This month as we draw closer to the time we celebrate Easter I want to remind you of how important the resurrection of Christ is to our faith.  I would even go as far as to suggest that the resurrection of Jesus is the single most important event of all history.  Certainly, I do not want to down play the importance of the birth of Jesus or His death on the cross.  However, if Jesus had never risen from the dead all else that He did would have been useless.  For if Christ is not risen from the dead then our faith would be in vain; the Scriptures say in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” Our faith stands or falls upon the death, burial and resurrection.  If Jesus did not overcome death than he would have been no different than any other man or religious leader.

The resurrection is also very important because through it we know that Jesus is the Son of God.  Paul speaks about Jesus and this subject in Romans 1:4 saying “and (Jesus) was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”  The only way Jesus could have overcome death and still live today is because He is the Son of God! This is a key difference between Jesus and other men or other so called gods. While other religions prophets and leaders are still in the grave our God lives!

Lastly, the resurrection is also of great importance because if Christ were not risen it would have great implications regarding salvation.  If Christ is not risen there would be no forgiveness of sins nor a resurrection of the dead.  For if Christ did not defeat those things then He could not help us defeat them either.  We would continue to be lost in our sins and remaining guilty of them were it not for the resurrection of Christ. Because if Christ remained dead then sin and death would have had the victory.  We see this to be true in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”  This passage also speaks to the reality that because Christ is risen, one day our bodies will be resurrected as well.  Through Jesus’ overcoming death and resurrecting we know He is the Son of God and that He has overcome sin and death for us so that we might spend eternity with Him.

The resurrection is essential to the gospel and I pray we especially remember this as we celebrate it this Easter.   For the only reason the Apostles and we as believers today have hope and  a message to share is because Jesus is risen!    Acts 2:32 “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.”

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Dewayne Slusher

One of the many passages in scripture that reminds us of how dependent we are upon the Lord is found in Isaiah 55:8  which says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”  Now I am not speaking of the fact that we are dependent upon the Lord for physical or financial needs although we are.  Rather, as we look at this passage and others like it we also see that we are completely dependent upon the Lord for all things and especially the spiritual.  The reason is because we constantly in our walk with the Lord have to be bending our will into accordance with His will.  Why? Because our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways.

Even though we are believers in Christ, attend church, give to the church and serve in the church does not mean that automatically we will always do things in our life and ministry because they are what God wants us to do.  There is a struggle that goes on within us.  A struggle between our wants, our desires, our plans and our ways with God’s will.  As a matter of fact many times we often times just simply attach Christian catch phrases to our decisions and call them God’s rather than truly seeking His will above our own.  Personally some have come to me with a plan for their church or personal life that they said “they felt God was calling them to do” but was completely unbiblical.  The reality was that they wanted something even though it was against what God has already said in His Word and simply attached a Christianized catch phrase to it to make it sound spiritual.

This is why it is of the utmost importance for us as the people of God to know the Word of God.  Our plans, our thoughts and our ways are not always the Lords ways and we are great at convincing ourselves and others otherwise.  The bottom line is that if our plans and our ways are in contradiction to what God has already said in His Word then we need to abandon our plans and our ways.   We need to allow God through His Word to make us be a people that seeks His will above our own.  This subject is of such importance that when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray he gave them an example of how to pray saying in Matthew 6:10, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.”  For the believer in Christ our main concern in our prayers, in our actions and all that we do is that we truly find ourselves in the will of God and there is no greater place to find yourself!

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Dewayne Slusher

As I read the Scriptures, listen to God’s Word preached, spend time in prayer or sing a great hymn or praise song I find myself many times just absolutely in awe of God’s grace in my life.  There are even times where I will just sit in my study, in my car or wherever I am and just weep over how ugly and horrific my sin was and is.  However, shortly after weeping and confessing my sin to God I am completely overwhelmed by His grace and filled with unexplainable joy.  I love those moments and I love reflecting upon them as I am sure many of you can relate to.  It is a marvelous thing to think about God’s grace and the work He has done in our own lives.

However, the question I would like us to think about this month is, “Do we weep over others around us who are still lost in their sins and separated from God just as we once were? And do we have such compassion for others that we desire for them to know the same grace that we have received in our Lord Jesus Christ?” We see in the Scriptures that Paul wept over the lost of Israel so much that he wished himself to be accursed so that they might be saved (Rom. 9:1-5).  Jesus also wept over the lost people of Israel because they had been in the very presence of the one who could save them and yet did not receive Him (Luke 19:41-44).  We all know many people who are lost that do not know the grace of God. We also know that unless they receive God’s Grace the Scriptures tell us they will be judged by God for eternity in hell.  Some of those people are our neighbors, co-workers, friends and family.  So, how can we not share this marvelous, matchless, infinite grace of our loving God with those who like us so desperately need it?

