Can we please stop beating up Calvinists?

Every Southern Baptist pastor in the state of Florida recently got a four part video series preached by Jerry Vines called "Baptist Battles." In one of those messages, he preached against the "danger" of Calvinism. The Florida Baptist Convention sent this out, using I presume, Cooperative Program dollars. As a result, a number of pastors raised the necessary $20,000 to mail a rebuttal DVD called "Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism" to every SBC pastor in Florida.

While the cheap side of me can appreciate someone sending me free CD's/DVD's, I fail to see the benefit of this kind of infighting. Calvinism/predestination does not fall in what Baptists would call the "essentials" of the faith. This is a secondary issue. We can agree to disagree. I'm not a 5 point Calvinist. However, I pastor alongside my Spanish pastor who is. We have often shared the gospel together with a lost person, side by side. We have gone on mission trips together. There has never been an issue. He has preached in my pulpit.

Actually, I believe that both "Baptist Battles" and "Amazing Grace" are well done and make for a good summary of both positions on this issue. I recommend them both. I just hate that money is being spent by Baptists in order to fight one another when that money could have gone to evangelism or missions.

What would revival look like in America?

I listened to a great message by Voddie Baucham recently which he preached at the Founders Fellowship Breakfast at the Southern Baptist Convention. In it, he talked about what revival would look like and what it would not look like if it oocurred in our churches across America. Ask most people about revival and they say it involves full church buildings filled weekly with passion and excitement. However, all of these things are true of a typical football game. Yet, we wouldn't call that revival. Voddie's message got me re-thinking about revival. I began to consider the possibility that revival would initially result in a decline in our churches across the SBC.

Initially...

1. SBC denominational numers would plummet because we'd eliminate the millions of so-called "members" who couldn't be found by the FBI.
2. We might practice church discipline, causing our numbers to decline even further.
3. In some churches, revival would result in the whole counsel of the Word of God being taught, including the parts that are not popular. Preaching would be more than a self help pep talk. Those who come to hear those pep talks would leave and our numbers would decline even further.
4. Worship would become something more than a weekly concert that precedes weekly theater. This would result in the entertainment seekers leaving and thus, our numbers would decline even further.

But in the long run...

1. We’d be filled with new power and victory to live the Christian life. The world would see our walk matching our talk and it would be convicted.
2. Homes would be restored as men, women and children fulfill their Biblical roles.
3. Evangelism would come naturally to our people. You wouldn’t need to take a class to tell someone about Jesus.
4. The Sunday night attendance might rival the Sunday morning attendance, even when “just another sermon” is on the schedule.
5. Our denomination would have no problem sending out those 2,800 missionaries they’ve been praying for. They’d be flooded with prospects offering to serve and the churches would send all the money they needed since everyone would be tithing!
6. Teenagers wouldn’t abandon the faith as soon as they leave for college because they would be trained by Godly Dads and Moms who take the initiative to teach their children the Word of God. Thus we'd stop losing the next generation to the world.

I think you could argue that short term loss would probably result if revival took place, but long term growth would then follow. Feel free to share your thoughts on this matter and be sure to check out the above sermon if you have time. Either way, "Lord, send a revival!"

Responding to Criticisms

I found the following humorous tid bit on a church growth blog and thought it was worth passing along. Do any of the following criticisms sound familiar? (Not at FBCH, of course, but you know..other churches!)

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We, the deacons of your church, have listed the top ten criticisms we have received and have decided upon the following solutions for these complaints:

1. “I want more depth in the sermons”: For all sermons we will read the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, therefore everyone in the congregation will be required to take Hebrew and Greek classes. Since these languages require constant study and usage, each member will be required to take these classes until they die.

2. “Nobody noticed when I was gone for three weeks”: From now on, each member of the congregation will be required to have placed on their ankle a tracking device so that we will know where they are at all times, including when they are at the lake, at the golf course, hunting, etc. Also, each member will be required to bring a doctor’s note stating that the member was actually sick and had an excuse for being out of church. The church will also start to use the phone tree system to give everyone a wake-up call on Sunday mornings so that they can get to church on time.

