THANKFUL ON THE INSIDE

The story goes of a father traveling in the car with his young son who was about 5 years old. They were just going a short distance and so the boy who was in the back seat decided that he wanted to take off his seat belt and stand up. As you might imagine the father then immediately began to correct his son and tried to encourage him to sit down and fasten his seat belt. The conversation went something like this, “Sit down son and put your seat belt on.” “I don’t want to.” “I didn’t ask you, Sit Down, Now.” “But I don’t want to.” “Son, don’t make me count to three!” “But daddy, I don’t want toooo.” “Son! If you don’t sit down right now I’m going to Spank you.” The boy finally sits down and there is a long silence. All of a sudden the boy exclaims from the back seat, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I’m STANDING UP on the INSIDE!”
We are entering into my most favorite time of the year as the weather takes a turn on the cooler side and the smell of fall is in the air. The autumn beauty is all around us now, as we are blessed to live with these majestic and vibrant mountainous views at every turn. We are also entering into the month and the day that we have set aside for giving thanks. Therein lays a huge problem for some folks, because they have made an altogether different statement with their lives for the other eleven months of the year. You cannot simply come to a day and even attempt to start to tell God thank you for all of His benefits. The reason obviously being that it would take one far longer than a day to just begin because we serve an awesome God whose benefits, that is His grace, mercy and blessings on our lives, is NEW EVERY MORNING!
I want to encourage you today to set aside some time each day in your own individual prayer time to pour out lavishly on God, praise, adoration, honor, and gratitude for all of His Blessings on and in your life. If you are reading this article I want to ask you to do something right now. Very slowly, breathe in and then breathe out, now think about the fact that you are not promised even one more breath. If you have one it is only by the grace of our great God. It’s just that simple, God is great, and things or circumstances in our lives could always be much worse. Would you join the psalmist in affirming, “I will go about Your altar, O Lord, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works. I will offer to God thanksgiving, and pay my vows to the Most High. I will enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise, be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” Scripture would also admonish us today that, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”
Don’t be caught this Thanksgiving Day thanking God on the outside putting on the façade for friends and family for a day while standing up on the inside. Begin now if you’ve not already by thanking Him everyday on the inside! You might be surprised at the difference it will make in your life!

Taking It To The Streets

If you were to reach in your pocket right now, or your pocketbook, most of us could pull out a well worn metal ring known simply as our key chain. On this ring we would find a plethora of different keys. The reasoning behind the ring is to hold the vast number of keys that we carry. I think you’ll agree that each one is uniquely crafted to open only a certain lock. We have a key to open our car door, one to turn the ignition, one to open our house door, and other keys that go to various other locks. We have keys that open our offices and keys that we need at work. If that’s not enough, we even carry keys to other people’s locks. Why do we need so many keys? Even though several keys may look similar, being the same color or length, each one has been intricately cut to fit a specific lock set in order to gain access into a particular place.
Now, what I have just described is a picture of precisely how God intended His church to function. Even though many of us may be similar in a lot of ways, God has uniquely created you, shaped you, gifted you, and purposed you to fit a specific lock set in order to gain access to a particular place that only you can open! There are folks who are lost outside of our walls and neither the pastor, nor your teacher, nor your friend can reach them because God wants to use you to reach them. He wants to use you to gain access in to their heart because you may just be the only one who can! That’s the reason that God assembled His church, not just to hang out together. Although that is a huge benefit of belonging to a church it is NOT the primary function of church!
I believe today, church, that God is asking us to change our focus from “DOing church” to “BEing the church!” In my recent studies through various books and journal articles He has brought to the forefront of my thoughts a lone question that begs for an answer. “IF First Baptist Travelers Rest was to close its doors today and shut down as a church, would anyone in our community really care? Would it make a difference?” One pastor asked the question this way based on Acts 8:8, “Is there any great JOY in the city because our church is here?” The question is not, would the congregation care, but is there a presence of joy felt in Travelers Rest because our church is serving the community in such a way that folks would know right off if our church were absent?
Thinking on these ideas must lead us as a congregation to begin asking some great questions of businesses, and organizations, and entities in our town. Questions such as how can our church serve you? What is a current need that you have that we could help meet? These are the questions that are going to help inform us as to how we can be the church that God has called us to be. These are the questions that will enable us to become the keys that God has designed to open thus far locked doors in the hearts of lost people surrounding our building. There WILL be joy in Travelers Rest because our church is in the initial stages of forming teams called ( J.I.T.R. teams) in order to serve our community for Jesus. As you might have guessed it stands for Joy In Travelers Rest. It has always been the church scattered, hitting the streets, which produced a church to be gathered.

