GO TELL IT!!!

Austine Vimba was an older, quiet, unassuming man. Or so I thought…

I met Austine my first day at IBC (now Heritage Christian University). We had two classes together. I came to discover that Austine was from Zimbabwe and was formerly a Zulu warrior. It didn’t seem possible. This man was one of the most soft-spoken and calm men I had ever met. Or so I thought…

Every semester, students were (and still are) required to go on an evangelistic campaign. Regina and I were scheduled to go to Vidalia, Georgia: home of the sweet onion. Austine was also scheduled to go on this campaign.

Each morning, we had a devotional period and one of the students would share a short sermon to prepare us for the day. Monday morning, our speaker was Austine. As he got up to speak, he was very quiet. I was sleepy that morning and thought it was going to be tough to stay awake with that soft of a voice speaking. Or so I thought…

About 5 minutes into his talk, after softly reading some scriptures, he said “so you can see from these readings that we are to GO TELL IT!!!!” Those three words came out of nowhere! I think some of the popcorn ceiling came loose in the little class room we were in. I have been to rock concerts with lesser volume! Regina literally jumped out of her seat, and she wasn’t the only one. The remainder of his talk was given at a similar volume. We were all kind of in shock.

And the end of his talk about the importance of sharing the message of Jesus, he quieted back down. He said, “Before I was a Christian, I was a warrior. And when we went into battle, we would sound out the battle cry. We would sound it out with passion and conviction. I would encourage us to do the same thing. Because the battle we are in ‘is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand (Eph. 6:12-13).’ So let us arm ourselves, and with passion, sound out our battle cry. Let us GO TELL IT!!!!”

I still remember that like it was yesterday. It was nearly 17 years ago. It was my first campaign. It was the first morning devotional of the week and it gave each and everyone of us the motivation we needed. We baptized 10 people that week! On Friday night when we were preparing to drive back home, Austine, in his quiet voice said “well men, we went and told it. And God brought the increase. Aren’t you glad we serve a God who keeps his promises?” Amen Brother Austine! Amen!

The Most Hypocritical Thing I have Ever Written

I have something on my mind I want to say, but I have to be a hypocrite to say it.

I was listening to John Lauterbach speak on Wednesday night, and he said "sometimes we are so busy talking, we forget to listen." The fact is, we love to talk. We talk at work, we talk on our cell phones, we text, we get on Facebook and talk, we tweet so everybody can know what we had for dinner, and then we sit sown and write a blog so everyone can know our thoughts.

I sometimes get frustrated when teaching a Bible class when people have too many comments. I think, "Why do you want to talk so much? This is my turn to talk!!! Listen to me."

Many of you have probably seen the movie I Am Legend with Will Smith. The movie is about a terrible virus that wipes out 99% of the population and turns the rest into zombies. Will's character, Robert Neville, thinks he is all alone until he meets Anna. Anna tells him about a survivor's colony in Connecticut. When he asks her how she knows about it she says that God told her. She says, "Now that the world is quiet, if you will listen, you can hear God."

We are noisy aren't we? I mean, I'm being noisy right now! I'm using all these words to tell us that we need to take time in our lives to "disconnect" so we can connect to God. If we are doing all the talking, how can we ever hope to hear what God might be trying to tell us?

After you read this, turn off your computer and your cell phone and any other noise making device near you. Open your Bible to the psalms and pick one. Read it. Sit back and close your eyes for 10 minutes and listen. Just try it!

I'm gonna practice what I am preaching and shut up now...

Is that you Holy Spirit?

For the past several weeks, I have been leading a group of about 40 interested Christians in a study on Experiencing the Holy Spirit. Besides the Bible, our primary text has been the book "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it.

Last night, we were talking about "Plugging into the Spirit's Power." At the beginning of class I showed a clip from Chan's DVD study resource for Forgotten God. In it, he told a story of a Pastor who felt like he heard the voice of God tell him to go to the beach. When he got there, he found a woman standing on a pier and felt that God was leading him to approach her. As the story progresses, she was planning on committing suicide, and he was able to stop her and lead her to a relationship with Jesus. Francis tells it better than I do but you get the point.

