From Our Pastor's Pen
December 2, 2007
Today we officially kick off the Christmas Season in our church with a special Christmas Program in our Sunday School. The next three and a half weeks are going to be filled with Christmas realted activities.
If we are not careful, these activities will distract us from Him who Christmas is all about, our Lord Jesus Christ. I recently came across an anonymous author's Ten Commandments of Christmas. If followed, they will help you have a Christmas that does not distract your attention from our Savior. They are:
- Thou shalt prepare early. Don't wait until the last minute to get into the Christmas spirit.
- Thou shalt keep Christ at the center of Christmas. Don't allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the commercialism of the season. Resolve to read one of the Gospels during December. Meditate upon what it means that Christ came into the world.
- Thou shalt make Christmas a family time. Do things together: Decorate the tree, play games, bake cookes, shop, write cards, have devotionals, go caroling, attend church together.
- Thou shalt remember those who are less fortunate. Contribute significantly to an organization serving the needs of others throughout the year. Give a Christmas gift to your church.
- Thou shalt give thyself with every gift. Put some thought into the gifts you purchase. Give a figt that represents you. If possible, make something instead of buying something.
- Thou shalt learn to be a good receiver. Many of us have trouble receiving graciously and gracefully.
- Thou shalt put music into Christmas. Buy several Christmas CD's and play them again and again. Attend church choir cantatas and special Christmas programs. Sing carols with loved ones.
- Thou shalt slow down. Remember: Christmas is supposed to be a season of peace, not hypertension.
- Thou shalt remember to worship. The church is the place you are most likely to be reminded of the tgrue meaning of Christmas.
- Thou shalt receive Christ into thy life. Don't just talk about the Christ of Christmas, receive him into your life as Lord and Savior.
I trust that these commandments will help you to have a Christmas this year that is Christ-centered and enjoyable.
December 9, 2007
Did you know that text messages are being sent at the rate of 130 billion per year? I remember when I was first introduced to text messaging. It was not that long ago, and apparently about a month after my youngest daughter was introduced to it. She was in college and enjoying the luxury of a cell phone at my expense. One month the bill came in for her phone that introduced me to text messaging. It contained a substantial charge on it for hundreds of text messages!
The first text message was sent on December 3, 1992, by a British engineer named Neil Papworth. That first text message was only two words long. It was "Merry Christmas."
Today many people are trying to take Christ out of Christmas. Some businesses, in order to accommodate these scrooges, have stopped playing Christmas carols and some have even prohibited their employees from wishing their customers a "Merry Christmas." Instead of wishing their customers a "Merry Christmas" they are told to wish them "Happy Holidays" or something similar.
In light of the efforts of those who are trying to take Christ out of Christmas, it is more important than ever that we do all we can to assure that Christ is kept in it. A simple way to do this is to wish people a "Merry Christmas" or a "Blessed Christmas," not only at home and at church, but everywhere we go. Another way is to use only Christmas cards that contain Christ-centered greetings.
Christmas time is also a great time to distribute Gospel tracts. I have been told that I could not give out tracts to the customers in certain places, but I have never been told that I could not give them to clerks as I was paying for merchandise. Keep yourself armed with our Gospel tracts and distribute them freely as you do your Christmas shopping. Our tract rack is located by the church offices. The tracts are free, so take as many as you will use.
Benjamin Franklin, one of our nation's founding fathers, wrote in his Poor Richard's Almanack in 1743, "How many observe Christ's birth! How few His precepts! O! Tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments." If he was troubled by how little recognition Christ was given at Christmas in 1743, he would certainly be shocked at how little recognition He is given today. Let's do all we can to give Christ the recognition He deserves.
December 16, 2007
An amazing thing happened last Monday at a Starbucks in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. A lady in the drive through lane ordered her coffee, then pulled up to the window to pay for it and pick it up. As she paid for her coffee, she looked in her rear view mirror at the customer in the car behind her and decided to do a kind deed for him. Though she had no idea who he was, she paid the cashier for his coffee as well as hers.
