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A Word from THE WORD

Good Morning Happy Church,

Today is Wednesday, February 3^rd, 2016. Today is the 34^th Day of 2016.

There are only 332 days left in this year; and, there are only 67 Days Left until Our Spring Revival Begins!

We will begin the Revival Meetings on Saturday, April 9^th with a Banquet and Sermon at 6pm.

Sunday, April 10^th, we will hear Bro Bobby at 10am and again at 6pm.

Monday and Tuesday, April 11^th and 12, we will hear Bro Bobby at 7pm each night!

Please clear your schedule to attend as many of these meetings as possible. As I often say, “The two things you have to invest to be blessed is your Attendance and your Attention!”

Please be in prayer for Dr. Bobby and Sandra Boyles as they travel here and back.

Pray that God will pour out HIS SPIRIT on us as never before!

Pray for the salvation of the lost; repentance and renewal in the life of God’s people; new people to become part of our Church Family; the calling out of ministers and missionaries; a spiritual awakening in our area; and, for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all that we do!

James 4:8

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Devotional Thought for Today… “Revival Verbs!”

I should not be surprised by the verbs (action words) that the LORD often uses in HIS Word to call us to… well, action!

In this oft-quoted verse on revival, James uses three specific verbs to demonstrate the “cause-and-effect” aspect of revival.

(Remember 2^nd Chronicles 7:14… If we will, HE will…)

The first of these verbs is “Draw.”

Why “draw?” Because one of the curses of needing revival is that we sense that we are far away from God.

We are never far away from God, of course, but when we grow cold and stale in our relationship with HIM we certainly feel that way.

Cause-and-effect: we draw near to HIM and HE draws near to us!

The second verb is “Cleanse.”

We live in a spiritually “dirty” and decaying world. All that we touch in this world, especially in the spiritual sense, is dirty and leaves us with unclean hands.

No mystery here.

If something is unclean, don’t touch it! If we have touched the unclean thing, we must cleanse our “hands” by repentance and right living!

The third verb in this verse is “Purify.”

Indeed. Our heart needs to be purified! God calls to be pure in heart – and promises that we will “see God.”

Cf. Matthew 5:8

The “heart” here is speaking of the mind. If we want to experience real revival, we must be people of pure minds.

Our sad condition is clear in this passage… we are “far away” from God; the filth of this world is sticking to us… and our mind is impure.

Sounds bad. It is bad. It means we need revival.

The good news is that if we will… draw near to God, cleanse our hands, and, purify our minds; God will draw near to us and revive us!

Will we really have revival?

We will soon see!

Carpe Diem!

Sermon Starter for Sunday, February 7^th, 2016

Ephesians 2:1-3
¹  “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
²  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
³  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

“How Dead is Dead; and, What can a Dead Man Do?”

As the LORD allows, we will begin our verse-by-verse study of Ephesians Chapter Two this coming LORD’s Day!

I could not be more excited!

It is very likely true that with the two exceptions of John 3 and Romans 10, more people have been led to faith from Ephesians 2 than any other Chapter in the Word of God!

This is also one of the most profoundly theological of all of the Chapters in the Bible…

In the first three verses, we certainly dive into the deep end of the pool!

These verses deal with the “Radical Depravity” and “Spiritual Deadness” of human beings in a way that staggers the mind and dramatically offends our pride.

It rips away what we like to think of ourselves and lays bare who and what we really are before a holy God…

We are, indeed, radically depraved and spiritually dead.

These three verses completely destroy the popular myth of “the sin-sick sinner.”

(Oh to think of the millions of sermons that this Chapter refutes…) including many of my early ones!

Grab a pen and a sheet of paper; read these three verses over and over; write down questions and other thoughts that come to mind.

Beg God to give you wisdom and understanding of what it means to be “radically depraved” and “spiritually dead”.

The biblical doctrine expressed in these verses is extremely unpalatable, but very necessary to understand.

I tremble when I read these verses; and I tremble at the thought of preaching them. I hope you will take time to read these verses over a few times and think very deeply about what God says.

As my dear friend and hero Tom Rains loves to say, “I hope to see you Sunday with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and your family and friends by your side.”

