What Happened? When Did It Change?

When did everything change?
It wasn't like it was a sudden thing where we suddenly woke up and we didn't recognize where we were or what was going on.
But when did change sneak in?
I was listening to some mp3's I had downloaded last night.
There were sermons from A.W. Tozer and Duncan Campbell.
Leonard Ravenhill and Vance Havner.
All through out the messages, I found a word kept coming up over and over.
They repeated it with great passion and fire as each man spoke the truth of God.
What word you may ask?
CONVICTION!
You don't really hear much from the pulpit or the television about conviction any more.
I even went and looked up the definition of conviction.
Webster's defines conviction as judgement or guilt against a criminal defendant.
That's pretty harsh language there especially when you tie it to a message being given in church.
Yet in John 16:8 we read these words:
And when he (The Holy Spirit) comes, he will CONVICT the world of its sin. and of God' righteousness, and the coming judgment.

When the Holy Spirit is sent (He came on the day of Pentecost- Acts Chapter 2), He will come with a mission. His first work will be to convict the world. Using the definition of Conviction...that means the Holy Spirit will come to reveal to man kind the judgment or guilt that they stand under. In other words, the Holy Spirit will open our spiritual eyes and ears up to the fact we are condemned. We carry around a sentence of death, that being the 2nd death or eternal separation from God. The Holy Spirit's purpose is to make us aware of our need of being saved.

Today it seems that the church merely wants to woo people in and not offend them or hurt their feelings and hope that they have some sort of experience with God. It's like the church wants to set the stage and make everything comfortable where people can come and meet God. None of that "Fire on the Mountain, thunder and lightning, God is in the  house stuff".  When in reality, the only way people can truly be brought into awareness of God is through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Coming to God is not a mental exercise.
Coming to God is not a choice made by a heart that is not broken.
Coming to God is not an appeal to the flesh to turn....
Coming to God is a direct movement as a result of being broken by the Holy Spirit.
Broken by realizing that without God you are doomed.
Broken by realizing that without God you are destined to Hell. Hell is your reward for a life live in rejection of God.

"Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God!"
God's favor rests on those who look within themselves and find nothing by emptiness and loneliness. Coming to the realization that they are spiritually bankrupt and in poverty. When you reach that point, the Holy Spirit will direct your heart to the glorious truth that now, for spiritual poverty, you can enter in and possess the Kingdom of God's rule. That your life can be lifted from the ash heap of humanity and seated in the heavens with Jesus Christ.

Conviction! What a beautiful word.
May conviction fall upon the church of Jesus Christ.
May conviction fall hard and heavy and the aisles run wet with the tears of those who are broken, crying out, "What must I do to be saved!"
Let it be so Lord...

God on you....
mb

You Are Our Portion

Back in 1998, shortly before I began full time ministry, Vicki and I had to make a decision.
During one of our prayer times, God spoke to both of us. Oh, it wasn't an audible voice, just the Holy Spirit whispering deep in our spirits. Vicki knew and I knew that we had been offered a choice by God to make before we began this next part of our journey with Him.

He told us to decide.
We could either have a portion of His blessings to carry out the work he was laying in front of us......
or.....
We could have Him as our portion.
To me, it kind of sounded like a trick question. You know what I mean? Like in Exodus Chapter Four where God asks Moses.."What is that in your hand?" Now Moses knows it is a staff. He knows that God knows it is a staff. Moses just isn't quiet sure that "staff" is the word that God wants to hear. Get it? We tend to over analyze things.
Bottom line was that we chose God as our portion.
I would like to say that after making that choice, things were wonderful and every decision we made was bathed in the glory of knowing we had chosen right. Truth of the matter, every time we had to make decisions about a need we had, we were always doing so with the thought..."What if we didn't hear God right?"
I sure hope I grow out of this mindset. God has been faithful since the day we made that choice and for that I am grateful. He truly does want us to look to him for our needs. That isn't an excuse to be lazy or to plant yourself in the Lazy Boy with the remote and order up some "God stuff". What it does mean is that we look to God in every situation to be God. Simple as that! Psalm 119:57 reads...You are my portion,O Lord!
The rest of this particular portion from Psalm 119 reads as follows:
I sought your favor with my whole heart. Be merciful unto me according to your word.
I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
I made haste and did not delay to keep your commandments.
At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto you because of your righteous judgments...
The earth is full of your mercy. Teach me your ways.

Here in is the way of life that is found in Jesus.
It is more than Sunday mornings and Sunday  nights at church.
It is a yearning, a longing....almost a pulling toward.....to be with Jesus at every moment. He fills you up completely and your heart longs to hear him, see him..just be near him.
As I heard it put once......Having a relationship with Jesus is 366 days a year....25 hours a day....8 days a week. Not because you have too...............because you want to.
It is simply following the Spirit of God daily.
Immersing yourself in God's word.....
Praying as you walk through your day....
And letting God be your portion in this life, in this day.
Have I arrived and gotten it all right?
No!
But I am pressing on with Jesus.

