Repentance

Repent

“Many today hate to hear the word REPENT, but a time is coming when no-one will ask you to do so.” Isn’t that a great quote? and it’s anonymous as far as I know. Now let me ask you this – when was the last time you heard it preached? I’m not a betting man but I doubt you will have heard it preached recently. It’s unpopular you see – puts people off the church. We have to keep them coming into the church and we don’t want them disturbed or upset by talking about things like repentance.

What is it about repentance that is so off putting, I wonder? Maybe it is the thought of actually regretting those things we have done that are so against God’s principles? Maybe it’s the thought of actually swallowing our pride and admitting that we have done wrong in His eyes? Maybe it’s then swallowing even more pride in order to apologise, say sorry, and asking for God to forgive us? Maybe we regard it as childishness and being made by God to sit on the “naughty step” for a few moments?

John the Baptist preached repentance and baptism in water for the forgiveness of sins. Wesley preached repentance too. So did William Booth, Spurgeon, Smith Wigglesworth, Billy Graham, Rodney Howard-Browne, Reinhart Bonnke, and many more great preachers and evangelists. They also preached, with John the Baptist, Luke 3:16 “John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” But that is another subject for another time J

When I look at the state of the world with all its troubles and evil, that is when I believe that a good old-fashioned dose of repentance is the only remedy. We need a 2 Chronicles 7:14 moment – today – NOW. We need to turn from our sins and repent. Repent - To feel such regret, remorse, and contrition for past conduct as to change one's mind and conduct regarding it. What a great definition.

It is time to swallow our pride; to examine our hearts and our conduct. Are we all that we could or even should be before God? If not then it is time for a radical rethink of our relationship with God because if that relationship were right then surely our words, thoughts and deeds would be a lot more right than they are today.

Yes, it is surely the time to repent, to turn from our sins and to look to the Lord to heal our land. Repent – Jesus is coming again soon. Oh Lord, the cry of my heart is for repentance to sweep our land. First through your church and then through those you would call into your Kingdom.

Let repentance start with us Lord, and perhaps revival could follow?

Friendship Evangelism

Reaching the Un-churched

There is a fairly new phenomenon hitting the church that makes a mockery of much of our previous attempts at evangelism. Friendship Evangelism is the name of a movement that does exactly what it says on the label – it develops friendships as a pathway to evangelism and  suitable church. The most important aspect is that it is completely non-denominational with no agenda other than to get the lost saved.

The Church is frequently described politically as ‘middle of the road’. Anything in the middle of the road is, to me, a road block – it’s in the way of everyone’s progress. The house church movement has, to a large extent caused the church to rethink some of it’s policies and ways of approaching it’s main tasks. The church, historically, has been the community centre for an area. The house churches have, to a large extent, usurped that role. The church’s main role in seeking the lost for salvation and the spreading of the Gospel so as to make “disciples of all men” has also been usurped, but this time to a great extent. As the Gospel is hardly ever preached in so many churches, the house church has become the de facto place for sharing the Gospel.

The trouble is that, like the traditional Church of old, the Church of today has always catered for the “already saved” thus making it a bit of a social club for those in general agreement about God and religion. Perhaps the house church movement has moved away from that towards more serious discipleship, but it is still primarily for those who are saved.

This is where the Friendship Evangelism fills a large gap. By not concentrating on ‘in your face’ evangelism and focussing on a demonstration of Christ’s love through friendship, shared experiences, coming alongside in times of trouble, and so on, this ‘church’ shows its love first then broaches the subject of faith later on – usually when the person you are talking to has seen the love, experienced the friendship, and maybe even been prayed for a few times. The last thing any new person coming to the group gets is a series of questions about church, Jesus, and God.

It’s a lot more complex than that of course and, when starting a new group, there is an element of “flying by the seat of your pants” – playing almost every meeting by ear until a rhythm establishes itself.

