Are we radiant with joy in the Holy Spirit? I reiterate the question. Are you—am I—radiant with joy in the Holy Spirit?
As Christians we are to be different—aren’t we? We've been changed by God from being a sinful person to one saved by grace—isn’t that right?
I know that sometimes I don’t feel different. I struggle with hurt feelings, with feelings of insecurity, and sometimes I get angry. I’m not sure where all these feelings come from. I pray repeatedly from the depths of my heart for God to change me. I read over and over again Romans 8:26-27:
“In the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
It’s doubtful that any of us will ever totally shed our insecurities. But by looking to God, praying to Him, and reading His Word, we can have joy—real deep down joy in the Holy Spirit, as Paul talked about in Romans 14:17:
“—for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Then here's the real clincher whether we can have real deep, down, visible joy in the Holy Spirit. It's found In Psalm 34:5 where David wrote the following:
“Those who look to him are radiant with joy.”
I want to look to him when I have hurt feelings, periods of insecurity, and definitely instances where I feel anger ready to burst out. I want instead to look to Him—to be radiant with joy in the Holy Spirit!
Last year, my brother Craig and his wife Linda went on a six-month around-the-world cruise. An elder in my church lost his wife some years ago, and each summer ever since, he has spent a couple of weeks in the majestic Rocky Mountains at a horse ranch engaging in daily trail rides. The pictures taken by both parties gave me a sense of the wonder and adventure that each of them experienced.
I grew up in Holmes County, and I am old enough to remember the travelogues that came to our high school from time to time. Going with Dad I loved listening to the narration and watching the traveling adventures shared by the presenter in the form of picture slides or videos of mountains, people, and wild animals in faraway lands. Many Amish and Mennonite people, and myself lived the presenter’s adventure vicariously through their travelogue.
I know that some people with conservative values have varying opinions about PBS, the Public Broadcasting System, because of their sometimes liberal views. But there are two shows that I watch almost every time they come on. One is “Rick Steves’ Europe”, and the other is “Alone in the Wilderness”.
I love "Rick Steves’ Europe" adventures with the vast mountain ranges where Mr. Steves shows videos of himself engaging people of different cultures and wonderful mountain ranges. I don’t like Mr. Steves frequent references to “climate change”, but I love the video adventures he shares. I joke with Dee that I think I like them because they are where “my people”, the Anabaptists, came from.
Also, I’m always fascinated by Richard Proenneke’s “Alone In The Wilderness” movie of his compilation of video clips he shot of himself, living and surviving a primitive life over thirty years from 1968 to 1999 alone in Alaska’s harsh and sometimes unforgiving climate. He used no power tools, but only primitive hand tools to build his cabin and many other features around his cabin. I especially remember him saying with his cabin fire crackling, “It’s a toasty 43 degrees” as the outside temperatures sometimes dropped to 40 below zero.
Why do I like the pictures and videos of all the people I have mentioned in this post? It’s because I realize at the age of 70 years old that I will likely never experience the vast majority of these adventures myself. My guess is that most of the Amish people at the travelogues have never gone to faraway lands. So, we resort to living vicariously through others who share their experiences.
Most of us encounter circumstances and even peril beyond our control. My brother Merv was shot and blinded by a gunman in 2001. My wife has some physical problems, and I am realizing that at my age I will likely never travel to experience physical and visual adventure. Even Richard Proenneke, at the age of 83, had to give up his Alaska adventure. He and his family members came to the realization that he would be in physical danger if he continued.
That being said, the other night Dee and I shared what we think is missing in many people living the Christian life, including ourselves. It’s the sense of adventure—the sense that all of us are on a great spiritual journey almost too wonderful to comprehend.
Smokey and Juanita, two 90-year-olds in our church can experience that adventure—and it goes all the way down to babies and toddlers in the church who are at the beginning of their adventurous lifetime journey.
Following are two Bible passages that gives us just a partial view of this adventure of a lifetime here on earth that we as Christians are on. Here they are:
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3.
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” Ephesians 1:18-19.
Then, every adventure has a climax—which is the reason for the adventure of a lifetime in the first place. You can find the reason in Philippians 3:13-14:
“But one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”
The reason for our adventure of a lifetime, whatever twists and turns it may take—is to be in the end with Jesus in heaven forever and ever!
In 1988 I paid about $90 for a set of 48 Bible on Cassette tapes as you see in the video. I had been trying to read the Bible every year—and my dream for several years was to listen also to it as I read. I used some inheritance money after Mom died, or I likely wouldn’t have paid that much, as I was still attending North Central College at the time. The prospect of listening to God’s Word as I read it was very exciting to me. I wanted to learn as much as I could about God’s real Living Word—Jesus!
John 1:1 states the following: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the true Word of God—and the Bible in its entirety tells the whole story.
I had just taken some keyboarding classes a year earlier at West Holmes High School on an electronic typewriter before I enrolled at North Central, so needless to say computers were very new to me. My boss in 1990 at my first job after college at Appleseed Mental Health admonished me that the future of mental health documentation was with computers—and that I needed to get a computer of my own to bring me up to speed. It was still the age of DOS if some of you old-time computer geeks know what that means.
Computers can present many problems if not used for the glory of God. But for the past nine or ten years I have been using Bible Gateway, a wonderful computer Bible program for both Bible reading AND Bible listening. Oh, how things have changed since the days when I listened to the Bible on Cassette. The bad thing about cassette tapes is that there is a lot of fast-forwarding and rewinding to reach a designated spot. And then there are forty-eight separate cassette tapes to navigate. With Bible Gateway I can access a given passage with just a few clicks.
Bible Gateway offers various Bible reading plans, and I prefer the Old Testament/New Testament one-year reading plan. Sometimes I even listen to the Bible when I lay in bed before falling asleep. It still amazes me that I can learn about the most wonderful person that ever lived—the Living Word of God—Jesus—by using a computer!
I’m moving in another direction since I finished the posts on the book “Floods Upon Dry Ground”. My post today is entitled “Do You Have An Escape Plan?” In this video, at the beginning, you see the picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone who starred together in the popular “Escape Plan” action movie. The escape plan in their movie, however, is microscopic to the nth degree compared to the escape plan talked about in this video.
Listen to the following sound bites from a sermon by Dr. J. Vernon McGee, an old radio preacher who died in 1988. The sermon was entitled “The Rapture Comes Next.”You can watch his entire sermon on YouTube. In the above YouTube video are the sound bites:
So what do you think? Dr. McGee discussed the fact that some Christians think that the church will go through The Great Tribulation. His study of the Bible, however, contradicts that notion. He believed that the Bible gives incontrovertible evidence that before The Great Tribulation will come The Rapture of the Church, or an escape mechanism, or plan if you will.
He said that Jesus will give a loud shout, and saved people, both living and dead, will be taken up in the air to meet Him. What a wonderful prospect!
Nine months and fourteen chapters later, I’m finally finishing up my series of videos related to the “Floods Upon Dry Ground” book written by Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones.
Talk about taking my time. Pastor Duncan gave me the book last July when he was filling in as a pastor at the Ashland Church of God, and he permitted me to make videos about it—and I’m finally done.
