Just thinking about...

A little Gaither theology...

This is the first day of the rest of your life. 

I don’t really remember where I first read that idea, but it came up again today as I read Philippians 1:3-6.  The text is from Paul who assures the Christians of Philippi that God had begun His wonderful work in them and would continue to work in them. He says God will “bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

When I served as Music and Youth Minister in Goose Creek, South Carolina, we did a children’s musical by the Gaither’s called “Kids Under Construction”. I have very fond memories of the people at FBCGC, and the theology presented in that musical. This song pointed out the very profound truth that we are a work in progress. The lyrics of the theme song were “Kids under construction, maybe the paint is still wet. Kids under construction, the Lord may be not be finished yet.”

It is reported that Ruth Graham, Billy’s wife, wrote that she wanted her epitaph to say “End of Construction. Thanks for being so patient.”

The work of God in us is a work of change, but gradual change at the pace He chooses and in the way He chooses. If you are a disciple of Jesus, God is at work in you and He knows where to work, when to work, how to work, and how fast to work. Our relationship to Him is secure in that we are His children; and as His children we can trust HIs absolute commitment to our well being. As His children who are disciples, our responsibility is to love Him, follow Him, and trust Him and His word to do the work in us that needs to be done. Our obedience is based on trust. We obey because we trust the loving God who is working in us.

Bill & Gloria Gaither wrote many a fine melody, but the value of their songs was most often found in the practical theology they presented. The lyrics to one of their songs captures my thinking this morning:

* "I'm Not What I Want To Be"

When I started out on my journey, I had such a long way to go;
It was just a start when I gave him my heart, There was such a lot I needed to know.
Now I look back over my shoulder, I can see that I have come a long way.
I'm not what I want to be, but thank God I'm not what I was.

I'm learning to be happy just growing. for struggle is a part of life.
Believing always comes before knowing and victory comes after the strife.
I'm not what I want to be, I'm not what I'm gonna be, but thank God I'm not what I was.

I'm learning to trust in the process of what Jesus is doing in me.
Since I made Him my Lord, I believe His Word, There's no end to all the things I could be.
I am lying back in the promise that He's working in it all for my good
I'm not what I want to be, but thank God I'm not what I was.

Doing always comes with believing, Believing comes when I obey
If I take the risk and just follow, He'll be there to show me the way.
I'm not what I want to be, I'm not what I'm gonna be, but thank God I'm not what I was.

This is the first day of the rest of your life. Enjoy life in His presence as He works in you.

 

*Words by Gloria Gaither, Music by William J. Gaither and Gary S. Paxton
Christian Grit Music Press, 1978

Spiritual awakening...

At Riverbluff Church, we're entering the last week of 21 days of praying for revival in the Church and spiritual awakening in our land and world. It has been a wonderful time in the Lord, and I'm grateful for all He has done in so many of our people during this time.

The word revival is best applied to the church, while spiritual awakening is generally applied to people who are not part of the church. The two work together as a regular, ongoing way of life where God does a work in HIs people and HIs people do HIs work in the world. His work consists of blessing others in multiple ways through ministry, meeting needs, kindness, and other ways. As God draws people to HImself who may not know Him, he uses the people who do to respond.

At Riverbluff Church, we have hundreds of people involved in ministries to the poor, the homeless, the hungry, the broken, and the marginalized peoples of the low country and world. I thank God for the heart of the Riverbluff Family to extend grace to all.

I do need to regularly bring myself and the Riverbluff family back to the greatest blessing of all- a heart and life transformed by Jesus.  It's so easy to do the work of Jesus among the poor and neglect  His mandate to take the Gospel to the Poor as well. While we are confident we have a responsibility to meet the physical needs of people; their greatest need is to experience the love of God that was ultimately expressed in Jesus Christ. God has reconciled us to HImself and given us the task of sharing that Good News.

God regularly reminds me as I give the piece of bread to the hungry soul, "Look for the opportunity to give them the Bread of Life- Jesus".

My prayer is for revival in the church to live like Jesus so we may respond with bread AND Good News when He sends spiritual awakening among those yet to Know Him.

Just thinking...

A very good beginning to the week!

This morning was amazing because of two events.

