Where are Christian leaders who are not ashamed of God? Our Founding Fathers and those who succeeded them were not perfect, but they were also not ashamed of their faith nor were they intimidated by what others thought of their beliefs.
"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."
George Washington
"The destiny of America is to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to all men everywhere."
John Adams
"Without the assistance of God, I cannot succeed. With His assistance, I cannot fail."
Abraham Lincoln
When will we hear American leaders speak that way again???
REVIVAL
Let's talk revival. Should we schedule them? How should churches prepare for them?
Five night or three night? Monday thru Friday? Sunday thru Wednesday?
Finally, why are so many revivals poorly attended, even by church members?
Five night or three night? Monday thru Friday? Sunday thru Wednesday?
Finally, why are so many revivals poorly attended, even by church members?
Random Israel
I visited Israel in 2006 (along with Michael Reese, Davy Hopson, Bobby Sparks and other super ABA folks) and here are a few random observations. If you have ever visited Israel and would like to contribute, please do so. If you have questions, PERHAPS I could attempt an answer. Mr. “Promise Land” might have the answer, after all, he lives there.
1.Many people in Israel believe that Jesus worked with stone and not wood. The word carpenter simply means “one who works with his hands.” There is a lot of stone around the Sea of Galilee, and very few trees.
2.Israel is a very secular country. Orthodox Jews are only seen in small numbers, except in Jerusalem.
3.The valley of Armageddon has been and will be a natural, geographic funnel for invading armies. This is easily seen from atop the ruins of Megiddo.
4.Nearly everything in Israel shuts down on the sabbath. There are even sabbat elevators which open on every floor, thus keeping Jews from having to push buttons (work) on the sabbath.
5.The walls of Jericho did not crumble. They truly fell down flat. The walls have been excavated and they are visible.
6.Camels stink and they are a very rough ride.
7.The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth. It is 1300 feet below sea level. There is new meaning to the scriptures that say they went “up to Jerusalem.”
8.Palestinians in the West Bank are very poor and will try to sell anything. One young boy pulled off an olive branch from the tree I was standing by, and then tried to sell it to me for $1.
9.Native thorns in America are usually no longer than 2 inches. The ONLY native thorn in Israel is 4-5 inches long. When I read of the crown of thorns, it now breaks my heart more than ever.
10.At David's Tomb, Jewish rabbis read the Old Testament 24/7. They rotate in 2 hour shifts.
11.Muslims sealed the Eastern Gate so as to prevent the Messiah from coming through them. (I think Jesus can handle it when He returns, don't you?!)
12.Bethesda's Pool is NOT the kiddie pool size whirlpool that we have seen in Sunday School literature & drawings. It is huge, with five distinct porches and spans almost an acre.
13.In 2006, the Temple Institute had made 70 of the 93 items to be used in future Temple worship. I took pictures of the Menorah, the altar, and the High Priests vestments until the “Israeli tour Guide lady” pointed at me, “I said no pictures!” I'm sorry angry Israeli tour guide lady person.
14.Israelis & Palestinians do not eat very many sweets. They are not fat. If you see skinny people for two weeks and then return to America, you think you have entered a Sumo Wrestlers Convention when you walk into Wal-Mart.
15.The Garden Tomb is just as powerful as I anticipated. I don't cry easily, but on our free day in Jerusalem, I went back to it, stood in there alone, prayed...and cried tears of thankfulness. I texted Tracy, “The Tomb is Empty,” just to let her know that I had been there. She texted back, “Duh.”
16.All hotels have a mezuzah mounted on the upper right side of the door. It is a small plate with 12 stones (12 tribes) and the Hebrew letter shin (El Shaddai). It is a reminder of the Passover night.
17.There is a large restaurant and museum between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv honoring, of all people, Elvis Pressley.
18.Israeli helicopters (with mounted machine guns) patrol Israel's borders continually. You just get used to it.
19.I saw one Baptist church in Israel. Location....Nazareth. By request of his sponsoring church, I tried to contact one of our ABA missionaries in the West Bank, Ibrahim Imseeh. No luck.
20.Someone in our group asked if we could go up on top of Calvary. Our tour guide, Iyad, responded, “You cannot go up there. Muslim graves are on top. They will shoot you.” I didn't try to go, even though a church member had made a request of a rock from Calvary. (maybe he was trying to set me up....?)
