FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
Remember Me | 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Have you ever wondered how a simple meal can carry profound spiritual significance? Join us as we reflect on the sacred tradition of the Lord's Supper, exploring how shared meals have played pivotal roles in shaping our life's journey. From the nostalgic memories of childhood in Baxley, Georgia, to early experiences in Powder Springs, we uncover the vital role food has held in our lives and the lives of those around us. This episode is not just about recounting personal stories but celebrating the lasting impact of community efforts over the past 42 years, all while focusing on the pivotal figure of Jesus and His ultimate sacrifice.
Throughout this heartfelt discussion, we invite you to consider the profound lessons from Jesus’ humble, foot-washing gesture at the Last Supper and its call for us to be humble servants to others. Together, we remember the fulfillment of Messianic prophecies and how the disciples witnessed Jesus' transformative journey. Whether you're facing life's challenges or moments of joy, we invite you to reflect on your relationship with Christ, cherish His forgiveness, and embrace His life-changing power. As we gather at the Lord's table, let's celebrate and share in the unity and fellowship that transcends differences, focusing on a mission far greater than ourselves.
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I guess I'm getting old. I said turn my mic on. I thought I had. It's so good to be with you guys today. I just thank you so much for this opportunity to share with you and already I've seen so many faces that I haven't seen in a while and I go back many years and I am blessed. And go back many years and I am blessed.
Speaker 1:In our first service, buddy Reeves, my dear friend that I served with in Montgomery, alabama, did a prayer and he got me so emotional that I can't tell you what I preached on in that first service. I don't even remember if I made any sense or not, but I pray the Lord did and that's all that matters. But I just want to say thank you for my family, for my wife Karen and my family that are here, for the investment that you have made in our lives. This isn't Alan Davis day. This is a Jesus day, because all of us together have worked to build the kingdom of God and I am so humbled that God gave me the privilege to just be a part of what he has done in this church over these last 42 years. When Pastor Chip shared with me that we would have communion today, I began to think about you know how can I tie all of this together? And I just wanted to really make it not about me but about the Lord. And I know we're going to have a fellowship time and reception after, and that's good, but what I wanted this time to be was about Jesus, not about me. And so, you know, when we think about communion and we think about what we're about to do in just a moment, we have several scriptures that speak to this. The first one that I'm going to share with you is from John, chapter 13. And there's something that's really unique about these passages they all kind of speak to the same thing, and the one thing that it talks about is Jesus' authority. So in John 13, beginning with verse 3, it says Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself, and he poured water into a basin and he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. And we find again that Jesus reminds us that when he brought the disciples together, it was for a specific purpose of having communion with them. So when I, as I prayed and I looked at the scriptures, I recognized that there is a common thread in my life, that there is a significance of mealtime in my life, and it seems like every major decision or circumstance in my life food's been involved some way. And so I think that's scriptural, based on what Jesus said here with the Lord's Supper and pulling the disciples together.
Speaker 1:As a boy, a young boy growing up in Baxley, georgia, I can remember sitting on the front porch of my grandparents' houses, either one and all the debates about politics or football or baseball or NASCAR or whatever was going on. Sometimes those debates would get a little fiery, but when my grandmother would ring the dinner bell, we would all take off and we would go in and we'd sit around the table and we would eat and we would laugh and we would fellowship with one another and all of the debate and all of the other things that had taken place disappeared. I thought about the very first time that I came to Powder Springs it was in the spring of 1979, and the very first place that we met anybody from Powder Springs other than Dean and Carolyn Dodgen, who I grew up with in Brunswick, was at Wallace's Barbecue and right down the middle they had a big table. I think there were about 15 of us or so and we sat right in the middle of Wallace's Barbecue and they peppered me with questions, karen and I, about who we were and what we were doing. And at that time it was decided that we would come and spend the summer. That summer in 1979, here in Powder Springs. Karen was pregnant with Whitney and our very first baby shower was at the Tillman's house, at Guy and Phoebe Tillman's house, before we went back to seminary to finish up school. So you know, the food was significant in us coming here. Food has been involved in weddings and funerals and everything we did. In fact, sometimes one of my cousins owned a funeral home down in Baxley. We had family reunions in the funeral home. So I mean, you know, so we've done some weird stuff through the years with that.
