March 2009

    John Wesley once said . . . “each revival has built within it the seeds of its own destruction, because as Christians put into practice the virtues of hard work and thrift, they prosper, and as they prosper they see less a need of God, and as they see less a need of God they turn away from the very principles that led to their prosperity and the whole cycle must repeat itself.”
    This is a wise insight. And it was the heart of my message for February 15th.
Just because you have become a Christian, your striving and moving on towards perfection is never over. Keep asking! Keep seeking! Keep knocking! Hunger and thirst for righteousness. Never be satisfied with where you are but be always content and satisfied with who you are in Christ and what Christ is for you.
    There is one other thought that I would like for us to consider while John
Wesley’s quote is still fresh in our minds: As revival takes place in your own heart and mind, never forget the danger that comes afterwards.
  You see your progress. You know you are moving on towards perfection. And
it is possible for you to suddenly become arrogant and confident of your own righteousness; and then, everything comes unglued
    A good test to see if you are truly moving in a Spirit led direction, and not one in which the seeds of destruction will come to maturity, is to take inventory of your own life. Are you more gracious? Are you more forgiving? Does your life more and more reflect the fruit of God’s Spirit via such things as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?
    This church is undergoing some really cool changes. If it were a little more
compressed, we could almost say a revival was taking place.
    What is happening, you might be saying? People are reading their Bibles more. Giving is remaining steady and we are doing fine financially when nearly every church I talk to is having troubles. Our attendance is averaging nearly 260 now. We have a good number of new faces each week who are checking out what it means to accept Jesus as their Savior. The Official Board and Pastor’s Cabinet enjoy a unity and harmony that I have never experienced before in a church board. All in all, things are going really well. And this is where John Wesley’s quote is most significant.
    Never forget that if we ever forget we are who we are by God’s grace and not by our own merit or doing, we can easily succumb to the disastrous results for which Wesley warned us.
    Never forget that we enjoy present success, not because we are wiser, not because we have a nicer facility, not because we have an effective pastor, not because we are the cool place to be in town—we enjoy present success by the grace and mercy of God. It is God’s Spirit that moves people to come and attend our worship services. It is God’s Spirit that motivates people to give to our church. It is God’s Spirit that encourages people to read their Bibles, pray and practice the spiritual disciplines. So all that we are and ever hope to be, we owe it all to God.
    Let’s not become another corporate casualty that John Wesley warned about.
Let us never forget Who has allowed us to enjoy our present success. We owe everything to Jesus. And if we remember that, and continue to give recognition and praise to God for our present success, and pray that God will keep us from destroying ourselves, then the seeds of our own destruction can remain unplanted, and not allowed to be watered, fertilized or harvested. AMEN!