A very dear friend epitomised this new church movement with this prophecy in January 2012. He wrote this :-

New wine is dripping from Heaven, God is calling in His scattered sheep. He is gathering the sheep shunned by pastors and scared by clergy. God is doing a new work, a different work, a wide work and an unseen work. God is establishing cells of worship, cells of grace and cells of harmony. These cells exist for His body, not their glory. These cells are seasonal and bear the fruit of more new cells. These cells are maligned and dishonoured yet they are connected to The Vine - they are the fruit of The Vine and will also bear fruit from The Vine.  This new wine knows no flavour or colour but is the sweetest of all to savour.

Do I think this new movement is from God?

Oh yes – it is of God.

Church Growth

Church Growth

What is it with all these expensive conferences and meetings we see advertised all the time? I can understand covering the costs of venue hire and all that goes with it, but I have seen prices pitched much higher than just covering expenses. But at what cost to the everyday punter who just wants to hear a little bit from God. Far too many conferences are little more than money spinners for the main church and speakers. So many ‘conferences’ are held to teach Christians how to cope with life. Why? Surely this is the pastors job and the church’s responsibility to demonstrate. Yet so many are sold out every day because people lack the teaching and support at their own church.

Much is also said and, indeed, much is also marketed and sold, on the subject of church growth. All the planning and marketing in the world will avail your church little if there is no love in the welcome any new folk receive when the visit or come for the first time. Growth just will not happen as folk will come – and they will go again as quickly as they came – if there is nothing to attract them into stopping a while. If the Gospel isn’t preached and demonstrated; if the sick are not healed; if no love is shown; and if there is little but gossip and money talk; then there is little or nothing to attract the visitor to stay.

Just once, in 2008, I heard a speaker at an international event stand up and ask this sort of question. “This is our 38^th day. How many of you have been here every day?” When about one third of the large audience raised their hands, the speaker asked this question – “Why? What are you doing here? What are you doing with all the teaching and encouragement you have been receiving?” There was a stunned silence for about ten seconds before many of the overseas visitors started applauding loudly.

It changed nothing by the way as each night after that the crowd was just the same. But what a great question. A huge number of people go to these conferences and then keep all the teaching they have received to themselves. How selfish is that? I have written before about Penn Jillette’s comment that, if we truly believe that heaven or hell is the ultimate destination of every person on earth, how much must we hate somebody to not tell them how to avoid hell in order to get to heaven? It is a perfectly valid question yet many churches rarely if ever preach the gospel of Jesus Christ; Him crucified and risen again in order that we might finally get to our Father in heaven.

Surely it is time for the church to practice what it preaches. The church has become like a sick doctor who tells you that what’s wrong with you is the same as what’s wrong with him, and what you must do to remedy it, but then carries on doing exactly the same as he has always done in the past. The church preaches far too much ‘ear-tickling’ – what people want to hear rather than what the Lord wants them to hear. That is what too many of these conferences are about.

Is there agreement out there that we need to return to some, if not all, of the practices of the church of Pentecost? How else did they receive 3000 into their midst on one day other than by the preaching of the Gospel and the demonstration of Holy Spirit power? Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.”  That is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ does – it brings people into God’s Kingdom from the world’s kingdoms. It’s time to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead – and make disciples of ALL who receive the message.

Amen??

Stones Shout Praise

Even the Stones will Cry Out

I often wondered what Jesus meant by these words. Luke 19:30-40 (MSG) “But he said, "If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise."  So I did a little research to see if I could find out.

Paul speaks of this in Romans 8:22 (NIV1984) “ We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

Stones shouting praise, creation groaning – what’s going on? First we need to know that the Bible speaks of this apparent ‘impossible’ form of praise and worship in other places too. In fact it seems to be an important point that God does not wish us to miss.

Listen to this for a moment

1 Chronicles 16:33 “Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.”
Psalm 96:12 “let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;”
Isaiah 44:23 “Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.”

