Stay Positive

I’m sure many of you could stand up and say and say you’ve had awful days; where you felt like you couldn’t make it to the end of the day. Why does that happen to Christians? There is a false

perception some people hold that says once you are a Christian everything will be smooth sailing; you won’t have any more problems or difficulties.

That is not true…so not true!

When Paul wrote His letter to the Philippians I’m sure there were lots of other things he would rather be doing than sitting in jail chained to a guard (read Philippians 1:1-11). Yet, even then he persisted to be positive…so much so that his letter to the Philippians is the most joyous of all his letters written…and he was in chains.

How can you stay positive like Paul?

First you must REMEMBER THE POSITIVE. We judge ourselves and other people too harshly. We see the flaws first and focus there. That is the wrong attitude and it is trouble for relationships. Instead, you need to practice minimizing mistakes, for you and others, and remember the good. Have you ever noticed how when you go down memory lane that it is your bad memories that ambush you? I love what Billy Graham says about this to help us—“there is healing power in selective memory; as humans we cannot forget our sins and hurts, but through forgiveness we can choose not to remember them.” Pray, and ask God to help you forgive yourself & others!

Paul agrees and when he wrote Philippians he focused on remembering the good in them because he put the church first and himself second. Later in the letter Paul writes, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).

Learn from the Apostle Paul’s wisdom. Filter out the mire and work hard to focus on the positive! Be blessed!

Mission—How Important is it?

Our Mission: to glorify God by sharing the gospel and serving others.

Our mission is clear and simple, yet we can easily be distracted from it. We live in a “consumer driven culture” that corrupts us to “want, want, want,” things our way. We must hold fast to the same attitude that is in Christ to overcome the consumerism of our day so we stay on mission. Christ did not consider His will or desires to take first place, instead He considered first the will of His Father in heaven (Philippians 2:6-11). In fact the bible says “he made himself nothing,” meaning he humbled himself as if His will meant absolutely nothing compared to the will of the Father. To overcome the “selfish culture” of our day and to stay on mission for God, we must do likewise.

Question: Do we exist to preserve our present brand, structure, and systems, or do we exist to advance the gospel together in our community, regionally, and around the world?

If we drift continually into a focus on structures, budgets and competing projects, rather than keeping our focus on our mission to reach the world, we will lose our identity and our reason for existing altogether. This will lead to discouragement, fall out, and lack of fruit bearing. Thus, for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God we must not drift and we must focus on that which is imperative—gospel sharing and serving others.

Our mission is too important! Our mandate is too precious! “strive together, side by side, for the faith of the gospel…” (Phil. 1:27). Truly, nothing else matters if we don’t do this first. 

Building Bridges Through Love and Prayer

Building a bridge is an art. Not literal bridges that you drive over, although those are incredibly important...no, instead bridges for the gospel…bridges that help us sow the seeds of the gospel.

I love the prayer emphasis we are experiencing together right now. It is a joy to know a group of our members are praying every day and for the same things. Yes, we are agreeing and seeking the LORD in prayer, asking for his favor, for revival, and for a blessed offering this month at Ingathering.

Likewise, we should pray, as we learned last week, for God to break our hearts for lost people. And, we should pray for the wisdom and opportunity to reach them. Here are some other ideas to help us all:

1. Love people until they ask why. Then give Jesus all the credit.

2. Ask more questions than they do. Show your genuine interest in other’s lives…and this helps you to know how to pray for them.

3. Pray for them. And let them know you are doing it by continually checking on them.

4. Pray for your heart. We are by default selfish and we need to pray daily to ask the Lord to help our focus be on loving others as we love ourselves.

5. Connect them to church/gospel. Continually invite people to your church, your group, & your home.

6. Follow up. This is the step that everyone seems to forget. Never assume their silence means they are not interested. They’re busy, just like you. Keep reaching out. 

Discovering/Revealing God’s Will Through Fervent Prayer

God gets the glory. Always. You want to try and accomplish some incredible task in your own strength, go right ahead. I hope you live a long time because you are going to need lots of time to do it. On the other hand, even the impossible tasks for us are simple to the LORD. He is the Almighty.

As we began to pray together this past week, and specifically in our group prayer meetings on Wednesday, some themes emerged that I’d like to share with you. I pray these revelations will provoke you to join us daily in seeking the LORD together. Here they are:

1.       God is in control. He already has a plan to bless Shadycrest, provide for our needs, and expand our influence in His Kingdom. Will we join Him in His plans? (Ps. 24:1)

2.       We must seek Him. He is jealous for the glory for He deserves the glory and we do not. We must rid our hearts of selfish intent. We must pursue goals for the glory of God and none for us (2 Chronicles 7:14 & Jeremiah 29:13 are instructive here).

