Keith’s Blog

Why have we gotten so lazy that we think if we go to church once a week we have done God a favor? What if you had a pre-set meeting with Jesus Christ and you did not show up? How rude, inconsiderate and silly would that be? Definitely not a good idea to stand up the One who keeps all your molecules held together. Yet we leave Him standing alone in the sanctuary every week. To clarify what I am about to say, I need to quote an old preacher by the name of Garney Bell. He was a revivalist when I first started in the ministry. Brother Bell would say “Some people say they are saved but in reality they are only salved (He pronounced this saaved with a short a)-they just got a little rubbed on them in an emotional meeting. Saved people are going to heaven, Salved people are going to hell.” We have too many people in all of our churches today that can’t stick it out. Even Jesus said “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” Why am I being so harsh? I am tired of people that want to play the game of Christianity that do not know the Lord of Christianity, that have selfish ambitions and agendas. I am also excited because God has brought some folks into our church that don’t see coming to church more than once a week as a negative and are committed to working until Jesus comes. Bottom line-go to church! As many times as you can, every week, even every day.

Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

I want to thank you for keeping our team in your prayers while we were in Nicaragua. Our journey was completely free of any problems, but definitely not uneventful. Our medical team set up a makeshift clinic on three different days in three different locations. There were times we had to use generators and we carried water to each location. The medical team treated close to 450 patients. Our team consisted of pediatricians, nurses, and dentists. While the clinics were being set up I would present the gospel to the people waiting in line to see the doctors. Since Coy is fluent in Spanish she took care of the registration table at each clinic and met every one of the people in the communities we served. We spent one afternoon in a hospital and presented the gospel to a few of the patients. I preached in four different churches. One of the churches has a school that is sponsored by Compassion International. It was interesting to see the focal point of Christian giving from around the world at this church. We spent one morning ministering to the children of parents that lived and worked in a dump. Some of these children are abandoned. We saw a total of 185 professions of faith as a result of all ministries! Two of the communities we served had no church and no pastor.  Seventy-Two people made professions of faith in a community called Paradise and fifty people made professions of faith in a community called Rota. Please continue to pray with us that God raises up a godly, evangelical pastor that can nurture these new believers in these communities. In Paradise we found a group of 20 young men ranging from sixteen to twenty years of age. We gave these young men Spanish New Testaments and they began reading them right away. We spent a lot of time with them playing soccer, kickball, arm wrestling and even wrestling with them. Two of them called me out to arm wrestle…and I beat them both! I am now a legend in Nicaragua-the undefeated pastor! Of course I left before their Dad’s showed up. When I left this community I was heartbroken. Even as I write this my heart is burdened for God to raise up a Nicaraguan pastor that can keep these boys on the right path.  

Our host was Cheryl Spence, the Nicaraguan director of Jesus Centered Ministries. You can find out about their ministry at www.jcmmissions.com. Cheryl has five children living with her that were abandoned by their parents. These children range in age from seven to eleven, so this presented some fun, yet very interesting circumstances in the home/school where we stayed. JCM has been given a seventy acre farm on which to build a children’s hospital just outside of Leon. They are going to need volunteers to keep clearing the land and eventually for construction. If you interested contact them through their web site.

There are many more details I would love to share with you about this trip, but time does not permit. Romans 1:12 really comes alive to me when I consider how we all worked together.  On our team we had people from the USA, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and all of you as prayer partners. Together with God there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

