Hello First Family!

Today’s Code word is Temperature. O.S. Hawkins picks the word temperature to remind us that just like scientific truth is narrow, so is spiritual truth. Water freezes at 32 degrees, not 33 degrees or 34 degrees. (unless you are in Florida and then everything below 50 degrees is freezing! Lol!)  Hawkins also points out that mathematical truth is narrow, 2 + 2 = 4, not 3 and not 5.  Just like scientific truth and mathematical truth, spiritual truth is also narrow – Jesus is the only way to receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, not good works and not sincerity.  Our Journey to the Cross must pass through faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. This is the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth.

Every morning when I wake up, I prepare to walk our dog, Jack. The first thing I do is to check my weather app on my phone and see what the temperature is outside. Then I can dress appropriately.  Then, as I am preparing for the events of the day and to come to church, I check the weather app again to make sure that I dress appropriately for the expected weather.  So, in applying the temperature test to our spiritual lives, we must first check our eternal weather app, the Bible, to make sure that we are dressed appropriately for eternity.  Isaiah 61:10 celebrates, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.”

The most important decision that you can make today is to make sure that you are clothed properly for eternity.  Have you accepted the gift of God, which is salvation through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross?  If you have not, then you are not dressed appropriately for eternity.  If you have any doubt or question as to your preparedness for eternity, settle it today!  Please email me at kevin@fbcpc.org or call the church office at 386-445-2020 to talk about it and make sure today. 

See ya tomorrow on our Journey to the Cross.

Pastor Kevin

Hello First Family!

Today’s Code word  is LOGO. Our short devotional thought today features  one of my favorite guys on the planet, Brother Lee Bryant. Lee has impacted thousands of people in Palm Coast and beyond over the years through his ministry as a Deacon and Deacon Chairman at our church. He continues to be one of the most influential men in my life even today. I can honestly say that the trajectory of my life changed when I met Brother Lee. I was a successful grocery store manager that loved his career. But, when I met Brother Lee in 2003, he asked me if I ever thought about serving the church as a Deacon. The decision to follow the Lord’s leading in the calling of a Deacon led me into full-time vocational ministry in August 2006. Then, in March 2016, God called me to be the Pastor here at First Baptist. The old adage says, “A long journey begins with a small step.” Brother Lee was instrumental in my  first small step from career to calling. I am forever grateful.

Today’s Code word is the everyday word logo. We are familiar with the logos of our favorite team, favorite car, and favorite brands. We easily recognize the products and services familiar to us by their logos and branding. O.S. Hawkins challenges us today to represent the logo of Jesus Christ on our Journey to the Cross. He says something profound, “The Christian life is not a changed life. It is an exchanged life. You give Christ your old life, and He puts it away in the sea of forgetfulness. And He gives you a brand-new life, a new life in Christ. It is an awesome thought, Christ lives in me.” We literally wear Christ, His brand, His logo, so that others may see Him and recognize Him. Brother Lee says it like this, “Matthew 5:16 states: ‘Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven’. How about us using this passage as a Logo to a lost world. See ya tomorrow on our Journey to the Cross.

Pastor Kevin

Hello First Family!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Today’s Code word is Thumb.

We all have one but they all have a different thumb print. God designed us differently than anything else in creation. Have you ever wondered why your thumbprint is different than anyone else’s print? Maybe it is so we know  that we are special and unique to God our Creator. God loves us and cares about us in a way that many don’t comprehend. “He proved His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) On our Journey to the Cross, we have picked up clues as to why God would send His one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins. Our thumbs give us a clue. Our unique and intentional design by our Creator helps us understand that He sent Jesus to not only pay the penalty of the sins for all mankind, but also for your sins and mine. Oh, what a great and compassionate God, full of grace and mercy!

Let’s remember O.S. Hawkins advice today as we wash our hands frequently, “Today, when you wash your hands, look at your thumb and let it remind you that no one has a thumb print or DNA just like yours. You are an individual, indescribably loved by God. Let Him love you today.”

See ya tomorrow on our Journey to the Cross.

Pastor Kevin

Hello First Family!

Pastor Kevin

Hello First Family!

Pastor Kevin

Code Word: MENU

Face it, our lives revolve around food. We are always looking for that perfect meal when we order from a menu. If we find more than one item that we really like, we must make a choice which one to order.

Does God care what food we put into our bodies? How about what we drink? What about the things we do throughout the day?

During His agonizing prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus made it very clear He preferred that something different would be considered and allowed by the Father other than the agony, pain and suffering that was ahead. However, His obedience to the will of the Father took priority over His desires. He said to the Father; “Not my will, but thine be done”.

Are we willing to set aside our desires and preferences in all our decisions and submit to the will of God? 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whatever we eat, Whatever we drink, and Whatever we do; Do all to the glory of God”. The next time you look at a dinner menu, ask God for guidance before you order. Then thank Him for the meal and to guide you on how much of it to put into your body. Even the small decisions in life must bring “Glory to God”.