I think that Chapter 14, the final chapter of the book, has perhaps the most important key to opening the door to bring about floods upon dry ground to a thirsty, dying world. The chapter title is “Operating in the Spirit”. The Bible verse found in Zechariah 4:6 says it all:
“ ‘Not by might nor by power, but My Spirit’, says the Lord of hosts.”
Only by operating in God’s Holy Spirit can we expect changes in the hearts of men leading to revival—floods upon dry ground, if you will. It won’t come about by what Duncan and Jones term “manufactured religion that promotes the gifts of men over the gifts of God.”
While the authors declared that the church in the Book of Acts was not perfect, today’s church atmosphere is a far cry from what happened in Acts. They wrote the following:
“But, with all the challenges to establish and maintain biblical balance, the church was a praying and powerful church, because believers knew their survival as a Christian community and their progress in fulfilling the Great Commission rested entirely on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and their complete dependence on Him.”
Then right after that, they offered the only hope the church has for that to occur. They wrote:
“In spite of the church’s misplaced priorities and shortcomings in today's culture, we can again become a powerful and evangelistic force in our communities and institutions. But that will only happen if we again operate within the realm of the Holy Spirit. We cannot organize and program revival. Nor can we determine in what manner the Lord chooses to move. For too long, some churches have been afraid of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in prayer and worship gatherings. Other churches have become fanatical, insisting on certain unbiblical worship practices they consider necessary to experience revival or have church.”
So Duncan and Jones wrote that there is a tension between inaction (doing nothing) and over-action (becoming fanatical). They said to avoid this there needs to be four rituals:
Ritual #1 is “The Ritual of Prayer”: Duncan and Jones wrote:
“True prayer is the Holy Spirit filling our hearts with heavenward longings, and aspirations, changing our prayer from cold form to heartfelt realities”.
One very important verse about the ritual of prayer they cited is Ephesians 6:18 which says: “Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints."
Ritual #2 is “The Ritual of Worship”: Duncan and Jones wrote:
“Worship may be offered through quiet meditation or through exuberant expression.”
“But worship can easily become more self-centered than God-centered, more about receiving a blessing than about giving God a blessing.”
Duncan emphasized that liturgical and Pentecostal worshipping can both be very meaningful as ways of reaching out to God.
Finally, they wrote about the ritual of worship, "The legitimacy of worship is always determined by the influence of the Holy Spirit on the worshipper and the worshippers' interaction with the spirit through his own spirit. This is true spiritual worship—not offered to impress people, but instead to bless and please God.”
Ritual #3 is “The Ritual of Service”: Duncan and Jones wrote:
“Christian service often becomes tedious because many engage in it as a vocation or obligation.” If that happens they wrote that “the work itself becomes the object of our efforts and not the people”—and “does not spring from genuine passion but from legalism.”
They cited Jesus, who condemned the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23, who did works to be seen by men.
“Conversely, the Scriptures call on us to labor in the spirit of true Christian service”—"to labor with a passion to please God and to minister to the saved and the unsaved in whatever way we can, without the expectation or desire to receive recognition for what we do.”
“The refreshing, reviving work of the Holy Spirit will enable the church to break away from the routine of doing good works to once more passionately serve God and man, with the ultimate goal of bringing all glory to God.”
Ritual # 4 is “The Ritual of Leadership” Duncan and Jones wrote:
The service of leadership may “involve spiritually leading a spouse, children, extended family, friends, and neighbors into following and serving Christ.”
They said leadership training is a “noble” and “vital” pursuit, BUT it “often sidesteps the main issue—the issue of God’s leadership.” “Leadership from a Biblical perspective often becomes secondary”, and the church frequently relies too much “on human intellect, human agency, and human resourcefulness”, rather than relying on the power of the Holy Spirit. To not rely on the Holy Spirit for leadership is to “labor in vain.”
Also, to “experience Holy Spirit-sent revival, leaders will shake off a form of godliness, ritual performances, and the shackles of self-centeredness, and operate not by personal might and power, but by the power of God’s Spirit.”
Finally, Duncan and Jones wrote the following to give us hope:
“Yet, there is hope! But we must cry out to God with all our hearts that he will once again do as God said in Isaiah 44:3-5: “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass as willows by the water courses.”
Well, this is the end of the book, “Floods Upon Dry Ground.” I pray that you found these posts meaningful. I know they won’t ever go viral, but that’s OK. I started my video posts first, for me to get out of my comfort zone. Secondly, to focus on the zone God has for me. And thirdly, to perhaps help a few people that will watch the videos and take them to heart.
I also appreciate very much Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones for writing this very appropriate book in this very dire time. Lastly, I treasure immensely the friendship my wife and I have with Pastor Bobby and his wife Sandra.
(Note: I started this post with a portion of a video of a 4 x 100-meter relay race. You’ll see why later in the post.)
We're in the final section of the book "Floods upon Dry Ground", written by Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones. The section is entitled, "Final Challenge", and Chapter 13 is entitled. “Transmitting the Faith”. In my opinion, the chapter could also have been aptly named one of the following two titles:
“Revival or Irrelevance”.
"Passing the Baton of True Faith to the Next Generation.”
Pastor Jones is the author of this chapter. He opened with the following fairly long, but I think very important statement:
“If we are to pass the treasure of truth to the next generation, there must be a reviving of spiritual life today, for there is no acceptable alternative. Mass meetings will not suffice; more highly organized programs can only do so much. Applying all the updated leadership principles, although helpful, is not enough; and as beneficial as higher formal religious education is, it cannot address the deep spiritual needs of the church. Only the work of the Holy Spirit will accomplish what the church so desperately needs today, and that is a renewed awareness of God, an awakening to the need for the confession of sin, the need for improved intimacy with Christ, and the need to worship and serve with fervency of spirit. This is revival, and unless the church experiences it, much will be lost. It is either revival or irrelevance.”
He then wrote emphatically, “The ground is dry and desperately thirsty for refreshing rain.” He said there is a dire need for the transmission of the true faith of the Bible to the next generation and not a watered-down version. Jones went on to give the example of a relay race in which his granddaughter ran. The three major keys to any successful relay race team are the following:
Having four fast runners.
Having three smooth passages of the baton.
The anchor leg runner has to have the baton in hand when crossing the finish line.
Jones said that his granddaughter was the starting runner, and her team was well in the lead throughout the race. The anchor leg runner, however, was so distracted by the runners behind her that she kept looking back. She eventually stumbled and dropped the baton before crossing the finish line. Remember that it's the baton that has to cross the finish line with the anchor leg runner holding it. I included in this post a short video by Anne Graham Lotz about the importance of passing the baton of faith to the next generation, and not bobbling or dropping it before we cross the finish line.
Finally, we as Christians need to do as Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14:
“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead. I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”
The sound you just heard is a shofar, It’s a ram’s horn, or a trumpet, that Jewish people blow each Jewish New Year and on the Sabbath Day. We are in the final section of the book “Floods Upon Dry Ground”, written by Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones. The last three chapters are under the heading "Final Challenge" In essence, it describes how to make a last-ditch effort to bring about the floods upon dry ground to a dying world before it’s too late. In Chapter 12, “Blowing the Trumpet in Zion”, Bobby Duncan talked about a sermon he preached in the ’80s entitled “Two Zions”. He was comparing the real Zion, which was the Israel of the Old Testament—with America, a newer Zion, which has a rich Christian faith history. Duncan said that he struggled with writing and preaching the sermon about the judgment that Israel faced, and the judgment that America is about to face without God’s divine intervention. The authors again used the Old Testament book of Joel, Chapter 2:1. Here it is:
“Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the Day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand.”
