Today, I had the amazing privilege to preach the Convention Message of the 2014 Southern Baptist Convention in Baltimore, Maryland. Upon being invited nearly a year ago to preach this message, God began to speak to me in prayer. “You won’t preach an ordinary message. You’ll preach what you live.” And what a year it’s been.
Message Title: “The Impossible Quest” Message Text: 1 Chronicles 11:3, 9, 10-14. It centers on three of the mighty men of David who defended a field against the Philistines. Remember, the Old Testament examples are given for us who live in this present day. The subject is the battle to defend God’s field against an incredible number of enemies – but the present day application is defending the Gospel – and sharing it by standing in the fields that need to be sown. First, that these mighty men RECOGNIZED THEIR RESPONSIBILITY. “…the people fled…they took their stand…” v. 13b, 14a It’s amazing how many people run away when a war is brewing. This story is really a picture of God’s work through the ages. It’s the story of all the heroes of faith. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Joseph, Daniel – and David – they all had to stand alone at times. And they all had to believe God enough to stand in the field in wartime when others had fled. Our New Testament fields are places where God’s seed (the Gospel) is sown and harvested. Eternity is at stake. And there are few in the fields. You’d think the fields would be full of workers. They are not. It is estimated that 95% of Christians do not share their faith at all.Most simply don’t want to. What will change this? Courageous men standing in the field – that’s who. ..Pastors who lead their congregations into the field. Paul said to Timothy, “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:5 In brief, if pastors don’t get a plan to share the Gospel, and get in the field where it needs to be sown in their communities, we keep failing to reach our world. GET A PLAN and GET IN THE FIELD, Pastor. Second, the mighty men RECOGNIZED THE ENCROACHMENT OF EVIL. “They took their stand in the midst of the field, and defended it…” v. 14 When will we become aware of the encroachment of evil in our culture – and when will we decide that the Gospel is powerful enough to change it? These men knew it was time to take a stand. When will we do that? Third, they RECOGNIZED THAT GOD WAS ON THEIR SIDE. “…and the Lord saved them by a great victory.” V. 14b Here’s the picture of every conflict we have ever faced as God-followers. The Lord provided great victory. These men weren’t really fighting FOR victory, they were fighting FROM the victory promised in David…then Christ. But it was their courage and boldness that let them to stand toe-to-toe in the field with the enemy and win. Pastors and leaders, our day of battle is at hand. We go to the fields NOW or we give them up forever. We’re at a crossroads, and we now need pastors who will lead their people to be trained with the Gospel, lead them into the field to plant those seeds, and to see God transform the community. The story God unfolded in my life this year was a story of how He convicted me to get a plan where I could teach my people to share their faith to draw a line in the field and say “we’re taking the Gospel to every person in our community.” We know it will take all of us. God has blessed us with training over 300 people in 24 weeks, and we’ll have another 300 trained soon. We’ve shared the Gospel with thousands, and have seen hundreds saved. It’s the story God is writing in our hearts. But it’s also the story God desires to write in every church. It’s time to get in the field, lead our people and share Christ with every person. There is nothing God will bless more than His Gospel.
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Things NEED change. In the kingdom. In the churches.
Otherwise, we keep getting what we’ve BEEN getting. But the kingdom won’t change until churches do. And churches won’t change until leaders do. That’s why God is in the business of changing, challenging, growing, squeezing, breaking and re-making leaders. Every great move of God is preceded by a leader’s personal transformation. What does it take to change things?
God is in the business of building leaders. Is he calling you? Resting Under His Sovereignty
Sickness happens. We’re sure of that. The question is, “At whose hand does it happen?” Is sickness merely part of the human condition in which all of us are potential victims? Is my sickness from sin, present or past, and a consequence for what I’ve done or failed to do? Is it Satan whose diabolic cursing bring us into physical ruin and weakness? Or is sickness from God, in whose Sovereign purpose and plan it is brought for my good and His glory? The answer is, “Yes.” Of course, that requires an explanation. Truth is, I’ve been working on this question for quite a while. When I was a six year old boy, I contracted rheumatic fever, and in the midst of that had a chemical reaction that resulted in a fever reversal – and inner ear nerve damage. I’ve had profound deafness in both ears since that day. At whose hand did that happen? And why? As a pastor, I’m acquainted with many who face critical and debilitating illness. I’ve seen cancer in far too many people, horrible automobile accidents that bring permanent injury or death, and children born with severe defects. Recently I spoke with a young mother who lost the baby she’d only been carrying for a few weeks. At whose hand does all this take place? There are several truths that guide me as I seek an answer to this. The first is simply that God is Sovereign. He is the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and according to Scripture “…upholds all things by the word of His power.” Heb. 1:3 My answer must take this into account, but I’m also aware that how God exercises that Sovereignty is beyond our ability to comprehend. I’m left to simply ponder His revelation and allow my answer to fall within what He tells me there. Other truths are indisputable. Sin is present in the world, and from the very first day of the sin in the Garden of Eden, death made its presence known. The serpent was there in that garden, and from that day forward has been known as one who is able to exercise his ability to rob, kill and destroy. Free will is plainly present alongside all these things. Man’s free will is limited to the boundaries a Sovereign God allows, but is there nonetheless and undoubtedly complicates the picture of human events. One of the ways I am able to picture all these elements operating in our world is to envision a huge umbrella overshadowing every created thing. That umbrella would represent God’s Sovereignty, and beneath His Sovereignty are all the above mentioned elements. God is assuredly in control and there is no question that “…God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God…” Rom. 8:28 This means that all those factors that are present in the world we live in aren’t randomly running amok, hurting and maiming all those in their path. God has not allowed the universe to simply move in whichever way it will, and He, in response, does not have to scurry about fixing things that get broken because of sin, Satan and natural calamity. And yet, at the same time, the Bible steers us away from believing that God directly sends all sickness, directly commissions Satan to create havoc and directly crashes two cars into one another resulting in tragic consequence. There are those whose view of God’s Sovereignty causes them to struggle with this. “How can God be in control if He did not directly decree something?” they say. In my view, God’s Sovereignty is even more amazing in that He is able to take all He has allowed to be freely active and cause it all to work toward His purpose. There are times when God directly declares and decrees what we would consider to be bad. Moses protested God’s call on his life to be a spokesman for Israel by saying, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent…for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” God’s response? “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who make him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” Exodus 4:10-11. Here, God sends both the stuttering and the purpose for it – so that Moses will depend more upon the Lord. In Genesis, Joseph is sold as a boy into slavery by the hatred and selfishness of his brothers. God, however, works so powerfully in his life that the curse of sinful brothers becomes the catalyst for an amazing set of events that would provide rescue of God’s people from famine. At the end of the astounding story, Joseph affirms to his wicked brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” Genesis 50:20. We’re left to marvel at the hideously wicked nature of man (selling your younger brother into slavery) and the amazingly redemptive purpose of God. The evil may have been sent from men, but the purpose comes from God. Another incredible event is the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Having lied to the Holy Spirit, they dropped dead when confronted by the Apostle Peter. Clearly, their death was brought on because of sin, yet God brought a ripple effect out of that event, as we’re told, “…great fear came over the whole church.” Acts 5:11 Sin brings the death, God brings the purpose. When Paul speaks of His “thorn in the flesh” he calls it a “messenger from Satan to torment me…” 2 Cor. 12:7 However, in the same verse he affirms that it was sent for a very God-like reason, “…to keep me from exalting myself.” The messenger may be from Satan, but the purpose is from God. When Paul prayed for relief, God in His goodness actually gave him something better than healing – grace! So the answer is, “Yes.” Sickness, pain, and heartbreak come from all directions, but are ultimately resting with the purpose and the plan of God. They sit under that great umbrella of Sovereignty, whether we can see it or not. I’ve learned over the years to look at two things, in order to see both the immediate source of events, as well as the Ultimate Source for those same events. I should have an eye on earth and an eye in the heavenly places. It is that perspective that is echoed in the life of Joseph and others. “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” And it is that perspective that guides me through life’s issues. In the end, I can rest assured that God’s purpose is brought about in every single thing that occurs in my life. Without doubt, many good things are brought to us through hardship, yet the gift is not in the hardship, but in that God meets me there to bring about something glorious. “Until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for. Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission.”
- John Piper Life is war. Have you discovered this yet? If not, you’re in a losing battle already. Like the German citizens who ignored the horrors of Nazi Germany, who chose to look the other way when all the signs of atrocity that accompanied the Holocaust were evident – we are in danger of missing the huge kingdom conflict all around us, living outside of reality. Our casual praying is the evidence of our disengagement. New Testament Christianity was birthed in persecution and cultural conflict. The early followers of Christ were aware of the life-and-death stakes of the Gospel message. They saw the blood of Christ, then the blood of the early martyrs, their friends and brothers. Many of them shed their own blood. Inseverable from the reality that war were passionate, desperate, battle-cry prayers. I see this in the Scriptures. I see this in my brothers and sisters battling for the Gospel in India. I see this “life is war” mentality in Cuban pastors and their wives who struggle from birth to death with how to live as followers of Christ in a communist country. I see their tears, their prayers, their dependence on God and their desperation for God’s powerful hand. I’m beginning to see it, ever so slowly, in my life. I see it unfolding in my family and my church. When the enemy inflicts injury, when spiritual opposition rises up with ugly power, when those we love the most are dragged downward with selfish decisions – we taste this war. It’s evident in the tear-stains on the faces of the people in our church as they cry out to God for personal victory in their lives every Sunday morning in full view. I know it’s real when I see our staff crying loudly for God to bring the break-through we desperately need. I see it in the yearning for victory to occupy our city with the Gospel, that He might knock down the walls that still stand, when we pray for an Unreached People Group to get just a simple opportunity to hear about Jesus. I smell the scent of war in the air and feel the thrill of advance when we charge together like an army. On the other hand, I know we’re sometimes on the losing end of this conflict when the vast majority of churches have completely given up in the battle for the Gospel. Completely given up. No plan. No leadership. No charge to go the fields with the Gospel. No desperate praying. Just surviving. When war is not part of our conversation, and when it is not evident in our prayer, we are missing the huge kingdom conflict we are emphatically called to. We are missing the incredible promise of victory that comes from our Commander in Chief. Get in the battle! Learn that life is war. Cry out to God for assistance and wisdom and courage. Then advance into the fray with bold, audacious praying – expecting that God will come to your aid in the battle He’s placed you in. |
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