Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. ” Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest! (John 4:34-35).
Lord of the harvest, I lift our pastors to you today, servants of Yours who need sustenance and strength for the day’s work. Nourish their souls, God, as they do Your will this day. Help and protect them as they serve in the harvest fields, guide their hands, encourage their hearts, give passion and patience for the work ahead. Thank You for providing all that is needed so that this day souls will be saved and lives will be changed, all to Your glory in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Praying for Pastors on Sunday
As we get ready for another Sunday, I share from the overflow of my time with the First Baptist Matthews family on Saturday evening as their annual Missions Celebration began, with Jerry Rankin of the International Mission Board preaching. His text was 1 Chronicles 16:8-10, 23-25.
We are Great Commission people because God wants us and all the nations of the earth to worship Him. He is worthy of all praise, glory, honor, and worship, and it is our task to tell His glorious good news so that the nations will lift up the name of Jesus in heartfelt worship.
Glorious God, as your servants prepare to lead Your people in worship this Lord’s day, help us all to “give thanks to the Lord, call upon Your name; make known Your deeds among the peoples. Help us to sing to You, and to speak of all Your wonders, to tell of Your glory among the nations, Your wonderful deeds among all the peoples” (1 Chron. 16:8-10, 23-24). Remind us, Lord, that there are people in our sanctuaries and people around the world who cannot sing Your praises because they do not know You and Your saving grace personally. Give us a holy burden for those near and far who are apart from You, and use Your servants as we preach, sing and pray, to call Your people to a new level of Great Commission obedience, dependent on Your absolute power and yielded to Your loving authority. May the nations rejoice, Father, because we were faithful to the call on this Sunday morning. In Jesus’ precious and worthy name, Amen!
We are Great Commission people because God wants us and all the nations of the earth to worship Him. He is worthy of all praise, glory, honor, and worship, and it is our task to tell His glorious good news so that the nations will lift up the name of Jesus in heartfelt worship.
Glorious God, as your servants prepare to lead Your people in worship this Lord’s day, help us all to “give thanks to the Lord, call upon Your name; make known Your deeds among the peoples. Help us to sing to You, and to speak of all Your wonders, to tell of Your glory among the nations, Your wonderful deeds among all the peoples” (1 Chron. 16:8-10, 23-24). Remind us, Lord, that there are people in our sanctuaries and people around the world who cannot sing Your praises because they do not know You and Your saving grace personally. Give us a holy burden for those near and far who are apart from You, and use Your servants as we preach, sing and pray, to call Your people to a new level of Great Commission obedience, dependent on Your absolute power and yielded to Your loving authority. May the nations rejoice, Father, because we were faithful to the call on this Sunday morning. In Jesus’ precious and worthy name, Amen!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
John 10:10 Prayer for Pastors
As I pray for you today, I’m thinking about an email I got from a pastor friend who just had a new grandchild born this week. The picture in the email shows the baby girl being held for the first time by her smiling grandmother. Being the father of two girls, I understand the thrill of that new life, but I will wait a while before I experience the real thrill of being a grandparent.
New life is an amazing thing – in the birth of a child God reminds us of the beauty and miracle of the new life we know in Jesus, a birthing that may just take place in your church today! So, that is my prayer for you this Sunday morning:
Lord Jesus, You said that You came that we may have life, and have it abundantly. I pray that Your presence would so fill the places where Your people meet this Sunday that Your life will permeate the rooms and call those with no life to Yourself. Help Your servants, the preachers of Your Word today, Lord, to be empowered by the Spirit to speak boldly and lovingly of the life You make possible when we turn to You in faith. Protect Your servants also, and help them to stand in Your strength, covered with Your armor, speaking Your message to the congregation and to everyone they meet. This day, may many new children be born again into Your family.
Thank You, today, Jesus, for the new life we have in You. Help us to live it, demonstrate it, and tell others about it by Your power at work in us. All for Your glory and for the good of Your church, Amen!
New life is an amazing thing – in the birth of a child God reminds us of the beauty and miracle of the new life we know in Jesus, a birthing that may just take place in your church today! So, that is my prayer for you this Sunday morning:
Lord Jesus, You said that You came that we may have life, and have it abundantly. I pray that Your presence would so fill the places where Your people meet this Sunday that Your life will permeate the rooms and call those with no life to Yourself. Help Your servants, the preachers of Your Word today, Lord, to be empowered by the Spirit to speak boldly and lovingly of the life You make possible when we turn to You in faith. Protect Your servants also, and help them to stand in Your strength, covered with Your armor, speaking Your message to the congregation and to everyone they meet. This day, may many new children be born again into Your family.
Thank You, today, Jesus, for the new life we have in You. Help us to live it, demonstrate it, and tell others about it by Your power at work in us. All for Your glory and for the good of Your church, Amen!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
A Good Deed to Jesus in Worship
In Matthew 26:6-16, Jesus said of Mary’s sacrificial offering of worship through the alabaster vial, “She has done a good deed to Me.” That is my prayer for pastors and worship leaders on Sunday morning, that we, through our worship, preaching, and ministering will do a good deed to Jesus, offer up a fragrant offering to Him through our trust and obedience.
