I am preaching for Gene and Cheryl Lavalle here in Athens, Georgia (home of the Georgia Bulldogs). This will be my last revival as an evangelist. On my recent trip with Joan to the Northwest we talked about our future. I have been enjoying doing “the work of an evangelist”, but still thought about going overseas one more time. When we came back from Zambia I had entertained the idea of going to a Muslim nation, where we would start a school since we wouldn’t be able to start a church. Joan for that reason and the fact that it has been a desire of her heart started attending classes at Yavapai. So, on the trip we talked about the timeline of our future stacked against my age. Originally we had planned on me doing this until July 2010. We decided if we were going to do it one more time we should move our time schedule forward. We talked about going to Croatia. I presented the idea to Pastor Mitchell with the idea of leaving in 2009, giving me a year to learn some of the language. He was more concerned about placing some pastors with experience in a couple of churches. I let him know I would be available if he couldn’t find anyone else. I went home and talked to Joan and the next day went back and told Pastor Mitchell we were making ourselves available. He gave me a couple of choices with one of them being Sparta, Illinois. They announced the change Friday night of conference.

 

I had preached in Sparta before when Chuck Haynes was the pastor. That church had sent Chuck to Zambia to preach for us in Mazabuka. I enjoyed the church. The Saturday before conference our air conditioning in the house went out. I called Marvin who got the owner of a repair company out to the house that July 5^th. He brought along his father in law who was an older man. I went out to the truck where he was waiting for his son to see if he wanted a coke or water. He was fine. We began talking. He’s from a small town in Oklahoma. I told him I would be moving to a small town in Southern Illinois. Let him know I was a going to pastor a church there. He started talking about his small church of older saints and their new pastor. He had a sparkle in his eye as he described the new pastor’s illustrated sermons and his successful efforts to bring young people into the church. Well we had a great talk and I gave him a copy of "James Tembo, Detective" to give to his pastor. The reason I share this story is that I believe it was just one of the ways God gives little encouragements to people who set out to do something for Him. I know it gave me confidence.

 

I am fighting a spirit of melancholy as I preach my last sermon tonight. Joan and Audra are packing back in Prescott. We will finish packing, load a truck on Saturday, and leave Prescott Monday the 21^st and arrive in Sparta Thursday July 24^th. Looking forward to see what God will do.

This time of conference is a busy time for us. On Tuesday we had a lunch for pastors and their wives as a thank you for having me preach for them. We had over 50 people over. Fortunately we have all 3 of our daughters here for the week along with 3 of their friends and they all helped out. Tonight we have an open house for the younger people with just drinks and snacks. It is usually a wild time. In between all of this we take in the preaching as I help with the parking (got two days off this year) and my wife helps with nursery and tapes.

 

After, Pastor Mitchell started things off Monday night, Tuesday morning we had 3 sermons by Dave Marks, Bob Mammen and Scott Lamb. Pastor Marks preached from Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 and 3:1-2. The theme was the good watchman.

 

“Need to be able to look around us and see what’s coming down the road”.

 

“The question to God is: When are you going to judge this “self right” spirit?”

 

“Some kids find a puppy and decide that whoever can tell the biggest lie will get the puppy. A pastor over hears this and rebukes them saying that when he was a kid he never lied like that. They gave him the puppy.”

 

“Self righteousness blinds you to your weaknesses and needs. Being a faith man – standing in the natural reaching into the supernatural. Habakkuk means to wrestle. The answer to all of his questions is: The just shall live by faith.”

 

If you want blind faith just go to the evolution camp.

Revival isn’t out there it is in here (our hearts).

The spirit of Babylon is alive and well but God is going to give us an end days revival.

Give me revival in the midst of my years.

 

 

Pastor Mammen preached from Nehemiah focusing on the half way point of the building project. He talked of the sand castle contests on the coast where the sand castles are built at low tide with everyone knowing that as the tide goes in everything they build will be destroyed.

 

“Young pastor you are going to face opposition. Furious mockery from religious enemies. Intimidation aimed at our faith. We reach a crisis of confidence when we feel like what we are doing doesn’t matter. The feeling of failure that manifests in gult, shame and condemnation. This feeling becomes acute at conference time when we compare notes with everyone else.”

