Communities Versus Culture: Some Hope for Revival

We all see the craziness.  We see the celebration of sin.  We see the systematic pushing forward of an ungodly agenda, worsening worldview numbers, pastoral moral failures, the scary "isms"  we hear about every day, and more.  In fact, as a culture-watcher, I'm having to pull back from that pastime some.  It's so discouraging it drains my strength!  

But I had a thought this morning I wanted to share...

I'm not sure what is going to happen culture-wide over the next few decades, but NOTHING is stopping a right-now revival at YOUR HOUSE!  What I mean is this....

1. We will never give up on the greater culture, but your home has a culture!
2. We will continue to preach the Gospel and make disciples everywhere, but why can't the Gospel's power hit your home now?
3. Your home and community (church family, etc) can reform DESPITE what is happening around you!

For example, the McLeod household has been in a revival for years (more prayer, wonderful family worship, loving each other)!  Not because we are special.  We are simply trying to do what God said, and HE is faithful!  And many others I know of are reviving!  Why not you?  Why not your home?  Why not your children?  I'm not sure if television or social media or politics or education or the national economy will become more godly anytime soon...

BUT...

I do believe that, by God's grace, it can happen at YOUR house!  Again, I'm not saying totally unplug and be uncaring about society.  I AM saying do not allow a sin-promoting culture to dictate its values to your home or church!

Revival CAN and IS happening in individual homes and small communities.  Put some effort there and watch what happens!  Let us take responsibility for our own self-government, our homes, and for encouraging those closest to us.  Let us build strong, Christian communities where Christ is central, His Gospel is the focus, Holiness is the lifestyle, Family is reformed, Financial Stewardship is for His glory, we Lead according to Scripture, and we think in line with His precepts (a Biblical Worldview)!

Don't allow yourself to become hopeless.  Revive where you are!  This is where I've found some new hope...a perspective that has blessed my morning.  

Revival is possible...one family and small group of people at a time.

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."  (Mat 7:24-27 ESV)

The Church...what is going on?

Friends,

There is so much happening right now it is hard to process.

As I write, yesterday a coward killed nine precious people in an AME church is Charleston, South Carolina.  They were in a Bible Study!  Heart is broken.  But there is so much more...

A church was recently set on fire in Israel.  Christians are being slaughtered in Africa and the Middle East.  The Western moral crisis is fully underway with almost no biblical worldview, unbelief on the rise, and a looming vote by the SCOTUS on gay "marriage."  

Racial animosity is at a level that I've not seen in my 45 years...even in the church.  A massive debt crisis.  Gender fluidity?  What in the world is that?  The destruction of the family.  Continued killings on our streets.  Human trafficking.  Perversions against children.  Pastors divorcing.  Even good Bible-teaching churches having to endure strife over what the Bible says.

It is overwhelming.  It is of the devil no doubt.  He simply wants to destroy.

But through it all, we must be determined to love and obey Jesus.  Preach Jesus.  Preach His Gospel and the fruit of it.  Walk in holiness.  Reform the Family.  Be a good steward.  Be a humble leader.  Preach a biblical worldview. 

But saints, we need to pray.  We need to be faithful.  We need to hold on to one another and encourage The Church.  The entire Church is under assault...as in the Lord's Body worldwide.  

Now is NOT a time to shrink back.  Now is a time to join hands, lift one another, and make disciples.

PS - Wrote this just 3 weeks ago!

Confronting Evil

Holiness and Humility

"Let all teachers of holiness, whether in the pulpit or on the platform, and all seekers after holiness, whether in the closet or the convention, take warning. There is no pride so dangerous, because none so subtle and insidious, as the pride of holiness. It is not that a man ever says, or even thinks, "Stand by; I am holier than you." No, indeed, the thought would be regarded with abhorrence. But there grows up, all unconsciously, a hidden habit of soul, which feels complacency its attainments, and cannot help seeing how far it is in advance of others. It can be recognized, not always in any special self-assertion or self-laudation, but simply in the absence of that deep self-abasement which cannot but be the mark of the soul that has seen the glory of God (Job 42: 5, 6; Isa.6: 5).

It reveals itself, not only in words or thoughts, but in a tone, a way of speaking of others, in which those who have the gift of spiritual discernment cannot but recognize the power of self. Even the world with its keen eyes notices it, and points to it as a proof that the profession of a heavenly life does not bear any specially heavenly fruits. O brethren! let us beware. Unless we make, with each advance in what we think holiness, the increase of humility our study, we may find that we have been delighting in beautiful thoughts and feelings, in solemn acts of consecration and faith, while the only sure mark of the presence of God, the disappearance of self, was all the time wanting.

Come and let us flee to Jesus, and hide ourselves in Him until we be clothed upon with His humility. That alone is our holiness." --Andrew Murray, Humility

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Convicted.  Repentant.  Must, by His grace, do better.  

Confronting Evil

There is evil in the world.  Of course you knew that didn’t you?  But to us here in America, despite the cowardly events of September 11, 2001, this evil can still seem “over there somewhere” to us.  Surrounded by our nice landscaping, “secure” jobs, and stocked grocery stores, we don’t have to think much about it.  After all, deflate-gate, what the Kardashians are up to, and the latest pair of Jordan’s are more fun to think about.  Insidiously, our nation and world are overrun with those things that not only dishonor God, but threaten the physical lives of many. 

On Memorial Day weekend, as I read the current news and thought through history, I was reminded of how quickly evil can turn from “over there somewhere” to up close and personal.  Thank God for the precious sacrifice of so many men and women who died and who were injured to protect us from evil.  May the Lord bless them, their families, and their legacy…

But you and I must be prepared to confront evil.

I’m not writing this to sound alarmist or to make anyone paranoid.  The facts are the facts.  There are people in this world plotting great harm.  ISIS is not just going away.  They will continue to crucify, throw people from buildings, rape young girls, and impose Sharia law.  Boko Haram and other groups the same.  China will likely continue its crackdown on Christianity, as it recently did.  Extremism will continue to grow unchecked in Europe.  Their socio-political beliefs and almost wholesale rejection of the Gospel give it an easy path.  Many don’t realize that extremism is growing right here in America as well.  Also, inner cities will continue to struggle with gangs and shootings, as we saw devastatingly last weekend in Baltimore and Chicago.  But it’s not just there.  Quiet towns and suburban areas and even churches will see their share of evil as home, church, and state reject Christ as King more and more.  (Did you see the report of the pastor shot in Connecticut while putting out American flags around his church?)  With some 100,000 Christians killed yearly for their faith, there is a brutal war on.

To those who have the courage to listen, I say evil must be confronted.  Christians must be prepared, not to return evil for evil, but to take just actions to defend life.

How?  By changing a mindset.  YOU, dear reader, are your own first responder.  And to the extent that you are willing, you may also see a responsibility to confront evil if it comes to innocents around you.  I know we like to think that everything is ok.  It isn’t.  As we have rejected God and His laws, lawlessness abounds.  Be prepared to preach the Gospel and do so.  Also be prepared to repel evil if it encroaches.  Be prepared to give, serve, and tangibly bless and do so.  Also be prepared to protect your family and innocent lives.  Have a plan.  Think it through.  Don’t just sit there and be a victim.

So…hopefully you had a good Memorial Day weekend, ate a hot dog or a piece of barbecue chicken, and thanked the Lord for selfless defenders!  Maybe you even thanked a veteran or a firefighter or a law-enforcement officer.  But now maybe consider how YOU will deal with evil if/when it comes...

Luke 22:35-36 ESV  And he said to them, "When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing."  (36)  He said to them, "But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.”