When the customer in the car behind her was told that she had already paid for his coffee, he was so touched that he decided to do the same thing for the customer behind him. Well, the customer behind him did the same thing for the customer behind him, and the customer behind him did the same thing for the customer behind him. This went on for almost two hours. According to the cashier almost one hundred customers paid for the person's coffe behind them.
I imagine, due to the media coverage of what happened, that the lady who started this chain reaction of kindness is now aware of what she started. If it had not been for the media coverage she never would have known, at least on this side of Heaven. I have a feeling that when we get to Heaven we are going to discover a lot of chain reactions that started with little things that seemed so insignificant at the time they were done.
I actually read two reports of what happened at that Starbucks. One of them included a little detail that the other one did not. The detail was this - During the two hours one customer did not pay for the customer's coffee behind him. When the cashier told the customer behind him how that the chain of kindness had just been broken, he went ahead and paid for the customer's coffee behind him anyway. The result was that the break in the chain of the acts of kindness was mended.
I like that fellow's attitude as much, if not more, than the attitude of the lady who started the chain to begin with. It would have been easy for him to have had a pity party, but instead he paid the price to mend the break in the chain.
In these final few weeks leading up to Christmas, take time to start or mend chains of kind deeds. The media may not pick up on it and publicize it as they did in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, but you will undoubtedly discover that your act of kindness went much further than you ever dreamed it would. You will also discover that your rewards are much greater than you ever dreamed, for our Lord said in Luke 6:35, "...do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great..."
December 23, 2007
For the past several weeks Patricia and I have been swamped with expressions of love and appreciation from you, our church family. Every kind word, card, note, invitation into a home, and gift encourages our hearts. It is a blessing to serve people who appreciate you. We are thankful that our Lord has placed us here as your pastor and pastor’s wife and also thankful that you are thankful for us.
 I remember when I answered the call of God to be a preacher. Patricia and I placed everything we had on the altar as a sacrifice to do His will. One of the things we sacrificed was our close friends. In our minds no one could ever fill the void that leaving them left in our hearts, but we were wrong. We now have friends all over the world, and many of them are in Macon. If we had not followed our Lord’s will, our circle of friends would be very limited. Because we did, we know firsthand what Jesus meant when he promised Peter that He would “receive an hundredfold now in this time” whatever he sacrificed in order to follow Him (Mark 10:28-30).
I would not be experiencing the blessings of your friendship, love, and generosity if our Lord had not willingly sacrificed the pleasures of Heaven in order to come to this old earth and die for our sins. His doing so is what we are celebrating. Think of what our lives would be like if He had not. They would certainly be different. Most of us would not even know each other. It is because He came that our paths have crossed. If he had not, some of us would be married to someone other than we are. If Christ had not come I would not have the daughter in law and son in law that I have. This means that I would not have the five grandchildren that I have. I cannot imagine life without them. Because He came, I do not have to.
 Undoubtedly someone will read this column who is wrestling with surrendering to do the will of God. The sacrifices demanded for your surrender seem so great that you are hesitant to make them. You fear leaving the comfort of your familiar friends and surroundings. Hesitate no longer. Surrender to our Master’s will today. The immediate sacrifices that you will be called upon to make will be repaid an hundredfold in this life and even more so throughout eternity. The kindness and generosity of our church family to my wife and I are proofs that our Lord keeps His promises.
In closing, I must thank each of you again for your love that is being expressed to us through your Christmas greetings and gifts. Patricia and I are thankful that God has placed us here to serve you.
December 30, 2007
C. S. Lewis, in his book Surprised by Joy, said of his father, "...he was not a man easily informed. His mind was too active to be an accurate receiver. What he thought he had heard was never exactly what you had said."
I suppose most of us can sympathize with C. S. Lewis, for all of us at one time or another have been misunderstood, as he was often misunderstood by his father. As a preacher I know I have sometimes been understood to say just the opposite of what I have said. Thankfully I usually have witnesses to verify what I really did say.