Thank You, Lord, for the high and holy privilege of ministry as a worship leader, as a preacher of Your Word. Guide your pastors across our association of churches and beyond, Jesus, to be faithful to the task on this Lord’s day, protected by Your staying power, and prepared through the Spirit’s work to be messengers of hope, truth, and love to those we care for on Sunday. We depend on You, Father, for a fresh measure of grace so that we can be all that You desire, and so that disciples can be born and made, all to Your glory, Lord Christ. Amen!
Thank You, Lord, for the high and holy privilege of ministry as a worship leader, as a preacher of Your Word. Guide your pastors across our association of churches and beyond, Jesus, to be faithful to the task on this Lord’s day, protected by Your staying power, and prepared through the Spirit’s work to be messengers of hope, truth, and love to those we care for on Sunday. We depend on You, Father, for a fresh measure of grace so that we can be all that You desire, and so that disciples can be born and made, all to Your glory, Lord Christ. Amen!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Why Call For a Great Commission Resurgence?
31 August 2009 by David S. Dockery, Baptist and Reflector
At this year’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the messengers overwhelmingly approved a proposal by a 95 percent vote to establish a Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) committee. This group has been charged with finding ways to help the SBC strengthen the work of global missions and church planting across North America, while looking for ways to enhance the faithfulness and effectiveness of Convention structures and entities. Some have raised questions about the purpose of this initiative.
Baptist and Reflector Editor Lonnie Wilkey has asked me to try to briefly explain why this call has been issued for a Great Commission Resurgence. While trying to summarize some of the issues and questions that must be addressed, I will not at this time try to predict the proposals that might come from the GCR committee in their presentation to the convention in Orlando in 2010.
Understanding the SBC at this time
Southern Baptists are at a critical juncture in our history. For the past 165 years, the history of the Southern Baptist Convention has been dotted with tension, concerns, and at times outright heresy. In recent years, those tensions have seemed magnified. For the third straight year we have seen a statistical decline in our work, which is symptomatic of deeper spiritual problems and ecclesiological challenges.
The past 30 years have been characterized by a very public controversy. While many good things have developed over the past three decades including the recovery of the gospel and a renewed commitment to the truthfulness of Scripture, the programmatic uniformity and cultural homogeneity that held us together for so many years has almost entirely evaporated. The controversy over first order doctrinal issues has seemingly degenerated into ongoing infighting over secondary and tertiary matters, resulting in a fragmented and even balkanized convention. As one person so astutely put it, the problems facing the SBC of 2009 seem much more “Corinthian” than “Chalcedonian.”
The intactness in many aspects of Southern Baptist life has started to unravel because of years of ongoing controversy, the rapid changes in our culture, the challenges to our theological commitments, the growth of multiple Bible translations, the impact of parachurch groups, the expanding diversity of music and varied worship patterns. We recognize that in many ways we all live in a post-denominational day when denominational loyalty is on the decline.
We pray that somehow our shared work in our churches, in associations, in benevolence agencies, in educational entities and in our missions organizations can be strengthened by the proposals that will come forth from this committee. We can only hope that God’s Spirit might bring about a new enablement for the work of ministry in our churches, as well as all of the various entities throughout the various aspects of our convention life.
Charting a future in light of our heritage as Southern Baptists
We have been blessed as Southern Baptists by a wonderful heritage that has been characterized by faithfulness to Holy Scripture. For years, Southern Baptists have been called “A People of the Book.” We have also inherited a commitment to missions and evangelism and a spirit of cooperation in our shared work that has been duplicated in few other Christian movements over the past century. Thus we are beneficiaries who receive nurturing truth and wisdom from God’s faithfulness that has been passed on to us from previous generations.
We have, however, made the mistake of assuming that certain programs and strategies are the only way that these commitments to missions and evangelism can be carried out. We have substituted a cultural homogeneity for genuine biblical fellowship, and a programmatic uniformity for intentional and strategic engagement of the culture and world around us. We now take for granted things that possibly or probably need to be questioned or re-examined.
Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 seem helpful to me in that regard as a guide for us at this important moment in SBC life: “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” It would be naive for us to think that the answers to the current challenges we face in the SBC are simple or that we are the only ones facing such challenges. We can thus learn from others, even as we hope others can learn from us, and ultimately I trust that we will all test our various traditions and approaches by the authority of Holy Scripture.
The need for collaborative cooperation
We need a convention characterized not only by a confessional and convictional faith, but by a collaborative and compassionate sense of cooperation. The recovery of a convictional confessionalism has kept Southern Baptists from going the way of so many mainline denominations who have become untethered to Scripture and have lost their way. Yet, in so many ways, the call of this hour for Southern Baptists is the need to regain a spirit of collaborative cooperation.
I know that some wonder if we can find a way to cooperate together — after all, our differences often appear to be great. For as we have already mentioned, no longer can a cultural homogeneity or a programmatic pragmatism be the foundation of our cooperation. One of the things, however, that will get the attention of the world and authenticate our confession will be the way that we love one another, the way that we celebrate our ethnic and geographical diversity and the way that we serve and worship together in harmony.