God on you........
mb

What A Weekend!

What a great weekend. Visitation went well and everyone seem to have a really good time except for the ducks. The kids who came to visit chased the ducks all over the camp. I think our web-footed friends finally escaped by getting in the pond, staying there until everyone had left.

Jonathan Bright spoke at the BACK DOOR  Saturday night. He related many of his stories from his time at Rapha ,tying Scripture in to encourage the men to not give up but press on in their recovery. Jonathan and his wife, Tiffany, have answered a call to ministry. They aren't sure of where it is going to take them, but they are prepared for whatever God leads them to do. At the end of his message, as we came to ministry time, 8 men came forward for prayer. Very powerful and God was very much working on these eight. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. Earlier in the day, I had the opportunity to baptize two in the creek. Here again, is one of my most favorite things God lets me participate in. Families lined up on the bank, us standing down in the creek....God's pleasure and Spirit very evident. The look on the faces of the  men when they come up out of the water......priceless. Thank you Lord.

Yesterday morning Vicki and I drove up to Noccalula Falls to have a time of worship and prayer. With Bibles in tow, we set up in one of the pavilion's located on the campground side. The sun was shining, the wind blowing and God was in HIS house! It was an incredible time of communion and just being together.

Verse for the day:
Romans 12:9-10
Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

Love is a choice, not a feeling. Today, we choose to love! Today we choose to empty ourselves of our own personal agenda to take up the cross of Christ and go meet the world on Jesus' terms, not ours.
Have a "God" day!
mb

I will be posting Jonathan's message from Saturday night in about an hour. Look for it in the podcast section of  this blog.
Thanks for stopping by...
mb

SATURDAY!!!!!

Saturday.
Made it.
Visitation today as families will come and fill up Rapha.
There will be laughter and kids running around.
Hugs and kisses.....
Grown men who get all soft and tender.
Grown men sitting in the floor playing Candy Land with their daughters and sons, trying to rebuild the damage drugs and alcohol did.
There will be much food and conversation around tables.
And I get to see it all.
Families who want so bad to see their loved one overcome this battle that has been going on for years.
I get to see it all.


Interesting verse this morning that pretty much sums up my life.
I Corinthians 9:16 --  For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yet woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.
What?
Paul is saying that as someone who preaches the message of Christ, he is the least of the equation. There is God....There is the Word of God.....and there are those who need to hear the Word of God. The one who is preaching, or proclaiming the Word of God is the least relevant of the process. When it reads "For necessity is laid upon me"...it merely means that "I can nothing else but tell the story of Jesus".  I can relate to this.
I guess the greatest fear I had when I answered the call to pastor was the thought of having to come up with a sermon each week. One message. Little did I know that the week itself would provide the message. Something would happen that sparked the Holy Spirit to reveal to me what the message would be. I don't know if my approach is the way other Pastor's go at their sermons, but I know it has served me well for the last 13 years.

Truth be known, it isn't very Vogue to preach the whole council of God these days.
IT isn't very fashionable to speak of the blood of Jesus or hell or sin.
Those things are best left unsaid in some churches. After all, the economy is bad and times are hard....people need an uplifting message. If you start talking about sin and hell, you're libel to run some of them off.
Titus 2:1 reads, "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine."
"We don't want doctrine. Tell us about all the blessings that God will give us!"
"Tell us about our destiny and the keys to health, wealth and prosperity. Those are the things we want to hear."
Let me tell you about the greatest blessing! Jesus himself.
Verse 13 and 14 read:  Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
When our hearts desire anything but Jesus himself....
When our hope lies in what we receive rather than the one who is giving....
When our vision is lowered to the things of this world and is fed by a nature that was born in the garden at the fall of man, we have lost sight of what is important.
Our Christianity is an abomination before God.
It has become a source of "getting" rather than a life of giving.
Jesus is beyond any blessing because HE IS THE BLESSING!
He heals the sick...
He binds up the brokenhearted....
To death He declares, "LIFE".
To the poor, He is the Kingdom of God come down.
He is the great I AM.
He is the Christ.
He is my Lord and Saviour.
and.....
Praise God! He is coming back.
Look up for your redemption is drawing near.

God on you.......
mb

The $64,000.00 Question

Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked the, "Who do people say I am?"

Age old question that is still being asked by Jesus daily to those who claim to be his disciples.
Each morning as I rise, I am faced with this question in my own personal relationship with him.
It isn't a question that gives rise to a verbal answer, although that is part of it.
It is a question that gives rise to the reflection of my life seen by others (and Jesus) as to what I do, what I say, how I conduct myself in the affairs of the day.
In other words, do others see Jesus in me?
In other words, when Jesus looks at me, does he see himself?