All of us can also identify with Lewis’ father. Like him, our minds tend to be so active that we do not take time to listen as we should. Instead, we kind of half listen and attempt to fill in the blanks with what we assume we are being told. The problem is that more often than not we fill the blanks in with the wrong assumptions. We end up with something as different as the person did who heard Elvis singing Hound Dog. Elvis sang, "Well, they said you was high class, but that was just a lie." The person listening to him understood him to sing, "Well, I sent you a tie clasp, but that was last July." I know I am guilty of doing this as a husband, father, and pastor.
Realizing I have a problem with listening as I should, when I run across an article on how to be a better listener, I usually read it. One article I recently read advised to stop multi-tasking when you are supposed to be listening. Instead of trying to do or think about several things as you listen, just listen. In our day of information overload, this is much easier said than done, but it is something that we should strive to do.
When we come to church, we must be especially careful that our minds are not, as Lewis said his father’s was, so active that we cannot be accurate receivers of the Word of God. To do this we must purposely clear our minds of other distracting thoughts before we arrive at church. This cannot be done successfully as you drive to church on Sunday morning. It must start the night before. We just have too much on our minds to clear them in a matter of minutes as we drive to church.
One of the most frequently cited problems in the open-plan office is distracting noises and conversations. The Sound Guy, Inc., a company in the Silicon Valley, actually sells a program called Chatter Blocker that contains digital sound files designed to mask these distracting noises and conversations. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone invented a program that would mask our distracting thoughts as we listen to the preaching of God’s Word?
January 6, 2008
For some time I have desired to teach and train our church membership how to conduct our ministries so that we can be our very best for our Lord. The problem has been finding time to do so. After much prayer I have decided the best time for me to do this is on Wednesday nights. Therefore we are changing our Wednesday evening programs to make it convenient for practically everyone to attend.
A simple, light meal will be served in the Fellowship Hall beginning at six o'clock for the convenience of everyone. This will enable more people to attend. There will be no charge for the meal at this time, but donations will be taken to cover the cost. The meal will be served until seven o'clock.
Beginning at 6:30, I will spend about thirty minutes teaching and training everyone practical things about how we should seek to conduct our ministries. Those who have not finished eating may do so during this time. Everyone, including children and teens, should strive to be present during this time. It is important that all of us have a general working knowledge of our ministries.
At about seven o'clock, our children and teens will go to their usual ministries. Our adults will stay in the Fellowship Hall for their prayer time and Bible study. By eight o'clock we should all be through and ready to go home!
I am by nature a tradtionalist when it comes to how I do things. However, I believe that these changes in our Wednesday evening program will enable me to better fulfill my responsibility as your pastor of perfecting the saints for the work of the ministry. I thank you in advance for your cooperation and for your attendance on Wednesday evenings. Our Lord willing, I'll see you in our Fellowship Hall this Wednesday evening!
January 13, 2008
Late Breaking News Flash
This past week a lady dropped by the office and left a CD of a quartet from Kentucky that her brother sings in. They are coming through our area and she wanted me to consider having them in for a service. Usually I do not take time to listen to things that are dropped off like this, but I decided to take this one and listen to it as I visited the hospitals and ran a few errands. I am glad I did. The music and songs were great.
After listening to the CD, I decided to check them out a little more, so I pulled up their web page. I was so impressed by what I learned about them that I decided to give them a call. As I talked with one of their members I felt impressed to invite them to be with us as they passed through our area. To make a long story short, The Patriot Quartet will be with us on Sunday morning, January 27th. This is only two weeks from today!
The Patriot Quartet will sing in both the Sunday school hour and the morning worship service. I have asked them to take the entire hour of Sunday school and also be ready to sing a few times in the morning service. We will combine all of our Sunday school classes in the auditorium so that everyone can enjoy the blessing of hearing the Patriot Quartet.
Though the quartet offered to be with us at no charge, I have committed us to put them up on Saturday evening and to take up a love offering. Our Lord teaches us that the laborer is worthy of his hire. Be sure to plan on giving to this offering next Sunday morning. God will bless us if we take care of His servants.
