First Baptist Church of Cape Girardeau : The Podcast

This Christmas Eve, Tyler talks about the audacious nature of what having the faith of a child truly means.  Perhaps by looking to the marginalized, we can gain a perspective on love this Christmas we have all been sorely lacking.

In our final week of advent, we are examining love. When we think of love, it's easy to think of it as a feeling or an emotion, but love is much more than that, much more nuanced, much bigger.  Love is a verb, it is our choice to love, our responsibility to love, and often that love starts with the people right next to you.

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We continue through this season of Advent celebrating the virtue of peace. In this sermon, Tyler speaks to us about the promise of peace that we as Christ-followers are meant to take part in. It is a promise we must actively participate in, by digging deep into the communities we are surrounded by and engaging with those who are different than us. By striving for this peace, we can heal our world--so damaged by tribalism and ideologues--and show the redemptive love that Christ has for us all.n

We enter into Advent celebrating the virtue of hope. In this sermon, Tyler speaks to us about the enduring hope that lingers within the hearts of all who choose to follow Christ. This hope is born of endurance and a promise of a grander kingdom to come. It is because of this hope that we seek to bring heaven to earth, shining a redemptive, cleansing light into the darkest and ugliest parts of our world.

In this message brought to us by welcomed guest, Rev. Leslie Limbaugh, we explore just what it means to follow Jesus. For what cause would you give up your life? What is worth the sacrifice? Follow Jesus, and take part in the eternal kingdom that awaits those who would make such a choice.

As we close out our series on Ruth, we explore the impact Ruth had on the world at large.  God isn't afraid to use the people that live within the margins, the forgotten ones.  In fact, perhaps these are the very people we should turn to when we wish to experience the love of God.

Continuing our series on Ruth, we see Ruth boldly declare her agency and rise up to work against the situation she and her mother-in-law have been placed in. Ruth rebels against the status quo for a chance to be something more, and she is rewarded for her scandalous audacity. This story should make us pause and reflect on the narrative of gender in our lives. We are often told that wives must be submissive, but we are rarely told that husbands must be sacrificial as well. Ruth is showing women--and men--that sacrifice in love should always be met with more sacrifice. Women are never meant to submit alone.

Continuing our series on Ruth, we see Ruth find favor through God in a man named Boaz. Just as God used Boaz to help meet the needs of Ruth, we must ask ourselves how God can best use us. When we pray for God to feed the hungry, do we magically expect food to appear to them? Or do we go out into the world, find them, and feed them ourselves? As Thanksgiving approaches, reflect on what doing God's will truly means, what being the hands and feet of Christ truly means, what serving the world truly means.

As we explore our new series on Ruth, Tyler walks us through the relationship Ruth had with her step-mother, Naomi. Reflecting on bond that these mourning women shared, we are asked to explore our own relationship with the community of Christ we have dedicated ourselves to. "Your people shall be my people, and your God my God." Are we treating the concept of church with the respect it deserves?