My life either reveals the goodness of God, or the falseness of what I claim.
I either reflect Jesus.....
or I reflect the world.
That is why Jesus stayed on the Pharisees and other religious rulers of his day.
He knew that they were all about the show and had no go in their lives, when it came to religion.
They were part of the old covenant of "do"...
Offer animals for forgiveness of sin.....
Wash yourselves in appropriate manner so as not to sin.....
Repeat the Scripture with no heed as to what it truly meant....
An entire system of "Do as I say........not as I do."
Now here before everyone was the Messiah they had been looking for.
Trouble was, Jesus did not fit the mold that had been created in the mind of man.
Even today, Jesus does not fit that mold, because he came not into the world to place himself within the mind of man, but in the hearts of mankind.
It is in the heart that the truth of God is revealed.
It is from the heart that lives are changed.

He is Lord...
He is God...
He is Master...
He is Savior....
He is Yahweh....
He is Jehovah....
He is Messiah....
He is Christ....
He is the hope of mankind...
He is the enemy to the kingdom of darkness...
He is the power to save....
He is judge...
He is Father...
He is Son....
He is Holy Spirit.....
He is the LORD!

I'm telling you right now if that doesn't set you on fire, then your woods wet!
Ask Him to fill you up!
Ask Him to talk to you today!
Give your heart and life over to Him.....

God on you today!
mb

A radical christ centerd message by john piper

I do not understand the real value and worth of Jesus Christ. I confess that on this side of eternity, my flesh seeks to cut that message and understanding short. I press on to know though. I know in my heart that there is a worth of Jesus Christ that I have fully grasped. Oh it isn't an understanding that is laid hold of by the human mind, it is an understanding that is known and understood in the heart and spirit. It is the Spirit of Almighty God laying hold of me........It is the Spirit of Almighty God speaking to me saying, "Be still and know that I am God!" It is in this stillness that the effort and strength of man falls away, crumbled, lying in the dust and the the magnificent beauty of God stands in power, dominion and purity.That is what I seek to know today.

God on you.........

mb

38 Years!! Ta Da!!!

"......and a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two are united into one."------Matthew 2:24

Seems like forever.....
Seems like only yesterday, we were standing in the courtyard of Twelfth Street Baptist Church.
The occasion?
Vicki and I were married.
Now a days, the things we did for our marriage are pretty tame and normal but back in '72 it wasn't.
I had a good friend of mine play and sing for our wedding. Since he was using his guitar, my wife's grandmother said that we were having a "hippie" wedding.

We even used two pastors for our ceremony. Bro. Herman Cobb, who was Vicki's pastor all of her "growing up" years, and Bro. Harold Chandler, her pastor at the church she was attending before we married.

Lot has happened over the past 38 years.
2 sons...
2 daughters-in-law.
2 grand kids.
I had about a brazillion jobs.
Vicki had 2 jobs.
I was ordained and began full time ministry.
We have had our shares of ups and downs. Fights and arguments. But covering it all was the hand of Almighty God.
He has kept us together.
He has poured out His love over us and in us.
When we consciously decided to put our marriage in the proper place, me occupying the the role as husband (the way God defines it) and she as wife. We began to see the blessings of God poured out.
Truly in the midst of all the turmoil and strife, God made us one. We began greater through the marriage than we ever could have as individuals. Greater not in the sense of accomplishments but in the Spiritual sense that we had surrendered the need to be individuals and had come together as husband and wife to seek God and His kingdom.God truly saw us as one. What affected one, affected the other.

Now, as the years have rolled by, we find ourselves in the next phase of our life together.
I am very comfortable with who I am as a person and with who we are as husband and wife.
Oh we haven't quit working on our marriage. We learned through the lessons of others that you do not have the luxury of simply thinking, "We have arrived in the Marriage Boat so we can cruise now."
Funny part in all of this is that I love my wife more today than ever before.
I thought I knew and understood the concept of love. I didn't.
My love for her is so much richer and fuller today than 38 years ago.
I know that God is the reason for this.
Tonight we will go out for supper (dinner if you're up North). We will laugh and hold hands.
We will share memories and enjoy each others company.
Oh we're older now, no doubt about it.
Our bodies show the evidence of this (some would call it wear and tear).
Ahh, but the hearts. The hearts are still young and still skip a beat when we look into each others eyes.
The hearts still ache when we are apart.
Some might even call us co-dependent. That's o.k use whatever label you want to.
I just know that I love my wife, and tomorrow I will discover that there is another level, a new level of love that has been waiting to be discovered.
God, thank you for marriage.
Thank you for my wife....
Amen.

God on you...
mb