Shifting Perspectives - Biblical Conversations about Topics that Matter - Episode 22

Welcome to Shifting Perspectives,

biblical conversations about topics that

matter. Let's get to

it. Hey everybody, I'll bet you can't

guess what this week is here for us at

Corinth Baptist Church. Uh, welcome to

Shifting Perspectives. And this time

we're shooting from the stage of our

vacation Bible school. And you can see

um our backdrop here from Wonder

Junction as we're talking through um

some of the things that we've talked

about in these videos, things about

Christ and the wonder of his incarnation

and the wonder of his life and his birth

and his death and his resurrection. All

those things we kind of talked about

that was orthodoxy and things that we

just we just finished dialoguing. And uh

even though it's vacation Bible school

and we got a bunch of kids running

around here right now. So, if you hear

some noise in the background, that's

what that is. But, uh, we still didn't

want to miss getting this shifting

perspectives episode out to you because

we've got some we've got some really

good questions that we want to talk

about. So, um, one of the things that's

been really good is is we've been having

some dialogues from these videos with

some folks being able to ask some

questions. And we've got a question in

this week that we want to tackle. Scott,

why don't you share that with us? Yeah.

So this week was it was an interesting

conversation that I had just a few days

ago in response to this. So I appreciate

the question. Um but the conversation is

if I have never been inside the church

before. Um I've lived my life. Maybe I

know or don't know about God. Maybe

whatever. Maybe I've got some sin or

some things in my life that I'm kind of

ashamed of or I've got a rough

reputation. whenever I finally make that

step to come to

church, what should I expect when I walk

in the doors? Yeah, that's a great

question. Um, and and my heart would

want to say that you would be welcomed

with open arms. Um, I believe that you

would be here and I know that there are

many churches that that would be the

exact expression was um, welcome. We're

glad that you're here. Let us love you

and let us show you the Jesus that did

the very thing in our lives at one point

in time which was to transform us and

wash away all of that baggage that we

were carrying around with us. You know,

it can be a pretty heavy pretty heavy

thing to carry around a past and say

that your past doesn't define you. Yeah.

Your your definition of who you are was

defined by God when he made you. Uh, you

know, the Bible says in the 139th Psalm

that before you were formed in your

mother's womb that God knew you and all

the days that he had fashioned for you

were written in his book. So, you had

already a picture on God's heart that

wasn't baggage related. It was his

destiny for you and how much he loved

you. And so, that's that's what I would

hope that would would be expressed.

Yeah. Unfortunately though, I think a

lot of times we hear from people who

that's not what really what they've

experienced. You know what you have to

remember is this.

Um, pastor, I got I'm going to lead my

response back to a question. Okay. Are

you perfect? Nope. Okay. I'm not either.

And what you what I would want everybody

to understand is that when you walk into

a church, you're walking into a group of

unperfect people. people that may have

had past similar to yours. They may have

had past different for years and fought

different struggles. We're all sinners.

We come short of the glory of God. The

Bible teaches us that. That's like the

ABC. The first step of ABC's is

understanding that. So, what we're

saying is, you know, come in, be a part

of it, realizing you're walking into,

you know, the hospital's full of sick

people. That's right. You know, the

church is full of people that have got

sin and the different battles. I've got

things I battle. You've got things you

battle. So, don't let anything in your

past stop you from coming into the

church today. And realize that you're no

different than everybody else. What we

want to do is say there is a way to

overcome what's in your past. And that

is by the grace of God and the mercy

that he pours out on each of us. He

wants you here. He wants you

fellowshipping with. You'll find

strength. You'll find community. You'll

find family whenever you walk in the

doors. you'll find the saving grace of

Jesus Christ whenever you walk in. And

you know, we want you to feel that

warmth. We want you to feel that love.

We want you to feel that. And I think

that is uh you know, ultimately what

should you expect? It's that um with the

realization that you're walking into a

group of unperfect people. That's right.

Um they have bad days, too. Um you know,

and sometimes we have bad nights and

sometimes Satan attacks us on the way to

church on Sunday morning. That's right.

Um, and you know, sometimes we don't

come in with the best attitude. So, but

again, it's about the community comes

together. It's like being in a family.

And you know, sometimes we don't get

along with our families. That's right.

But, uh, you know, the church is here.

It's loving. It understands. We've all

walked the same walk. And we want you

here. You are welcome. That's right. You

know, one of these great words that we

throw around a lot in Christendom is

this word grace. And the idea is is that

grace was God giving us something that

we don't deserve. And one of the things

that the church should be really good at

is giving what we've received. And so

that grace is to say that I'm giving

grace to the person who's having a bad

day. You know, we may walk into Walmart

or have a cashier that's grumpy or go to

the restaurant and maybe the server is

not all that great. And we recognize we

don't know what kind of day they've had.