I was raised in a church where the Holy Spirit was rarely motioned except during the occasional baptism. So still to this day, when I hear stories of the Spirit's leading, I get skeptical. Now, undeniably there have been times in my own life that I have felt the Spirit's gentle (and not so gentle) nudging, but when I hear someone else's story I tend to question it. Could it be I am not as plugged into the spirit as I think I am?

What do we do with stories like that? How do we process it? How do we become more plugged in to the Spirit? How do we discern the Spirit's leading?

I had a mother and her 20ish daughter approach me last night and ask me, "How do I know if it is the Holy Spirit talking to me or just my own thoughts?" What a great question! I wish I knew the answer! But I gave them this to think about: Sometimes we may not know, but if the words that come into our head are within the parameters of God's word and God's will, and we do them, that will always be a good thing!

For example: Let's say you are sitting in a restaurant and your waitress seems troubled. You feel a nudging, almost a voice, telling you too tell her, "hey, I just feel like I needed to let you know that no matter what you are struggling with right now, God loves you." If it was the Spirit telling you to do that, then you obeyed the Spirit. If it was your own conscience, you have still done the right thing. It's never wrong to tell someone God loves them, right?

Sometimes I'm not sure we will ever know it it was the Holy Spirit that led us a certain direction, but if the journey led us closer to God, the it was the right thing to do.

What's my point? Be open to the Spirit's leading. Be obedient to what God would have us to do. And when you feel like God is leading you in a certain direction, if it matches the principles of his word, GO! Obedience will never lead you to the wrong place.

(If you want to see a clip of the DVD I mentioned, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=espqNx6D3Jo)

Pepperdine Highlights and Memories

I took many things away from a wonderful week in Malibu. One thing I took with me was the need to start blogging again, so here goes:

I believe I have attended the lectures 8 or 9 times now, and I can truly say that this was the best one yet. From the keynotes, to the worship, most of the classes I attended, and the many friends I got to see, I left fed and nurtured. It was a much needed week and I came back revived and renewed. It was great to have 28 from Lakeview attend this year.

Somethings I took away from the week that I plan to focus on over the coming weeks and months:

1) The absolute need for exellence in everything we do inside of our buildings. So often we just kinda wing it. Our assemblies serve as an entry point for many unchurched. What do they see? What do the feel? Tim Spivey likened a visit to many of our churches like a trip to Grandmas house. It's comfortable to Grandma; she likes it. But to a visitor, it may smell funny, the carpet doesn't match the curtains, and there are stacks of old newspapers everywhere. Our churches are comfortable to us, they are home. But what if you got an unchurched friend to come in and just give you their impressions? What would you find out?

2)The need for quality UPDATED websites. This may sound silly, but a recent Barna survey says that 40% of newcomers who walk in our door look for us on the web first. If our site in poor quality and out of date, that sends and negitive message about our church.

3)The importance of the Holy Spirit's leading. I could go all day on this. I don't talk about the Holy Spirit in my sermons as much as I should and I guess that is out of fear. But the fear will be pushed to the side and the gloves ate coming off. We cannot be the restored church without restoring the role of the Holy Spirit!

I suppose other things stood out to me as well and I will blog on them as soon as my tired mind gets some rest and I can remember more.

One of the highlights of the week was the classes I got to co-teach. Jim, Dennis and I had a small group, but I think the class was well recieved.

It was a joy to co-teach with my beautiful bride! I am blessed to have such a godly wife and she did a great job!

More later...

Thoughts on "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

Last night my family and I sat down to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” I suppose I have seen this every year since my birth. I love this show! And I love sitting down to watch it with my family like my parents used to sit down to watch it with my brothers and me.

As I was watching it this year, something struck me that I had never noticed before. Of course the show is about Charlie Brown trying to find the true meaning of Christmas. Lucy decides that he needs “involvement” and makes him director of the Christmas play. The next several minutes of the show is chaos. No one wants to listen, everyone is going their own direction, and bickering and arguing ensue. Think about that, the first ¾ of the show is chaos.

Finally, Charlie Brown asks the million dollar question: “CAN’T ANYONE TELL ME WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT?” Linus answers, “Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about… Lights please!”

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

“That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown” Linus concludes.

Now this is what I noticed: Prior to Linus’ speech, there was Chaos! But as he concludes his speech, Charlie Brown simply picks up his little tree and walks away. His friends follow him and decorate the tree singing “Hark the Herald Angels sing.” Prior to the announcement: CHAOS. After the announcement: PEACE!

