Last night I finished a series of revival services at Eastside Baptist Church in Fayetteville. Their pastor, James Goff, formerly served as Assistant Pastor at Bethel and has been at Eastside now for eleven years. Our services were times of divine blessings as God spoke powerfully through His Word. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

This past weekend, our church held a DiscipleNow weekend with our teens. Chris Selby, whom God is using in amazing ways as Youth Minister at Maysville Baptist Church, led our kids through The Gospel Journey, a video series about evangelism. I was made aware of the power of this up and coming generation. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

When Satan attacks, it’s usually because God is up to something pretty neat. I told you in yesterday’s blog that we dealt with delays, flight problems, ice on the road, and crazy driving. I forgot to mention that one of the ladies who was coming had pneumonia and couldn’t make the trip. Then today on a subway, two of us were robbed. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

Angie and I recently attended a conference led by H. Dale Burke, Pastor of First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, California. (He followed Charles Swindoll as their Pastor.) Between the conference content and conversations in the hallway with dear friends, my heart was revived and encouraged. I was made aware of a comfort zone that I’ve kind of settled into of late.

Bethel is a great church filled with really good people, so it’s a happy place to minister. When people ask how things are going here, I tell them honestly, “We’re having a lot of fun!” Our numbers have been increasing. In fact, we’ve spent the last four Sundays over the 200 mark in attendance with near-record Sunday School numbers as well. Each of our Sunday School classes is adding members and we’re enjoying a long-term journey through God’s word together. Still, something has been missing.

When Angie and I first came to Bethel two years ago, we sensed that although the church needed a different direction and a fresh vision under new leadership. We dreamed and desired of taking Bethel to new places, all the while respecting the traditions that have been inherited by those of us who have come along after fifty years of ministry to the community.

We initially implemented some new ministries and techniques, which God has blessed greatly. But somewhere along the way, I fell into a comfort zone. Some of the changes were slightly uncomfortable for some. Mind you, nobody has been “upset” about anything, just slightly uneasy with change. Frankly, it’s always easier to avoid pushing the envelope when you know you’re making people uncomfortable. Meanwhile, I think we’ve begun to neglect the needs of the next generation. We’ve slowed down in our adaptation of the truth of the gospel to our kids and grandkids.

God has reminded me of why He brought us to this place. It was to reach lost people with the good news and to build them up in the faith. It’s not enough to have our membership rolls swell with newcomers, though we love having them. We must concentrate also on reaching out to those on the outside of the Christian faith who are looking in.

I want us to continue our commitment to the exposition of the Scriptures, unchanged. Our journey through the Word will not stop until the last verse has been explored (which will be long into eternity, by the way). The Sunday sermons will continue to be a length that allows time to expound God’s truth, with emphasis given to the original context and the modern, everyday-life application.

I also want us to start thinking more about our teenagers. Our youth leaders met this past Sunday morning and hatched some plans for a remodeled youth room. We launched a new site for Bethel Teens. We’re planning events, trips, fundraisers, etc. but we’re also praying about how our teaching and discipleship of teenagers can be more effective. Further, we’re going to do an occasional worship service with teens in mind.

We’re also going to continue to focus on the elements missing from many Baptist churches today; the joy of living the Christian life, the role of the Holy Spirit, and the freedom we have in worship. We’re going to continue to ignore any pettiness that may arise along the way, and we’re going to keep fixing broken lives by the power of God.

I’m fired up, and I hope you are too!

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This past Sunday, I began preaching a revival meeting for Beacon Baptist Church in Gravette, Arkansas. It’s been a real privilege and honor to do so, especially considering that the church’s Pastor has been such a great leader within our association. Bro. Dan Fagala has remained at the same church for over thirty-five years and has served in a multitude of denominational capacities. On Monday, he and I went out on Beaver Lake in his boat to fish for crappies, to no avail. We (I mean he) caught four keepers. I managed to snag one little perch which finned me fairly well before I could throw him back.On Sunday, the most spectacular thing happened. When we arrived home from the revival service Sunday afternoon and opened our garage door, our Chevy Impala had mysteriously turned sideways!

Can you feel the love?… It took me about ten minutes to remove the car from the garage, but I wonder how long it took the prankster to park it to begin with. There are three major lessons I see in this situation…

1. Thank God for fun friends. Quite honestly, this was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

2. Life gets a little sideways sometimes for unexplainable reasons. We find ourselves in situations where we are perplexed. Thankfully because of the assurance we have in Christ, we know everything really will work out in the end “for them that love God and are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

3. Never leave your keys with a crazed graphic artist who is about to be ordained as a Deacon… Okay, that’s not much of a lesson, but thank God for security systems anyway!

I just finished reading Jim Cymbala’s book Fresh Power and it has again revived my thirst for God. One of the most impactful insights from the book is the revelation that if we can explain the success of our churches in terms of programs, personalities, or well-oiled machinery without the power of the Holy Spirit, then we’ve missed the point. Cymbala appeals to A. W. Tozer who proclaimed that if the Holy Spirit were removed from our midst today, most of our largest and most rapidly growing churches would continue as they are because their growth is attributable not to the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, but to a marketing structure, business plan, and organizational genius that is very humanly originated.