Speaker 1:But I think it's very significant that Jesus uses the Lord's Supper, communion, to help us to get an understanding of who we are in Christ and what Christ has done for us. You see, communion does several things. One of them, it is a recognition for us of what Christ has done. Now, when we read the words of Scripture about this time, the disciples did not know exactly what some of those things meant because they did not experience Jesus' death and his burial and his resurrection. So when Jesus was talking about his broken body and his shed blood, they still were trying to put that in context of what that meant. We are lucky in that we do understand, we know, we can put that in the proper context, because we have lived the experience of receiving the salvation that Jesus Christ offers us because of the sin debt that he paid for each and every one of us.
Speaker 1:So as Jesus is gathering his disciples up, he tells them, he says I want you to go and meet a man, and he's got a place. He's got an upper room and he's got it set up. I want you to go and prepare it for the meal, and he's got it set up. I want you to go and prepare it for the meal. And so Jesus and the disciples meet there and then, as he begins to talk with them and share with them, we find the words that we just read he talks to them, he breaks the bread and he tells them it's his broken body and he takes the cup and said it's his shed blood. And after they did that, jesus stands up and John tells us what he did. He removed his outer clothing and he got a bowl, a basin, and he filled it with water and he took the rags and he began to wipe and wash the disciples' feet. Here is the king of the universe humbling himself and saying and washing the dirty feet of his disciples.
Speaker 1:Just a few verses over Peter, you know. Oh Peter, he wants everything. You know, he wants to be filled up and get it all. And he says, lord, don't wipe my feet. And Jesus said if I don't wash your feet, you have no part of me. And then Peter said well, if that's the case, wash me from head to toe. I want the whole deal. And Jesus said no, that's not required. But I applaud Peter's enthusiasm. But Peter also had not experienced what it meant to betray the Lord and then to be able to receive the forgiveness that Jesus offered to him. So Jesus was again showing and even hinting at what was to come, even in Peter's own life.
Speaker 1:So today, as we think about communion, communion is a time for us to make preparation in our own hearts to remember what Jesus has done for us. Communion is a time of sharing intimate thoughts and feelings with Jesus and about our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is one of two ordinances in the Baptist church and we're going to get to do both of them today baptism and then the Lord's Supper. What a wonderful day. Let's praise the Lord for that. Amen, amen. And so, as we celebrate our relationship with Christ today, communion is a symbol of the new covenant that Jesus has made with his people. It points that his redeemed people are gathered together at his table saying to Jesus that we love you, and then Jesus says that he wants us to remember him. As often as you do this, remember me.
Speaker 1:So when I pull back and we look at the full context of what is taking place here and Jesus says remember me, what could those disciples have remembered about Jesus? Well, first of all, I think, after having been with him for nearly three years, that they would have learned pretty much a lot about his character, and they knew that Jesus fulfilled most all of the messianic prophecies that are in the Old Testament. I looked it up. There's some that said he fulfilled 300. Some of them said he filled 450. There's some of them said there were 500. I don't know how they figure all those out, but we know this for a fact.
Speaker 1:Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. He is the Messiah, he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And so we know, and they knew because of their love and their knowledge of Scripture. They knew that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies. They also knew that Jesus had been baptized. They saw John the Baptist baptize him in the River Jordan. They saw the Spirit of God fall on him like a dove and say this is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. They knew that they had seen how God himself had interacted with Jesus, his son, and then, as they thought about him even more, they could realize that he had had the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and people were singing his praises. They also knew that, as Jesus was telling them this, that he was beginning to pass the torch to them for service in ministry to his people.