TREADING WATER IS BETTER THAN DROWNING

As I am writing to you, I am looking through the window in my office at one of God’s many magnificent wonders in all of nature, a giant oak tree. The circumference of its trunk is unknown, but I do know that no mere human could possibly put his arms around it. Its height as well has never been measured, but it towers above our office space. Its spread is massive, casting a huge engulfing shadow on the ground every afternoon. For all of these reasons and more I’m sure that we could all agree that it is simply amazing to gaze upon a grand old oak tree. The point is this, how long did God take to grow that tree to the splendid beautiful object that it has become and we behold today? Let’s just say it took more than a day, a month, or even a year. Hm-hm-hm, could there be a lesson here?
Have you ever heard the old story about a cracked water jug in which the jug thought that it was useless? As a Chinese villager went each day from the village to the watering hole he carried two water jugs attached to a bamboo pole across his shoulders. While one of the jugs was whole, the other had a small crack and leaked about half of its contents with each trip from the watering hole to the village. The whole jug boasted about his superiority making the broken jug feel ashamed and worthless. Each day the complaining got worse and worse as the broken jug was humiliated and counted itself as a total failure. Just then the water carrier said to the broken jug, “When we return to the village today look along the path.” When he did he saw a beautifully lined flower path all the way home! What the broken jug hadn’t realized is that even though it was flawed and felt that the circumstances were hopeless, in actuality it was still being used for something beautiful by its owner. Hm-hm-hm, could there be a lesson here?
As summer grows closer to an end for another year, I have vivid memories of days spent splashing around in our local pool with my daughters. While they are now avid swimmers, it hasn’t always been that way. In the beginning, it was quite an accomplishment for them just to tread water. Then little by little, day by day, week by weeks, very slowly, and even year to year they have learned to dive into the deep end and swim! They too complained all along the way, Daddy I can’t do anything, I’m not doing anything, it’s taking too long, but look at them now and they are not done yet!
I just wanted to encourage you today, church, that even though we are struggling along and it seems sometimes like we are backing up or that we’re not accomplishing much. Even though we might even like to give up, just have faith and know that God is working. We, like the oak tree, are growing into something magnificent, and it does take a long time. We are also like the broken water jug and if we had the right perspective through the eyes of faith in our great God, we would see that we are a part of making something even more beautiful than flowers. Finally, if you feel like these days that we are barely treading water, know that it is something, and that it is BETTER than drowning!