We are off to a good start in our church this year. Things are popping! Can you believe we had 199 in our morning service last Sunday? We also had a great service last Wednesday evening. Several people have commented on how they were blessed and encouraged by the new way we are doing things on Wednesday nights. Let’s keep things popping. Use the coming of the Patriot Quartet to influence others to visit with us. Many people will come to church to hear a quartet. We can break through that 200 barrier by using their coming to promote the service.
I often ask people how the Devil is treating them. If you are a Christian, old slew foot should be doing his best to give you a fit. If you are doing anything for our Lord, old slew foot will fight you even harder. When he does, remember the sermon I preached awhile back about throwing wood on the fire and put it into practice. Don’t let him discourage you into slowing down or quitting. If you do, the fire will go out. Shake him off and throw some more wood on the fire! Amen and Amen!!
January 20, 2008
Our facilities are in need of a lot of repairs and updating. We are slowly but surely pecking away at making these repairs and updates, but there are some that we do not need to make until we put new roofs on some of our buildings. For instance, in our auditorium we need to paint the walls, paint or replace the ceiling tiles, add more lighting, and update our audio and video equipment. We could squeeze out enough money to do these things now, but if we do them before we fix the roof there is a good probability that these improvements would be damaged by water that leaks through our old roof. I could give you other examples in our high school, gymnasium, and fellowship hall buildings.
One option we have is to patch the roofs as we have done before. This would help, but our roofs are so old and worn that it would not solve the problem. What we really need to do is replace the roofs. Imagine how much better a new roof would look on our church. Not only would it look better, but it would also last a lot longer. The problem is that a new roof is three to four times as expensive as repairing our old one.
If we all chip in and give some extra to our “Renovation Fund” we can replace these roofs. You can give to this fund by designating your extra offering to it on our offering envelopes located in the racks on the back of our pews. We are presently using the money in this fund to make minor renovations, but we need to add a lot more money to it in order to replace our roofs.
I have never been one to pressure people to give. I believe that when God’s people are made aware of a need in their church that they should give to it without being pressured. If they have to be pressured into giving they will not be blessed for their giving. If their hearts are right with the Lord, they will want to give, even if they are not able to.
As your pastor, I am simply making you aware of a real need that our church has and asking you to prayerfully give as God leads you to help with this great need. I know I can count on you to do so. Together we will eliminate this need to the glory of our God.
January 27, 2008
Today is my spiritual birthday. It was on this date thirty-five years ago that the good Lord saved my old wretched soul from a life of sin and shame, and an eternity of suffering in flames. Some predicted that it wouldn’t last over two weeks, but by the grace of God they have been proven wrong.
God has been good to me in these thirty-five years. When He saved me I never dreamed that He would use me to do anything for Him. I could not imagine that He could use me to lead another soul to Him, much less call me into the ministry. There were too many others that He could use that were not scarred by sin and were talented to boot. Oh, but in His wonderful grace He chose to use me anyway. I do not understand why, but I am thankful that He did.
It was not long after I was saved that our church had a special day on which they had an old fashioned, southern gospel quartet sing during our Sunday School and morning worship service. I had never cared for that kind of music before, but things were different now. I remember sitting in Sunday School and weeping as that quartet sang a song about the old lighthouse. It is amazing how your tastes change when God makes you into a new creature. Before the day of my salvation all I cared about was fleshly rock and roll music with lyrics that glorified sin. Now I enjoyed music that stirred my spirit and lyrics that exalted Christ and holy living.
Today we are honored to have the Patriot Quartet with us. For several weeks I have been looking forward to having them with us. They are one of those old fashioned, southern gospel quartets. I am sure we all will be blessed through their ministry of good old, southern gospel music. They may even sing that old song about the lighthouse.
As always when we have special guests with us, we will receive a love offering for our guests today. Listen during the announcements this morning for instructions on how to contribute to this offering. God will bless us for taking care of His servants.
Next Saturday we are having a work day. The time and other details about this work day are in this bulletin. This is a very important day and we need everyone’s help in order to prepare for the upcoming open house for our school. I know you understand how important this work day is and that you will make it a priority.
