“Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” -Excerpt from Mark 4:26-34

In preparation for On the Case VBS, I’ve been reminded that there are many mysteries in life. Why do travelers seem to get lost in the Bermuda Triangle? Is Bigfoot hiding out somewhere? And what’s up with Stonehenge?

Though we wonder about many things in our world, we also wonder about our faith. The scripture we are exploring this week tells us two of Jesus’ parables in which two mysteries occur. First, there’s the mystery in the story: how does the seed grow?

Then there’s the mystery of our faith: what is the Kingdom of God like?

For my fellow ecology and biology-minded folks out there, let’s be clear! The parable’s mystery is not a literal question about how seeds grow. The author of Mark is not suddenly overcome with questions about seed germination, plant root systems, or photosynthesis. Mark’s question about seeds growing is a little more abstract than the hard science.

[Continue reading at https://www.fbcmuncie.org/post/god-works-while-we-sleep

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First Baptist Church, Muncie, Indiana is a Spirit-led Community gathered to join Christ’s presence in our community.

Our current scriptural watchword for this season is “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).

Please rate us 5 stars on Spotify, Apple Music, or your podcasting app of choice and share with family and friends.

“Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’” - from Mark 2:23-28

"The solution to an over-busy life is not more time. It’s to slow down and simplify our lives around what really matters.” - John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Rest is a command in the Bible. It’s one of the Ten Commandments. God wants his people to rest.

And, being the people we are, we’re good at turning good gifts into achievements we can use to trumpet as signs of our accomplishments.

There is a comic where there are two characters: one relaxed, and one high-strung. The relaxed one sees the other rushing around: “Woah woah woah. Slow down, friend. Dont'cha know that sometimes you have to stop and smell the flowers?"

The high-strung character, with a manic look on its face, inhales a dozen flowers, sniffing them as if his nose were a vacuum cleaner — to the alarm of the relaxed character. He then produces a comical trophy that looks like a gold nose sniffing golden flowers, lifting it up in victory. The trophy’s inscription reads: “flower smelling champion.”

[Continue reading at https://www.fbcmuncie.org/post/sabbath-for-us]

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Audio-Only Podcast Bumper Music is an arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision” by Dr. Clifton Davis, FBCM’s Worship Arts Pastor.

First Baptist Church, Muncie, Indiana is a Spirit-led Community gathered to join Christ’s presence in our community.

Our current scriptural watchword for this season is “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).

Please rate us 5 stars on Spotify, Apple Music, or your podcasting app of choice and share with family and friends.

“Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.... Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.” - From Romans 16:1-16 (NIV)

“Don’t Call It a List!”

Back in the late ‘80s the preacher Fred Craddock thundered these words when speaking on this passage, imagining Paul remembering his experience with each of the people he listed. He says:

“IN THE LIST there is a husband and wife, Aquila and Priscilla. There’s a man and his mother, Rufus, and his mother. There is a brother and sister, Nereus and his sister. There are brothers, Andronicus and Junias. There are sisters, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. There is an old man, Epaenetus. Isn’t that an interesting profile of the church? There’s a single woman, Mary. There’s a single man, Herodion. Not a lot of nuclear family there at all except as Christ has called them together. . . . [But] Paul doesn’t call it a list”

Craddock is right, there are people from all over: and this is yet another picture of a “Kingdom Family” more than the nuclear family. There are people who went to jail with Paul, people who treated Paul as a child like Rufus’ mom who was a mother to Paul as well. But there is one detail Craddock got wrong.

In that list, the name is “Junia” not “Junias.” Paul calls a woman and (likely) her husband: “outstanding among the Apostles.”

Read more at https://www.fbcmuncie.org/post/spiritual-mothers

Audio-Only Podcast Bumper Music is an arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision” by Dr. Clifton Davis, FBCM’s Worship Arts Pastor.

First Baptist Church, Muncie, Indiana is a Spirit-led Community gathered to join Christ’s presence in our community.

Our current scriptural watchword for this season is “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).

Please rate us 5 stars on Spotify, Apple Music, or your podcasting app of choice and share with family and friends.

“Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.” – from 1 Corinthians 4:6-16 (NIV)

"Men are Lost. Here's a map out of the wilderness"

"Boys Get Everything, Except the Thing That’s Most Worth Having"

"America's men are in crisis, and it's rooted in one big lie"

"The Trouble With Boys And Men"

It seems like headlines about men and boys being in trouble proliferate. These are just the articles I remember reading, from various sources across the ideological spectrum. Loneliness seems to be a general societal epidemic, but there is also evidence teenage boys and men are especially susceptible to loneliness. As one commentator noted, recent surveys show a quarter of men report having no close friends, and in general, boys spend two hours less per day socializing than girls their age.

How do we respond to this development?

Read more at https://www.fbcmuncie.org/blog/tags/kingdom-family-vacation

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Bumper Music is an arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision” by Dr. Clifton Davis, FBCM’s Worship Arts Pastor.

We gather at 309 East Adams Street, Muncie, Indiana, 47305, each week. Our worship service is at 10:45 a.m.

Our current scriptural watchword for this season is “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).

Please rate us 5 stars on Spotify, Apple Music, or your podcasting app of choice and share with family and friends.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ….’For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church." – from Ephesians 5:21-33 (NIV)

When it comes to family, a lot of us are going to think about marriage. This made me think: there are two kinds of stories, in traditional Western theater. From the Greeks to Shakespeare. There are tragedies and there are comedies.

Tragedies end in death. And comedies aren’t like our modern comedies, except maybe our Rom-Coms. They end in marriage.

The astounding thing about the Gospel is that it is both.

Read more at https://www.fbcmuncie.org/blog/tags/kingdom-family-vacation

Sermon resources: https://www.fbcmuncie.org/post/there-s-no-sin-in-single-resources

Matthew 19:1-14

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"When you get married..." is a common way to begin a statement regarding a young person's future. I think I heard it more than a few times when I was growing up. Notice, it's a "when" not "if": the assumption is essentially everyone will marry.

But an increasing number of people are single in our culture. And it's not just younger people, but older people who have never married or find themselves widows or widowers.

In a world often built around couples, even if it's not spoken aloud, it can perhaps feel like there really is "sin" in "being single."

Jesus's remarkable words about marriage startle his disciples, and should perhaps startle us. This week we'll see how singleness, far from being a sin, can serve as a witness to the hope of the Kingdom of God.

Despite the popular refrain of your spouse being your "other half," often heard even in churches, the Kingdom math for marriage is that 1 (whole person) + 1 (whole person) = 1. Or, as Jesus puts it, "The two become one flesh." (Mt. 19:5; Gen. 2:24) That is the original design of marriage, but not the vocation of every human being.

He points out: not everyone will marry, but some will serve the Kingdom of God by not marrying.

Jesus's teaching on marriage and singleness has plenty to challenge our assumptions.

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Bumper Music is an arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision” by Dr. Clifton Davis, FBCM’s Worship Arts Pastor.

First Baptist Church, Muncie, Indiana is a Spirit-led Community gathered to join Christ’s presence in our community.

We gather at 309 East Adams Street, Muncie, Indiana, 47305, each week. Our worship service is at 10:45 a.m.

Our current scriptural watchword for this season is “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).

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Please rate us 5 stars on Spotify, Apple Music, or your podcasting app of choice and share with family and friends.

Sermon resources: https://www.fbcmuncie.org/post/kingdom-family-vacation-anti-family-values-jesus-resources

Science suggests that no one is actually a good multi-tasker, and I’m definitely proof of that. I can only do one thing at a time, so at any given moment when I’m interrupted, my go-to phrase is “Give me a minute.”

I don’t ask for the minute to be rude. It’s quite the opposite! I ask for the extra time so I can transition from what I’m currently doing and be able to give the person my full attention, as they deserve. Assuming it’s not an emergency situation, most people are happy to patiently oblige. And on the rare occasion that there’s a crisis, then of course we turn immediately to the matter at hand!

Everything I’m describing here is rather normal. It’s so normal, in fact, that this might be the most boring sermon teaser you’ve ever read. As a society, we understand that priorities must be made, and there are certain things–especially our families–which rightly demand our attention first.