A Word from THE WORD

Good Morning Happy Church,

Today is Tuesday, February 2^nd, 2016. Today is the 33^rd Day of 2016.

Today is Floyd Winings’ Birthday!

There are only 333 days left in this year; and, there are only 68 Days Left until Our Spring Revival Begins!

We will begin the Revival Meetings on Saturday, April 9^th with a Banquet and Sermon at 6pm.

Sunday, April 10^th, we will hear Bro Bobby at 10am and again at 6pm.

Monday and Tuesday, April 11^th and 12, we will hear Bro Bobby at 7pm each night!

Please clear your schedule to attend as many of these meetings as possible. As I often say, “The two things you have to invest to be blessed is your Attendance and your Attention!”

Please be in prayer for Dr. Bobby and Sandra Boyles as they travel here and back. Pray that God will pour out HIS SPIRIT on us as never before!

Pray for the salvation of the lost; repentance and renewal in the life of God’s people; new people to become part of our Church Family; the calling out of ministers and missionaries; a spiritual awakening in our area; and, for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all that we do!

Psalm 51:12-13 (New King James Version)
¹² “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.”

Devotional Thought for Today… “First Revival, then Evangelism!”

While we are certainly praying that God will save people during our Spring Revival services (as we pray for ALL of our worship services) King David’s great prayer of repentance reminds us that effective evangelism is a natural result of personal renewal.

Following his horrific sin with Bathsheba and his confrontation with the Prophet Nathan, David repents and asks the LORD to forgive him, renew him, and use him again to bring the “Good News” of salvation to others!

Such repentance ought to be continual in our life.

Oh, that God would forgive us, revive us, and use us again to bring unsaved and unchurched people into the Family of God!

Psalm 51 is the record of the repentance of a broken, ruined, and truly repentant man; a man who, earlier in his life, God called “a man after My own heart.”

Really good people can do really bad things; and, every follower of Christ continually battles sin and often loses that battle.

So, how on earth could a holy and righteous God use such people to serve as the Ambassadors of HIS Kingdom?

Repentance!

We want our family and friends to know Jesus! We want God to save them and use them in HIS work!

We want to see people saved and changed!

How can that happen?

Remember this… “First Repentance, then Evangelism.”

Will we really have revival?

We will soon see!

Carpe Diem!

A Word from THE WORD

Good Morning Happy Church,

Today is Monday, February 1^st, 2016. Today is the 32^nd Day of 2016.

Today is David Hug’s Birthday and tomorrow will be Floyd Winings’ Birthday!

There are only 334 days left in this year; and, there are only 69 Days Left until Our Spring Revival Begins!

We will begin the Revival Meetings on Saturday, April 9^th with a Banquet and Sermon at 6pm.

Sunday, April 10^th, we will hear Bro Bobby at 10am and again at 6pm.

Monday and Tuesday, April 11^th and 12, we will hear Bro Bobby at 7pm each night!

Please clear your schedule to attend as many of these meetings as possible. As I often say, “The two things you have to invest to be blessed is your Attendance and your Attention!”

Please be in prayer for Dr. Bobby and Sandra Boyles as they travel here and back. Pray that God will pour out HIS SPIRIT on us as never before!

Pray for the salvation of the lost; repentance and renewal in the life of God’s people; new people to become part of our Church Family; the calling out of ministers and missionaries; a spiritual awakening in our area; and, for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all that we do!

Acts 3:19-20a

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…”

Devotional Thought for Today… “The Relationship of Repentance to Revival”

I have had a lot to say about revival, and (Lord willing) I will have much more to say in the days and weeks ahead.

BUT, I am certain that I will not say anything more important than this… there is no such thing as revival without repentance!

The classic passage where we began these devotional thoughts about revival (2^nd Chronicles 7:14) is built on the premise that “if my people will… then I will…”

In that passage, God commands four things of us and the fourth is, “turn from their wicked ways…” That is, of course, a clear definition of repentance.

If we will repent, HE will send revival!

I know this sounds trite, but, the one thing we most need to repent of is the fact that we will not repent!

