Wednesday's Words

Respect for the Word of God

On this past Saturday, one of the men in our Church and I went knocking on doors to invite folks to our Church for Easter. A very gracious Muslim gentleman welcomed us into his wonderful home. We were exploring my statement that Jesus Christ claimed to be more than one of the Four Great Teachers, but that He actually claimed to be God. This leaves us with the dilemma of the ages - either Jesus is God or He is a fraud - there can be no middle ground. We engaged in this discussion gingerly and respectfully. And He brought me four books that he called "holy books." Among them were the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and of course the Koran. He even had the New Testament translated into his mother tongue Swahili. As we browsed these books, I was taken back by the fact that he a) washed his hands before handling any of them b) kept every corner that had torn off of them because it was sacred. His treatment of these books, even those he felt were tainted from their original state, was all based upon the fact that he believed they had come straight from the mouth and hand of God. As a conservative Southern Baptist, I believe that. Do I treat God's Word with the same level of respect as this gentleman treated his four holy books? You talk about a convicting afternoon.

Tuesday's Two-Cents

Dear Readers, :)

How absolutely devastated I was to learn of a viscious terrorist attack in Russia yesterday. As the news was breaking to us in the US, and as the faces of horror were posted online, I could not get these victims' families off my mind. The day must have started like any other - who would've ever thought that they would be victims of a terrorist attack?

How does God want us to respond in the wake of a tragedy like this? Amazingly, some people find it in themselves to blame God for these things and/or to indicate that His judgment is responsible. I have not heard that in connection with the bombings in Russia, but none of us are in a position to make such a claim - ever. There has never been a better time to lift up these victims' families and the citizens of the surrounding area in prayer. Prayer is our most powerful resource in the War against Terror. Psalm 22:27 speaks of a day when, "All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations shall worship before You."

Let us remember why God has so graciously allowed us to stay on this planet: “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:47) As Christians, we should come together and pray for the nation of Russia as they grieve this cowardly act, and let us also remember our international missionaries as they serve our Savior around the world.

Pastor Billy Shaw, First Baptist Church Stanley

FBC Stanley now on Twitter

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The Body of Christ

I Corinthians 12:12 states: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also [is] Christ."

I am meeting with some people in the church who have initiated contact with me separately from each other about their own passion for evangelism. I have been preparing a resource for this meeting, part of which is this diagram of the Body of Christ. I don't know whether it would be valuable to you in your ministry and understanding of things, but I thought it would help us tonight.

Tuesday, Aug 31

This morning, I had prayer with Mr. Charlie Satterfield, who I'm told is our oldest male church member. He fell over the weekend and broke his hip, and is being moved today down toward the coast closer to his daughter. Charlie is well known for his sense of humor, and even today, a care specialist said, "Behave, Mr. Satterfield." He pointed to me and said, "I have to - my preacher's standing right there." We all had a good, hearty laugh.

In my devotions this morning, I studied Romans 1:2. As Dr. Stephen Olford said, "Before you can master the Word, the Word has to master you." I am going to be taking our church family through Romans on Sunday night's beginning this week. It is important to me to study the word devotionally to apply it to my own life first.

In reading this truth-filled verse, several things are amazing to me. God promised this salvation that we who have trusted Christ enjoy long in advance; and He delivered on that promise. The prophets He used to speak this message were His prophets. That possession is significant. This advance promise is recorded for us in the Scriptures, or writings. They are not just writings, but holy writings - the Holy Scriptures. There is nothing holy about erroneous writings; therefore, to the chagrin of our CBF folks, the Bible actually does claim inerrancy for itself (let alone the divine origin of this revelation).

It is humbling to look in the mirror and realize that God has called you and me to be ambassadors for Christ with the message of reconciliation, pleading with the lost around us to "Be reconciled to God." I can hardly wait for tonight when I will sit down with some of our people who have approached me about what we can do for outreach in our great church.

The greatest days of FBC Stanley are ahead as we maintain a proper focus on the fact that He has separated us unto the Gospel - no other task, no other initiative, no other program. Not a focus on ourselves, but on those outside the fold.

With love,

Pastor Billy

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

All week I have been meditating on possible connections between our theme of "The Holiness of God" and the observance of Memorial Day. The whole idea to do a slideshow grew out of my own arrangement of the hymn, "My Country 'Tis of Thee" for brass choir that was recorded a few years ago. As it turns out, we have too many slides for that length of piece. So I rummaged through my patriotic CD library last night, and found a perfect rendition of the Battle Hymn. I got chills and goose bumps when the line came up that said, "As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free." There is the connection! We will have a powerful service Sunday. God didn't want the video backed by my arrangement, but by this powerful hymn that ties the entire service together. He works in mysterious ways. As a treat to those following this blog, here is the slideshow in its current manifestation. I love each of you in the Lord! ~ Pastor Billy

For the story behind this inspiring hymn, visit: LINK

Tuesday's Two Cents - Joy in Serving

Where does your joy in serving the Lord come from - men or God?

If your joy in serving the Lord comes from men, or is tied to men to any degree, it will be vulnerable to waning, and perhaps even disappearing altogether. This leads to hurt, discouragement, and even burnout. If your joy in serving the Lord comes from God, then that joy will be as eternal as God is, as consistent as God is, and as fulfilling as He is.

Consider Martha. She lost her joy in serving (Luke 10), because her focus was on Mary's apparent non-service. Consider Elijah. He asked God to take him home even after one of the strongest victories any man of God has ever witnessed, because the wicked queen Jezebel had threatened his life. Since her crosshairs were on his scalp, his joy in serving the Lord was zapped.

Now consider Jesus, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. His joy in serving was not in being appreciated, not in our obedience or believing in Him. His joy in serving the Father was entirely rooted in the Father's attributes and "the joy that was set before Him."

What an example for us. Let us ask God to help us maintain a healthy focus on Him, directing our service toward His glory and His notice - the audience of One.