I love you and pray for you,
Pastor Scott

Baseball, Apple pie, and Chevrolet

Hopefully as you read the title of this article your mind immediately raced to one overwhelming thought, AMERICAN. Why do you suppose that is? Could it be that these things, baseball games, apple pies, and Chevrolet have been entrenched and engrained in our minds since we were born as being American? In fact, we would even go so far as say that anyone who doesn’t like these things quite possibly is not American. Advertisers have made a very lucrative career on these perceptions for decades by placing these particular items along side their products. All known forms of media also have included these icons in their movies, shows, papers, books, etc. Why? They want to be associated with being American. There is great patriotism and pride in being an American and in America itself. Thus, these particular images shout that whatever or whoever is doing them is American. We like that, we relish in that, and we want to be associated with that classification.
As the nation stands poised to celebrate our annual July 4th holiday commemorating America’s independence from Great Britain, get ready for a barrage of red, white, and blue ads, featuring apple pie, Chevrolets, and baseball games. It’s the greatest time of the year to be proud of being an American. We’ll also celebrate by remembering that our freedom was never free and that it cost many their very lives. It was a price that they were willing to pay because they were proud to be Americans, and proud to wave the stars and stripes! During this month, as you enjoy eating your apple pie and playing or watching a baseball game or riding in a vehicle with the blue bowtie just know that you are testifying to the world that you are proud to be an American.
It has occurred to me through years of observation that while we have no problem with the previously described associations of being American, it’s not quite the same way with being associated as a Christian. What icons might be considered as associated with Christianity? Perhaps, the top of the list might include a Bible, a cross, prayers, and of course church. While most of us have no problem carrying our bible to church, or praying in church, why does it seem so difficult to carry it throughout the rest of the week any where we go. Why is it so difficult to pray outside of the church within the public arena, perhaps at restaurants or work places just to name a few? Why does it seem so difficult for us even to be faithful to attend church more than once a week? What are we communicating to the watching world? Are we ashamed of being associated with Christ?
You see just as the privilege of being an American isn’t free, so also being a Christian is not free. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who was God’s Son came to this earth, died on a cross to take our place, to atone for the sin in our lives, and rose from the grave victoriously in defeating sin and death for the whole world including Americans. Just food for thought, the next time you attend or watch a baseball game pray over the teams and for the Christian witness of some of the players to shine. Pray over that chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard you just ordered right there in front of folks at Dairy Queen. The next time you ride in that old Chevrolet let it be on your way to church and be proud not only to be an American, but more importantly to be a Christian.

GOD’S NOT INTO TEXTING

I admit upfront that I am most technologically challenged. Often, I am the last to be in the know with regard to the latest electronic gadgets. However, there is one latest societal techno craze that needs to be canned. The fad to which I am referring is called “texting.” More specifically, it is the craft of using one’s cellular telephone to type messages to other folks. It seems rather silly that we need to be reminded that it is a telephone, an invention for the sole purpose of talking to others. Ah, therein lays the problem. In our fast paced and ever changing culture we are rapidly loosing our ability to carry on normal interpersonal relationships with one another primarily because we don’t know how to talk with each other. Not only are we losing the social etiquette of conversation, but taking it a step further we certainly don’t have the time, nor will we put forth the effort, or concern to spend TIME with others face to face any longer. It is a foregone reality that a generation has emerged that could be labeled as those behind the mask because when they logon, sign-in, or power up their laptops or cell phones they can be ANYONE they want to be! It’s intriguing, it’s mysterious, it’s fun, it’s the latest and everyone’s doing it. It is also a LIE! There are numerous psychological studies that report that people who live behind the mask lose all inhibitions to say or do anything that they “feel” like doing. Why? Because they are not actually in the presence of the other party in which they are “talking.” As a result, what you and I used to refer to as people skills are deteriorating at an alarming rate.
From the beginning it was not so. What we need to be reminded of is that God as the maker of all life created us to be interpersonal or relational beings. We know this because God Himself is a triune God relating perfectly with the Son and the Holy Spirit. He therefore created us also to personally and intimately relate to Him in order that we might know how HE would have us relate to others. In other words, God intended that we relate to one another personally, i.e. face to face interaction and communication. One of the primary means by which we communicate in our society is obviously the telephone the way it was used before texting. While not as effective as being there, it is an acceptable form of communication, because you can still hear the other person’s voice. You can sense their emotions by listening to their tone, volume, and speed including pauses, sighs, or excitedness. With typed words on a screen you lose relational contact, so let’s go back to the beginning.
Where do we start? I believe that God would have us put our keypads down on our cell phones and go find a closet to spend some quality time in PRAYER. Remember that our primary reason of existing on this earth is to bring glory to God our creator. How in the world can we do that if we don’t spend time talking with Him. May we never get too busy to talk to the Lord and most likely afterward you will find that He has laid on your heart the names of others that He would have you to talk to in order that we might be used by Him to influence their lives and encourage them toward their purpose in life which is also to bring glory to God. God wants to hear you and so do others!

