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Friday, September 30, 2016
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Thursday, September 1, 2016
The Great Promise - The Foundational Basis for the Sermon
Listen to the Sermon “The Great Promise
The Foundation
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:19–20 NIV
The above passage has been interpreted to be the Great Commission for the church. This passage is often used to promote evangelism and mission work around the world. I am not here to dispute that interpretation, but to say that it is so much more than that. The question comes to mind, “Is this the real intended purpose of this passage?” Understanding the context of this passage appears to be the key to correctly understanding the real meaning and purpose for this command of our Lord.
The Foundation
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:19–20 NIV
The above passage has been interpreted to be the Great Commission for the church. This passage is often used to promote evangelism and mission work around the world. I am not here to dispute that interpretation, but to say that it is so much more than that. The question comes to mind, “Is this the real intended purpose of this passage?” Understanding the context of this passage appears to be the key to correctly understanding the real meaning and purpose for this command of our Lord.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. . .”
The first part of this text, the "going", is stated as a foregone conclusion; it will happen. Christ knew of the human tendency to want to stay and build a temple or a place of worship. Consider the history of the disciples: When the disciples experienced Christ's transcending the physical world, such as they did on the Mount of Transfiguration, their initial desire was to stay there, in order that they might relive the experience.
After Christ's crucifixion the disciples went back to fishing. They must have thought, "Our leader is gone, so let’s go back to what we were doing before we met him." Sooner or later, they would also leave the Mount where he was crucified. Christ's command "To go" is spoken with the certainty that they would be going. It as if he is saying, “after you have gone”, or “as you are going. . . do this”. In the Book of Acts, Christ states it another way, "... You shall be my witnesses. . .” The only choice we have as believers is to choose what kind of witnesses we will be and how our witness will be delivered.
In most leadership training classes for businesses, participants are instructed to lead by example. Our model is Christ himself. Business training generally follows an experiential process model. The learner is instructed using modalities related to the goals and means of the task. Then students observe the action to be learned by observing someone else performing the task correctly. The students then perform the task with the assistance of the instructor. And finally, the students perform the task on their own.
The continued performance of the task in the real world becomes a little more complicated when the leader/instructor is no longer present. Without the continued praise and encouragement of their instructor, students may lose their initial excitement for performing the task. When this is combined with the lack of access to ongoing instruction about how to overcome the inevitable road blocks that the students are bound to encounter as they attempt to complete the task may lead to discouragement and the loss of interest.
Christ knew that his disciples would face these same challenges as they attempted to complete the task he had assigned. Without Christ's ongoing presence, the disciples might try very hard to complete the task of fishing for men, but there was a good chance that they would eventually go back to what they knew best, fishing for fish.
As Christians in the present day, we may experience the same outcome. Without a proper understanding of the background, the dynamics and the purpose behind "the Great Commission," there will be many churches who diligently try to complete the tasks assigned to them by Christ, but who lose more disciples than they win. Their defeated efforts may cause them to burn out and cause them to lose their own first love in the process! The business world has overcome this problem by implementing project management methods and processes. However, within this passage, Christ has given his church the key to avoiding and overcoming this problem.
It is here that I deviate from the normal interpretation of this text. Most scholars understand this passage to be giving a series of commands to go, to make disciples, to baptize and to teach, all with a promise at the end. I believe that Christ recognized the problem the disciples would have in completing the tasks that he assigned to them. Therefore, he left them a clear set of instructions that would help them carry out his request. His instructions are a path which, if followed, offers the greatest opportunity for their success. Keep in mind that Christ's definition of success might be different than our own.
This text is really a "how-to" book with the greatest twist ever. As we read this text, we become the hearers and we have the same questions that his first disciples might have had. The answers can only be understood when seen through the eyes of the hearers and the emotional needs that they were about to experience.
The first instructions were to go and make disciples. The disciple must have been asking, “How do you create lifelong followers of Jesus Christ in all nations?” Like everyone else, I was told that it was accomplished through evangelism. When I first became a Christian, I lived in fear of going out with the visitation committee. The idea of having to meet people and ask them to admit to me, a total stranger, that they were sinners, and then have to listen to me tell them how Jesus died for them on the cross and rose from the dead and then ask them to pray with me to accept Christ was more than a little overwhelming. As we went door-to-door, I used to pray that the people would not be home!
