Author: pastorscottwordofgracefellowship

Pastor of Word of Grace Fellowship in Raytown, MO.

Pretending – Jul 19, 2024

On Sundays I, Pastor Scott, have been doing a survey of the Old Testament.  This past week we looked at 2 Kings 17, which takes place 200 years after Solomon.   Israel (the ten northern tribes) had turned their heart away from sole worship of YAHWEH and He removed them from the land.  The text describes the sin that was rampant in the land which I pointed out was anchored in their failure to honor God and have fellowship with Him. (i.e. Commands #1-4).

Seven hundred years later, as Christ walked the earth, the pendulum in Israel had swung the other way.  The Jewish leaders of occupied Jerusalem were “VERY Holy!”  They continually harassed Jesus and His disciples for how loosely Jesus held onto the traditions of the fathers and how they ate with sinners or picked wheat on the Sabbath.  At the same time they were doing things like dishonoring their own parents by pledging their wealth to the temple instead of taking care of their aging parents. (Matthew 15:3-9)   

Causing Jesus to say: “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:     ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

He had a number of run-ins with these mask wearers.  Matthew records a long diatribe in his 23rd chapter; two verses that jump out at me are:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”  (23:27-28)

Let’s be careful not to just put on a veneer of righteousness!  It will come off when the heat or pressure comes on and that will happen in the presence of the people we care about the most!

Pastor Scott 

Timeless and Timely – 07.12.24

I, Pastor Scott, received this Blog from GES just this morning, I think it’s a great read in these divisive times!

Emphasizing the Important Things

July 11, 2024 by Kenneth Yates in Blog – Acts 10:15, Acts 15:5, Circumcision, Eph 2:14-16, Judaizers

Luz Long and Jesse Owens were polar opposites. Long was a German Nazi and looked the part. He was blond, white, and an educated lawyer. Owens was a black American who grew up in poverty under segregation. In the 1936 Olympics, held in Berlin, Luz and Owens competed against each other in the long jump. Hitler wanted to show the superiority of the Aryan race. Long was a poster child for Hitler’s vision. In the Führer’s eyes, Owens was a despised, inferior human being.

Owens won the event, and Long came in second. But the two men walked arm in arm in the stadium in front of Hitler. Long and Owens developed a strong friendship and even exchanged letters after the Games were over. Their respect for each other’s athletic skills overrode any animosity their respective countries expected them to have.

When WWII broke out, Long served in the German army. His last letter to Owens asked him to come to Germany after the war and talk to his son about their friendship. Long died in combat in Italy, fighting for Germany against the United States. Owens would fulfill his close friend’s request. He would later fly to Germany and tell Kai-Heinrich Long about his father and the friendship they had shared. They met at the stadium where the two athletes had met and competed against each other.

Luz Long and Jesse Owens lived in a world in which insignificant things, like the color of one’s skin, were the things that set men apart. A black American and a white German simply could not be friends. They were to hate one another.

But these men realized that such things were superficial. They were both human beings who shared the love of a sport. They were more alike than different.

The world has always emphasized people’s differences. In the NT, we see how the early Church had to deal with the mentality of the world. The Church began in Acts 2 with a group of Jews. Religious Jews saw themselves as superior to Gentiles. For example, these Jews would not eat with Gentiles. They saw Gentiles as being unclean in a religious sense.

When the Lord added Gentiles to the Church, these cultural differences presented problems. The animosity between Jews and Gentiles manifested itself in the Church. Believing Jews wanted Gentile believers to become Jewish. Those Gentiles needed to eat the right food, and the men needed to be circumcised. Until they did so, Jewish believers would see them as inferior (Acts 15:5).

But the Lord made it clear that such sentiments concentrated on insignificant things. The Lord had made believing Gentiles equal to Jewish believers in every way (Acts 10:15). Both groups were part of the same body, the Church. That should have taken away all animosity between them (Eph 2:14-16). The most important aspect of their lives was that they were brothers and sisters in Christ. In his letters, Paul encouraged his readers to be like Long and Owens were centuries later: Jewish and Gentile believers should walk arm and arm with each other before a watching world.

The same thing is true for us. We may not completely understand the animosity between Jews and Gentiles in the first century. But we meet people who have believed in Jesus for eternal life who are not like we are. They do things differently. They have different interests. Maybe the color of their skin does not match our own. It is all too easy to avoid any kind of close relationship with them.

As believers, however, what we share is much more important. Christ has placed us in His Body. This is an eternal reality. If Long and Owens could walk arm in arm in 1936 Berlin because of their love of a sport, surely we can today because of our love of the Lord.

