Spring Revival Day 6

The crowd was very light tonight. We had over 200 people gone for the start of Disciple Now. Those 200 will return for a worship celebration around 10:00 p.m. Mike preach an anointed message from [Matt 5:14-16] about being light. Shine. Radiate. Influence. Those were the three points he passionately poured out to us.

Though we were few in number we were mighty in spirit. We sang. We listened attentively. We obeyed during the invitation and we prayed. God moved again. I know He will move during the 10:00 p.m. worship celebration.

There were distractions throughout the day. Mike had a hard time getting here with flight delays. Sean was distracted with busy work all day long not allowing him the opportunity to be still and know God today. I felt the same way. We both felt more like Martha than Mary today. The enemy has begun to oppose in subtle ways. Greater is He who is in us than he who in the world. God blessed in allowing me to receive the word rather than preaching it tonight for a change. I know all too well I am not the only one God can speak through. I yearned for God to speak to me and He did.

We only had a fraction of the attendance we have had the past five nights. I know that will change. Tomorrow and Sunday you will be hard pressed to be able to find a seat. It was discouraging to see empty seats but once we began to sing and get into the word we lost sight of how many were in attendance. The river of God is still flowing strongly.

I do not know what will happen in the late service with the students tonight. We ended our meeting by praying for them. There was strong praying. I expect the weighty presence of God to settle among those students. In a way I felt all of us tonight were like John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord for our students. They have no idea what they are about to experience.

O Jesus we need you. Holy Spirit we ask you to fill the room tonight and to touch every heart. I ask you to soften, to convict, to cleanse, and to renew. I ask you to move powerfully all over town in the different homes but most especially as we gather again tonight to seek more of You. I ask You to unleash Your fullness on us and never let us be the same again.

To be continued….

Spring Revival Day 5

The crowd was a little slimmer tonight but the hearts of the people were eager to meet with the Lord. God called us to follow Him from [Acts 20:22-24]. The message simply dealt with Paul being bound to go in the Spirit to Jerusalem, which meant following Jesus into harm and danger.

Paul’s response? I do not count my life as dear. The word “dear” means valuable or precious. Paul was saying I don’t care if following Jesus means chains and afflictions. God has a course laid out for me and I must finish.

How few finishers we have in the church today. We have many who start well but fall away and the zeal fades. God is looking for disciples who will stay the course all the way to the end. At times that may mean finishing alone. Family and friends may forsake you along the way.

We are all called to be ministers. We are all called to follow Jesus to our own Jerusalem to do something for Him. That may look different for all of us. To be a minister for Jesus does not necessarily entail being on staff at a church. It means being a servant to the King. Where is He calling you to serve?

When the invitation was extended people were lined up two deep all across the front of the church surrendering their lives to follow Jesus. There were men, women, and students. Tomorrow the students will begin D’Now. I have never seen a group of students more primed to meet with God than these students going into this weekend. Our services will continue through Sunday at least but I will pass the baton to Mike Satterfield to preach through Sunday morning. We will meet Friday and Saturday night with close to 150 students. Revival continues.

David Wilkerson the founder of Times Square Church and Teen Challenge died yesterday in a car accident in East Texas near Athens. In 1958 Wilkerson sensed God wanted him to forego watching late night television and spend that time in prayer. Wilkerson learned of some gang members going on trial in New York City a couple of weeks later. The Spirit nudged him to go to the trial even though it was 350 miles away and he had never been to New York.

Bound in the Spirit he obeyed. That led to him relocating his ministry and family to New York where he began a ministry to gang members. He wrote a book about it titled: The Cross and the Switchblade.

Nearly twenty years later the Lord bound him in Spirit again to start a church in a dark part of the city. When he asked God to raise a witness in that area God surprised Him by telling Wilkerson to do it. Once again he followed obediently not knowing how it would turn out. Today the church has 8,000 members. He went on to write 30 books. God used this man to touch millions. He died unexpectedly at 79 years of age but He followed God. He went to New York bound in the Spirit not knowing what awaited him. Who is the next David Wilkerson to hear God nudge and bind in the Spirit to go for Him?

It all started with the Spirit calling and binding Him to go minister to troubled gang members. The challenge for us is to be willing to follow wherever the Spirit binds us to go. It might mean going to a hard place and taking a huge step of faith. If our life is really His it does not matter. Our heart should simply be, “May the will of the Lord be done.” Where He leads I will follow. Where He goes we go. Where He stays we will stay. We must follow.

On to day six and the start of D’Now. More Lord.

Spring Revival Day 4

I just walked out of the sanctuary. We met for one hour and fifty-five minutes. Most of that time was worship. We sang a little at the beginning but longer after the message. The congregation would not leave. They sang song after song. The hunger for more of God proved intense. We continued to linger and the Holy Spirit lingered with us.