Awhile back, I had the privilege of being the interim pastor for one of the most evangelistic group of believers I had ever met. Everywhere I went I would meet people who would tell me how they had come to know the Lord through the ministry of this church. However, I also discovered that most of these people were not in church, or if they were in church they were attending some other church.
This scenario is not all that unusual in the life of most churches today. It caught my attention that, despite the outcome, this church maintained their zeal for evangelism. The question was why had a church of this size been so faithful to share the good news of Christ for so long? The church itself had never identified what it was that made them keep going. Therefore, they could not communicate that information to their new converts. Just to give you a hint, it was not the work itself that kept them going!
Christ understood what was going to happen, and therefore, he did not leave his disciples trying to figure this out for themselves. Christ gave them step-by-step instructions to follow: You accomplish the first task by completing the second task. In the end, this becomes a recipe for experiencing something every Christian loves, Jesus Christ!
“Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . .”
So the answer to the first question of how does one go about making a lifelong learner of Christ is found within the process. The disciples are to baptize (immerse) those new disciples. This is most often thought of as the water baptism. Certainly, there are examples of water baptisms and the importance of the act is not disputed here in this text. However, it is simply not the import of this text.
The text clearly states that those individuals are to be immersed "in the Name." The "name" is singular in its use here. The question then becomes, "If it is one name then which name should we use?" In those days, the names of Christ were commonly used by parents in the hope that their child would be the hope for Israel. The name for their God was so holy that it could not even be written let alone spoken. The concept of the Holy Spirit was not fully developed in the minds of these people yet. What if the hearers understood the name as reflecting the common nature and characteristics of the Holy Trinity? The disciples might be able to ask the next question, “How do I really immerse someone into Christ's nature?”
Some denominations have set their whole existence on the water baptism and others have down played its importance. The answer is that the water baptism is important, as it represents a physical witness of a spiritual truth in the lives of the believers. They are awash in the express image of Christ in their lives. The water then becomes the witness to the outside world of the spiritual reality within the believer. I remember the testimony of my wife when she was confronted by a charismatic friend of hers who told my wife that she needed to be baptized in the Spirit. She told her friend, “If I had anymore of the Holy Spirit, I think I would pop!” The outward expressions are only the witness to an inward reality.
When we are immersed in Christ, His Presence guides every aspect of our lives!
So how do you, as a disciple of Christ, immerse someone else into their own private experience. The answer is in an understanding of how the disciples got to that place.
Just 40 days earlier Christ was crucified on the cross, buried and died. The grief of those who had given everything to follow and love this man must have been overwhelming. Each individual or group dealt with this emotional trauma differently. What joy there must have been for the disciples when Christ arose from the dead and had come back to them. The hopes and dreams, the confusion that would have been going through each of their minds must have been tremendous. Christ understood their doubts and their dreams. And now, he was about to leave them again, and he knew the effect his departure would have on them.
Christ first reassured the followers by telling them, “Do not be afraid.” He had just finished demonstrating to them that he had overcome death, which was the worst thing that the world could use to threaten them.
“All power has been given to me.”
From that point on, no matter where they went or whom they might meet, his authority would go with them. They had seen his power over demons and death. He had healed the sick and enabled the lame to walk. He had taught them what and how to do all that was required of them. They had experienced his power even when he was not physically with them. They had seen that Christ would go before them and prepare the way for them even in the preparations for the last supper and in the upper room. Christ could support them in any of the actions he asked of them. The rest of the process is clear: Just tell them what I have told you.
“Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
The disciples would have remembered the lessons that they were taught and how Jesus had shown them by his actions, his words, and through their personal experiences. He had shown them the attributes of the Son. As the Son, he had told them that, by observing Him, they were seeing the actions and character of the Father. They became committed to Christ as they began to understand who He was and how much He loved them.
It is that experience within every believer that leads them to follow Christ forever. It is not by chance that the Lord's Supper was so important to the disciples. They did what he asked of them and saw the results. They remembered His words and experienced afresh the memories of Christ and his life with them. They came to this spot on top of the mountain as they were instructed. Now Christ revealed the real purpose of all these commands.
“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
At last, we come to the place where we can understand that this passage is "the Great Promise." These are not just a set of commands. They are a recipe for a lifelong experience with Christ. This experience is more powerful than a high that might be derived from some drug. It is in the "going" and the "doing" that Christians experience a living, risen Savior. It is their personal experience of the truth of a living Savior that loves them individually that causes those them to change their lives and redefine who they are. It is this Promise upon which all Christian missions and ministries should be based. The mere "doing" of these commands as obligations does nothing, but when the "doing" is combined with the promise of Christ's Presence, they have the power to change the world.