21.If I had known Israel would be so meaningful, I would have saved every possible cent and gone years before I did. I appreciate Oak Flat MBC and the contributors who made the trip possible. I plan on returning....when Jesus returns, if not sooner.
(perhaps some of you guys would like to plan a trip in the future and need someone to go who has been before and would help with...well, never mind, just a thought)
1.Many people in Israel believe that Jesus worked with stone and not wood. The word carpenter simply means “one who works with his hands.” There is a lot of stone around the Sea of Galilee, and very few trees.
2.Israel is a very secular country. Orthodox Jews are only seen in small numbers, except in Jerusalem.
3.The valley of Armageddon has been and will be a natural, geographic funnel for invading armies. This is easily seen from atop the ruins of Megiddo.
4.Nearly everything in Israel shuts down on the sabbath. There are even sabbat elevators which open on every floor, thus keeping Jews from having to push buttons (work) on the sabbath.
5.The walls of Jericho did not crumble. They truly fell down flat. The walls have been excavated and they are visible.
6.Camels stink and they are a very rough ride.
7.The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth. It is 1300 feet below sea level. There is new meaning to the scriptures that say they went “up to Jerusalem.”
8.Palestinians in the West Bank are very poor and will try to sell anything. One young boy pulled off an olive branch from the tree I was standing by, and then tried to sell it to me for $1.
9.Native thorns in America are usually no longer than 2 inches. The ONLY native thorn in Israel is 4-5 inches long. When I read of the crown of thorns, it now breaks my heart more than ever.
10.At David's Tomb, Jewish rabbis read the Old Testament 24/7. They rotate in 2 hour shifts.
11.Muslims sealed the Eastern Gate so as to prevent the Messiah from coming through them. (I think Jesus can handle it when He returns, don't you?!)
12.Bethesda's Pool is NOT the kiddie pool size whirlpool that we have seen in Sunday School literature & drawings. It is huge, with five distinct porches and spans almost an acre.
13.In 2006, the Temple Institute had made 70 of the 93 items to be used in future Temple worship. I took pictures of the Menorah, the altar, and the High Priests vestments until the “Israeli tour Guide lady” pointed at me, “I said no pictures!” I'm sorry angry Israeli tour guide lady person.
14.Israelis & Palestinians do not eat very many sweets. They are not fat. If you see skinny people for two weeks and then return to America, you think you have entered a Sumo Wrestlers Convention when you walk into Wal-Mart.
15.The Garden Tomb is just as powerful as I anticipated. I don't cry easily, but on our free day in Jerusalem, I went back to it, stood in there alone, prayed...and cried tears of thankfulness. I texted Tracy, “The Tomb is Empty,” just to let her know that I had been there. She texted back, “Duh.”
16.All hotels have a mezuzah mounted on the upper right side of the door. It is a small plate with 12 stones (12 tribes) and the Hebrew letter shin (El Shaddai). It is a reminder of the Passover night.
17.There is a large restaurant and museum between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv honoring, of all people, Elvis Pressley.
18.Israeli helicopters (with mounted machine guns) patrol Israel's borders continually. You just get used to it.
19.I saw one Baptist church in Israel. Location....Nazareth. By request of his sponsoring church, I tried to contact one of our ABA missionaries in the West Bank, Ibrahim Imseeh. No luck.
20.Someone in our group asked if we could go up on top of Calvary. Our tour guide, Iyad, responded, “You cannot go up there. Muslim graves are on top. They will shoot you.” I didn't try to go, even though a church member had made a request of a rock from Calvary. (maybe he was trying to set me up....?)
21.If I had known Israel would be so meaningful, I would have saved every possible cent and gone years before I did. I appreciate Oak Flat MBC and the contributors who made the trip possible. I plan on returning....when Jesus returns, if not sooner.
(perhaps some of you guys would like to plan a trip in the future and need someone to go who has been before and would help with...well, never mind, just a thought)
High Stakes
“The hymn comes to a close.....fresh from breakfast with his wife and children, the preacher climbs the steps to the pulpit. His mouth is a little dry. He has cut himself shaving. He feels as if he has swallowed an anchor. If it weren't for the honor of the thing, he would just as soon be somewhere else.
