Life Here and There

The other day I had to call the telephone company to get them to repair our line at church. The call I made was quite an ordeal. I never actually spoke to a human being. Instead, my voice was interpreted by a computer who routed me through a very elaborate schema of menus until I was finally able to schedule a service call to take place on a particular day precisely between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Here’s the thing… I had to make the call. It was necessary that I do so or we’d never have our phone service again because nobody at the company would ever know. It’s the only method of getting the repair scheduled.

Communicating with God is quite different. He’s real and personal. He’s not only ready to answer, He’s actually on the line all the time listening. Furthermore, He already knows our needs before we express them.

There is one similarity between God and the phone company though… a call is still required.

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Richard Baxter once prayed, “Lord, what thou wilt, when thou wilt, where thou wilt.” And he meant it. But where on earth can we go to find a place where God’s will is done perfectly? Nowhere – only in God’s “kingdom” is His will carried out with perfection.

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It never hit me until today. Just listen to Luke 1:1-7 like you’ve never listened before…

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Before this week, I never realized just how much of a power struggle was commencing when Jesus was born. It was really one king versus another. Better yet, it was one kingdom versus another: the kingdom of this world versus the Kingdom of God.

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ONE GREAT TRUTH: Christians have plenty of reasons to be positive about the state of the church in today’s culture, and all of those reasons revolve around Jesus’ affirmations.

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In this decade, conservative Christianity has lost some great giants of the faith. I was reflecting on the passing of Jack Hyles, long time Pastor of First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana. He was an interesting character with a unique leadership style. Far too many young Pastors went to their ministerial deaths trying to imitate his every move. Nonetheless, his impact on the independent Baptist movement and on the kingdom of God in general are immeasurable.

Then I think of W. A. Criswell. He pastored one of the most influential churches in the world, First Baptist Church in Dallas. He once spent almost eighteen years preaching through the entire Bible. His defense of the faith, his exposition of the Scriptures, and his charismatic style made a lasting mark on Baptist life and thought.

Another giant among men who has passed away this decade was Adrian Rogers, Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, often called the flagship church of the Southern Baptist Convention. Like Criswell, Rogers’ impact upon the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination was immense, serving as president of the Southern Baptist Convention three terms. His preaching was practical and poignant, but his wisdom in leadership was what elevated him above the average preacher.

On Sunday, May 6, two other leaders were taken on to heaven. Dr. Lee Roberson, Pastor of the Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee and founder of Tennessee Temple University, went home to be with the Lord. Within an hour of his passing, Dr. Viola Walden also slipped into her eternal home. She had been personal secretary to Dr. John R. Rice since he began The Sword of the Lord. At age 91, she was at her desk at work on the Friday before she died.

God’s timing, sovereignty, and wisdom are all unquestionable attributes. I know that His intention was to take them home, to give them a final rest with the saints. But from our perspective, they seem like missing links in modern Christianity. My great question would be, who will replace them? Who will be the anchors of the church in the next half century? Have we reached the end of an era of Christianity that will never be revived again?

Some would say that the face of Christianity must change. I’ve listened to far too many upstarts criticize the elder leaders among us as “behind the times.” I have a different perspective. Though we’re moving swiftly through the information age with little clue what lies next, we can still rely on twenty centuries of a very faithful pattern. Namely, God has always raised up men who have challenged their generation to think biblically.

Consider Paul, Peter, and Polycarp who faced Rome without trepidation. Think of Athanasius, who stood virtually alone to combat Arianism. Dwell upon the reformers who, with all of their shortcomings theologically, stood against the established church leadership of their times to call Christianity back to sincere and emboldened faithfulness to God’s Word. And think of the evangelistic-missionary age with the Spurgeon’s, Torrey’s, and Moody’s.

Until Jesus comes again, He’ll be building His church out of the stock of saved humanity. He’ll be calling forth leaders to stand in the gap for the land. And they will respond, for Jesus promised it would be so. With all the “missing links” the real question that remains for us is, are we willing to continue the tradition? Will we be surrendered to a life of holiness and passionate, Spirit-filled zeal? To say that the survival of God’s kingdom depends in any way on our abilities would be negligent of the self-sufficiency of God. But to recognize that the future of God’s Kingdom depends upon our availability simply serves to remind us that God has chosen to use people in the redemption of this lost and sinful planet. Will you stand in the gap?

This past Sunday was perhaps the most awesome day of ministry I’ve ever experienced. Like the old gospel song says, “Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.” It wasn’t great planning, great music, or great preaching that made the day great, it was our great God visiting us in a powerful way in response to a whole lot of concerted, passionate praying.

Last Wednesday, our prayer service, which normally consists of calling out some requests, a short pastoral prayer, and a long Bible study, turned into an extended session of a concert of praise. Multiple people were praying out loud for their lost friends and family and giving praise to God for His working in their lives. At the conclusion of our payer, I almost felt that teaching would be an interruption in what God was really doing, and perhaps it was.

Sunday began with an intense prayer circle, seven men gathered together a half hour before Sunday School. We prayed over our time and it was well worth it. Together we asked great things of God. Sunday School itself was right on target as we learned about “serving God with holiness.”

Then the worship hour came and we sang songs to honor the King with a particular emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives. The message was all about the power of the Holy Spirit. I left out two illustrations that I later realized would have been detrimental to the point of the message. I felt an anointing more powerful than ever in my ministry. I had boldness to say things without regard to the approval of people.

The invitation came and God did an awesome work. The altar filled with people praying and weeping for the fullness of the Spirit, praying for lost loved ones and other needs. A young man and a young lady received Christ as Savior. The invitation went through three movements as things kept happening. Joy Ewalt, for whom we have been praying for healing from cancer came and testified that God had completely healed her from brain cancer. Tests show that her head is now clear and she gave all the glory to God and the credit to prayer.

