The Urgency of "Your One"

Urgency has really hit home as we were saddened with a call from my dad , that Mom's brother Benn, in South Carolina was found dead in his home by his son Jack.  Benn was seventy, and here is the irony.  On March 9th, we had a surprise 80th birthday reunion for my mom in the cabins of the Smoky Mountains.  Benn and Jack were the first to arrive.  This picture is a compilation of the group that came.  Benn is in this picture.

This passed Sunday we launched our "Who's Your One Campaign."
I preached a message from Luke 15 and the value that Jesus places on the one.  I am grateful that as a fourteen year old boy, I met Christ and accepted Him as my Lord and Savior.  while I have always enjoyed sharing the Gospel, I will admit that it isn't the normal default position.  It is a decision I must make daily and in the opportunities that God gives us.

Thirty days of praying for, spending time together, inviting, and sharing the Gospel with urgency.

When we opened in prayer at the party, I shared, it is wonderful to get together and it not be a funeral.  A time to celebrate.  Little did I know that in eleven days, one in the picture would no longer be with us.

I don't know if Benn is in heaven, but I do know that there is only one way to be sure and confident that when you die you will go to heaven.

• It is by recognizing you are a sinner.  Romans 3:23, 

• Realizing the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23, 

• Accepting that God loves you more than anything and that Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sin.  Romans 5:8; John 3:16, 

• By placing your faith in Christ and confessing Him as your Savior you shall be saved.   Romans 10:9-10, John 14:6

• No one is good enough to go to heaven on your own and no one has done something bad enough that God can not forgive.  Romans 3;10-11; Romans10:13
•  
• Because of God's love , grace, and mercy you too can know that heaven will one day be your home. John 6:47., I John 5:13

I beg you to trust Christ if you are reading this and do not know Him.  You never know the last time we will all be together.

An Acts 16:31 Week!

This past week I witnessed Acts 16:31 as our Camden Police Chief led his family to faith in Christ and obedience through believer's baptism.

We pick it up at verse 22 as Paul and Silas preached Christ.

²²  Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. ²³  And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. ²⁴  Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. ²⁵  But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶  Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one's chains were loosed. ²⁷  And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. ²⁸  But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." ²⁹  Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰  And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" ³¹  So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."³²  Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³  And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. ³⁴  Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. 


This is a picture that a born again dad has on the spiritual lives of his family. While our faith never saves anyone else, when they see the difference that Jesus has made and is making  lives are impacted and the Holy Spirit moves.


The family also had a number of guests here to celebrate their step of obedience.
What a blessing to see God do that which only He can.

We praise the Lord for His goodness.

Until He comes....we will go!


Brother Greg

Hope

This morning I heard a newscaster say, "If you feel that it is tough to just get through a gray day, welcome to winter."  But the good news is that spring can't be that far away, and because of that we have hope.

Everyone needs hope.  It encourages, strengthens, motivates, and helps us through tough times.  when our hope is in men, we will at times be let down.  When it is in position, education, or things, we will ultimately be let down.  the wonderful thing about Christ is that He can give you what no other can, and that is lasting true, inner peace and hope.

James 4:13-17 (NKJV)
¹³  Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; ¹⁴  whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.¹⁵  Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."When we look and   plan for Spring to come if Jesus does not return first, it is all based on the hand of the Creator, our Savior and Lord.

  We are also praying about and having Fred Luter come for our Spring Revival April 1-3 this year.  We are in a for a real blessing and hope to see decisions for Christ.

Two Broken Legs Later.

As a boy, I used to love The Wide World of Sports." It had a catch phrase that always stuck out and it was "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat."

 Here is a little of the back story from Wikipedia.com.   "The Thrill of Victory..."
The melodramatic introduction became a national catchphrase that is often heard to this day. While "the thrill of victory" had several symbols over the decades, ski jumper Vinko Bogataj, whose dreadful misjump and crash during a competition on March 21, 1970 was featured from the early 1970s onward heard over the sentence "...and the agony of defeat", became a hard-luck hero of sorts, and an affectionate icon for stunning failure. Previously, the footage played with that phrase was that of another ski jumper who made a long, almost successful jump, but whose skis lost vertical alignment shortly before landing, leading to a crash.

Twenty five years ago today, Martin Luther King Day, we took our then eight year old son Drew snow skiing for his inaugural trip.  A beautiful fresh powder had fallen.  For several hours we had a blast, then it happened.  He took a fall in front of us and we soon discovered by it's position that he had broken a leg.  In shock, we stood helpless as the Ski Patrol worked with him.  The lead young man looked at me with a glassy, stoic stare, then mumbled the words, I think his other one is broken also!

Two boot top fractures led to nine weeks in casts up to his thighs. Today,  praise the Lord that that eight year old boy healed fine, is thirty three, and now has two boys of his own, nine and soon to be seven.

God taught Renee and I a lot during that period of life.  One lesson was that just as Drew was helpless on that ski slope to do anything to immediately heal himself, men and women are still lost without Christ and unable to fix themselves. As a preacher of the Gospel isGod has called me to faithfully proclaim the Bible.  People need truth, and God's word provides it.

Secondly, if you are raising a child with special needs, you are a special person!  God has chosen you because of how dear you are to Him.  Don't quit, your child needs you more than ever and God can supply your source of strength when you feel as if you cannot go on.

Thank the Lord that as Dottie Rambo wrote, "He Looked Beyond My Faults and Saw my Need."

Turning the Page from 2018 to 2019!