“That is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Romans 1:12

In Christ,

Pastor Keith

www.cadescovefellowship.org

As I was reading this morning I came across a passage of Scripture that brought back some memories. In 2 Kings you will find the account of King Joash. He began to reign when he was seven years old as the king of Judah. He was kept in hiding for six years from his grandmother that had murdered all of his brothers and cousins. Sound like a soap opera? The grandmother was also the queen of Judah…not something God had set up. She killed off all of her relatives to take possession of the throne. She must have been one nasty woman. I would like to call her something else but decency will not allow me. Eventually the wicked, queen grandmother was assassinated and Joash took the throne that was rightfully his at the ripe old age of seven. The Bible says that Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years that the priest Jehoiada instructed him. There are two events that we remember Joash for. One of them is the chest of Joash. This was a wooden chest with a hole bored in the top where people would bring their offerings for the repair of the temple. I remember the few times I went to the little Methodist Chapel with my grandparents as a small child there would be a time in the service when any child that had a birthday would come and place a token offering in a little bird house looking church model. As I read the story of Joash I see a seven year old king placing his pennies in a similar box. But apparently the people did this for a long time because the box would get full and they would have to empty it and start over. This struck a nerve with me because I once pastored a church where the very first time I met the treasurer he introduced himself to me as “the Judas of the bunch.” Whoa! Red Flag! And it was a self fulfilling prophecy. We later found out the man was hiding money. He would count the offerings, by himself, put it in the back of his car and drive around with it for a week or two before depositing it. Joash did not worry about the money in his chest because “They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty” 2 Kings 12:15. I was a young, stubborn pastor and it came down to a “him or me” ultimatum with my treasurer. The church chose him because of his seniority and I watched God take His hand off that church. We have a great system of checks and balances in our church at Cades Cove. I have never even been in our counting room nor do I intend to go. We have different teams assigned to counting, book keeping etc. An old preacher told me early on in ministry, “Son, if you will keep your hands off women and money you will be alright.” So far, so good. The other event Joash is known for is giving away the gold and silver of the temple to keep another king from attacking Judah. The king did not attack Judah, but a pattern was formed where foreign kings would come and the kings of Judah would use the furniture and jewels of the temple to barter freedom. Hello?! What happened to kings with backbone that would say “We bow to no one but God and He will fight for us!” Joash had plenty of accounts to refer to of how God delivered with the choir, with a broken lamp, with watery ditches, thunder, etc. I believe that honesty and faith are virtues that are extinct from many of the things we do “in the name of God” and under the umbrella of the church. Maybe honesty could be our first step back toward the holiness of God.

About a year and a half ago God spoke to me to build our church with the broken. I studied this thought intently and meditated profusely on God’s imperative command to me. His command was not a suggestion, nor was it the newest, greatest, latest method to do church. I have become more and more appalled at what we do in the name of church, then just for good measure tack the name of Jesus at the end of our self indulgent, pious, preposterous endeavors.  I have become increasingly aware of just how much we worship our “worship.” We worship the seat we sit in at church. We worship the song that speaks to us. For some of us that song is a chorus, for some of us that song is a hymn. It may even be a specific instrument that is played, or conspicuously absent from our services. Exactly two years ago I wrote a blog called “The Journey From Passion to Trust.” In that devotional I described how God had used dynamite to blow my entire world apart. I confess that I am a recovering Pharisee.  It was easier to stand in judgment than it is to hand out compassion. Judgment cost me nothing, compassion is expensive and messy. And I found that not many people fit into what used to be my preconceived notion of what was necessary to follow God. Broken people are dirty people. Broken people are broke people.  Broken people are damaged people. I am not the first leader to be aware of how difficult it is to minister to the broken, bruised, and damaged people of our community. Solomon had this down way before I did. Listen to what Solomon said: “Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; But much increase comes by the strength of an ox” Proverbs 14:4. I am not trying to say that any of you are oxen or cows, I just want you to know what Solomon and I have found out: when you deal with people it gets messy. Maybe a better way to say what I am trying to say is “No mess, no ministry.”

As the past two years have expired I have witnessed, with what feels like light speed, changes in my life, my family and our church that I did not perceive happening. Bottom line is that time changes things. Time changes people. Time changes churches. Time changes countries. Jesus never changes. Jesus never fails. As things become less and less familiar we have a tendency to grasp for the comfortable things of the past. Our past and even our memories become idols, stealing our passion away from the here and now. Sometimes we even allow the bad experiences to become idols. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of giving away my worship to perceptions, memories, successes and failures. About two months ago I made a commitment to Jesus Christ that I am starting over. I am taking His word and I am going to be as true to Him and His word as I possibly can. This time I am going to let Him judge the ones that need to be judged. I have heard about all I want to hear about what works and doesn’t work in church. I am through with people who are experts in religion and have no idea what an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is all about. I have begun to listen to a lot of dead preachers. But ironically their messages are filled with more life and Holy Spirit than many of the people that are littering the airwaves and pulpits of today. These are men who are dead in the flesh and moved on to heaven. Please don’t mistake them with living dead preachers that occupy pulpits for money or fame. I was listening to Vance Havner the other night. He was a spirit filled mountain preacher from North Carolina that knew how to bring it. I chuckled as I heard him say “A person with a PhD that has never been born again is nothing more than a phenomenal dud.”

We have experts in about every area of the church today but how many of us our experts on what it means to be born again, to be securely positioned in Christ? Both by birth and by adoption. I am tired of people telling me how to be the next, best greatest _______. I am going back to what John the Baptist said “He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease” John 3:30.

