Out of the mouths of babes!

Have you ever heard that phrase “out of the mouths of babes”? It is the Bible version of the old television show “Kids Say The Darndest Things”. Well, here is my story. I was taking my 7 year old grandson to school one morning. He can go from completely silent saying nothing at all to being so chatty I can’t keep up with the conversation. This one was a bombshell delivered by an angelic little face. “Granddad, what do you do with all the money you get on Sundays?” I stalled by saying “Pardon me, what did you say?” He repeated the question. Nope, it did not change at all: What do you do with all the money you get on Sunday’s? Ok, keep it simple, he is a seven year old. “Well, like in your home, we pay for electricity, water” and before I could finish with all the things “I” do with the money, the little inquisitor jumps in again… “You mean you just pay bills with it? Don’t you help the homeless?” I literally turned to look in my back seat to make sure it was my grandson and not some angelic manifestation of the Holy Spirit coming to speak to me. OK, I got him to wait until I could finish my answer. I told him of the money to Ukraine, to Romania, the Transition House, Connection Groups…but by now, the little messenger from Heaven had delivered his message and had gone back to whatever Pokémon character he was obsessed with.

I dropped my grandson off at school, but I carried his question with me for the rest of the week. I also carried my question with me: Was that the Holy Spirit speaking to me? What do I do with the money we get on Sunday or pay day or any day? Do I just pay bills? What if God asked me that very same question? In fact, I think He did.

My goal is to be a good manager of all God gives me. It is not mine but He has entrusted it to me. How do I spend the monies He gives me, whether we are talking JIBC offerings or the paychecks I receive? Of course we give tithes and offerings. That is our first step in acknowledging that all we have is from our Father in Heaven. Then we try to give generously. By God’s grace, we have been able to be out of debt for a while. Our only debt is Janie’s car. That frees us up to be generous givers above our tithes and offerings. Our old friend, Boyce Smith, helped teach us Biblical Financial Principles years ago. His investment of time has been blessed many times over in an untold number of lives. Thank you Boyce Smith and Dave Ramsey and Solomon and Jesus!

Pastor Tom

“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “’From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”

Matthew 21:16

OH WHAT AN AMAZING, GLORIOUS DAY

 

What a great Resurrection Sunday we enjoyed! I know it is hard to be objective, but this may have been one of the best Easter services we have had in my 37 years at JIBC. Here is a list of things that made it such a wonder full day.

First, it was Resurrection Sunday. Every Sunday reminds us of Resurrection Sunday. In fact, that seems to be why we switched from worshipping on the Sabbath (Sundown Friday to Sundown Saturday). Jesus arose on the Lord’s Day, Sunday. His early appearances all seem to be on Sundays. This is the day the Lord has made, Let us rejoice and be glad in it. We celebrate Jesus’ resurrection with great joy!

Second, the Praise Team and Production Team did an outstanding job. We are right at the end of the new installation of all kinds of upgraded equipment. I would have been pleased just to know they were making progress…but they raised the bar and burned the candle at both ends to introduce us to the new technology on Easter Sunday! Wow, Pastor David and David Jr., Thank you for your outstanding effort to get things ready for the biggest day of worship of the year.

Third, who doesn’t love a packed church? The devil that is who! Everyone else loves to see the church packed. Thank you for bringing family and friends; thnak you for the extra effort to attend; thank you, thank you and thank you. It was absolutely wonderful to see everyone gathered. I think the numbers were 150 at the 9:00 service, plus nursery and 250 at the 11:00 service, plus 21 at Children’s Church, plus nursery and 166 on-line viewers.

Fourth, but first in my heart…did I tell you I baptized my grandson, Wyatt Wilkins? Oh yeah, and I did it without tears of joy.

Thank you to all the staff, the group leaders, nursery volunteers, greeters, safety team, tech team, praise team, etc, etc. You made this an amazing, glorious day. I love you all.

He is risen…He is risen indeed.

Pastor Tom

RISEN!