WILL YOU BE A PART OF UPSIDE DOWN?

Do you remember the original commercials advertising the latest ice cream wonder of its day from Dairy Queen? It was called the Blizzard, and it was nothing short of a genius creative work consisting of two elements. Those building blocks were your choice of ice cream flavor and your choice of candy assortments. The carefully chosen ingredients would then be marvelously blended together for an out of this world ice cream experience. …..Where was I, oh yeah, back to the commercials. A Dairy queen employee after mixing a patron’s newly created Blizzard, would then do the unthinkable right before the very eyes of a watching world. They would turn the Blizzard upside down, can you believe it, not one drop was spilt and then they handed it to the bedazzled customer. Getting past the amazement for a moment, have you ever wondered or thought about WHY they turned the ice cream upside down? It was for one sole purpose, to show the world that there was rich genuine desirable substance in the cup and not cheap imitation fluff!
I’ve been taken back of recent days by a phrase that I read in Scripture while studying for an upcoming sermon. The phrase was spoken by an angry society who, while they did not understand what was being offered, still had the capacity to appreciate and label the substance as genuinely life altering. They cried out in staunch defiance of the substance of the good news of the gospel. They rejected the proclamation of Jesus Christ as God’s Son, the One who came to save men like them and us from that which separates us from a holy God, that is sin and death. They screamed for all they were worth at the men who were employees/servants of the Heavenly King, the ones who were heralding the message of Jesus. They yelled this phrase, “These who have turned the world UPSIDE DOWN have come here too!”
Question, would anyone make or has anyone ever made the same accusation against you or our church for that matter? Are you, or we as His church, walking with Jesus in such a close personal relationship that your daily experience in His presence and your subsequent obedient service to Him would cause the people around you to take note? Is a lost world seeing something so amazingly different about your life than the common variety garbage pile of ideology so prevalent around us today? Would they or could they shout about you that you’re turning the world upside down? I want to encourage you today, if that is not true of your life or of the life of our church it is not too late! God has blessed us with another day and He commands that we give Him our all in making a difference for the cause of Christ and the Kingdom of God. If we belong to Him it is our privilege to serve Him with all that we are letting others see Jesus in action. Well, isn’t it certainly getting hotter outside as summer approaches? Go have a Blizzard, turn it upside down before you eat it, and think about it. Am I of such genuine sold out substance to be an impact player for Jesus? God, please help First Baptist this day to be part of turning Travelers Rest upside down for You!

