Sweet Tea and Jesus
by Steven Sawyer

Folks who live outside the Deep South don’t understand sweet tea. If you go to most restaurants or truck stops north of Kentucky and ask if they have sweet tea, they’ll say, “Sure! Sugar’s on the table.” (That means, “No, we don’t have sweet tea. Just add a few packs of sugar.”)

When you make real sweet tea, first you dump two cups of sugar into a pitcher. Bring a half gallon of water to a boil. When it boils put in three family-sized tea bags. Leave it alone for five or six minutes. Remove the tea bags and bring the tea to a boil. Pour the tea into the pitcher and stir it until the sugar melts. Fill the pitcher half way with ice and stir until the ice melts. Then fill the pitcher with cold water. Stir until blended. Add ice to the glass you serve it in and pour the tea over the ice.

Something scientific happens when you make sweet tea. When you dissolve the sugar in the tea, you no longer have sugar and tea, you have sweet tea. It is a different mixture. Scientists call this new mixture a compound – when two separate ingredients mix together to form a new substance. It’s no longer sugar, and it’s no longer tea. It’s sweet tea. The sugar won’t settle on the bottom of the pitcher, because it’s not sugar any more. The liquid will always be sweet tea to the last sweet drop in the pitcher.

The Bible teaches us it’s the same thing that happens when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and invite Him into our hearts. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man (water) be in Christ, (sugar) he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”(Sweet Tea).

As born again believers we are now spiritually in Christ, and will be forever. God has already guaranteed our position in Christ for eternity. Ephesians 2:5-6 proclaims, “even when we were dead in our transgressions (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” NIV

As a new creation in Christ, He wants to live His life in us, through us and as us to bring glory to God. As part of our true identity we are in Christ and Christ is in us. We’re new creations. We’re not the same person we used to be. We’re not changed. We’re “exchanged”. We’re blended with Christ to become someone brand new. Galatians 2:20 puts it this way, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I; but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Being “in Christ” and “Christ in us” is a difficult concept for many Christians, especially those who don’t understand their true identity in Christ. “How can I be in Christ if He died 2,000 years ago on a cross halfway across the world?” they ask. In the natural world of course that’s impossible. But in the spiritual world, it’s a blessed reality. Things in the natural world will all pass away, they are temporal. But things in the Spiritual world will last forever. They are eternal.

Just like Sweet Tea, when we accepted Christ we became someone entirely new– a mixture of our earthly bodies and the Eternal Son of God.

The next time you drink a big glass of sweet tea, think about being a new creation with Christ living in you and you in Christ. Talk about refreshing. For all you Yankees, I sure hope y’all get to visit us down South one day and savor a tall cold glass of this delicious nectar us Southern folks call sweet tea. Y’all will just love it.

Raised Up at The Last

by Jerry Ousley

Why is it that whatever it may be that we are looking for is always in the last place we look? Well, frankly because once we find it we stop looking so – well you get the picture I believe. How often have we watched a movie or program where the star is trying to defuse a bomb? The clock is ticking away and there are only seconds left. Then with one second to go he or she cuts the right wire and sitting on the edge of our seats we wipe a sweaty brow and breathe a sigh of relief. Of course we know that it’s just the drama of the show and in real life more often than not it doesn’t happen that way, but doesn’t it make it more exciting?

I’d say that many of you could relate incidents in which something happened at the last minute. It may not be as dramatic as defusing a bomb but in life it may have seemed just as vital. This has happened to me a few times. I had lost my job and was depending on unemployment as an income. Only there were some glitches that kept me from getting it. It was the end of July when I lost my job and thank the good Lord I had some on the side things going on that brought in some income. But now it was November. Christmas was fast approaching and it seemed as if there’d be no Christmas gifts, or meager one’s at best, unless we got a miracle. Then a week before the end of November it happened I checked the status of my unemployment and they had paid not only the week due but all the back pay! God had blessed. I know that some have had nightmares getting unemployment started in this economic meltdown and our prayers are certainly with them. Many can tell much more dramatic stories about things happening at the last minute!

Jesus told of some last minute things in John 6. His exact words were “And I will raise him up at the last day.” He said it four times in this chapter. In verse 39 He said, “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” Again in verse 40 He said, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Yet again in verse 44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” And finally in verse 54, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Just what did He mean by that phrase? Of course we know that those given to Christ by Father God will be resurrected and lifted up when our Lord returns. Those given to Christ by God, of those He will lose none. All who recognizes Christ for who He really is and commits to Him will be at home with Him in the last day. Those drawn to Jesus by the Father will be raised up at the last day. And those who have eaten the flesh of Christ and partaken of His blood in salvation will be raised up at the last day. But there is a bit more.

You see, the term “The last day” could also be interpreted as “the last time” or “the last minute.” He is the one who patiently is defusing the bomb that is certain to take us out. He is working to bring us the hope and peace we need. Jesus Christ by way of the Holy Spirit is the One who is finding the last place we will look for those things that we need to spiritually restore us.

We search and don’t find. We worry and fret and scheme to relieve ourselves of our plight. We get to the place where we feel there is no hope and our answer may never come. We’ve been faithful to the Lord and still this has come upon us! Doesn’t He love us? Isn’t He concerned about us? Has it all been for naught?

Hang in there; hold on; be faithful. He is there and He won’t let you down. He will raise you up in the last day and at the one second mark that bomb will be defused. You just wait and see He’ll be there for you at the last minute!

Pace and Progress

by Pam Ford Davis

Change, from my point of view is not always progress; it can impede my pace. For instance, I recall the phrase: “The clock is ticking.” Time was running out and I needed to be diligent in following through on goals and meeting obligations. With today’s technology many clocks no long tick or tock; time silently whizzes by and I no longer receive subliminal messages.

How well will I maximize time in the New Year? I have new calendars and have already written in several events and scheduled appointments; I’m efficient but am I faithful to follow through on the greatest commitment? “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33 NAS).”

He adds to my life; I must not subtract through needless worry. “Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow: for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34 NAS).” My clocks and watches may not be ticking but the silence allows me to hear God’s voice; He is calling me to seek His kingdom and righteousness. Progression follows seeking!

Indeed, the world’s best gift was wrapped in a manger!  A great message and reminder from Berean Baptist Church at 24070 US Highway 98 in Elberta.

Luke 2:1-12

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”