Wednesday, October 31, 2012

When God Takes Over by Michael Catt

I have shared blog postings by Michael Catt before and I do again today.  He is Pastor in Albany, GA whose church is most famous for producing movies like "Facing the Gaints" and "Couregous."  But his heart (as you will read) is for revival.  Enjoy the posting.


While many talk of revival in the church, few, in fact, want it. We say we want a visitation of God, but when He shows up, we reject it. God didn’t show up and behave Himself. He didn’t act like we told Him to. That’s what we hate about revival–God takes over.

Those who have studied Experiencing God or have had a taste of the “deeper life,” “the Spirit filled life,” or whatever term you want to call it, know something the average pew-dweller doesn’t know. When God moves, He upsets the status quo. When He does, those who are following Him have to go with Him or surrender to those who cry out for “the good old days” of business as usual.

If we aren’t moving with God, we are, in effect, fighting Him. If we aren’t open to His corrective surgery in our lives, we are accepting cancerous rebellion in our lives. There is no middle ground. Go with God or shake your fist in His face. The choice is always ours. Countless churches stand as testimony of what happens when you don’t go with God. They are empty, dead, lifeless, predictable, and boring. Nothing happens. Why? They worship God as they have created Him in their image, not God as He is revealed in the Scripture.

The standards set forth for worship, prayer, witnessing, and living in the Word is the New Testament norm. The standards set forth by denominations, tradition, or public opinions are always below the New Testament norm. That’s why when a new convert comes into most churches, he has to backslide to have fellowship with the members. The average church member lives so far below the standard that when someone lives up to the standard, he’s considered weird.

God is more willing to lead us into a time of refreshing and revival than we are willing to seek it. He desires it, but we often resist it. He commands it, “Repent or else…” while we shake our fist in His face and say, “Or else what?” I’ve been in places where the attitude was, “We did just fine here before God showed up and messed up our little religion.”

Tozer said it well, “It is useless for large companies of believers to spend long hours begging God to send revival. Unless we intend to reform, we may as well not pray.” Revival is not an earthly concoction; it is a heavenly creation. When it comes, there is a renewed passion for holiness, righteousness, worship, prayer, and witnessing. When it is absent, there is a pressure to perform, keep up numbers, and look good at all cost. The tendency in the absence of revival is to clean up the surface but never scrub the heart.

Revival is lacking in our nation. The Republicans won’t bring it. Democrats can’t stop it. Politicians can’t buy it. It is from God. A return to values will not come from legislation. It will only come out of repentance. The bottom is falling out in our culture and in our churches. The reason America is in such terrible shape is that our churches are so anemic. There is no unexplainable power. There are no tears at the altar. There is no repentance among the offended. There is no forgiveness offered.

We say we want revival in our land. We want to return to “the good old days.” In the good old days, Grandma and Grandpa believed in Holy Ghost revival. They prayed for rain, worked for a harvest, and humbled themselves before God. In “the good old days” even the Baptists and Methodists were known to shout Hallelujah! In “the good old days” church activities were more important than soccer, t-ball, ballet, clubs, or part-time jobs. In “the good old days” we had a holy reverence for the Sabbath. We believed in church more than one hour a week. Don’t ask God to bless America if you aren’t willing to correct the error of your own ways. Revival leaves no stone unturned, no sin uncovered, no compromise excused. God is merciless with our lives when He is in control.

When revival comes, it consists of a new spiritual life imparted to the dead and a new spiritual vitality imparted to the living. Nothing remains the same, or it’s something less than revival. Revival is not blowing the top off. It’s knocking the props out. The props of religion, respectability, pious pride, tradition, and unbiblical opinions have to go. In their place, God brings Holy Spirit empowered ministry, humble service, willing workers, sacrificial saints, and passionate praying. Revival is the necessary exchange of a “form of godliness” for the power of God.

You cannot plan a revival or even predict one. You can’t dictate the direction of the wind, but you can set your sails to catch it. Revival, true revival, is a divine interruption of the status quo and man’s fleshly efforts to please God. Nor can you stop a revival. The timing, the extent, and the impact of revival are all in God’s hands. No revival lasts forever, but its effects will always last.

If you want to know what hinders revival in the church, it’s Sunday-morning Christianity–showing up, tipping God, evaluating the service by your personal standards rather than God’s Word, and giving a nodding approval to the Word but never living it out in the world. Vance Havner said, “There never was a real revival that did not produce heartburn and hallelujahs.” We hate heartburn. We’d rather see people in our community burn in hell than go through the pain of God burning away our flesh.

Stephen Olford noted, “Revival is not some emotion or worked up excitement; it is an invasion from heaven that brings a conscious awareness of God.” It is an extraordinary movement producing extraordinary results. It is obedience to the Word, commitment to godliness, and practical obedience.

I’ve personally been a part of one great movement of God in my life. I’ve seen God do such a might work it could not be explained. I’ve watched Him sovereignly move. I long to see it again. Will we sit on the sidelines and be “good” Christians, or will we set our sails to catch the wind of the Spirit and go with God as He is, not as we want Him to be? It’s our choice…we just have to be ready to live with our decision.