Rev Jonathon Rager

Day 14: CODE WORD: “UP”

It’s sometimes hard for me to get my head around the fact that Jesus, the Son of the Almighty God of the universe, ever felt “forsaken”.  Yet in Matthew 27:46, while He was hanging on that cross in my place, that’s exactly what it says. As He bore the sins of the entire world, God the Father could not even look at Him, and thus Jesus felt all alone and forsaken.  

Webster defines “up” as:  “in or into a higher position or level.”  Although I was saved at the ripe old age of 7, in a storefront church in Wilmington, NC, on a very hot July night in 1955, over the years, somewhere between college and the US Army, I had become so busy with my life and work, that I no longer put God on the top shelf.  He was still there, but in the background.

Sometimes, like the farmer who hit his mule over the head with a 2 x 4 to “get his attention”, God has to put us on our knees so that we have nowhere to look but “up”.  It was then that the Lord took His own 2×4 and hit me over the head with it and put me in the ICU at Womack Army Hospital at Ft. Bragg, NC.  I really must have looked good, because as soon as my mom walked in, she took one look at me and promptly passed out.  As I remember, I was in ICU for almost a week, and was finally forced to slow down, think, and reassess my priorities.  I realized that while I might have forgotten about Jesus, for some incredible reason that I may never understand, He had never forgotten about me.  That’s when I began to look up again.  I recommitted my life to Him, and put Him back on the top shelf where He belonged.  I became much more involved in my church, in missions, jail ministries, and formed a quartet that He has blessed to sing coast to coast, singing His praises and spreading the gospel through song.  I can never make up for the years I wasted, not truly serving my Savior, but with His help, He is now truly not just my Savior, but Friend, and Lord of my life. Keep looking Up!

Deacon Roger Wendell

Hello First Family,

Today’s Code Word is Lost.

Pastor Kevin

Today’s Code word is Ordinary.  Speaking strictly about Christian circles, there are three types of people: extra, ordinary and extraordinary. I will break these down.

Extra – “trying too hard, over the top, excessive, maybe a little dramatic. Doing more than what the situation calls for. Often a little inappropriate.” No one will admit this, but we all know people like this. Some of us are these people. And, while their hearts may be in the right place at times, these “extra” people tend to rub others the wrong way, and I believe the most important issue with “extra” people is that they are extremely religious…in a bad way.

Ordinary – “with no special or distinctive features; normal.” Ordinary people tend to get a bad reputation because, well, anyone can be ordinary. If ordinary was a day, I think we would all link it with Monday; it’s the mundane, usual, everyday things that take place. So, who would want to be that, right? While I’d agree that ordinary isn’t the way we should seek to be, I am convinced it is the launching place to where we should all seek to rest at: extraordinary.

Extraordinary – “very unusual or remarkable.” I want to share a story of a teen who was so “ordinary” but became extraordinary, due to his former state.

Ever heard of David? Of course, the kid who killed Goliath. We all learn the story as little children. But, what most fail to understand about David is how he mustered up the courage to take on the battle, when Israel’s entire army shook before the giant Philistine for 40 days.

In his everyday life, David served his family as a shepherd. He was disregarded by his brothers, and his dad didn’t even think to bring him inside for the Prophet Samuel to consider as Israel’s future king. But, what his family didn’t know was that God was developing his faith in a literal “poopy” situation.

David loved those sheep! He recounted two instances where he killed both a lion and bear to protect those sheep. Because he learned of God’s delivering power for sheep, he KNEW God cared more about His nation AND His name, so David readily accepted the challenge and easily defeated Goliath.

I hope you see that David wasn’t born extraordinary. And, he also didn’t have to try hard or go over the top in his efforts. But, he came to see God in his ORDINARY lifestyle, and God promoted him to extraordinary.

Hello First Family!

Pastor Kevin

Hello First Family!

Happy Monday! I am thankful for the time we shared in the Lord’s house this weekend. We kick off this week’s Code words with the Code word “Sign”.

We are inundated with signs each and every day. We have become immune to the presence of most of the signs and don’t give them very much thought. We come across street signs telling us which way to go or not and inform us as to where we are in any given moment. We drive by  business signs alerting us to the businesses that are available to us. We see construction signs, detour signs and real estate signs giving us information that we soon forget. O.S. Hawkins uses the Code word Sign to remind us of another type of sign that we sometimes under value In our Christian faith. The sign that he refers to is the sign of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Today’s focus verse is from Isaiah 7:14, which states, “The LORD Himself will give you a sign; behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” The Hebrew word for sign is defined  as a signal, a distinguishing mark, a remembrance, a token or proof. The virgin birth of Christ is a distinguishing event that would serve as proof of His identity as the Messiah, God’s Son. We cannot journey to the cross without the virgin birth.

Today as you go about your way, and ignore most of the signs around you, take a minute and reflect on the sign that God gave you and me, to help us identify and know His Son. We serve such a good God! He desires that we know the Way, in which we are going, by giving us a sign to follow. Don’t ignore the Sign. See ya tomorrow on our Journey to the Cross!

Pastor Kevin