REVIVAL HINGES UPON THE RESSURECTION

It is fascinating to watch the resurrection of nature as the dead of winter is springing to life during this very time of the year. Already in my neighborhood I have witnessed seemingly dead and dreary looking sticks miraculously burst forth with brand new buds. These buds have over the last few days shed forth exquisitely beautiful flowers and leaves. All that splendor, all that brilliance, and vast array of vibrant life comes from something that was bleak, barren, and dead shall we even say ‘ugly.’ Now added to the drama of what we are witnessing there is also sound and smell. There has certainly come out of the cold dead silence a flurry of brash and majestic sounds. Birds of various kinds are singing so sweetly, butterflies are fluttering, bees are buzzing, frogs are croaking, fish are splashing, and crickets are ……well you get the point, whatever crickets do. The sun is beginning to shine brighter it seems, the days feel warmer, and who can escape the fragrant smell of it all. That which was dead is now ALIVE!
The wonder of it all is revealed as it points us to the heavenly Father’s plan. Surely all of God’s creation is trying desperately to point you and me back to a very special event. In fact, this event brought life from that which was pronounced lifeless, dead. This magnanimous event was none other than the resurrection of His Son Jesus who was slain on an old rugged cross and pronounced dead as He had indeed died, but also rose again to life on the third day. Glory hallelujah praise be to God! You see, we know that there were eyewitnesses that went to the grave on a certain Sunday morning and when they got there they were astonished to be greeted not by the tomb as usual, but by angels with a message. It was a message unlike any other ever told. It was a message of joy, hope, and new life. “Jesus is NOT HERE He is RISEN, come see where He did lay. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead!”
Now, we may not understand it all. That is “the how” He did it, but we certainly can understand “the why” Jesus died and rose and ascended back to heaven to His Father. Hebrews 9 begins to shed some light stating, “Jesus has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.” Scripture also tells us in Ephesians 1 - 2, “You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). In Jesus we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Finally, we have come to question of personal revival. Just as we can see from nature the transformation from death to life comes only from the power of God. As we have seen through the scriptures the resurrection of Jesus Himself from death to life also came through the power of God. Therefore, what you and I must realize is that if we have any hope in this world of being revived from death to life it can only come through our faith in the resurrection power of God. Have you ever placed your faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, understanding that His shed blood can cover your sins? The eternal significance is this. “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Good Intentions Are Really No Good

If you were to take a survey of the general population in any given town in America you would find that over 95% of folks surveyed would have good intentions about everything. Good intentions about being faithful to their spouses, good intentions about keeping their word, good intentions about paying their bills, spending time with their children, being a loyal employee, not stealing, not suing, not fighting, and just being a better person in general. Ok, how are all the good intentions of those people working? My point is that it takes more than good intentions and warm fuzzy feelings and thoughts. It takes COMMITMENT! In any area of life, if you want to achieve a certain goal you must first be willing to sign your name on the dotted line, you must draw a line in the sand, you’ve got to stand up and let your word be counted and not ashamed for the world to know it. It will cost you something, mark it down. The question will then become is it worth it to go from just being a good intention in my life to something that I will commit to?
You see all throughout God’s Word there were times through the course of history when God called His people out, the ones that followed, served, and obeyed Him, the ones that truly at the end of the day loved Him. He called them to come out from among all the rest of the people and commit their lives to Him in a renewed and significant way. It was often a very public way in order that there was no confusing those who were committing to Him. Do you remember Joshua’s famous plea from his death bed to the church who still had much land conquering to do? “I’m not going to be here to lead you any longer, so this day make your mark, draw your line, sign up. Choose you this day whom you will serve whether it be the One true God, or whatever society tells you that you need, (idols of your own making.)” Do you remember several hundred years latter a showdown of Olympic proportion that could only be described as “Fire on the Mountain?” The church had by in large defected because of a ruling president and first lady that hated God. Then along comes a man of God named Elijah who calls the people of God to make a commitment right on the spot, to sign up, draw a line, in front of everybody, now! “How long will you waiver between two opposite opinions? If you love the Lord and want to be indentified with Him line up right here, otherwise stay where you are.” If you remember that narrative by the end of the day God had brought down fire on Mount Carmel and all those who did not align themselves with Christ lost their very lives.
Fast-forwarding to the first century when the Lord Jesus Christ Himself walked on this earth He also called men who would be His disciples to make a commitment to Him. "Follow Me," He would say, "Leave everything you have, and come follow ME!" On the first Sunday of this month, March 1, that is exactly what you and I are going to have the privilege of doing symbolically, to recommit ourselves to Jesus and His work. Leave everything that we think we have and put our mark down, draw our line in the sand, sign our name to following Jesus with ourselves, our families, and all that we own. These areas should sound familiar to you as we have been for the past few weeks studying about refreshing our individual faith, our families, and our resources. This Sunday will be the culmination of our efforts, as we all will be asked to join together and commit on the altar all we are to Jesus as His church body in Travelers Rest. God would say to us today that it is time for our good intentions to become more than just good intentions!

I love you and pray for you, Pastor Scott