Did you get your Christmas shopping done yet? Me? NO! Barb and I have started well and we hope to finish strong! Nothing like spending your busy nights at the mall. And this brings me to what I’ve been thinking about…finishing strong!

The messages on Sunday morning have been from the book of Galatians. The study of these four verses in chapter four has been intentional. The beginning of Galatians Four is a foundation for us to understand why God sent His Son and what takes place in a believer’s heart when we receive redemption. The background of Galatians is “legalism.” The religious Jews were promoting the view that the way to get to God was through keeping The Law, and the way to stay close to God was through the same process. Paul wrote Galatians to refute this error. Two verses come to mind,

Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
(Galatians 3:3)

You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? (Galatians 5:7)

Remember: The way we got in is the way we stay in! That means that if we are saved by grace through faith then that is the way God wants us to live. He doesn’t want us to revert to some list of rules or “badges” that we wear. Yes, the works are important. But they are only important in that they point to the reality of our faith in God’s amazing grace!

If we revert to keeping the law in order to be accepted by God then we make the grace of God cheap and we make the death of Christ empty. Why? Glad you asked. If we can keep our salvation by keeping the rules or wearing the right “badges” then Christ really didn’t have to come and die on the cross. The whole of Christianity is then not something God did when He sent Jesus to be born in a cradle and end up on a cross; the whole of Christianity is women and men scratching out eternal significance on their own. It becomes our religion and not God’s relationship with us.

So, let’s not cheapen God’s grace by making it performance oriented…it must be grace oriented. We do what we do because we are God’s children and we want to finish strong!

Grace & Peace, Scott

I don’t know about you, but I hate goodbyes! They stink! It leaves you feeling empty, abandoned, lonely and missing something really important. I don’t care if it’s a goodbye for a day or a week or a month or a year, etc….I just don’t like them. I could go into the myriad of reasons for this detestation toward partings, but I’ll spare you the grief and share with what kinda makes me weirdly excited about goodbyes. What? Yeah, it’s something that I’ve just been thinking about today and it’s really helped me with saying goodbye to those I love. Here I go...

I am extremely comforted in the fact that God, my heavenly Father, was willing to say “Goodbye” to His Son Jesus. I was reminded of this today as I was studying for Sunday’s message. Paul wrote in Galatians 4:4, God sent His Son! That blows my mind and it chokes me up and it fills me with so much hope. Why? I’m certainly glad you asked otherwise this would be pointless. Follow me now…God was willing to send His Son into a foreign land where He would ultimately be treated with so much contempt that the people of this foreign land would murder His Son. That is love! Yes, indeed, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son!

But this would be fuzzy comfort without this further thought. In saying “Goodbye” to His Son, God knew (because He planned it this way) that He would see His Son again in only 33 ½ years. WOW! In other words, the separation was temporary, yes painful, but still only for a relatively short time in comparison to eternity!

Here’s my point, yes, I actually have one this week…Now whenever I say “goodbye” to someone I dearly love, I know that if they are in Christ I will one day see them again. The separation is indeed painful and it still leaves me feeling empty, abandoned, lonely and missing something really important, but I know that I will see them someday. I will see them in a place that is not hostile to faith and grace and love and God. The tragedy and real pain only comes when I say goodbye to those I love who are not in Christ. I will never see them in heaven and that really does give me pain. Remember, God so loved that He gave His only Son, but the verse goes on, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Eternal life is only given to those who BELIEVE. God’s love demands a human response and that response is faith. Faith is what gets us back together forever. And in heaven there are no “goodbyes.” Now that’s AWESOME!!!

This just has me thinking this week…I hope it does you too!

Love Ya Lots!

I don’t know about you, but I love Thanksgiving! Is it the food? Yes! Is it the extra day off? Yes! Is it the leftovers? Yes! Is it family? Yes! (Not in any order of importance or priority.) For me it’s all these things and even more. Time and space will not allow me to let you know why this is simply one of my favorite days of the year. I want to unpack the meaning of Thanksgiving a little bit for us this week so that we will be better equipped to have an unforgettable Thanksgiving.