Speaker 1:We can see that, as Jesus asked his disciples to prepare the upper room and he gave them instructions on how that they were going to do it, he was already showing them that he prepares a place for all of us. You know he said in John 14, that he goes to prepare a place for us and and when that place is finished, he's going to come and get us and he's going to take us to that place. I think even even in the Lord's Supper, in this communion, there is a picture of that, where, being prepared, jesus prepared a place for the disciples to be together. He prepares a place for us to commune with him today, jesus also let them see an example of him being an humble servant. As he washed their feet, he wanted them to know that they were not called to a calling that was above and beyond anyone, but they were called to serve everyone. Their purpose in life was not to gain accolades, but their purpose was to be the one that introduced people to the Savior. And so as we look at those examples of Christ and we begin to see how we can take those things and we can apply them to our lives, then we also, when he says, remember me.
Speaker 1:We have the opportunity then to remember what Jesus has done for us, as I've looked back on my ministry here and I've thought about all of the different things that I've gotten to do. You know, somebody asked me one time. I said do you have any problem asking somebody to do a certain job and I said, well, really I don't, because most of the things I ask people to do I've done myself, and if I've done them myself then I'm comfortable asking them to do that. So when we humble ourselves and we become servant ministers and servant leaders and servant workers in the church, then what we do is we begin to build memories of ministry, we begin to build snapshots of our lives, of where Christ has been faithful and because of his faithfulness to us, we know that we are doing something that is bigger and beyond what we could possibly do. I told the, the 930 crowd we were talking about I remember the very first capital stewardship program we had in our church when we were talking about.
Speaker 1:I remember the very first capital stewardship program we had in our church when we were expanding the sanctuary. Pastor Mike was coming out of Cobb Hospital and had an encounter with one of our leaders and they asked him if he knew what he was doing trying to raise a million, a little over a million dollars and he said no, I'm not sure that I know. And the man talked to him and said, basically said there's no way we could do that. And he was right, we could not. But he asked Mike. He said but Mike responded I don't know. I don't know where the money's coming from, but God does, and if God wants us to have it, we will.
Speaker 1:And you know what God did a God-size miracle. A church that had not had any success in doing any kind of program like that in the past. God blessed it and our people responded and you know what. We moved beyond that. From then on it was like God's got this and he's got us and we can do the things that God wants us to do here in this place. Well, folks, we're at the same place today. We've got changes in our leadership and I am so thankful for the team of people that God has brought to us and is going to be bringing to us in the future.
Speaker 1:And I believe with all of my heart that the brightest days of First Baptist Church are ahead. But it's not because of First Baptist Church, it's because God is the one that's directing what's going on. And as long as we are following faithfully his vision and his will for this church as a people, then great things are going to happen for the kingdom. I asked the other group if they would covenant with me to pray for our staff, to pray for our pastor and our staff over these next years, and I ask you to do the same thing. If you'll covenant to pray with me every day for our pastor and our staff and for the ministries of our church, would you give me a round of applause right now? All right, amen, amen. Thank you for that.
Speaker 1:But when we think about being able to be someone that prepares for the kingdom, when we think about being someone that has the ability to humbly serve the kingdom, and when we think about being able to have a relationship with Jesus Christ that gives us memories that fuel and fan the flame of our faith, then there are wonderful, wonderful things ahead of us. Because as our faith grows and as we put our hope and our trust in Jesus Christ, what happens is godly. Action is the result. If you are excited about Jesus, you don't just hide it. You know when someone gets saved they're on fire. They want people to know the transformation has taken place in their life, there's a change that has taken place, and they want other people to experience that. And so, if we have been Christians for a long time I've been a Christian almost 60 years and I often think, lord, please don't let the flame die. Let your light live in me, let your light shine through me so others might see Jesus. And that's what Jesus wants and desires for us, so that we can be everything that he wants us to be. What do we do with, with the future? Where are we gonna go?