3. “Nobody cares about how I feel”: From now on, we will have a psychiatrist/psychologist/Christian counselor (the member will choose) available on Sunday mornings to help each member understand more about their feeling that no one cares about them. In addition, each member will be required to start caring for others in the congregation.

4. “I don’t know everybody anymore”: From now on each member of the congregation will be required to memorize the names and faces of each member of the congregation, including each new member that joins hereafter. Also, each member will be required wear a photo i.d. for identification purposes.

5. “The choir doesn’t sing my kind of music”: From now on, there will be no more choir or congregational singing but each seat in the sanctuary will be equipped with an IPOD and headphones to listen to your favorite type of Christian music during the worship service.

6. “We shouldn’t let those kinds of people into the church”: Beginning next week, each member will be required to have an “extreme makeover” so that everyone will look the same. Said makeover cost will be the responsibility of each member.

7. “All the church talks about is for me to give more money”: Beginning immediately, there will be no more offerings taken up during the worship services and each member will be required to tithe ten percent of their income by enrolling in a payroll deduction plan from their place of employment or enrolling in an automatic draft of their tithe from their bank. This way we will not have to ask for money again.

8. “The preacher talks too much about sacrifice”: Beginning next week, each member of the congregation will be required to play on a church softball team and advance at least one runner per game to another base by sacrifice bunt or a sacrifice fly so that each person can say they sacrificed something during the week.

9. “The worship services are boring”: Beginning next Sunday, the baptismal pool will have a wave machine installed to make the baptisms more fun. Also, Barnum and Bailey Circus will provide us with clowns to perform during the welcome time and the Harlem Globetrotters will provide us with a demonstration of their basketball skills during the invitation.

10. “The church is not going in the right direction”: Beginning next Sunday, we will no longer have a pastor to preach and lead the church but instead each member of the congregation will be required to go before the church and “share” their feelings about which direction the church ought to going. This should work out extremely well because so many in the congregation seem to know which direction we ought to be going because they have suddenly become experts in the field of church growth and church vision.

The Autobiography of George Mueller

Although I had read it some time ago, I found myself pulling the autobiography of George Mueller off my shelf while preparing for Sunday's message. For those of you who have never read it, it's one you don't want to miss. It's one of the best manuals on prayer you'll ever read.

For those of you who don't know, George Mueller was a nineteenth century pastor who wrote down thousands upon thousands of prayer requests and documented how God answered them. Many times the responses are nothing less than amazing.

A few favorite passages of mine...

June 25, 1834: "These last few days I have had very little real communion with God, and have therefore been irritable and weak spiritually."

June 26, 1834: "I rose early this morning and spent nearly two hours in prayer before breakfast. I now feel more comfortable."

September 29, 1835: " Last evening when I said goodbye to the family, I wanted to go to sleep at once. The weakness of my body and the coldness of the night tempted me to pray no longer. However, the Lord helped me to kneel before Him. No sooner had I begun to pray than His Spirit shone into my soul and gave me such a spirit of prayer as I had not enjoyed for many weeks. He graciously revived His work in my heart. I enjoyed that nearness to God and fervency in prayer for more than an hour. My soul had been panting for many weeks for this sweet experience."

On one occasion, George Mueller rebuked a member of his congregation for working all of the time, claiming that it was to "feed his family." Mr. Mueller replied, "My dear brother, it is not your work which supports your family, but the Lord. He has fed you and your family when you could not work at all because of illness. He would surely provide for you and yours, if, for the sake of obtaining food for your inner man, you worked fewer hours a day to give you proper time for rest."

Do yourself a favor and order a copy.

The Prayers of a Three Year Old

Not too long ago, something clicked during family devotion time. Brenda, my three year old daughter, suddenly decided she really likes to pray. Sure, she enjoyed it before, but only with lots of help focusing from Mom and Dad. Then suddenly, one night while sitting in my lap, she just started thanking God...for everything!