I do not know how to put it into words. At times I feel chills shooting down my spine as we sing and every nerve tingling in the presence of an awesome and holy God. He is meeting with us there is no doubt. It is more than a feeling. What we are experiencing is running much deeper than emotions.

I can tell you the text I preached from. [Hosea 6:1-3] I can give you the main points. At times God wounds and hurts us like a skilled surgeon to pluck out the cancer of sin in our lives and then binds our wounds and brings healing. He also revives us and we should press on to know Him. Not press on to merely know about Him. We are follow hard to know more of Him. Writing al of that does not do what the Lord is doing justice. You cannot feel the weight of His presence reading this. You cannot see the conviction from the Lord coming over the people.

I can tell you what songs we sung but you will not feel the passion of the worshippers nor sense the longing for more of Him. I can tell you some sat, some lifted their hands, some clapped and some did not sing at all but God was magnified and exalted tonight.

I can tell you the crowd increased to the largest number so far. I can tell you there were eight rows of teenagers and I could not find a seat where I normally sit. I had to go stand in the back. Still you would not get the picture of people longing for more of God and giving up television, TAKS preparation among both teachers and students, and people taking their evening lunch breaks to attend the services.

I could tell you about the student I talked to tonight and even tell you about the tears in his eyes from repentance. I could tell you about the number of students who stayed behind to worship after most of the others had left because they cannot get enough of God in this season. Still you would not get the full picture.

Even with all of that I am helplessly left to say what we are experiencing is the kind of thing you would just have had to be here to understand. Still I hope through these blogs to take the fire of revival and to spread it to others across the city, region, and state.

Lord, would you take this revival fire you are kindling here and let is spread. I ask you to move in the heart of every reader the way you are moving in our hearts. I ask you to bring the weight of your conviction on people to repent and return to You Lord. I ask you to use these blogs and those who read these blogs to lead people to salvation.

When I left tonight I uttered two words out loud. They are the cry of my heart. “MORE LORD!” “MORE LORD!” God waits to be wanted and this church wants more of Him. “MORE LORD!”

Spring Revival Day Three

Where do I even begin? Each service has been building in intensity since Sunday morning. Tonight was the most intense service thus far. I preached from II Chronicles 29 about King Hezekiah reopening and consecrating the temple after his pagan father had shut the doors and defiled it.

We need more courageous men like Hezekiah. He was only 25 years old and took this stand in the first year of his reign. The scripture says he made a covenant with God and sent the priest to take out every defiled thing from the Temple.

Think of the implications of having the Temple shut for sixteen years while King Ahaz reigned. No atonement for sin was available to the people. How many died in their sins guilty before a just God? Hezekiah changed all that. The priest offered sin offerings and then they did something else.

They worshipped. They sang praises to God with joy and gladness. The challenge at the end of the service tonight was to give God the ultimate worship based on [Rom 12:1] “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship.” Laying our lives down before Lord in full surrender and consecration is the ultimate form of worship.

The invitation was simple. Remove every unclean thing from your life. Offer your life as a sacrificial offering to the Lord. Lastly I challenged the church to sing and worship the Lord from glad hearts.

Sean first led us in a song about consecrating our lives to God. The altar filled up all the way across. The first person to respond was a seventy-year old senior adult lady. I cannot tell you how much this blessed my heart. In fact her response inspires me to keep laying my life down as an offering to Him until my last breath. Grown men, women, students, and dads with their children came up to the front to lay their lives down. Sean then moved into the song “I Will Never Be the Same”. People began to applaud and shout as they sang. This song was the theme song of the revival back in August. We concluded the night by singing “It Is Well With My Soul”. At the end as we sang the last verse about Jesus coming back people again shouted and clapped. This is not typical in this First Baptist Church.

I am struck by the scene of a single young lady kneeling at the altar singing with her hands extended in worship. It was a very intense night. As I have done many times before I went to the altar and laid my life and family before the Lord. Whether that means staying in Seminole for decades or following God elsewhere once again I fully surrendered. That is what brought me to Seminole in the first place. I knelt at the same exact spot tonight I knelt in April of 2009 telling God if He willed for my family to come to Seminole we would follow. Life on the altar is something I want to live out all my days.

When the service eventually ended I felt uplifted and closer to God. People did not leave right away. Some continued to commune with the Lord. Others embraced with giddy smiles.

The crowds have been great every service. Many people had baseball games to attend with their children tonight but I could not tell much drop off in the attendance. Students have the TAKS test this week but their hunger for God supersedes the TAKS test. One man has two exit tests from school but could not stay away from what the Lord is doing.

We just finished day three and revival fire is burning hotter and God is moving stronger. I cannot wait to see what He does on day four.

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.