February 3, 2008
Two BIG Events Next Sunday
Whole Hearted Sunday
Next Sunday morning is our annual Wholehearted Sunday, which we have each year on the Sunday nearest Valentine’s Day. Every member of our church should aggressively seek to sign up as many people as possible to be with us in our Sunday School and morning worship service next Sunday. The forms used to sign up people will be given out and explained in the services today. You will find that God will use these forms to influence people to come to church that normally will not come. There is something about putting a persons name on a form that makes them take their commitment more seriously.
Whole Hearted Sunday is about more than having a lot of visitors. It is also a day for every member of our church to demonstrate that they are not half-hearted when it comes to their church. You can demonstrate your wholeheartedness by doing three things next Sunday:
- Attend every service throughout the day.
- Giving at least a tithe of your income to our church.
- Do your best to bring visitors with you to the services.
If every member of our church did these three things we would have a record breaking day in attendance and offerings.
Open House for Our Christian School
Next Sunday afternoon, from one until four o’clock, is also Open House for our Christian school. We need everyone’s help with our open house. Volunteers are needed to prepare the meal that we will serve to everyone who takes a tour of our facilities. Volunteers are also needed to help give tours and man stations throughout our facilities. Your presence at this event will help give the impression that our school is alive and well. Last year we had a great response to our Open House. We are praying that God will bless us with an even greater one this year.
Please do your best to publicize this event. If you know the parents of a prospective student, be sure to invite them to take advantage of this opportunity to get acquainted with our school. Our school has been referred to as Macon’s best kept secret. We need to get the word out. We need your help to do it. I know I can count on you.
February 10, 2008
The last two Wednesday evenings I have spent some time teaching on the subject of deacons. I trust that you were present so that you will know the purpose of our deacons, what to expect of them, and your responsibility to them.
Years ago I preached a sermon on three things that will destroy a church. They were pastors who want to be God, deacons who want to be the pastor, and women who want to be deacons. I can assure you that I do not want to be God. I believe I can also safely assure you that our deacons do not want to be the pastor. To the best of my knowledge, none of our ladies want to be deacons either. These things cannot be said in a lot of churches. I am thankful that they can be said of Gilead.
Every family unit of our church is assigned to one of our deacons. Though all of the deacons are yours, you have been assigned to receive special attention from one of them. Be sure to let him and his wife know how much you appreciate them when they contact you.
Listed below are the names and phone numbers of our deacons and their wives. Our deacons have asked that I list their names and numbers in the bulletin so that you will know who they are and how you can get in touch with them. These are good men that desire to serve you. Help them fulfill their desire by calling upon them when you need to.
LIST OF DEACONS & PHONE NUMBERS
| Ricky & Susan Jackson | 745-1025 |
| Grady & Agnes Gillis | 474-7149 |
| Gene & Margie Ray | 475-4901 |
| Gregg & Cheryl Willis | 471-1835 |
| Brian & Vicki Gottschall | 405-0399 |
| Jimmy & Tanzel Rousey | 474-9055 |
| Nathan & Lisa Bushy | 477-4017 |
| Chris & Amy McBride | 256-4803 |
February 17, 2008
Men’s Meeting Tonight
Following the evening worship service tonight I will be meeting with all of our men. The meeting concerns a major work project that we need to get done as soon as possible. We can save a lot of money by doing this project ourselves, but we must have men committed to doing it. Some men will probably be needed that can work on the project during the week. Others will be needed that can work on the project on Saturdays. I know I can count on our men to get it done.
School Staff Recruiting
This Monday and Tuesday, Bro. Gottschall and I will be at Bob Jones University recruiting staff members for our school. On Monday and Tuesday of next week ,Jimmy Rousey and I will be at Pensacola Christian College recruiting. Please pray for us as we travel. Also pray that God would give us the staff members that we need.
I believe that God hears and answers specific prayers, so I am going to share with you some things that will give you an idea of what kind of staff members to be praying for. The kind of staff members I want you to pray for are:
- People with hungry hearts to serve our Lord.
