Missing Pastor Mitchell

 Back in ancient days pastor Mitchell used to take the pastors and evangelists out to breakfast after prayer every morning. That is until someone suggested that he and the guys could make breakfast for everyone at the church. Pastor agreed and to this day guys cook breakfast at the church for all of the pastors, evangelists, missionaries and visiting preacher who are there.

Like any group of guys, the talk around the table inevitable drifted to sports, politics, or the weather. Until pastor Mitchell got out his Bible and suggested that they talk about the Bible and spiritual things. It used to amaze me how right on pastor was and how wacky some of the guests were. I used to go home and study just to see if I was right or wrong!

I miss those spiritual talks with a wellspring of wisdom like pastor Mitchell.

Winning Souls, Or Making Disciples?

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Mat. 28:19

I wonder if, in our zeal to win souls, we are more focused on saying the sinners prayer with them, and less on winning them over to faith in Christ? We can get people to pray, and we can fill out the convert card. But have they been born again, or just prayed a prayer?

I wonder if getting people filled with the Holy Spirt with the evidence of speaking in tongues is as much to connect them to God as it is to get them to be Pentecostal? Speaking in tongues is the evidence of the infilling with the Holy Spirit. An unmistakable sign. Tongues does not save you, but it identifies you as a true believer in Christ. Without speaking in tongues, something vital is missing.

Water baptism is important. Jesus said it is part of our job to baptize those who have been saved in water. Baptizing people is not a religious ritual, it is a powerful event when the filth of a sinful life is washed away. It identifies us to the church and to our friends and family that I am a real Christian.

If you answered an alter call and got saved, good for you. Some do the same thing and nothing happens. No miracle of God takes place. Discipleship is the process of living out the Christian life in a local church.

"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth," Gal. 3:1

 

Attend Church But Not Born Again

 Our country is filled with good people who attend Christian churches but who have never been born again. They read the Bible. They sing religious songs. They give money in the offering. But they have never been born again.

Born again is the miracle that happens when Christ comes into your heart. When Jesus comes in, everything changes. If nothing in your life has changed and you are basically the same person, except that now you go to church, maybe you have never been born again.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2Cor. 5:17 KJV

Being born again involve a time just like being born involves a specific time and place. Not the first time you visited a church, But the day and hour when Jesus saved you from sin. For me it was December the 8th, 1973. At the Door in Prescott, AZ. 

All things become new. A new way of thinking, a new way of talking, a new way of living, and a new song to sing.

"He has put a new song in my mouth-praise to our God; ..." Psalm 40:3

Being born again ought to be visible and obvious to all around you. If you are no different than the world around you, something is missing.

Being born again is not about becoming a better person, it is about being changed by a miracle of God. A new creature in Christ.

I wonder how many people in our church have never been born again?

Truth For A Crazy World

 Disney made us believe that animals are almost human. That wild animals can be tamed, and that they have human feeling and intellect and emotions. Disney gave us the myth of prince charming coming to save the damsel in distress. And living happily ever after.

AI wants us to believe that machines are almost human. That a machine can think, and reason, and deduce, and feel. They want us to believe that a machine is faster than man, smarter than man, wiser than man, and more valuable than man.

I suspect that those who reject the gospel will believe any crazy idea that man or science can dream up.  That if it is on film it must be real. That if it is science based it must be true.

The Bible is God's revelation of Himself. In it we find not only rules to live by, but hope and power to live a victorious life now. The Holy Spirit makes the Bible alive and relevant today. It shows us truth and it exposes lies. One day God will balance the books and give mankind and nations the wages that they have earned. Unless you are born again your wages will be terrible. Ask the Lord Jesus to help you today.

Signs And Wonders

 "Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles." Acts 2:43

I have noticed over the years how some pastors try to put the weight of responsibility for the success of the church on the people in the church. It's up to them to win souls and to pay the bills. And I agree that there is a part to play for the people in the pews.

But today I noticed again the important part that leaders play in ministry. It says in this text that sign and wonders were done through the apostles, not the people. The KJV says signs and wonders were done by the apostles. Through or by, it was the apostles who were the conduits for the miraculous.

Signs and wonders is not, put up your sign and wonder how it will work. It is a demonstration of the Spirit and power of God. Divine healing for example. The burden for this is the burden of the apostles and pastors and evangelists. The people were in awe and fear because of the demonstration seen from the leaders.

Pray for your pastor that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit and that his prayers would heal the sick.

Reprobate Minds

 "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting." Romans 1:28

Debased in the KJV is the word reprobate. God gave a God rejecting world over to a reprobate mind. What does this mean? The word reprobate literally means to fail the test. It is a word from the metallurgy world. The idea is to test a precious metal to see if it is real or fake. If it is found to be fake it is rejected and looked down upon.

"Thy silver is become dross..." Isaiah 1:22

This word is then applied to people who, having been tested by God, are rejected by God.

"They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." Titus 1:16

So God tests people in various ways. He tests conduct. He tests motives. He tests attitudes. He tests knowledge. He wants to see how we measure up to His standards. The mind which God cannot approve must be rejected. God makes righteous judgement so that we are without excuse.

The NKJV say that a reprobate mind will do things which are not fitting. They will do things that are crazy or that do not make sense. They will come up with wacky ideas that make society scratch their heads.

One more thought. We can do things to guarantee that God will accept us.

"Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates?" 2Cor. 13:5

If God tests us, you can be sure that He tests everyone, saved or not.

MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN. You are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting.

Prayer

"pray without ceasing." 1Thes. 5:17

Tonight pastor preached to challenge us to morning prayer. There is Bible references to morning prayer. I am not a morning person. So while I pray all day long, I will find a way to start my day with prayer in the morning. It may not be early morning. But I will talk to the Lord before I do anything else. And then I will pray all day long as I usually do.

Why is morning prayer so important? Why can't evening prayer work? I am a night owl and a part of an early bird church.