Then and There

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose…a time to gain, and a time to lose” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6 NKJV).

A police officer pulled over a distinguished-looking woman, the story goes, and asked why she had exceed the posted speed limit.  The old gentlemen sitting in the passenger seat laughed and said, “Well, young man, we were speeding to get to the place before we forget where we are going!”  Many people forget that they are going somewhere — either  Heaven or Hell.   And many have forgotten, just as importantly, that there are those who are following them on the same journey.  As long as we are breathing we are leading the way.

Heaven is a time to gain, while Hell is a time of loss.  If you throw in Heaven on this earth, you will also gain Earth.  But if you throw in Earth without Heaven you will find yourself the loser, and you would have lost the most anyone can lose for eternity.  There is a season, and when that season is over we either have gained or we have lost.  Many people are ill-prepared for the realities of retirement and the realities of eternity.

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  • Lost Boy

    “I looked on my right hand…no man cared for my soul” (Psalm 142:4).

    When it comes to witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ, I remember while I was in college that no one every spoke to me about my soul.  As a matter of real knowledge, I do not ever recall anyone speaking to me directly about my eternal destination.  It was all so vague to me.  As a young man, a teen of maybe fifteen, I remember shutting my Bible during a worship service and saying to myself, “One day I will understand but for now I choose to wait it out.”

    I did not shut my Bible in rebellion but in mild frustration.  I said “Maybe one day I will understand.”  I just didn’t get it.  I wasn’t trying to harm or hurt anyone; I, with all of the changes going on in my body, mind, and soul of a teen, just gave up and I just shut down.

    There are a lot of youth walking around the same way today.  They don’t know what the Bible, Jesus, the Church, and prayer, etc., is all about.  They are lost and headed toward a dream world that does not exist.  And there are hardly any out there who care enough to pray and prepare their own lives to tell the good news to them.

    Do you remember in the first paragraph that I remarked that no one spoke up for my soul?  Well there was one.  I was in my second year of college and I traveled to the State Fair in Raleigh, NC.  While there, minding my own business, I was walking with a girl and out of nowhere God appeared.  You say, “What?” Yep!  In just a moment in time this girl stopped out in front of us and asked ME “If I were a Christian?”  I said, “Yes,” for I was taken by surprise.  The next step, I took after giving her my answer, the Holy Spirit of God stopped me dead in my soul and in such a real way said to my lost soul, “You are lying.”  And He was right.  Never before had I been confronted in that manner.

    God used that girl to speak to me.  He was awakening my soul out of the lap of the evil one.  Later I understood the gospel!  He opened my eyes.  I have never gotten over it.  Someone cared for my soul.  She doesn’t know what she did for me.  I laughed inside when I saw her in front of me with her “Howdy Doody smile“.  But now it is me who has the smile.  I can’t wait to see her.  I don’t know exactly how it will happen, but one day I will thank her for her bravery, courage and her love for a lost college boy headed toward Hell who didn’t understand.  And one day I will thank the Lord God Almighty for using this young college girl in my life who stood up for Him!

  • A House of Prayer

    “And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold in it, and them that bought, saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but you have made it a den of thieves” (Luke 19:45-46).

     

    The place was filled to overcapacity. The service at Central Baptist Church in Moscow, Russia was anticipatory. The invitation was given, many stood to come forward, but because of tightness of quarters, they rose together and there from their seat or in the aisle received Christ, repenting of the sin of unbelief.

     

    Billy Graham had preached the Gospel in Moscow in 1984. Now Franklin, Billy’s son, shared the Gospel some thirty years later, a few weeks ago, 2015. The Russian churches who once under communist rule were closed and bulldozed to the ground but now are being rebuilt and reopened. The hearts of many in Russia are being prepared by God for God. Suppressed for nearly a century because of Satan’s doings someone is praying and God is opening doors. This is His work.

     

    We must pray for the nations of the world. God has set our churches in America and other places to pray. But we have become imploded with our own self importance and needs. God has commanded that Christians salt the earth (Matthew 5:13), and it has not been repealed. The local church was created by God, not man, to achieve His purpose in the world. God has entrusted His reputation to ordinary people.

     

    As we read the headlines may we pray for the nations. May we pray for God’s missionaries as they are ambassadors for Christ in foreign lands. And may we never forget that God has called us to meet at His throne of grace together beseeching Him in His purpose for His glory. He is waiting for us to come to Him and ask.

  • Be Wise and Listen

    “And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and show it to thee” (I Samuel 20:12).

    The son of King Saul, Jonathan, spoke to David in the presence of God’s hearing and seeing, and brought out to David that he would speak to his father about David and get his father’s true opinion of what he thought of David. He promised David to find out once and for all.

    The rest of the story is known to all Bible students. King Saul wanted David dead. He chased David all over the countryside trying to murder him and get him out of his life and kingdom. The result was disastrous for King Saul and Jonathan.