- People who are looking for a ministry instead of a vocation.
- People who will love students in spite of their shortcomings.
- People who consider it an honor to live a separated life.
- People who will unite with and be faithful to our church.
- People who will get involved in our church.
- People who have a strong work ethic.
- People who have a servant’s heart and a sacrificial spirit.
- People who are convinced that it is God’s will for them to be on our staff.
You may think that these would be characteristics of every person graduating from a Christian college, but it is not. Other pastors have expressed their concern to me about the carnality of people they have interviewed as prospective staff members. The ways of the world have seeped into their hearts. Many are more concerned about what they can get than they are about what they can give. They are more concerned about salaries, benefits, and days off than they are about the will of God. We do not want these kind of people on our staff.
February 24, 2008
Recruiting Trip Again This Week
Jimmy Rousey and I will be leaving this afternoon for Pensacola Christian College. We will spend the next two days recruiting staff members for our academy. The trip that Bro. Gottschall and I took to Bob Jones University last week provided several good prospects for the positions we are seeking to fill. I am sure that the trip to Pensacola Christian this week will enable us to make more good contacts with prospective staff members. Please pray for Jimmy and I as we travel. Also pray that God would give us wisdom as we seek the right people to serve with us here at Gilead.
Men Needed For Saturdays
Though we have made a lot of much needed improvements on our grounds and facilities, there are still a lot more things we need to take care of. In our meeting last Wednesday evening, the deacons and I discussed ways that we could organize the men of our church to effectively work on these things. The idea that we settled on was to ask our men to volunteer to work on one Saturday each month. The goal is to have a group of two to five men working on a specific project each Saturday. In the next few weeks we will be seeking to organize our men to do this. In the meantime, look at your calendars and determine which Saturday would be best for you to volunteer for.
Church Roof Repairs Being Planned
Last Sunday evening our men responded enthusiastically to our plans to repair the roof on our church building. When I get back from Pensacola, I will be able to work at organizing this project, which I hope we will be able to complete very soon. I am thankful for the willingness of our men to tackle big projects like this. Their participation saves us a great amount of money which we will be able to use in other areas of our ministry.
Do Not Get Discouraged!
Sometimes I am overwhelmed, as I am sure you are, by all that needs to be done around our church. However, when I pause long enough to think about what we have accomplished in the last few years, I am encouraged. Though we still have a long way to go, we have come a long, long way. We must keep working at it. As the old saying goes, “Inch by inch, it’s a cinch.” We are making progress. Let’s keep up the good work until we get it done!
March 2, 2008
Recruiting Report
As you are probably aware of, I have spent much of the last two weeks talking to prospective teachers for our academy. I am thankful for Bro. Gottschall who went with me to Bob Jones University and Jimmy Rousey who went with me to Pensacola Christian College. It would have been impossible for one person to speak to all of the prospective teachers that came by our display.
We have made a lot of good contacts with prospective teachers. I was very impressed and encouraged by the spirit and attitude of most of the young people I spoke with. They were not caught up in the materialism that most in our society are caught up in. They just want to serve our Lord in whatever capacity they can. I believe God is going to give us a great staff for the upcoming school year. Pray that God will direct us to those he has for our ministry.
Pray For Revival
Three weeks from today we will celebrate Easter and kick off a week of revival services with Bro. Jim Rushing. I served on Bro. Rushing’s staff when he was a pastor in the Atlanta area and I still think of him as my pastor. He is a true friend, a real man, and a straight shooting preacher of the Word of God. Though many have compromised and changed with the times, he has not. It is impossible to sit under his preaching for very long without being blessed or blistered. The condition of your heart determines which one.
Pray fervently for God to prepare our hearts for revival. We need a mighty, deep moving of God in our midst. We need a work of God done in our hearts that will cleanse us of our half-heartedness, our unfaithfulness, our complacency, our grumbling, our double mindedness, our backbiting, our hardness, and our indifference. We need a work of God that drives us to our knees in prayer, to our church for worship, and into the streets with the Gospel of Christ. Make it a matter of daily, fervent prayer that God, in His grace, would grant us such a revival.