My prayer this month is that God through His Holy Spirit would burden me and the hearts of our people so greatly that we would weep together over the lost, pray together for the lost and share together to the lost.  The bottom line is that the grace that God has done in my life and yours was never meant to be kept secret but it is to be shared that others might be changed by it.  Someone once said, “The good news is only good news if it gets there in time.”

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Dewayne Slusher

1 Peter 4:10 ( NKJV ) As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

The subject of spiritual gifts was the subject of today’s message from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.  Its seems as if there was much interest in this subject and we only scratched the surface this morning of the topic.  Two important things to remember about spiritual gifts:

1. They are a gracious gift of God and every believer has a gift.

2. Those gifts are intended to be used for the “profit of all” and utlimatley the glory of God.

If you missed this sermon and are interested here is the link:  Podcast – Many Gifts Yet One Lord

Also, some helpful tools are out there to help you understand what areas you are spiritually gifted in.  However, the best way to find out your spiritual gifts is to seek the Lord’s counsel in His Word and prayerfully asking God to reveal them to you.  Also, do not minimize the value of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to help you.  Those closest to us tend to know us better than we know ourselves.  However, here also is a link to a website that is free that will ask you questions about yourself to help you think about these things.     http://www.mygiftstest.com/Login.aspx On this web page you must “create a new log-in” by making yourself a user-name and password.  Then answer all of the questions in the Gifts Assessment 1 & 2.  Your possible top five gifts will be shown after completing the questionnaires.  This will take some time to answer all of the questions.

I look forward to studying this subject of spiritual gifts much more in the coming weeks.  We will be studying the second half of 1 Corinthians 12 the Sunday after our Revival services.  Hope this is helpful to all those who were interested in the subject.  It is so amazing and humbling to realize that not only did God save us while we were yet sinners by His grace and mercy but also has gifted us to do a work for Him!

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Dewayne Slusher

Acts 4:19-20 ( NKJV ) 19 “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

            The last few months God has really been burdening my heart to do a better job individually and as a church family at sharing the gospel.  It was absolutely necessary that we at First Baptist regrouped and refocused for the past year.  That time of healing was essential for us to move forward as a church.  Now we are at a point as a church that we must remind ourselves to look for ministry outside of our church building to effectively reach this world with gospel.    It has been stated that there are currently somewhere around 6 Billion people on our planet today.  However, only 11% of that number are professing Christians.  That means around 5.4 Billion people in our world today do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and will go to hell and suffer the wrath of God for their sin.  Our responsibility, our privilege and our joy is to get the hope of the gospel, the hope of salvation to those 5.4 Billion lost souls.  Yes, you read that right I said, “Our privilige & our joy” is to get the gospel to those who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior!!  As a matter of fact if one truly has been saved by the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ death, burial and resurrection we cannot help ourselves but to share such amazing grace!  As by the example of Peter & John in the passage above, those who truly know God’s grace should never allow anything to stop us from getting that message of hope to the lost.  Persecution, fear, reputation, and not even death should stop us from speaking such words of hope!!!  There is absolutley no greater news to share than the Good News of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Now, lets go and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!!!!!!!!!!!

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Dewayne Sluser

        This past week with me being sick with the flu gave me a lot of time to read and reflect on my own walk with the Lord.  As I was reading I came  across in a book by Thomas Watson where I was challenged greatly when he said:

         “Let us test our godliness by this touchstone: Do we love God?  Is He our treasure and centre?  Can we, with David, call God our joy, yes, our exceeding joy (Psa. 43:4)?  Do we delight in drawing near to him, and come before his presence with singing (Psa. 100:2)? Do we love Him for His beauty more than His jewels? Do we love Him, when He seems not to love us?”

      Reflecting on those questions have challenged me all week long.  Think about it for a moment.  Do you really love God?  Is God your greatest love and does your life reflect a love for God?  Or do you turn away from God when things don’t go your way or at the first moment of difficulty or trial?  One of the great Christian theologians St. Augustine once said, “I would hate my own soul, if I found it not loving God.”    Thomas Watson also said, “Many court Him, but few love Him.”  All of us would have to admit that many times in our life we are most consumed with ourselves, recognition, money and stuff more than we are consumed with a love for God.  Jesus Himself even once said,  ”Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13 (NKJV)   Now Jesus said this to tell the disciples to love each other and to obey His commandments.  However, I think we can also conclude for this passage a test of our love for God.  Wouldn’t it be logical to conclude from this passage and others in Scripture, that if we really love God our lives would be consumed with living for Him even to the point that we would lay our life down for Him?  So, I will conclude with this question once more, do you & I really love God?

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Dewayne Slusher