Tommy Mitchell / The Rurban Church Blog

Open Letter to Agricola Baptist!

What a day we experienced in worship yesterday!  We were maxed out with the schedule!

1. You never go wrong honoring great Moms and graduates!   So glad we were able to honor Mrs. Myrt yesterday!  She is an 87 year old lady of prayer! Great prayer warrior!  We were also delighted to share another flower arrangement with Melanie Williams.  She has been hovering over our children for several years now - she has become an extended Mom to most of the kids in our church!

2. Seniors, you looked great - even if did sit through the whole service with square hats on!!!!!! Take the wisdom challenge and follow God's word every day of your life.

3. Enjoyed a great time of worshiping God in the morning service.  The worship team did an awesome job in worship leading.

4. What a great time at AAD last night! You miss it?  You missed it!  We had an hour long interview with Bro. Mark!  We talked about the early days for a bit at  ABC!  We examined a Biblical foundation for children's ministry - or as I prefer - children's discipleship!  It was a great hour and reminded me so much of why I will miss Bro. Mark!

5. All ABC folks need to remember that "special thing" we are collecting next Sunday!  If you don't know what I am talking about, call me!  If you plan to be gone next Sunday, please drop off that "special thing" in the church office!

6. Great line from the interview with Mark last night - "Our men have got to step up!"

7.  Remember this ABC: Love for God cannot be imitated for long! Our love for God, or lack of it, will be on display and known by everyone! Do your actions demonstrate a burning, passionate love for Christ?

Let it Be "Yes!"

Through the years, I have often heard (and even said this myself) a person talk about how God was leading or asking or telling them to do a particular thing and their response was to argue with God and say "no!"  

Where do we get this notion that we can say "no" to God?  We studied Ananias in Acts 9:10 -19 last night!  God sent him to meet with Saul - who had encountered Christ on the Damascus road resulting in a life change and blindness!  Notice:

1. When God called out to Ananias, his response was an affirmative "Yes, Lord!"    It may have been an acknowledgement that he was hearing God, but at least he answered and was positive about it!

That beats hiding out from God - or trying to ignore God - or hoping He will go away!

2. God was very clear in telling Him what He wanted Ananias to do!   My experience in life is that God has been and is generally now pretty clear about what He wants us to do!  Much of what He wants us to do is clearly defined in scripture! Are we doing those things - those things that are clear?

3. Ananias didn't argue - but did express his fears!  In response to the Lord Ananias just said, "Lord, I have heard a lot of stuff about this guy!"  Better to express your fears than to keep them in - HOWEVER, it did not change the Lord's mind!  He simply repeated His command - "GO!"

4. Ananias was an answer to prayer!  God used Ananias to fulfill a vision of Saul - to answer a prayer of Saul! The scripture tells us that God told Ananias that Saul was praying - and that in a vision he had seen Ananias come and restore his sight!   God's instructions to us will often cause us to be used to answer the prayer of another!

5. Ananias went and Saul received his sight, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and was baptized! Ananias was able to add a wonderful story of God's provision to his testimony!

God doesn't so much ask us if we will do something! He sends us - He instructs us - He commands us!  Who in their right mind and spiritual condition will argue with God?  Say "yes, Lord!"  And be blessed!

No Compromise!

Compromise seems to be "big" thing these days!  Everyone wants everyone else to "compromise" truth, morals, even common sense so we can all "feel good" about ourselves! People want to believe that compromise takes from many good ideas and standards and then creates a way of living in which we will have utopia!

But friends, genuine truth cannot be compromised without damaging everyone!  There may be some compromise that is insignificant - you want to go to a steak house and I want to go to a fish house - so we compromise and go to an oriental restuarant!  No big deal!  Of course, the result of compromise was that neither of us got anything we wanted - we just both settled on what we could tolerate.

When it comes to God's Word, the push is on, as much from inside the church as outside, to compromise!  God's Word says to be sexually pure before marriage and have fidelity to your spouse in marriage! Right now our society is not arguing about compromise on the first - we don't find much sexual purity even in the church before marriage! What we are being encouraged to compromise now is the institution of marriage itself!  If you want to get married, fine! If not, then accept it!  The problem - God's Word cannot be compromised.  It can be disobeyed - but not compromised.  You know why? Because God wrote it - and He doesn't compromise.