Happy 4th – 2024

I {Pastor Scott} write a blog every week for a newsletter that goes out first thing on Friday morning.  This week July 4th falls on the Thursday and I wanted to write something about the USA and/or our civic responsibility, but I stumbled across a 2017 blog post that interested me and thought maybe it would interest you all too:

Why Ben Franklin Called for Prayer at the Constitutional Convention

THOMAS KIDD  |  SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

In observance of Constitution Day, I am posting an editorial I wrote for the Wall Street Journal in May. It draws from my recent religious biography of Franklin, published by Yale University Press.

The text of the unamended Constitution is notably secular, save for references like the “Year of our Lord” 1787. But the lack of religion in the document does not mean the topic went unmentioned at the Constitutional Convention.

Several weeks into the proceedings, the octogenarian Benjamin Franklin proposed that the meetings open with prayer. “How has it happened,” he pondered, according to a copy of the speech in Franklin’s papers, “that we have not, hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our Understandings?”

This was a poignant but peculiar suggestion coming from Franklin, the great printer, scientist and diplomat. He described himself in his autobiography as a “thorough deist” who as a teenager had rejected the Puritan faith of his parents. Why would Franklin ask the Philadelphia delegates to begin their daily deliberations with prayer?

Even stranger, few convention attendees supported the proposal. A couple of devout delegates seconded his motion, but it fizzled among the other participants. Franklin scribbled a note at the bottom of his prayer speech lamenting, “The Convention except three or four Persons, thought Prayers unnecessary!”

If Franklin truly was a deist, he wasn’t a very good one. Doctrinaire deists believed in a distant Creator, one who did not intervene in human history, and certainly not one who would respond to prayers. Yes, Franklin questioned basic points of Christianity, including Jesus’ divine nature. Yet his childhood immersion in the Puritan faith, and his relationships with traditional Christians through his adult life, kept him tethered to his parents’ religion. If he was not a Christian, he often sounded and acted like one.

The King James Bible, for example, had a significant influence on Franklin. From his first writings as “Silence Dogood”—the pseudonym he adopted when writing essays for his brother’s newspaper, the New-England Courant—to his speeches at the Constitutional Convention, Franklin was constantly referencing the Bible. He knew it backward and forward, recalling even the most obscure sections of it from memory.

When he was a child, his family went at least a couple of times a week to a Congregationalist church in Boston, where the heavily doctrinal sermons could last for two hours. The bookish boy claimed he had read the whole Bible by the time he was 5. Although his parents were of modest means, they once thought of sending him to Harvard to become a pastor. Concern about his growing teenage skepticism derailed those plans.

As a young man Ben did indulge some strident views and scurrilous behavior, especially on an extended trip to London. But he was certain that personal responsibility and industry were the keys to worldly success. He wrote of deism in his autobiography: “I began to suspect that this doctrine, tho’ it might be true, was not very useful.” So he devoted himself to a personal “plan of conduct,” through which he tracked his practice of godly virtues.

He kept in steady contact with his sister Jane Mecom of Boston, an evangelical Christian and his closest sibling. He established a business relationship and longstanding friendship with George Whitefield, a celebrated evangelist during the Great Awakening of the 18th century. The preacher grilled him occasionally about the state of his soul, yet Franklin admired Whitefield and even fleetingly proposed that they start a colony together in the Ohio territory, one that would model the best principles of Christianity.

Then came the Revolutionary War. Its weight, along with the shock of victory and independence, made Franklin think that God, in some mysterious way, must be moving in American history. “The longer I live,” he told the delegates in Philadelphia, “the more convincing Proofs I see of this Truth, That God governs in the affairs of men.”

He repeatedly cited verses from the Bible to make his case, quoting Psalm 127: “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” Without God’s aid, Franklin contended, the Founding Fathers would “succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel.” At the Revolutionary War’s outset, as he reminded delegates, they had prayed daily, often in that same Philadelphia hall, for divine protection. “And have we now forgotten that powerful friend?”

In today’s polarized political and religious environment, some pundits seek to remake the Founding Fathers in their own image. Benjamin Franklin’s example reveals that the historical truth is often more complicated.

Ask the Pastor from Sunday’s Sermon – 2 Samuel 12

It seems that David’s consequences were passed to innocent parties (Bathsheba – victim, losing her son, baby dying).  How do we reconcile that with God’s “fairness” when explaining to children or perhaps to non-believers?

Great question.  Personally, I would likely start with Job 38-41 where God asks Job questions like,  “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” and “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place?”  In other words, He is God and He can do whatever He pleases and/or needs to do.