Changes across the SBC landscape
We must also sadly acknowledge that over the course of the past six decades or so, Southern Baptists have allowed our priorities to gradually shift from Christian faithfulness and spiritual maturity to numerical growth and programmatic efficiency. Not that a concern for numerical growth or efficiency is wrong in any way at all. The shift in priorities was probably quite unintentional at first, but slowly, almost unconsciously, a greater disparity has developed between our reported total membership and the actual number of active and participating members in our churches.
Churches are not plateaued in membership and declining in baptisms only because of people who no longer attend. We need to think afresh about what it means to be a covenant member of a Baptist congregation.
We need to think about the importance of faithfulness and maturation of church members. Helping people understand the gospel, helping guide them to faith in Christ and leading them to become church members is paramount, but helping them understand the biblical expectations of faithful Christ-followers in covenant with one another is also extremely important.
I hope that in the days to come that Southern Baptists will ask:
At this year’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the messengers overwhelmingly approved a proposal by a 95 percent vote to establish a Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) committee. This group has been charged with finding ways to help the SBC strengthen the work of global missions and church planting across North America, while looking for ways to enhance the faithfulness and effectiveness of Convention structures and entities. Some have raised questions about the purpose of this initiative.
Baptist and Reflector Editor Lonnie Wilkey has asked me to try to briefly explain why this call has been issued for a Great Commission Resurgence. While trying to summarize some of the issues and questions that must be addressed, I will not at this time try to predict the proposals that might come from the GCR committee in their presentation to the convention in Orlando in 2010.
Understanding the SBC at this time
Southern Baptists are at a critical juncture in our history. For the past 165 years, the history of the Southern Baptist Convention has been dotted with tension, concerns, and at times outright heresy. In recent years, those tensions have seemed magnified. For the third straight year we have seen a statistical decline in our work, which is symptomatic of deeper spiritual problems and ecclesiological challenges.
The past 30 years have been characterized by a very public controversy. While many good things have developed over the past three decades including the recovery of the gospel and a renewed commitment to the truthfulness of Scripture, the programmatic uniformity and cultural homogeneity that held us together for so many years has almost entirely evaporated. The controversy over first order doctrinal issues has seemingly degenerated into ongoing infighting over secondary and tertiary matters, resulting in a fragmented and even balkanized convention. As one person so astutely put it, the problems facing the SBC of 2009 seem much more “Corinthian” than “Chalcedonian.”
The intactness in many aspects of Southern Baptist life has started to unravel because of years of ongoing controversy, the rapid changes in our culture, the challenges to our theological commitments, the growth of multiple Bible translations, the impact of parachurch groups, the expanding diversity of music and varied worship patterns. We recognize that in many ways we all live in a post-denominational day when denominational loyalty is on the decline.
We pray that somehow our shared work in our churches, in associations, in benevolence agencies, in educational entities and in our missions organizations can be strengthened by the proposals that will come forth from this committee. We can only hope that God’s Spirit might bring about a new enablement for the work of ministry in our churches, as well as all of the various entities throughout the various aspects of our convention life.
Charting a future in light of our heritage as Southern Baptists
We have been blessed as Southern Baptists by a wonderful heritage that has been characterized by faithfulness to Holy Scripture. For years, Southern Baptists have been called “A People of the Book.” We have also inherited a commitment to missions and evangelism and a spirit of cooperation in our shared work that has been duplicated in few other Christian movements over the past century. Thus we are beneficiaries who receive nurturing truth and wisdom from God’s faithfulness that has been passed on to us from previous generations.
We have, however, made the mistake of assuming that certain programs and strategies are the only way that these commitments to missions and evangelism can be carried out. We have substituted a cultural homogeneity for genuine biblical fellowship, and a programmatic uniformity for intentional and strategic engagement of the culture and world around us. We now take for granted things that possibly or probably need to be questioned or re-examined.
Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 seem helpful to me in that regard as a guide for us at this important moment in SBC life: “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” It would be naive for us to think that the answers to the current challenges we face in the SBC are simple or that we are the only ones facing such challenges. We can thus learn from others, even as we hope others can learn from us, and ultimately I trust that we will all test our various traditions and approaches by the authority of Holy Scripture.
The need for collaborative cooperation
We need a convention characterized not only by a confessional and convictional faith, but by a collaborative and compassionate sense of cooperation. The recovery of a convictional confessionalism has kept Southern Baptists from going the way of so many mainline denominations who have become untethered to Scripture and have lost their way. Yet, in so many ways, the call of this hour for Southern Baptists is the need to regain a spirit of collaborative cooperation.
I know that some wonder if we can find a way to cooperate together — after all, our differences often appear to be great. For as we have already mentioned, no longer can a cultural homogeneity or a programmatic pragmatism be the foundation of our cooperation. One of the things, however, that will get the attention of the world and authenticate our confession will be the way that we love one another, the way that we celebrate our ethnic and geographical diversity and the way that we serve and worship together in harmony.