I’m sure that many of you have heard the song, “Blow the Trumpet in Zion”. Following is a snippet:
Blow the Trumpet in Zion, Zion. Sound the alarm on My holy mountain, Blow the Trumpet in Zion, Zion, Sound the alarm.
The song is very familiar and upbeat. It depicts men going into battle in which they use the horn or horns to unsettle the enemy enough to lead Israel to victory. This, however, doesn't exactly depict what Joel was talking about in Joel 2. Joel's trumpet blowing was a warning for the Israelites, and America—that the time is short before the Lord intervenes, perhaps In a way that we don’t want. We need to, therefore, sound the alarm and cry out to God, in repentance of our sins—before it’s too late. Pastor Duncan wrote that after one sermon on Joel 2:1, a young woman gave him the book entitled “Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth”, written by David Wilkerson. He finally got around to reading the book, and he said he is not one prone to many tears. But after reading the book he couldn’t hold his tears back. He said he realized after reading Wilkerson’s book, “I had not yet plunged the depths of what God was saying to His people.” Pastor Duncan said that he and his wife Sandra were both moved to increase their prayer life and devotional time with their two sons. And that revival in his church “became more of a priority.”
At the end of Chapter 12, he wrote the following:
“Let us fervently do as the prophet Joel declared: “Blow the trumpet . . . sound an alarm . . .[and] tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming.”
Duncan continued:
“How true these words are! Jesus is coming, and surely soon. The signs of His return are being fulfilled at a most rapid pace. As the people of God, we must prepare, we must pray once again for God to “pour floods on the dry ground”, we must humble ourselves under His mighty hand, and we must put the trumpet to our mouth and sound the alarm that time is short.”
Lastly, Duncan punctuated with capital letters the extreme urgency of blowing the trumpet in Zion!
The last time we discussed Pastors Bobby Duncan’s and James Jones's book “Floods Upon Dry Ground, Chapter 10, titled “Promise of Recovery”. The authors detailed that there is a tried and true formula, a “prescription for a cure” if you will, to begin the process of restoration, revival, and awakening. The formula they wrote, is based on 2 Chronicles 7:14.
“If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
While I am not a formula guy, when the formula comes directly from the Bible you can “bank” it, a term the TV game show contestants use repeatedly on “The Weakest Link” to bank the winnings that make the money banked a done deal that can’t be undone. In this post, “Chapter 11: Provision of Power”, authors Duncan and Jones wrote that now that the prescription of the proper medication has been procured, and the “promise of recovery” has been enacted:
“What remains is for the church once again to be freshly empowered to engage in Kingdom service in a Biblical manner. The power to be God’s witnesses is not human in nature; it is none other than the Holy Spirit,”
Joel explained the wonderful experience of Holy Spirit power in Joel 2:28—and Peter reiterated Joel’s same prophecy on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:16:
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions.”
Duncan and Jones wrote the following about how the Holy Spirit’s great power can bring about revival in ourselves and others:
“The power to live godly in this present world, to live an overcoming life, and to influence a people for the sake of Christ’s kingdom will only come through a fresh anointing, or infusion of the Holy Spirit.”
We need to, according to Duncan and Jones, be “shaken and stirred”, to be "awakened to Biblical reality”, and "awakened to the truth of Christ’s soon return.” At the end of the chapter Duncan and Jones left us with solid hope for true revival. They wrote:
“Surely revival will come, and once again, God will provide Holy Spirit power to His church, His people, if we sincerely turn to Him without strings attached—passionately, wholeheartedly, and completely surrendering to the Savior.”
Last time we discussed Pastors Bobby Duncan’s and James Jones's book “Floods Upon Dry Ground, Chapter 9, titled “Prescription for a Cure”. The authors detailed that pain in a person usually causes a person to go to a doctor to seek a cure—and that is exactly what’s needed in today’s sinful world to bring about floods upon dry ground. People need to fervently seek, and encourage others to fervently seek the Great Physician (God) to find the only cure for sin (Jesus).
Duncan and Jones in Chapter 10, “Promise of Recovery”, wrote about the hope and the spirit-lifting effect we have when we exit a doctor's office with a medication prescription and directions to help heal our physical pain. In the same way, they wrote, “When the people of God are reminded He (God) answers their sincere and fervent prayers, they are immediately encouraged—”
They wrote that the problem preventing floods on dry ground today is that we have stopped making Christ “the centerpiece” of our Christian religion, and we substituted man’s philosophy for Biblical truth. To get back on track, we need to ask ourselves the following two questions:
“How can the church in America recover from its formalism (superficial worship and lifeless religious observances?”)
“How can the church in America recuperate from its inclusiveness (different avenues to reach God other than through Jesus Christ?”)
We need to consider the following two things before spiritual healing can occur:
“Restoration is God’s work. When disaster befalls us, when creature comforts are gone, our only hope is in Him. We do not have the power to recover our spiritual health any more than we can heal a terminal illness.”
“Truly walking in the Spirit is a lifestyle that has long since slipped away from America’s “Christian” movement, and consequently from the nation itself.” And “true spiritual revival, call it what you will—renewal, restoration, recovery, or awakening—can only come through the sovereign movement of the Holy Spirit. That is God’s part. We have no power to save ourselves, or to restore spiritual life once it has ebbed away. Our part is to turn to God with all of our hearts.”
So what IS our part for God to enact his promise of recovery, and bring floods upon our dry ground? According to Duncan and Jones 2 Chronicles 7:14 has the answer:
“If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
The alarm lights are flashing—the warning bells are sounding. They pierce our ears. We want them to stop—but there is no stopping them.
God warned us of these days. We were sent on a mission and can’t stop until the mission is completed. The mission isn’t about us—it’s about Him and what he wants to do in our lives to bring about His purpose. The task I call “MISSION CRITICAL!”
Do you see them on the streets—in our workplaces—in stores—even in our own homes? Lost souls are going about life without anyone telling them the truth.
What is that critical truth that God wants desperately for us to tell them—to tell lost souls? It’s there for everyone to see—but no one will see it unless we tell them!
“Mission Critical!” is found in John 14:6. It’s to tell everyone we meet what Jesus said about Himself:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”
In other words, everyone is going to one of two places when they die.
Hell to be with Satan. OR
Heaven to be with God and His Son Jesus.
In these last days each of us who know Christ are—or should be—engaged in MISSION CRITICAL!
I’m very behind in posts to share the important information written by Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones on how to bring about “Floods Upon Dry Ground”. I got a new video editing program that I’m excited about. So I'm hoping that will motivate me to post more steadily.
In Chapter 8 Duncan and Jones wrote that no one likes corrective judgment, but it is sometimes the very thing that turns people back toward God.
Chapter 9 is titled “Prescription for a Cure” which details that pain in a person usually causes the person to go to a doctor to seek a cure—and that is exactly what’s needed in today’s sinful world. People need to seek The Great Physician (God) to find the only cure for sin (Jesus).