So, it appears that praise and worship is quite important to God wouldn’t you say? Well, David thought so too. In 2 Samuel 6:5 “David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.” And again in 2 Chronicles 29:25 (NIV1984) “ He stationed the Levites in the temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David (in 1 Chron 25:6; & 28:19) and Gad (in 1 Samuel 22:5 ) the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet; this was commanded by the Lord through his prophets.”

Are you getting the idea yet? Praise and worship are essential parts of our whole relationship with God. As Jesus said, if you don’t do so, then the very stones, (trees, forests and even the heavens) will do it anyway. Isaiah 55:12 puts it this way. “The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

Strange language, strange word pictures, but all of it pointing towards the incredible importance of praising and worshipping our God. Everything we do needs to include praise and worship - everything. When we pray; when we wake; when we sleep; when we eat; when we drink; work; when we read; when we shop; and so on. Some of our best meetings in church are those when we get together for the sole purpose of praising and worshipping and giving Him glory. There is singing of course, and there is clapping and dancing too. One week, an older but fairly fit couple started jiving to the praise and worship – the joy and applause was incredible and so was the tangible presence of God.

Praise and worship is totally biblical – including musical instruments and dancing before the Lord. If we don’t do it, then trees, stones, and mountains will !!

Think what a sight and sound that could be.

The Wisdom of Saints

An Old Saint Still Speaks Across the Years

Hudson Taylor was born in 1837 and died in 1905.During his life he became a missionary to China and he founded the China Inland Mission (C.I.M.)  There is not one single record of Hudson Taylor asking a single soul for help in funding his great service for the Lord. He did not need to have any great entourage surrounding him with security; he had no financial standing. He simply stated his needs to God and trusted Him for provision of all he needed. Yet the legacy of all that he worked for and achieved is still bearing fruit today throughout that great land.

I was recently on holiday and I read a little bit about the great man of God. He had four simple tenets of faith – you might say he saw faith from four aspects.

Faith rests on God’s faithfulness

Hudson Taylor wrote a simple statement when he urged us to “Reckon on the faithfulness of God.” If God is not faithful to His Word, how can He expect us to have faith?

Faith is the trust of a child

He wrote this, “I am taking my children with me, and I notice that it is not difficult for me to remember that the little ones need breakfast in the mornings, dinner at midday, and something before they go to bed at night. Indeed I could not forget it and I find it impossible to suppose that our Heavenly Father is less tender and mindful than I.”

He also wrote this, “I do not believe that our Heavenly Father will ever forget His children. I am a very poor father but it is not my habit to forget my children. God is a very, very good Father. It is not His habit to forget His children.”

Faith like that of a child is the only way we can describe Hudson Taylor’s attitude to provision. All provision comes from God. He knows our needs before we ask. When we were children, we didn’t worry about where the food on our tables came from. We just knew it would be there at the appropriate time and place for us to eat. When we grew bigger and needed new clothes, we didn’t worry about where they came from or rather where the money for them came from. We just went with our parents to buy them. Just as we trusted our parents for these things, how much more can we trust our Father in Heaven to supply us?

Faith is as necessary to the material realm as it is to the spiritual

We can believe God as much for the finance to buy our food, as for the food itself, and for the plate, knife and fork with which to eat it. When the Israelites entered the desert to begin their wanderings, money had not even been invented so when God provided for them, He provided physical things like water, food, grazing for their flocks, and so on. Just as Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom, so the Lord provided wisdom plus all the physical trappings of power and wealth. We can expect God to answer our prayers for the spiritual gifts and for the physical things we need in life in order to fulfil His plans and destiny for our lives.

Faith is not incompatible with the use of means

A drowning man would be foolish to reject the use of a life jacket and just rely on God would he not? If the means of our need is at hand we should use them.

So, I think we can all still learn from the saints of yesteryear. For me, these four short sentences are a statement of faith that I can live with. They are simple, almost child-like, just as the second one says that faith is that of a child. Hudson Taylor left more than a legacy for China. He left all of us a great legacy in his “four facets of faith”.