Changes across the SBC landscape
We must also sadly acknowledge that over the course of the past six decades or so, Southern Baptists have allowed our priorities to gradually shift from Christian faithfulness and spiritual maturity to numerical growth and programmatic efficiency. Not that a concern for numerical growth or efficiency is wrong in any way at all. The shift in priorities was probably quite unintentional at first, but slowly, almost unconsciously, a greater disparity has developed between our reported total membership and the actual number of active and participating members in our churches.
Churches are not plateaued in membership and declining in baptisms only because of people who no longer attend. We need to think afresh about what it means to be a covenant member of a Baptist congregation.
We need to think about the importance of faithfulness and maturation of church members. Helping people understand the gospel, helping guide them to faith in Christ and leading them to become church members is paramount, but helping them understand the biblical expectations of faithful Christ-followers in covenant with one another is also extremely important.
I hope that in the days to come that Southern Baptists will ask:
- What does the New Testament say about regeneration, baptism, Christian commitment and church membership?
- What does our Baptist heritage say about church membership?
- Have we allowed numerical growth and efficiency concerns, perhaps unknowingly and unconsciously, to become higher priorities for us than questions of faithfulness to the New Testament and to our Baptist heritage?
The Need for Great Commission Resurgence
The convention messengers at the 2009 annual meeting voiced the need for a Great Commission Resurgence with a renewed emphasis on North American church planting and global missions. Such a call involves not just committing ourselves to missions and evangelism, as important as that is.
We will need to commit ourselves foremost to the gospel, to the message of missions and evangelism, the message that is found only in Jesus Christ and His atoning death for sinners.
We must address the matter of unity and collaboration in the midst of our growing fragmentation. We need to recover the biblical emphasis from John 17 and Ephesians 4, as well as the historic confessions about the church as one, holy, universal and apostolic.
We must address matters of cooperation and partnership. The Cooperative Program has been an important funding process for Southern Baptists since 1925. The call to cooperate in 2009 differs from the Southern Baptist world of 1925, but we must reclaim that spirit for our day.
Moving into the second decade of the 21st century, Southern Baptists also need a new spirit of mutual respect and humility to serve together with those with whom we have differences of conviction/opinion/preference. It is possible to hold hands with brothers and sisters who disagree on secondary and tertiary matters of theology and practice, and still work together toward a common good to extend the work of Southern Baptists around the world and advance the kingdom of God.
We need God’s Spirit to bring about a new spirit among us, one that calls for humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance with one another in love and a diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:2-3).
We need to expand our horizons with a renewed dedication to ethnic diversity and racial reconciliation, looking forward to a day in which a great multitude from every nation and all tribes, people groups and tongues shall stand before the Lamb (Revelation 7:9).
Southern Baptists must work to build and establish a much-needed consensus around the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is time for us to move from controversy and confusion toward a renewed commitment to cooperation. In such a spirit of consensus and partnership, we will need to ask questions about structure and programs:
- How do associations, state convention entities, and national convention entities relate to one another?
- How do churches relate to these various entities?
- How can these entities be funded effectively with the least amount of duplication possible?
Finally, 21st century Southern Baptists need not only to affirm the Bible’s truthfulness and the saving power of the gospel, but we need to evidence our concern for these matters by careful biblical interpretation, serious theological reflection, faithful churchmanship, proclamation, worship, repentance and prayer.
We must trust God to bring a fresh wind of renewal to Southern Baptist theology, evangelism, missions, worship, education and service. We can then relate to one another in love and humility, bringing about true fellowship and biblical community not only in our orthodoxy, but in our orthopraxy before a watching world.
To those ends we will pray that God will allow us to see a new generation of Great Commandment and Great Commission churches who will both exemplify and proclaim the good news of the gospel to a needy world.
(NOTE — Dockery serves as the president of Union University, and is also a member of the Great Commission Task Force appointed June 24 by SBC President Johnny Hunt during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Lousiville, Ky. He is the author of Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Proposal and Southern Baptist Identity: An Evangelical Denomination Faces the Future.)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The Whole Message of Life...
This Sunday morning, remember what happened in Acts 5. The apostles were imprisoned for telling of Jesus. But during the night “an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, ‘Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.’ Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and began to teach” (Acts 5:19-21 NAS).
Father God, You are the Author of this message of life. You chose us from before the foundation of the world to receive through Jesus Christ every spiritual blessing. Through Him we are made holy and blameless in Your sight. Through Him we are adopted into Your family. Through Him our sins are forgiven and our lives are redeemed. And in the fullness of time You will bring all things in heaven and earth together under Him.
Lord, help us today to speak to people the whole message of this Life Jesus alone makes possible. Help the pastors of our city and beyond to be true to Your Word in bringing the full counsel of God to each situation where You allow us to minister this Lord’s Day. Help us to walk and serve in the freedom that You give through the power of the Gospel of Jesus. Let it be so, Father, in His name. Amen!
Father God, You are the Author of this message of life. You chose us from before the foundation of the world to receive through Jesus Christ every spiritual blessing. Through Him we are made holy and blameless in Your sight. Through Him we are adopted into Your family. Through Him our sins are forgiven and our lives are redeemed. And in the fullness of time You will bring all things in heaven and earth together under Him.
