The God of salvation is so much more

I am a preacher of the great gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a privilege to share the good news of the birth, sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a message of hope for every soul lost in sin, despair, and even death. The Bible says that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. This message is the very purpose of my life. There is nothing sweeter to see than to witness the life-transforming power of this timeless, ageless, and endless story of redemption. Every man born is doomed to an eternity of death and separation from God. Heaven and Hell are realities that I desire to help mankind believe. We have all been born in sin. We have all made choices that violate the nature and law of God and we are in desperate need of a Savior.  The gospel is the story of that Savior and His sacrifice to change the destiny of all who would call upon His name. Salvation is of the Lord. It is His purpose in reconciliation. It is the theme and focus of the Bible and the preaching of every God-called man of God. But this is not the end of the story.

I am afraid that fundamental preachers and pastors of our day have sold God short. In an effort to avoid preaching a feel-good, socially acceptable "false" gospel, the trend has been to swing the pendulum so far away from a message outside of salvation that there is little belief that God has other abilities and desires. We have given the impression that God is only interested in keeping you from going to Hell and that He is not interested in the stuff of life that we deal with every day. In Luke 4:18, Jesus quotes an Old Testament scripture prophesying of himself. He describes His ministry as one that preaches the gospel, but that is not all. Jesus also mentions that part of His ministry is to preach deliverance, recovery, and liberty. Every one of us has something that we need deliverance from, recovery from, and/or liberty with. This should make it perfectly clear that God cares about the individual struggling with the bondage of addiction, bitterness, or hatred, a person trying to come back from depression, an emotional or mental breakdown, or even loneliness, or that one wishing to live in the freedom of God's grace, without the shackles of legalism or organised religion. You see, there is a whole lot more that God wants to do for you and in you. It is surely of the utmost importance for you to ask the Lord to forgive you of your sin and invite Him to live in and direct your life, but it is also incredibly needful for us to realize the continuing work of God. He hasn't brought us into the "Promised Land" and left us to fight the giants on our own.

What's that mean to us? We need to let God into the dark or difficult places of our life and allow His light to penetrate and change us, but please don't stop there. We need to take that light to those who are still sitting in the depths of confusion, hurt, and bondage and bring to them this great message of hope. Many around us do not know that God is for them beyond conversion. You'll not ever be more saved than you are upon your acceptance of Christ but the Bible says that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. There is still more work to do in your life, in my life, and in their life. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life (that's salvation), and that they might have it more abundantly (that deliverance, recovery, and liberty)." What a refreshing Perspective!   

Your presence is requested before the King

I am having my oil changed right now so I figured I would practice my multi-tasking. I share a thought from my devotion by way of my phone. I read the book of Esther yesterday. You know, the book in the Old Testament that never mentions God, but it did not take long for me to stumble upon God in the book. In the first chapter, you read about a king who "enjoys a good time." He is hosting a grand feast with all the who's who of his kingdom and ultimately wants to show off his pretty wife. Quick lesson right there. Sir, your wife doesn't need the admiration of everyone else nearly as much as she needs yours, and parading her in public, showing all of her "attributes" is not complimenting her. It is making her an object for show and tell. Treat her the way she ought to be treated in private and she won't need to receive that attention from the public...and she probably doesn't want to, especially if it has to be in exchange for your attention. Anyway, the queen did not appreciate the opportunity to be made a public spectacle and so she refused. In so doing, she caused the king disappointment, as well as a bit of embarrassment in front of his buddies.  For her disobedience, Queen Vashti was given a punishment, "a royal commandment...that Vashti come no more before king Ahasueras." Now this is a powerful king, no doubt, ruling a kingdom from India to Ethiopia, and he has certainly flexed his muscle here. But I could not help looking at this from a different Perspective.

I serve a powerful King who reigns from Heaven to Hell. Of course, He does not require such things of me as this worldly king did. In fact, those things He desires from/for me are not just for His good pleasure, but for my benefit as well. Even so, I am sure I disobey my King. I fail Him in His desires for me. I fall incredibly short in my opportunities to bring attention and glory to Him in my life. But this is the good part. My King does not refuse entrance before Him. In fact, I have been invited to come into His presence to settle my failures. We read in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." How's that for flexing your muscle? Be encouraged today that the God of the universe is the God of salvation. He wants you to turn to Him, not in order to present Him with your assets, but to bring your liabilities. No matter where you are or what you find yourself in, God is for you. We have been encouraged by the word of God, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." That does not sound like a royal decree barring me from His presence unless I am fit or prepared. Actually, it is clear that I am to feel at ease, welcomed to go to God with my faults and imperfections to receive mercy and grace, and even forgiveness, I John 1:9. I have a royal invitation to appear before the King and in my place before His throne, I have a great Perspective.

A great investment tip, for real

  I have to say that maintaining a blog is a little harder than you may think. Try it and when you do, let me know so I can follow you. Anyway, the last two weeks have been crazy. I am an only child and my parents have moved yet again, so my family and I needed to provide packing and unpacking services. That was the week before this one. This week has been a totally different story. For the seventh consecutive year, I am at the Wilds, a Christian camp and conference center in North Carolina. No one does camp like they do and I have been blessed as a sponsor every year.

As I have sat in the services and seen the great responses to the preaching, I could not help but think of a conversation I had this week with another sponsor. Interestingly enough, I am nearly 600 miles from home and I was able to make a connection. Our conversation turned to a mutual "acquaintance", a church that we each had an attachment to. This church does not promote any type of youth ministry. That is odd in and of itself, but what astounded me is the fact that they run a Christian school from kindergarten all the way through twelfth grade. That would have to be labeled the extreme end of the discussion of youth ministry...none. Well, as many of you know, most of my years in ministry have been as a youth pastor, and even now I tell my folks, "I will always be a youth pastor to some extent." I love young people. I love being around them and working with them. I love their energy. I love their enthusiasm (if you can find it). I love their perspective. Why would you not want to have a ministry to and for young people? I am sure that the vast majority of parents have provided education, food, and clothing for their children at the child's learning/age level. I am also sure of the provision of specialized medical care for that age group in pediatricians and pediatric dentists. I surely hope that entertainment has been provided in an age-appropriate manner, as well. So why not ministry? There are so many options: Sunday school, children's church, youth group, Bible clubs, retreats, camps, fellowship meetings, seminars, and youth revivals. We have several families at Franklin that have joined our congregation by much prayer, but brought in by our emphasis on youth. Can I tell you that you can not go wrong investing your time, energy and resources, or your church's time, energy, and resources into the life of a young person. I am talking about the best of every world here. There is instant gratification as you look into the face of, not just a child, but a teenager too, and say, "I love you and I am so proud of you." There is a hope that you can not explain and a future that you'll never be able to predict, just from ministering to a young person. There is a dividend that only eternity will reveal as your effort is multiplied by its repetition in countless more lives.

If you attend a church without a vision for young people, you need to ask the Lord how you can change that. Churches are already drying and dying from lack of vision and attendance. If you are not infusing new life, young life, into your church, eventually it will go that way. I love being the Pastor of Franklin Baptist Church, but from my Perspective, I will always be part youth pastor, investing in their lives.