A Night of Storms in Alabama

I am piecing together some news about the tornado damage and possible relief efforts in Alabama.

So far, I know that a friend of Matt Chancey was killed. He was the father of 13, protecting his children – also a member of Briarwood Presb. Matt is heading home from Africa to help.


I’ve contacted MNA disaster relief, but have not heard back from them. I’ve contacted Jeff Pate, but have not heard back.

Then there is Tuscaloosa. Julian and Barbara are heading up to help the Britts (Wes and Katie). They lost their home and possessions, but they are ok. We will see how our church can help, so more info to come.

Please pray and I will convey concrete news and ways to help as I can. 130 lost lives is a tremendous loss to many families. Our hope to work with the PCA churches there for a wider Gospel impact for the needs

Todd Baucum, Pastor

(From Lindsay Townsend….)

To everyone that has asked how they can help the BOYD/BRITT family...Some are sending a prepaid gift card to them via Jackie Boyd. Her address is Jackie Boyd 1761 Commons North Loop, SUITE 3104, Tuscaloosa, Al 35406.

Easter Message - 2011@ FPC

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ transformed three things according to John 20:1-10; Time, the Rhythm of Life, and the thinking of believers. Ever wonder why Jesus rose again on the "First Day"? How does this affect us today? Click on the title and hear my message about the "Lord's Day" and its connection to the Resurrection.

Resurrection Day

Ephes. 2:1-7 (ESV)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
[2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. [4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— [6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
You were dead. It is a word so cold and brutal. And yet so true is it in its spiritual diagnosis. We lay in the dust of death, like Isaiah’s vision of dry bones; we can do nothing but lay in silence.
“I am the Resurrection and the Life.” (John 11:25) Jesus said these words against the doubt and uncertainty of life when death seemed to have the last word. On the human side, death’s pangs have a certain finality to it. The body goes back to the dirt it came from and the intense ache in the stomach of love’s bereavement is all too “real” to imagine anything different. This is the curse of sin, and the last enemy, which speaks so strongly to us mortals.
Yet, we are rooted in a greater reality, if we truly belong to Christ. Come Easter, we join the chorus of a sacred company that gives testimony to something grand and glorious. We will join the company of Job who longed to see his Redeemer in his physical body (Job19:24). We stand with Martha and Mary who saw and embraced a brother walk from a tomb, with the aroma of new life (John 11:44). We stand with the company of 500 witnesses who knew that Gospel was true because they saw the Resurrected Jesus (1 Cor. 15:6). This is the truth of what we embrace in the reality of Christ’s power and glory in His Resurrection. Many who’ve heard this story since childhood or listened with causal interest in countless sermons, the Easter message is old hat, or just another special day for family dinner. To such, the reality of this life-changing truth has not possessed their soul, nor captured their heart. For the same power that raised Jesus is promised to those who commit their lives to Christ (Eph. 2:4). This is resurrection reality as it bears relevance for our daily lives. It is as much a present and living experience as it is a future hope.
Think what Job had in being the oldest testimony of this precious hope. Job is considered by many scholars to be the oldest book in the Bible. The commentary of the English Standard Version of the Bible states:
“Considered both a theological and a literary masterpiece, the book of Job is an honest discussion of why God allows good people to suffer. The test of Job’s faith, allowed by God in response to a challenge from Satan, revealed God’s loving sovereignty and the supremacy of divine wisdom over human wisdom (personified by Job’s four friends). Believing that God is good despite the apparent evidence to the contrary, Job rested in faith alone. In the depths of agony he could still proclaim, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (19:25). In the end God silenced all discussion with the truth that he alone is wise” (chs. 38–41).
Join the company of those who know this power and long to praise their Redeemer this Sunday. For this is a good day as is every first day of the week to be reminded of this most important truth about what gives us hope and gives us power for living life, in the face of a world blindly pursuing the “dust of death.”

Superheroes and Christ the Victor

1 Cor. 15:56-58 (ESV)
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58] Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Hebrews 11:13 (ESV)
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

In the last decade several movies have been made (some with many sequels) based on the old superheroes of comic books and TV cartoons. Some of us were kids when we got hooked on watching Batman and Robin beat up the bad guys or Spiderman help little old ladies from getting mugged. There seemed to be a moral quality about these superheroes from the comics that reflected a boundary between goodness and evil and the need for justice. Yet today with the sophistication of computer generated “virtual reality” and the postmodern quest for complexity of character, the Superheroes have a dark side. Complexity is not a bad thing or unchristian. There is a dark side to us all. We know the nature of the human heart and that even among believers we do not deal with cardboard characters. Romans chapter 7 is not a make believe struggle between pretend forces. Paul knew the power of remaining sin in a regenerated heart. The Bible gives us the prayers of King David as well as his private lusts and public scandals. Paul does not hide his physical weakness or his discouragement in ministry (1 Cor. 2:3). Whitewashing heroes to make them something unreal or comical is not what biblical truth is about. Our heroes in faith are not people with unblemished records or superhuman powers, but showed remarkable complexity of personalities. They were very much ordinary men and women who in the midst of testing did something rather extraordinary; they believed in God (Heb.11). I don’t know about you, but it is very comforting to know that these where real people with real problems. They rose above the scandalous record of their past, not by moral improvement, but by the faith of the Gospel.
They were counted righteous by faith in the One who is victorious over all evil and sin. Christ is not our cardboard hero, who won the war over sin and death by superhuman strength. The early church refuted any attempt to make Jesus into a Greek demigod, part human and part god. He was every part of his being human and every part God. The Christian faith is rooted in the truth that God made a plan to restore a lost humanity by getting involved at a personal level. The message of the Cross and the Resurrection is essentially that of God pouring all of his love into the act of redeeming a people for Himself to love eternally. It is at the center a sacrifice of substitution. Justice demands that evil and sin be judged and punished. The Cross and the Resurrection, are the key events where God the Son gives finality to the problem of our lost and condemned condition. The comic book heroes have to keep at the fight, as much as they win, there is always a nemesis out there.
Our victory which Christ won, is assured and final.

Sunday, April 17, Morning Sermon

The death of Jesus Christ on the Cross has great personal significance for us today. Click on the title and find out how.

April10 - Sunday Morning Sermon - "Are You The King?"

My message for Sunday from John 18:28-40; the trial of Jesus before Pilate. A look at three types of authority that people can give their allegiance and the truth of following the Kingly rule of Jesus Christ.

An Evangelical and Reformed Faith

An Evangelical and Reformed Faith
A solid defense for traditional Reformed faith by Terry Johnson.