We do need to operate in the “fresh power” freely available from the Holy Spirit, God’s operative agent in the world today. We do need to continue the writing of the Acts of the Holy Spirit in our modern world. For the Brooklyn Tabernacle, which Cymala pastors, the secret of this abiding power and presence of God is not merely to be found in a great choir, great preaching, or great buildings. It is found in their Tuesday night prayer meeting which serves as the fuel source for all else that happens.

I believe my favorite chapter is the second, entitled Of Cemeteries and Insane Asylums. Pastor Cymbala writes about the two extremes of today’s Christianity. The insane asylums represent the excesses of the charismatic movement. It describes the counterfeit revivals, the get-rich-quick Christianity, the mass-miracle-crusades without discernment or validation. This is Christianity that has zeal but little truth. The cemeteries are those circles of modern Christianity much like my own denomination, which have so reacted against the charismatic movement that we’ve become boxes of bones with no life. We have our truth, and like Charlton Heston and his rifle, the world can peel it from our cold, dead hands. Shame on us!

What an atrocity that we are so closed to the potential activity of the Spirit of God that we completely deny the possibility that God would want to invade our space, enliven our worship, and move us to a new level of power-filled witness. How we desperately need a fresh infilling of His presence. As we seek a proper biblical balance in all things, let us seek the fullness of power of the Holy Spirit, and let us seek to defend the truth in a pluralistic age. God, may You enliven today’s church by Your mighty Holy Spirit, and may this work begin in me!

I just finished an excellent book by Tommy Tenney entitled The God Catchers. I bought the book by accident, intending to purchase his best-seller, The God Chasers and simply did not pay close attention to the cover when I made the purchase. It turned out to be a tremendous blessing.

Tommy uses the analogy of a child playing hide-and-seek with Daddy. Daddy is hiding but hoping to be found. This really demonstrates what God desires from us - that we desire Him above all else and that we learn to put our spiritual hunger on display to bring Him out of His hiding place so that we might “catch” Him!

Tommy is a revivalist within the charismatic movement and writes with a tremendous spiritual passion. His book sparked a renewed zeal within me to settle for nothing less than “all of God!” I want to be a God Chaser, but more than that, I want to be a God Catcher! I desire to experience His manifest presence in public and private worship more than ever before.

I highly recommend this excellent book, but more importantly, I highly recommend that you be a God chaser yourself!

“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.

“Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.” -Hosea 6:1-2 (NKJV)

Sometimes reading the Old Testament prophets is like reading the history of America: a once great people, having enjoyed the blessing of God, now taking their Creator for granted and living in idolatry and religious pretense, judged, punished, and then prayerfully restored. The problem with Israel in Hosea’s time was not so much that they no longer worshipped for they did offer praise to God. Hosea announced, “My people are bent on backsliding from me. Though they call on the Most High, none at all exalt Him.” (11:7)

As much as I believe in actively working as the salt and light of the world, we sometimes miss the point. Fighting for the display of the Ten Commandments will not bring revival to America. It would provide a bandaid but it would fall short of the ultimate healing so desperately needed. What does America need? The kind of revival that came during the Great Awakening, experienced and led by men such as Jonathan Edwards. A revival of humility, repentance, and confession before God. A revival of earnest and heartfelt faith and of a true commitment to following the Lord with endurance. Just read a sample of the kind of message America needs by clicking here.

The Lord brought revival to Israel because He loved them. He brought revival to America in at least two great, sweeping movements of the Holy Spirit and other smaller movements as well. Now Lord, do it again! Bring us revival that grows from repentance. Help America be the land You can bless again!

“And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords (of the Philistines), and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life… And he judged Israel twenty years.” -Judges 16:30-31

The old Testament is filled with stories that seem very disconnected with us culturally and religiously. Samson is no exception. His life seems to be a series of moral failures and yet God sovereignly uses him to punish the Philistines (though never totally subdue them). When we read of one of God’s wild men in the Bible, we may be tempted to convince ourselves that we can live inconsistently and still be used of God. But listen to C. I. Scofield’s observation about Samson’s life…

The character and work of Samson are alike enigmatical. Announced by an
angel he was a Nazarite who constantly defiled his Nazarite separation through
fleshly appetites. Called of God to judge Israel, and endued wonderfully with
the Spirit, he wrought no abiding work for Israel and perished in captivity to
his enemies the Philistines. What was real in the man was his mighty faith in
Jehovah in a time of doubt and apostasy, and this faith God honored.

Because Samson had a mighty faith in God, he was used to temporarily punish the Philistines. But because Samson gave himself to the power of the flesh so often, he was never used to actually lead Israel into national revival or to defeat the Philistines in a final sense. The only tribute to his life was a pile of bodies, including his own. He broke his parents’ heart, disrespected his wives, misrepresented his nation, and devalued his Nazarite calling.

Let us never think that there is any thing good to come of our flesh. Let us instead give our lives to the struggle for consistency. The calling of a Nazarite was to a life separate from the world, the flesh, and the pleasures thereof. It was a picture of the high and holy calling of every believer in Christ. We are not called to compromise, but to consecration. May God use us to subdue the enemy and to lead our nation in revival through a holy and separated life.