Sure, we are sinners and our sins have been forgiven. But, in our day-to-day process of personal sanctification and spiritual growth, repentance is necessary if we are to experience the fullness of God’s Spirit and a real move of God upon our life.

While there are certainly many things of which many of us are guilty, each of us may also have things in our life of which we must repent.

Repentance is the price of revival. If we repent and actually turn from our wicked ways, we may stand on HIS promises and expect HIM to move upon us and our Church in unusual ways.

Will we really have revival?

We will soon see!

Carpe Diem!

A Word from THE WORD

Good Morning Happy Church,

Today is Sunday, January 31^st, 2016. Today is the 31^st Day of 2016.

There are only 335 days left in this year; and, there are only 70 Days Left until Our Spring Revival Begins!

We will begin the Revival Meetings on Saturday, April 9^th with a Banquet and Sermon at 6pm.

Sunday, April 10^th, we will hear Bro Bobby at 10am and again at 6pm.

Monday and Tuesday, April 11^th and 12, we will hear Bro Bobby at 7pm each night!

Please clear your schedule to attend as many of these meetings as possible. As I often say, “The two things you have to invest to be blessed is your Attendance and your Attention!”

Please be in prayer for Dr. Bobby and Sandra Boyles as they travel here and back. Pray that God will pour out HIS SPIRIT on us as never before!

Pray for the salvation of the lost; repentance and renewal in the life of God’s people; new people to become part of our Church Family; the calling out of ministers and missionaries; a spiritual awakening in our area; and, for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all that we do!

Psalm 85:4-7

⁴ “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!
⁵ Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
⁶ Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
⁷ Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.”

Devotional Thought for Today… “Do We Really Need to be Revived… Again?”

One of the surprising aspects of revival (and one that often is the cause for not seeing revival) is the “been there… done that” attitude that some have about revival meetings.

This is obviously true because when we (or any other Church of which I am aware) schedules a series of “Revival” meetings, people stay away in droves!

Why do people stay away from revival meetings? Lots of reasons, of course, but the main reason is that they do not see any need of being revived.

We pay for what we think we need, or what we want. As long as we do not think we need, or we do not want, to be revived; we are not willing to “pay” the price of revival. Therefore, there is no possibility of experiencing revival.

Do you sense a need to be revived; are you willing to pay the price for revival: (time, energy, sacrificial giving, etc.?)

God works through HIS Spirit and HIS Word. HE revives HIS people though HIS Spirit and HIS Word.

So the final question is…

Will we really have revival?

We will soon see!

Carpe Diem!

A Word from THE WORD

Good Morning Happy Church,

Today is Saturday, January 30^th, 2016. Today is the 30^th Day of 2016.

There are only 336 days left in this year; and, there are only 71 Days Left until Our Spring Revival Begins!

We will begin the Revival Meetings on Saturday, April 9^th with a Banquet and Sermon at 6pm.

Sunday, April 10^th, we will hear Bro Bobby at 10am and again at 6pm.

Monday and Tuesday, April 11^th and 12, we will hear Bro Bobby at 7pm each night!

Please clear your schedule to attend as many of these meetings as possible. As I often say, “The two things you have to invest to be blessed is your Attendance and your Attention!”

Please be in prayer for Dr. Bobby and Sandra Boyles as they travel here and back. Pray that God will pour out HIS SPIRIT on us as never before!

Pray for the salvation of the lost; repentance and renewal in the life of God’s people; new people to become part of our Church Family; the calling out of ministers and missionaries; a spiritual awakening in our area; and, for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all that we do!

Psalm 85:4-7
⁴ “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!
⁵ Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
⁶ Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
⁷ Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.”

Devotional Thought for Today… “How can I know if I need Revival?”

One of the clearest signs of desperately needing revival is that one loses our joy in knowing, worshiping, and serving Jesus! “that YOUR people may rejoice IN YOU…”

JOY is a spiritual condition rather than an emotional one. “Happiness” is an emotion – based on our “happenstance” (happy circumstance); but, “joy” is a spiritual state!

Joy is the immediate product of revival!

So… here is the test: if knowing, worshiping, and serving Jesus does not produce JOY in you, you need REVIVAL!

Many times, even serious followers of Jesus (including Pastors) can get caught up in the trap of “doing our duty” rather than joyously worshiping and serving HIM!

