It is hard to believe that January is over!

It has been an incredibly active month, and we have seen the Lord do so many great things this month! As we end January, we begin our new series on the book of Exodus which, I may have mentioned before, I am really excited about!

Midweek services have been an incredible blessing too! There are so many great things happening on Wednesday nights! We still have a couple of opportunities available to serve for any who may be interested:

1. Ed Crowson has volunteered to help take food out to shut-ins!  It would be a blessing if anyone may be interested in sharing that load with him, or in serving as a back up on days when he may not be able to make it.

2. We would like to have our kids have their own discussion group after the large group discussion on Wednesday nights. If you are available to lead the kids for around 30 minutes or so, helping them think through what we talked about together and then leading them in prayer, let me know!

3. We have an opportunity to partner with Marietta First Baptist Church to reach Bigfoot trailer partk, a mostly spanish-speaking area that is nearly totally unchurched! Let us know if you are interested in serving there!

4. As the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, we want to be intentional to locate and minister to the homeless in our area. Let me know if you feel led to serve in this place!

There are so many opportunities to serve on Wednesday night! Please pray about where God is calling you to plug in!

Last week's sermon: Romans 7:21-25

Self-awareness is a critical component for growth, both personal and spiritual. Having an accurate assessment of who you actually are, however, is incredibly challenging. I was reminded of this just this week in the gym.

One day a few weeks ago, I was lifting weights at the gym, and I kept noticing a younger man looking over and watching me. It wasn't crowded that day, so I knew that he wasn't waiting for me to leave - he was working on something totally different. Nevertheless, for the whole time I was in there, he would look over and smile from time to time. Finally, as I was getting ready to leave, he came over and said "I just want you to know how encouraging it is to see someone YOUR AGE (he didn't yell that part, but my spirit heard it as yelling) coming in here and working out. That's very encouraging to me because I hope that I am consistent like that WHEN I'm OLD.

no kidding, that's really what he said.

Now, there are a number of ways I can react to this, right? I mean, he didn't mean to insult me; it was actually intended as a compliment! I could get defensive, and push back with a "How old do you think I am?" sort of question that shows him very clearly that I am offended by this statement that I clearly resemble. I could brush it off, and dismiss the conversation completely. Or, I could see it for what it was - a providential reminder that, no matter how hard we work, we can't reverse the course of time, and that though when I look in the mirror I see the Scott of his 20's and 30's, clearly that's not what this person saw, and that isn't a bad thing. His view of me, his perception of my age, exposed my wrong views of myself, and it was tough to not run to some form of a fig leaf to cover that, whether it be through dismissiveness or anger or shame.

In many ways, this is exactly what the law does for us as Christians. We can get into this really warped view that we are totally fine, or perfectly sanctified, or that we don't really need grace anymore. We stop pursuing holiness or growth, our spiritual metabolism slows down, and we think of ourselves in a way that just isn't accurate. But the law exposes us. We get to that one little command that Paul reminds us of - "do not covet" - and we are made aware of the fact that, though we certainly aren't what we once were, we are not what we should be, either. And no manner of white-knuckled obedience will accomplish it; it must be accomplished by grace alone. And so, we are humbled enough to cry out to Jesus, and to trust Him, and to learn to see Him as even more enrapturing than we thought before. We dig into His Word, we commune with Him in prayer, and we get into community, so that we all grow together in grace. And as a result? We grow! Not into the person that we thought we were - A really great box checker, who doesn't need grace. Rather, we grow into a humble, grateful, joyous image bearer, who learns to depend on God's grace as much as we depend on oxygen in the atmosphere to breathe. Spiritual growth is not a growth to greater independence; it is a growth to greater dependence!

And all this is by the law, which serves as a mirror (or, in my case, a much younger, very fit and kind young man in the gym) that shows us who we really are, and shatters our bloated impressions of ourselves. May we grow together in grace this week!

This week's text: Exodus 1

This week, we begin studying the book of Exodus together! Chapter one introduces us to the book, and to the great problems that Israel is now facing. How does Exodus 1 apply to our lives? Here are some of the questions I have been thinking through this week:

1. Why did Moses think Exodus 1:1-7 was so important? Why start the book with this mini-genealogy?

2. What was the source of Israel's earthly hardship? What does Pharoah blame as his reason for persecution (Read 8-14)

3. Of all the people in Chapter 1 that are not named, Moses goes out of his way to name Shiphrah and Puah. Why do you think that is?

Songs this week:

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

His Eye is on the Sparrow

Lord from Sorrows Deep I Call

Communion Hymn

Don't forget this week is Lord's Supper week! Prepare your hearts accordingly!

See you Sunday!

What a great turnout at family meeting on Sunday night!

It was a joy to share with you guys all that the Lord is doing in and through our church! I consistently leave Sunday evenings amazed at how God has built, and is still building, His church here at Slater!

Tonight is our midweek activities! A quick rundown of the agenda:

- 6 PM: Dinner, provided this week by our brothers and sisters at Mountain Hill Church! We will be carrying food out to our shut-ins as well, so if you are free to come a little early and help connect with those folks, that would be great!