Maybe this is a bit simplistic, but if you have Chaos in your life the recognition that “God is with us” can bring a sense of peace that no other announcement can bring.

8 Years Later - Still Undivided?

You know where you were. I know where I was. I was laying on Dr. Rick Brown's Chiropractic table in Eustis. Rick was one of my elders at the time. The word came on the radio and from that point on, everything else that day is kind of a blur.

But what I remember in the following days are actually good memories. America was praying again. America was back in church. God was being prayed to and Jesus was being exalted on National TV. Our petty differences were viewed as exactly that: petty. And as a result those differences were placed on the back burner for something that mattered even more: ONE NATION UNDER GOD.

In the months that followed, many artists wrote and recorded songs that paid tribute to those lost on 9/11/01. One of those songs was "Undivided" by Bon Jovi.

That was my brother lost in the rubble
That was my sister lost in the crush
That was our mothers, those were our children
That was our fathers, that was each one of us
A million prayers to God above
A million tears make an ocean of

One for love
One for truth
One for me, one for you

I found spirit, they couldn't ruin it
I found courage in the smoke and dust
I found faith in the songs you silenced
Deep down its ringing out in each of us

One for love
One for truth
One for me, one for you

Where we once were divided, now we stand united
We stand as one... undivided.

How many hands? how many hearts?
How many dreams been torn apart?
Enough, enough... the time has come to rise back as

One for love
One for truth
One for me, one for you

Where we once were divided now we stand united
We stand as one... undivided.

I went back and watched the video today. I even watched the live performance of it from two months after and I heard him say "let's not let this feeling fade away." Sadly, for many, it has. We are once again divided over so many things: War, The President, health care, and the economy just to name a few. More walls of division are being constructed everyday and no one takes credit for building them. It's always the other side. And our differences are no longer petty.

I don't ever want another 9/11. But I long for the feeling of a unified nation that we had afterwords. I think of the words of David when he said in Psalm 133, "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" I pray we will all have that feeling again and that it will not take another 9/11 to make us "One Nation Under God."

If you would like to watch the video for Undivided, the link is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjtt0limQBw

The live version that was recorded a couple of months after 9/11 is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbit6bl8wUA

Two Sets of Joneses

I have been doing a lot of marriage counseling lately. Actually, more than I ever have before. I don't know if it's because we are not equipping young couples as we used to or if there is just so much more to deal with today, but even in the church we see marraiges struggling and failing on a regular basis.

As I was struggling with this thought and what we can do about it as a church, an old song came to mind that sums up what I believe to be the core of the problem.

TWO SETS OF JONESES by Big Ten Revival

This is a song about two sets of Joneses
Rothchild and Evelyn - Ruban and Sue
Just for discussion through random selection
We've chosen two couples who haven't a clue

Rothchild was lucky to marry so wealthy
Evelyn bought him a house on the beach
Ruban and Sue they had nothing but Jesus
And at night they would pray that he'd care for the each

And the Rain came down - it blew the four walls down
And the clouds they rolled away
One set of Joneses was standing that day

Evelyn's daddy was proud of young Rothchild
He worked the late hours to be number one
Just newlyweds and their marriage got rocky
He's flying to Dallas - She's having a Son

Ruban was holding a Gideon's Bible
He screamed "It's a boy" so that everyone heard
And the Guy's at the factory took a collection
Again God provided for bills he'd incurred.

And the Rain came down - it blew the four walls down
And the clouds they rolled away
One set of Joneses was standing that day

What is the point of this story?
What am I trying to say?
Is your life built on the Rock of Christ Jesus
Or a sandy foundation you've managed to lay?

Well, Needless to say Evelyn left her Husband
Sued him for every penny he had
I truly wish that those two would find Jesus
Before things get worse than they already have

And the Rain came down - it blew the four walls down

And the clouds they rolled away
One set of Joneses was standing that day
There's two sets of Joneses - Which ones will you be?

That may sound simplistic, but I just can't seem to get the tune out of my head. The problem with most couples I see is the focus of their marriage. The focus is self. "I really wish those two would find Jesus."

If you have never heard it, here is the video link.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQE5PNRLZ40