First Baptist Blowing Rock

We continue our close examination of 1st Corinthians 9:15-23 and the Apotle Paul's motivation and determination to preach the gospel to anyone, anywhere at anytime. We once again look at what it means to be "compelled" and what exactly might it be that could compel us to move out of our apathy and comfort zone and move into a place of service for the Kingdom of God. Sermon #24 examined how Paul was compelled by the call that God ha... Read more

As Paul continues to defend his rights as an Apostle and his preference for choosing to abstain from those rights for the sake of sharing the gospel; he gives us some insight into his motivation for serving. While the word "call" is never used in the passage from 1st Corinthians 9:15-23, Paul clearly defines what a "call" from God looks like lived out. When we use the word "call" in a religious sense, most think of someone who has ... Read more

After introducing the concept of a Christ follower's willingness to restrict their own freedoms and rights for the sake of a weaker or more immature fellow Christian in 1st Corinthians 8 in last week's message; the Apostle Paul continues to illustrate this concept by using examples from his own life. Here in Chapter 9, Paul makes the case for his own rights as an Apostle and how he freely sacrifices those rights for the sake of the... Read more

The Apostle Paul has already warned the Corinthian church about using their personal convictions as a spiritual club to guilt, manipulate and control other Christians. These convictions are not always spiritual admonitions but rather guidelines and boundaries  that the Holy Spirit has convicted the individuals for their own personal growth, yet when we try to push these convictions on others or worse, we judge others because t... Read more

One of the greatest areas of struggle in a Christians life is dealing with destructive discontentment. From the Garden of Eden until today, we all struggle with the idea that if we could only have a better job, a better relationship, a bigger house, etc. then life would all work out and we would be happy and satisfied. But it never works out, because those things only create a bigger hunger and never satisfy. That is the same lie t... Read more

A message looking at the Freedoms that we have as Americans compared to the Freedoms we have in Jesus Christ. From Galatians 5:1-6,13

What does the Bible really teach about divorce? about remarriage? While most are quick to point to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5 and 19, the Apostle Paul takes a deeper dive in answering questions from the Corinthian Church about specific instances that Jesus' teachings don't cover. Join us as we examine those specific examples and try to seek some truth we can apply to our own relationship situations as well as how the church... Read more

What does the Bible really teach about divorce? about remarriage? While most are quick to point to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5 and 19, the Apostle Paul takes a deeper dive in answering questions from the Corinthian Church about specific instances that Jesus' teachings don't cover. Join us as we examine those specific examples and try to seek some truth we can apply to our own relationship situations as well as how the church... Read more

Many people consider 1st Corinthians 7 to be the Apostle Paul's manifesto on marriage and if that is true, then it is also his masterpiece on Singleness. All throughout the Chapter, Paul continues to confront the culture and the church's wrong thinking about those who are unmarried or single by reminding them that not only was he single and content, but being single is a gift from God and comes with many blessings and opportunities... Read more

Just a short message from Pastor Rusty about our lack of recent podcast due to some sound upgrades and his recent vacation. We will be back with a new podcast on Monday, June 24th from the Sunday, June 23rd worship service. We also would like to announce that our entire worship services are now Livestreamed each Sunday at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on our church's website (firstbaptistblowingrock.com) or our church's F... Read more

Just a short message from Pastor Rusty about our lack of recent podcast due to some sound upgrades and his recent vacation. We will be back with a new podcast on Monday, June 24th from the Sunday, June 23rd worship service. We also would like to announce that our entire worship services are now Livestreamed each Sunday at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on our church's website (firstbaptistblowingrock.com) or our church's F... Read more

The Church at Corinth was surrounded by one of the most immoral cultures in the Roman world and the city of Corinth and it's Temple to Aphrodite was ground zero. With over 2,000 temple priestess who supported the temple through prostitution, the prevailing attitude concerning sex and sexual behavior had devolved to the point where it was considered just another "activity" like eating, sleeping and going to work. This had a strong i... Read more

As the Apostle Paul continues to challenge the Church at Corinth about what it means for the church to love one another and operate as a "family"; he confronts the issue of Christians suing each other and church members taking other members to court. As America continues to be the most litigious nation in the world with over 125 million civil lawsuits filed last year; the church is not far behind. Any easy search will discover info... Read more

 One of the struggle for the Christian Church today is how do you create a welcoming, loving and gracious attmosphere where anyone and everyone is welcome yet still be a Holy place that stands for God's righteousness. The simple answer is balance, but many congregations and even denominations find themselves slipping into the dangerous extremes where you are either legalistic, harsh and judgmental on one end or you ignore, rat... Read more

In the setting of the local church, it seems like everyone has an opinion on what a Pastor does or even should be doing. Some think the Pastor only works on Sunday's and Wednesday's, others think the Pastor should do everything that is needed done around the church - after all, the church does pay their salary! Sadly, when you look at most Pastor's job descriptions and combine it with the expectations of church members; you have a ... Read more

In the setting of the local church, it seems like everyone has an opinion on what a Pastor does or even should be doing. Some think the Pastor only works on Sunday's and Wednesday's, others think the Pastor should do everything that is needed done around the church - after all, the church does pay their salary! Sadly, when you look at most Pastor's job descriptions and combine it with the expectations of church members; you have a ... Read more

Join us as we celebrate Easter and the impact and power of the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ by examining one of the most memorized and quoted verses in the Bible; Romans 6:23. In this short and concise verse, the Apostle Paul captures the impact of the Easter story and the implications it holds for all of humanity. 

We continue to examine the Apostle Paul's warning to the Corinthians church in 1st Corinthians 3 as he introduces the idea of Christians standing in judgement before Christ to give an account of their lives. Sadly, for a majority of people, most of what we claim to believe and understand about Heaven is based more in popular literature, movies or television than in scripture. So it is not uncommon to discover that many Christians d... Read more