They told the story of the people of Israel in Joel 1 and 2, and the suffering they endured by a plague of locusts sent by God as punishment for their many sins. But that wasn’t the end of the story. Joel stated in chapter 2, verse 13:
“Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God.
For he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and he relents from sending disaster.”
So just as the Israelites repented and sought God for a remedy to cure the plague of locusts, Duncan and Jones wrote:
“Right now the church needs spiritual healing—the sovereign movement of the Holy Spirit that will reestablish His people as a force to be reckoned with.”
If we as Christians really want revival, if we want Floods Upon Dry Ground, Duncan and Jones wrote:
“If we truly long for personal and corporate revival, we will forgo our own agendas and accept his prescription for healing, with the assurance that the balm He offers is more than enough for all the ills we suffer.”
Years go by with prayers seemingly unanswered. There seems to be no chance of revival in our day. Our loved ones remained unsaved, despite our desire, and sometimes promises that they will give their hearts to Jesus.
Many factors may play a role in whether there is a revival or not. God assuredly is what I call "The Orchestra Conductor”, if you will. We as Christians only play our small bit part, leading to the beautiful music that will be the result of His direction. And, He will be the one to determine when the crescendo happens—meaning He will be the one to determine who, when, where, and how revival occurs.
Jesus predicted in Matthew 24 that suffering and problems would occur in the end times—that men’s hearts would “grow cold” toward Him. Many think we are now in the end times.
So we, now more than ever, desperately need the beautiful music, led by The Orchestra Conductor, to crescendo and warm the hearts of our loved ones, friends, and many others, before it’s too late.
I haven’t posted anything in just over one month. We have a lot of things going on lately—house repairs, health issues, etc. My basketball team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, has even stopped winning as much after the All-Star break. What else might go wrong? My question is—does my contentment and happiness depend on things going right—upon my favorite team winning? Or does my contentment and happiness depend on something much, much deeper? Last time about a month ago in my post based on “Floods Upon Dry Ground, Chapter 7: Fiddling While Rome Burns”, Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones wrote about the well-known metaphor of what happened in 64 A.D. when during Emperor Nero’s reign, literally 70% of Rome burned to the ground. They compared it to today’s church, many of whom are asleep at the wheel—while family, friends, and others perish in a burning hell. Now Duncan and Jones pose some questions about the fact that sometimes difficulties in life, such as those my family is facing now, literally bring us to our knees in depending more on God than anything else for our contentment and happiness. The title of Chapter 8 in “Floods On Dry Ground” is “Pain of Corrective Judgement”. I don’t know about you, but I cringe a little to think that we as a family, as a community, as a state, as a country, and even as a world might experience more hardship than we already are experiencing. I sometimes think of people who have suffered the devastation of a storm ripping apart their homes, perhaps flooding them away, or even being in the center of a war with military tanks going down their streets. And, here I am, almost panicking when we have an electric outage, a small trickle of water in our basement, or a home appliance or car part failure. Duncan and Jones wrote that physical afflictions can cause us to call the doctor to diagnose our condition, and offer us medicine to bring about healing. We appreciate it so much when we feel well again. They compared it to the plague of locusts that God brought on the Israelite people in Joel 2. The Israelites were called by God to weep and repent of their sinfulness and failure to seek God—to earnestly call on Him to provide healing. They obeyed His command. He then heard their cries and He provided a spiritual awakening and restored blessings in the land. Duncan and Jones said that America is in “deep trouble”: They wrote, “Our government increasingly controls more of our private lives, as liberal policies fan the flames of class warfare, and godless socialism swallows up more of our institutions.” Our growing divide is a consequence of a church that has been asleep and ineffective. After 911 America had a concerted, but too brief attempt to seek the true God. Duncan and Jones wrote, “Quite possibly, God, in His mercy, will send a disturbance upon this land that will cause 911 to pale in comparison to it.”
They wrote that “the pain of God’s chastisement” might be “the very thing that prompts His people to seek Him for help and healing” and to bring about His promise of restoration, blessings, and spiritual awakening—just like in the time of Joel.
Last time in "Floods Upon Dry Ground, Chapter 6, Why No Revival", Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones cited reasons why there is no revival in today’s world, and they gave three actions Christians must do for God to work. In today's post “Floods Upon Dry Ground, Chapter 7: Fiddling While Rome Burns”, the authors used the well-known metaphor of what happened in 64 A.D. when during Emperor Nero’s reign, literally 70% of Rome burned to the ground. Duncan and Jones clarified that there were actually no violins back then, but some creative soul initiated the term anyway to decry Nero’s inaction to save Rome. They compared it to today’s world that is falling apart, and the church for the large part being concerned with what the authors deemed, “petty, unimportant matters.” The authors asked the question, “Where Are the Shepherds?” I recognized that question because back in 2019 I asked Bobby Duncan that same question. I was concerned that before I had him as a pastor I had 40-plus years of ineffective shepherds. Ones who seemed to have agendas other than to find and save lost sheep from peril. Pastor Duncan confirmed that he included my question in the book. Duncan and Jones quoted Ezekiel 34:1-6. I’ll read only verses 4 through 6:
“The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.”
The authors wrote about modern-day shepherds—that “position, acceptance, and money often trump the high calling of God in Jesus Christ and the sacrifices He calls on His ministers to make.” Duncan and Jones then talked about “The True Presence of God”. Along with the “self-serving nature of its shepherds.” They wrote, “forgiveness, cleansing, godly living, and sacrificial service have been pushed to the background in favor of seeker-sensitivity, entertainment, feel-good music, and a man-orchestrated worship experience”. They qualified their expressed thoughts by saying, “God’s presence doesn’t necessarily leave because the lights are turned down and a theatre atmosphere is created”—BUT—does it "offer the best environment for corporate worship?” James Jones lamented the following found on page 85 of the book:
“For me, growing up in a full-gospel church and seeing true saints of God pray and worship with uplifted hands and, at times, tears coursing down their cheeks, had a powerful impact on me, and still does. Many times worshippers, such as I, have looked over to see a blessed saint of God with a bony, arthritic hand stretched toward God and eyes filled with tears expressing love to the Savior in complete surrender. And to see that deeply spiritual action has always brought its own blessings and encouragement. Yet, in today’s theater-like worship environment in many churches, it’s difficult to observe that. The observations and personal interaction seem to be missing.”
Duncan and Jones said there's a great need for the “true presence of God to fill our hearts and our worship centers” when we come together. They encouraged pastors to “sincerely seek God for the direction that will best serve that particular body of believers.” The authors strongly encouraged that the real truth of the Gospel be “reaffirmed”, and that “a deeply divided nation needs truth more than ever.” They shared the sobering fact, however, that if the church shares the real truth, it will be met with strong opposition. But not doing so will lead the church to continue—“fiddling while Rome burns.”
Last
time in "Floods Upon Dry Ground", Chapter
5, Praying For A Nation", Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones
reminded us that the church needs to be revived before America can be revived.
Only then will “God Bless America” as the song states.
In today's post “Floods Upon Dry Ground, Chapter 6:
Why No Revival?” the authors cited reasons why there is no revival in
today’s world. They gave examples of the past, such as Jesus' words to John the
Revelator about the Church of Laodicea—and also Leonard Ravenhill’s 60-year-old
book, “Why Revival Tarries".