If God grants us revival during the coming months – and, by the way – HE does not need to wait until Bobby gets here to send it; if HE does send revival you can be sure that you will be in a JOYOUS place filled with JOYOUS people!

It is always right to worship and serve Jesus, whether we sense joy or not. BUT, it is a sure sign of the FRESH moving of the Holy Spirit when our life is filled with joy!

Will we really have revival? We will soon see!

Carpe Diem!

A Word from THE WORD

Good Morning Happy Church,

Today is Friday, January 29^th, 2016. Today is the 29^th Day of 2016; and, there are only 72 Days Left until Our Spring Revival Begins!

We will begin the Revival Meetings on Saturday, April 9^th with a Banquet and Sermon at 6pm.

Sunday, April 10^th, we will hear Bro Bobby at 10am and again at 6pm.

Monday and Tuesday, April 11^th and 12, we will hear Bro Bobby at 7pm each night!

Please clear your schedule to attend as many of these meetings as possible. As I often say, “The two things you have to invest to be blessed is your Attendance and your Attention!”

Please be in prayer for Dr. Bobby and Sandra Boyles as they travel here and back. Pray that God will pour out HIS SPIRIT on us as never before!

Pray for the salvation of the lost; repentance and renewal in the life of God’s people; new people to become part of our Church Family; the calling out of ministers and missionaries; a spiritual awakening in our area; and, for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all that we do!

2^nd Chronicles 7:14

¹⁴ “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Devotional Thought for Today… “Do We Really Want Revival?”

Earlier this week, I was asked a great question about Revival. The basic idea of the question was what is it about what we are doing that can make a difference in our lives?

In other words, why would God do something in these upcoming meetings that HE does not do in any regular service of our Church?

That is a great question!

I enjoyed thinking about that!

In my reply, I thought about two things…

First, the increased and focused emphasis on prayer is one of the keys to an unusual move of God.

(I have already discussed “prayer” in this series of devotions, but, let me remind us of some key truths about prayer I shared last Saturday…)

I often say that “Revival is not ‘talked up’ it is ‘prayed down!’”

I am not always right; but, I am right about that!

George Mueller, the famous English Pastor, used to often say, “Prayer can do anything that God can do; and, God can do anything!”

Amen, Dr. Mueller!

Another famous quote about which I often think is this… “Preaching moves the hearts of men, but prayer moves the heart of God.”

Finally, I think the effect of experiencing a focused and protracted period of time being “saturated” in God’s Word is another key to an unusual outpouring of God’s Spirit upon HIS people.

Prayer… Being focused on and saturated in the Word… I think these are the keys to why “Revival” meetings are often used of God to actually bring revival!

Will we really have revival? We will soon see!

Carpe Diem!

A Word from THE WORD

Good Morning Happy Church,

Today is Thursday, January 28^th, 2016. Today is the 28^th Day of 2016; and, there are only 73 Days Left until Our Spring Revival Begins!

We will begin the Revival Meetings on Saturday, April 9^th with a Banquet and Sermon at 6pm.

Sunday, April 10^th, we will hear Bro Bobby at 10am and again at 6pm.

Monday and Tuesday, April 11^th and 12, we will hear Bro Bobby at 7pm each night!

Please clear your schedule to attend as many of these meetings as possible.

As I often say, “The two things you have to invest to be blessed is your Attendance and your Attention!”

Please be in prayer for Dr. Bobby and Sandra Boyles as they travel here and back. Pray that God will pour out HIS SPIRIT on us as never before!

Pray for the salvation of the lost; repentance and renewal in the life of God’s people; new people to become part of our Church Family; the calling out of ministers and missionaries; a spiritual awakening in our area; and, for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all that we do!

2^nd Chronicles 7:14

¹⁴ “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Devotional Thought for Today… “Do We Really Want Revival?”

We have seen these awesome promises… if we will do four things, God promises to do three things!

Thirdly, HE has promised, “I will heal their land!”

Heal our Land! Can you imagine a new day when sin-sick and morally perverted America would be healed?

That is HIS promise… HIS promise!