We don't know what struggles they're

fighting with in their life. We don't

know what baggage they're trying to drag

around. and they need just as much grace

as we needed whenever we came to the

Lord to receive that grace. And that

should be the atmosphere of the church

is that we recognize none of us are

perfect and I need you to give me grace

on my bad days or with my struggles and

my difficulties just like I need him to

give me grace and you need me to give

you grace on your bad days and on your

difficult times and difficult

circumstances. So, so ideally we would

love to be able to say that's what

everybody is going to experience.

Unfortunately, whenever you're dealing

with people, I'm that that may not be

that may not always be the case. Y um

and one of the things that I really like

to say is don't give up if that's not

what you experienced. Um one of the

greatest things that we can have and

ever know is the feeling of belonging

and finding the place that we what we

would say we fit that that we really

belong to. And maybe it's maybe it's a

church that has a different style. Maybe

it's a different music style. Maybe it's

a different kind of preaching. Maybe

it's a different uh group of people that

maybe have some different cultural

aspects than what you might find here.

Um and and and don't give up. And maybe

you've gone to some place and you I just

really don't feel like this is home. I

really don't feel like I I belong. Don't

stop there. Keep looking because God

wants to plug you into a body. He wants

you to be a part of a group of people

that you all can do faith together, do

life together, do the do all the things

uh all the good times, all the bad

times, all of the struggles together.

That's why he called it a bo body. You

know, in the in the Bible, it talks

about this group of people being a body.

Like you're a hand and I'm the arm.

Well, you got better muscles than I do.

So maybe I'm the hand and you're the

arm. But we've got feet and we've got

legs and we've got arms and we've got

all these different parts. And it, you

know, it also talks about it as stones

that are being built together as a as a

living house, a spiritual house for the

Lord. But, you know, they all don't fit

together perfectly. And sometimes they

need a little bit of a little bit of

polish and a little bit of work. But,

you know, the Bible also talks about it

being a family. Yeah. And ultimately, at

the end of the day, that's what we want

to be. We want to be the family of God.

And like you said, sometimes families

don't get along. That's right. Now, the

ultimate thing is is and and this is

kind of a a segment a segment that I

want everybody to understand because I

hear this a lot is well, I'm not good

enough to go to

church, you know, and you got I would I

would beg anybody that's let that

thought cross their mind if there's

anything going on in your life and you

say, I can't go to church because of

this or because of that, you please

understand my Jesus Christ, my Lord, is

bigger than anything in your past. and

he already knows about it. So don't

limit the power of God's grace by

something you've done. You can't get you

can't do enough to get God's grace and

you can't do enough bad not to be able

to receive his grace that the pastor was

talking about. So don't let something

going on that you have or something

that's happened to you or something in

your past hold you out of the doors of

of Christ's family. Come in, feel the

love, sing the

hymns, experience the the God pouring

his grace out on you. Um, sometimes

walking through the door is the hardest

piece. It is. Yeah. I I've seen people

pull up in the parking lot and be so so

terrified because they just didn't want

to walk in the door. That's right. Don't

Don't be that person. Walk in the door.

Understand you're going to be met.

You're going to be met with a handshake.

There's going to be open pews. There

going to be people that that are ready

to sit next to you. Um, we are here to

welcome you into our church. As we this

videos get spread everywhere, there are

churches all around you that will

welcome you in. Um, and as pastor said,

you got to find the one that's right.

Yeah, that's right. I mean, you got to

find it's like a restaurant. You may

have a different restaurant than I do.

You got to find the one that fits you.

Um, and for the churches, you know,

whenever you're looking for a church,

find one that teaches the Bible

doctrine. go back and look at our last

series of videos talking about the the

books of the Bible and the doctrines and

the denominations and find the one that

fits you that teaches good sound Bible.

That's right. Yep. Yep. That's the

thing. And you know, um just to carry

that line as as we wrap this up, um

there is nobody worthy. Um that's the

thing about grace. You can't earn it.

You can't be born into it. You can't get

a legacy from somebody else that gives

it to you.

um I was never good enough and my

parents were never good enough. I you

know I certainly didn't get the silver

spoon of God's grace. The only reason

why we have it is because Jesus came and

went to the cross and carried the weight

of our guilt, our shame, our sin for us

so that we might be able to then receive

his righteousness, his worth before the

Lord, not ours. Amen. That's the picture

of grace. And so with that, we'll see

you guys next week for another video um

on the same topic. Have a good week.

Bye.