Scott W. Kay

Husband to Amanda. Dad of 4. Pastor of First Baptist Church, Prosper, TX. Helping people live and lead like the Gospel is true.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

@adrianwarnock @KSPrior Indeed. And so I pray for the goodness of God to lead to every repentance that’s needed.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

@BethMooreLPM @KSPrior So very Amen, sister. So very well said. It keeps inching, doesn’t it? It’s so spirit-of-the-age, and so NOT Spirit-of-God.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

The world thinks it's right-side up.

The Gospel says otherwise.

The last shall be first.
The servant will be your leader.
Death comes before life.

It doesn't sound like good news until you realize the world is the thing that's upside down.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

God sacrificed everything.

Let His own Son be killed.

That was the plan — not the tragedy.

God made an offering for us, not the other way around.

No other religion on earth has that at the center of its message.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

The Thessalonians heard Paul’s assumption-challenging message about Jesus and were reactionary.

The Bereans heard Paul and were receptive.

Same Gospel. Very different posture.

Which one sounds more like you?

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

Jesus is Lord.

Sounds simple.

But that statement has always been the most politically charged thing a person can say.

Every other claim to ultimate authority has to answer to Him.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

Christians are called to be law-abiding, peace-bringing, authority-respecting citizens.

BUT — no president, king, prime minister, or mayor gets the total allegiance and complete obedience that belongs to Jesus Christ alone.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

"These men have caused trouble all over the world."

That's the charge against Paul and Silas. (Acts 17)
Not violence. Not theft.

Just the message that Jesus is the supreme King.

That was enough to start a riot.

It’s what turns lives around and the world upside down (right side up!).

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

Paul didn't walk into Jewish synagogues and wing it.
He reasoned. He explained. He proved.

For three straight weeks.

Faith isn't the absence of thinking. It's where good thinking leads.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

We want the crown without the cross.
Glory without suffering.
Triumph without trial.

The Gospel doesn't give us that.

It gives us something better — an unbreakable relationship with the Person who led the way for the joy set before Him, inviting us to join Him.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

Two guys walking to Emmaus, completely crushed.
Jesus walks up — but they don't recognize Him.

He opens the Scriptures and shows them what they'd missed seeing their whole lives.

"Didn't our hearts burn within us?"

That moment is still available to anyone willing to look.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

Abel. Isaac. Slavery in Egypt. Passover lamb. David on the run from Absalom. Exile in Babylon.

Look at the pattern.

Suffering → vindication.
Disaster → reversal.
Death → resurrection.

It's all over the storyline of the Bible.

Suffering comes before glory
Cross comes before the crown.
Thorns come before the throne.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

Nobody writes a hero story that runs through a cross.
Nobody.

And yet that's exactly what God did.
The Savior He sent didn't fit anyone's template — and that's the whole point.

The Gospel turns our expectations upside down.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

This is consistently the most comforting and liberating experience when my heart is as heavy as a truck.

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

My dear friend, when grief presses you to the dust, worship there.

— Spurgeon

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

Against every expectation of what we look for in a leader…

The Messiah had to suffer.
Had to be put to death.
Had to rise.

No other option.
That's not Plan B.
That was always the plan.
God’s ways are not our ways.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

@Tish_H_Warren Amen. And often the wisest and most powerful.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

So very very very Amen.

[Jason Kovacs @jasonkovacs]

Many pastors carry a pressure unlike anything else in history. The temptation to compare, to innovate, to keep up, to launch a podcast, to preach at a certain level, to grow the church, and to produce visible results are just a few. So many begin to feel like failures, questioning whether the ordinary means of grace can really accomplish what today’s demands require.

Christ never called pastors to be celebrities, brands, or ministry entrepreneurs. He called them to be faithful shepherds. The Word preached, the sacraments administered, prayer offered, and people loved may seem ordinary in a world obsessed with metrics and platforms, but God has always delighted to work through what appears weak and unimpressive.

The pressure to produce what only God can give is crushing. Results belong to Him. We plant, water, but God gives the growth (1 Cor 3:6). Pray for pastors today!

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

@Jonathan_Dodson So very Amen, brother! Sovereign *and* present. What precious, double comforts.

[Scott W. Kay @ScottWKay]

God's answers to the deepest needs of His people have a habit of arriving from the most unexpected places, through the most overlooked people.

Boy can Hannah, David, Mary and a hundred others tell you some stories!

He's still working that way.