1st Baptist Church of Spencer, IN

1st Baptist Church of Spencer, IN Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from 1st Baptist Church of Spencer, IN, Baptist church, 110 N Washington Street, Spencer, IN.

05/06/2023

Mother’s Day ladies banquet is May 20 at 1:00pm.

10/06/2022

Don’t forget tonight 6:30-7:30 the women will be meeting at the church in the sanctuary. Hope to see you soon!!

09/11/2022

09/11/22

04/24/2022

Just something I needed to hear. Refresh me Lord.

11/07/2021

11/07

08/04/2021

CONTENTMENT AT LAST
One thing I’m learning in life is the value of waiting on God. Each trial we face is an ongoing spiritual discipline requiring us to wait. We face it, then wait to hear God. Then if we respond to Him, we wait for His next move. Each trial is intended to reveal our spiritual need as well as growth. God knows how important these things are in life. When it comes to God, His love will often put us to the test. His tests are always intended to build our patience. What we lack spiritually will always have a powerful effect on our lives. Your present “hurt” does not escape God’s notice. He loves us so much He is actively growing us to be like Jesus. His tests do that. James says we are to know that every trial (test) “of faith” develops patience. When we wait for patience to complete its work, we have everything we need to face life’s challenges, nothing lacking. (Read James 1:3-4.) A furnace burns away the impurities that holds the gold inside. When God’s trials have finished their work, the purest that God has placed within us is revealed. Trials have completed their purpose when we obediently allow God to finish His work. With nothing lacking life becomes manageable. Having become like Jesus we find the fulfillment we been searching for. When God gave us the Holy Spirit, He placed Jesus within us. Our trials burn away the outward “dross” revealing Him. Like Paul said, (Galatians 1:15-16), God is pleased to reveal His Son in us so we may BE His visible image to the lost. Your life will then BE an example.
~ Randy A. McCollum

08/03/2021

THE PIT OF NO HOPE

Forgiven! That is a great word. Many feel unforgiven by God, unforgiven by society, unforgiven by their closest friends and family, and cannot forgive themselves. That leads to total despair. Have you ever felt like you were stuck in a bottomless pit of “no hope?” It seemed like a horrible pit of miry clay that wouldn’t let you out. It just pulled you ever down. All the attempts to get out seemed to sink you deeper still. David found himself in such a situation. Whether by circumstance, by personal failure, or for whatever reason we all find ourselves there at times. But one truth remains: “No one loves us like God.” In Psalm 30 David declares God as his “Help and Deliverer.” He cried out to God, then waited. The time came when he said, “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.” (See Psalms 30:1-4.) Sometimes society won’t forgive us. But God will. Even friends and family seem to not forgive. But God will. We may not forgive ourselves. But God will. When in despair we collapse to the ground before Him, if we let Him, He will lift us up with new life, new hope, new direction. Many times, I’ve found myself in Psalm 30… and, each time, God found me. Here on earth, we are all alike. We are in need of such a God. He will meet you there. The pit of “miry clay” is the home of the lost, without Christ. But not those who know Him. Time to move. Change your address.

~ Randy A. McCollum

07/21/2021

SEE THE BLESSING?

A mature believer sees their obedience more in retrospect than in the present. Our goal is for Christ to have us totally and instantaneously as His Spirit becomes so infused in us that His ways become naturally our ways. That happens only when we give Him access to our lives and allow Him to “clean house” of all our prideful things. The results are that we have “nothing” to use to say, “If I do this God will be happy with me,” leaving us totally poor spiritually, bankrupt. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3.) One of the best things we can do, in reading the Bible, is say, “I can’t live up to that.” To the mind that seeks possession and effort to bring contentment in life, the previous verse sounds contradictory. What is needed is to realize that our efforts and possessions will leave us clueless about this spiritual truth. The “poor in spirit” are the opposite of the proud or haughty in spirit. Things like dependence on Bible reading, prayer, good deeds, giving, weeping, etc. gains us nothing. It is abandoning those things as attempts to win God’s favor that brings us peace and joy. When we allow Jesus to do those things through us, we find the kingdom of God. That is what Jesus meant when He said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Read Matthew 11:28-30.) Imagine that: “rest for your soul.” It comes by remaining in His ways. No matter what you possess, or good deeds you have done, if Jesus isn’t the author, you are poor in spirit. Embrace “that.” See the blessing?
~Randy A. McCollum

