To God's Beloved At Cloverdale Baptist Church:
Yesterday was family day! A nice day of rest that we could focus on our families in. A reminder of the way God defines family, and describes the importance of loving our family. Also a good reminder to live our lives in a way that builds the family of God. So as you enjoyed the day of rest, or will enjoy the day of rest sometimes this week, use it to get a break from every day life and reinvigorate your desire to serve God in your physical and spiritual families! Happy Family Day!
Youth Retreat: Please pray for Pastor Thomas and the youth ministry part of our team going on a retreat this weekend (God willing, weather permitting). Pray that the messages Pastor Thomas speaks would lead to a renewed passion for God in our youth that will expand our passion for God in our people! As I have studied revival in history, often they are led by youth, who GET IT. Who see that God is real, and seek to define their lives by their relationship with Him, and through prayer make that contagious. An AWAKENING, that flows through the power of the Spirit of the reality of the greatness of God impacting all of life all the time. God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, so let us ask and imagine in faith that our God LIVES.
Stephen Olford's book, A Heart's Cry For Revival, spends significant time in Tozer, in fact I think Olford was mentored by Tozer's writings when it comes to full devotion...and I want us to walk through how Tozer says to get ready for REVIVAL. So this is Tozer, on the main points, with my comments...how to get ready for revival...
1. Get Thoroughly Dissatisfied With Yourself: I love that Tozer starts here, and I suppose many of us live here, so worth chatting about. What this fights is the dangerous mistakes of self righteous judgment of others, or apathy. This fights against the fleshly temptation to know you can't be perfect, and so get busy pointing your finger at others, or coasting and faking it in apathy. Both so steeped with hypocrisy. Jesus people are POOR IN SPIRIT. "Complacency is the deadly enemy of spiritual progress". This first step in getting ready for revival is honest, and displays our desperate need for Jesus and the beauty of our salvation. It is much easier to want this for others or to ignore this, so pray that God would search you, and that you would see His holiness and respond personally His way. Reflect on Isaiah 6:1-8
1a. Get Thoroughly Delighted In Jesus: This step is not Tozer's, but perhaps one we should take after every one of the Tozer pre-requisites for revival. If we are, "thoroughly dissatisfied with ourselves", and move to solution to quickly then we will get caught up in self effort and cycle into self-righteousness and/or despair. So, fix your eyes on Jesus, and rejoice in your great salvation! Let it motivate you to rest in Him and His righteousness given to you IN CHRIST! I believe we will be much healthier as Christians if we practice preaching the Gospel to ourselves every day....to bask in the love of God and what He has done for us and find our identity in Christ. He has paid the price in full for our sin, and we are free and fully devoted in Him. In Christ we have SATISFIED the righteous requirements of our HOLY GOD. Reflect on Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:14, 21.
2. Set your face like a flint toward a sweeping transformation of your life: Tozer states, "Timid are tagged for failure before they start". BE ALL IN. A living sacrifice. This is a Romans 12:1-2 commitment with a passion to follow it up with a whole hearted pursuit of a more intimate relationship with Jesus. This is never to earn your salvation, but because you are truly saved. In our Romans books we talk about Key Stone habits, so take the time to look these up in our Romans book articles, and set them up in your life. This step is being all in all the time...so, Reflect on your own life and what this means, and go to the article section in the new book, and read the article on habits, and start to set these up in your life TODAY! Choose to pursue Jesus with all your might. Now is the time to become one who walks worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1-2; 5:1-2.) . Reflect on Romans 12:1-2, ALL IN, with smaller choices to grow your godliness.
2a. Get Thoroughly Delighted In Jesus: Don't lose sight of the Gospel...
Today, re-read those three steps to true revival, and commit to take them with us. If you are willing, if we are willing, then the walk through these 10 steps (with some small additional ones) will in the power of the Holy Spirit lead us to greater INTIMACY AND IMPACT! I long for this in our church, that we would together be delivered from apathy, destroy self-righteousness and delight in Christ. Pray with me that you would take these steps, that I would take these steps, that WE would take these steps...
Sunday Is Coming:
Worship In Song: A central part of who we are together is singing praises to God. We seek for our songs to be ones that you are familiar with and can sing, so that together unified in voices, strengthened in doctrine, and emotionally all in, we can SING TOGETHER! Our desire is for voices to be our main instrument so, this means we long for each person to be engaged with us, singing praises to our KING. Come this Sunday ready to sing with us praises to our God. Psalm 95 led the Israelites into this attitude of praise as they gathered, let it inspire you to be a part of our corporate praise.
Worship In Offering: Together we give as an overflow of hearts devoted to God, so that His work and our obedience mesh in accomplishing what He wants. This is a joyful act of worship for those who know Him.
Worship In Prayer: This is a time of corporate prayer, where our pastors lead us into the presence of God together and our minds and hearts are unified in our desire to see Him, praise Him, confess our sins, and our devotion to Him, and entrust our concerns together to Him.
Worship In Love: We are called together to be a family, to notice those around us and to choose to love and give. This is a part of the every member ministry we desire as a church, for "as each part does it's work" we will become the loving place God wants us to be known for.
Worship In Word: Romans 6:1-2
Title: May It Never Be:
- What does it mean to be a slave to sin?
- How can we be free from this slavery?
- What does it mean to be IN CHRIST?
Romans 6 is one of the great doctrinal sections of Romans that reminds us of who we are and whose we are. He is our IDENTITY and IDEAL.
- How can we fight sin in our lives in His strength, and our identity in Him?
- Why does the Bible take sin so seriously?
- Looking forward to a great week of serving you, as I serve Him, and rejoicing in the hope we find IN CHRIST,
- Will you come ready to worship? Ready to help us be a worshipping gathering of followers of Jesus pursuing greater intimacy and impact?
I am All In!
Pastor Rob