Archive for the ‘Blog Posts’ Category

Jesus said in John 10:10, “I am come that you might have life and have it to the fullest.”  The Christian life is about just that, living life to the fullest.  Here at First Baptist North Spartanburg we are talking about have a L.I.F.E.  Each of these letters stands for a critical part of the Christian life.  If you are seeking to live as a follower of Christ, then there is going to be evidence of these four areas in your everyday living.

The “L” stands for “Living Successfully.”  There are so many around us that are only surviving at best.  Living  Successfully means that you know who you are in Christ and that you have a personal relationship with the Lord.  This involves spending time with Him and incorporating Biblical principles into your everyday life.  This has an impact on your priorities, your relationships, your time, and your resources.

When you are walking with Him, your faith is something more than what you pull out on religious occasions.  It helps you be a better spouse or parent.  It gives you the strength to meet the challenges of the day, and it helps you be productive with the time and resources that God has given to you.  Spending that time with the Lord each day in His Word makes a tremendous difference.

Most of us try to live life our way and then we try to use our own ideas to fix the things that don’t work for us.  What we need to do is to seek His will in every area of our life.  We have a lot of people that are trying to do that right now.  It is exciting to see the strides that are being made.  “Living successfully” is available to everyone that will make Christ the Lord of their life.

If you have been trying to do it your way, it is probably not working for you.  Try making the adjustments that draw you closer to Him and see what God will do.

Tiger Woods’ statement concerning his numerous affairs took on all the appearances of a presidential speech. Security was tight, the facility, crowd, press and content were tightly controlled. Anyone that watched the statement could see that this was designed to be a first public step to begin to repair his damaged public image. Whether you believe Tiger was really sincere or is willing to do what it takes, is a matter of personal opinion. Only time will provide that answer.  I hope that he can make it.

There is a part of his statement that we need to pay particular to. At one point he said, “Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age. People probably don’t realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist and I actively practiced my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years.  Buddhism teaches [that] a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security.  It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught.”

The Bible teaches us that we are sinners by nature and by choice. It is impossible for us to change our behavior permanently on our own. A change of behavior only comes where there is a change of heart. In dealing with hundreds of people who have had every type of personal problem that you can imagine, I have found that those who just make the commitment to change their behavior rarely make it.   There has to be true repentance and there has to be a change of heart.  When there is a change of heart then and only then will there be a lasting change of behavior.

This Sunday we’ll be talking about having a better marriage.  The truths that we will be looking at from the Word of God are always effective no matter how famous, how rich or how ordinary you might be. There is a word here for all of us. I am sure that many people watching today were impressed with his commitment to change his behavior and will see that as a real commitment, but that is impossible without a change of heart. You are surrounded by people who feel exactly that way. Why not invite them to join you for worship on Sunday and hear about the principles that will make a real and lasting difference.

This Sunday we begin a new series of messages entitled “I Want It All.” This series is based out of the book of Proverbs and deals with the real desires of life.  The messages deal with personal relationships, your walk with God, finances, dealing with fear, and purpose.

I am very excited about the possibilities and you will enjoy the visual effects, as well as the videos. In a time when people are searching for so many things, this series will provide some clear answers based on Biblical teachings and principles. I encourage you to invite your friends and those who have some special need in their life.

Below is a list of the titles for the next eight weeks.  I hope you will use this opportunity to use this to reach out to people have a need to know the truth.

• I Want To Be Happy
• I Want To Find True Love
• I Want A Better Marriage
• I Want A Closer Family
• I Want My Life To Count
• I Want Financial Freedom
• I Want To Change The World
• I Want To Live Without Fear

Watch a video preview

We have been talking about living a “full throttle life”.  Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.”  We have certainly made a mistake in defining a “full” life.  We have a tendency to think about it in terms of pleasure, money, or worldly success.  That is not at all what Jesus is talking about.

We have been talking about four elements that are necessary if we are to have that full life.  Here are the elements that are necessary:

L – Living Successfully.  This speaks to the stewardship of our lives.  It is about how we manage our daily lives.  It speaks to our walk with God, our relationships with others, and the way we use our abilities and resources.

I – Investing in Others.  This speaks of Ministry.  The Lord put us here for a purpose and a part of that purpose is to invest in the lives of others.  Our life should make a difference in the lives of others.

F – Following Christ.  This is about Discipleship.  We are to grow in our knowledge of the Lord.  The Bible teaches us that as followers of Christ we are to walk worthy of our calling.  That means we cannot have life to the full if we are not moving forward in our knowledge of Him and the principles of His Word.

E – Engaging the Culture.  This speaks to the area of Evangelism.  We live in a world of great needs but the greatest need around the world is to hear the good news that God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins and then raised Him from the dead. I Peter 3:15 says “always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.”  We must know what we believe and be ready to share it.

Our new schedule gives to each of us the opportunity to grow and excel in these areas.  This is an effort that meets the needs of our entire church family.  It will give us the chance to really get serious about our walk with Christ.  We are going to see some great things happen in the lives of people as we learn to live a life at “full throttle.”

This Sunday we begin a short series of messages built around the Christmas season. As a nation that is so influenced by tradition, we have the tendency to look at this special season of the year in exactly the same way every year. Sometimes following our traditions, we miss out on the real power of this time of year.  Everyone is making a list…either it’s what they have to do, what they want to get, or what they would like to give.

There is a list of questions that is much more important and over the next few weeks we will be talking about that list. When people look at their lives, the first thing they need above everything else is to know that there is someone out there who loves them unconditionally. How clearly we see that in the birth of our Savior. We’ll begin that this Sunday morning and I hope and pray that it is going to help us to see Christmas in a more meaningful and a more powerful way than we have ever seen it before.

I am looking forward to sharing that with you.