Jesus said about the Church of Laodicea that they thought
they were "rich and in need of nothing". He
corrected them, however, and said they were “neither cold nor hot”—that
they were instead, “lukewarm”. He said about their
lukewarmness—that they were “wretched, miserable, poor, and blind”.
Jesus was very descriptive about what would happen if they didn’t change their
ways. He said He would “vomit” them from his mouth.
Ravenhill, in the 1959 book, “Why Revival Tarries”,
told his opinion of the reasons for no revival back then. I was five years old
at that time. Authors Duncan and Jones hold that the reasons are still true
today.
Ravenhill said that evangelism was at that time “highly
commercialized”, and therefore “cheapened”. Also, the church
was “careless” and “fearful” to share the
truth of the Gospel. They lacked, way back in 1959, “an urgency to
pray”, and also they were “stealing the glory that belongs to God”.
Authors Duncan and Jones concurred with Ravenhill that some
of those points are true today. They also said revival can’t come under the
following conditions:
If we worry about
what people think about us if we share the truth of the gospel. We are
sometimes afraid people will think we are “intolerant” if
we point to Jesus as being the only way to reach God.
If Jesus
isn’t “returned to the absolute center of the body of believers we
call the church.” Failure to do so will result in no
revival.
If we don’t become
broken before God and repent for our sinful condition of “self-centeredness”.
If we don’t “hunger
and thirst for the righteousness of Christ".
They gave the example of a prospector in the desert who forsook his pack
of precious gold that was too heavy to carry in the desert heat. All he cared
about was getting some “cool, refreshing water”. Duncan and Jones
said if we want revival we need to be like that prospector—to be so desperate
that we forsake everything else to thirst after righteousness.
Duncan and Jones wrote that most of us as Christians would
welcome a revival. But they wrote, “the voracious hunger to experience
it is almost non-existent.” They said we need to do the following for
revival to come:
"Thirst so
much for the righteousness of God that we feel we simply cannot survive
without it.”
“Are driven into
His (God’s) loving arms through intense prayer and supplications, and
through casting aside all obstacles that stand in our way.”
“Genuinely hunger
and thirst for His presence and obey His Word.”
They compared today’s church to “untempered mortar”, or
stucco that is so prevalent in making buildings look nice. However, stucco
doesn’t increase the structural integrity of the building. They compared our
church practices and programs, including what they titled “misguided
worship”, to stucco. All these practices and programs might look and feel
nice, but they don’t lead people to repent, to sincerely seek God alone above
all other things, and to make Him once again “the epicenter of all we
are and do.”
Now, I want to qualify where I'm at in hungering and
thirsting for the righteousness of Christ--and revival. I confess that I'm
sorely lacking. I turned 70 years old this week, and in my five years of
retirement, I have become distracted by many things, as I'm sure most of you
do.
Charles Spurgeon, at the end of his book "The
Soul Winner", quoted the following verse in Luke 15:10: “There
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” He
reiterated over and over again that Jesus has "boundless joy" over
sinners who repent and turn to Him, Jesus, for eternal life!
Spurgeon concluded the book with the following statement:
“With this in mind, go and seek to bring your
children, your neighbors, your friends, and your kinfolk to the Savior’s feet,
because nothing will give Him more pleasure than to see them turn to Him and
live. By your love to Jesus, I implore you, become fishers of men.”
Last time Chapter 4, entitled "Crumbling Foundations", reminded us that amid crumbling foundations around us—“God remains in complete control over His creation.” So now, in Chapter 5, "Praying For A Nation"Duncan and Jones wrote that we are right in praying, “God bless America”. But, perhaps “God is saying to His church, ‘I have placed YOU there to bless America’ ” They wrote, “The most pressing prayer need in the church is to pray for revival in its ranks, because the way God blesses a nation is through His people.” They indicated liberalism, socialism, and communism are not “the main problem with America.” Even “radical professors” in our colleges are also not the main problem. “It is rather a Christian movement that has lost its Biblical integrity.” They cited researcher George Barna, who in a poll reported “41% of Evangelicals and 77% of Catholics do not believe someone has to have a personal relationship with Jesus to go to heaven.” They said that many Evangelical leaders now see Jesus as “an optional way to God but not the only way. By this, we know “a shaking is near.” They wrote, “America needs a bible-believing church and bible-practicing church to show it the way.” The authors likened today's churches to what Isaiah said to the Israelites in Isaiah 1:13-14. “The lifeless rituals, vain ceremonies, and empty worship experiences are a stench in His nostrils.” They said church rituals become “hollow expressions of piety” without “(1) A deep devotion to the Creator and (2) a sincere pursuit of true holiness.” Duncan and Jones described many churches today as being “institutional”, “consumer-driven”, and “narcissistic”. They said to depend on these churches, “It is like a drowning person throwing a life rope to another drowning person. Ultimately, both will be lost.” They said our hope doesn’t rest in “Republicans, Democrats, independents, socialists, capitalists”, or even “religious leaders, however spiritual they might be”, and that “sustained favorability in society is not what leads to a genuine spiritual awakening.” As English Baptist minister Edward Mote wrote in 1834, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” The authors wrote that our hope rests only in Jesus Christ. What might disappoint many Christians in America is that “the church is aroused when persecution comes”. Many Christians, however, dispute that fact. Bobby Duncan told the story of some ministers slipping into a Middle Eastern country to support former Taliban and al-Qaeda members in their switch to the Christian faith. These men remained steadfast in their faith in Jesus, even though most now face death sentences in a Muslim country. Bobby Duncan wrote, “Increased persecution, along with spiritual drought and coldness, are elements that often prompt people to turn to God in fervent prayer and mourning over personal and national sins.” The bottom line is that the natural desire of the church is for our nation to be blessed. But, may we understand that more important is the statement, “God, revive Your church!”
Today I’m asking some simple questions about what led to the slippery slope of marijuana being recently legalized in Ohio. And did Christians unwittingly take part in the slippery slope? When I first became a Christian I was pretty vocal in my assertions about things. For example, in the late 1970s, I went to a local Berlin, Ohio gas station owned and run by an outspoken Christian man. I asked him, “Why do you as an outspoken Christian man sell cigarettes at your gas station? His response was, “Because if I don’t sell them, someone else will.” In recent years the same thing happened. I became friends with a devout Christian man who has an uncanny knowledge of the Bible. He’s been retired for many years but is very financially secure. I learned that in his younger years, he owned and ran a convenience store. He also admitted that as a Christian he sold cigarettes in his store. His response was very much the same as the gas station owner many years prior. “Well Arlen, if I didn’t sell them, someone else would.” In my early Christian years, several fellow Berlin area Mennonite church members within a year called me. Being a lonely single man, I thought that perhaps they wanted to be my friend. The conversation went something like this:
“Arlen, how are you doing?”
I said, “I’m doing well.”
“They said, “That’s good. I want to let you know that I recently came upon a great business opportunity, and I thought you might be interested in getting in on the ground floor.”
I asked, “What’s the opportunity?”
The standard vague reply followed, “Well, I don’t want to get into the details right now, but could I meet with you to discuss it further?”
