No Microwave No Shortcuts

We live in a microwavable time. Waiting is detested and bemoaned as a waste of time in this modern technological world. We have become satisfied with less quality if we can get it faster. Hence, the very reason that McDonald’s is a huge success. The sad part is that this mindset has crept into the church over the last fifty years. People spend less time than ever at the altar because it takes time. Now they have become satisfied with a low quality of spiritual life since it means they can microwave their experience in church to one hour and no more. They have settled for the spiritual Big Mac but if they would have spent a little more time they could have experienced the spiritual Triple Prime Burger from Ruby Tuesday’s. There are no shortcuts to revival. If we are going to get spiritual quality back in the church again—it will take time!

• Time spent in prayer
• Time spent in the Word
• Time spent in fasting
• Time spent in corporate worship

Quality is worth waiting on!

People want holiness without its demands, they want gifts without character, power without prayer, they want a psychologist instead of a preacher, they want to feel good about self instead of experiencing death to self, fire without a sacrifice, knowledge without the Word, goose bumps without a heart change. People do not wait for God to speak, wait for spiritual gifts, for maturity, for answered prayer, for the blessing of God.

All of this can be remedied if we regain a passion for Jesus and wait upon the Lord till he rains his power on us again!

Democracy and its Death Spiral

 In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."
"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

• From bondage to spiritual faith; 
• From spiritual faith to great courage
• From courage to liberty; 
• From liberty to abundance;
• From abundance to complacency;
• From complacency to apathy; 
• From apathy to dependence;
• From dependence back into bondage."

It hardly needs interpretation or explanation. Unfortunately, America is not far from the bottom experiences of this list. Prayer is needed for this country like never before! 

1 Timothy 2:1-4 (KJV)
¹ I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
² For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
⁴ Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Stop the Embarrassment!!

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift ever given to the church while salvation was the greatest gift given to the world. As vital as it is for the world to receive salvation, it is also vital that the church receives this earth-shattering experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. A sinner can’t get to Heaven apart from salvation, and the church can’t be effective in winning the lost without the baptism. So, what is this baptism in the Holy Spirit? We know that when we are saved, we receive the spirit in a measure but there is a subsequent experience that we can have the Spirit without measure. 

“To illustrate, if we drank water from a glass, then the water would be inside us. However, if we went to the beach and stepped into the ocean, then we would be in the water. We receive, as it were, a drink of the Holy Spirit when we are saved, but when we are baptized in the Spirit, it is as if that initial drink becomes an ocean that completely surrounds us.

Just as the indwelling Spirit that Christians receive when they are saved reproduces the life of Jesus, so the outpoured, or baptizing, Spirit reproduces the ministry of Jesus, including miracles and healings.”[1]

Luke 24:49 (KJV)
⁴⁹ And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

The word translated “endue” means to be clothed or covered. This reveals to us that it was necessary to be baptized in the Spirit BEFORE going out to represent Christ to the masses. If a person goes out into the world to preach the Gospel without being endued with power to effectively carry out the mission, will be embarrassed. It’s just like a person who leaves their house without putting clothes on will be embarrassed being brought on by their nakedness. No one will take the naked person seriously no matter what the person says or claims. They will be laughed at, and no honor will be given. I am afraid the church today is being embarrassed because of the nakedness of powerlessness. Instead of tarrying until power clothes us, the church is changing the Gospel to accommodate its weakness and excuse its nakedness. The pulpits are being filled with psychological babble in the attempt to cover their nakedness with the fig leaves of self instead of being covered by God through sacrifice.

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[1] http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/cbnteachingsheets/gifts_of_the_spirit.aspx

Excerpt on Maturity

Below is an excerpt from a book on maturity I'm currently working on. 

 

Many years ago on "The Merv Griffin Show," the guest was a body builder. During the interview, Merv asked "Why do you develop those particular muscles?" The body builder simply stepped forward and flexed a series of well-defined muscles from chest to calf. The audience applauded. "What do you use all those muscles for?" Merv asked. Again, the muscular specimen flexed, and biceps and triceps sprouted to impressive proportions. "But what do you USE those muscles for?" Merv persisted. The body builder was bewildered. He didn't have an answer other than to display his well-developed frame. I was reminded that our spiritual exercises--Bible study, prayer, reading Christian books, listening to Christian radio and tapes--are also for a purpose. They're meant to strengthen our ability to build God's kingdom, not simply to improve our pose before an admiring audience. [1]

 

When we want to see what maturity looks like, we don’t set it on stage and it become a sideshow of personal aggrandizement. Maturity is neatly wrapped in the priceless attribute of humility; therefore, it demonstrates itself through actions that place the attention on others – not self. If you put  it on stage, it would not flex its muscles to draw applause but only use them to benefit another.  Ironically, personal development and growth is the benefit of doing for others. If all I do is for me, driven by selfish ambition, I actually deplete myself instead of truly building myself.

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[1] Gary Gulbranson, Leadership, Summer, 1989, p. 43.