Happy Thursday!
Looks like the party’s over for Heaven and me! (lol) The other half of our family is coming home today… just in time for the next big snow storm! Yaye, I ‘ve really missed them!
Just a little more laundry to do… and I have to dust, and vacuum, and clean the bathrooms, and take out the trash, and clean the refrigerator, and fluff the couch pillows, and wash the bed sheets, and make the bed, and put a few chocolates on the pillows, and clean up the mess Lucy made when she CHEWED her way out of the bathroom yesterday (grrr Lucy, no water for you today… ha ha haaaaa!)… and then I’ll be ready for the big reunion!
The weather man says we will be getting between 12 and 20 inches of snow on Friday and Saturday. I’m trying to figure out how we can still have church @ Destiny Family Center this Sunday! If snow plow man gets everything cleared off, maybe we can pull something off!
the Super Bowl party
And I really want to have the annual DFC super bowl party! This year I will be rooting HARD for the Indianapolis Colts. Who would have EVER imagined this… being that I’ve been a die hard New England Patriots fan since 1984!
No offense to all of my New Orleans Saints friends, I’ve just had a very bad experience with a few Louisianian’s this past year, and it left a raunchy taste in my mouth. lol
my book: Make me a Legend
This has been a profound week of writing for me! Right now, I am 100% finished with 13 chapters and about 30% finished with my final 3 chapters… right on schedule for the March 15th deadline-for-completion goal!
Instead of mailing a pile of query letters and manuscripts all over the place, crossing my fingers for a publishing contract… I think I’m gonna drive to the Thomas Nelson Publishers headquarters and stalk Michael Hyatt until I’m able to make my pitch LIVE AND IN PERSON… with HIGH ENERGY and ENTHUSIASM… and a GREAT BIG CHEESE SMILE! Wish me well!! lol
Yesterday, I was reworking chapter 2: My Greatest Spiritual Fantasy. I had just wrapped up a very passionate summary of the first and second great awakenings and the great prayer awakening of 1857-1858… and I wrote:
from the brink of annihilation
Once again… in a dark moral and spiritual hour, everything changed in a day! Prayer meetings started up that spread all over the country. One million Americans came into the church during those two years. Another one million nominal churchgoers reclaimed their first love with Christ!
If we were to have an awakening like this today, it would translate into 20,000,000 Americans set ablaze for Christ in two years time! Churches that reported 121 members in 1858 had 1,400 members in 1860! The social and ethical affects of this awakening rippled forward for almost half a century! Can you image this kind of spiritual fire breaking out in today’s Christian church?
I could go on and on with such stories until tears are streaming down your faces for several hours or more! Revival-Principles to Change The World, by Winkie Pratney is the best book I’ve ever read on this subject! Get it and read it once a year for the next 20 years, just as I have! And watch what happens to your passion for such things!
Over and over again, in Biblical and secular history, God has been able to move society from the very brink of spiritual annihilation to the decades we now refer to as the Great Awakenings! Every time it seems like the world is too far-gone, like evil has taken our civilization… good rose to challenge evil one more time!
That’s it for this morning… gonna get back to CLEANING, then writing, then a few afternoon meetings, then evening prayer at DFC, then chill time with my loving family!! Have a most triumphant day everyone! Love you all!
Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!
Chuck
The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube
I HAVE AN IDEA FOR SUNDAY SERVICE,MAYBE YOU CAN PRERECORD YOUR MESSAGE TODAY AND PLAY OVER INTERENET FOR SUNDAY.HAVE SOMEONE RECORD AARON IN WORSHIP OR HAVE SOME WORSHIP RECORDED.THAT WAY WE CAN ALL STILL GET FED AND BEGIN A MEDIA MINISTRY YEAH.I KNOW A CAMERA MAN IF YOU NEED HIM.WELL GOT TO GO MINISTRY A CALLS.
We’ve talked about doing that Mark… still not too thrilled about our website… and Mac users still cant view the videos. We’ve also talked about the possibility of doing a LIVE “studio” broadcast on snow days. I just really want to SEE all my church family face to face, so I’m wishing for a miracle. Hope you’re have a super week Mark… love and appreciate you AND praying for you and your family this morning!
WELL WE COULD DO LIKE THE MENN. ARE THE AMISH,WITH HORSE AND BUGGY.OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!I COULD SEE YOU AND ME NOW IN SUSPENDERS AND ARE HATS.HA! HA! THAT WOULD REALLYT GET PEOPLE TALKING ,WHAT DO YOU THINK.THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS,I HAVE A COLD .
Vick’s Vapor Rub and prayer… the perfect cold formula!
YESTERDAY A 20 YEAR OLD YOUNG MAN CALLED ME FROM ANDREW WOMMACK COLLEGE IN TEXAS.HE WAS SO EXCITED, HE FASTED FOR THREE DAYS AND TOOK A TEAM TO THE SCHOOL.THERE WAS A SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER WHO WAS ON CRUTCHES HE PRAYED FOR HIM AND LORD HEALED HIM .HE TOOK THE CRUTCHES AND THREW THEM HE ASKED IF ANYONE ELSE WANTED JESUS TO HEAL THEM!THERE WERE GOTH KIDS LAUGHING AT HIM, WHEN THEY SAW THE FOOTBALL PLAYER CRYING AND RUNNING ONE KID GAVE HIS LIFE TO LORD.THE MOST AMAZING THING ABOUT THIS TESTIMONY ,IS THIS IS ONE OF THE SHYEST KIDS YOU WOULD EVER MEET.NOW THAT IS A REVIVAL BEGINNING.