3.       We must not be afraid to ask. We have needs as a church and we often don’t see blessing because we don’t seek the LORD and ask together in unity. Asking for provision of real needs is faith in action. The LORD blesses people who are full of faith (James 4:2-3 is instructive here).

4.       We must have a missional vision for the blessing we receive. Will God bless us if He know we are going to spend that financial blessing on more stuff for us? We believe not. We are committing to make God’s mission our mission!

Oh No! They Need VBS Peeps!

I don’t have much space to warn you but I want you to be aware of the danger going on right now. As I write this zigzag scissors are cutting, glue sticks are sticking, and paint & glitter are being applied to posters & styrofoam decorations. It’s VBS season y’all! Watch out!

How can you avoid getting sucked into the VBS vortex? Try this:

1. If someone with paint on their clothes or glitter in their hair approaches you, do not make eye contact. Look the other way!

2. If someone asks you what you are doing this summer be sure to have a good answer…something like “I’m terribly busy” will do!

3. Prep your spouse for the danger as well. Too many unsuspecting people have fallen into the VBS pit simply by being volunteered in absentia. “Thanks darling!”

I could continue but I think you get the point. So…save yourself! Save yourself! It is TOO LATE for me. I’ve already been recruited. I’m on the team…but there is still time for you to run the other way! Don’t look back…hurry! Aggghhhhhhhh!

Okay, church. That was my attempt at satire. Remember I’ve never claimed to be funny or a good joke teller…but I do try! VBS, for me, is the greatest week of the year for our church! If you can’t help we really do understand. Life is hard and busy. But for the lucky ones who get to help…wow…what a blessing! Go VBS! Join the team! [this post inspired by Jon Acuff] 

Bulletin Updates & Records

I am a member of Shadycrest Baptist Church. I happen to be the called Pastor as well, but like you, I am a member. As a member I take great pride in our church family and I want to see the health and success of our church. That is why I do the following:

• ·         Volunteer where I can
• ·         Give sacrificially to the church to help meet her needs
• ·         Pray for the church family
• ·         Lead my family to be healthy church members
• ·         Seek to be a unifying member
• ·         Treasure my membership here

And, as a member, when I see some things changing I frequently ask, “why are we doing that?” or “why are we doing it that way?” Those are perfectly good questions, especially when asked with sincerity and with a gentle spirit.

Therefore, when the proposal to change our bulletin was put forth I asked, “why would we do that?” The answer is at least 3-fold: 1) It saves a lot of money to print them “in house,” 2) The bulletin shells we were purchasing were constantly causing our printer to break down, causing work delays during the week, and 3) The smaller format is easier to manage, to store, to carry, and fits in your bible/purse.

But…It creates a communication challenge that will take some time for us all to fully embrace. With less room to work with I ask for your understanding. We will be: 1) prioritizing written announcements each week, and 2) including “The Record Speaks” in the bulletin once per month (1^st Sunday of the Month).

The Record Speaks is also posted weekly in the church office hallway and is available to you weekly via email at your request. Use a connection card to request this service or simply email Vicki at vprebilsky@shadycrest.org.  

Humpty Dumpty’s Mistake

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Can you see it? I would bet when you read this old nursery rhyme that visions of an egg sitting on top of a wall fill your mind…right? That is a story your mom or dad likely read to you out of a nursery rhyme book, but the original author probably found the idea for this rhyme in the old New England Primer.

Author David Anderson suggests this as the most likely origin of our Humpty Dumpty rhyme. He says that children learned their grammar from books like this and that children picked up ideas from the couplets used in that primer for the letters A and X. In the NE Primer it reads, “In Adam’s fall we sinned all; Xerxes the Great did fall and so must you and I.”

This little couplet, therefore, not only teaches the letters A and X, but also an important spiritual doctrine. That truth is that in the Fall (Adam & Eve’s sin), we all sinned. You see, the author of our Humpty Dumpty rhyme was not originally talking about an egg that fell, but a man. And yes, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, and every king and every horse since then, still cannot put Humpty Dumpty back together. We were lost, all of us, when man fell (sinned). Yes, it was Adam who fell originally, and it was a mighty fall—a fall from fellowship with God. Who can put us back together again?

