Spring Revival Day Two

It did not rain but neither have we given up believing God to send it. It is coming. We started the service tonight asking God again to send rain again. I was surprised by the turn out. We had a pretty full house with people hungry to worship and get into the word.

I am excited to report that God filled His house with people hungry to meet with Him. There were several rows of pews filled with students. Attendees comfortably filled the bottom floor of the sanctuary. Their attendance delighted my heart with so many other things going on like baseball and softball and TAKS test this week.

God lead me to preach from I Pet 1:14-19. Peter challenges the people of God to live holy in all their behavior. He also calls people to remember the precious blood of Jesus that redeemed us. The message was hard but the work of God in the hearts of people was tender. It was something you could not see as much as it was something you felt. God worked deep in the hearts of His people to call them away from sin and into holiness.

There were several people who came to the altar in repentance. You could sense the Spirit of God plowing deep into hearts tonight. God calls us to live in holiness in all our behavior. To live holy means to live “set apart, uncommon, and devoted to God.” So much of our behavior is just like the pagans. We do not live lives of distinction often in the church. We blend in. God has called us to live uncommonly. As a result I saw a message on face book from a student calling other students to mend their ways and live holy unto the Lord.

I wish I could describe the music. All I can say is that I met with God long before it was time to preach. The worshippers sang with fullness. I have not heard singing like that in a long while. It reminded me of the days of revival back in August. You can sense there is a hunger for God. People are singing from their hearts and not their heads.

I am humbled God once again chose to work through me. Once again He showed up, blessed the preaching of His word, and moved His people to repentance. I am thrilled to get a front row seat to witness all of this unfolding. We are taking it one day at a time. We are scheduled to go through next Sunday in our revival services.

I will preach through Thursday night and then Mike Satterfield will preach through Sunday morning as our students participate in D’Now this weekend. I pray the students are cleansed and renewed and ready to meet with God. We will see what God does after that.

It is day by day right now. God is at work. He continues to shake this church and this town. Praise the Lord. [Acts 4:29-31]

Spring Revival Day 1

After our first day back having revival services I can say with confidence we met with God in all three services. We celebrated the risen Savior in both morning services. The music was fantastic. It seemed the people really engaged in worship. I preached a simple gospel message through the book of John. Two young girls were saved in the second service.

Tonight we went to the Old Testament book of I Kings and talked about when Elijah prayed for rain to end the three and a half year drought. Our people could identify because we have not had rain in six months here in Seminole. Our farmers are very concerned. I challenged the church to pray in faith asking God to have mercy on us in restoring rain to our land. I also reminded them that the drought in I Kings was judgment from God because of the sin of King Ahab to worship idols and how the nation of Israel had turned from God to worship idols as well.

The message was challenging calling people to repent of sin like uprooting a weed or plant from the ground. We also challenged people to pray in faith to see God change the weather patterns. To pray in faith for physical rain is a need but just as bad we need spiritual rain to fall and nourish our land once again. We are trusting God to send the spiritual rain of revival on this church and community once again.

I did sense the presence in the Lord in a special way during the worship tonight. The people have come with expectation. I cannot say I felt anointed during the preaching but I am assured I preached what the Lord wanted me to and He used it. I am encouraged that our church stuck around and really prayed during the invitation. Normally we have people pray about five or ten minutes and then people leave. Tonight they prayed more fervently and I trust we will see the evidence of that praying in rain coming soon. I pray it will come before this revival ends whenever that will be.

One of the highlights for me personally was getting to pray with my oldest two boys. I prayed for them to live courageously for Jesus even when many around them do not. The evening ended with me getting to pray for a man who said he was struggling. Tonight he took steps to get closer to God and I trust those around Him will see the results.

We had good attendance tonight. Way better than a normal Sunday evening service. This is just the beginning. I do not know what the Lord will do tomorrow but I already have expectation it will be powerful. Keep praying with us for God to move and have His way in this church and this town.