For many people Thanksgiving is just a long weekend filled with people, food and football…nothing really more and nothing really less. For the genuine believer this weekend is a reminder of what we need to give thanks for throughout the year. Giving thanks is not just an expression we should return when the good times roll and our team is on top, no giving thanks is something we do that is not really dependent on the circumstances of our life at all. Let me explain…

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

As hard as it is, circumstances must not govern our giving of thanks. I don’t think there is anyone out there reading this that has had this last year pass perfectly. I realize that all of us have had some bad things happen; in fact, I would venture to say that for some, things have gone from bad to worse. In circumstances like these how can we give thanks for anything? The good things that have happened seem so distant and minor compared to the storm you might be experiencing right now. The problem is that our focus is wrong. We must look at our circumstances in light of the big picture. The big picture I like to look at is eternity. Look at what you have gone through in light of what God has stored up for you in heaven. Paul said it well,

No eye has seen,
No ear has heard,
No mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)

I believe that what our heart is focused on is what determines whether or not we are going to be giving thanks this year or not. I have to ask, “Is my heart fixed on my bad circumstances or is it fixed on the God who rules my circumstances?” As we approach November 22, 2007 I pray that we will all give thanks for everything!

Grace & Peace,

Scott

“What brings confinement, misery and depression? What brings freedom and happiness?” Man, the answer to questions like those could take years and many more words than this simple blurb allows. If you would stay with me I will try to bring a rapid fire answer…

How blessed is he…
Whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
Psalm 32:1 (NASB)

This is the answer David brings to our table. As you read Psalm 32 you will soon discover that it is a Psalm of Thanksgiving. Many will jump at a chance to read a psalm that gives reasons for joy and happiness, but will quickly be disappointed when they discover that it doesn’t give them what they want (relief from pressure, healing, money, a way out, etc). So many are searching for joy in their lives and too often it is like a bar of soap in the shower (or the tub if you’re a “tub” person). The more you look for it and try to grab it with all your strength the farther away it slides! I hate that, don’t you? In this particular psalm David is saying that great joy comes as a result of being forgiven. Unconfessed, and therefore, unforgiven, sin is a festering sore. A life lived like that is hopeless and meaningless. But, when forgiveness comes then comes true freedom and joy!

Once forgiveness is secured, a haven is found in the One who forgave. The great joy that is found in Psalm 32 comes as a result of being forgiven. Our response to this is immediate praise and adoration of the One who forgave us!

Grace & Peace,
Scott

It is the end of a “Monday” and as I sit at my desk I am thinking about going home and the myriad of things I need to get done this week. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the daunting tasks that lay ahead of me in any given week. When I feel that way, I just plough through the week and hope for the best. I know that by Thursday I had better have about everything done, or boy am I in trouble.

But wait…one task that is no task but a joy is knowing God and knowing Him better so I can love and honor Him better. How do I approach this joy of knowing God? What guides me from week-to-week? And why do I put God off at times? Some of these answers are easier than others, and the questions themselves convict the very core of who I am. Yes, I am very contemplative this week…some weeks are just like that for me.

Knowing God must become for us children of God the priority of our daily activity. I know that, you know that, but do we practice it? The verse that has really stuck in my mind today is something Paul wrote that challenges and troubles me.

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (Philippians 3:8)

This challenges me for the obvious reasons…I really want to know Christ who went to the cross for me. I want to know why He did this…I want to know the power of His passion in doing this…I want to know how to have that kind of passion in my life.

This troubles me for one basic reason—I fall so short of doing this! I cannot believe I let time go by without this pursuit as a priority. A major privilege in my life is to preach and teach God’s Word to others. I don’t take this lightly (never have). You put me in a classroom or behind a pulpit and its like saying to a pit bull, “Sic ‘em!” This is what drives me in ministry; I am off the wall in love with helping others understand what God’s Word means for their life.

So, just like many college teams do on Monday afternoon (Clemson definitely needs to do this!)…I do a gut check. Am I for real? Or, am I just going through the motions, pretending to be a pastor? A mentor? A teacher? Honest answers are demanded at this point in the conversation to myself.

How about you? Read Philippians 3:8 carefully and do a “gut check” today. Is your passion to know the Savior who died for you? And, how do you express that passion? How do you pursue “knowing Christ”?