Are You ready Men?
Our Lord willing, this week we will start organizing our men to do the work on our church roof and other work around our church on Saturdays. I will be calling men to help with the roof repairs and plan to have a sign up sheet, possibly as early as Wednesday night, for men to sign up to do volunteer work on Saturdays. Don’t forget to set aside a Saturday each month to help us with these projects. With all of us doing our little part, we will make a big difference in our church. I thank you in advance for your help.
March 9, 2008
Are You A Practicing Calvinist?
This past week I have been doing a lot of thinking and reading on the subject of revival. In the process of my reading, I came across an article written by a proponent of reformed theology. Proponents of the reformed theology are adherents of Calvinism. In this article the author wrote, “The question that faces us is this: ‘Is it proper, is it biblical, is it Reformed to pray for and seek revival in the church?’ To that question the Reformed faith must give a resounding ‘No!’ Revival is wrong. Revival is contrary to the Scriptures. Revival is at odds with the Reformed faith. To pray for revival is to go against the will of God and is to grieve the Holy Spirit.”
If any preacher made such a statement from our pulpit, once we got over the initial shock, we would remove him from our pulpit, label him as an heretic, and permanently ban him from ever speaking in our church again. Why? Because we profess to believe that it is proper and biblical to pray for revival in our church. In fact, we believe that it is very unlikely a church will experience revival without first earnestly seeking God’s face in prayer. Now notice I said that we profess to believe this, not that we do believe this. Why? Because if we do not pray for revival, the silence of our prayerlessness drowns out the sound of our profession. Anybody can say they believe in praying for revival, but if they do not pray for revival, we have every right to question their honesty. Our actions should compliment, not contradict, what we profess.
We are only two weeks from beginning a week of revival services. Do we need revival? Yes! Can God give revival? Yes! Do we need to pray for revival? Yes! Then let us spend the next two weeks on our face before God pleading with Him to give us the revival we so desperately need.
Last Thursday morning I enjoyed a time of fellowship with Bro. Casillas. He told me about attending a revival in our church years ago. He remembered the tears and the brokenness of people before the Lord. He remembered how God moved mightily in our midst and how the people responded with repentant hearts. Can God do that again? Of course He can. In fact, God wants to. The problem is not with God, but with us. Do we want God to move in such a mighty, cleansing, refreshing way among us? If we do, we will make prayer a priority over the next few weeks leading up to our revival meeting.
March 23, 2008
Today is a very special and important day for all of us. It is important for all of us that know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior because it is Easter Sunday. This is the day that we, as Christians, celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Though there are thousands of religious faiths in the world, we are the only people who have faith in One who conquered death. Our Savior lives. His resurrection is what we are celebrating today. This makes today very special for all of us who know Him.
Today is also a very special day for all of us who are members of the Gilead Baptist Church because today we are beginning our Spring revival meeting. It has been said that revivals are like baths in that they don’t last and therefore they must be repeated. It has been several months since we have had a revival meeting. I pray that all of us will recognize our need of this one and make attending it a priority.
Another reason that today is special for all of us who are members of the Gilead Baptist Church is that we are at a point where we are faced with a very important decision. Tonight, following our evening service, we will have our regular monthly business meeting. In that meeting I will seek to inform the church of the decision we must make as soon as possible and ask everyone to prayerfully seek our Lord’s will concerning what we should do. I do not plan to ask for a decision tonight. Instead I plan to ask the church to be ready to make a decision next Sunday evening. This will give us a week to prayerfully seek our Lord’s will.
I do not like the fact that we are faced with the distraction of making an important decision during the week of our revival meeting. However, I can think of no better way to prepare ourselves to make an important decision than by spending the days leading up to it in a revival meeting. As I stated in our Wednesday evening service, I would not look forward to preaching a revival in our church at this time. It is hard preaching to people who are burdened. However, I cannot think of anything that we need more this week than to be fed the Word of God from the heart of an experienced man of God. God knew what He was doing when He arranged for us to be in revival this week.