The morning began with three beautiful Scriptures (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 5:18) from our emphasis on prayer and fasting for spiritual awakening at Riverbluff Church. We have dedicated 21 days to praying and fasting asking God to do a work in us, His Church, and in the world. The Scriptures this morning reminded me that the effectiveness of my prayers, life, and witness are based on the power of the Holy Spirit living in me. It is possible to “do good” in my own strength and power; but the Kingdom “fruit that remains” (John 15:16) comes from the Spirit who is working in and through me. It is HIs power that produces lasting change. That’s the way God has chosen to work to change the world. He works in us, and through us, in the world.

The second event was attending a lecture at First Baptist Charleston with Eric Metaxas, author of the biography Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.  Metaxas was wonderful in presenting Bonheoffer as the great hero of the orthodox Christian faith.  Many on the more liberal side of theology claim Bonhoeffer became a humanist in the latter days of his imprisonment; but Metaxas expertly shows his heart for the Gospel, the Bible, Orthodoxy, and the Church. He was martyred by Hitler just days before the end of the war, but even in his last hours served communion and preached from Isaiah before his death. I long for such courage and bravery.

I’m grateful to God for the Bible which gives us truth about Jesus. (I am grateful for heroes of the faith like Bonhoeffer. I am also thankful for the Christians such as Metaxas who clearly articulate the Christian faith to the man in the street and the cultural elite.

Lord, my prayer is that we (Your Church) would be filled with Your Spirit so that we may be fit vessels in your hands; and may we be people of courage and conviction in our culture daring to represent you in that culture. I also pray for clear and articulate communication from your church to those who are seeking to know You.  Amen.

Repentance gets a bad rep!

In the first recorded teaching of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel, he says “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15 (ESV)

In Baptist life, repentance is usually connected with the salvation experience or backsliding. Simply put,  you repent when you get saved, or when you “backslide” after you’ve been saved.Traditionally during revivals, we hope that backsliding church members will repent. Repentance, however, is bigger than just the salvation experience or the backslider’s rededication. …way bigger!

When Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation in 1517 by nailing his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church for discussion, his first thesis was about repentance. Here’s my paraphrase of what Luther wrote: “For the Believer in Jesus Christ, all of life is repentance”.

In agreement with Luther, I think that repentance should be a regular discipline for the Christ follower, not an event only for salvation or revivals. The Scriptures tell us “God is at work in us” ; and, that we are being conformed to the image of God’s Son, Jesus. That means that God the Holy Spirit regularly shows the disciple of Jesus what needs to be done in his/her life; not just about salvation and sin, but about life itself. He constantly shows us where we need to “repent and believe”.

Repentance is about putting off old ways and putting on the ways of Jesus. Since our hearts and minds were corrupt prior to our new birth, the rest of life after conversion is regularly learning a new way to think and to live. Paul calls it “putting off the old man and putting on the new”.  Repenting is not just saying “I am sorry for my sin”; it is saying “Lord Jesus, thank You for showing me a better way to live or think or act or believe. Now, out of my love for You, I want to live as You lived. Out of my gratitude for what You did for me on the cross, I want to trust Your every teaching and replace my ways with Your ways.” We repent because we trust Him and know that He loves us and wants the best for us.

We are talking about a way of life that involves repenting and replacing old values with the values of Jesus. It is repenting and replacing the ways of the world with the ways of the Kingdom. It is repenting and replacing the sins of the self with the godly practices of the Savior. Indeed all of life is a repenting, because God the Spirit is always working is us at the pace He chooses to replace the ways of the world, the flesh, and the devil with the ways of the Lord Jesus. When He convicts us of sin, He is calling us to be changed, to repent of those things that are destructive to God’s people, and to embrace the things that build the saint and the Kingdom.

I think we who follow Jesus must rethink repentance. It is not some painful and terrible practice to be avoided. It is the loving God pointing out ways that are destructive to us, to others, and to the Kingdom. It is not an “every now and then” religious event, but rather an ongoing, faithful work of the Spirit of God living in us. And because God will continue His work in us until the day of Christ, all of life for the Believer will involve repentance. It will not be a scheduled event, but a regular practice of the growing disciple. Watch for it. Hope for it. And when He draws you to repent, say “Yes, Lord. Thank you for loving me”.

Just thinking ….

Today we began a more focused time of prayer for revival and spiritual awakening.