 

He balances this with Pastor Mitchell’s sermon that brings dignity to those who “are laboring in obscurity” recognizing that we are only carrying an illusion of failure.

 

Actually from Is 49 we are “hidden in the hand of God”. We realize that very few people will live lives of notoriety. “…but He is making you a polished shaft.” What God is doing in you is very important. Pioneering is foundational. Lots of hard work in laying the foundation. The problem for the pioneer is being isolated and feeling that God is far away. We must make it through these times of trial.

 

“You are in the womb of destiny”.

“You are being formed in a secret place”.

 

He talked of the NW cherry farmers. Bad year, good year and one year the entire crop destroyed. I am tired of being a cherryless cherry farmer. If you cut down the cherry trees you are guaranteed barrenness. “Pastor put away the chainsaw”. “Life is seasons”.

 

“We need a vision for building”.

When you are half way through a building project the place is a mess. You cannot escape going through this process, but in the midst of the building you must have a vision for the finished project. You are not building a sandcastle but something that will last for eternity.

 

Gal 6:9 Do not grow weary…do not lose heart.

The key is persistence.

The mystery of God working in the harvest field.

Every pastor needs the bag of seed and the scythe. Change our theology of failure

 

A nice finishing touch with a story of Teddy Roosevelt’s dealing with doubt after losing the election deciding to take a trip to South America to explore the River of Doubt that became the Roosevelt River.

 

Pastor Scott Lamb lined up with the conference theme: Rekindling the Flame. The implication of this is that the flame is going out. The 3 elements of fire are zeal, a living sacrifice and the Holy Spirit (oxygen). Preaching from Luke 5. No man who tastes comfortable religion will be satisfied with the new.

 

The problem is that we enjoy the religious comfort zone. We don’t want sermons that trouble us. We don’t want to give more than what is comfortable. We don’t want to feel responsible for the spreading of the gospel. We want the comfort zone.

 

A tough sermon that touched on the Laodicean church. They felt clothed but they were naked. They had money but they were really poor. The 3^rd point brought redemption. God will not break the bruised ree.

Pastor Mitchell started conference off tonight with a sermon from Ruth called “Handfulls of Destiny”. A common mistake for pastors is to be always looking and waiting for the big break. He commented about the famous golden nugget in Las Vegas and commented how people seem to think they are just going to happen upon this nugget of gold that is going to solve all of their problems. He called this the “golden nugget syndrome”. His response to this was that “Destiny comes disguised as insignificant opportunities.

 

As he comments about Ruth and her choice to work and to glean the fields he shifts this to us. Many of us would say: “Gleaning is not worth my talent”. He uses the phrase “laboring in obscurity”. He recounts his own ministry history of small town churches: Wickenburg pop. 2500, Canada 3000, Emmit Id. 3500 Carson CA and finally Prescott where his first Sunday had 29 people in church. “I was never offered any church of promise”. He says this not out of bitterness or resentment but to reinforce the message of laboring where ever you are.

 

“The purposes of God are hidden in the hidden dynamics of being willing to take the leftovers.”

 

He quotes from Nehemiah: “Who has despised the day of small things?” He recalls how the elders wept as the foundation for the new temple was built from the destroyed temple. See beyond the obvious, “See beyond into the hidden purposes of God.”

 

Ecc. 9:10 ….do it with all of your might…

Isa 58:12

12 Those from among you

Shall build the old waste places;

You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,

The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

 

Let us ponder this issue of destiny.

 

“The blessing of faithfulness.”

 

Amos, Hosea, Jephtha, Jabes

 

What we see in Ruth 3:11 is that Ruth is a virtuous woman. Barclay said that one thing Christianity brought into this heathen world was moral character. Character matters. We cannot afford to compartmentalize sin in our lives. The saying is that a man who is faithful to his wife is faithful in life as the man who is unfaithful to his wife is unfaithful in life. Ruth’s faithfulness triggered “handfuls of destiny”.