In the front pews the old ladies turn up their hearing aids. A young lady slips her six year old a Lifesaver and a Magic Marker. A college sophomore, home for vacation, who is there because he was dragged there, slumps forward with his chin in his hand. The Vice-President of the bank who twice that week has seriously contemplated suicide places his hymnal in the rack. A pregnant girl feels the life stir inside her.
The preacher pulls the little cord that turns on the lectern light and deals out his note cards like a riverboat gambler. The stakes have never been higher.
Two minutes from now he may have lost his listeners completely to their own thoughts, but at this minute he has them in the palm of his hand. The silence in the shabby church is deafening because everybody is listening......everybody is listening.”
an exerpt from Telling The Truth by Frederick Buechner
Last week, the Joy of Preaching. This week, High Stakes, which emphasizes the importance of preaching to the relevant needs of people.
I plan to post a word of encouragement Friday or Saturday to my friends in the ministry. God bless you as you preach the Word. It WILL NOT return void.
In the front pews the old ladies turn up their hearing aids. A young lady slips her six year old a Lifesaver and a Magic Marker. A college sophomore, home for vacation, who is there because he was dragged there, slumps forward with his chin in his hand. The Vice-President of the bank who twice that week has seriously contemplated suicide places his hymnal in the rack. A pregnant girl feels the life stir inside her.
The preacher pulls the little cord that turns on the lectern light and deals out his note cards like a riverboat gambler. The stakes have never been higher.
Two minutes from now he may have lost his listeners completely to their own thoughts, but at this minute he has them in the palm of his hand. The silence in the shabby church is deafening because everybody is listening......everybody is listening.”
an exerpt from Telling The Truth by Frederick Buechner
Last week, the Joy of Preaching. This week, High Stakes, which emphasizes the importance of preaching to the relevant needs of people.
I plan to post a word of encouragement Friday or Saturday to my friends in the ministry. God bless you as you preach the Word. It WILL NOT return void.
The Healing of the Nations
Rev.22:1,2 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Who/what nations need healing in heaven?
Who/what nations need healing in heaven?
The Joy Of Preaching
Remember when you surrendered to preach? You studied, you prayed, you waited for the phone to ring, and you were thrilled that some church would allow you...lowly you, to step into the pulpit. Then, over time, familiarity with preaching and perhaps pastoring caused you to lose some of the joy of preaching. The spark, at times, kindles within and his word becomes a burning fire in your bones. At other times, you lament the fact that “it's time to get a message together.”
We know we can lose the joy of salvation, but can we also lose the joy of preaching?
“The Joy of Preaching,” by Phillips Brooks, was written in the 19th century but speaks to us today. In blogging these Brooks' quotes, perhaps someone will step into the pulpit Sunday with fire in their bones and with a message from God, not a crafted, lifeless sermon.
“Preaching is the communication of truth by man to men. It has in it two essential elements, truth and personality.”
“Truth through personality is our real description of preaching. The truth must come really through the person, not merely over his lips...It must come through his character, his affections, his whole intellectual and moral being.”
“There is an immense amount of preaching which must be called preaching about Christ as distinct from preaching Christ.”
“The Gospel you are preaching now is the same Gospel that you preached when you were first ordained...but if you have been a live man all the time, you are not preaching it now as you did then. The truth has not changed, but you have grown to a fuller understanding of it, to a larger capacity of receiving and transmitting it.”
“The noblest ministries in the church are those of old men who have kept the freshness of their youth.”
“If we preach as honestly, as intelligently, and as spiritually as we can, we shall not merely do good in our own day, but help in some real, though unrecorded way, the future triumphs of the work we love.”
“No man preaches well who has not a strong and deep appreciation of humanity. The minister...finds his compensation and strength in knowing man, simply as man, and learning his inestimable worth.”
“A preacher's view of all theology ought to be colored with the preciousness of the human soul.”
“Courage...is the indispensable requisite of any true ministry. If you are afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do something else. But do not keep on all your life preaching sermons which shall say not what God sent you to declare, but what they hire you to say. Be courageous. Be independent. Only remember where the true courage and independence comes from.”
