A Father's Day Sermon
By Greg Presley, “A Voice for Today Ministries” revised by Earl Presley.
TEXT: 1 Chronicles 28:2-21
INTRODUCTION:
David, seeing that he must name his successor as he lay on his death bed, named Solomon to be King as he had promised Bathsheba. In the presence of all the people he proclaimed Solomon King and charged him to do well by trusting God. Then David bestowed upon Solomon his inheritance.
David gave Solomon an unfulfilled dream of a temple for God; a sanctuary for worship. David had spent the latter part of his life gathering the materials for the temple and had made a blueprint by Divine Revelation as to how the temple should be built. These he left to Solomon.
David knew that Solomon would need more than his own power to accomplish this task, so he charged him to draw from the inexhaustible store of God. Solomon built the temple!
Wise in many things, foolish in some, King Solomon was a genius of economy and he brought prosperity to the land. He also was a political strategist and he brought peace to Israel by making compromising alliances with other nations, sealing these alliances with marriage to their royal daughters. In doing this, he laid the groundwork for the ruination and fall of Israel; the breaking of the covenant through Idolatry; and, in some measure, the crucifixion of Jesus--but that is another sermon.
Our attention today is given to the passing of the torch of leadership from David to his son. This text renders 3 important lessons for us on this Father’s Day.
I. We must leave our Children an unfulfilled dream.
“…I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God.”
Because David had been a warrior and because of his sin with Bathsheba he was not permitted to build the House of God.
Similarly, Moses was not permitted to go into the Promised Land.
Martin Luther King, Jr. left this world with a great sermon and it was of an unfulfilled dream “I have a dream!”
John F. Kennedy left a dream that has been mostly forgotten “Ask not what your Country can do for you, but what you can do for your Country.”
II. We must leave our Children the resources for the task of fulfilling the dream. (28:1-19)
1. A complete pattern, vs. 11-18
2. A Divine pattern, vs. 19
III. We must leave our children the assurance that they can, with God’s Power, accomplish the task of fulfilling the dream. (Vs. 20-21)
1. God’s power is that ingredient which insures success. (vs. 20)
“…Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed for the Lord God. My God is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the house of the Lord is finished. (vs. 20)
2. The people of God are available to you when you do His Will. (vs.21)
“Now, behold, there are the divisions of the priests and the Levite for all the service of the house of God, and every will man of any skill will be with you in all the work for kinds of service. The officials also and all the people will be entirely at your command.” (vs.21)
3. The Hebrew tradition was to pass on a family craft to each son.
Jesus was a carpenter
Paul was a tent maker
Peter was a fisherman
My Family learned Upholstery
CONCLUSION: The WWII Generation let children choose their own dream. We have had 3 generations of children who sought to find fulfillment with no vision, resources, or assurance of success. As the home has broken down for the past 70 years, there are fewer dreams, fewer plans, and less assurance of success. I have watched young people abandon their dreams for personal aggrandizement for the last 25 years. I counsel adults’ everyday who feel unfulfilled due to poor career, spouse, and social choices.
The first order of business in these cases is to understand that an identifiable relationship with God is necessary for one to feel a part of creation. God’s will is an essential element in the forming of a vision, plan and resources to accomplish any dream. A vision of God’s will for your life is the first step toward the feeling of fulfillment that we all desire. Jesus said that he came so that man might have life, and have it abundantly. You have to have relationship with him to know his will for your life.
Beyond the individual is the ecclesia; the collective; the church.
1. We must leave our children the dream of a church that is a vital part of the community.
A. A church that pursues God’s Will as a congregation.
We must know God’s will
B. A church that lives God’s Will before the community.
We must reclaim our place in our community
C. A church that evangelizes by contacting the lost with a witness.
We must be intentional about spreading the Gospel
D. A church which believes that it can change the world.
We must look to the future
2. We must leave our children with the resources to accomplish this dream.
Facility, Faith, Tradition,
3. We must leave our children with the assurance that all this can be accomplished by God’s power in them.
We must propagate the faith.
4. Just like David found himself in our text; each one of us will confront what we are
leaving behind as our life on earth ends.
What do you want this Church to be like in 2020?
What dreams will you leave your sons and daughters?
Do you have any dreams?
How can we best equip them to realize the dreams we can only see in a divine vision?
Do we have a divine vision?
Are we able to transfer to them a sincere belief that through God, All things are possible?
Have we lived our faith in such a way that our children accepted it.
I believe that we must leave them a faith that permit’s the dream of a church united in Christ, responsive to His Will, and victorious from the beginning of time; A Church of compassion, love, and service. They must see we care, before they will care.