I Love Ya!
Scott

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
—Psalm 19:1

What captures our attention? Let God capture our attention! In the beginning God… this is the only concept worthy enough of describing the unspeakable awe of the universe; it is unutterable in any other way. We cannot escape the sense of the infinite and the eternal when considering all of God’s created beauty. But what does the infinite and the eternal really do? What is it that they end up explaining for you and for me? In Psalm 19 we find the answer…

David begins this psalm by describing the eloquence of nature. This is God revealing Himself naturally, and nature screams at the top of her lungs to tell us of the beauty, glory and majesty of an awesome God. No matter if it is night or day creation tells the story of a great Creator. Every season has its language to tell the story. But we learn from Romans 1:19ff that we twist creation and pervert it in such a way that we end up worshiping the creature instead of the Creator. We need more and more is what David gives us in Psalm 19.

The psalm goes on to describe a revelation that is special—God’s law, His Word. This is the clarity of scripture. God’s Word leaves us without a doubt about the Creator and why He designed us and the world. Scripture takes us from ignorance to understanding; it is clear enough to get us from scratching our heads, to bowing our knee. The Bible is so powerful that it changes lives not just for a short time but for eternity.

David concludes this beautiful psalm by declaring that this revelation of God must be experienced. My conclusion? It is not enough to read the Word…we must live by the Word. We must allow God’s Word to do the work in our lives it was designed to do, and according to David this involves three activities: forgiveness, dominion and acceptance. Read the psalm this week and let it change you.

In our busyness around Calvary let’s not allow our schedules to dominate…let God’s Word! I love you all so much and am so thankful to have every opportunity to love and minister to you. It has always been my desire to keep God’s Word first and foremost at Calvary.

Grace & Peace,
Scott

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stands in the way of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And on his law he meditates day and night.
—Psalm 1:1-2 (ESV)

Do we have God’s approval on our lives? Is this important to me, to you? Is it even on the radar in our lives?

We just helped move my brother and his family (Jack, Julie, Adam & Allie) into a transitional house. They sold their house and moved into a rental while deciding what to do. Boy do they have a lot of stuff! As we were taking the last loads over reality hit…we really didn’t think it would all fit in their garage. At one point we even talked about taking everything out of the garage and reorganizing it so it would all go in. When we arrived with the last load Julie had it all in with room to spare. Now I want you to understand there is absolutely no room left in their garage for even a stick of gum, but its all in there!

Is our life like their garage? Too often we are consumed by priorities other than what is important to God. We have filled our lives with so much “junk” that God finds no place in our hearts at all. Now understand, all this stuff is important to us, but we have no room for what is on God’s heart. Psalm 1 teaches us what is on God’s approved list to go into our lives. This other stuff is just filler that sucks the spiritual life right out of us.

I think its time we clean out the garage of our hearts. Make a list of what is in your life that keeps you from “delighting” and “meditating” on God’s Word. Ask, “Why has God’s Word been squeezed out of my life?” And then get rid of some of the stuff that’s clogging you up. We live with God’s approval when we are taking the time to delight and meditate on His Word.

Grace & Peace,

Scott

OK, now, I realize it has been over a year now since I have written anything. This is for a couple of reasons. First, I have been really, really busy. Second, nobody reads this anyway. But, I did think I should do some updating and have some fun with this even if I am the only one who reads it. So, let me tell you about this last year...

We as a family made a major change last year. I became the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Downtown Spartanburg, SC. It has been a wonderful transition and I have come to discover God's grace in His church in a fresh and brand new way. Calvary is definitely a place Where Grace Is Still Amazing! We all quickly realized that we were on the same page when it came to our focus of ministry and our love for people. Because of the atmosphere and spirit of this church it has been an attractive place for many people. We have found people who are looking for a church where politics are not the norm and where programs are not the focus. Our desire is to make disciples, not spectators. I simply say, "Calvary is off the hook!"

If you have a chance we would love for you to come and experience God's grace at a place where the Spirit of unity is kept and God's people are edified.

More later, I really should get back to my day job.

Grace & Peace,
Scott