We left later than ever before and people continued to attest to God’s working in their lives in a very powerful way. I left church feeling so small, so undeserving, and so grateful that God would allow me to experience such an event.

Sunday afternoon our Deacons gathered for a time of training and we exchanged testimonies of the godly men who have inspired us in the past. I recalled my grandfather’s strong convictions as a Deacon for over a half century of time and the other stalwart men who influenced me throughout my childhood. In the evening service I preached about “The Sanctity of the Womb” where God has performed some great miracles in the lives of John the Baptist, Jeremiah, Paul, and others.

We had prayer for young girls facing this difficult decision to choose life, for women who have had abortions to find the freeing forgiveness of God, and for America to turn a corner on the abortion issue and repent before God. We also had prayer for some couples currently struggling with infertility and for Loving Choices, a local pregnancy support center. We’re also currently praying for healing in the life of one of our Deacons, Nick Gann.

One thing I am continually remembering is that we cannot dwell on these now past events in the “remember that day…” sense. Instead we must look forward to the awesome things God can do every time we meet. There is no reason why each worship experience cannot grow in intensity so long as our hunger for God, our commitment to holiness, and the passion of our prayer grows as well.

May God continue to visit us in special ways in our individual lives and every time we meet together, and may He continue to raise up Spirit-filled, Bible-drilled, prayer-skilled warriors for Christ’s Kingdom!

“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!” -Amos 6:1

I remember a movie I saw as a kid about a family that was moving across the country. They owned a Saint Bernard dog that was so fat and lazy they only way they could tell if the dog was alive was to place a mirror under its nose to see if it was still breathing. Spiritually, we ought to check our breath every day to make sure we are alive and breathing.

Amos wrote a very harsh prophecy to the northern kingdom of Israel and his message to them in chapter six was “Watch out, those of you who are too comfortable!” Apathy is a deadly disease to our spiritual growth. When we stop caring about the lost around us, we stop witnessing. When we stop caring about the Word, we stop growing spiritually. When we trust in our bank accounts and IRA’s instead of the living God, we stop walking by faith.

Are you alive and breathing today? Check your life. Woe to us who are at ease in America! Let’s wake up and have revival.

“But I trust the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state.” -Philippians 2:19-20

Paul knew of noone else in the world who would be as others-focused as Timothy. He qualified his recommendation of Timothy with these words, “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” Timothy was in a class by himself. The whole world seems to put self first, but Timothy was willing to be Christ-centered. His thoughts ran to Jesus and to others before himself, what a rare gem!

It should really be our desire to be a gem so rare as Timothy, a diamond in the rough. Our motive should not be such that men will praise us, but rather that in all things Jesus may get the glory and people may be cared for. Timothy simply lived the great kingdom virtue that Jesus had spoken of in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto thee.”

When we put God’s kingdom first in our thoughts, all other thoughts seem to become secondary. Life takes care of itself when the kingdom is our focus. What is your first focus today? Could Paul say of you that you’re one of only a few people in this world who doesn’t put self first? Let Jesus know you want Him to come first for you today.

“The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” -Matthew 13:41-43

Jesus is the gentle, compassionate Lamb of God. Angels are those cute little winged cherubs we have displayed on water fountains. But the picture Jesus gives of Himself and His angels is all together different than that to which we are accustomed. We suddenly see a sovereign Jesus, commanding his angels to gather people to judgment and to cast them into the fire for all eternity.

We need to see Jesus in this light, for we need to understand that His ultimate concern is that the holiness and righteousness of God is vindicated for all time. All that offends will be destroyed, all sin will be judged. All iniquity will be eradicated at the throne of God. Thankfully, for believers, their sins have already been judged on the cross, but for most of the world, sin will be punished in an eternal flame. Why? So that the righteous (those made righteous by the blood of Jesus) may shine forth, unhindered by darkness forever.

We must learn to love the righteousness and holiness of God as much as Jesus does. We must hunger for God’s nature and name to be vindicated. At this moment, He is being blasphemed, forgotten, pushed under the rug while men do their evil biddings. But someday He will have the last laugh (literally, read Psalm 2). At last every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. All of mankind will acknowledge Him as Lord in that day. In fact, we should get started now!

“Love not the world… for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world, and the world passeth away…” -1 John 2:15-17

Remember Louis Armstrong’s great What A Wonderful World? Angie and I had that song played at our wedding. This truly is a wonderful world in many respects. It’s the place where we view the glory of God in creation. This world is where Jesus came to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. This world is where Jesus found me and saved me and is now using believers across the world to extend His Kingdom. But this world is not everything. In fact, it isn’t even permanent.

John and other New Testament writers often used the word “world” (kosmos) to refer, not to the physical creation (though that was the literal meaning of kosmos), but to what we might call today, secularism. The “world” of which John spoke was the human realm of thinking, devoid of God. It’s the realm in which Satan attempts to pull us away from God through his three primary tempting agents: the lust of the flesh (that which feels good to our body), the lust of the eyes (that which appeals to our sight), and the pride of life (that which fills us with a false sense of fulfillment or self-achievement).

Preachers used to speak of “worldliness” more in churches, but it was usually in reference to cultural stigmas such as going to dances or movies or having the wrong haircut. Worldliness is much broader than these or any other simple actions. Worldliness is thinking in temporal terms, living for the here and now with total disregard to eternity. We’ll either live in fear of an eternal God or we’ll be left to our own devices (i.e. worldliness).

When left with the choice between living in godless humanism or godly cosecration, let us remember the words of Peter Marshall, “It is Christ or chaos!” Are your everyday decisions informed by Scripture or society? Do you think in spiritual terms or cultural tones? Does Christ have all of you or do you have one foot in the church and the other in the world?