The Unnatural

[Is 55:8-9] “ ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Who has not at some point asked God, “Why did you do that or allow that to happen?” How many have wondered in bewilderment at the ways of God among men? “Lord why did you not intervene there, or stop the pain here, or move that mountain back yonder?”

We think in the natural realm where things are logical, they fit together sequentially, and there is a natural order to our thought processes. How many times have you thought God would work in one way and the solution or the answer comes from a direction you never saw coming.

His ways and His thoughts are higher than ours. No matter how much we try to figure Him and His ways out with our natural mind they will be continually out of our grasp. So much of what the Lord does is unnatural. If we were putting a plan together we would do it one way and typically that is not the way God would do it or does do it. He thinks differently than we do. He works in ways we cannot fathom.

I think this is why so many people have trouble with faith and obedience. In our minds we see the outcome logically. God on the other hand sees the outcome in a way He can get the maximum glory. We peer through our natural thoughts and God thinks unnaturally. We typically see solutions to problems in terms of our limited resources. God on the other hand, has no limitations in resources.

I have come to the conclusion I can choose to trust the thought processes and ways of God or I can drive myself insane trying to figure why He thinks the way He does and acts the way He acts. I have to resign myself that His ways and thoughts are loftier than I can understand. He also sees from beginning of time to the end of time. I can only see in part. He knows how it all works together for His purposes and His glory.

After over two decades of walking with the Lord and following His call in steps of faith, all I can say is God is worthy of our trust and obedience. There are dozens of times I have scratched my head at the ways of God but I can say in hindsight His ways are best. There will continue to be baffling moments when I am tempted to say to God, “Why? Why did you do that are lead me in that direction.” In the end I will know my natural mind must simply submit to his loftier supernatural mind and directions. That is good enough for me.

When God Shouts

There are times when God speaks in a still small voice and there are times when God shouts. For months it seems God has been shouting to me the same message over and over again. I am not talking about once or twice. I am talking about dozens and dozens of times. The message has been the same. “FOLLOW ME!”

I have read it in the scriptures, heard it in music, and one time even saw it on a church sign. God calls everyone to follow Him. The tricky part is to know where God is calling us to follow. I followed Him to Seminole. I followed Him in the Seminole CARES project. I am following Him to raise money for the hospital in Honduras. I am following Him in getting another book published.

Still this same resounding message pounds in my soul. I am seeking to follow God in a closer relationship. Prayer times have been sweeter and as of the last week the Lord is speaking through the book of Matthew. In fact He has been shouting so consistently through Matthew I am going to read the rest of the gospels and depart from my regular yearly reading through Jeremiah for the time being.

God has my attention and as I write this we are six days away from the revival services beginning again. Perhaps that is where God wants me to follow Him. Never in my twenty-eight years of being a Christian have I sensed the Lord speaking so strongly, consistently and clearly one message over and over again. It could not be clearer if the Lord shouted in my ears.

The Lord does that from time to time. When He wants to get our attention He does not always use a burning bush as He did with Moses. In fact, I do not know of another instance when the Lord used a burning bush. What I find Him doing today is using His word. There are times in our lives when certain themes keep surfacing. Could it be the Lord is trying to get our attention about a certain matter? There are times when the Lord will impress a burden on our heart and follow that burden with a timely message from His word.

God speaks most clearly and consistently for me in His word. I have gotten myself into a lot of trouble over the years thinking I heard Him speak something to me outside the Bible. There have been times when I got it right but it sadly there have been many more times when I was wrong.

If you want to hear from God and ever need God to shout to you, keep digging in the scriptures. Make time in the Bible a regular part of your daily life and you will not only hear God speak but on occasion you might hear him shouting a crystal clear message. Please keep shouting Lord for we are listening.