Lord, help us today to speak to people the whole message of this Life Jesus alone makes possible. Help the pastors of our city and beyond to be true to Your Word in bringing the full counsel of God to each situation where You allow us to minister this Lord’s Day. Help us to walk and serve in the freedom that You give through the power of the Gospel of Jesus. Let it be so, Father, in His name. Amen!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
The Cross in Prayer
In that day you will ask in My name . . . —John 16:26
by Oswald Chambers
We too often think of the Cross of Christ as something we have to get through, yet we get through for the purpose of getting into it. The Cross represents only one thing for us— complete, entire, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ— and there is nothing in which this identification is more real to us than in prayer.
"Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him" (Matthew 6:8). Then why should we ask? The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him. If we pray only because we want answers, we will become irritated and angry with God. We receive an answer every time we pray, but it does not always come in the way we expect, and our spiritual irritation shows our refusal to identify ourselves truly with our Lord in prayer.
We are not here to prove that God answers prayer, but to be living trophies of God’s grace.
". . . I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you . . ." ( John 16:26-27 ). Have you reached such a level of intimacy with God that the only thing that can account for your prayer life is that it has become one with the prayer life of Jesus Christ? Has our Lord exchanged your life with His vital life? If so, then "in that day" you will be so closely identified with Jesus that there will be no distinction.
When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying to place the blame on someone else. That is always a trap of Satan. When you seem to have no answer, there is always a reason— God uses these times to give you deep personal instruction, and it is not for anyone else but you.
(from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, August 6)
by Oswald Chambers
We too often think of the Cross of Christ as something we have to get through, yet we get through for the purpose of getting into it. The Cross represents only one thing for us— complete, entire, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ— and there is nothing in which this identification is more real to us than in prayer.
"Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him" (Matthew 6:8). Then why should we ask? The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him. If we pray only because we want answers, we will become irritated and angry with God. We receive an answer every time we pray, but it does not always come in the way we expect, and our spiritual irritation shows our refusal to identify ourselves truly with our Lord in prayer.
We are not here to prove that God answers prayer, but to be living trophies of God’s grace.
". . . I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you . . ." ( John 16:26-27 ). Have you reached such a level of intimacy with God that the only thing that can account for your prayer life is that it has become one with the prayer life of Jesus Christ? Has our Lord exchanged your life with His vital life? If so, then "in that day" you will be so closely identified with Jesus that there will be no distinction.
When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying to place the blame on someone else. That is always a trap of Satan. When you seem to have no answer, there is always a reason— God uses these times to give you deep personal instruction, and it is not for anyone else but you.
(from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, August 6)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Perfect Church
by A. W. Tozer
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. —1 Peter 4:8 KJV
And above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. - 1 Peter 4:8 NAS
Our lofty idealism would argue that all Christians should be perfect, but a blunt realism forces us to admit that perfection is rare even among the saints. The part of wisdom is to accept our Christian brothers and sisters for what they are rather than for what they should be....
There is much that is imperfect about us, and it is fitting that we recognize it and call upon God for charity to put up with one another. The perfect church is not on this earth. The most spiritual church is sure to have in it some who are still bothered by the flesh.
An old Italian proverb says, "He that will have none but a perfect brother must resign himself to remain brotherless." However earnestly we may desire that our Christian brother go on toward perfection, we must accept him as he is and learn to get along with him. To treat an imperfect brother impatiently is to advertise our own imperfections.
Prayer: Lord, give me patience and grace today in dealing with others' imperfections. And give them the same grace in dealing with mine! Because of Jesus' love - Amen.
—from Tozer on Christian Leadership, July 28
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. —1 Peter 4:8 KJV
And above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. - 1 Peter 4:8 NAS
Our lofty idealism would argue that all Christians should be perfect, but a blunt realism forces us to admit that perfection is rare even among the saints. The part of wisdom is to accept our Christian brothers and sisters for what they are rather than for what they should be....
There is much that is imperfect about us, and it is fitting that we recognize it and call upon God for charity to put up with one another. The perfect church is not on this earth. The most spiritual church is sure to have in it some who are still bothered by the flesh.
An old Italian proverb says, "He that will have none but a perfect brother must resign himself to remain brotherless." However earnestly we may desire that our Christian brother go on toward perfection, we must accept him as he is and learn to get along with him. To treat an imperfect brother impatiently is to advertise our own imperfections.
Prayer: Lord, give me patience and grace today in dealing with others' imperfections. And give them the same grace in dealing with mine! Because of Jesus' love - Amen.
—from Tozer on Christian Leadership, July 28
Monday, July 6, 2009
Wilderness Encroachment
by A. W. Tozer
Because you say, "I am rich, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked... Revelation 3:17 NAS
The wilderness encroaches on the fruitful field, and unless there is a constant fighting off of this encroachment, there will be little or no harvest.
I think it is exactly the same with the church, for as one of hte old saints said, "Never think for a minute that there will be a time when you will not be tempted. He is tempted the most effectively who thinks that he isn't being tempted at all."
Just when we think we are not being tempted, that is the time of danger, and so it is with the Church. We lean back on our own lawrels and say, "That may be true of some churches, but it is not true of us. We are increased with goods and have need of nothing!" (See Revelation 3:17).