I didn’t understand their hesitation to spill the beans about the details of a “great business opportunity”.
I said, “I need to know upfront what the opportunity is before I commit to a meeting.”
They became a bit defensive and started dropping names of other involved church members. One even went so far as to implicate the pastor and his wife. He said that they were the main leaders in the opportunity.
I asked again, “What is the opportunity?”
They finally revealed that it was “Amway”.
This was my first encounter with the “Amway Way”. I researched it further and found out that it was a fairly new “multi-level marketing” venture that promised financial security and wealth springing up across America. Churches became a prime target for Amway's success because of the close interconnectedness of the members. Amway held major conferences in which they proclaimed their distinct Christian beliefs that led to their success, and they gave great motivational speeches to the attendees to encourage them they could achieve the same success. The problem was that to achieve this success, people had to engage other people to sell under them to get a cut of their sales. Think of a big family and the grandfather getting a cut of every sale of their son, grandson, great-grandson, and so on. The grandfather would eventually get rich on the backs of his descendants. The pastor and his wife were in essence the “grandparents” of our little Berlin area Amway opportunity. And I’m sure they also had “grandparents”. Here’s the problem. I alluded to the fact that I was a lonely single man who wanted friends. From then on in that Mennonite church, I never knew if anyone wanted to get close to me because they liked me—or if they wanted me to work under them in Amway. It was very confusing. You might ask me, “Arlen, what in the world does Amway and selling cigarettes have to do with the legalization of marijuana?” I’m going around the barn to set up how I think Christians were, and are sucked into the web of deceit leading to the legalization of marijuana. Below are a few circumstances that I have personally encountered, but I think there are many more:
Multi-Level Marketing Schemes of Various Types, including Amway: Many Christians were and are involved in multi-level marketing schemes requiring recruitment of people under them to make money, with most recruits making very little money. On the other hand, the higher-ups, “grandparents” if you will, make great amounts of money.
Selling of Homeopathic Waters of Various Types: I saw online that there are over 60 water multi-level marketing schemes in America in the recent past that tout healing. I had a Christian man several years ago start the same “Amway-type” approach with me after a Christian conference. He only gave vague references to a type of water that had healing powers. I think his ultimate goal was to get me to buy in under him. The problem was that this man had significant health problems himself that one would have thought the water would have healed him by now.
Selling of Homeopathic Essential Oils: Several years ago my wife with some fairly impactful health issues got advice from various people to take specific essential oils. If she did so, she would see vast improvements. Of course, they would be willing to sell them to her. Later, I talked to one man who sheepishly said that he invested a couple thousand dollars in essential oils, and sold only a few. Now they sit at his house unsold, and he and his family only use them from time to time. The person who sold the essential oils and the promise of financial security to this man made out handsomely.
Selling of Homeopathic CBD Oils: Yesterday I went to a local bulk food store run by a Christian family to ask about CBD oils that are being sold in many stores, including stores run by Christian people. It’s been on my mind for a couple of months, and I wanted to see what they had to say. I had a couple of bad marijuana trips (I think one was laced) before I was a Christian. Now I’m very leery of the “homeopathic” label garnered by CBD oils that are derived from marijuana. The co-owner of the store assured me that there wasn’t any THC in the oils that cause the high feeling of marijuana usage. She even said that dogs and their aching joints can benefit from CBD dog chews and drops of oil. I found out that a two-ounce bottle of CBD oil costs up to $60. Think of a small two-ounce bottle of vanilla extract in your cupboard, and consider that people are paying up to $60 for the same amount of CBD oil. Somebody is making big money here. She said proudly that her son researched the products and that they are of the highest quality. She said they get the oils from “Yoder Naturals” in South Carolina. I joked with her that they had to be good if they were from a family of Yoders.
Homeopathic Benefits of Medical Marijuana: Everyone knows that marijuana, including medical marijuana, is derived from a plant. Plant-based remedies are touted by many, including Christians, as “natural”. So, therefore they are better than remedies made in a laboratory. Medical marijuana became legal in Ohio in 2016 if prescribed by a doctor to treat various specific conditions.
Benefits and Less Harmful Side-effects of Marijuana Than Alcohol Usage: A young Christian man I know works for a marketing firm that promotes many things, and one of them is cannabis or recreational marijuana. Another is psychedelics (think of LSD). I heard him on talk shows in the cannabis world promoting these products. His premise is that they are very “natural”, and less impactful than alcohol usage, and that research is proving that they have, or may have, great healing properties.
The Final Step of the slippery slope was the Legalization of Marijuana in Ohio in November.
Okay, here’s what I think led to the slippery slope toward the legalization of marijuana in Ohio. Plain and simple—greed. Greed was evident in the selling of cigarettes in Christian-owned businesses. Greed was and is evident in the many years of various multi-level marketing schemes and the selling of untested homeopathic products. Now, so-called marijuana “experts” are salivating at the prospects of making great amounts of money by growing, harvesting, processing, and selling marijuana in many states, now including Ohio. So, here’s what I think is the bottom line. We as Christians have let our guard down for many years. And, I honestly believe that the legalization of marijuana is God’s reckoning as a result. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 4 of the book “Floods Upon Dry Ground", written by Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones, is titled “Crumbling Foundations”. To recap, Chapter 1, entitled "Spiritual Awakenings", reminded us of great revivals in centuries past in Scotland. Pastor Duncan asked the question of whether God could, and would, pour floods upon dry ground again in today's world. Chapter 2 was entitled, "Dynamics of Spiritual Decline", where authors Duncan and Jones wrote about the slow but steady steps that can lead to apathy and doubt, leading toward the point of even denial of Jesus. Chapter 3 was entitled, "Change or Die". It took the story of the four lepers in 2 Kings 7, who had to make a change toward action, or surely they were going to all die, including all of Israel. We also have the choice of "changing or dying". The outcome of our actions may lead to consequences. But no action will surely lead to our spiritual death and the spiritual death of those around us. So now, in Chapter 4: "Crumbling Foundations", Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones quoted David in Psalm 11:3: “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” In our culture today, according to Duncan and Jones, “there has been a seismic shift from embracing Christian values and free-market economy to an application of socialist ideas America once rejected.” They cited COVID-19 as “a launching pad for the most openly aggressive move toward socialism we have seen.” The authors said that Jesus declared in His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 that “natural earthquakes” would accompany the last days. But Duncan and Jones cited another kind of earthquake—“the earthquake of deception” that poses the biggest threat to the Christian community and to the spreading of the gospel. They wrote that for many years American Christians thought themselves insulated from the religious persecution that Christians in communist and socialist countries endure. They lamented the fact that “somewhere along the line the institutional church forsook its primary task of fulfilling the Great Commission, and instead redirected its energies to addressing social, cultural, and political concerns.” They said, “True revival has been replaced with artificial spirituality built on shallow emotionalism that does not lead to real change, and does not produce genuine hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ.” So the question is, in the face of our crumbling foundations in America, “What can the church—or the righteous, do?” Below are four imperatives according to Duncan and Jones:
Keep meeting together, in whatever form that may take in the last days.
Use the example of the apostles, who kept proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter what persecution they faced. The Bible gives no evidence of the apostles organizing marches and protests against the wickedness of the leaders of the day.