Regardless of the ministry, this Promise has to be at the heart of everything we do. This article is about church growth that is based on the fulfilling of the "Great Promise" found in Matthew 28:19–20. It is "the experience of Christ" in the planning, the development and in the growth of churches that will add the power necessary to accomplish the task.
This is the hope: A world that comes to the Cross and which is saved through the testimony of a church filled with the Presence of Christ. There is no drug or thrill-seeking experience that can compare to experiencing the Presence of Christ. Nothing is more exciting.
Why did the church that went out to do evangelism do so well? They had the power of Christ go before them and pave the way, quickening His Word, giving the Holy Spirit's witness to the truth of the message of Christ and the Cross and drawing those to whom the disciples would be witnessing to salvation.
The people in this church understood their own motivations, their desire for the blessing of experiencing Christ, but they failed to see the importance of passing that element on to their new converts hampered their ability to disciple them. It was not the obligation to witness, but the experience of the Presence of Christ in the "doing" that drove them to want more and more of that same experience. The performance of the task was the vehicle for experiencing Christ, it was not the end in and of itself.
Christ chose each of us as a witness in order that he might bless us with this personal experience. It was this feeling of the Presence of Christ in the witnessing event that helped me overcome my own fear of going out on visitation with the church. That experience led to my calling into the ministry.
Experiencing the Presence of Christ will change your life and the life of your church. Is your walk with Christ less exciting than it was? Obey and experience Christ again!
I performed the work of a revivalist for years. Evangelism is a result of a revived membership. If your church is not praying, not studying, not participating, or not giving, it may not be because they are lost or that they are in rebellion. It may be because they are not experiencing the living Christ, whom they have already asked into their life. Very often the churches are doing all the right things, but failing to recognize the intended purpose of the work. Christ intended that person providing the witness is supposed to be blessed, as well as the person receiving the witness.
The purpose of this article is not to condemn anyone. The level of excitement in any person's spiritual life appears to ebb and flow and is normal in Christian life. I remember when I was a new Christian getting excited about how God had used me to help others come to know the Lord and blessed me in the process. I was on fire! My wife and I had bought a case of Bibles to give to individuals with whom we shared Christ, as we found that many of these people did not have Bibles. We were excited about what God was showing us during Bible study and we wanted them to have the same experience.
One day we were having a vesper service and during the testimonies I recognized how many of the people we had presented with Bibles were present. I wanted to share how much it meant to me to see those individuals in the church and seeing them carrying those Bibles. As I stood up to share, I started to cry and could not finish. My wife stood up to finish the testimony, but she started crying too and could not finish either. I turned around to my wife in tears and asked, “Are you having fun yet?” Of course the answer was "Yes!" At that point, one of the other people in the church stood up and said, ”It is so nice to see new Christians so on fire in the church again.”
I know that person, and I am sure that she meant her statement to be a compliment and an encouragement to us. However, what I heard was that I would not always be this way and that I would not be able to maintain my excitement. Others joined in to say that as we matured in our Christian walk we would cool down and settle into a more mature walk and not be so excited all the time.
I thank God for those individuals and what they said, because God used them to teach me something and it gave me another chance to experience his voice in my life. He revealed to me the truth behind their statements, but he also showed me that it was possible to have a different outcome. He showed me that when the pressures of life begin to steal our joy, if we do what he has taught us, we can experience afresh the overpowering Presence of Christ in our lives. He is always there; we just forget to look for the evidence.
My wife and I have always enjoyed going for car rides. As we were driving, I would point out deer that were standing next to the road. She could never see them. I decided to begin the process of showing her how to spot the deer. Over time she learned to become aware of the conditions and the locations where the deer would likely be and she begin to be able to spot deer on her own, even before I pointed them out to her. To this day she derives great joy from seeing the deer for herself. Now she frequently points them out to me when I miss them. The deer were always there, she just didn't know how to watch for them.
Christ is always present, we just fail to look for his hand, and therefore we miss the joy of that experience. In prayer are we listening? In our Bible studies and in our church attendance, do we hear Christ or the preacher? If we do not hear Christ, is it because Christ is not there? Or is because we are not looking for him? Revival is just the renewal of those experiences.