Speaker 1:I told those guys at 9.30, I was nice. I didn't tell them they were old, I told them they were mature and they were wise and they had wisdom and that one of the major roles that they have to play is to be encouragers to you guys. They are to be your mentors. If you wanna know how to live a life that is dedicated to faithful service in Jesus Christ, go talk to somebody that has walked into the funeral home and they've taken their spouse or a loved one and they've experienced those things. They've lost their jobs, they've had all kind of turmoil in their life, but God has been faithful and they've seen that God can be trusted and because of that trust, when those of you who are younger and those of us who may not have as much of an experience in life that they do, they can encourage us and they can help us to know that there is hope and that you're going to make it, and that God is worthy of your trust, that God is worthy of your faith. And so, when we have a genuine faith, it should create actions in our lives. That calls us to recognize who God is and what he's doing, because communion is a celebration as well as a remembrance. It helps us to love Jesus more. You know, it is a solemn experience in remembering what Christ has done and as we partake of the elements of the Lord's Supper, we reflect on what Christ has done and saved us from and forgiven us from but man. It's also a great celebration of knowing that we are not like we used to be and that today, because Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried and was raised from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us, that we have that victory of eternal life and that we'll be with him forever. That's something to celebrate. That's a wonderful thing to know and to comprehend that, no matter what we face in life, that God is with us.
Speaker 1:One of my prayers throughout this whole time that I have been at First Baptist has been that I would know when it was time to go before anybody else, that I would know when the time had come before anybody else did. And about a year ago I began to come to that conclusion and Pastor Chip talked me into staying another year. I told him I'd stay with him for another year, but I had also asked the Lord to let me finish well. And I'll admit to you, I'll be honest with you, there were times that I didn't think I was. I was not sure if I was finishing well. But when God began to move, when Mike retired and then church asked me if I would kind of stay, make sure I was gonna stay and wouldn't go anywhere, and we prayed about it, karen and I prayed about that and we talked. I realized maybe this is how I finish well, and I don't know. You know, in the kingdom's economy, if I did, I guess only heaven will bear that out, but I can tell you this thank you, because you are the ones that helped me finish my course. Everything that has been done has been done because of each and every one of you and your willingness to step up and be the people of God, particularly in a time of transition. So I thank you and I encourage you to continue your journey and that you will finish well.
Speaker 1:You see, those disciples had no idea what they were about to experience. You know, even one of them was about to betray him because he wasn't doing it the way he wanted. He thought Jesus ought to do it. And if we're not careful we can get there. We can be so convinced that our way is the right way and the best way, and if we're not, you know we can push and we can, you know, want our way, but Jesus' way. God's intent wasn't the way. So that person went and left and betrayed Christ. But those who stayed, wow, look what happened. They changed the world. They changed the world.
Speaker 1:We, as a church First Baptist Powder Springs have an opportunity today, as we come to the Lord's table, we say to him that we love him, we thank him for his forgiveness and his grace and his mercy, and we say to him today Lord, use me, use me. And today, no matter what you're experiencing in life you may be despondent, you may be depressed, you may be heartbroken, you may have struggles that are so overwhelming you don't have any idea of where to go Jesus says remember me, remember me, remember me. So, if you don't know him today, I pray that you would come to know him in the fullness of his love, that you would experience that life changing power that comes only through the Holy Spirit, and that you will confirm your relationship with Christ and you'll begin to grow in Him. Remember Jesus.
Speaker 1:There was a song that we used to sing that was titled Remember Me, and the one thing that I do not want you to do if you'll grant me this wish is when you think of me, think of relationship, and I do that too, but I don't want you to remember what Alan did. I want you to remember Jesus. I want you to remember Jesus, remember Jesus, remember Jesus and then share Jesus. We're going to have a time now to just think about that. You contemplate your position with Christ before we have the Lord's Supper today. I pray that you will consider Jesus and that you would remember him. Let's pray, father. We thank you. We thank you for your love, we thank you for your grace, your mercy. We pray now that in these moments, that you would speak to our hearts, that you would use us to become instruments of your peace and, father, that we might finish well in our service for you, in Jesus' name, amen.