But that’s not a very satisfying answer from a human perspective.  A better answer is to talk about the ripple effect of our actions.  If a student is disruptive in class does he only affect his own learning?   If a mechanic in a two-man shop is always an hour late to work, does he only affect his own paycheck?  What about a guy driving the wrong way down a one-way road?  In each of these cases others are impacted, harmed, or maybe even killed.  In the same way David, a man and a King, chose to cross His God’s law and as a result both Uriah and the baby died and Bathsheba was twice grieved.  David’s selfish act affected more than just David; it affected a whole nation!  Great warning for us; as we wrestle with our own impulses!

Pastor Scott

This GotQuestions article makes a good argument that the baby was really rescued.  Take a read:  https://www.gotquestions.org/David-Bathsheba-child.html

Pray First – Jun 21, 2024

There is a great story in 2 Chronicles 20 of Moab’s raid on Judah when Jehoshaphat was king.  Jehoshaphat wasn’t the general David was, but he knew Who God is.  And he threw himself and his people on God’s mercy.  I love the closing line of his prayer, after reminding God of His victory over Egypt, etc. Jehoshaphat says, “O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You” (v. 12 Emphasis added).  It reminds me of Paul’s teaching in Romans 8 that The Holy Spirit intercedes for us because we don’t really know how to pray either!  

So then why pray?  Because it’s a necessary acknowledgment of our humble dependence on God.  James says, we have not because we ask not.  Peter says to cast all of our cares upon Him. Paul says to Timothy as he repairs the church at Ephesus, “First of all gather them and Pray!”  And The Son Himself when He was walking this sod, would get up early just to get alone with the Father and pray.  Pray draws us closer to God and He is the God of all flesh, there is nothing He can’t do!   We have access now, though the blood of Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16); let’s not allow it to be our last resort.

A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel.

In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox. The lad dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. With no little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy and the rock was very large.) When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the little wall.

Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he thought, he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox. The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, shoved-but his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers. Finally he burst into tears of frustration.

All this time the boy’s father watched from the living room window as the drama unfolded. At the moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy’s father. Gently but firmly he said, “Son, why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available?”

Defeated, the boy sobbed back, “But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!”

“No, son,” corrected the father kindly. “You didn’t use all the strength you had. You didn’t ask me.” With that the father reached down, picked up the rock, and removed it from the sandbox.

After Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple he quoted Isaiah 56 “My House shall be a House of Prayer!”  Let’s make sure this House – WOGF is a “House of Prayer!”

Pastor Scott

Loose Ends – June 14, 2024

#1 of 2

“No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” ~ 1 John 3:9

Several weeks (more likely months ago) I answered a question here about the verse above by posting the amplified translation which aligned the first half (practices) with the second half of the verse that declares an absolute.  A congregant pointed out a better resolution offered by the Bible Teacher Zane Hodges.  In his commentary on 1 John, Dr. Hodges reminds us of Christ’s imputed righteousness, which means by definition we stand before God without sin; our new nature is without sin.  Of course this new Holy Nature, should be affecting our flesh; or “walk” as it’s often called in Scripture, and therein lies the rub.  

Our flesh is so very used to living in this world that putting it off and putting righteousness on is, for many of us, a major ordeal and/or a daily struggle.  The temptations of the world aren’t something we deal with on an occasional basis, but are a constant assault on our senses.  So while I’m aware of the principle that Hodges teaches, I’m fearful of anything that would cause any of us to ignore the important teaching of Colossians 3, or Ephesians 4-6, or Galatians 5, by causing us to think that we can’t sin anymore. I’ve watched that happen and it inevitably leads to more sin.  So yes, it’s a good but VERY NUANCED resolution to the 1 Peter 3:9! 🙂 

#2 of 2

Recently I was discussing the Roman Catholic origin of some communion practices in the Bible Study Hour class I teach as we are working our way through 1 Corinthians.  As is my habit I was supporting my point with a relevant illustration which had me explaining the English word “repentance.”  As it happens our English word comes down to us  from the Latin poenitire “make sorry,” which comes from poena (penal; or punishment).  I went on to make the point that in the New Testament the word is Meta (change) + Noia (mind).  I was pointing out that only once in the NT sorrow and metanoia are linked (2 Cor 7:9-10), but most often it’s a call to change our orientation about who God is or about how to approach Him.  And in other literature of the time “metanoia” was used the same way we might say “he ‘changed his mind’ and didn’t go to the store that night.”  As you can imagine this led to a discussion that had nothing to do with communion and everything to do with how salvation was NOT dependent on how sorry we are for our sin.

