Tommy Mitchell / The Rurban Church Blog

You Shall Know the Truth!

One day in the give and take of the usual office chatter among our staff, our Worship Pastor was making a point about truth and error regarding how people view other religions.  He used the illustration of how government agents know the difference between authentic and counterfeit money.  They do not study counterfeit money so much – but they do study everything about real money – how it looks, how it feels, how it smells.  They become so familiar with authentic currency that a fake bill stands out like a sore thumb. And so it is for the child of God! We don’t need to study world religions nearly so much as we need to know the word of God.

How desperately the church today needs to immerse itself in the word of God so that it recognizes false teaching and steers clear of it.  Though I am disturbed when I hear a member of the body of Christ adopting some unbiblical behavior, I am absolutely alarmed when I see and hear my brothers and sisters co-mingling the false with the truth.  A half fake, half real dollar bill is considered all fake!  And a biblical belief that is some portion Bible and some portion something else is altogether something else!

Most believers who read this will just say “AMEN” and move on.  Yet, I hear statements like this nearly every day.  “I know the Bible says something different, but I just got so much good out of it!”  (it being something totally against scripture!)  “Even if this doesn’t really portray what the scriptures say, it really makes us think!”  When the books we read, the movies we see, the influencers we listen to do not line up with the word of God, then the books we read, the movies we see, and the influencers we listen to are false! Co-mingling the false with the true is not an advantage – it is a distinct disadvantage.  The easier it is for us to take in the false, the easier it will be to purge ourselves from the rigors and demands of Holy Scripture.

If your husband / wife came home late one day from work, and told you that they saw a beautiful / handsome person of the opposite sex and just had to ask for their name and address and talk a bit over coffee, would you say that was good or bad?  Nothing happened! Just an exchange of info – a friendly conversation – and some good coffee!  Unless you have lost your mind, you would say that it was not only bad, but something of the marriage covenant had been violated.  And even more dangerous is the inevitability of a moral fall coming soon down the road! 

When we co-mingle false theology and false teaching with a wink and a nod into Christian doctrine, we have, according to the word of God, played the part of the spiritual harlot who goes whoring after other gods! Yep! God takes this stuff pretty seriously. 

There are a lot of “pop-spiritual” books, movies, and teachers in our society. Some of our preachers are so riddled with falsehood that they sound like a mixture of proverbs and fortune cookies when they speak.  How will the child of God know the difference between the authentic and the false?  Psalm 119 says it best  - By taking heed according to Your word. 10 With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! 11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You! 12 Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes! 13 With my lips I have declared All the judgments of Your mouth. 14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. 16 I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.

Only a Move of God!

Following yesterday's morning and evening services, I have been reminded that only a move of God is required, only a move of God is needed, and only a move of God will fix what is broken in our churches.   We can analyze all the data we want, we can try to assign blame wherever we think the data points, we can talk and talk and study and study, but ultimately, the church is not a business that can adopt a new model, it is not a group in search of a new program to solve its ills - it is a living organism of the Lord Jesus Christ!  Christ is the head, and He will not share His glory with anyone!  And He is the only who can build His church - a Kingdom church.  Read the scriptures - it is all in there!

The only thing we can do is surrender our will to His!  Jesus said this - "9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love."  John 15:9-10  

How do we know that we abide in His love? By obeying Him!  A total devotion to Christ that results in transformed lives through obedience is the only path for the church.  

Yesterday we saw a move of God in the morning and evening services that will do more good than all the analysis in the world! Praise the Lord!  

The Missing Christ!

In preparation for one of the points of today's Sunday morning message, I was reading in the book of Colossians!  It is very much a book about Christ!  The more I read it, the more I realized how much Christ is missing - missing from the church - missing from our homes - missing from our marriages - missing from our choices - missing from our activities!

Now, I know He is not literally "missing!" He is everywhere - whether or not I acknowledge Him! But we do a very good job of ignoring Him!  Sometimes, even when we are thinking of serving Him, we think of Him in the wrong way!

At many times - and even recent times - I have reflected on what "I" want to and have wanted to accomplish in my life for Christ!  The more I read the scriptures - including Colossians - and ponder on this - I realize that this desire to "accomplish" things for Christ is a problem!  It is not me who accomplishes anything - only Him!  Christ is the one who accomplishes His work! He may certainly use me - but I tend to frustrate Him by getting in the way and trying to do things myself!

I have often seen preaching as my best way to "get things done" in the Kingdom!  But really, He doesn't need my preaching - He rathers desires me - for me to just yield all those dreams, ambitions, and plans to Him! He desires that I totally depend on Him!  That doesn't mean I should not preach - it means that I come to it with the attitude that Christ will either speak through me or I will just be quiet! The results are up to Him - not me! The power is in Him, not me! 

People around me are broken! They really are! I want to fix them! There are two reasons that I can't! One, I am broken too - and He is still working on me!  Two, only Christ can fix people!   When I learn to totally depend upon Christ - to rest in His awesome power - to yield results to His workings through the Holy Spirit - then it is more likelythat I will see Christ do His marvelous work!

I think of how foolish it would have been when I was a child watching my Dad work on the car, if I had nudged him out of the way and said, "Dad, let me do that! I will fix this for you!"  I did not have the knowledge, the strength, the skill, or the endurance to fix the car!  Daddy would have just looked at me with a "bless his little heart" look!   Yet, we do the same thing with Christ every day! We "tell" Him or "show" Him how to grow His church!  We "tell" Him or attempt to "show" Him how to solve our problems and the problems of others!    Christ must be saying, "well, bless their hearts!" 

He seeks my obedience and availabilty! He seeks my total trust and dependence!  He has the rest covered!  He is not missing! But we are missing Him!  When will we quit trying everything under the sun and just return to trusting Him?

Pray - Study - Fellowship!

We are about to head over to the church for mid-week services! 

While there - we will pray for some folks and some needs!  Our prayers will be heard by the Lord of Glory - who INVITES us to pray - and promises to answer and show us great and mighty things we were unaware of!

We will sing praises to His glorious name!

Then we will study His precious word for a while!

Some will stay longer to prepare to lead us in worship this Sunday!

Hopefully, we will all leave refreshed!

Are you taking advantage of the mid-week services your church offers????

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!