even apart from his physical complaint. As we talked I discovered that he harbored an intense hatred for a wife from whom he had been divorced twenty years earlier. She had been dead for nearly ten years. In one of our early sessions, I said, “I regard bitterness toward a living person a very unproductive venture, but what possible good can you attain by hating a dead person?” The man recognized the destructive force that he had allowed to infest his life, and with God’s help he freed himself of this bitter spirit. In the same act, he also gave up the chronic headaches.

In Luke 17:3–10 Jesus instructs his disciples with practical suggestions for handling the anger that can sour quickly into bitterness. The Lord speaks of aggressive and courageous forgiveness as a Christian alternative.

I. Confront the Offender (v. 3)

The Bible encourages loving, truthful confrontation. This passage gives the offended party the responsibility for open communication. Other New Testament passages require the one who has created an offense to initiate reconciliation. Combining these messages, this means that two mature Christians, upon realizing there is a breach in their relationship, should metaphorically meet one another on the path, each on the way to see the other to resolve the conflict.

II. Forgive Without Limits (v. 4)

A. The Lord says that seven times is not too much to forgive the same person for the same offense in one day. Elsewhere the number used is seventy times seven! Jesus says that we are to forgive others with the same infinite grace with which we are forgiven by God.

B. Victims often respond to forgiving their offenders with the attitude reflected in this statement: “Forgive? But you don’t understand what he [or she] did to me!” This is a misunderstanding of the issue. The bitterness that grows from the seeds of unforgiveness produces a deadly poison that destroys the vitality of the host. Even more ironically, it does nothing to hurt the offender.

III. Forgive Because You Want to be Obedient to God, Not Because You Feel Like Forgiving (vv. 5–9)

A. The disciples responded to this command of Jesus by pleading, “Lord, increase our faith.” They weren’t really saying that they couldn’t do this; God would have to empower them. Christ indicates that the real issue here is not faith, but obedience and discipline.

B. Jesus then tells a parable about a servant who returns weary from his day’s work yet proceeds to prepare and serve his master’s evening meal. The servant did not “feel like” doing this chore, but he did it because it was his duty as a servant. It is our job to forgive; it is not an option.

IV. Forgive Out of Obedience to God, Not Because the Offender Deserves Forgiveness (vv. 5–9)

A. Nothing in this passage relates forgiveness to a person’s worthiness to be forgiven. God does not gauge his forgiveness of sinful humanity by our worthiness, and for this blessed fact we will be eternally grateful.

B. The demanding master may not deserve to be served, and the overworked servant may not deserve to be abused. Nonetheless, the servant quietly lives out his servanthood. So the Christian goes through life forgiving those who offend him as a witness to the grace by which he has been forgiven. After all, grace, by its very definition, is undeserved.

V. Forgive Without Being Proud (v. 10)

There is a subtle kind of pride that we can develop when we forgive. It is an attitude toward the forgiven that implies, “I have forgiven you, you rotten sinner, because I’m so much more righteous and spiritual than you.” If bitterness can make a person the town Scrooge, this kind of self-righteousness can make a person the town Pharisee. This proud piety can make a person as obnoxious and unchristian as hateful bitterness can. So we are to forgive in a spirit of humble obedience to the God by whom we have been forgiven.

Conclusion

There are some very good psychological as well as spiritual reasons for not harboring bitterness in your heart. Consider the following priority of reasons for forgiving as an accurate summary:

1. Forgive others for Jesus’ sake. It is his will for you to forgive others as an act of devotion to him.
2. Forgive others for your own sake. Even selfish motives ought to move us to want to get rid of self-destructive bitterness.
3. Forgive others for their sake. The Christian duty to allow God’s love to flow through us to others is fulfilled in extending forgiveness.

There is a frightening phrase in the model prayer in which we say, “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” What if God answered that prayer and forgave you in precisely the same measure you extended forgiveness to others?