Listen and obey the words God spoke through King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Remember that God never changes, no matter what may be happening around us.
So we don’t know whether taking these steps will lead to “a sweeping revival”—or whether it will lead to “increased persecution”, as it did with the apostles. But according to authors Duncan and Jones—we do know that amid crumbling foundations around us—“God remains in complete control over His creation.”
I always perceived myself as a relatively intelligent and popular student at Hiland High School in Berlin, Ohio. But the evidence proves otherwise.
My grade cards show that I was just an above-average student at best. And, pictures from my junior year 1971 yearbook confirmed my mediocrity in high school.
I was never on the Scholarship Team.
I was never on the National Honor Society.
I was never on the Student Council.
I never even tried to be one of the staff members to publish the popular Hilander school newspaper.
You will see in all the pictures that I was conspicuously absent. (Note: I was glad to see my brother Merv in a couple of the pictures, like on the Student Council. Sadly, several people in the pictures have passed away for various reasons. James Miller as some of you know, was murdered.) I got some notoriety from playing sports. You can see from my Hiland High School letter jacket, which is now way too small for me that I lettered 5 times in three varsity sports.
One year in Baseball.
Two years in Cross Country.
Two years in Basketball.
I received the Most Improved Basketball Player trophy my senior year.
But, despite some modicum of success, all my teams followed the same path toward mediocrity. So, sports wasn’t something I could hang my hat on as a great accomplishment. There are many of us for which mediocrity has been our lot. We may be good at some things—but aren’t elite at any one thing. We may have a degree of popularity, but people don’t flock around us as they do others. So, what can we do with our mediocrity? I think there is only one answer. It happened to me 46 years ago in 1977, five years after high school. It happened to Jesus’ disciples, most of whom were unlearned tradesmen, like fishermen or tax collectors. Jesus didn’t choose an elite group of achievers to be part of His Inner Circle. What happened is that God by His Holy Spirit called His disciples. In the same way, He calls us, to follow Him. Our main goal, as was the goal of the disciples, is not to gain glory or status for ourselves. Our main goal is to gain glory for God and His Son Jesus, who died on the cross to free us from our sins. God then by His great power can, if we let Him, fade our insecurities and feelings of mediocrity.
Chapter 3 of the book Floods Upon Dry Ground, is titled “Change or Die”. Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones based the chapter on what happened to the four lepers in 2 Kings 7, and how it relates to the church today. The four lepers either had to change their plan of staying where they were, or they were going to die of starvation. The authors wrote that we often think that other people are the ones that need to change, and we often blame them for failures. Or we might blame the church of which we are a part. They wrote, however, “The hard road is always the one less traveled”, as poet Robert Frost wrote in the poem, The Road Not Taken. Pastors Duncan and Jones said, “Not all change is good”, especially if it leads to “change without growing”. “The message is not to change for the sake of changing but rather to change for Christ’s sake—for growth in Christ." “Change is typically challenging, and at times it can be agonizing,” And we are often resistant to change. The authors told the funny story of Barney Fife in the Andy Griffith TV Show, and Barney’s resistance to disposing of Mayberry’s cannon. Barney reminisced to Andy another time he resisted change when the post office went to “slot machine” stamp dispensing, equating these machines to gambling. Pastors Duncan and Jones wrote that change can bring about “defining moments”. “How we handle these defining moments determines our success or failure, as well as our eternal future.” They gave the example of Faithful Abraham and numerous other Bible heroes who obeyed God—even though the changes sometimes caused them to experience great pain or loss. But, inevitably it brought about new opportunities. The authors wrote, “God always has a purpose for what He allows.” Back to the story of the four lepers. They acted out of desperation. Their desperation caused them to “do something” different, or else they were going to die the painful death of starvation. We often don’t feel the urgency to reach others for Christ. I sometimes don’t feel the urgency. The authors said we should, however, consider the urgency of the four lepers to change or die, and apply it to our own lives in the area of evangelism. In other words, we need to consider who will die, including lost people, even ourselves, and the church as a result of not making changes.
Chapter 2 of the book “Floods Upon Dry Ground", is titled “Dynamics of Spiritual Decline”. Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones state that history shows that spiritual decline is usually a gradual happening and not just a sudden event. They used what happened to Peter and the disciples when they turned their backs on Jesus just before His crucifixion, as what can also happen to us. The authors cited six examples of Peter and the disciples heading toward spiritual decline, that could have led them to departing the faith if they hadn't repented. Here they are:
Satan Seeks to Deceive: Peter declared repeatedly to Jesus how firm he was in following Him, and that he would never turn his back on Jesus. Jesus said, however, in Luke 22:31-32 that Satan “asked” for Peter, to “sift” him “as wheat”. Satan also repeatedly wants tosift us.
Called to Watch: Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to go with Him up to the Mount of Olives to "watch" with Him before his crucifixion. They, however, fell asleep. We also sometimes fall asleep literally and figuratively when Jesus asks us to watch with Him.
Weariness of Spirit: Like the disciples who became weary and fell asleep, we too can easily become weary and slip into “religious formality” as the authors stated, instead of having “an intense focus on our relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Reliance on the Arm of the Flesh: In other words, we can have a growing dependence on our own “individual ability” to make it through the tough times in life.
Following Jesus Afar Off: We can be like the disciples, who when the going got tough followed Jesus from a distance instead of close up and personal.
Denying Jesus: Peter ended up three times denying that he even knew Jesus. We also can end up denying Jesus after a time of weariness, carelessness, and fear.
The authors of the book asked the following question: “How will we respond” in the face of spiritual decline? I think we can respond in one of two ways:
We can grow apathetic, full of doubt, and eventually deny the importance of having a relationship with Jesus.
We can repent quickly, and encourage others also to do so.
Then together we can continue to have an intense and vital relationship with our wonderful Savior and Lord!
In Luke 11:23 Jesus made two very direct black-and-white statements that I’m sure I read before, but I never fully absorbed the implication of the statements. Following are the statements Jesus made. I'm using the Christian Standard Bible translation. Here they are:
“Anyone who is not with me is against me.”And if that isn't radical enough, Jesus then says the following:
“Anyone who does not gather with me scatters.”
Jesus was addressing the crowd after he cast out a demon from a mute person, and some in the crowd questioned whether he cast out the demon using Satan’s power, instead of God’s power. Jesus then went on to contrast Satan’s power, who would not have cast out his own demon, and God’s very much superior power in bringing about good for the demon-possessed person. So what was Jesus trying to get across to his listeners with his very direct black-and-white, sobering statements? First of all, about the fact that anyone who isn’t “with” Him is “against” Him? And then comes the clincher for me, with my interest in evangelism, but who feels very inadequate at best to gather souls toward Jesus. It’s the statement Jesus makes that anyone who isn’t “gathering” followers to Him, is indeed “scattering” them. So let me reiterate by paraphrasing. Here it is: "If I'm not actively spreading the gospel in an attempt at gathering people toward Jesus, then Jesus said that I am actively scattering people away from Him."
In the book "Floods Upon Dry Ground", Chapter 1 entitled "Spiritual Awakenings", Bobby Duncan talks about visiting Scotland and learning of some of the rich history of revivals, or "spiritual awakenings" there.