- 7 PM: two different things kick off at 7:

1. We will be studying The Lord's Prayer togethe rfrom 7 to 7:30

2. Recovery ministry will be meeting upstairs in the Crossroads room.

- as an aside, this group is going to an out of the way spot so that they can create an environment of transparency, safety and anonymity. Parents, please talk to you children about how important this is, so that they will restrict their playing to downstairs areas!

-7:30 PM: 

1. small group prayer meeting - we will be gathered around tables in smaller groups and praying together!

2. youth will head upstairs for smaller groups at 7:30.

There are a couple of others things that we are hoping to accomplish on Wednesday nights as well! Would you pray about potentially serving in any of these areas?

1. We have an opportunity to partner with Marietta First Baptist and go door to door at Bigfoot Trailer Park, praying and making connections with the residents there. We could use one or two people for this.

2. As the days get a bit longer, we would love to connect with our homeless population. If you have a heart for this kind of ministry, consider serving in that way!

3. We would love to have our grade school children have their own Wednesday night small group from 7:30 to 8. Let us know if you can serve!

Let me tell you all about it...

Last week's text: Romans 7:13-20

I mentioned in passing last week that there are three things that never lead to change. Those three are:

1. Fear: people will not change for good simply because they are afraid. Fear of death, fear of consequences, fear of pain; none are sufficient motivators for true, lasting change.

2. Facts: people will not change simply because we have given them more information. Lack of information was not what led them to the point they are in; more information will not get them out.

3. Force: people will not change because we force, push or manipulate them into change. This is the hardest for me, personally. When I know what someone should be doing, it's challenging to refrain from some form of coercion or manipulation to get them to do it. But even if they did, it wouldn't last.

So, what leads to change? The answer to that question will tie in very well to our sermon this week, so let me give you four things that lead to change, and you can dig through Romans 7:21-25 and see how you see this at play in the text:

1. Repent: true, God-given, God-oriented repentance leads to change. This can't be fabricated, it can't be rushed, and it can't be manufactured by anything inside of me. Thomas Watson, in his book The Doctrine of Repentance, writes “Repentance is a grace of God’s Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed.” 

2. Relate: after repentance, relationships with other believers, meeting consistently for the sake of prayer and encouragement, is the next key to change. We need one another, but we especially need one another if we desire to see change.

3. Reframe: Through repentance and relationship, we begin the process of creating new patterns of life and thought, new ways of thinking, and new life! 

4. Repeat: do it over and over again, until new habits are formed.

This is the pattern for change. It isn't easy! Which is also part of this weeks text.

This week's text: Romans 7:21-25

We finish the chapter this week with one of the most relatable declarations in the New Testament. We often feel exactly what Paul is describing; the key question is this: what do we DO about it? Think through these questions as you are preparing for this week's sermon:

1. Count up how many times you see the word "law." How many did you count? Do you think Paul always means the same thing when he uses this word in this passage?

2. Read 7:22. What does it mean to "delight in the law of God?"

3. What does Paul ultimately see as his only hope (24)? How is Christ our hope in this fight against sin?

Songs this week:

Victory in Jesus

His Forever

His Mercy is More

Your Will Be Done

See you Sunday!

At Slater Baptist, we believe that the Lord is using this worldwide crisis to teach each of us something. This series of blogposts is a space for our members to share what they have learned through these difficult circumstances. This post is from Savannah Watson.

What has the Lord taught you in the midst of this pandemic?

Proverbs 3:5 states, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” If this Covid-19 pandemic has taught me anything it would have to be to relinquish control. I am a planner and I find much joy/comfort in to-do lists and being able to follow a schedule. I am even tempted to get disappointed when plans change last minute or I’m not able to check everything off my to-do list in a day.

Well as I’m sure you are aware, following a set schedule and making to-do lists has not been the easiest thing to do these past few months. Multiple aspects of my life have changed, as I’m sure you can relate. One in particular was my job. If you don’t know, I am a K4 teacher at a daycare in Greenville SC. When the pandemic began, many of the children at my school got pulled out and we were running very few numbers. This meant that I went from a class of 12 to about 2 or 3 kids. Because of this, we had to combine some classes which meant I had to completely change how I taught. Honestly, I didn’t know from day to day what was in store for me when I walked in the doors of my daycare and it was a little unsettling for my planner brain.

And that’s OKAY! God did not create us to know every little detail. You want to know why? Because He already knows everything. He calls us to trust in Him in all things and let Him take care of the things that we don’t know/can’t control. Now if you are anything like me, this can be difficult at times. In my sinfulness, I am prone to try to control every aspect of my life. I cross all my T’s and dot all my I’s to try to make everything feel comfortable in the ordered life I try to make for myself.

But no matter how much I plan, I still am not God. I cannot plan my life just so that I never hit a bump in the road or come to something unexpected. Everything that has come about because of Covid-19 can attest to that. I must relinquish my selfishness and trust God to lead me where He wants me to go. Now don’t hear me saying planning is a bad thing or I need to just sit until God gives me a sign to do something. We are called to service and as believers we should strive to glorify God in all that we do. Planning becomes a problem when sticking to your set plan hinders your relationship with God.

My prayer for us, myself included, is that we would wholeheartedly trust the Lord in all things. We cannot allow our sinfulness and our desire for control to hinder our reliance on God. We are called to be wise in how we steward our lives but we must not allow this stewardship to become a means to be the puppet master of our own life. That’s God’s job and I sure am glad that is the case!