This is to remind us that we must fight for what we have. Our little field of God's planting must have the necessary weapons and plenty of watchmen out there to drive off the crows and all sorts of creatures, to say nothing of the little insects that destroy the crops. We have to keep after them. We must keep our field healthy, and there is only one way to do that, and that is to keep true to the Word of God. We must constantly go back to the grass roots and get the Word into the Church.
Lord, don't ever let us become complacent in Your blessing. Keep us vigilant that our field might stay healthy and the little weeds might never be allowed to take root. Amen.
(from Tozer on Christian Leadership, July 6)
Because you say, "I am rich, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked... Revelation 3:17 NAS
The wilderness encroaches on the fruitful field, and unless there is a constant fighting off of this encroachment, there will be little or no harvest.
I think it is exactly the same with the church, for as one of hte old saints said, "Never think for a minute that there will be a time when you will not be tempted. He is tempted the most effectively who thinks that he isn't being tempted at all."
Just when we think we are not being tempted, that is the time of danger, and so it is with the Church. We lean back on our own lawrels and say, "That may be true of some churches, but it is not true of us. We are increased with goods and have need of nothing!" (See Revelation 3:17).
This is to remind us that we must fight for what we have. Our little field of God's planting must have the necessary weapons and plenty of watchmen out there to drive off the crows and all sorts of creatures, to say nothing of the little insects that destroy the crops. We have to keep after them. We must keep our field healthy, and there is only one way to do that, and that is to keep true to the Word of God. We must constantly go back to the grass roots and get the Word into the Church.
Lord, don't ever let us become complacent in Your blessing. Keep us vigilant that our field might stay healthy and the little weeds might never be allowed to take root. Amen.
(from Tozer on Christian Leadership, July 6)
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The Conditions of Discipleship
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also . . . . And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me . . . . So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple —Luke 14:26-27, 33If the closest relationships of a disciple’s life conflict with the claims of Jesus Christ, then our Lord requires instant obedience to Himself.
Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person— our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a vast difference between devotion to a person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause— He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself. To be a disciple is to be a devoted bondservant motivated by love for the Lord Jesus. Many of us who call ourselves Christians are not truly devoted to Jesus Christ. No one on earth has this passionate love for the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Spirit has given it to him. We may admire, respect, and revere Him, but we cannot love Him on our own. The only One who truly loves the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit, and it is He who has "poured out in our hearts" the very "love of God" (Romans 5:5). Whenever the Holy Spirit sees an opportunity to glorify Jesus through you, He will take your entire being and set you ablaze with glowing devotion to Jesus Christ.
The Christian life is a life characterized by true and spontaneous creativity. Consequently, a disciple is subject to the same charge that was leveled against Jesus Christ, namely, the charge of inconsistency. But Jesus Christ was always consistent in His relationship to God, and a Christian must be consistent in his relationship to the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to strict, unyielding doctrines. People pour themselves into their own doctrines, and God has to blast them out of their preconceived ideas before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.
(from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, July 2)
Monday, June 29, 2009
Prayer Journey Flashback: Baker James Cauthen
We are on our Acts 1:8 Prayer Journey, traveling today to Virginia, where we prayed at the International Mission Board's headquarters in Richmond, then went to the Cauthen International Learning Center in Rockville to visit, pray and stay the night before continuing our journey.
The ILC is the place where the missions personnel of the IMB are prepared for service before being deployed to the nations, and is named after Eloise and Baker James Cauthen, former leader of the Foreign Mission Board from 1954 to 1979. Dr. Cauthen was, as Billy Graham once said, "one of the greatest missionary statesmen in American church life." I was in Nashville for a national student missions event in December, 1979, when Cauthen retired, and Keith Parks assume leadership at the board.
Today was a flashback for me, as we prayerwalked the facility here, saw the portraits of the Cauthens, and realized the thousands of missionaries he had helped send to the ends of the earth. I also remembered a December day when Dr. Cauthen sat down with me to talk about missions and seminary.
It was December, 1983 and I was a senior at Wingate College (now University), trying to decide where I should attend seminary. With a call to missions in my heart, I asked Dr. Ron Bostic, one of my music professors and mentors, where I should go. He had just come to Wingate from Golden Gate Baptist Seminary in California, and said I should go there to visit over Christmas break. Even if I didn't attend there, it would be a great experience, he said. So with some borrowed money from my parents, I flew to San Francisco to visit the campus of Golden Gate. After I arrived that weekend, I learned that Baker James Cauthen, who had retired from the Foreign Mission Board a few years earlier, was a guest professor of missions there that term. I thought to myself, "If I could talk to Dr. Cauthen about where to go to seminary, he would give good advice." So, I got the phone number at the Cauthen's campus apartment, and called that Saturday morning. Mrs. Cauthen answered the phone, and I told her who I was and asked if I could see Dr. Cauthen that day. She asked him, and told me that he would meet me at his campus office in a few hours.
