Hello church family and friends! May is a mighty good month to see what God may do. Whatever He does will be just right and won’t have any cracks or smears, although it may bring some tears. Sometimes our tears make a prism for our spiritual eyes so that we can see Heaven a little clearer. One thing for sure, May is a time to rejoice in God’s grace. Whether it’s graduation, the flowers or planting the fields, the God of all grace is showing His goodness and favor in His creation, our homes and our hearts.

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.1 Peter 5:10 -11

May for Christians is about like it is for bees, busy! When the flowers of God’s grace and mercy start blooming, the Christian bees begotten by God start buzzing and toting the encouraging nectar of God’s Holy Word to the hives of home and church to make healthy sweetness while pollinating people, problems and pains with the principles and precepts of truth that will make all the difference in the world. 

One thing God may do in May is make a butterfly. Only God can make a butterfly. This miraculous transformation which changes a devouring all caterpillar into a giving all beautiful butterfly is very much like the transformation of a sinner into a saint. Never think you or anyone you know is too far gone or has sinned too deeply for God to change. No sin nor sinner is greater than God’s grace. This is one reason we should try to love everyone and never judge others with condemnation. They may be an elect child of God who is just in the caterpillar stage.

I have visited the “Butterfly Center” at Callaway Gardens and it reminds me of SPBC — beautiful creatures floating around making everything look and do better, all getting along and even sharing their spot on a leaf (or a pew) with one another. You are a beautiful congregation to see on Sunday morning and thank you for all you do at the church, in the community and at your homes. I would have you all exemplify what a Christian should look like. It is true, the best way to know a Christian is to be one. And, the best way to be beautiful and not complain about anything is to acknowledge the change God has made in us from selfishness to satisfied giving and living.

May is especially busy at SBPC as we congratulate our graduates, Gracie Daniels, Konner Morrow and Aubrey Waters. Our Spring Meeting began May 5th with our guest preacher, Elder Ben Fordham. The ladies of the church just finished a wonderful, spiritual retreat at Camp Hillview and the men are anticipating a time of fellowship and spiritual shaping during the “Men of Clay” Conference scheduled later this month.

We have all most likely played or at least heard of the game, “Mother May I?” We can expand that game this month with a spiritual application and call it “God May I?” Every day in May is an opportunity to serve the Lord, not with a “Do I have to?” attitude, but with a “May I?” gratitude. Say, “Lord, may I help this person today?” or “Lord, may I go to worship you today?” or “Lord, may I give this tithe and offering to you?” Remember, we never know what God may do. Most likely it will be much more than we expect.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will  not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.  Malachi 3:10

The context for the statement, “God, may I?” is submission to God. We all will be much happier, purposeful and productive when God’s will is our will. It is most fitting then, that the key for the kingdom for the May Newsletter is “YIELD.”

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrightousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead,and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.  Romans 6:13

The word yield in Biblical application has a twofold meaning. The main gist of the word yield is to surrender and submit, to give up and quit striving against. It means to give way or give up to someone or something, to give in and to be compliant. Yield, on the other hand, is used in the Bible to denote productiveness and fruit bearing. Either way you take it, yield is from God and is a virtue of godliness we all need to cultivate in our lives here on Earth. The safest intersection is a four-way stop! The best way to keep from slipping away from God and falling into sin and failing to serve Him is to yield, no matter what direction we are coming from.

Yield to God

Yielding to God means He has the right-of-way in every area of our lives. God is not our co-pilot. He is our pilot. He may not always make our trip the smoothest, but He always gets us where He wants us to go and it is always the right place and we always get there on time. Now if we are riding with someone who is doing the driving in their vehicle, it would be foolish for us to ride with the door open and one leg hanging, dangling along the trip. The smart thing to do would be to get in all the way, buckle up and enjoy the trip.

We won’t be able to enjoy life or God, which really cannot be separated, until we fully yield to the Master. God made us and everything else and He surely knows what we need to get along best in this life. The Bible is sort of like a manufacturer’s handbook and reading and studying it is about like reading the directions on how to do life. If your life is not clicking right and things don’t seem to be working out like you think they should, you may need to yield to God by reading His directions given in His Divine Book. The sooner we realize it’s not about us, it’s about God, the better we’ll feel and our faith will be real and hot instead of fake and sitting on the back burner.

Our God is sovereign which means He is over all and does what He pleases with it all. All of us are glad we’re in such omnipotent hands because we are secure and safe in His merciful grasp. But we also must realize we are like clay in the Potter’s hands. The potter shapes and molds the clay, He does the work. The clay is completely compliant, responding to each folding and molding with no resistance.

Likewise, God shapes and molds and folds us to be the vessels He has chosen to serve Him and others. We, like the clay, ought to be thankful God has anything to do with us at all. And, if God sees a flaw or a failure, we should rejoice that He does not cast us in the “burn pile,” but puts us back on the drawing board and potters wheel to fix our brokenness and bring us to a usefulness.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

Yield to Grace

Most of the time a broken heart is not as bad as a divided heart.  When our hearts are broken, we are most likely to yield to God’s Grace. But when our hearts are divided, we are resisting His Grace. Grace is defined as unmerited favor and what a blessing grace really is. Grace is often taken for granted and that is a shame! The problems and pains we face in this life come and go to remind us of our need and the availability of God’s Grace. After all, we are saved by Grace and since that is the case, we surely ought to be willing to live by Grace.

Living by Grace rightly cannot be done without yielding to Grace. Living by Grace is seen most clearly when we are dealing with difficulties, yet we believe that God is going to bring good out of it.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  Romans 8:28

Now this verse is true whether or not we believe it is true. But if we believe it, we are yielding our doubts and fears to Grace and hooking on to God by faith. The object of our faith is more important than the degree of our faith. The best way to increase our faith is yield to God’s Grace.

Actually, God’s Grace is irresistible and that means it must be submitted to!  We would all be better off to voluntarily do that by yielding to Him and letting Him have His way in our lives. If we want to kick and squirm against His will in our lives, we will end up being about as successful as a red wiggler keeping from being threaded on fish hook at the pond. Sometimes the best thing to do when it rains is to just let it rain.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.& II Corinthians 12:9

Yield to Goodness

But he that received the seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  Matthew 13:23

We have often said and have heard others say, “God is good,” especially after being delivered from a trouble or recovering from surgery or sickness. Usually, what follows that statement is evidence in our or the other person’s life of spiritual fruit, of good deeds, of prayer and service to God. When God saves us, He not only takes away our sins and give us His righteousness, He also gives us a heart which yields good works which bring Him glory and produces good things for others. The genuine Christian does good not to be good but because he or she is good. The believer’s heart is fertile ground and is sure to produce abundant crops  of love, joy, peace and faith. The redeemed heart is a productive place but still needs cultivation while on this sin cursed earth where weeds  and pests live too.

Yielding to goodness will assure us of a most positive and optimistic perspective of life. If the goodness of God leads us to repentance, (and it does), surely His goodness ought to give us hope no matter our circumstances. Never let what’s wrong with this world keep you from appreciating what’s right with God, namely, His goodness. Yielding to goodness happens when we believe it before it gets to us, but we know it’s coming so we press on in the power of His Spirit and the comfort of His promises.

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13

Brother Randy