“They tell me a revival is only temporary; so is a bath, but it does you good.” – Billy Sunday

Monday, October 29, 2012

Sunday Sermon, October 28, 2012


Yesterday I continued preaching through Romans 12-14 under the umbrella "How We NOW Shall Live" as I looked at "Wal-Mart Religion" from Romans 13: 8-10.  To read the notes, click here

The audio of the message is here:

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Abortion is a Human Rights' Issue


(The following is a blog posting by Justin Taylor)


It’d Be Nice to Hear a Pro-Life Politician Answer the Religion and Abortion Question This Way

Saying that life begins at conception isn’t a controversial statement. It’s a question of science. Ask any embryologist and he can tell you that what’s growing in the mother’s womb is a whole, living, human boy or girl at his or her earliest stage of development, with his or her own unique DNA that will remain the same through all stages of development, from conception to death.
What’s controversial is that I think every human being is valuable simply because he or she is a member of the valuable human race. I don’t think human beings have to earn their rights by having certain characteristics like the “correct” race, or gender, or size, or ability, or age.
In other words, it’s the fact that I think we ought to be upholding universal human rights that’s the controversial position.
Now as a Christian, I do believe it’s my duty to protect the natural rights of human beings—to protect universal human rights—because human beings are the kind of being that’s valuable. But one doesn’t have to be a Christian to agree with universal human rights. There are many people of other religions, or no religion, who also want to uphold universal human rights.
The idea that we’re all created equal and equally possess unalienable rights regardless of our differences (race, size, age, ability, etc.) is a founding principle of this nation. Sadly, in the past, we allowed the government to define some human beings out of the human family by requiring they have certain preferred characteristics (like white skin) in order to qualify for protection.
Our failures in the past to hold our government accountable to our professed principle of unalienable rights for every human being led to serious human rights violations. I don’t want to repeat that same mistake. Instead, I would like to hold us to that founding principle.
You asked for a personal answer, and I agree that there are many emotions involved on all sides of this question. But I don’t want to confuse the issue by giving the impression that this is a matter of personal preference. Regulating subjective preferences is not the role of government, so answering as if the abortion issue were merely personal wouldn’t clarify what’s at stake. The issue of human rights is a public issue, and the protection of the lives of human beings is an area of public life that requires the government’s involvement.
Amen.

Monday, October 22, 2012

The Deeper You Walk, the Hungrier You Get - John Piper


John Piper:
When you take your stand on the finished work of God in Christ, and begin to drink at the River of Life and eat the Bread of Heaven, and know that you have found the end of all your longings, you only get hungrier for God. The more satisfaction you experience from God, while still in this world, the greater your desire for the next. For, as C. S. Lewis said, "Our best havings are wantings."
The more deeply you walk with Christ, the hungrier you get for Christ . . . the more homesick you get for heaven . . . the more you want "all the fullness of God" . . . the more you want to be done with sin . . . the more you want the Bridegroom to come again . . . the more you want the Church revived and purified with the beauty of Jesus . . . the more you want a great awakening to God's reality in the cities . . . the more you want to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ penetrate the darkness of all the unreached peoples of the world . . . the more you want to see false worldviews yield to the force of Truth . . . the more you want to see pain relieved and tears wiped away and death destroyed . . . the more you long for every wrong to be made right and the justice and grace of God to fill the earth like the waters cover the sea.
If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. God did not create you for this. There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened. . . . (A Hunger for God, 23)

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Multiply Conference at CrossRoads Nov. 9



We are hosting this event on Friday, November 9 from 7-10 pm.  It is FREE and no prior registration is required.  Come to CrossRoads!!!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Sermon Notes and Audio for Sunday, October 14, 2012

Yesterday I continued preaching through Romans 12-14 under the umbrella "How We NOW Shall Live" as I looked at "What We Should Do for our Government" from Romans 13: 6-7.  To read the notes, click here

The audio of the message is here:

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Interest Meeting for the North Alabama Center of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

The North Alabama Center of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is seeking to resume classes in January, 2013. The Center will offer Certificate programs in Bible Teaching and Pastoral Ministries on Thursday nights at First Baptist Church, Athens, AL.  An interest meeting for students will be Sunday, November 4 at 3:00 at First Baptist Church, Athens (Room 112).   All interested students MUST either attend this meeting or communicate your intentions to nac@fbcathens.org.  For more information, contact David Cofield at 256-247-6336 or at the email address above.  

Monday, October 8, 2012

Sermon Audio and Notes from Sunday, October 7, 2012

Yesterday I continued preaching through Romans 12-14 under the umbrella "How We NOW Shall Live" as I looked at "What the Government Should Do For You" from Romans 13: 3-5.  To read the notes, click here.

The audio of the message is here:

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Sermon Audio of Sunday, September 30, 2012

This past Sunday, September 30, 2012 I preached a message "Embrace Our Mission" that was for our church as we prepare for a six-week prayer emphasis by the same title.  Below is the audio of that message:

Monday, October 1, 2012

Freedom of Religion?

James Emery White has written an excellent blog today "Freedom of" or "Freedom from"?.  Read it here.