Worship abides forver

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever…”
– John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad

Repentance Brings Revival

The great revival in Ephesus reaches its climax in the final two verses of our text today. It is a stirring account of what the power of God can do in a human life. These new believers were dead serious about Christ. How do we know? Because they truly repented of their sin. Watch what happened:

"Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. A number of them who had been practicing magic brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars. So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect" - Acts 19:18-19.

Every time I read these verses, I think of Hollywood celebrities that have converted to Christ. I rejoice in their new faith, but wonder if they need to make a public confession of sin as those in Ephesus did?

When we sin publicly to the extent that multitudes are affected, only public confession of sin will undo some of the harm. Evidently, some of the people in Ephesus had publicly sinned to the extent that they needed to publicly confess. What a revival would break out if a well-known Hollywood celebrity publicly confessed that they had made movies for years that caused others to sin, and that they were turning away from such things to embrace God! Oh for this to happen today!

I can just hear it: "I'm sorry for those nude scenes I did, and those steamy sex-scenes where I acted out immorality for entertainment. I repent. I'm sorry for all the profanity, and vulgarity that came from my mouth, I repent. I'm sorry for glorifying violence and death. I repent. I'm sorry for mocking God, and leading young minds astray. I repent."

Wow. Can you see it? If this happened, revival could sweep America!

You see, a truly repentant person isn't concerned about dignity, only salvation. They aren't trying to save face or maintain a reputation -- they simply want to be forgiven, and help as many as they can, some who they might have misled, to find forgiveness too.

That's true repentance.

But there's more. When those in Ephesus repented, they didn't just say, "I'm sorry God." They demonstrated their sorrow through action. They squarely turned their backs on their old lives of darkness and evil, and literally burned those things that had kept them bound to the Prince of the power of the air.

I am convinced that the reason some churches are powerless to transform their communities for Christ is not because they don't have the right message, but because they have the wrong repentance. We say "I'm sorry God" but continue to consistently live the same old, worldly life that unbelievers live.

But it can't be done. No one can serve two masters. We can't serve two kingdoms. We can't march to God's drum while simultaneously tap-dancing to Satan's tunes. Worldliness and Godliness are never compatible.

Don't misunderstand. We will never be perfect. We will always make mistakes. God knows this, and his grace covers us. But at the same time, we must come to a point in our lives that the Ephesians came to if we ever wish to experience true revival or true conversion. We must repent. We must burn anything in our lives that separates us from God - sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively.

We may need to go home and empty our video or book or magazine shelves? It might be time to wipe out our computer hard drives and install filters? We may need to end a relationship that we know displeases God, or, perhaps it's time to walk away from our jobs, or face an addiction? Maybe it's time to get rid of our music that is constantly turning our hearts in the wrong direction.

Years ago I heard about a church youth group that went to a youth conference where they heard great preaching. Many of them became convicted that they needed to truly repent of the music they were listening to. So when they came home from the conference, they got together at the church, bringing all their worldly music with them. In each other's presence and the presence of God, they denounced the Satanic music that had caused them to stumble, and broke the CDs into pieces. There was a great revival in that youth group! The young people were on fire, and it sparked a new spiritual fervor in the whole church.

If we want true revival, we must have true repentance.

But do not fear. Whatever God's Spirit guides you to rid your life of; he will also empower you to do it. He will help you endure the cost. And make no mistake about it; sometimes there is a price to pay for true repentance. The folks in Ephesus lost millions of dollars, and we may lose money too, as we take our spiritual trash out! But there are other costs. Turning our backs on sin and cutting it out of our lives may cost us friends, or significant relationships, or family ties. But whatever it costs, God will honor your decision to repent, and he will empower you to succeed and to endure.

Then, revival will overtake your soul.

Source: http://www.celebratelife.co/content.cfm?id=336

Stop the drama

This is another installment of the conference I attended last week at church. I just can’t get over with the truth that the conference conveyed.

I love the preacher for preaching a fantastic message on the last night of the confab. He told the audience to stop the drama, that drama we usually do when we fall short of God’s glory.

The command was so apt for me. I do not know if you can feel me but there are times in my life when I hate myself simply because of doing something I know I should not be doing and yet it is so hard to resist doing it and so I do it. And the things I should be doing , I do not do. Paul knows this best when he said: I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Romans 7:15

I soak myself in tears for hating myself. The worst thing, probably, that I have for hating myself was bang my head with gnashing teeth. Drama.

Certainly, I do not view the message of the conference as a license to do sin, although, for baby Christians, it could be immaturely taken as a green-light signal to sin. But rather it consoled me knowing that Jesus is moved not by my tears but by the covenant He had made with His Father.

What a friend we have with Jesus

Jesus’ friendship with us was likened by the messenger that night with the friendship between Jonathan and David.

We can certainly ask no more than the kind of friendship these two has with each other in the name of the Lord. Jonathan loved David as he loved himself. He defended David and he was shameful of the treatment his father, King Saul, showed to innocent David. The latter being chased by the king for him to be killed. It created a fear in David saying “…there is only one step between me and death.”

It was a friendship that was founded in a covenant of showing kindness, of love that extends beyond their next generation.

Mephibosheth, a remnant of Saul

I could just imagine the fear that Mephibosheth had when he was about to face the person whom his grandpa, King Saul, so disliked to the point of getting rid of him.

And when they saw each other, the limping Mephibosheth was probably thinking that the meeting spells the end of his life. He is a dead dog, he supposed. He could have been crying as he beg King David not to kill him.

But it turned out not to be the conclusion of his time when he met King David. It was the opposite of what he thought it would be. Instead, King David restored the land that belonged to his old folk, invited him to the king’s table. He treated Mephibosheth as his own. Adding to that, he was given Ziba and his sons as his servants. What a perfect ending!

Crippled for life

The crying does not move Jesus but it is the covenant that He has made with His Father that moves Him. He came. He sought the lost and saved the sinners, like you and me. Thank God for the covenant! We are all at the verge of eternal suffering in hell but Jesus died for us and saved us from eternal condemnation. Just like what King David did to the cripple Mephibosheth, he restored us and made us as His own. We are His friends; we are his family.

There is an invitation for everyone to be a part of His family. Refusing this invitation makes you crippled for life.