We MUST humble ourselves; we MUST pray; we MUST seek God’s face; we must TURN from our wicked ways…

That is an awfully clear description of revival; but, take note… this is not the effect of revival – it is the cause of revival.

REMEMBER: If we will, HE will HEAL OUR LAND!

Will we really have revival? We will soon see!

Carpe Diem!

A Word from THE WORD

Good Morning Happy Church,

Today is Wednesday, January 27^th, 2016. Today is the 27^th Day of 2016; and, there are only 74 Days Left until Our Spring Revival Begins!

We will begin the Revival Meetings on Saturday, April 9^th with a Banquet and Sermon at 6pm.

Sunday, April 10^th, we will hear Bro Bobby at 10am and again at 6pm.

Monday and Tuesday, April 11^th and 12, we will hear Bro Bobby at 7pm each night!

Please clear your schedule to attend as many of these meetings as possible. As I often say, “The two things you have to invest to be blessed is your Attendance and your Attention!”

Please be in prayer for Dr. Bobby and Sandra Boyles as they travel here and back. Pray that God will pour out HIS SPIRIT on us as never before!

Pray for the salvation of the lost; repentance and renewal in the life of God’s people; new people to become part of our Church Family; the calling out of ministers and missionaries; a spiritual awakening in our area; and, for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all that we do!

2^nd Chronicles 7:14
¹⁴ “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Devotional Thought for Today… “Do We Really Want Revival?”

If, and when, want revival bad enough to do the four things God commands, HE will bless us in three specific ways…

Not only will HE, “hear us” HE will forgive our sin!

The MAIN reason we need revival is that we continually battle sin; and, much of the time we lose that battle!

Even though we are saved, our sins still separate us from the blessings of God.

We need the blessings of God; therefore, we need revival!

We do not have to go through our life defeated and discouraged and weighed down with guilt. We can experience God’s forgiveness for our sins…

How?

If we humble ourselves, pray, seek [God’s] face, and turn from our wicked ways…”

Will we really have revival? We shall soon see!

Carpe Diem!

A Word from THE WORD

Good Morning Happy Church,

Today is Tuesday, January 26^th, 2016. Today is the 26^th Day of 2016; and, there are only 75 Days Left until Our Spring Revival Begins!

We will begin the Revival Meetings on Saturday, April 9^th with a Banquet and Sermon at 6pm.

Sunday, April 10^th, we will hear Bro Bobby at 10am and again at 6pm.

Monday and Tuesday, April 11^th and 12, we will hear Bro Bobby at 7pm each night!

Please clear your schedule to attend as many of these meetings as possible. As I often say, “The two things you have to invest to be blessed is your Attendance and your Attention!”

Please be in prayer for Dr. Bobby and Sandra Boyles as they travel here and back. Pray that God will pour out HIS SPIRIT on us as never before!

Pray for the salvation of the lost; repentance and renewal in the life of God’s people; new people to become part of our Church Family; the calling out of ministers and missionaries; a spiritual awakening in our area; and, for Jesus Christ to be glorified in all that we do!

2^nd Chronicles 7:14
¹⁴ “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

 Devotional Thought for Today… “Do We Really Want Revival?”

Blessed be the God WHO makes and keeps HIS promises to HIS people!

1^st Kings 8:56

“Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.”

HE says that if we will, HE will!

If we will do four things, HE will do three things…

First, HE will “hear from heaven!”

God will hear us! The One, True, Living God of the Christian Bible will hear us!

HE will hear us when we call; HE will hear us when we cry: HE will hear us when we pray; HE will hear us!

I have often thought about some famous and influential people to whom I would love to speak. I am sure that I will never get to do that; but, I can – and you can – speak to God whenever we choose.

Not only that, but, HE says that HE will “hear” us when we pray!

Sure, I want you and my family and my friends to “hear” what I have to say; but, I really, really, really want God to “hear” what I have to say to HIM!

Yes, yes, yes, I know that God knows everything and therefore HE hears everything; but, that is not what this passage is about. God will “hear” us the way a Judge “hears” a case.

If we will, HE will… and, if we will obey the four commandments in this text, HE will hear us!

Will we really have revival? We shall soon see!

Carpe Diem!