A Dry and a Weary Land

“O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” [Ps 63:1]

We are living in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Sin abounds. Right here in this small-secluded west Texas town sin abounds. It abounds in middle class homes where computers have become a theater for the immoral, raunchy, and disgusting. In upscale homes people hide the emptiness of their hearts behind alcohol, more possessions, and a façade of success. Students are tripped repeatedly by other students who want to drag the Christians down into the stinking sewage of sin.

We live in a dry and weary land where people get more hung up on traditions, religion, and personal preferences than the pursuit of God wholeheartedly. Many worship services across the land are dry, predictable, and lifeless. The Spirit of God is grieved and many of God’s people are content to have it this way.

We live in a dry and weary land where the “American Dream” has escaped many Americans. The land of opportunity did not deliver what it promised. Many have no hope. They have drunk from many wells but found no hope. They are absolutely at the end of their rope. They cannot find a reason to keep on living.

We live in a dry and weary land where marriages are battered and bruised and people cohabitate in the same house more than being joined together as one. The love has long ago faded and all that is left is the dutiful obligation “to stay together for the children.” Families in these homes are dysfunctional.

We live in a dry and weary land where parents would rather have their children be popular than Godly. Students are pushed by parents and coaches to excel on the field or court but seldom challenged to live lives of distinction as disciples of Christ. God’s commands are considered suggestions in these sophisticated times. Service to God is valued when it is convenient.

We live in the dry and weary land of two-faced believers who live double standard lives. Churches are filled with members who smile at one another face to face and then turn around and stab each other in the back. So called Christian people cheat, lie, fornicate, commit adultery, and gossip with the best of them.

We live in a dry and weary land where God is second priority. Our leaders do not seek Him or want Him involved in the affairs of community or country. Compromise is seen as progress and education. God is increasingly pushed out of individual lives, homes, the pulpit, the church, and our country. Our currency may read, “In God We Trust,” but the reality is “Forsaking God We Rust.”

Prophets are hard to find in this dry and weary land. Many of them have been promoted, bought, and silenced. We still need men who will stand in this day and say fearlessly, “Thus says the Lord.” In this dry and weary land we need worshippers who will not be satisfied with anything less than to behold the power and the glory of God in the sanctuary. In this dry and weary land we need the river of God to flow through our hearts once again.

I know I am not alone in this dry and weary land. It is past time for the saints to dig their heels in and seek God earnestly. Apart from God coming to heal our lives, homes, churches, community, and our country we have no hope. With God there is always hope. Seek Him while He may still be found.

A Mighty Rushing Wind

The Sunday night service last week was pretty ordinary. I preached my heart out from Elijah’s prayer in [I Kings 18:36-39]. God did not come and move in some extraordinary fashion. We met and worshipped. We dug into the scriptures. We prayed at the end and most went home afterward. We did not experience anything atypical.

I prayed with Brenda and the boys and then spent some time alone with the Lord as others were leaving the service. More and more lately the end of our services look more like prayer meetings. I lay prostrate partly under the first pew and wept before the Lord. I am not sure how long I remained there.

I know everyone else left the sanctuary some to attend meetings and others to go home. My prayers kept being interrupted from a sound like someone pulling and banging on the back doors of the church to get in. As the sound persisted for some time I could not clearly distinguish what it might be.

Then it dawned on me. We saw a great deal of wind Sunday night in Seminole. I deducted the sound had to be the wind blowing against the doors or someone had left the back doors open. When I went to investigate I discovered the back doors had indeed been left open. I felt the wind blowing in the foyer and decided to step outside. My slacks flapped in the breeze and I felt the warm winds blow against my cheeks. I asked God to send the mighty wind of his Holy Spirit through Seminole in similar fashion.

I asked God to blow mightily in FBC Seminole and beyond. God sent a mighty rushing wind of his Spirit after another prayer meeting in [Acts 2:2] “And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Everything changed after that. God’s servants were filled with Spirit of God. The timid became empowered and emboldened. The cowardly preached fearlessly. Those who had once run when Jesus had been arrested now stood firm and suffered much hardship and persecution after Pentecost.