RISEN! The one word that described the one event that changed the world. The one word that fulfilled biblical prophecy and fulfilled God’s plan to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world. The one word that describes conquering death and the grave, providing life abundant and life eternal. Risen! He is risen…He is risen indeed.

The name of our April teaching series is RISEN! It is the story of Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday, reflecting on Good Friday and celebrating on Resurrection Sunday! If Christ is not risen, then our hope is in vain. The old hymn helps us put our emotions into words: “I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today, I know that He is living, whatever men may say, I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, and just the time I need Him He is always near. He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today, He walks with me and He talks with me along life’s narrow ways. He lives, he lives salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives…He lives within my heart!” Amen and Hallelujah.

FLOWERING THE CROSS: This Sunday I hope you will plan to join us for our Easter Sunday worship experiences. We have two services, one at 9:00 and one at 11:00. We will be “flowering the cross”, so please feel free to bring flowers from your yard, or your neighbors, to put on the cross. My azaleas are just about all gone but my roses are making up for them! For those who are new to JIBC, we have a special cross made to hold flowers. The old rugged cross is transformed to a beautiful display reminding us of the new and beautiful life given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember that Christmas and Easter are two Sundays when our unchurched family and friends are likely to attend. They are twice as likely to attend if we invite them to be our guest and to join us for lunch afterwards. Oh what a glorious day!

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

HOLY WEEK 2022

Holy Week has been called the 8 days of Easter you need to know. This year, Holy Week begins this Sunday, April 10 with Palm Sunday and ends with Easter Sunday, April 17. During this one week, many biblical prophesies were fulfilled. Jesus came to earth to save humanity by dying on the cross on Good Friday and resurrecting on Easter Sunday. I like to refer to Easter Sunday as Resurrection Sunday! By enduring and defeating death sacrificially for us, He swung open the gates of heaven making a way for our sin to be forgiven and usher us into the presence of God.

This past Sunday, we began a new teaching series called “Risen”. A one word description of the most important even in history; a one word explanation of how Christianity began; and a one word account of how a small band of disciples could launch a world-wide movement that has lasted over 2000 years. Risen.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday. It celebrates the coming of Jesus into Jerusalem the week he was crucified. The people were excited and expectant about Jesus’ triumphal entry. He was welcomed as a victorious king. He surely was a King, but more of a king that they had imagined. As they joyfully welcomed Jesus, they had hope. They were hoping for something only God could do. No one expected God to do it this way!

The Good Friday Worship service is Friday, April 15 at 7:00 PM. This is a contemplative worship experience that focuses on the sacrifice and suffering of our Lord Jesus. Designed to help us remember just how much God did love the world and each one of us. Here is a powerful quote: He drained the cup of God's wrath bone dry, leaving not a drop for us to drink. I hope you will join us for this night of reflection, communion. We remember Good Friday is only good because of Resurrection Sunday!

And then, Resurrection Sunday, Easter! Risen Redeemer: Look What God Has Done! He is risen! He is risen indeed! I love the joyful celebration, the new outfits, the blooming flowers, the packed services…I love Resurrection Sunday and the message that it brings to us. Make plans to join us on Sunday, April 17 at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM. Spring shows what God can do with a dirty and drab world. Resurrection Sunday shows what God can do with our sin, our guilt, with death and the grave!

As one wonderful wit has said “Easter is not about the bunny…it is about the Lamb!” The Lamb of God was slain and now the Lamb of God is RISEN! He is risen indeed.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom

PRAYING FOR UKRAINE

 What a mess! What a terrible, awful mess!

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.” James 4:1-2

Let us join together and pray for our Father in Heaven to intervene in such a way as to end this horrific war and end it in a way that would give Him all the glory. May the cease fire come, not as a result of surrender, but as a result of an Act of God that cannot be explained by human reasoning or explanation. Our Father can part the seas, cause the ground to open up and swallow rebels, foiled the plans of enemies who greatly outnumbered your people. Dear Father in Heaven, do it again.

