Puddleglum is one of the most interesting characters in C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. He’s always jolly and always looking for the opportunity to cheer up anyone who might be sad. But there’s only one problem. The more he attempts to encourage his sorrowful friends, the more he ends up making them feel even worse! Puddleglum tries to use his words to spread glee, but instead, all he does is spread gloom. As Christians, we cannot be like Puddleglum. We must care well for those in the throes of sorrow. But how? It starts by learning what we need most amid our sorrow. Matthew 9:36 helps us with this: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” This crowd is a sorrowful bunch. They are “harassed and helpless.”...

In a world of hate, it is a joy to minister to brothers and sisters with compassion! Twenty-eight years ago, when God relocated our family to Jacksonville, we found First Baptist church to be a wonderful family of faith. People lived out in their lives what they believed as they loved God and loved each other while faithfully serving Him. The Covid lockdowns brought so much turmoil and despair to our world. It seems like we found ourselves in a downward spiral rather than one moving up.  Many families were isolated from others. There were impacts on our schedules and work habits. There was a strong uptick in crimes like drug and alcohol abuse, depression, child and spousal abuse, and suicide. The hospitals, nursing homes, and funeral homes were closed to people visiting and connecting. James...

Last week, we had the privilege of taking 220 students and over 100 adults to Lake Placid, Florida for our annual student camp. It was a remarkable week of fun, fellowship, and tremendous spiritual growth. Our theme for the week was Thrive from Jeremiah 17:5-8. This passage describes two plants that are in a parched, dry land. The first plant is a shrub that is wilting away and bears no fruit. This is the person who trusts in man. The second plant is a tree that has deep roots, bears much fruit, and does not fear when the drought comes. This is the person who trusts in the Lord. We want our students to be like the tree, bearing much fruit for the rest of their lives. Despite what the world throws at our students, we want to see them bear fruit forever. Our students learned in the evening...

Shouldn’t Christians just focus on studying the Bible and the truths of Christianity? Why should Christians worry about what other religions and cults believe? Here are three reasons why Christians should examine the claims of other faiths. To Grow in Understanding the Claims of Our Faith Contrast is a great revealer of truth in lots of areas of life. This is especially true when it comes to the truths of our faith. One of the ways to understand the true claims of Christianity is to contrast them with the false claims of other religions and other faiths. Paul does this in the book of Galatians. He is writing to the Galatians to teach them about the true gospel over against a false gospel, what he calls “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6). We see him doing this especially in Galatians 2:16:...

The Hard Years The years of 2018-2021 were difficult years of transition at First Baptist. Those years were painful for everyone at our church. I call them The Hard Years. In God’s great kindness, those years are now over, and our church is in a remarkable season of growth, health, and happiness. In August, I’ll release a podcast called What Happened at First Baptist. That podcast tells the story of the challenges our church confronted during the hard years and all the good things God did to restore a dying church. Hard stories are difficult to share, particularly when the story is yours. Why in the world would I talk about a season of difficulty now that happy days are here again? There is a very good reason why I want to tell this story and why I want to tell it now. But before I explain...

One year from now, the world will turn its eyes to Paris to watch athletes from around the world compete in the 2024 Olympic Games. While there will be many highlights and plenty to see, what will not be seen is athletes running in combat boots and trench coats, nor will we see runners going the wrong way on the track. That would be ludicrous, but this is exactly what it’s like attempting to live the Christian life while at the same time being enslaved to sin. In Hebrews, we are called to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run…the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). In the first century, the church at Corinth struggled with many things that spiritually weighed them down and numerous sins that were clinging to them and hindering their race....