 

Deut 8:14-19

14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;— 

 

Then he breaks into the verse: “Some of you are doing very well.” “Nice car”. “Good salary.”

 

17 then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'

18 "And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth

 

“Our blessing in ministry has been our faithfulness in obscurity.”

Ps 37:23, Prov 4:18, Ruth 4:13 Boaz marries Ruth, bears Jesse, who is the father of David in the line of Jesus Christ.

 

“If you are faithful even your barrenness and bitterness can be turned into blessing.” This from Naomi calling herself Mara: bitter.

 

“God is working His purpose”.

 

1 Cor 2:9

9 But as it is written:

 

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."  

 

 

A great sermon for me in my circumstances, but a great sermon for all of us to faithfully minister in the circumstances that we are in knowing that God is involved in all of our situations.

I had read "Into the Jaws of Death: British Military Blunders 1879-1900" by Mike Snook a while back. I had wanted to take the time to compare the lessons from the book to the lessons of our own warfare in starting churches. In diagnosing these battlefield failures he focused not on the bravery of the individual soldiers but the mistakes of their leaders. In his conclusion he talked of the “personal failings of the commander”. Sometimes this was exhibited as outright military incompetence. He really was not properly prepared to make the decisions that needed to be made. Sometimes the failure was one of character, usually more concerned about their reputation than accomplishing the task at hand.

 

After judging the individual commanders on a personal level he examined the plans and strategies that originated at the highest levels of the British chain of command. He took issue with the poor quality of the planning of each campaign. This reflected poorly upon the command staff’s ability to coordinate and take advantage of the units available to them. But then the actual leader in the field made tactical misjudgments that cost them the day.

 

Finally he talked of the truth of fighting this conflict with the last conflicts strategies. He looked at the overall character of the leadership of the British army and found that there was a systematic failure that was allowing the whole to infect the part resulting in these military defeats for the British military on the eve of WWI which would turn all past strategies upside down.

 

When we discuss the failures or successes of one of our pastors sent out to start a church we can touch upon all of the above, with the standard response being “its all about the man”. I have never seen any statistics about our rate of success but I am sure it can’t be much more than 5%(man and church spiritually alive today). I have brought this up in conversation looking to increase our successes. Most churches (large churches are able to provide a salary) send a couple out to a city where they find a job and then rent a small storefront. He is now working a job, taking care of his family and putting together 3 sermons a week and preaching them in a small building to a hand full of people. My attitude is that he is trapped at this point. My comment was that it would be better if the man was given a salary for 6 months instead of a building and give him a chance to win some people to himself and then when he has some people who will work with him he can open up in a building with some people already committed to the success of the church. If the man cannot win some people to himself he can come home before investing in the building. I mentioned this to Pastor Mitchell and got the comment that he gets stuck with the leases for empty buildings and then has to find guys to go in and try again in the same building.

 

Meanwhile on a tactical level I am witnessing the Prescott church at its best. The church is preparing to host over a 1000 people to our International Bible Conference with pastors and their wives coming in from all over the world. At the same time Pastor Greg Mitchell spearheaded work to get a downtown building ready before the conference for the church’s coffee house scene. Another group of men prepare a float for the parade and another group of men led by Lois Palino and Pete Walters organizes our “God and Country” presentation in the courthouse plaza following the parade. All of these events are happening around the July 4^th holiday. Everything came off without a hitch and the conference starts tonight.

 

Completing tasks are one of the building blocks of discipleship and the Prescott church can get the job done.

I have been reading "The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East" by Olivier Roy. I was struck by his section on “Civil Society”. This is something I saw referred to in Zambia as the moving force towards proper governance. Here are a few quotes concerning the philosophy of “The Greater Middle East”.

 

“The NGOs (Non Government Organizations) support it under pressure from the donors, or share an anti-globalization vision which does however have a certain number of concepts in common with the major development agencies (distrust of existing governments, encouragement of civil society, the development of micro projects, the central importance of women’s and gender issues, advocacy of the humanitarian approach),….”