The marriage deal was just one illustration!  We are being bombarded to compromise all Biblical standards! The problem of compromising scripture is that we end up declaring eternal truths invalid! We essentially make ourselves the "deciders" of what is truth and what is not!  It is to reject the Lord Himself as truth!

The longer I preach, the more Biblically centered I am becoming! This is not a form of Biblical "idolatry!" It is the understanding that God gave us His Word to establish eternal truths and boundaries for our lives. He gave us scripture to reveal truths about Himself!  The more I preach, the more I am impressed to "let the Word speak!" 

The more I do that, I find the Holy Spirit "stirring" hearts!  Sometimes that "stirring" is like hitting a wasp nest with a stick!  Sometimes that stirring is a deep moving of the heart towards righteousness.  I have a lot to say - but I am trying to defer to staying out of the way and just letting the Word speak!  God uses us - He speaks through His servants - but His Word must outshine anything we have to say on the matter! 

One thing is for sure! In the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who teach and preach must not compromise on the Word of Truth!  To do so will likely end in disaster for the church and the teacher / preacher!  I, for one, want to avoid that!

The Spirit Was Evident!

The spirit of God was much in evidence this morning at ABC!  He gave us all the opportunity to reflect and examine our relationship with Him!  Jesus spoke many wonderful but hard truths!  Such was the case with the parable of the wheat and tares! 

In a day when lives of those in our churches sometimes looks shockingly similar to those who are not believers, the wheat and tares parable is instructive!  Jesus interpreted the parable Himself, so there is no ambiguity about it!  The Lord is planting kingdom seed in this world!  He says in the parable that the seed represents believers - Kingdom citizens. 

Here is the thing - genuine followers of Christ produce fruit! They are planted by the Lord and they will be gathered into the presence of God at the final harvest!   The tares, while initially looking very similar to believers, grow and prosper and do a lot of things that the wheat does.  But they do not bear fruit, and as they grow, they reveal more and more that they are not wheat!  They have no value - they are gathered at the harvest and burned!  Jesus identified this burning as the the eternal fire of hell, where He gives the horrible description of this fire as the place of "gnashing of teeth!" 

In the modern American church, we have created a rather heretical set of "agreements" with one another! We readily accept as normal that roughly 20% of our people will do 80% of the work of the Kingdom!  We readily accept that roughly 20% of our people will give 80% of the stewardship!  We call this, in Southern Baptist circles, "NORMAL!" 

As a result, we have very low expectations of those we consider to be followers of Christ .  In the vast majority of SBC churches, we accept as "NORMAL" that just under 50% of our people can ever be found! Ever! Anytime! Anywhere!  

The parable of the wheat and tares helps inform us that salvation from God is not a fruitless life! The wheat produces! But for too many of our churches we have created this "non-Christian Christian!"  It somehow makes us feel better, though heaven only knows why!  The problem is that many tares are in the church!  They are not my enemy! They are their own enemy!  They are deceived!

We often ask questions about why modern churches, on average, in the US are so weak - why we don't see more movement of the Spirit of God?  Why do we not see more healing, physically and spiritually? Why do we not see a "powerful in proclamation" and "rich in ministry" church?

Because we are too busy saying "peace, peace, when there is no peace!"  Because we are too busy trying not to offend people in church who have no fellowship with Christ! Because we are too busy playing ourselves to death while Christ and His mission go unstaffed and unfunded!  Oh, because we have MANY tares!

Sanctification is indeed a process - but it is an ongoing work towards the holiness of Christ! This morning we took a step in being more direct about that process - and calling attention to the fact that we must examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith - or if we are a fair imitation for a Christian!

May God help us - because on the day of harvest, wheat will be harvested to Christ - tares will be burned in the fires of hell - AND FRIENDS, THAT IS NOT FROM ME - IT IS FROM CHRIST!

Evaluating Easter!

Today is Easter! Praise the Lord!  It is 100% appropriate that the church gives special notice and celebration to resurrection Sunday!  The achievement of the Lord on this day is the completion of a great miracle of forgiveness - sin bearing - and defeating death and sin!  The day is worthy of our special notice!

