Awesome!

A few weeks ago, as we were beginning our study of 1 Peter, I asked our Life Group to name the most over-used word in the English language.  Predictably, the word love was mentioned. Since we were digging into 1 Peter 1 that day, I was hoping the word hope would be mentioned, and it was. 

We use the word hope a lot. I hope we have ice cream. I hope it doesn't rain. I hope my candidate wins. I hope my team wins. I hope I can lose some weight. When we use hope in these contexts, we're usually doing some wishful thinking. But in the New Testament, hope is not wishful thinking, but settled certainty. That's what Peter is telling us when he reminds us that we have been born again to a living hope.

Another overused word we mentioned on that particular Sunday was the word awesome. This must be one of the most over-used words in our language! Everything these days is awesome! Whether we're talking about a ball player or the weather or what we had for dinner or the movie we just saw, it's all awesome!

The word awesome can mean "very impressive" or "overwhelming" or "causing feelings of reverence or admiration".  Any of those definitions could be used to describe yesterday at First Baptist Spartanburg.

Yesterday morning's worship services were multi-campus, something that is unusual for us. We sang the same songs and heard the same message, all together simultaneously, on three different campuses, thanks to modern technology. Yesterday we were celebrating the launch of a new ministry opportunity known as The Bridge at Green Street. So, in the main Sanctuary on Main Street downtown, and in the Hangar auditorium across the street where our contemporary services are held each Sunday, and in the Sanctuary of the former Green Street Baptist Church, we worshipped together and celebrated the greatness of our awesome God.

It takes a lot of people behind the scenes for something like this to come together. Getting all the technology in place and then having people to operate all that technology on a Sunday morning is quite a feat. A meal was served at Green Street after the services, which required many, many people to set up and later clean up, to serve the food, and to get kitchen supplies from the main campus over to Green Street. There's a lot involved in an event like that. On the main campus, many people did double duty to cover the responsibilities of people who had gone over to Green Street to help out. A lot of people were involved in all that happened across our campuses yesterday, and I am certain that this morning, a lot of people are very tired!

Often it is easy for us to get so bogged down in the details of how something is going to happen, to be so stressed over all the behind the scenes details, and then so exhausted when it is all over, that we miss the awesomeness of the day. That's true for our multi-campus worship yesterday, and it's true in life as well. We are sometimes blinded by our stress and our fatigue and our personal responsibilities, and we miss what God is doing.

Yesterday God was very present at First Baptist Spartanburg. It was evident across our campuses.

Just as God was very present and at work across our campuses yesterday, it is also true that God is at work in our country in these days leading up to tomorrow's election. No matter how that turns out, we know that God is at work as we see the numbers of people who are crying out to Him on behalf of our country. It's easy not to notice that in the midst of this contentious and often chaotic election season. But stop and think about how many people you know personally who are committing serious time to prayer for our nation. How long has it been since you heard so many people calling for prayer and repentance and revival in our nation? How long has it been since you were aware of so many prayer meetings specifically on behalf of our nation? Not on behalf of a particular candidate, but on behalf of our country. All this is evidence that God is work in our country and in the hearts of His people.

No matter how tomorrow's election turns out, God is still God. He is still in control. He is still about the business of answering prayer. He is the same yesterday and today and forever.

And our God is awesome!

"O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary. The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God!" (Psalm 68:35 NASB)


You can watch our awesome multi-campus worship service here:
https://livestream.com/fbcspartanburg/events/3355219/videos/141149457