First Baptist Church of Jena

"God often doesn’t intend for us to escape tension in the Christian life! It’s the process of working through the tension that refines us for His purposes! It’s by learning to navigate these tensions that we learn about holiness!" | 1 Peter | Series: Book of 1 Peter

"If the Cornerstone is off-center, everything else will be off-center. The Cornerstone keeps everything in proper alignment." | 1 Peter | Series: Book of 1 Peter

"Apart from faith in Jesus, all we can do to assuage our guilty conscience is hide our evil intentions behind the appearance of virtue (malice), lie about it (deceit), pretend it’s not there (hypocrisy), hate those who appear to have it right when, deep inside, we know that WE don’t (envy), and tear them down in order to somehow lift ourselves us (slander). Apart from Jesus, we can only ever be self-seeking!" | 1 Peter | Series: Book of 1 Peter

"We cannot obey Jesus without knowing Jesus. And once you truly know Jesus, you cannot do anything other than try to become more like Him." | 1 Peter | Series: Book of 1 Peter

"When we suffer, our trust in God is either revealed to be genuine or exposed as being fake." | 1 Peter | Series: Book of 1 Peter

"Your faith is God's power on display!" | 1 Peter | Series: Book of 1 Peter

"We are little beacons of light who have been 'scattered' in a dark world... But don't worry... you are chosen and secure in Christ... May we remember and cherish this truth, that we might faithfully follow Jesus!" | 1 Peter | Series: Book of 1 Peter

"When the world sees churches, the world is looking at living pictures of Jesus!" | Series: The Church's Mission

"Tagging Jesus' name on moralistic self-righteousness doesn't change what it is any more than dipping a chicken nugget in steak sauce makes it a ribeye. The gospel isn't: 'Apologize to Jesus, be better, and you'll go to heaven.' The gospel is: 'Renounce everything and Jesus will make you new!'" | Series: The Church's Mission

Session 10 from our Sunday Night series: "Be the Church." | Series: Be the Church

"Any conduct of ours that is 'in step with the gospel' is owing to God, while any conduct that is out of step with the gospel is owing to us!" | Series: The Church's Mission

Session 8 from our Sunday Night series: "Be the Church." | Series: Be the Church

"Let us stop becoming better and more skilled idol-makers, and let us become equally skilled followers of Jesus." | Isaiah

"The Christian life is a life of 'resting.'" | Ruth | Series: Book of Ruth

"Loving the gospel is proof that someone actually believes it." | Series: The Church's Mission

Main Idea: FBC Jena exist to glorify God by loving, living, and giving the gospel together. | Series: The Church's Mission

Session 9 from our Sunday Night series: "Be the Church." | Series: Be the Church

"The Gospel is the only way to resist the devil: Look to Jesus and His victory over death." | 1 Peter

"The Christian life is a life of 'redemption.'" | Ruth | Series: Book of Ruth

"The Christian life is a life of 'gleaning.'" | Ruth | Series: Book of Ruth

"The Christian life is a life of 'returning.'" | Ruth | Series: Book of Ruth

Session 7 from our Sunday Night series: "Be the Church." | Series: Be the Church

Main Idea: "What God says is more important than what I think." | Series: Book of Judges

Session 6 from our Sunday Night series: "Be the Church." | Series: Be the Church

Main idea: "What God says is more important than how I feel." | Series: Book of Judges

Session 5 from our Sunday Night series: "Be the Church." | Series: Be the Church

"If we have truly come to believe the gospel, we will be moved and motivated to give sacrificially, cheerfully, and willingly, because we know that our giving accomplishes something for the gospel, and we will desire to do it as an act of worship to God." | 2 Corinthians, Matthew

Session 4 from our Sunday Night series: "Be the Church." | Series: Be the Church

"Pride brings glory to us. Grace brings glory to God." | Judges | Series: Book of Judges

Session 3 from our Sunday Night series: "Be the Church." | Series: Be the Church

"This is one of the problems FOREVER facing the church: friendship with the world." | Judges | Series: Book of Judges

Session 2 from our Sunday Night series: "Be the Church." | Series: Be the Church

Session 1 from our Sunday Night series: "Be the Church." | Series: Be the Church

"If we want to become holy, we need to do more than just learn God's commands. We need to learn Who God is and what He is like, and then use His commands to become like that!" | Judges | Series: Book of Judges

"What we desire and attract can either lead us further and further AWAY from Jesus, or it can lead us TO Him. We must be careful and pay attention to who we surround ourselves with and what they tells us about ourselves." | Judges | Series: Book of Judges

"[God's] 'soul grows short' because of wickedness, but it also grows short over [our] suffering!" | Judges | Series: Book of Judges

Sunday Evening address to the church for the new year.

"The less convinced we are of the depth of our need for [Jesus], the less tightly we hold Him!" | Philippians

"The suddenness of Jesus' return ought to create some urgency within us to live for Jesus and give Jesus to as many people as possible." | Matthew | Series: Christmas Season 2025

"We know how loving God is because we know how unlovable we are... We are a people who only an all-loving God could love!" | Titus | Series: Christmas Season 2025

"The reason our joy moves us to declare God's greatness is because that very act of declaration 'completes the enjoyment!'" | Isaiah | Series: Christmas Season 2025

Brain Earley preaching in view of a call to be our Associate Pastor. | John

"When we hold fast to Jesus as our hope, the reason we endure and persevere until the end is because He holds fast to us!" | Hebrews | Series: Christmas Season 2025

"You don't have to be gifted to sing. You just have to have a reason to sing: Joy in Christ!" | Psalms | Series: Thanksgiving

"Put very simply, the reason idols rule in our lives is this: we make room for them." | Judges | Series: Book of Judges

"God's job is to deal with injustice and unfairness in life. Our job is to trust Him to do so in His own way and in His own timing." | Judges | Series: Book of Judges

"Our biggest hinderance to depending upon God is thinking we don't need Him." | Judges | Series: Book of Judges

"Repentance doesn't begin with us approaching God. It begins with God approaching us." | Judges | Series: Book of Judges

"When God's people fail, His plans don't suddenly fail! Instead, He uses other faithful servants to step in the gap until His chosen instruments step up to the plate!" | Judges | Series: Book of Judges

"With [the Bible], we have a perfect source of unity that transcends worldly preferences, keeps our faith grounded in Jesus, grants His followers spiritual wisdom, keeps His servants humbly dependent upon Him, and keeps His church from making itself about anything else but Jesus." | 1 Corinthians