How will we evaluate Easter?   Huge crowds will appear at most churches today!  It is quite likely that most of our churches will have the largest crowd of the year!  We will  polish up the worship center, break out our best clothing,  sing our best songs,  and hopefully, preach great sermons!  Extra seating will be available!   And if our people show up wearing their new look, and sing our best songs, and listen to our messages of resurrection - and if they fill up our extra seating - then on Monday we will look back at this day and say, "WOW, we had a fabulous Easter!"

And, I will concede the point - it is always great to fill the building - hopefully for the glory of God!

But I would submit to you that the best way to evaluate the success of Easter Sunday will be on April 15th!  Yes - the Sunday following Easter!  Because, you see, Easter is such an amazing event that we don't celebrate it once a year!  A once a year celebration is so old school for something so utterly life-changing, history-making, and future impacting!   THE church of the Lord Jesus Christ celebrates Easter as the body of Christ every Lord's Day - every Sunday! 

So, next Sunday, April 15th, will be a much more realistic mark regarding how successfully and how completely the Holy Spirit has transformed lives as a result of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!   My prayer is that today - all who come - will be renewed in their faith - or come to faith in Jesus Christ - because Easter is worth all your devotion and your life - until He comes!

The Darkest Hour!

For most people, the "darkest hours" of their lives are usually related to death!  Sometimes it might be connected to extreme traumas or heinous crimes, but for most folks, a death - especially an unexpected death puts them in a "dark hour" for a bit!

Death is predictable! Maybe not by day, month or year - but we will all die! Yet, somehow when death comes to those around us, we seem to be "taken back" by it - even surprised!  Jesus began teaching his disciples quite a while before his death that He would be given over to those who hated Him, that He would suffer, then die, and then be raised up again.  Yet, his disciples seemed totally shocked and surprised that it could and did happen.

The time was for them "a dark hour!"  When Christ died upon the cross, I suppose the reality of it hit home - and one would have to think that they remembered at least in part that Jesus had said He would die.  Yet, they obviously did not remember or understand all that He said because they did not anticipate his resurrection.  

I identify with them! Though they had been taught enough that they could have taken chairs to the tomb to await the resurrection of the Lord, they instead hunkered down in defeat and sorrow.  We too have been taught enough by the Lord and His word to know that even in death, we are not defeated.  He has overcome death and sin.  Yet, we approach death as the darkest of hours!  It is admittedly hard not to do this! 

On this Good Friday, we observe the sacrifice on the cross.  It is somber! It was for many a "dark hour!"  Praise the Lord that we have had confirmed for us what the disciples had been taught beforehand.  Jesus would suffer, bleed and die!  But Sunday is coming!

 

 

Avoiding the Judas Syndrome!

Last night in Bible Study, we explored the life of Judas! Using all four Gospels and the book of Acts, one gets an amazing amount of information about Judas and what others knew of him. 

One of my subpoints dealt with the fact that Judas' betrayal of Jesus was not a sudden thing - the patterns of betrayal were already visible in his daily life.  As a summary, I shared these points about Judas.......

Judas was called - but was not committed!

He was trusted - but was not trustworthy!

He was concerned - but not compassionate!

He was knowledgeable - but not able to discern truth!

He got what he wanted - but lost all he had!

It is incredibly easy to slip into "Judas mode" even today! Be careful - stay very close to Jesus!

Through the Ears of a Child!

When children are little, they don't always know what they are hearing - but they will tell you what they think they heard!  The following are children's "uncensored" commments - mostly about the Bible!

In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world, so he took the Sabbath off.

Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree.

Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark.

Noah built an ark, which the animals come on to in pears.

Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night.

Samson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah.

Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles.

Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients.

The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert.

Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten amendments.

The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.

The fifth commandment is to humor thy father and mother.

The seventh commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.

Moses died before he ever reached Canada.

Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.

The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.

David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar.

He fought with the Finklesteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.

Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

When Mary heard that she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.

When the three wise guys from the east side arrived, they found Jesus in the manager.

Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.

St. John, the blacksmith, dumped water on his head.

Jesus enunciated the Golden Rule, which says to do one to others before they do one to you.

He also explained, "A man doth not live by sweat alone."

The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.

The epistles were the wives of the apostles.

One of the opossums was St. Matthew who was also a taximan.

St. Paul cavorted to Christianity. He preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage.

A Christian should have only one spouse. This is called monotony.

Salome was a woman who danced naked in front of Harrods.

The Pope lives in a vacuum.

Paraffin is next in order after seraphim.