 

“This doctrine has therefore reclaimed the concept of civil society as a society outside the state and even against it. It has three pillars: civil society, privatization and good governance, and belongs to a universalist, Wilsonian and anti-culturalist, and therefore anti-Huntingtonian, view.”

 

“The doctrine’s aim is to identify factors likely to trigger a democratization process from within (but based on “universal”, and therefore American, ethical and political values). Most aid and development programmes include a “women’s development” component, promoting individual betterment (women entrepreneurs, women politicians). A number of programmes stipulate that there must be a quota of women or initiatives benefiting women: for example, the development programmes implemented in Afghanistan demand equal representation of men and women on the village committees that decide on how aid will be distributed …”

 

“Civil Society” is very often an artificial construct which has little impact, other than a harmful one, on society itself. Civil society is first and foremost a market: the sums of money brought into play destabilize the balance of microcosms (particularly that of the university), because its actors are placed directly on the market, with no state intervention. This leads to an internal brain-drain. The most brilliant academics and even entrepreneurs become involved in the programme.”

 

“Civil society tends to become a sort of artificial reservoir for an endangered species: the democratic intellectual, protected by the international institutions (Amnesty, Reporters Without Borders, State Department, etc.). Furthermore, many of them go on to leave the country and join these same international organizations.”

 

As I was reading this section I felt the fingerprints of our future all over it. The move towards one world government seems linked to the empowerment of women and the undermining of national governments. Will it be a liberal universalism that unites the world? Will the Islamists refuse to play the game and succeed in uniting us all under the banner of Islam?

 

The church is removed from earth and the white horse is released and he goes a conquering. It will be a militant leader that uses force to unite the world during the tribulation.

I found this at The Corner of National Review. The ending is priceless.

 

The GOOD Satanists   [John Derbyshire]

Maybe there is something to it. It may, in fact, go some way towards explaining the workings of the Democratic Party. Check out this story:

Police charged a third person Wednesday in connection with beatings and rape that authorities say were carried out by a satanic cult. Diana Palmer, 44, of Cottage Woods Court, surrendered to police Wednesday afternoon … Joseph Craig, 25, has been charged with kidnapping, rape, forcible sexual offense and assault in the case. His wife, Joy Johnson, 30, has been charged with aiding and abetting … Palmer is first vice chair of the Durham County Democratic Party. Johnson resigned her positions as third vice-chair of the Durham County Democratic Party and vice-chair of the Young Democrats following her arrest …

I especially enjoyed this bit:

A woman claiming to represent the Church of Satan said Craig and Johnson aren't members and denounced the allegations against them. "Our church is, without exception, against all illegal acts. Our dogma is clear and concise on the issue of sexual abuse and crime in general: If you do it, you can be excommunicated," Ygraine Mitchell wrote in an e-mail to WRAL.

So you can be excommunicated from the Church of Satan for doing bad stuff? I've heard of the watering-down of religious doctrine, but surely that's going too far.

Here is an interesting article that Laura Michelle pointed out to me. The author makes the point that global warming has become almost religious in nature and will prove to be the perfect vehicle to reform and transform the world we live in according to the powers that be that line up behind the new world religion.

 

Here is a quote: “So let's stop fussing about the interpretation of ice core samples from the South Pole and temperature readings in the troposphere. The real place where discussions of global warming belong is in the realm of belief, and particularly the motives for belief. I see three mutually compatible explanations.”

He then moves onto talk about the fact that global warming is an issue of “ideological convenience” for the left because it allows them to move their agendas forward. Second, global warming has become a religion in itself, the issue is not science but what you believe. Finally, global warming must be viewed through the prism of psychology as to why we feel guilty about our progress and allow the disciples of global warming to shower us with guilt that we must repent of.

 

Here is a final quote:

“As it turns out, a lot, at least if you're inclined to believe that our successes are undeserved and that prosperity is morally suspect. In this view, global warming is nature's great comeuppance, affirming as nothing else our guilty conscience for our worldly success.

In "The Varieties of Religious Experience," William James distinguishes between healthy, life-affirming religion and the monastically inclined, "morbid-minded" religion of the sick-souled. Global warming is sick-souled religion.”