A Changing Focus

 The Prescott conference of today is not the same as the Prescott conference of years ago. A long time ago the preaching at the Prescott conference was directed at the heart. Challenging pastors to be right with God. Challenging pastors to keep their hearts pure and to keep their hearts steadfast following Christ, who had called them into the ministry. This is why pastor Mitchell called the Prescott conference a people's conference. Everyone could benefit from heart directed preaching.

Something began to change in conference and today the Prescott conference is about how to be a better pastor and how to keep the main thing of evangelism as the main thing. We do not let a man whose heart is not right with God pastor a church, but we do not apply the Bible to men's hearts so that they can be changed. We substituted evangelism, discipleship, and church planting instead of keeping your heart right with God. These are not the same thing.

I think we need to go back to preaching practical righteousness instead of preaching the Vision. Only a few benefit from vision preaching while all benefit from heart preaching. Ask God to show you how to preach to people's hearts and then do it.

Mid Life Crisis

 Midlife crisis is a term that you do not hear much about lately. It used to be a big deal. Men would get in shape, and try to regain their youthful outlook on life, often divorcing their wives and marrying a trophy wife. They would try to regain the glory years of youth. Only now with the money of success.

But the idea of regaining a sense of youth seems to emerge as a driving force during the midlife years between 40 and 60 years old. We talk a lot about how great we used to be. We brag about the girls we dated and the jobs we had and the sports we played. We focus on what used to be when we were young.

In the faith we are not immune from this midlife crisis. We do not brag about girls or jobs. We talk a lot about when we were first saved and what we did as new converts. We brag about outreaches we did and sacrifices we made. We think that the secret to the Christian life is to act like a new convert again. And we quote the Bible to justify our midlife crisis. Like, I'm only doing this because it's what God wants me to do.

There is no magic wand to wave over a midlife crisis. There is no magic cure. There needs to be an honest assessment  of where we are in life and what we are going through. Ask God to help you. He will.

New Wine Old Wine

"No man also having drunk old wine straightway desires the new; for he says, the old is better." Luke 5:39

I had breakfast with some old guys today. Eventually their talk centered around how stupid this younger generation is because they do not do what we did and they do not adhere to what we believe. I had to leave. It gets tiresome to hear this kind of talk.

Then this verse came to my mind and I understood that those who drank the old wine have no taste or appetite for anything but the old wine. For those of you in the Bible belt this verse is not talking about wine. It's talking about old ideas and old traditions and old ways of thinking. It is hard for those who grew up in an older generation to agree with or to understand this modern generation. And this can be dangerous to the old folks.

"And no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish." Luke 5:37

Something bad happens when we try to force new ideas onto an older generation. It is more than they can handle. They cannot even begin to comprehend new ideas. And the danger is that a breach will develop between the generations that is not easily mended. God has to do something in the older saints to allow something fresh and new to unfold. This takes a miracle of God, not psychology.

"But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved." Luke 5:38

Pray for the first generation saints, that they may be flexible enough to go with what God is doing today and not spend their time fretting over the differences between their success and this generation's potential.

BTW, you are welcome for the three point sermon.

The Old White Man's Club

I am 71 years old. I was born again almost 53 years ago. I have watched the political climate in America deteriorate over the years.  So tonight I watched an interview of the current mayor of NYC on YouTube. I was surprised. He is only 35 years old. And he came across as very smart and savvy and unafraid. He was not a fire breathing liberal or a raging communist. He is a smart young man with some good ideas for America's biggest city.

I think that we have been lied to for a long time. Not just from the national news media. But from news in general. I think that the old white man's club is fighting to try to discredit and smear the reputation of young people with fresh ideas. It is the old white men luddites attacking the rest of us with lies and deception.

Our Fellowship is close to being it's own old while man's club. Old men who happen to be Caucasian,  telling us how to think and what to believe. They are across the board anti social media. They are dead set against entertainment of any kind. By being focused like a laser beam on evangelism they fail to see any other ways a church could be salt and light to a darkened world.

Change is a gamble. There is no guarantee that the next generation of leaders will do it right. But they deserve a chance to try. As far as our Fellowship goes, we are saddled by a whole group of pastor till you die men who, like ancient kings, will not fade into the sunset gracefully. They refuse to step down so that a new group of younger men could rise up.

Pray for our leaders, most of whom are pastors, to be wise and to see clearly the road laid out before us. What got us here almost certainly will not get us any farther.

Samuel Prayed

 "The all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said unto him, look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. So Samuel prayed to the Lord." 1Sam.8:4-6

There is always a fine line between what got us where we are, and what we need to do to go farther. Often we find that the past can become the obstacle to the future. Add to this mix the fact that the leaders of any movement will grow old and they run the risk of being out of touch with the future. And what's more, add to all of this the God card and we feel that it is evil and rebellion to even think about making a change to anything.

I find it interesting that the people and the leaders of Israel had begun to think about having a king like any legitimate nation would have. They were not asking for a change of doctrine or new gods. They were wanting the status that being a nation afforded them. They had grown up and they were not a loose confederation of tribes anymore. From this point on into the future Israel would have a king. But this was not an easy decision to make.

The past can often be the enemy of the future. Samuel was old school. Samuel was the way it used to be done. The nation was ready to move on to bigger and better things. And this displeased Samuel. We've always done it this way stands in the way of let's try something new. Samuel felt that he was being rejected. He was. The mystery is why God also felt like he was being rejected. He wasn't. God rules as the great king in Heaven. God understand kings better than anyone.

Being old fashioned and different than the world can make us stand out. It can also make us irrelevant. This is where we need wisdom so that we do not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

You cannot go forward while looking backwards. Find out what is carved in stone and stick to it. Find out what is negotiable and consider making changes as needed.

Samuel did do one thing that showed his status as a spiritual leader. He prayed. And that made all the difference.

Aiming To Please

 For the first time I had to remove a post from this blog. It was not controversial, it was not critical of anyone, but it got bypassed by readers even after I changed it significantly. So I came back and erased it and removed it.

Since no one comments on my blog I do not get feedback about what I write. So I have to use wisdom from God to sort what what works and what doesn't work.

I aim to please.

Why A Pastor Will Not Retire

 Why won't a pastor retire? In our fellowship retirement is a four letter word. Here are some thoughts on why a pastor who could retire won't.

1. Failed to plan for retirement. Opted out of federal retirement programs. Church too small to give him any financial security.

2. Distorted work ethic. Better to burn out than to rust out. Think it is noble to die while preaching.

3. Failure to see your own declining abilities. Failure to see your own mental decline.

4. No one could do this but me. 

5. No one prepared or chosen to take my place. See number 4.

If you think you need to die in the ministry you probably will. But you will decline mentally and physically long before you die.

 "A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they will never sit."

Anyway, that's how I see it.