I arrived at the appointed time, and met Baker James Cauthen. We sat in his office and, as much as I tried, he would not tell me which seminary would be best for me to attend. I explained my call to missions, but he would not single out one seminary for me. He did tell me though that if he could give me any advice, it would be to make sure that I served in a church the entire time I was in seminary, as pastor, or on a staff position. He said he had learned more in the church he pastored in Texas during his years at Southwestern Seminary than he ever did in a classroom. The classroom experience, he said, was enhanced and made real by the practical experience of ministering in a congregation. (He was right: I did this my entire seminary career.)
I thanked Dr. Cauthen, and we went our ways. I returned home to North Carolina the next day, and decided to attend Golden Gate Seminary the following school year. The fact that Baker James Cauthen had been there teaching was a significant factor in my deciding to attend.
In April, 1985, Cauthen went home to be with the Lord at age 75, completing his missionary assignment on earth. He, and his wife, Eloise, are now part of that great cloud of witnesses that Hebrews 12 talks about, who have traveled and completed the journey we are still on now.
This has been a good day to remember, and to be reminded of the task yet to be fulfilled. Thank You, Lord, for the opportunity to have that moment with a great servant of the Lord years ago, and to be right here, right now, writing this as an associational missionary on a prayer journey at the Cauthen International Learning Center. Our God is an awesome God!
The ILC is the place where the missions personnel of the IMB are prepared for service before being deployed to the nations, and is named after Eloise and Baker James Cauthen, former leader of the Foreign Mission Board from 1954 to 1979. Dr. Cauthen was, as Billy Graham once said, "one of the greatest missionary statesmen in American church life." I was in Nashville for a national student missions event in December, 1979, when Cauthen retired, and Keith Parks assume leadership at the board.
Today was a flashback for me, as we prayerwalked the facility here, saw the portraits of the Cauthens, and realized the thousands of missionaries he had helped send to the ends of the earth. I also remembered a December day when Dr. Cauthen sat down with me to talk about missions and seminary.
It was December, 1983 and I was a senior at Wingate College (now University), trying to decide where I should attend seminary. With a call to missions in my heart, I asked Dr. Ron Bostic, one of my music professors and mentors, where I should go. He had just come to Wingate from Golden Gate Baptist Seminary in California, and said I should go there to visit over Christmas break. Even if I didn't attend there, it would be a great experience, he said. So with some borrowed money from my parents, I flew to San Francisco to visit the campus of Golden Gate. After I arrived that weekend, I learned that Baker James Cauthen, who had retired from the Foreign Mission Board a few years earlier, was a guest professor of missions there that term. I thought to myself, "If I could talk to Dr. Cauthen about where to go to seminary, he would give good advice." So, I got the phone number at the Cauthen's campus apartment, and called that Saturday morning. Mrs. Cauthen answered the phone, and I told her who I was and asked if I could see Dr. Cauthen that day. She asked him, and told me that he would meet me at his campus office in a few hours.
I arrived at the appointed time, and met Baker James Cauthen. We sat in his office and, as much as I tried, he would not tell me which seminary would be best for me to attend. I explained my call to missions, but he would not single out one seminary for me. He did tell me though that if he could give me any advice, it would be to make sure that I served in a church the entire time I was in seminary, as pastor, or on a staff position. He said he had learned more in the church he pastored in Texas during his years at Southwestern Seminary than he ever did in a classroom. The classroom experience, he said, was enhanced and made real by the practical experience of ministering in a congregation. (He was right: I did this my entire seminary career.)
I thanked Dr. Cauthen, and we went our ways. I returned home to North Carolina the next day, and decided to attend Golden Gate Seminary the following school year. The fact that Baker James Cauthen had been there teaching was a significant factor in my deciding to attend.
In April, 1985, Cauthen went home to be with the Lord at age 75, completing his missionary assignment on earth. He, and his wife, Eloise, are now part of that great cloud of witnesses that Hebrews 12 talks about, who have traveled and completed the journey we are still on now.
This has been a good day to remember, and to be reminded of the task yet to be fulfilled. Thank You, Lord, for the opportunity to have that moment with a great servant of the Lord years ago, and to be right here, right now, writing this as an associational missionary on a prayer journey at the Cauthen International Learning Center. Our God is an awesome God!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
A Disciple's Renewal
O My Savior,
Help me.
I am so slow to learn,
So prone to forget,
So weak to climb;
I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights;
I am pained by my graceless heart,
My prayerless days,
My poverty of love,
My sloth in the heavenly race,
My sullied conscience,
My wasted hours,
My unspent opportunities.
I am blind while light shines around me:
Take the scales from my eyes,
Grind to dust the evil heart of unbelief.
Make it my chiefest joy to study You,
Meditate on You,
Gaze on You,
Sit like Mary at Your feet,
Lean like John on Your breast,
Appeal like Peter to Your love,
Count like Paul all things dung.
Give me increase and progress in grace so that there may be
More decision in my character,
More vigor in my purposes,
More elevation in my life,
More fervor in my devotion,
More consistency in my zeal.
As I have a position in the world,
keep me from making the world my position;
May I never seek in the creature what can be found only in the Creator;
Let not faith cease from seeking You until it vanishes into sight.
Ride forth in me, O King of kings and Lord of lords,
That I may live victoriously, and in victory attain my end.
(Adapted from Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, Arthur Bennett, Editor)
Help me.