I remember as a boy attending revivals held in the Spring and Fall. We met every night for a week and usually there was a speaker from somewhere else and always a few “guest” musicians. Different emphases were held like “Youth Night”, “Pack A Pew” Night, or “Friend Night”. As a preacher myself, I preached a few revivals in my early ministry.

Because that picture of revival is so dominant and widespread in the south, that description is often imposed on the word “revival”. If you’re having a revival, those should be the ingredients. I've changed my thinking about that.

After more than 35 years in ministry, my understanding is that revival is not a series of meetings with guest speakers or musicians. It can be and God has often used those very things to send revival; but revival  doesn’t require guest musicians, guest preachers, or even a week of meetings.

Revival is the renewing of the soul by God Himself and he sends it when we (the people of God) re-focus our hearts and lives on Him and His purposes. God uses multiple “delivery systems” to get our attention so He can do a work in our hearts. He is constantly drawing us to Himself, but He waits for us to get to the place where we hunger after Him so much that we ask for renewal and revival in our own hearts. He waits for the time when we want sin gone from our lives so much that we pray deep prayers of repentance and confession. He waits for us to humble ourselves before Him as Lord.

Many of the folks called Riverbluff Church are in a daily walk with God that grows sweeter every day while many have yet to discover the blessing of that walk. During the next 21 days I am praying that the folks of Riverbluff will pray and seek His face. That is, that they will ask for a renewing revival in their soul that is the foundation of life. I am praying for a repentance of sin. Holy Spirit, please do a work in us.Our thinking is that God will do a work in us so that we may do a greater work in the world.

I'm praying for revival in our church and spiritual awakening in Charleston and the world. Please pray with us.If you would like to use the specific prayer guide we are using during this time, click here.

I hope many of you who read this blog will join me and Riverbluff in praying for revival in the church family and spiritual awakening in the US and world.

AWAKEN 2012

Do you know anyone who doesn’t want things to be better?

I think most people would agree that “things” are not going well in the world. Of course, there are technological advances and progress in health issues that stand out as isolated examples of “things” going well. But, in matters of personal happiness, economic well being, human relations, politics and security,”things’ are rapidly going down the tube.

So what do we do about it? At Riverbluff Church, we think the Church of Jesus Christ has an essential role in changing the world. In fact, we don’t think the world can be changed for the better unless the church leads. Unless the Church fulfills her role (salt and light, cities on the hill, examples of Christ followers), the world doesn’t have a chance. No other institution has been given the assignment of world change. No other group has been given the strategy for world change (making disciples of Jesus). No other group has been given the lasting motive of glorifying God for world change. And no other group has been given the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower lasting change. In short, there is no plan B. God’s people living as God’s people serving God by making disciples who live like Jesus and serve humanity is our mission. And the hope of the world.

So we at Riverbluff Church have determined that we want to be a disciple-making fellowship of Christ Followers who are mobilized into the world to do what we can to make as many disciples of Jesus as we can and then mobilize those disciples to make more disciples and serve humanity before Jesus comes.

We’ve got a long way to go, just like most churches we know.

But having a long way to go should not stop us from setting out on the journey. While some churches may face other issues, ours is how do we make disciples who change the world? What do we need to do? What do we need to stop doing? And what are we doing that we need to do better?

Because there are no simple answers, we are starting this year with a focused time of prayer and fasting designed to ask God for his work in our hearts. We're calling it AWAKEN 2012 and for 21 days this will be our focus. Do a work in us, Lord. Awaken our sleeping hearts to your Spirit. Remind us of who we are and who we serve. Point out where we have sinned and convict us to repent. Bring us into Your presence regularly and humbly. Help us to seek You and love You with all our hearts; and then, help us to see others as You do. Lord purify our motives for world change so that the world is changed to glorify You.

We’re going to daily email a prayer guide written by my friend, Claude King, to our folks from January 9th through the 29th. We’re also going to blog the same prayer guide daily on a separate website . We will be dedicating more time to prayer in our worship services, as well as two Wednesday nights later this month (18^th and 25^th).We are also asking our church to fast for the purpose of prayer.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and you would like to join us, jump in and pray with us or please pray for us! We’ve got a long way to go but we’ve started.

Happy New Year!