Do you want to do something about it? Is there something in the church you could do to help out? Is there someone you could speak to about accepting Christ or about coming to church? When was the last time you personally shared the good news of Jesus Christ? Ask yourself this question, “Have I shared Christ today, yesterday, last week, last month, this year, ever?” Perhaps you have identified some ways to reignite your spiritual life. The "Great Promise" is that, in the going and doing, Christ’s promise is not that he will be there in the end, but "during" the process. In the end, we are without excuse, but the good news is that through Jesus Christ we can try and try again and receive his forgiveness. Are you ready to get excited? “Go!”
Listen to the Sermon “The Great Promise
The first part of this text, the "going", is stated as a foregone conclusion; it will happen. Christ knew of the human tendency to want to stay and build a temple or a place of worship. Consider the history of the disciples: When the disciples experienced Christ's transcending the physical world, such as they did on the Mount of Transfiguration, their initial desire was to stay there, in order that they might relive the experience.
After Christ's crucifixion the disciples went back to fishing. They must have thought, "Our leader is gone, so let’s go back to what we were doing before we met him." Sooner or later, they would also leave the Mount where he was crucified. Christ's command "To go" is spoken with the certainty that they would be going. It as if he is saying, “after you have gone”, or “as you are going. . . do this”. In the Book of Acts, Christ states it another way, "... You shall be my witnesses. . .” The only choice we have as believers is to choose what kind of witnesses we will be and how our witness will be delivered.
In most leadership training classes for businesses, participants are instructed to lead by example. Our model is Christ himself. Business training generally follows an experiential process model. The learner is instructed using modalities related to the goals and means of the task. Then students observe the action to be learned by observing someone else performing the task correctly. The students then perform the task with the assistance of the instructor. And finally, the students perform the task on their own.
The continued performance of the task in the real world becomes a little more complicated when the leader/instructor is no longer present. Without the continued praise and encouragement of their instructor, students may lose their initial excitement for performing the task. When this is combined with the lack of access to ongoing instruction about how to overcome the inevitable road blocks that the students are bound to encounter as they attempt to complete the task may lead to discouragement and the loss of interest.
Christ knew that his disciples would face these same challenges as they attempted to complete the task he had assigned. Without Christ's ongoing presence, the disciples might try very hard to complete the task of fishing for men, but there was a good chance that they would eventually go back to what they knew best, fishing for fish.
As Christians in the present day, we may experience the same outcome. Without a proper understanding of the background, the dynamics and the purpose behind "the Great Commission," there will be many churches who diligently try to complete the tasks assigned to them by Christ, but who lose more disciples than they win. Their defeated efforts may cause them to burn out and cause them to lose their own first love in the process! The business world has overcome this problem by implementing project management methods and processes. However, within this passage, Christ has given his church the key to avoiding and overcoming this problem.
It is here that I deviate from the normal interpretation of this text. Most scholars understand this passage to be giving a series of commands to go, to make disciples, to baptize and to teach, all with a promise at the end. I believe that Christ recognized the problem the disciples would have in completing the tasks that he assigned to them. Therefore, he left them a clear set of instructions that would help them carry out his request. His instructions are a path which, if followed, offers the greatest opportunity for their success. Keep in mind that Christ's definition of success might be different than our own.
This text is really a "how-to" book with the greatest twist ever. As we read this text, we become the hearers and we have the same questions that his first disciples might have had. The answers can only be understood when seen through the eyes of the hearers and the emotional needs that they were about to experience.
The first instructions were to go and make disciples. The disciple must have been asking, “How do you create lifelong followers of Jesus Christ in all nations?” Like everyone else, I was told that it was accomplished through evangelism. When I first became a Christian, I lived in fear of going out with the visitation committee. The idea of having to meet people and ask them to admit to me, a total stranger, that they were sinners, and then have to listen to me tell them how Jesus died for them on the cross and rose from the dead and then ask them to pray with me to accept Christ was more than a little overwhelming. As we went door-to-door, I used to pray that the people would not be home!
Awhile back, I had the privilege of being the interim pastor for one of the most evangelistic group of believers I had ever met. Everywhere I went I would meet people who would tell me how they had come to know the Lord through the ministry of this church. However, I also discovered that most of these people were not in church, or if they were in church they were attending some other church.
This scenario is not all that unusual in the life of most churches today. It caught my attention that, despite the outcome, this church maintained their zeal for evangelism. The question was why had a church of this size been so faithful to share the good news of Christ for so long? The church itself had never identified what it was that made them keep going. Therefore, they could not communicate that information to their new converts. Just to give you a hint, it was not the work itself that kept them going!