In our broken, broke church we are seeing people’s lives radically changed. And they would not fit in most churches. I am a teetotaler because of generational, Biblical, and health reasons. But we have recently baptized bartenders, bargirls, people living together and many others that would not even be allowed to grace the doors of most churches. And I hang out with them. I play ball with them. But I don’t hold back from preaching the whole counsel of God and I let them know that up front. My job is to preach to them and love them.  It is the duty of the Holy Spirit to clean them up. If I try to clean them up I wind up messing them up worse than they were to begin with. It is really cool when we are patient with the Holy Spirit. We don’t get to see all of them transform, but there is always that one…Wow!

Can I invite you on a journey with me? You may already be there. But will you get on your knees and in His Word and follow this simple plan just for a little while? What is the plan? It is not a new one. And it has worked for a long time. Here it is: Jesus, plus nothing. Let me know what happens.

In Christ,

Keith Pierce, Pastor

Cades Cove Fellowship

Cadescovefellowship.org

PO Box 7237

Maryville, TN 37802

HEALING

As the New Year approaches I begin to pray and seek God’s direction about where He is leading our church and what He desires to do in us. As I look toward 2009 I keep hearing health and healing. Our focus for 2009 is personal and corporate health and healing. We will begin with an altar prayer in the church at 11:30 PM on December 31 and continue in a season of prayer & fasting through January 21, 2009. We will also focus on healthy relationships. On January 30-31 our family ministers Brian and Michelle Hearon will be leading a Couples Retreat. Dr Joy Carroll will also be leading a parenting class on Wednesday nights in January and we will focus on financial health on February 7 with Russ Carroll of Dave Ramsey Ministries. As your pastor I am asking you to expect big things this year. I challenge you to step up to the plate and do whatever it takes to strengthen the health of your family, your finances and your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I don’t want to lag behind God and I don’t want to get way out ahead of Him. I want to be where He is. We began 2008 with twenty-one days of prayer and fasting and saw healing and health. I want to see more in the upcoming year. I challenge you to read Isaiah 58 and give Jesus Christ the place He deserves in your life and watch how He blesses you.

I have a simple point to make.  Christmas is not about Ramadan, Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah.  It’s not about a festive spirit, family, food or Santa Claus.  I wrote a Christmas poem a few years back entitled “X Marks the Spot.”  It was about taking the name of Christ out of Christmas and it was written in the early 1990s.  While watching cartoons with my girls I realized that we have gone far beyond just taking the name of Jesus out of Christmas.  We have crowded Him out all together!  Nearly every Nickelodeon and Disney cartoon has sought to educate our young viewers that Christmas is more than a Christian Holiday.  Bah Humbug!

Tolerance became the watchword at the turn of the 21st century and the “kickin” thing to do.  Rightly so, our society must tolerate diversity.  That is the strength of our nation and one of the bedrocks on which our nation was founded, apparently, the only virtue that many media types want to discuss.  You won’t hear Katie Couric, Tom Brokaw, or Peter Jennings hailing the virtues of the prayer life of George Washington or how Abe Lincoln sought God for guidance in the Civil war.  Now I am rambling, back to my point–CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A TOLERABLE RELIGION!!  Well, maybe you could say the religion of Christianity is tolerable, but that is where we have drifted astray.  As many of us have discovered on our own personal journey, Christianity is more than a religion, it is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the one person that loves us more than we will ever fathom in this life.

Yes, Satan almost succeeded in taking the name of Christ out of Christmas.  If you find our adversary in academia, he can even give you a theological reason for taking the name of Christ out of Christmas.  Many of you have heard the following argument: 

“X is the Greek letter that represents Jesus Christ and therefore it is an honor to represent the Christ child with an X.”  Hogwash!!!  How many of you take a copy of the Greek manuscript along with you to Church or Sunday School?  As many of you do, I read from a translation that communicates the language that is spoken today.  Christianity is not supposed to be a secret society that only a few intellectuals benefit from.  It is for the masses, for the smart, the not so smart, the rich, the poor, the black, the white, the yellow, the brown and any other hue of skin pigmentation found in our world today. Christianity is for Africans, Americans, Arabs, Jews and every other nationality that can be listed.

My question is simple.  Why are so many ethnic groups attaching their unrelated celebrations or festivals to the Holiday that honors the Incarnation of God Himself?  Why have we allowed Christmas to become just one of the rituals among rituals that mark the end of the old year and the beginning of a New Year?  