Last but not least, today is a very important day for those who do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. It is important because they can accept Him today. My prayer is that if you do not know my Lord, you will let us introduce you to Him today by responding to the invitations given at the end of our services. If you do, you will always look back on this day as the most special day of your life.
April 20, 2008
If you spend much time around my brother or me, you will soon hear a story about our grandfather. To us, he was a hero and one of the wisest men who ever lived. Everyone that met him quickly realized that he was a strong, hard working, rugged farmer. He was not highly educated, polished, or tactful. He cared absolutely nothing about what people thought of him and did not seek to impress anyone. He seemed to fear no one or anything. Though he was slow to share his opinions, when he did he spoke very bluntly without wasting any words.
There was another side of my grandfather that only those close to him were aware of. He had a great sense of humor and was a habitual prankster. He also had a heart with a great big tender spot in it. He was a lot like a grizzly bear with the heart of a teddy bear.
I remember him finding a little mongrel dog hiding under one of our barns. She had obviously recently had puppies, though the puppies were no where to be found. She also looked as if she was about to starve. To make matters worse, someone had thrown scalding water all over her. The dog was as pitiful a creature as I have ever seen. She had been treated so badly that you could not get close to her without her trying to bite you.
My grandfather would bring the dog food and milk to drink. Each time he did, he would coax her a little closer to him. Over a period of days he was able to pet her and eventually even to apply medicine to her wounds. Even after he had won the dog’s trust, when he was applying medicine to her wounds he would sometimes hit a tender spot and she would snap at him. He would just rub her head and talk gently to her. It was an amazing thing to watch a rugged man treat a mongrel dog with such compassion.
There are a lot of people in this world like that little dog. They have been abused by this old world until they are afraid to trust anyone, and so they try to bite every hand that attempts to help them. They need someone to compassionately, patiently, and understandingly reach out to them. You can be that person without compromising your stand or your stance. My grandfather was proof that you can be a grizzly bear with a teddy bear’s heart.
By the way, that little dog eventually came to the house with my granddaddy and became one of the best hog catchers we had!
April 27, 2008
Our church year begins on June 1st. It is hard to believe, but it is already time to begin the process of choosing those who will serve as the elected leaders of our church during the next church year.
Every active member of our church has the responsibility of being involved in the process of choosing our deacons. Their first responsibility is to nominate men as candidates for the office of deacon. These nominees will then be examined by the pastor and the nominating committee in order to eliminate those from further consideration who are not biblically qualified to fill the office. The remaining nominees will then be voted on by the church to determine which of them will serve as deacons during the next church year. Next Sunday you will be given the opportunity to nominate up to ten men that you believe are biblically qualified to serve as deacons in our church. The biblical qualifications of deacons are found in I Timothy 3:8-13 and Acts 6:1-8. Please study these qualifications carefully this week so that you will be biblically prepared to make your nominations next Sunday.
This afternoon I will meet with our deacons at 5:00 o’clock for the purpose of nominating the men that will serve with me on the nominating committee. Hopefully we will be able to present these men to the church for their approval in our business meeting tonight. The nominating committee has the responsibility of selecting those who will serve in all other positions of elected leadership in our church. Those selected by them will then be presented to the church for final approval.
This year is a critical year of transition for our church. It is of the utmost importance that we have qualified people in every position of leadership who will work together as a team under the direction of their pastor. We cannot afford to have division in our leadership. We need loyal, faithful, committed, stable people to lead us through this year of transition.
If you are in a position of leadership and for some reason you are unable or unwilling to continue in that position another year, please do not consent to being nominated. In fact, let me know that you do not want to be nominated so that our nominating committee will be able to use their time efficiently.
On the other hand, if you are able and willing to serve in a position of leadership during this year of transition, please do not hesitate to accept being nominated. You may not have a lot of experience, but if you have a burning desire to be used of the Lord and a teachable spirit, God will use you!
Read more From Our Pastor's Pen
- December 2007
- January 2008
- February 2008
- March 2008
- April 2008
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