Two noteworthy characteristics” of spiritual awakenings in Scotland were the following:
A renewed consciousness of the Person and presence of Jesus Christ.
A recognition of the authority of God’s Word.
Pastor Duncan indicated other features of spiritual awakenings were times of intense praying, long hours spent in worship gatherings and Bible studies, increased sharing of the Gospel with unbelievers, and a sharp drop in local customers attending bars and houses of entertainment. Pastor Duncan wrote that people often were seen spontaneously praying together alongside roadways and in open fields. They were crying out to God for His mercy and forgiveness. Lastly, Pastor Duncan lamented the fact that beginning in the 1950s started many years of spiritual decline lasting until today. He said that the spiritual decline must be reversed. He wrote, “God is still a merciful God who desires to pour water upon thirsty soil.” In other words, God strongly desires for us to have another great spiritual awakening in today’s world.
My former pastor Bobby Duncan knows about my interest in evangelism, and he gave me his latest book entitled “Floods Upon Dry Ground”, co-written by Pastor James Jones. The gist of the book is based on Isaiah 44:3 which says, “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring.” I want to share two important points, one from Pastor Duncan, and one from Pastor Jones’ “Revival Reflections” at the beginning of the book. First of all, Pastor Duncan wrote the following: “Revival or spiritual renewal are things that we may have difficulty intellectually grasping, but, “I firmly believe it is something we can once again experience . . . and must experience.” Pastor Jones reflected the following, “Revival is a heightened sense of God’s presence, and usually has brokenness as its companion.” Meaning that without brokenness and a passion for God’s presence, there will be no revival. Are you and I broken today? Do we have a passion for God’s presence? And do we believe with all our hearts that we must experience revival as Pastor Duncan stated?
Last week I participated in a Mission Increase webinar through my role as a grant writer for Mission to Amish People. The webinar was entitled “Disciple Making With Church Partners”. The gist of the webinar was how nonprofits, like Mission to Amish People, can partner with churches to become effective together to make disciples. One of the leaders of the webinar. was Caleb Crider, the Director of Program Innovation. He said something that struck me. He said that The Great Commandments, which are two, and The Great Commission are tied together, and one cannot exist without the other. In my forty-six years of being a Christian, one thing has always bothered me. The churches I attended never, or rarely included a regular plea to or reasoning for reaching unsaved people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They preached and taught many, many scriptures about the love, blessing, and power of God in each life if the listeners closely followed God and His Son Jesus Christ. People in the congregation often lifted their hands in praise to God. But I think, however, in almost all cases they forgot the punchline. I think that what Mr. Crider asserted in the webinar is the key to what churches are missing. I call it, “An Inextricable Connection” between The Great Commandments, which are two, and The Great Commission. (Note: Inextricable simply means “impossible to separate.”) Below are the two Great Commandments told by Jesus found in Matthew 22:35-40:
“And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: ‘Teacher, which command of the law is the greatest?’ He (Jesus) said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.’ "
In simple words, we are first to love God with all the power within us. And secondly, we are to love others. These are the two Great Commandments. Secondly, is The Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20:
“Then Jesus came to them (the disciples) and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ "
I want to ask you a question. Do you think The Great Commission ended with the disciples, or does it continue with us? A natural extension of loving God and loving others is to tell others about the great love He has for them, right? Jesus told the disciples to make other disciples “of all nations”.
Later in Acts 1:8 Jesus told the disciples,
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The disciples, as we all know, weren’t going to live long enough to be witnesses to “the end of the earth”, and to "make disciples of all nations".
The implication is clear in the following four points:
We greatly love God with everything within us, as Jesus commanded us in the First Great Commandment.
The great love of God then flows through us with His powerful Holy Spirit. We become an extension of Jesus.
Because of this great love we also greatly love others, the Second Greatest Commandment.
And because of our great love for others, we are compelled to lovingly fulfill The Great Commission by becoming extensions of the disciples, telling others about God’s great love for them.
The conclusion is that there is an “inextricable connection” between the two Great Commandments and The Great Commission. It’s impossible to separate them.
I grew up in a large Amish/Mennonite area just outside of Berlin, Ohio. One of the things that had a major impact on me was the revival preachers who came to the area from time to time. I especially remember the George Brunk tent revival meetings that were held annually in the Joe T. Miller farm field in the valley before Route 62 went up the hill into Berlin. In the attached picture you’ll see the Sturges Miller barn located to the left of the tent. Our house, unseen in the picture, was on Charm Road to the right. I remember being outside with Mom and brother Merv, perhaps playing ball, or just sitting peacefully on the front porch.
The warm air was still, while people, most of them Conservative Mennonites, parked their dark-colored cars, and then marched their families to grab seats in the large tent. Vibrant acappella singing followed, filling the valley with sound. After that was a brief interlude of silence.
Then finally we heard his distinct voice over the loudspeakers across the way. Reverend Brunk followed the pattern of many revival preachers, like Billy Graham. He started by speaking calmly with a measured pace to lay the groundwork for his message. His voice got a little louder and he ramped up the intensity as the sermon progressed. Finally, his voice was booming with Bible verses and pronouncements of the impending judgment upon those who didn’t give their hearts to Christ, accompanied by an urgent plea for them to do so.
Reverend Brunk’s loud voice didn’t seem threatening and mean—but it definitely was convicting. He was very firm in his commitment to the task God gave him of bringing people to Christ. I would describe his message as “power of God preaching”. I came to Christ several years after those annual revival meetings, and since that time, about forty-six years ago, I have seldom heard the “power of God preaching” as I heard from Reverend Brunk—perhaps only from Billy Graham. Preachers and evangelists like that seem very few and far between. One rare exception in my life is Pastor Bobby Duncan, former pastor of the Mansfield Church of God. I attended there under his pastorship for approximately six months before he retired for good in March 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic became very prominent. Dee and I became good friends with him and his wife Sandra. I especially appreciate his pastor’s heart and love for his people. And I missed, and still miss his “power of God preaching”.
Pastor Duncan fills in preaching for pastors in Ohio who need some time off. He recently filled in five Sundays at the Ashland Worship Center, and I went all five times. He and Sandra were a real blessing. I told my wife and some others that I think every new pastor should sit under Pastor Duncan’s leadership and preaching for some time before they go out on their own. I’m going to insert three short snippets of his recent preaching on his last Sunday at Ashland Worship Center to show what I mean by “power of God preaching”. He preached on Revelation 21. Sorry about the muffled sound. Here they are:
Snippet 1: You’ll see that Pastor Duncan is very measured in the beginning to lay the groundwork for his message. (See video)
Snippet 2: Pastor Duncan’s intensity is ramping up. He’s not ramping up for the sake of ramping up, but to further get across how important is the message of the gospel. (See video)
Snippet 3: Pastor Duncan ends the sermon with a crescendo to bring people to the point of change. He powerfully exhorts his listeners to take action. (See video)
Well, what do you think?. You can see the entire sermon and four other ones on the Ashland Worship Center Facebook page. I think you could strongly sense Pastor Duncan’s love for his listeners, and his desire for them to fully realize and understand how much God loves them, wants them to follow Him, and wants them to spend eternity with Him in heaven. Pastor Duncan did so by what I describe as “power of God preaching”.
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