May 2026
Do We Have Mercy And Compassion For Others?
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We read in Matthew 18:33 – ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way
that I had mercy on you?’
Another word for mercy is compassion.
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The above verse is part of a story the Lord Jesus told His disciples as a reply to a question Peter had asked about forgiveness. I encourage you to read the entire passage (Matthew 18:21-35). The question Jesus asks above is one all of us need to carefully consider. How many times in our lives has someone had mercy/compassion on us, whether it was in regard to an illness, financial trouble, a death, loneliness, marital issues, seeking forgiveness, etc? They were available to provide comfort, a listening ear, a helpful suggestion, or just to sit and be present as we pour our hearts out to them. In some cases, they forgave us without a second thought. When those times occurred, weren’t we grateful for the mercy, compassion and forgiveness shown to us? Conversely, how many times have we shown mercy/compassion to someone in their time of grief or need?
Were we truly there for that person?
Let’s be honest here. None of us are as merciful, compassionate, or forgiving as we could or should be. Where does that lack of caring, empathy, and hardheartedness come from? Simple. We are fallen and flawed humans.
In spite of being saved, we still have sin natures that often rear their ugly heads.
Jesus is teaching us a valuable lesson here. We are to have mercy/compassion on others, no matter the
circumstances. These are foundational attributes of a true, born-again believer. Easier said than done, I know.
Consider the following scriptures:
Deuteronomy 4:31 – ‘For the Lord your God is a compassionate God.’
The Psalmist tells us in Psalm 119:156 - ‘Great are Your mercies, O Lord.’
We read in Lamentations 3:22 - ‘His compassions never fail.’
Colossians 3:12 instructs us to ‘put on a heart of compassion.’
And in James 5:16 – ‘The Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.’
If Almighty God shows mercy and compassion to each of us on a daily basis, and He does, what is our excuse for not showing the same to others?
First Baptist, whom have we shown mercy and compassion to lately?
Pastor Thomas
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April 2026
April, New Beginnings, Sure, But What About New Opportunities?
Typically we speak of Spring as a time of newness – new life, new beginnings and new adventures. And we begin to plan for the change of weather, which for us here in the Midwest means warmers temps and longer days. Our plans, then often include trips and outdoor fun and maybe even yard work and spring cleaning. Those things feel fresh and new and, in some ways, they are. But are they really new opportunities or just a restart at what we typically do and have been doing all our lives?
Don’t get me wrong, we need routines. Much of what we do from season-to-season are must-do things
that if they went lacking, we’d have piled up dust, dirt, clothes, furniture, grime and generally unkept lives.
Without routine we wouldn’t take that spring trip away for some R & R or go visit family somewhere else.
Those are all good and important things. But are they really what could be defined as “new” opportunities?
That’s what I’m getting at this month; God is doing a new thing with First Baptist Church. Not just warming
over the old!
God spoke to a people in captivity (again!) through the prophet Isaiah. 43:14-19 reads, This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: Because of you, I will send an army to Babylon and bring all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoice. 15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. 16 This is what the LORD says — who makes a way in the sea, and a path through raging water, 17 who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty one together (they lie down, they do not rise again; they are extinguished, put out like a wick). 18 “Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. 19 Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
God’s chose these people to be a communal testament of Him, to the world but they had been through some long, dark days in their history and things weren’t looking good at the time of this prophecy. Today we’re those people. The Church. Our salvation is not our own, it belongs to the collective under Jesus Christ. First Baptist Church is the Plano, Illinois part of that collective Church that is here to proclaim and produce in person, the new works of God the Father but maybe we’ve been through some dark days too…But hear the
word of the Lord!
Are we ready First Baptist? Can we lay aside the long, grey waning years of membership decline, youth
and young adult exodus from our local body and perceive the new thing God might be doing with us? Join Thomas and I in this fresh springtime season, as we commit God’s newness for First Baptist to diligent prayer. Let us incline our spiritual ears to God and perceive His new works in our church that we might produce for Him what He has planned for us to produce. Just like the fresh flowers, new grass, and warm breezes of a midwestern Spring!
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Pastor Crystal