“Preaching...it's highest joy is in the great ambition that is set before it, the glorifying of the Lord and the saving of the souls of men. No other joy on earth compares with that. The ministry that does not feel that joy is dead.”
Preaching.....what an humbling experience. But what a JOY.
We know we can lose the joy of salvation, but can we also lose the joy of preaching?
“The Joy of Preaching,” by Phillips Brooks, was written in the 19th century but speaks to us today. In blogging these Brooks' quotes, perhaps someone will step into the pulpit Sunday with fire in their bones and with a message from God, not a crafted, lifeless sermon.
“Preaching is the communication of truth by man to men. It has in it two essential elements, truth and personality.”
“Truth through personality is our real description of preaching. The truth must come really through the person, not merely over his lips...It must come through his character, his affections, his whole intellectual and moral being.”
“There is an immense amount of preaching which must be called preaching about Christ as distinct from preaching Christ.”
“The Gospel you are preaching now is the same Gospel that you preached when you were first ordained...but if you have been a live man all the time, you are not preaching it now as you did then. The truth has not changed, but you have grown to a fuller understanding of it, to a larger capacity of receiving and transmitting it.”
“The noblest ministries in the church are those of old men who have kept the freshness of their youth.”
“If we preach as honestly, as intelligently, and as spiritually as we can, we shall not merely do good in our own day, but help in some real, though unrecorded way, the future triumphs of the work we love.”
“No man preaches well who has not a strong and deep appreciation of humanity. The minister...finds his compensation and strength in knowing man, simply as man, and learning his inestimable worth.”
“A preacher's view of all theology ought to be colored with the preciousness of the human soul.”
“Courage...is the indispensable requisite of any true ministry. If you are afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do something else. But do not keep on all your life preaching sermons which shall say not what God sent you to declare, but what they hire you to say. Be courageous. Be independent. Only remember where the true courage and independence comes from.”
“Preaching...it's highest joy is in the great ambition that is set before it, the glorifying of the Lord and the saving of the souls of men. No other joy on earth compares with that. The ministry that does not feel that joy is dead.”
Preaching.....what an humbling experience. But what a JOY.
Church Organization Methods
If a preacher (not a pastor) is burdened of the Lord to organize a church in a particular area and the following components are included:
-the work will organize as a church and not a mission
-the work will not be in the community of the preacher's home church
-there are no outstanding issues or problems between the preacher and the church of which he is a member,
which of the following church organization principles would be most favorable?
1)Preacher/people meet for worship services and simply start functioning as a church, choosing a pastor, electing positions, etc. and they request their home church either to send their church letters or to delete their names from the rolls.
2)Preacher/people inform their home church(es) of their intentions and request a vote of support (extension of an arm) of a church. The vote of “support” may or may not include financial support. An announced date of organization is set and other churches are invited.
3)Preacher/people request their church letters in writing for the announced purpose of organizing a church. An announced date of organization is set and other churches are invited.
4)The preacher, by church vote of his home church, is recommended or authorized to preach the gospel, baptize, and then organize a church. He may announce an organization date or details to the church that authorized him but is not required to do so.
Perhaps rank the two most favorable methods or classify each as acceptable, questionable, or not acceptable.
Comments welcome...
-the work will organize as a church and not a mission
-the work will not be in the community of the preacher's home church
-there are no outstanding issues or problems between the preacher and the church of which he is a member,
which of the following church organization principles would be most favorable?
1)Preacher/people meet for worship services and simply start functioning as a church, choosing a pastor, electing positions, etc. and they request their home church either to send their church letters or to delete their names from the rolls.
2)Preacher/people inform their home church(es) of their intentions and request a vote of support (extension of an arm) of a church. The vote of “support” may or may not include financial support. An announced date of organization is set and other churches are invited.
3)Preacher/people request their church letters in writing for the announced purpose of organizing a church. An announced date of organization is set and other churches are invited.
4)The preacher, by church vote of his home church, is recommended or authorized to preach the gospel, baptize, and then organize a church. He may announce an organization date or details to the church that authorized him but is not required to do so.
Perhaps rank the two most favorable methods or classify each as acceptable, questionable, or not acceptable.
Comments welcome...
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