Christ understood what was going to happen, and therefore, he did not leave his disciples trying to figure this out for themselves. Christ gave them step-by-step instructions to follow: You accomplish the first task by completing the second task. In the end, this becomes a recipe for experiencing something every Christian loves, Jesus Christ!
“Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . .”
So the answer to the first question of how does one go about making a lifelong learner of Christ is found within the process. The disciples are to baptize (immerse) those new disciples. This is most often thought of as the water baptism. Certainly, there are examples of water baptisms and the importance of the act is not disputed here in this text. However, it is simply not the import of this text.
The text clearly states that those individuals are to be immersed "in the Name." The "name" is singular in its use here. The question then becomes, "If it is one name then which name should we use?" In those days, the names of Christ were commonly used by parents in the hope that their child would be the hope for Israel. The name for their God was so holy that it could not even be written let alone spoken. The concept of the Holy Spirit was not fully developed in the minds of these people yet. What if the hearers understood the name as reflecting the common nature and characteristics of the Holy Trinity? The disciples might be able to ask the next question, “How do I really immerse someone into Christ's nature?”
Some denominations have set their whole existence on the water baptism and others have down played its importance. The answer is that the water baptism is important, as it represents a physical witness of a spiritual truth in the lives of the believers. They are awash in the express image of Christ in their lives. The water then becomes the witness to the outside world of the spiritual reality within the believer. I remember the testimony of my wife when she was confronted by a charismatic friend of hers who told my wife that she needed to be baptized in the Spirit. She told her friend, “If I had anymore of the Holy Spirit, I think I would pop!” The outward expressions are only the witness to an inward reality.
When we are immersed in Christ, His Presence guides every aspect of our lives!
So how do you, as a disciple of Christ, immerse someone else into their own private experience. The answer is in an understanding of how the disciples got to that place.
Just 40 days earlier Christ was crucified on the cross, buried and died. The grief of those who had given everything to follow and love this man must have been overwhelming. Each individual or group dealt with this emotional trauma differently. What joy there must have been for the disciples when Christ arose from the dead and had come back to them. The hopes and dreams, the confusion that would have been going through each of their minds must have been tremendous. Christ understood their doubts and their dreams. And now, he was about to leave them again, and he knew the effect his departure would have on them.
Christ first reassured the followers by telling them, “Do not be afraid.” He had just finished demonstrating to them that he had overcome death, which was the worst thing that the world could use to threaten them.
“All power has been given to me.”
From that point on, no matter where they went or whom they might meet, his authority would go with them. They had seen his power over demons and death. He had healed the sick and enabled the lame to walk. He had taught them what and how to do all that was required of them. They had experienced his power even when he was not physically with them. They had seen that Christ would go before them and prepare the way for them even in the preparations for the last supper and in the upper room. Christ could support them in any of the actions he asked of them. The rest of the process is clear: Just tell them what I have told you.
“Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
The disciples would have remembered the lessons that they were taught and how Jesus had shown them by his actions, his words, and through their personal experiences. He had shown them the attributes of the Son. As the Son, he had told them that, by observing Him, they were seeing the actions and character of the Father. They became committed to Christ as they began to understand who He was and how much He loved them.
It is that experience within every believer that leads them to follow Christ forever. It is not by chance that the Lord's Supper was so important to the disciples. They did what he asked of them and saw the results. They remembered His words and experienced afresh the memories of Christ and his life with them. They came to this spot on top of the mountain as they were instructed. Now Christ revealed the real purpose of all these commands.
“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
At last, we come to the place where we can understand that this passage is "the Great Promise." These are not just a set of commands. They are a recipe for a lifelong experience with Christ. This experience is more powerful than a high that might be derived from some drug. It is in the "going" and the "doing" that Christians experience a living, risen Savior. It is their personal experience of the truth of a living Savior that loves them individually that causes those them to change their lives and redefine who they are. It is this Promise upon which all Christian missions and ministries should be based. The mere "doing" of these commands as obligations does nothing, but when the "doing" is combined with the promise of Christ's Presence, they have the power to change the world.
Regardless of the ministry, this Promise has to be at the heart of everything we do. This article is about church growth that is based on the fulfilling of the "Great Promise" found in Matthew 28:19–20. It is "the experience of Christ" in the planning, the development and in the growth of churches that will add the power necessary to accomplish the task.