More importantly. if we want a revival like the Great Awakenting, we need to return to the preaching that surrounded the Great Awakening. Messages on how to live a good life, how to have better sex, how to get more money, how to build your self-esteem, how to find “God’s wonderful plan”, etc. just won’t cut it (not to mention that those types of messages have nothing to do with Christianity.) We need preachers that are willing to preaching on the sinfulness of man, the jusgement of God, the atoning work of Christ, and a call to repentance. Look at the sermons of George Whitefield. Read Jonathan Edward’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, a sermon that would get most preachers run out of town on a rail. That’s what is needed for true revival. The question is: Are modern seeker sensitive churche able to handle it?
Yes and no Puritan Lad… we certainly need another Christian reformation, and a tremendous rekindling within the churches. But as far as the “preaching of yesterdays revivalists”… I’m not interested in slamming this world with the harshness of their spirit. You and I have discussed our contrary views concerning this topic before. Thanks for commenting!
“harshness of their spirit”? Chuck, the men who preached around the Great Awakening were some of the most loving, Godly men in the history of the church. But they spoke the harsh truth, just like Jesus did. Any preacher who refuses to preach these truths does not love his sheep.
On the other hand, we could keep doing what we’ve been doing for the last 150 years, and we’ll keep getting what we got.
I highly recommend this article:
Add to the Church: The Puritan Approach to Persuading Souls
MY WIFE AND I WENT INTO A SALAVATION ARMY ,THERE WAS A NATIVITY THERE FOR SALE “IT SAID MISSING ONLY 1 PIECE”.THE PIECE THAT WAS MISSING WAS THE BABY JESUS.”WITHOUT THE BABY JESUS, THERE IS NO NATIVITY”!!!! SAME WAY WITH A REVIVAL WITHOUT THE ANNOINTING OF JESUS,THERE IS NO AWAKENING.BUT WANT WE NEED IS INHABITATION NOT A AWAKENING AMEN!YES WE SHOULD BRING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, BUT WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT IT WAS GRACE AND MERCY WHY ALL OF US OUR SAVED!THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, DOES NOT BRING SALAVATION BUT HIS BLOOD DOES. AMEN THANKS FOR LISTENING
We should bring all of it if it is in the word of God. Without the ten commandments, we have no mirror by which to see our guilt, and then no knowledge of the need for grace. We need to preach the whole word of God, not just the fluffy stuff.
I recently got a flyer from a “church” that is beginning a new sermon series built upon the TV show “The Biggest Loser”. They promised “life changing messages, free health screenings, and a biggest lose competition”. God help us.
If Jesus Christ had preached the same kind of nonsensical fluff that we hear from today’s pulpits, he would have never been crucified.
Once again, I respectfully disagree with you Puritan Lad… I think Jesus would have preached a biggest loser message if it would have given him a relevant context for speaking his truth. Even though Jesus spoke with great boldness to the religious establishment of his day, Jesus was VERY LOVING AND VERY MERCIFUL to the lost people! Jesus didn’t run around with his finger POINTING everyone DOWN for their sinfulness.
The primary Christian approach during the great awakenings was “hell fire and brimstone.” I do believe that while those revivalists spoke Gods truth and they lived holy lives… they depicted an angry God. I have gained tremendous conviction from reading many of those awakening sermons… however, I do not believe that Gods answer for reaching this 21st century world is found in a resurgence of that hater spirit. Those guys were human… and even though they did much good during that era… they certainly erred in many ways.
Thank God for gracing their efforts… and thank God he will grace ours too. He will use you in your approach and he will use me in mine.
I strongly believe that this generation is very willing to fall at the feet of a merciful God (when they are presented with the truth IN LOVE and HUMILITY)… but they are spitting in the face of an arrogant judgmental church!
I know you and I can go on for days debating the subject of grace vs. works/mercy vs. judgment. As I’ve explained before… the purpose of this blog is to bring hope and encouragement… and I want to stay away from apologetics debates. Thanks again for commenting Puritan Lad… you’re passion for holiness certainly inspires me to keep my heart pure. God bless you, my dear friend!
Chuck,
Ther is nothing hateful or arrogant about preaching the truth of Sin, Hell, and Repentance (and if Jesus thought that entertainment was a good avenue for evangelism, why didn’t he use it. There was no shortage of such in the Roman Empire). According to Paul, true arrogance is a church boasting of it’s membership numbers while refusing to deal with sin (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). This generation needs the same thing that every generation needs, the true gospel. If the sinner is not confronted with his sinfulness and called to repent, he is not saved, no matter how many times he goes to an altar to repeat a prayer.