10/04/2026

Salmo 121

10/04/2026

Title: God Is Light

Series: Great Affirmations about God

Text: “God is light” (1 John 1:5)

Scripture Reading: 1 John 1:1–10

Introduction

There is hardly anything more beautiful than a sunrise over the Atlantic. Watching the sun’s triumphant conquest of the ocean is a thrilling sight. But Walter Chalmers has written in a beautiful hymn of another kind of light, the light that surrounds God, making him “hid from our eyes”:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.

The first chapter of John’s gospel tells us that Jesus is the light that gives life. “The true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” and “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (vv. 9, 4).

I. The Nature of Light

Light is the life-giving force of the universe. God’s first words in the creation account are “Let there be light.” This act made life possible. And light still gives life today. Light does not dwell alone but shares itself, making other elements light.

II. Relationship with Light

If we can be related to light, we can be related to God, because God is light. His nature is light, which communicates itself to people made in his image until they are transformed into his likeness. We can also be related to darkness it is our choice. Turn out the light and relate to darkness. Pull the covers over your head and relate to darkness. Close your eyes and relate to darkness. The biblical author wrote truly: “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). We must be able to tell the difference between light and darkness. It is tragic when a person is blinded to both. Jesus spoke of a sin that had no forgiveness. Is self-imposed darkness a manifestation of it?

III. Psychological and Practical Aspects of Light

A. A psychology of darkness involves three denials, just as a psychology of light involves three affirmations.

1. Darkness involves the denial of the bearing of moral conduct on spiritual communion. The unbelieving individual speaks irresponsibly: “God won’t mind. God loves us so much that he will overlook anything we do.” But he is light!
2. Darkness also involves the denial of the responsibility for sinful actions: “I won’t get hooked!” Or perhaps the person will say in self-deception, “I have no sin.”
3. Darkness also involves the denial of the actual fact of having sinned:

“I’m not guilty!” The Scripture makes an interesting distinction. Some will say, “I have no sin.” Others will say, “I have not sinned. Sin has something to do with Adam and Eve, but not with me.” All three of these are denials of the light: Turn it out, pull up the covers, close your eyes, but the light still shines!

B. A psychology of light is more realistic, more positive, more affirming. Three such affirmations are clear in a psychology of light.

1. Fellowship has to do with practice as well as theory. This is the meaning of “walking in the light.” Those who continue to practice the works of darkness cannot be in fellowship with the light. God is light, and obedience involves walking in the light with him. The strains of “Trust and Obey” harmonize well with this concept. It is not enough to wish for such fellowship or to think about such fellowship. This fellowship is based on sound moral principles. You have to work at it!
2. God is light, and light is in the business of putting out darkness. Darkness never succeeds putting out light. Doesn't sin belong to the realm of darkness? Forgiveness accomplishes the removal of sin insofar as light is concerned. Forgiveness is like turning on the light. Sin is not concealed or denied. It is acknowledged, forgiveness is sought, and the light shines. In darkness the person says, “I have no sin.” In light the person says, “I have sin help me!” God is light and it is to God that we turn when sin’s responsibility finally dawns on us. Sin belongs to darkness. Forgiveness belongs to light. God is light, and light is powerful. God made it that way.
3. One quest of psychology is self-understanding. Light makes it possible. Darkness concerns deception, while light concerns honesty. Walking in the light adds the perception that reckons honestly with oneself.

Conclusion

Our universe is one of light and warmth. It is not one of cold indifference, darkness, and hostility. Even the mists of anger, prejudice, and fear are done away in the light. Light expresses not only purity and holiness, but also the concepts of God’s self-revealing and his self-giving goodness. As it is the nature of light to shine, so it is the nature of God to give and to bless. He gives life and light to all who will receive them, who will walk in the light, who will accept his forgiveness, who will be honest with themselves. They will become light. You too may become light!

10/01/2026

Sweet Hour of Prayer

09/30/2026

Title: Bringing Back Backsliders

Series: The Practice of Genuine Religion

Text: “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).

Scripture Reading: James 5:19–20

Introduction

One of the great enigmas of most churches is an accounting problem. Specifically, we have trouble accounting for a group referred to as backsliders.