During class I received a text asking: “So what about the Romans Road?”  Great question!  Paul spends most of the first three chapters of Romans making sure everyone understands that they are sinners who fall short of the glory of God.  He then makes the point that none of us can boast because we are not saved by our works but  we are saved by faith alone.  There is no mention in the text of Romans of “sorrow for sin.”  However, in the presentation instructions for the Romans road or the Wordless book, the script often says something like, “Now, ask them to pray and tell God how sorry they are about their sin.”  Having a “contrite heart” is Biblical.  David writes about it in Psalm 51 wherein he confesses his horrible sin.  Isaiah writes of those who have done evil and are now “lowly and contrite.”   Again, it’s not wrong, per se, to be sad that you lived a life of sin, but it’s not really part of a road in the Book of Romans.    

Pastor Scott

 Pride Month – Jun 7, 2024

June has been declared “pride” month and even though much has been said by better writers than I, as your pastor, I still feel like I need to say something.  Maybe a list would be easiest.

  1. I can’t help but notice that the date above is our 39th wedding anniversary.   Happy Anniversary Kelly – thanks for your faithful love all these years!
  2. Years ago someone shared a book review with me.  The book was written by a man with same-sex attraction who was remaining celibate because of his faith in Christ.  The theme of the book, as it was relayed to me, was the hopelessness of his celibacy, in that he wasn’t waiting for marriage or something he was just waiting to die.  It had me thinking fairly sympathetically for a time…..
    1. Then I remembered that I pastored a church where at least a dozen single people served and worshipped and they weren’t just waiting to die.  Not that it wasn’t hard, but life is hard whenever we focus on what we are missing out on!
      1. For instance, if I’m honest, in my flesh, I just want to eat ALL the time.  According to Galatians 5 the solution is the same as any other form of sensual desire. If I walk in the Spirit I can have victory, if I walk in the flesh, I will cave – every time!
      2. I also remember the sin proclivities that have been discussed in my office and around various Bible Study circles (discussed so that we wouldn’t walk in them ~Gal. 5:16)
  3. Sexual temptation is a biggie, but it’s not bigger than God and God has promised He can and will provide a way out of every temptation even the one that has someone calling themselves “gay!”.
    1. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
    2. 1 Corinthians 10:13
  4. Perhaps, contrary, to the devil’s advice, we should humble ourselves before the God of the universe and let Him have His way with us!  (James 4:1-10)

Just a thought,

Pastor Scott

Evan. Training – June1, 2024

Mindful that I still owe two of you blog-answers to question related to something about which I spoke or wrote, I still wanted to use today’s blog to remind all of us that Jesus didn’t come to earth just to give us better lives, He came to bring salvation and we aren’t supposed to keep it a secret.  If you are Free Saturday Morning, swing by Church for some Evangelism training, encouragement, and practice (9am- noon) – we have room for a few more! ~Pastor Scott

“Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”

~Charles Spurgeon

“Prayer is crucial in evangelism: Only God can change the heart of someone who is in rebellion against Him. No matter how logical our arguments or how fervent our appeals, our words will accomplish nothing unless God’s Spirit prepares the way.”

~Billy Graham

Clarification – May 24, 2024

I received a text question on Sunday after the benediction.  The texter was asking me to clear up some verbiage I used that could easily be misunderstood (or misconstrued). 

You mentioned “transfer your faith” when referring to our children.  Can you clarify what you mean?

This is a simple, yet loaded question.

Firstly, there is no way to transfer your faith that does not involve your child’s receiving it (John 1:12).  Yes, Paul seems to understand that a parent “covers” the child in the home (1 Cor 7:14), but faith otherwise is personal.

Secondly, the family prepares the soil.  Mistakes will be made, but love covers a multitude of sin and pray like mad, because ultimately it’s in His hands.

Thirdly, the word “faith” has a number of implications and I likely meant ALL of them:

  1. Theologically, saving faith is a one-time action.  The moment we believe in Jesus we have everlasting life.  We are justified.  We are forgiven. We are sealed.  We are born again.  And yes, we are babies.
  2. “Faith” in this context could be thought of as by faith day-to-day following Jesus and His Word by which we grow into mature believers.
  3. And of course the epistles often refer to the whole of Christian teaching as “the faith”.

As I recall, I had a slide up with the words from Deuteronomy 6:6-8 discussing the parents’ role of continuous teaching.  While that slide was up, I also mentioned that we need to be faithfully modeling. It is through those two means that we “transfer our faith” to our children.  Our saving faith, our living faith, and our body of knowledge (Ephesians 6:4).  

Thanks for asking,

Pastor Scott