Thank you God for my pink blankie. Thank you God for my white blankie. Thank you God for my yellow blankie. Thank you God for Daddy's silver car and Mommy's blue van. Thank you God for this finger and this finger and this finger...(followed by a prayer for each of her toes). Thank you God for...hey Daddy, what's this? ("That's your wrist," Daddy supplied.) Thank you God for my wrist. Thank you God for Mommy, Daddy, Jesse-monster and Brenda. (She never fails to thank God for herself.) Thank you God for color red and purple. Thank you God for head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. (Just like the song.) Thank you God for missiaries (missionaries). Thank you God for Osiel, Ramon, Jorge, Mario, Raffy and Lori (the six missionaries our church has "adopted."). Thank you God for Daddy loves Mommy. Thank you God for air (meaning air conditioning). Thank you God for lions. Thank you God for ducks. Thank you God for tv, moonies (movies), mukick (music) and dancing. Thank you God for church. Thank you God for Jesus and the boat (her favorite Bible story). Thank you God for Grandma and Grandpa.

At some point as the prayer went on (and on), Mommy suggested that she pray for her friends. Brenda replied, "Hush Mommy, I'm praying!"

I'm probably forgetting a good bit of what she thanked God for that night. But what a blessing to be reminded that we can thank God for everything that comes into our lives.

Why Nebo-Sarsekim Is Actually Important to Your Life

Jeremiah 39:3
"Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon."

Let's be really honest here. Some verses in the Bible are tough to digest. Sometimes, it's hard to read the minute details of God's Word and see how they apply to your life. If you've read the book of Jeremiah, you've read the above verse. If you gave it any thought, you probably wondered what was the big deal? Why did God decide to tell us that there was an officer in Babylon named Nebo-Sarsekim? How does that help me get through my day?

Well, it turns out that Nebo-Sarsekim was a pretty important guy. Yesterday, a report came out stating that the British Museum has obtained a 2,500 year old cuneiform tablet containing the name of Nebo-Sarsekim. It was a receipt for a financial transaction that took place involving this individual. What's the point? Nebo-Sarsekim is only mentioned in Jeremiah 39:3, almost as an afterthought. His name is about the most inconsequential detail anywhere in the Bible. And now we have archeological evidence that he was an officer in Babylon, just as the Bible says! It is proof that even when recording the most inconsequential tidbits of information, the Bible records it accurately!

Now let me ask you a question: If we can trust the Bible when it tells us about the officers in Babylon, can we not also trust it when it comes to weightier matters involving my life, my marriage, my decisions and my eternity? If the Bible is right about Nebo-Sarsekim, is it not also right about sin, forgiveness, heaven and hell?

I propose that God decided to include Nebo-Sarsekim in the pages of Scripture so that thousands of years later we'd have one more piece of evidence that the Bible is, in fact, the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. And that's why Nebo-Sarsekim is important to my life and to yours!

2800

There is a number that is taking on increasing importance among Southern Baptists. That number is 2,800. Why is this number so special? No, it doesn't refer to 2,800 pot luck dinners, 2,800 baptist business meetings or 2,800 committees serving in every church!

This number represents the number of new missionaries needed by the International Mission Board of the SBC in order to appoint one missionary for every unreached people group left in the world. For those of you who pay attention when your pastor preaches on missions, there are a lot of people groups, most consisting of thousands upon thousands of people, that have no evangelical church or missionary presence of any kind. You may also know that not too long ago, this number was a lot bigger. That fact that it is now only 2,800 is proof that God is working.

Out of 45,000 churches, 2,800 missionaries might not seem like a great task. But it is when you consider that we currently only have around 5,200 missionaries and that adding 2,800 more represents $115 million more that our churches will need to give every year.

I really hope our churches will step up to the plate and accept this challenge. FBCH is gonna hear a lot about the number "2,800" in the next few years. Unfortunately, many of our fellow Baptist churches have decided that it's better to do missions on their own. They've decided that cooperation is no longer a good idea. Some of these churches choose to spend the money on themselves and they have big staffs, buildings and programs to show for it. So they must be on to something, right? Not so fast. For every SBC missionary we support, we see 91 baptisms per year. That's right, 91! There is not an SBC church out there that does missions individually that can compare with that. If you care more about the kingdom of God than you do your own local church, the best thing you can do is support missions through the IMB. I'll be praying about how my family can increase our giving to make 2,800 a reality. Would you do the same?