We might be inclined to scold them for their failures, but James would have us seek them to restore them. They have strayed from their Christian convictions; they no longer care about the things of Christ; they are on a dangerous course. It is these for whom we need to account. They need to be brought back.

I. Some Do Stray From the Truth

A. The grammar of the text suggests a condition that is not necessarily true but at least probable. The text does not imply that backsliders are spiritually dead or going to die—only that they are in a dangerous condition. Therefore, the issue here is not that of falling from grace, but rather of drifting from a meaningful relationship and fellowship with God.

B. This may be true of many modern Christians in light of the fact that what is being wandered from is “truth.” Christian truth is more than a matter of knowledge or an intellectual exercise. Christian truth is always moral truth; it always manifests in action. It is a way of life. It is something to which we must submit our minds, bodies, and hearts. It is from this that Christians often drift.

II. It Takes People to Restore Backsliders

A. It is really not unusual for adults to miss the security of truth that they knew as children and seek to come back to that from which they drifted. Most often someone is needed to help that person return.

B. James encourages us to be instruments in restoring backsliders. It is interesting to note, however, that as much as he wants that done, he never tells us how to do it. From the context we may infer that this mission has to do with intercessory prayer. We can also assume that the restoring process must include good teaching, confronting, and befriending people, and ultimately accepting them. Basically, the process does not include anything new and different. People have always and will always be brought back to truth by Christian love and concern.

In the last century international attention was drawn to the famous Egyptian sphinx. The 4,500-year-old structure had gradually eroded to the point of possible collapse. Various methods of restoration were considered and rejected. The final conclusion was that it be restored over a five-year period by using ancient Egyptian methods. Modern equipment and chemical treatments were turned down for fear of causing greater damage in the future. Likewise, in restoring backslidden Christians, it is hard to beat the proven methods of ancient days—prayer, ministry, sound teaching, and love.

III. The Rewards Are Great

A. First, there is a great benefit to the backslider who is restored. James’s first comment apparently applies to him. His soul is saved from death. Perhaps James uses the word “death” here as he did in 2:17. There it would certainly have a dead faith by James’s definition. Thus, being brought back to close fellowship with God and the church would make his life productive and meaningful and alive again.

B. But a second reward is for the one who helps bring that person back. A faithful missionary was asked, “What pay do you receive for the hardships you undergo and the sacrifices you make, living and working among these people?” The missionary took a note from his pocket, worn by much handling, and read two sentences from it written by a Chinese student: “But for you, I would not have known Jesus Christ our Savior.

Every morning I kneel before God and think of you, thank God for you, and pray for you.” “That,” said the missionary, “is my pay.”

Conclusion

The road of restoration is long, hard, and rocky. We are naive if we think that is a simple process. We are called to have compassion on these backsliders, and we are called to suffer with and for them. Why? To enhance the honor of Jesus Christ.

09/28/2026

Cleanse Me

09/27/2026

Title: The Faith Once Delivered

Series: Edifying Elements in the Epistles

Text: “Beloved . . . earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).

Scripture Reading: Jude

Introduction

The faith once delivered to the saints is a simple faith. People—not God—have complicated that faith. The gospel in itself is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. But proud and arrogant people come along and either explain it away or pollute it with their own theories and interpretations.

This is nothing new. As long as there has been a gospel, there have been those who would pervert it. They even lived in Jude’s day. His brief but powerful letter hit those who read it like a hammer blow. Its call to defend the faith is as clear and rousing as the blast of a trumpet.

Its message is also meant for our day. William Barclay says that Jude is not far from being “the most relevant book in the New Testament.”* In our day when personal interpretations can so easily destroy our fellowship, we are wise to hear and to heed what Jude says about “the faith once delivered.”

I. The Call to Defend the Faith (vv. 3–7)

Even as Jude had intended to do, so we should major on proclaiming the gospel rather than protecting the gospel. But there come those rare occasions when the faith is so attacked from without and so perverted from within that we can do nothing else than hear and respond to the call to defend the faith!