07/20/2021

FORGIVE YOURSELF
When our God forgives us, He gives us the grace to forgive ourselves. That being true, then why aren’t we quick to forgive ourselves? We give many excuses, such as, “I don’t believe I deserve it.” Now, that one is true. We don’t deserve it. We can’t buy it, (trying to deserve it). We may believe, “I need to be punished, or feel really bad for a while.” Big lie! If we should start being punished for our sins, it would take eternity. Or “My sin was too terrible.” Another big lie. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. That includes the most awful sin. (See Rom8:35, 38-39.) What about, “I’ve committed the unpardonable sin.” The only sin that is unpardonable is not believing and trusting in Jesus Christ. If that is your problem, there is hope. Just choose to believe. You can choose it. Satan says, “You can’t believe in that stuff.” My answer to that lie is, “You can if you want to.” That excuse doesn’t cut it. Any excuse on this list, plus any you want to add, requires God’s approval. He will not approve. We try to be god of our lives, but always fail miserably. “Sin” is one’s nature, our condition apart from Christ. But He offers freedom from it. He lifts us out of that condition and gives us a new, sinless nature. He fills us and surrounds us with His Holy Spirit. Sin has no home with the “born again” child of God. If we confess our sins, that has left such a residue on our new life, God will just “brush it off” and say, “Now forget it and let’s move on.” You should read 1 John 1:9. It’s really good. Now, forgive yourself and move on. Jesus paid it all.
~ Randy A. McCollum

07/19/2021

DON’T DO A "WHOLE BUNCH" OF NOTHING
“I can ‘DO’ this!” Have you heard that phrase? Have you ever said it? “Just draw deep for the power within you,” is another phrase we often use. They sound noble but are not. We have to be careful that we don’t hold to good sounding phrases and make them appear to be holy. That is a lie offered by this world and its prince. (Read Ephesians 2:2.) Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) It is easy to believe if we do our best God will reward the effort. It sound so right. Read Proverbs 3:5-6 and listen to God: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.” It is okay to believe, “I can ‘DO’ this!” if we follow it with, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13). Satan wants to be your strength. But he will fail you. It is okay to believe to trust in the power deep withing you IF that power is the Holy Spirit placed within you because of your personal dependence on Jesus Christ. Satan wants you to trust in YOUR power. He is a liar. (see John 8:44) Jesus said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” (Acts 1:8.) Dying to Christ means we give up all rights and worldly beliefs to Him and accept His Word as our authority. We trust in Him with all our hearts, and do not lean on our own understanding, nothing held back. It is easy to get so caught up in what we think we can do and move forward with a “positive attitude” that we forget the Source of our strength. The world’s best swimmer, with a positive attitude, who sets out alone to swim across the Atlantic will learn the truth. Remember, our best is not our best without total dependence upon Jesus Christ.
~ Randy A. McCollum

07/16/2021

FOLLOW THE PATH

One of my favorite passages of scripture is Proverbs 3:5-6. It is important to take the trouble to look them up and read every word. The proof is in the effort. I have found God lovingly guiding me back to those verses time and time again. He reminds me with these words like He never could had I not heeded them when I first discovered them. My discovery of them decades ago was not by chance or by any design on my part. I have no doubt that whatever method He used to introduce them to me was His design. It was as if He was saying, “Remember these words. I’ll be using them throughout your life to get you back on the path I have for you.” And He has, whenever needed. And that is a regular occurrence. When I suddenly find that I have gotten off God’s path for me, realizing I didn’t know what to do or where to go, these words would suddenly come to mind. My fears, confusion, even temptations to disobey Him, to walk in a different direction, would give way to these words. And the voice of God’s Spirit would gently, lovingly, carefully call me back, always giving me the strength to enable me. When I find myself worrying about the condition of the world, I’ve heard Him say, “You’re trusting in the News. It’s cultivating your tendency to trust in your own understanding of things. Return to me with all your heart.” The same is true about any emotion that is contrary to God’s will. Then He says, “Acknowledge ME. Acknowledge Me in ALL your ways and you will recognize and follow my guidance to the path I’ve laid out for you.”
~ Randy A. McCollum

07/14/2021

THE LIE OF HOPELESSNESS

Satan is the accuser of the children of God. He will lie, cheat and steal. He doesn’t convict, he accuses. (Revelation 12:19.) Satan accuses us of sin to keep us under his control to make us despair of ever being right before God. On the other hand, God is different. He works through His Holy Spirit. He does not accuse, He convicts. He doesn’t do it to punish but to alert us, call us, restore us. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin to draw us to God. It is there where we find life. The Holy Spirit shines light into darkness. Satan will try to convince you that there is no hope, God doesn’t care about you, He isn’t listening to you, so why bother. God never changes. He has done all that we need to make us always acceptable. Paul said, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39.) He is saying “nothing” can separate us from the love of God. God has made us right with Him through Jesus. There is always hope in Christ. See Satan’s “hopeless” deception for what it is, a LIE. Reach out to God and wait. After the resurrection Jesus told His followers to go to Jerusalem and wait. Simple instruction requiring determined obedience. They obeyed. They waited for what must have seemed a long time, wondering “when” God would keep His promise. In God’s time, power from God came upon them. That power is still here.

~ Randy A. McCollum

Address

110 N Washington Street
Spencer, IN
47460

Opening Hours

10am - 12pm

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