I am so slow to learn,
So prone to forget,
So weak to climb;
I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights;
I am pained by my graceless heart,
My prayerless days,
My poverty of love,
My sloth in the heavenly race,
My sullied conscience,
My wasted hours,
My unspent opportunities.
I am blind while light shines around me:
Take the scales from my eyes,
Grind to dust the evil heart of unbelief.
Make it my chiefest joy to study You,
Meditate on You,
Gaze on You,
Sit like Mary at Your feet,
Lean like John on Your breast,
Appeal like Peter to Your love,
Count like Paul all things dung.
Give me increase and progress in grace so that there may be
More decision in my character,
More vigor in my purposes,
More elevation in my life,
More fervor in my devotion,
More consistency in my zeal.
As I have a position in the world,
keep me from making the world my position;
May I never seek in the creature what can be found only in the Creator;
Let not faith cease from seeking You until it vanishes into sight.
Ride forth in me, O King of kings and Lord of lords,
That I may live victoriously, and in victory attain my end.
(Adapted from Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, Arthur Bennett, Editor)
Friday, June 26, 2009
Continual Repentance
O GOD OF GRACE,
You have imputed my sin to my Substitute,
and have imputed His righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a Bridegroom’s robe,
decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.
I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for You always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country,
and am always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, "Father, forgive me,"
and You are always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s work in it,
be married in it,
be wrapped at death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it, shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness
the exceeding wonder of grace.
(From The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions,
Arthur Bennett, Editor, p. 76. Language updated)
You have imputed my sin to my Substitute,
and have imputed His righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a Bridegroom’s robe,
decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.
I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for You always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country,
and am always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, "Father, forgive me,"
and You are always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s work in it,
be married in it,
be wrapped at death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it, shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness
the exceeding wonder of grace.
(From The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions,
Arthur Bennett, Editor, p. 76. Language updated)
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Gideon had his weak moments and failures...
Gideon had his weak moments and failures, but he was still God's servant.
If you can easily see yourself in the first half of the sentence you just read, can you also see yourself in the second half?
Remember Gideon as a man who obeyed God by giving his attention to the task at hand. Then give your full attention to believing God will prepare you for tomorrow when it comes.
(from the Life Application Bible notes on Gideon)
(Stay tuned for more on Gideon...)
If you can easily see yourself in the first half of the sentence you just read, can you also see yourself in the second half?
Remember Gideon as a man who obeyed God by giving his attention to the task at hand. Then give your full attention to believing God will prepare you for tomorrow when it comes.
(from the Life Application Bible notes on Gideon)
(Stay tuned for more on Gideon...)
Monday, June 1, 2009
Morning Dedication
As I cross the threshold of this day
I commit myself, soul, body, affairs, friends, to Your care;
Watch over, keep, guide, direct, sanctify, bless me.
Incline my heart to Your ways;
Mold me wholly into the image of Jesus, as a potter forms clay;
May my lips be a well-tuned harp to sound Your praise;
Let those around see me living by Your Spirit,
trampling the world underfoot,
unconformed to lying vanities,
transformed by a renewed mind,
clad in the entire armor of God,
shining as a never-dimmed light,
showing holiness in all my doings.
Let no evil this day soil my thoughts, words, hands.
May I travel muddy paths with a life pure from spot or stain.
In important transactions, let my affection be in heaven,
and my love soar upwards in flames of fire,
my gaze fixed on unseen things,
my eyes open to the emptiness, fragility, mockery of earth and its vanities.
May I view all things in the mirror of eternity,
waiting for the coming of my Lord,
listening for the last trumpet call,
hastening unto the new heaven and earth.
Order this day all my communications according to Your wisdom,
and to the gain of mutual good.
Forbid that I should not be profited or made profitable.
May I speak each word as if my last word,
and walk each step as my last one.
If my life should end today, let this be my best day.
(Adapted from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, Arthur Bennett, Editor, 1975)
I commit myself, soul, body, affairs, friends, to Your care;
Watch over, keep, guide, direct, sanctify, bless me.
Incline my heart to Your ways;
Mold me wholly into the image of Jesus, as a potter forms clay;
May my lips be a well-tuned harp to sound Your praise;
Let those around see me living by Your Spirit,
trampling the world underfoot,
unconformed to lying vanities,
transformed by a renewed mind,
clad in the entire armor of God,
shining as a never-dimmed light,
showing holiness in all my doings.
Let no evil this day soil my thoughts, words, hands.
May I travel muddy paths with a life pure from spot or stain.
In important transactions, let my affection be in heaven,
and my love soar upwards in flames of fire,
my gaze fixed on unseen things,
my eyes open to the emptiness, fragility, mockery of earth and its vanities.
May I view all things in the mirror of eternity,
waiting for the coming of my Lord,
listening for the last trumpet call,
hastening unto the new heaven and earth.
Order this day all my communications according to Your wisdom,
and to the gain of mutual good.
Forbid that I should not be profited or made profitable.
May I speak each word as if my last word,
and walk each step as my last one.
If my life should end today, let this be my best day.
(Adapted from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, Arthur Bennett, Editor, 1975)
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