church

Revival Begins With God

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I have often heard that revival must begin with me, and while that sounds good, it is not what the Bible teaches. Over and over the scriptures make it clear, that God’s true revival always begin with Him. When we think of revival, we often mean some scheduled series of meetings, “We are having revival meetings next week.” We tell people. Or, “Pastor Thompson preached at Last year’s revival.” But revival in the Bible is what happened when Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave. Yes, Mary and Martha had begged Jesus to come, and we must also earnestly pray. But no one imagined much less scheduled the resurrection of Lazarus. In fact, Lazarus himself had nothing to do with it. He certainly wadn’t exercising faith or interceding. He was dead! Mary and Martha were weeping and their friends mostly just wondered what was going on. But God had something amazing on His schedule that day. Let’s also pray that He would remember us today. May God come and do what only He can do. Revive us again, show mercy and grace to His children and reveal Himself in love and power to those who have not yet met Him. 

O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember Habakkuk 3:2 NKJV

Sunday Meditations

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“He who loves the Lord, loves also the assemblies in which His name is adored.” Charles Spurgeon

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV

While we often take these verses of Paul’s letter to be his counsel for our individual lives, they are better and more fully understood when we remember he was writing to the church. What better way to go to church this morning than to carry these words as a treasure in our hearts? Pray always and give thanks together, no matter what we are facing. These two will be the bookends that hold all the rest of our meeting together and are God’s best and highest desire for us as we gather together on His special day.

Heaven’s Beauty Shop

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After my grandfather came from Italy, he became a barber and all six of his children had to pitch in to help in the shop. That shop was where my dad learned his barbering. As a young man dad went off to the war and after coming home settled on opening a beauty salon. On Mondays, dad closed the store for cleaning and while I helped sweep the floors and clean the chairs, we had some of our best talks. Dad loved telling stories and one of his favorites was how many of the ladies washed their hair before coming in, even though they knew he would wash it again. They just couldn’t stand the idea of him seeing that their hair dirty! Now you might think that silly, but sometimes we do the same thing when we go to church. Think of church as Heaven’s beauty shop, where God has a message and fellowship prepared for us that can help us with our dirty hair and give us a loving style again. But instead, of coming to ask God for His help, we decide that we better get ourselves washed up at home, so maybe He won’t notice. Even crazier is that, unlike dad’s clientele, we do not even have to pay the bill. Instead, God has chosen to pay in advance at Calvary, for everything we have ever done. He is not angry when we come with our needs and problems, instead He is ready to wash away our sin and exchange it for grace and beauty and leaves us a new lifestyle. Then, He proudly shows anyone who wants to know that our hair as well as our soul is squeaky clean and ready for Heaven! The hymn “Just as I Am”, reminds us how Jesus calls us to come.