There are two opposing schools of thought concerning evangelism. The modern pragmatist holds that it is the duty of the church to change it methods (as well as it’s message) in order to meet the “felt needs” of the unsaved. There are even churches who send out questionaires asking unbelievers what it would take to get them into church. Such methods may be good for growing large churches, but that’s all that they are good for. Dead people (Ephesians 2:1) are a poor judge of their own needs.
According to the Scriptures, it is the unbeliever who needs to be changed, it is the gospel that effects such change, and it is the “foolishness of preaching” that God has ordained as the means by which this gospel is spread. Try as we might, we cannot improve upon God’s methods or His message. Best of all, the preaching of the Great Awakening brought revival. Our modern “methods” do not bring revival. Why would we not go with what works.
Concern for the lost does not mean that we should capitulate to their excuses. They should serve Christ, and there is no excuse for them not to serve Christ (Romans 1:20). Every unbeliever has a self-justified reason why they don’t serve Christ. For some, the church doesn’t entertain them enough. For others, there are too many “hypocrites” in the church. Still others may justify their unbelief through science or philosophy. Whatever the reason, we must approach the sinner with the idea that he needs to be born of the Spirit of God, not the idea that we need to satisfy his excuses. Our Lord’s response to excuses was sharp and pointed. “Let the dead bury the dead” (Matthew 8:22).
MAYBE YOU MISUNDERSTOOD WHAT I SAID ABOUT THE TEN COMMANDENTS ALL OF IT IS USED.PURITAN LAD SINCE YOU ARE SUCH AN EXPERT ON HOW TO BRING THE GOSPEL TO PEOPLE.WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO INTO THE STREETS AND TEACH YOUR MESSAGE WITH ME. TO THE DRUG ADDICTS AND GANG BANGERS,AND ANYONE ELSE WHO WILL LISTEN TO YOUR APPROACH. INSTEAD OF SETTING ON A COMPUTER AND BRINGING ARGUMENTS TO THE TABLE WITH CHRISTIAN WHO HAVE GIVEN THERE LIFE TO THE LORD.SINCE YOU KNOW THE WORD SO WELL IT SAYS NOT TO GIVE PEOPLE YOUR OPINION,IT ALSO SAYS NOT TO SOW DISCORD AMONG BROTHERS ALSO WE ARE NOT TO BE A STUMBLE BLOCK TO ANYONE.SO MY QUESTION IS SINCE YOU LIKE TO BE SO ARGUMENTIVE,I AM VERY TEACHABLE,WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO SOMETHING POSITIVE INSTEAD OF NEGATIVE.YOU TALK ABOUT BEING SO BOLD WHY DO YOU NOT JUST HAVE YOUR NAME SO EVERYONE CAN SEE OR ARE YOU NAFRAID OF GETTING RUN OUT OF TOWN HA!HA!
Mark,
Chuck knows who I am, and we have discussed this many times. As for sharing the gospel, I do that as well. Why do you assume that I don’t? (I don’t do “altar calls”, but that is for another discussion).
Furthermore, why is it that those who hold to biblical worship are the one who sow discord? What about those who refer to puritans as “hateful”, “arrogant”, “judgmental” and “harsh[ness] of their spirit”. That’s not exactly “positive”, nor was your post.
In any case, I have said my peace. Remember that those who teach will be held accountable for the souls that they oversee. We will never win the world by seeking to immitate it. The world does worldly things better than the church does.
GOOD IF YOU HAVE FINALLY SAID YOUR PEACE MAYBE YOU WILL STOP ARGUEING SO MUCH AND START TEACHING WITH A LOVING NON JUDGEMENTAL SPIRIT. MAYBE NOW CHUCK POST STUFF THAT BRINGS JOY TO PEOPLE DAY TO HELP THEM ON THEIR JOURNEY.
Truth. The truth is, there is a hell. The brutal truth is, there are some people walking the earth right now–today–that will spend eternity there. The balanced truth is, God loves us more and maybe differently than we can even understand. Yes, we are commissioned to inform the lost souls of the whole truth; Heaven, hell, love, justice, the nature of God, death and sin…and by this proclamation of what Jesus did, who we really are and how God saved us from death, the hearer is to make his or her choice. ( I set before you, this day, life and death…choose life… Deut 30:19)
Frightening warnings of a hell to come have been effective at calling many to repentance. But I wonder…how PERMANENT is this type of choice? Shouldn’t a relationship bound in love last forever?
My kids are grown so through the years, I’ve seen alot of “repentance”, begging, wheeling and dealing for forgiveness…it’s funny now, but still interesting. My own relationship with my parents included alot of this when I was young, but then it changed one day.
I remember begging my parents’ forgiveness–in tears–because I knew I had done wrong. I was sorry. And I hoped they would grant me a pardon. And I knew if they would just not punish me, I planned to never never be bad again!! (yeah, right!)
I also remember begging my parents’ forgiveness–in tears– because I knew I had done wrong. I was sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. But this time, the punishment was not my concern. I could see I hurt my parents through my disobedience. And I loved them so much, I wouldv’e done anything to take back what I’d done. That’s when our relationship changed. When I recognized their love for me, how my disobedience affected them and my love for them drove me to “LASTING repentance”.