Do we not need the fresh wind of the Spirit of God to blow through our hearts and churches once again mightily? We have grieved and quenched Him. We have ignored His promptings. I wonder if the mighty Wind of God ever blows outside our churches like the wind blew last Sunday night waiting to be wanted and invited to blow mightily. Yet He waits in vain as we go through our familiar program and rituals.

When the wind of God blows things changed. The lost get convicted as well as the backslidden. The comfortable get afflicted and the afflicted get comforted as Vance Havner used to say. People get ushered into the presence of God through music with more intimacy and the word of God is preached more powerfully.

Many believers are scared of the Holy Spirit. People have done many weird and wacko things in the name of being filled with or led by the Spirit of God. In fear the conservative shrink back and never opening themselves up to the Holy Spirit’s leadings. How tragic the church of God seeks to worship and minister without the empowering of the Spirit of God. We must repent and plead with God to send the Wind of His Spirit blowing once again.

We need to Spirit to blow mightily again. We need the Holy Spirit to blow through our hearts and worship services powerfully again. We need the Holy Spirit to convict people of sin and lead them to repentance. We need the Spirit of God to convict and draw the lost to salvation. We must have the Wind of God to blow through our churches to revive the sleeping, apathetic, and cold hearts. We need the Holy Spirit. Will you welcome Him to guide your life and blow through churches all over the land once again? Come Holy Spirit like a mighty rushing wind for we need you.

Communion with Christ

I know deeper communion with Christ is possible. Every so often a follower of Jesus refuses to follow the path trodden by the masses and heads onward and upward in fellowship with the Lord. As they climb the steep path toward the summit of God, they experience and come to understand some things the rest of us miss out on.

John Owen was such a devoted disciple. We would consider Owen to be among the Puritans. His driving passions were to mortify sin in his life and live in holiness. Owen also pursued communion with Christ above all else.

He climbed higher on the mountain of God than most and peered over the ridge to behold the glory of God in ways few others have. Could that be why his writings are still in print three hundred years after he died? They are hard to read and deep deep water for shallowness of our times. There is a weight to what Owen wrote mainly because He spent time in the weighty presence of Christ.

Owen was not an echo of other men. He wrote from a fresh heart and mind overflowing with the revelation and personal experiences of Christ. Though none of us is a John Owen, his life still points to remind us that a deeper communion with Christ is possible. There is more to know, more to experience, and more love to receive and offer in worship.

Why is it so many who sit in church do not commune with Christ consistently? Jesus is the ultimate prize. Communion with Him should be the great desire in the heart of every believer. We all know this is not the case. The masses are far too easily pleased with emotional worship, shallow feel good sermons, and casual convenient discipleship complete with a latte coffee in hand during the worship celebration.

We have dumbed church down instead of calling people to the loftier heights of deep communion with the Lord. Let me ask you a few questions as you finish reading this. How are your devotions? Do you even have them consistently? Do you commune with the Lord or dutifully fulfill your religious devotion requirement? Are you growing? Is your heart burning with more zeal for Christ year after year? Do you hunger and thirst for more of Him? Are you more in love with Him today than you were a year ago, month ago, and week ago?

Communion with Christ is inconvenient. It is also time consuming. These two things in themselves serve as great obstacles as to why many are content to worship from afar rather than to draw near to Christ and commune with Him. [James 4:8] [Ps 42:1-2]

Though the journey may be lonely. Though the way may be steep and increasingly difficult. Though the climb may be incredibly time consuming. I want to enjoy more communion with Christ. I know no other way to scale to the summit except along the trails of scripture reading and meditation accompanied with vast amounts of prayer.

I cannot be content to sit at base camp when God beckons us to explore, enjoy, and experience more of Him. I’m packing up and pointing the rest of my life to this upward climb. I may never get as high as John Owen but I will get higher than I am today. Communion with Christ lures me to a life of adventure and new revelation.