Pastor's Christmas Devotional - New Year's Eve 2108

When I was a teenager, I loved New Year's Eve and Day, not just for Family and Buckeye football, (and black eyed peas, ribs, and sauerkraut), but also for the fact the radio stations played a "Top 10 Countdown" from that year.  I can remember laying in my bed looking at the poster of basketball hero Pete Maravich on the wall and waiting to hear the next song, thinking it may be one of my favorites. Today I want to share some of my "Top Things I am taking from 2018"  and some "Top Priorities to carry into 2019."

2018 Takeaways:

 1. Prayer is the Key - apart from the power of God it is easy to just go through the motions.

2. FSBC needs steady, faithful, verse by verse preaching and teaching of the Bible without apology or compromise.

3. There is no substitute for a personal face to face visit.

4. If I am not intentional in sharing my faith, the staff, leadership, and church will most likely follow my lead.

5. I will not lead our church forward if I am not growing personally, through prayer and Bible Study and personal evangelism.

6. 25 years have flown by - make the most of the time you have.

7. Regardless of how long you have been a pastor, there will always be tough calls to make.

8. God has blessed us to partner with other churches who are just beginning. we may not always see the numerical blessing here at FSBC.

9. FSBC is the most giving group of people I have ever witnessed. You can never out give God.

10.Never take a healthy marriage and family for granted.  There are many hurting people. In the church and out of church.

11. Bonus: Never under estimate the value of other pastors who are personal friends.

Things to carry into 2019:

1. A burden to walk in surrender and obedience to the Lord.

2. A prayerful love and concern for lost family and friends.

3. A hunger for the Word of God like never before.

4. Speak with more grace and less criticism.

5. Share my faith more,visit more, both prospects and members.

6. Guard my study time better.  Make the most of mornings for study.

7. Way less Twitter or social media. Read more!

8. Physical exercise is a great stress reliever.

9. Communicate better to Staff and Leadership.

10. Walk by faith, not by sight.

11. Bonus: Quit trying to be someone else. Let's just be FSBC for the glory of God.

Never Alone

It has been a blessing to write a devotion for Christmas this year.  Below is the post from 12/28/18

Pastors Devotion Friday December 28th,

Mark 4:35-41 (NKJV)
³⁵  On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side."³⁶  Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him.
³⁷  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. ³⁸  But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"
³⁹  Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰  But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?"
⁴¹  And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!"

Good morning FSBC, after a twenty four hour glitch, Centurylink is back up and we are able to get online. My initial response yesterday was, "Alexa , why are you not responding?  Then I added, "Good Grief!" So yesterday, due to the fact that the church office also has the same provider, sent me to McDonald's to borrow a WiFi signal.  (Desperate measures for desperate times.)  This minor inconvenience to us(me) is a reminder that we are not the only ones going through things at the time.  This glitch appeared to be nationwide.  Life is like that sometimes.  The dark cloud, or the circumstance  that is so overwhelming and seems to follow only you, can make you feel like you are the only one at the time going through a difficult moment. When I realized there was an issue I text me neighbor who is a tech wiz and he said it was not only us, but a national outage. Think about how that affects someone in business who counts on the internet for sales.

Boy what a picture of sin.  It is not only my problem, but a mankind issue.  That is why Jesus came and that is why He died.  To redeem us and let us know that we are not alone, but that as a Christian, He is with us, every moment, every hour, every day.  Lift up your eyes unto the hills, Psalm 121 tells us, " Our help comes from the Lord."  Let's close out 2018 strong for the Lord!

I love my church family.  Bro.Greg

A Christmas Review

Pastor's Devotion - Monday December 17th

As we have completed "The Light of Christmas", all I can say is wow, and praise the Lord!  I believe we had a record Saturday night crowd, with so many guests, but it didn't stop there.  Sunday morning we had 461 in worship! There was a buzz in the building as the anticipation of months of practice was about to become reality through the performance. The church was decorated beautifully and Christmas is in the air!  Marcia and Bev had labored tireless to get us to this point.  A group of fine young people kicked it off with a fun "It's Time for Christmas"  holiday choreographed rendition that would have made any Christmas show or King's Island performance proud.  The staging, lighting, sound, narrators, actors, soloists, and singers were spot on and everyone adjusted wonderfully when they had to.  The Drama Team delivered a powerful presentation of the futile search to find perfection on our own. Kelli (Becca) shared the Gospel so clearly.   She passionately reminded us that it is Christ , the Perfect, who came for the imperfect.  Darlene (Stephanie) received the Mother of the Year and recognized that the perfect Christmas really comes from receiving the unconditional love of God and the blessing of a family.  I believe many lives were touched with the power of the Gospel this weekend and I thank you for your effort and hard work, along with your prayers.  We concluded last night with the Lord's Supper in a sweet time of worship.  One pastor referred to the Lord's Supper at Christmas as , "From the Stable to the Table."

This has been my attempt to review the weekend.  As your pastor, proud is insufficient to sum up my feeling and love for you all. The degree of talent and commitment that God has blessed our church with is not taken lightly or for granted.  We are blessed. As the Lord looks at us, may we be reminded that it is His review that really matters.  Only time will tell the impact of this weekend on the lives of those in attendance.  Thank you for being faithful to allow us to go big when attempting to share the love of God.  Thanks for supporting the work of Christ here on the corner. 

With Christmas one week away, let's not lose our focus on doing, but remain committed to being.  I pray that you point people to

"The Light of Christmas" where ever the Lord may choose to take you this Christmas. 

Have a great day for Jesus!   Bro. Greg