I Found Freedom In Prison — September 23rd, 2009
Posted on September 23, 2009
God let me preach at Washington State Prison last Sunday night. I will be honest, I was extremely nervous at the thought of being locked in a prison with rapist, murderers, dope fiends, and others, but in reality I have never been more at peace. The Lord allowed me to go with some brothers that were used by God that night as well. I know they each could fill up a blog of their own in regards to their experience on the “inside”. But, I want to stick to what I learned while preaching in prison.
I learned that there are believers behind bars. The passion displayed by the prison choirs, both the Hispanic and Black choirs, was a manifestation of the fruit of believers who had worked hard to provide an example of worship through learned songs. The Holy Spirit used each choir to minister to me and ultimately bring glory to God. It was believers who were used by God.
I learned that believers can get “happy” in the Lord and not be disruptive. We sang numerous songs together and each song ministered differently amongst the congregation. When the Spirit of God was sensed by the men they would respond. The responses of the men varied. Some men would clap, some men would shout, some men would turn and beam with joy towards their neighbor, yet some men would hang their head to weep. No one seemed to care what others might be thinking in regards to their worship of their God. No one got out of hand and no one took the focus off the Christ, Every man, in a room full of men, worshipped, communed, and fellowshipped with his Lord personally.
I learned that Black folks can worship freely even when a Honky is preaching. I preached in a way that I preach anywhere I go. Those that were there said I preached more passionately than normal, but I can tell you for certain that I did not change my method. I studied to preach an expositional, verse-by-verse message. I do have to admit that I did get a little more excited while preaching, but that was do to the response I was getting from a predominately Black audience. I would like to add that God used this Honky preacher to reach 3 Black prisoners with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and another Honky counseled them to make sure they understood the commitment they were making.
I learned that worship has very little, if anything to do with location, but can be greatly affected by unified purpose. It is said that the three most determining factors in the value of property are, location, location, location. I can tell you that is not so when it comes the value of worship. A group of believers can gather in the most undesirable location such as a prison and the value of the worship will not be affected. The most important factor in assessing the value of corporate worship is unity of purpose. When believers gather to worship, there will always be an agenda. I am disappointed to report that in many of the Baptist churches I have gathered, the purpose sticks out like a sore thumb. More times than any of us would like to admit, the unifying purpose of the gathered is to receive something. The “something” can be a multitude of things ranging from spousal relief to bargaining with God. The men I got to worship with were not going to get anything out of gathering for worship. It does not make a bit of difference to the guards or parole boards for that matter. The prisoners were there in order to bring what praise, glory, and honor to their God that He deserved. Their joy was in Christ and their purpose was to gather for one unified purpose. The purpose proved to be to celebrate the God of their salvation.
Most of all I learned, gathering to worship can be drudgery sometimes, but it DOES NOT have to be this way. We must repent of our own selfish purposes for gathering to worship the One who gave us all things, not to the exclusion of His Son.
I pray, what I learned will help you grow more like Christ and it will encourage you to never settle for less than what God has for you.
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Baptist Affirmative Action — September 21st, 2009
Posted on September 22, 2009
If I may I would like to climb upon one of my many “Soap Boxes”. For those of you who are not familiar with the phrase “Soap Box” allow me to boil it down for you. A “Soap Box” digression is a moment of releasing all of one’s aggravation on a commonly discussed topic. The topic I would like to tear open is the topic of “How to Reach the Black Community”, espoused by many well meaning Southern Baptists. I have been told on many occasions that in order for a Black community to be effectively reached by a local White church, said church should, if not must, call a Black minister to its staff. In essence, the Black community will trust First Baptist Whitey if he is willing to give a Black man money and the keys to the joint. The “let’s hire a black man to really show our love for our neighbors” strategy is Baptist affirmative action. Baptist affirmative action is not that man is limited but, God is inadequate. Affirmative action, at this point in our culture, says that a Black man needs the government to help him become equal with others. I believe it is an insult to the many Black men that I know that do not need an endorsement from the government, because they are more than adequate to compete for jobs. Furthermore, I would never want to work for a bigoted racist because someone made him hire me.
Now back to the subject as it pertains to our current topic. The thought that only Blacks can reach Blacks calls the power of the Gospel into question, in turn calling the power of God into question. When we determine that a White man cannot reach a Black man for Jesus we limit the ability of God. We place limitations on God and determine to “help” Him get the job done that only He can accomplish. I am sick and tired of hearing that if God is going to save Black people it is only going to be through other Black people. You are saying one of two things when you make this narrow minded determination, either you do not believe that God can use you to accomplish His will, or more likely you do not want God to use you to accomplish His will. Whichever statement you make you have decided that the Black people in your realm of influence can and will go to Hell. The roots of racism run deep in Southern Baptist life. I have heard too many preachers, deacons, and lay men use the “N” word, tell horrible “Black” jokes, and out right say they do not want anything to do with Blacks. It is time we quit using the excuse we can’t reach Blacks and repent of our sin that we won’t reach Blacks.
I am not the “Perfect Cracker”, but I am trying everyday to break free of my own bigoted mentality. God wants us to reach out to all people. God will use a Believer that is broken hearted for the lost. People all around us are going to Hell today. We must repent of our selfish attitudes and racist dispositions. The time has come to charge wide open into the gates of Hell and drag out its captives. Our neighbors, no matter their color, are going to a deserved Hell like we were, but thank God Almighty that someone, somewhere loved us enough to not care about themselves more than they cared about our eternal destination.
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Are You Ready for Some Football?
Posted on September 21, 2009
The heat is beginning to break. The humidity is starting to wane. The grass is slowing in its growth. The pine straw is thickening on the ground. Leaves are beginning to dry.
School is back in the swing of things. Vacations have come to an end. People are getting back into their highly segmented lives. Weekends are never in higher demand than now. With the weather changing and a renewed love for the weekend a desire for watching football is renewed in our culture.
I must confess this is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather, the beginning of football, and not to mention the baseball playoffs. I am looking forward to Thursday Nights, Friday Nights, Saturdays, Sundays, and Monday Nights filled with football. It is hard to beat time on the couch with my wife and family cheering for one of our favorite teams. I must admit I take football season pretty serious. But, I am also concerned for what I know is going to happen this fall as football gets kicked off. There will be a certain number of saints that will place the idol of football between them and their assembling with the saints.
Let me just tell you something about my own shortcomings in this regard. I personally am a bigger NFL fan than I am a college football fan so when I first got saved I missed A LOT of Sunday Night services at my church because of the 4 o’clock NFL games. In fact the first Super Bowl I missed was the first Super Bowl Sunday I was a pastor of a church. I almost canceled church that night so people could “spend time with their families”. That was code for the preacher wanted desperately to watch the game. The next year I thought I would solve the problem by watching the game at church while having a fellowship. Needless to stay I was stressed out about not letting the commercials be seen by the congregation I don’t even remember who played.
I understand the love that someone has for watching sports. I also understand that my eternal relationship with Jesus Christ and my temporal relationship with my church on earth are far more important than me seeing who wins a ball game. I can see all the important stuff on Sports Center and believe it or not, my watching the game will not determine the team that wins and neither will yours.
I hope that my brothers and sisters in Christ will not forsake the assembly for something as pathetically weak as football. In fact I am so concerned about your spiritual health that I am going to pray for your team. I have committed to pray that God will make your team’s success relative to your faithfulness to your local church. Let me boil this down for you. If you lay out of church in order to watch your favorite team I pray they lose. If you overcome the temptation to lay out of church to watch your favorite team I pray they win.
May God bless the teams who have the most faithful fans and may God curse the teams whose members love football more than their church family.
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