       Our adversary was unsuccessful in taking the name of Christ out of Christmas with the rise of the commercialism of the twentieth century.  It seems apparent that he is succeeding after just a few years in the twenty-first century at taking the presence of Christ out of Christmas. Satan is using an emphasis on tolerance and diversity to take not the name, but the presence of Christ out of Christmas.  How would you like it if on your birthday you were told that it was not fair for you to celebrate because someone else might get his or her feelings hurt?  I believe that if the trend of tolerance of other gods continues we will soon be a polytheistic society.  We would do well to read the books of Kings and Chronicles and learn from the history of the nations of Israel and Judah.  Polytheism, or the worshiping of several gods led to their ultimate destruction. 

Conclusion: I want to encourage you to do as I will be doing and let Jesus Christ be the pivotal center piece of the Christmas holidays. 

Two women who were having lunch in an elegant hotel were approached by a mutual friend who asked the occasion for the meal. One lady replied, “We are celebrating the birth of my baby boy.” “But where is he?” inquired the friend. “Oh,” said the mother, “you didn’t think I’d bring him, did you?” What a picture of the way the world treats Jesus at Christmas.

In everything give thanks…1 Thessalonians 5:18

That verse can sometimes be one of the toughest verses in the Bible. Is it really possible to give thanks in everything that happens to us? Thanksgiving is a time that I begin to look back, look around and start looking forward. I recently heard someone say that we have the Thanksgiving Holiday backwards. Instead of griping and complaining 364 days of the year and giving thanks one day a year, maybe we should turn it around. How about giving thanks 364 days a year, then setting one day aside to gripe and complain?

This will probably be a tough winter financially for many people. I want to remind you that money does not mean happiness. I will probably post an old devotional I did a few years back on the simplicity of Christmas. We don’t need the commercialism to hold on to the character of Christmas. I am working on a sermon series called The Heart of Christmas. The series will start this Sunday, November 30. I will be talking about The House of Bread and how God provides.

Sometimes life is hard, but God is constant and strong. Your life may have drastically changed since the last Christmas season, but I can promise you that God does not change. His love for you is unconditional. His care for you is unwavering. And His grace to you is unlimited. So go and thank Him even if things aren’t what you want them to be. And remember that God inhabits our praise and our Thanksgiving.

PASSION

God recently showed me once again how passion can energize a family, a company, a sports team and even a church. As my youngest daughter plays her first game today on the 8^th grade basketball team I shared with her again how important passion is in any sport. After coaching her and many other girls for several years I decided it was time to retire. I may be like Brett Favre and retire several times before I decide to “really” retire.  Our church has come to a place that it is time to move forward-full steam ahead. God has placed some very key people on our “bus” and we are finding what we are passionate about. Talking with a group of friends in our church this week I shared that I feel like I am back in a youth group. We spent the afternoon this past Sunday playing paintball. Since I am allergic to pain I spent the afternoon laughing at the people playing paintball. I feel a renewed passion in our church and the flame of God’s Holy Spirit is burning strong. My prayer is that we stay out of His way and allow Him to work however He sees fit.

I want us all to extend a very warm welcome to Sarah and Aaron Myers as they get on our bus. As she begins her ministry as our children’s minister we are reminded that God answers prayers in ways that only He gets to show off. Aaron has already completed revamped our web site and added some really cool stuff. Many of you that are on staff or in leadership will find surprises just for you. I see in this God called couple a passion for serving our Lord with their unique gifts. Their passion makes my passion burn more strongly!

Wayne Gretzky impacted the sport of hockey in such a way that his Jersey Number 99 was permanently retired by the National Hockey League.  Known as “The Great One,” it has been predicted that hockey will never again see a player who played the sport with as much passion as Wayne. During his long and illustrious career in hockey Wayne Gretsky accomplished a lot. But when you look at Wayne as a hockey player, Time Magazine called him “A Most Unlikely One.” As a player Wayne was not that fast and had a shot that was strangely weak. On his team he was always the last in strength training and his physique was anything but impressive.  If you looked at the outside of Wayne Gretsky, he was the most unlikely one to have accomplished what he did during his lifetime. When Time Magazine ran this by Wayne his face lit up and he said “Maybe it wasn’t talent the Lord gave me.  Maybe it was passion.” When someone lives a focused life….of passion, it’s amazing what can be accomplished for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.  

I also want to thank all of the veterans for allowing God to use your passion for the safety, hope and freedom of the United States of America to continue to keep us free and strong. You are all heroes! Your service and sacrifice does not go unnoticed and we are indebted to you for what we enjoy in the USA.