Beginning this weekend at Shadycrest. 

New sermon series "True and Better".

Join us at Shadycrest Sunday, May 24th at 10:30 AM

Money is a Curious Thing

“Having plenty of money will make me happy!” I’m sorry to burst the bubble but this is simply erroneous thinking.

To be clear, money does have its benefits. Money offers us choice and a level of freedom to make those choices. Also, having no money or being homeless is a terrible existence for any person; however, I’m not focusing on this extreme. Instead, consider the biblical principle of learning to be content with whatever you do have (Philippians 4:11). The truth is being rich does not solve our problems and it certainly does not miraculously make us happy…although most people admit they believe it will make them happy, or at least they’d love to test the theory. The truth is, if you aren’t content today, then no amount of money will help you learn contentment.

The philosophy of the world has led us to believe that money, and a lot of it, is necessary for a good life. We like to daydream about what life would be like if money were not an issue. The reality, however, is different. The testimonies from the rich about their personal unhappiness are viral…why? Because money doesn’t fix what is broken in us. The truth is, once you start earning a lot of money you are presented with a new set of problems and many more temptations…one of which is worrying about losing all your money.

Even people who do not subscribe to the biblical worldview testify to the utter failure of money to produce happiness for them. Consider Sharon Osbourne, popular TV personality and wife to Ozzy Osbourne (lead singer of the famous rock band, Black Sabbath).

Sharon writes, in her autobiography Unbreakable:

“From the day I married Ozzy, I’d always had this thing in my mind that, if I made the perfect home, if there were flowers, if there was fruit, if I got the bloody right curtains, if it smelt lovely and looked gorgeous, then it would make everything right in our world.”

She goes on to say,”I realized it wasn't Ozzy that was blind, it was me. I have always placed so much emphasis on the ambiance of a place; I would want every house to make us happy. And if it didn’t then it would be, Oh God, it’s the wrong layout, the wrong location, it’s too small, it’s too big…I must sell it and then everything will be perfect and we’ll be happy and so will the kids. But recently, after all those years of trying, of fretting about that painting ruining the room or those cushions not being plumped properly. I’ve realized that it means [expletive]. You can’t manufacture happiness. The happiest times were when we were broke and we had nothing.”

She is right. Having money and loving money and fine things doesn't buy happiness in the slightest.

The Pharisees were lovers of money and Jesus had a lot to say about money to them. He said it was overrated and challenging to the hearts of men (Matt 25:14-30; Lk 16:19-31). We can do a lot of good with money. We can help a lot of people with money. We can help spread the gospel far and wide with money. So, we should give “hilariously” to protect our hearts from greed and the love of money. And, we should know money doesn’t buy happy!

Exercise Your Faith

 
“Without faith it is impossible to please God” the author of Hebrews tells us (11:6), so yes, exercising faith is extremely important.

Some of you have known the Lord for many years, whereas, some of you haven’t been followers of Christ for long. Do you remember when you first trusted Christ as Savior and Lord? I understand it can be hard to remember something that happened a long time ago…but try to remember that day. Do you recall feeling that now everything was going to be okay? Do you remember a feeling of peace, of hope, or of joy?

For those of you who have known Christ for many years now you certainly realize that faithfully following Christ requires a lot of hard work on your part. Maybe you have discovered like me that in order to be healthy, your spiritual life in Christ needs constant attention.

Let me add to this that if you are struggling spiritually, if you find it difficult to put God first and consistently put His Word into practice in your life you are not alone. If you struggle to have the right thoughts you are not alone. If you often can’t help but complain about your life and the people around you then you aren't alone. And, if you are struggling in any of these ways then maybe you are beginning to discover that there is some work that needs to be done. Maybe you too are realizing that your spiritual life needs constant attention. In other words, we need God’s help every day to live up to God’s standards for our lives.

I love the plants and flowers that are in my flower beds and flower pots around the outside of my house. There is something about their beauty that gives me a feeling of peace and reminds me of the presence of God, the Creator of all beauty. But right now, most of my flower beds are in disarray.

Right now plants, trees, and flowers need to be trimmed/pruned and flower beds need to be weeded and cleaned up. The beauty isn't really there right now…there is too much clutter…too many distractions…why is that? Because if there is no gardener, then there is no garden. Since I am the gardener I have to find the time to get in there and do the work that will create the beauty that is desired.