We also ask Your protection for those fleeing and for those helping them to flee; for those who are feeding, housing and providing medical care and comfort. We pray for Your Church family who valiantly are sharing the Gospel and living the Gospel in horrific circumstances. We pray for those in authority to have their minds filled with your wisdom; give them courage to make the right decisions; remove pride and fear and replace it with humility and faith. Again, we ask that you would do the miracle and multiply the dwindling supply of fish and loaves. Feed the thousands and hundreds of thousands. May those who go to help find favor with You and with man. Open closed doors.

We ask this, and all things, in the Name Above All Names, the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen and amen.

Blessed to be a Blessing!

“But since you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, 

in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you-- 

see that you also excel in this grace of giving.”

2 Corinthians 8:7

We at JIBC have used that phrase a lot over the years. It is like a truism, a mantra, a value, almost a mission statement. We are blessed to be a blessing. I suspect that there are more of our members who feel that way than those who do not. It has been a growing grace of our church family. I believe our church family has excelled in love. I am not aware of any church that more consistently reaches out and loves on those who are broken and bruised by life. I think you do excel in love. I think you have often excelled in faith, willing to take on missions and ministries that were obviously beyond our pay grade! And I think, as a church family, we have excelled in the grace of giving.

Just recently we were able to send offerings to SendRelief, the Southern Baptist team that responds to any sort of disaster, whether it is man-made or natural. We sent offerings to Samaritans Purse who will be on the ground in Ukraine with food and medical teams. Then we also were able to send offerings to two contacts in Ukraine. These two, a pastor and a ministry leader, are on the ground, the bombed ground of their country. I am so thankful that we could send them funds to help their relief efforts.

We are now getting ready to send offerings to our mission partners in Romania. The city of Campulung is not near to the border of Russia, but they are near to the heart of God. Two of our ministry partners are helping refugees. So, we will help them. Why? Because we have been blessed to be a blessing.

You generous giving this past year put us in a great position to bless those in harm’s way. It started in December of 2020 when your offerings were able to bless the Afghan refugees, the earthquake victims in Haiti, the Hurricane victims in Louisiana and to help purchase water purification systems for Haiti. That, by the way, does not count offerings sent to our traditional missions partners like Lottie Moon, the co-operative program, Charleston Baptist Association, James Island Outreach, etc.

My prayer is that we will continue to abound in the grace of giving and with the belief that we are blessed to be a blessing. I pray that we will be good stewards, great managers, of all our Father has entrusted to JIBC.

Let’s continue to excel in love and mercy. That is God like. Jesus affirmed the Pharisees for their willingness and commitment to tithe. He also reminded them not to neglect the greater things…like justice, mercy and love. You are blessed to be a blessing. Let’s excel in faith, speech, love and the grace of giving.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

PRAYING FOR UKRAINE

It is like watching a horrible movie with the major exception…it is real life, it is no movie. I find myself going to FOX news on a more regular basis to hear the latest update, hoping and praying for some kind of resolution between Putin and Ukraine. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have our wonderful City of Charleston indiscriminately bombed and destroyed. The loss of life on both sides is horrific.

What can we do? You know. The #1 request from those who are closest to the war is prayer. We have put out two prayer guides that will help you know how to pray. Pray for world leaders, pray for provisions of food and water, pray for the children, pray for medical care, pray for the local churches in Ukraine. Pray and pray and pray. We have already sent funds to SendRelief.com, Samaritans Purse & Our Legacy Operations. We will send funds to the Pastor Mark Livengood works with once we can find a safe way to wire them the offerings.

We also have a prayer guide for the Week of Prayer for North American Missions. Like the Ukraine prayer guide, these are available at the church office. You may also want to check out AnnieArmstorng,com for additional information. This prayer guide introduces us to ten of our missionaries and the mission they are doing. When you read and pray for these, you will fully understand why we receive the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

If you would like a copy of either of these prayer guides and cannot get by the church office, just call Neale at 843-762-0244. We will be glad to make sure you get copies. We want all the prayer support we can get! Amen?

Pastor Claudio and Luz Y Verdad, have baptized four people this past week. Praise the Lord for the increase in His family. You are a part of International Missions without ever leaving home. To God be the glory.

See you Sunday, good Lord willing,

Pastor Tom