A. The call to defend the faith is a call to alter our plans for the future (v. 3).

Often we need to alter our plans for the future. Jude is simply saying that he had planned on writing these people some other thoughts about the salvation that God had given them, but because of the pressing urgency of the hour, it was necessary for him to write something different. The different message he wrote was a defense of the faith.

B. The call to defend the faith is a call to protect the faith in the present (v. 3).

Phillips translates this verse in this manner: “I feel compelled to make my letter to you an earnest appeal to put up a real fight for the faith which has been once and for all committed to those who belong to Christ.” From this we learn several things.

1. The faith is something that is delivered to us. Our Christian theology is not something that we have concocted ourselves. It is a divine trust of a divine message given to us.
2. Our Christian faith is something that is once and for all delivered to us. There is an unchangeable quality and permanency about our faith.
3. Christian faith is something that is entrusted to the family of God. By this Jude is saying that the Christian faith is not the possession of any one individual. Rather, it is the possession of the total family of God.
4. The Christian faith is something that must be defended. Every one of us is called upon to be both a proclaimer and a defender of the faith.

C. The call to defend the faith is a call to remember the experiences of the past (vv. 4–7). The problem that had created the need to contend for the faith was a problem from within the church, not from outside the church. Jude says that these troublemakers had “crept in unawares.”

These false teachers had sought to turn the grace of God into an excuse for open immorality. These heretics believed, or at least claimed they believed, that since the grace of God covers any sin, a

person may sin as much as he or she likes. These false teachers also denied Jesus Christ (vv. 5–7).

II. The Conduct of Those Who Would Destroy the Faith (vv. 8–15)

Because their conduct was such a contradiction of every Christian principle, Jude did not see that it was necessary to refute their doctrine. So that we might be spared the condemnation that comes to such people, Jude describes their conduct (vv. 8–13). Jude says that these people defiled their flesh and spoke evil of angels, even when Michael the archangel would not speak evil of the Devil. Furthermore, these wicked individuals condemned everything that they did not understand. They were like hidden rocks on which a ship may crash and be destroyed. In verse 12 Jude compares them to clouds without rain and trees without fruit. He continues in verse 13 to say that they were like lost stars, roving recklessly throughout the heavens.

III. The Course for Securing the Faith (vv. 17–23)

The call to defend the faith cannot be denied, and the conduct of those who would destroy the faith is a sober warning to each of us. But how shall we go about “defending the faith once delivered”? What is the course for securing the faith? Jude outlines the course with four Rs.

A. Remember what God has said in the past (vv. 17–18). In these verses Jude shows that nothing had happened that they should not have expected; God had spoken of these things in the past. In light of the past, nothing should take us by surprise in the future.

B. Rebuild your Christian faith (v. 20). Paraphrasing: “You, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.” Our entire Christian life is founded on faith. In other words, the life of a Christian is built not on something that he or she has invented, but rather on something he or she has received by faith.

C. Remain in the boundaries of God’s love (v. 21). Paraphrasing: “Stay always within the boundaries where God’s love can reach and bless you.”

D. Reclaim those who have drifted from the faith (vv. 22–23). The Living Bible brings out this truth most clearly. In our effort to reclaim those who have drifted from the faith, we are admonished to be merciful and to be kind and careful. We are told to hate even the trace of their sin, but at the same time to be merciful to them as sinners.

IV. The Consolation for Following the Faith (vv. 24–25)

What consolation is ours for defending and following the faith? It is the consolation of knowing that:

A. Christ is capable of keeping us from failing on earth (v. 24).

B. Christ is capable of presenting us faultless to heaven (v. 24).

C. Christ alone has all glory and majesty and dominion and power in heaven and on earth (v. 25).

Conclusion

In whatever pulpit we may stand, and whatever problems may be represented in the pews before us, we have but one message, and that is “the faith once delivered unto the saints.”

Address

1800 N Ware Road
McAllen, TX
78501

Opening Hours

Wednesday 6:30pm - 8pm
Sunday 9:45am - 11:45am

Telephone

+19566823560

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