    Today many reflect the way they think of King Jesus by their action. There are no gray areas when it comes to Christ. Either we are for Him or against Him, wanting Him or driving Him away, crowning Him or crucifying Him. The Lord did not send peace upon earth but a sword to divide and to cut through.  

    The heart truly reveals what we think of David’s greater Son. Our motives, methods, and hidden thoughts will reveal what we imagine of God’s only begotten Son. The Word of God tells us, “To kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they who put their trust in him” (Psalm 2:12).

    God runs this universe by decree, not by democracy. God’s decrees will succeed. Puny, foolish men with their godless living will not eradicate or hinder His work. God’s scepter of righteousness will sound forth and what we think of Him really does matter.  We will either cry out in repentance or cower in rebellion. Listen and be wise to the Spirit of God for He is sounding out what we think of God’s Son.

  • Christian Tours of Delight

    “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

    Today as I have traveled around, several things have taken place. I want to share them with you. Is that okay?

    A lady that I have prayed for, been in her home and prayed with both her husband and family, a lady in whom you have helped financially, told me some exciting news: she and her husband have been born again, and that just recently! Whoa, Nellie!  Someone hold my mule while I shout!

    Also, another gentleman came up to me and sat down with me while I had a quick breakfast with the Lord while reading a chapter in a book. This fifty-eight year old man spoke to me of his pain–physical and emotionally. We will get together soon. We spoke briefly and I had prayer with him. He was encouraged as I was. I heard and saw the inward grief and pain.

    Then I met a couple. I began to inquire of where they were from, what church they belonged to, and where they are at this time in their life. It was a good ten-minute fellowship. I felt God had used me as a link in the chain to bring them closer to the cross. Mind you, it was not me, it was Christ in me. I was just the body He was using.

    This morning, also, I had the opportunity to speak to someone by phone. He called me and we talked, and we prayed, and we encouraged each other. You will hear some of his testimony Sunday morning. I was glad for God’s saving grace in this fellow laborer.

    Isn’t God good? He is the invisible God who makes Himself visible through His people. The lady that I spoke of in the first paragraph told me, “This is the greatest adventure I have ever been on.” Friend, being in Christ is the greatest adventure. It is life and having abundance of grace all thrown in.

    No matter the difficulties you are having, you have a God who can. Read the Bible, pray through the Scriptures, and allow God to give you His mind and His will. You will find peace in the middle of a storm. When we praise God we are revealing God’s glory to the world around us and below us and above us. Let the angels see us praising God. Verbalized praise from a heart overflowing is wonderful and freeing. And it brings a walk with God that is lasting.

  • Revival Means To Live in a New Way

    “The LORD is good unto those who wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him” (Lamentations 3:24).

    J.D. Grear in his book, “Jesus Continued”, said, “In an awakening, the Spirit of God does not typically do a “new” thing; he simply pours greater power upon the “normal” things faithful Christians are already doing. Prayers become more intense; worship becomes more joyous; repentance becomes more sorrowful; and the preached Word yields greater effect. The Spirit of God multiplies the effectiveness of our “normal” work of seed-planting, bringing a bountiful harvest. And he does more in a moment than we can accomplish in a lifetime.”

    This is what I dream of everyday that I awaken from my sleep. Looking, longing for this is a great desire that many have for their churches and for their land. This passion should drive each of us to our faces before a holy and righteous God. Yet the passion runs deep and the need arises paramount.

    Don’t you want to serve as a spiritual pyromaniac in igniting the heart of the church for Christ’s glory? Are you dreaming of this too? Could God do it here in Alamance County? Could you and I be used of God to help lead the way in a movement of unprecedented proportions to see the Gospel of God spread like wildfire and countless lives transformed?

  • The Third Day

    Reigning in Grace

    “And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted” (Leviticus 19:7).

     

    The peace offering was to be a offering of voluntary measures. It was not forced upon the people of Israel to offer. But if it were not offered, or offered with a heart that was cold and indifferent, the worship of the people was not acceptable in the sight of God.

     

    The offering was to be celebrated together in appreciation of God’s grace through the burnt offerings, the meal offerings, and the peace offerings. They each represented facets of the love of God expressed by sacrificial giving.

     

    You and I should study these offerings and learn the value and virtues of the sacrifice of Christ for each sinner. The more we dive into the Old Testament the more we will understand the New Testament cross of Calvary.

     

    When you and I try to worship or serve God in our flesh we fail to appreciate and have true communion with God and other worshippers. In the sight of the Lord it is an abominable thing to sit in a worship service and be out of contact with Him. That worship, either in a Sunday gathering or a Lord’s supper celebration, is not accepted by Him.

     

    Why do so many stay at home while God has called us to gather? Why is there seemingly dullness and boredom in church? We have forgotten the power of the third day. God says that every day is to be a day of communion and when we forget and fail to remember we fail to reign in grace by One who is the Lord Jesus Christ.