Today wild beasts are confined to Theological Gardens.

The patron saint of travelers is St. Frances of the sea sick.

A republican is a sinner mentioned in the Bible.

Abraham begat Isaac and begat Jacob and Jacob begat twelve partridges.

It is sometimes difficult to hear what is being said in church because the agnostics are so terrible.

 

Learning Lab with Christ!

This year I am reading through the four Gospels!  In January I read all four.  This month I am just reading Mark and making some light notes. I will do the same with the remaining three over the next three months - and then start over again reading each book through in a commentary! and so on!

I have been blessed beyond measure already!  Spending a year reading the Gospels is to spend a year studying the life of Christ! It is very worthwhile.  Just a few thoughts thus far:

1. Busy! Jesus had days that at times, just never ended!  Healing, teaching, discussing, defending, and at times - running for his life!

2. Prayerful!  Jesus was never far from prayer!

3. Repetitive!  Jesus taught important principles and realities over and over to His disciples!  Not unlike folks today - the disciples did not always get it!

4. The Disciples did "get it" when they were filled with the Holy Spirit and focusing on Christ!

5.  Parallels!  This is my favorite!  Reading the Gospels helps you see the truthfulness of this verse in
      Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
       Jesus lived a life that in some ways was not so different than ours!  He was challenged for living
      to a higher standard!  He was criticized for "new methods!"  He was run out of town for telling
      the truth!  He was assualted regularly by the devil for being who He was!  He got weary and
      tired!  He expressed feelings of astonishment, amazement, and disappointment - usually in
      response to people and their unbelief or great faith - their dull hearts or receptive ones!

    I could say much more on that one - but studying the life of Christ is a great encouragement because He was the pioneer example of living "Christ" in and to this world!  And He did it without sin - without giving up!

6. There are endless short phrases in the Gospels worthy of great sermons! 

7. Spending a year of your life reading the Bible is never a bad thing! Last year I read the Bible through Chronologically!  I wanted a more narrow focus this year - and I know no better one than
the life of Christ in the Gospels!

God Answers Prayer!!!!!! Surprised??

Last week, Pastor Nick and I talked briefly about the need to have a prayer meeting for rain! Sunday morning I felt really impressed by God's Spirit to announce a prayer meeting for Tuesday night at 7:30 pm.  About 45 people came to pray!

We briefly reminded everyone of three very important realities:

    1. God is the Creator!  Therefore, He controls, in His Sovereignty, the creation!  There are abundant scientific (and accurate) descriptions of weather patterns and why it has been dry in the southern most parts of our state.  However, while those observable weather patterns may explain our dry weather, the Lord God controls the patterns!  He created them! Therefore, we should praise Him for His might and His ability to control the elements.

  2. Biblically, the lack of rain is most often associated with sin!  Do your own research - but I was reminded by spending some time in the Word of God Monday and Tuesday looking at rain in the scripture - that most often it is withheld from the land because of sin.  So we spent some time confessing and repenting of sin - and corporate sins of the church and the people in our land.

3. Finally, we observed that God does know our need, and responds to the prayers of His people! So we prayed for the people most hurt by dry weather. 

So, two days later, God abundantly answered our prayers.  This is quite significant.  Several days ago, as has happened a few times this spring, we have had about a 30 - 40 % chance of rain - and got none of it.  Today the official chance in the morning was 30%.  As it began to rain - and rain quite well - they raised the chance to 40%!!!!!   However, we got 100% of that chance!   God sent us wonderful rains today.  This morning when it first hit - the weather service had to issue a Severe Thunderstorm warning for SOUTHEAST George County! That is where we are at ABC!!!  Then it spread over more of the area - and fired up more as the day went on! 

I believe God answered our prayers!  I do not believe that it was because we are better prayer warriors than others - nor did the quality of prayer outshine everyone else.  I think two things were involved in this rather striking answer to prayer today!  We acted obediently to do what He instructed us to do - hold a prayer meeting for rain!  (I had already encountered a few "snickers" for doing that by last evening!)  Secondly, God loves to bless His children!  He blessed our obedience out of His grace! 

There are more things we need to be praying about - lostness - the need for awakening - the economic pain!  And in our Deacon Mentoring last night - I informed them to expect more "special" prayer meetings to come! We need to pray - because we need the practice - and God desires to bless a praying people!