This is the hope: A world that comes to the Cross and which is saved through the testimony of a church filled with the Presence of Christ. There is no drug or thrill-seeking experience that can compare to experiencing the Presence of Christ. Nothing is more exciting.
Why did the church that went out to do evangelism do so well? They had the power of Christ go before them and pave the way, quickening His Word, giving the Holy Spirit's witness to the truth of the message of Christ and the Cross and drawing those to whom the disciples would be witnessing to salvation.
The people in this church understood their own motivations, their desire for the blessing of experiencing Christ, but they failed to see the importance of passing that element on to their new converts hampered their ability to disciple them. It was not the obligation to witness, but the experience of the Presence of Christ in the "doing" that drove them to want more and more of that same experience. The performance of the task was the vehicle for experiencing Christ, it was not the end in and of itself.
Christ chose each of us as a witness in order that he might bless us with this personal experience. It was this feeling of the Presence of Christ in the witnessing event that helped me overcome my own fear of going out on visitation with the church. That experience led to my calling into the ministry.
Experiencing the Presence of Christ will change your life and the life of your church. Is your walk with Christ less exciting than it was? Obey and experience Christ again!
I performed the work of a revivalist for years. Evangelism is a result of a revived membership. If your church is not praying, not studying, not participating, or not giving, it may not be because they are lost or that they are in rebellion. It may be because they are not experiencing the living Christ, whom they have already asked into their life. Very often the churches are doing all the right things, but failing to recognize the intended purpose of the work. Christ intended that person providing the witness is supposed to be blessed, as well as the person receiving the witness.
The purpose of this article is not to condemn anyone. The level of excitement in any person's spiritual life appears to ebb and flow and is normal in Christian life. I remember when I was a new Christian getting excited about how God had used me to help others come to know the Lord and blessed me in the process. I was on fire! My wife and I had bought a case of Bibles to give to individuals with whom we shared Christ, as we found that many of these people did not have Bibles. We were excited about what God was showing us during Bible study and we wanted them to have the same experience.
One day we were having a vesper service and during the testimonies I recognized how many of the people we had presented with Bibles were present. I wanted to share how much it meant to me to see those individuals in the church and seeing them carrying those Bibles. As I stood up to share, I started to cry and could not finish. My wife stood up to finish the testimony, but she started crying too and could not finish either. I turned around to my wife in tears and asked, “Are you having fun yet?” Of course the answer was "Yes!" At that point, one of the other people in the church stood up and said, ”It is so nice to see new Christians so on fire in the church again.”
I know that person, and I am sure that she meant her statement to be a compliment and an encouragement to us. However, what I heard was that I would not always be this way and that I would not be able to maintain my excitement. Others joined in to say that as we matured in our Christian walk we would cool down and settle into a more mature walk and not be so excited all the time.
I thank God for those individuals and what they said, because God used them to teach me something and it gave me another chance to experience his voice in my life. He revealed to me the truth behind their statements, but he also showed me that it was possible to have a different outcome. He showed me that when the pressures of life begin to steal our joy, if we do what he has taught us, we can experience afresh the overpowering Presence of Christ in our lives. He is always there; we just forget to look for the evidence.
My wife and I have always enjoyed going for car rides. As we were driving, I would point out deer that were standing next to the road. She could never see them. I decided to begin the process of showing her how to spot the deer. Over time she learned to become aware of the conditions and the locations where the deer would likely be and she begin to be able to spot deer on her own, even before I pointed them out to her. To this day she derives great joy from seeing the deer for herself. Now she frequently points them out to me when I miss them. The deer were always there, she just didn't know how to watch for them.
Christ is always present, we just fail to look for his hand, and therefore we miss the joy of that experience. In prayer are we listening? In our Bible studies and in our church attendance, do we hear Christ or the preacher? If we do not hear Christ, is it because Christ is not there? Or is because we are not looking for him? Revival is just the renewal of those experiences.
Do you want to do something about it? Is there something in the church you could do to help out? Is there someone you could speak to about accepting Christ or about coming to church? When was the last time you personally shared the good news of Jesus Christ? Ask yourself this question, “Have I shared Christ today, yesterday, last week, last month, this year, ever?” Perhaps you have identified some ways to reignite your spiritual life. The "Great Promise" is that, in the going and doing, Christ’s promise is not that he will be there in the end, but "during" the process. In the end, we are without excuse, but the good news is that through Jesus Christ we can try and try again and receive his forgiveness. Are you ready to get excited? “Go!”
Listen to the Sermon “The Great Promise
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