By Kenny Bruce Pastor Emeritus, Leawood East Baptist Church, Memphis Focal Passage: I  John 1:5-2:2 God’s desire is to fellowship with us and to fill us with His joy. To experience this a person must be saved. John wrote I John so that every Christian could know for certain that he has been forgiven, saved, and is heaven-bound.

By Michael Julian Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church, Kenton Focal Passage: I Kings 19:19-21; II Kings 2:6-14  Our journey has come to an end, a most hopeful end. Living outside the comfort zone should be feeling a lot more comfortable. What we find in life is that the end of one thing marks the beginning of a new thing. And God delights in doing a new thing! Our Scripture this week

By Michael Julian Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church, Kenton Focal Passage: 1 Kings 19:1-5a,11-18  There is no need to hide from the stigma of discouragement. I say stigma because it is usually the one discouraged who places the stigma upon himself or herself. If you have ever faced a period of great discouragement, who was harder on you? You or those around you? We begin to beat ourselves up, perhaps feeling

By Michael Julian Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church, Kenton Focal Passage: 1 Kings 18:20-26, 31-39  If this were the Old West, we should expect to be hearing faint whistling in the background, followed by ominous music, and topped off with tumbleweeds rolling across a dusty street in what resembles a ghost town. Our focus would be upon the two combatants meeting at high noon to settle things once and for all.

By Michael Julian Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church, Kenton Focal Passage: 1 Kings 17:17-24  Do you remember the incident in the lives of the disciples when they could not heal a man’s son possessed with a spirit? Jesus, coming back from the mountain of transfiguration, walked into the confusion. Jesus proceeds to drive out the deaf and dumb spirit. The disciples privately question Jesus about their inability to drive out the

By Michael Julian Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church, Kenton Focal Passage: 1 Kings 17:7-16  This week we pick up right where we left Elijah last week. He taught us about serving God with courage. The funny thing about courage is that it may place us in even more difficult circumstances. When we find ourselves in those places, then we come to understand the need to serve God with trust.  Remember what

By Michael Julian Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church, Kenton Focal Passage: I Kings 16:29-33; 17:1-6  We are embarking on a new study for the remainder of this quarter. We will walk through the exciting life and times of Elijah the prophet, particularly his dealings with Ahab and Jezebel, and then his passing the mantle on to Elisha.  Elijah’s name means Yahweh is God. And this is exactly what we see demonstrated

By Michael Julian Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church, Kenton Focal Passage: Revelation 3:14-22  This passage brings back memories. In seminary, I had the daunting task of writing a 20-22 page paper on this letter to Laodicea. Where was I going to locate enough source material to fulfill the assignment? This venture haunted this procrastinator’s dreams. I digress. Let’s carry on! When we look at Laodicea we discover a self-sufficient city. They

By Michael Julian Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church, Kenton Focal Passage: Revelation 3:7-13 Welcome to the church of brotherly love. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? When we live up to our name, particularly the name Christian, the church and all those around the church benefit from such integrity. This church at Philadelphia also stood as one that did not hear the voice of Jesus saying, “But I have this against you.” Walking

By Michael Julian Pastor, Macedonia Baptist Church, Kenton Focal Passage: Revelation 3:1-6 Welcome to sleepy Sardis. This city was known to have natural defenses that seemed impenetrable by invading forces. In fact, the thought of capturing Sardis was equated with the impossible. But, things are not always what they seem. Sardis developed a huge blindspot because of its natural setting. Thus, the armies of Sardis paid little attention to a