There is no way around the need here. There are no labor-saving devices that will fix my flower beds and there are no labor-saving devices that will grow a garden of spiritual virtue in us as well. Becoming a person who reflects the light and love of God is work of God in us, but don’t miss the reality that it is “work.” Becoming a person who is full of spiritual fruitfulness requires attention and time…mostly time spent with Jesus.
When God saves you He calls you to a life of obedience. Just as a garden will not take care of itself, your spiritual relationship with God will not take care of itself either. If you’re going to be a fruitful Christian then you need to put forth some effort by living in obedience to God’s Word.

Our faith is the means through which we connect with God every single day. Our faith in God is what grants us access to His promises. Our faith in God is what helps sustain us through the trials and tribulations of life. Our faith also makes us a reliable instrument to be used by our great God.

Do you want to be used by God? Do you want to experience the “abundant life” that Jesus offers to His followers? If you say yes, then it’s time to exercise your faith…to put on your gardening gloves, set aside time and get in the Word and listen to the Lord’s instruction for you. The results will be beautiful.
 

Dignity & Respect for All

Everyone says they respect all people, but when it comes down to it is common for us to hold prejudices against others. We hate to admit it…but it is true.

Why are Sunday morning church services still some of the most segregated meetings in America? We divide ourselves along racial lines and socioeconomic lines in every city in America.

Heaven will not be divided this way.

I've always dreamed of church being a little taste of heaven every time we get together. I've always dreamed that a church should look like the community that it serves, thus, if our community is diverse, so should our church houses be. Is that a pipe-dream? I don’t think so. In fact, the churches that fail to dream that dream are the churches that lose influence in a changing community year by year…until they are irrelevant.

The Bible teaches us that all human life is sacred and that the dignity of a person is paramount. That principle is grounded in the biblical truth that each person is made in the image and likeness of God. Furthermore, Jesus spent His earthly ministry teaching His disciples to love the outcasts and to give dignity to the “least of these.” In fact, hanging out with the outcast was one of His primary evangelistic strategies.

Each person on the earth is precious in God’s sight…He loves them…and sent Jesus to die for them so that they may live eternally with Him. We must see this God’s way. We must believe God’s will on this. We must!

Share the Gospel: Heaven—Am I Ready to go There?

How can a person be ready for  heaven? How do I get into the presence of a Holy God? God has already done for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Jesus said "...unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:1-8). He explains that the second birth is to be born spiritually. Those born just once will die physically then will die spiritually at the second death (following the Great White Throne judgment—Revelations 20:11-15). Those who are born twice (both physically and spiritually) will die physically, but will live spiritually forever and be given new and transformed bodies (1 Cor. 15:43; 2 Cor. 4:13-18).

How are people born again spiritually? Jesus said: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). By faith we trust in the work Jesus did on the cross to pay for our sins, and through God’s grace we are born again (Eph 2:8-9).

When you commit to follow Jesus as Lord you become righteous (by faith taking on the righteousness of God through Christ—Romans 3:22), by faith, before God. This forgiveness of sins is a gift given by God alone, not based on your good behavior, but based upon the righteousness of Christ—Roman 5:8; 6:23. By accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, we give Him permission to change us into a new creation—2 Cor. 5:17. We grow closer to Him daily as we seek Him and experience His presence. If you choose not to believe, you will be judged on the basis of your sin and will be separated from God forever (the second death). God will not allow sin to live with Him in Heaven.

Core Value 1 -- Biblical Truth

I work with a 1^st grader every week as a mentor. My time supports him emotionally, provides a male role model for him, helps motivate him at school, and supports the school’s goal of producing literate and successful students.

Illiteracy is a crippling curse in any circumstance, but biblical illiteracy today is a chronic problem, even within the church…and it is unacceptable.

Why is biblical illiteracy such a big problem? Do I really need to study the Bible?

To truly understand the dilemma you must first get over your own pride. We think we know a lot, but we don’t, and as people who are easily deceived living in a world of counterfeits and lies, knowing biblical truth is of great importance.

Biblical truth contains the Word of God. This truth has come to us from God the Father, through the Son of God, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Due to its trustworthy source it is the complete and final authority for belief and behavior.

Thus, our desire should be more than studying the truth; yes, we should also let the truth study us. These are the very Words of God to us. They are alive and powerful (Heb 4:12). They are life changing (John 14:6-9; 8:32). We need to live lives that are laid bare by the truth of God about our lives. We need our relationship with God to be centered around the Truth (Jesus Christ—John 14:6-9), and the freedom that is only found in Christ.