This is what makes some of the Bible’s comments on families and the Kingdom of God shocking! "Family-friendly" or "family values" have been used by some Christians as synonyms for "Christian teaching."

But what if Jesus doesn't always sound "pro-family?"

Read more at fbcmuncie.org/blog

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Bumper Music is an arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision” by Dr. Clifton Davis, FBCM’s Worship Arts Pastor.

We gather at 309 East Adams Street, Muncie, Indiana, 47305, each week. Our worship service is at 10:45 a.m.

Our current scriptural watchword for this season is “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).

Please rate us 5 stars on Spotify, Apple Music, or your podcasting app of choice and share with family and friends.

“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” from Acts 2:1-21 (NIV)

On the cusp of summer break, I’ve noticed that wildfire prevention campaigns have returned. I saw one billboard that depicted a person looking into a puddle, their reflection looking like Smokey Bear, with the caption, “Smokey Bear is within us all.” The hope, of course, is that everyone will remember to practice appropriate fire safety this camping season.

The ad reminded me of a previous time I went “glamping.” There was a wind advisory in the area, and because of that, a burn ban. Why can’t you burn things when there’s wind? Because the wind will carry the embers away, leading to a bunch of mini, uncontrolled fires everywhere! Furthermore, what does oxygen do to fire? It gives the fire fuel!

Smokey would be proud: we didn’t burn anything during our trip (even though I really wanted smores)! But if Smokey Bear was in Jerusalem during Pentecost, he would be shaken: violent wind and fire come together in a risky combination!

[Continue reading at https://www.fbcmuncie.org/blog]

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Show Notes for audio version of sermon

Bumper Music is an arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision” by Dr. Clifton Davis, FBCM’s Worship Arts Pastor.

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We gather at 309 East Adams Street, Muncie, Indiana, 47305, each week. Our worship service is at 10:45 a.m.

Our current scriptural watchword for this season is “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).

–

Please rate us 5 stars on Spotify, Apple Music, or your podcasting app of choice and share with family and friends.

Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. from 1 John 5:1-13 (NIV)

It hasn’t quite hit me that this Sunday will be my first Mother’s Day as a mom. When we dropped MJ off on her first day of daycare this week, her teacher asked if it was okay for her feet to get painted for a Mom’s Day craft. Later, a friend messaged me what I was doing on Sunday to celebrate. Each time, I look like a deer in headlights, somehow surprised that having this cuddly lil’ human now initiates me into a new side of the celebrations.

But let’s be real: with the several months of increasing illness I’ve had, I hardly feel worth celebrating. I’m not saying I’m a bad mom. I’m doing the best I can to care for my girl in and out of the hospital. But aren’t we told that moms have superpowers? Aren’t they supposed to be the ones who can overcome anything?! My mom certainly was! And right now, I’m barely even overcoming dinner time.

Does anyone know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout?

I know you do!

[Continue reading at https://www.fbcmuncie.org/blog]

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Bumper Music is an arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision” by Dr. Clifton Davis, FBCM’s Worship Arts Pastor.

–

We gather at 309 East Adams Street, Muncie, Indiana, 47305, each week. Our worship service is at 10:45 a.m.

Our current scriptural watchword for this season is “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).

–

Please rate us 5 stars on Spotify, Apple Music, or your podcasting app of choice and share with family and friends.

“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” - 1 John 4:7-21 (NIV)

In 1997, I was in my YPK (Youth Pastor’s Kid) Era, jamming to folks like DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline, and Jars of Clay in my car seat, chocolate milk in hand. The chorus of one Avalon song still randomly pops into my head today:

For as long as I shall live, I will testify to love

I can imagine the writer of 1 John jamming with me to this song. He’s really into love. Within one short letter, the author mentions love 28 times! In chapter 3, Christian love is not limited to merely words. Christian love is an action. Jesus laid down his life for us, and that love requires us to lay down our lives for others, too.

Love in action is a beautiful mantra. But it also rattles us. Have you ever stopped to consider the details of this sacrificial love?

James Heimlich brought this message after a medical emergency prevented Pastor Kendall and Jonathan from attending.

[Continue reading at https://www.fbcmuncie.org/blog]