We must revitalize every program of the church to include the vision of where we want to go as well as where we have been. We must teach them to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost”, with the assurance that Christ go with us before, during and after their journey. Amen
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Compassion the World Can See
I have been troubled of late that that the mainline church seems to be failing all around me, and the conservative evangelical church seems to be polarizing the public and rejected by most people with ethnic, socio-economic and sexual diversity. The issues that the fundamental church has chosen to stand on polarizes the community and the political rhetoric. The mainline church finds its tolerance ridiculed by their "brother and sisters in Christ" for moral decline and the rest of the world for lack of courage to stand for anything.
Why is the Church failing? Could it be that we have missed or changed God's plan for the church? First we must understand the mission of the Christian and then the extended mission of the church.
Matthew 28:16-20 (New International Version)
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”Verse 19 is the only mission of the disciples. A better rendering would be "as you go". We as Christians are supposed to make disciples, which requires witnessing as we go about our daily lives to what Jesus has done in and for us. The modern church in the 20th Century changed this to read "bring them to church, baptizing them..." and as a result, abandoned the very core of disciple mission.
These disciples, that we are supposed to resemble as Christians, let Jesus (with all authority) work through them, lead them, send them, and guide them through prayer, study, and experience with Jesus. Their credibility we lodged in their devotion and ability to let the world see the compassion and love of Jesus Christ through them.
The modern day problem is that today's Christians work for Jesus instead of letting Jesus work through them. They either do not resemble Christ by demonstrating their lack of compassion in the political arena, or they "do" for Christ and claim the credit for it with the community and with God without the credibility of Christ's authority gained by Jesus' authority and guidance.
The true Christian is then faced with the choice of being a part of a community outspoken, negative, guilt-ridden people who make enemies for Christ and the Church by their community and political agenda, or a community of do-gooders who don't seek God's leading for their compassion or allow Jesus to work through them. Some churches achieve the incorporation of both these traits.
Ask yourself; if you were faced with a person on the street reading the Bible and wondering about the stories he was reading, could you communicate and witness with validity to your own experience to lead him to Christ as Philip did the Ethiopian? If you were faced with an issue that required your compassion, would you be able to extend Christian help and then articulate your faith with the guidance of the Holy Spirit without being self-righteous and condescending? Do you really care what your neighbor's, friend's, or even family's eternal and present faith condition is?
If you cannot easily and quickly affirm these questions in your mind, you have been deluded by the modern church into thinking that the Christian has some other mission than to propagate the Gospel of Christ through complete submission to His will. I challenge you to consider how different the Church would be if all Christians prayerfully sought God's will for their lives and were willing to accept their mission as stated in Matthew 28. The Church's only hope is that individual Christians become Disciples once again.
Friday, February 11, 2011
The History of A Voice for Today
A Voice For Today Ministries was begun by Evangelist Greg Presley and revival meetings were held from the East Coast of Florida to Yuma, AR. During a time of crisis in America during the Vietnam War, faith was waning and people questioned the Church, Morality, the Bible, and the Government. Teaching personal evangelism, preaching from the Bible coupled with exciting music enhanced by his son Earl, and David Phillips (former Organist with Dennis Yost and the Classics IV) was a combination that found hundreds of people coming to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and dedicating their lives to the cause of Christ.
Now in the 21st Century, it is once again a time of crisis. We find ourselves with a new generation of young people to whom the Gospel has not been made relevant. The Facebook and Twitter Generation questions the institutions of Church and religion in a new and more challenging way than every before. It is time for a new voice, A Voice for Today, to challenge people of faith to return to personal evangelism, renew their Christian Experience, and lead the emerging Church into a new century of carrying the Gospel to a world that is seeking love, peace, reconciliation, compassion, and spirituality without the trappings of the 20th Century religious bondage that plagues the declining Church.
Born out of crisis, A Voice for Today is a catalyst for change in the church's worldview regarding ministry, worship,and discipleship. Earl Presley is a Minister born out of the Civil Rights Movement of the Sixties, the Vietnam Protests of the seventies, the Individualism of the eighties, and the Culture of Greed in the nineties. He brings a prophetic voice in music, preaching and teaching based on the principles taught in the Bible that speak to the current crisis of faith confronting the Church and the World. Like his Father before him, Earl goes forth with Christ high and lifted up, bearing the Good News of Hope through Christ to a dying world.
There is a new website http://avoicefortoday.com/ which will allow you to book personal appearances for Earl Presley.
Monday, February 7, 2011
What a Black President Means
It is Wednesday morning after the historic election of November 4, 2008. I did not realize how vested I was in the historic significance of the election of our first African-American President.
65 years ago, Marion Anderson was the greatest Contralto Opera Singer of the 20th Century. Mary Presley, my grandmother, was the president of the Women’s Club in Cottonwood, AL and arranged for a concert to be performed while Anderson was on tour of the US. When she arrived, the arrangements for Hotel and Restaurant fell through when the business owners realized she was of African-American. She stayed with my Grandmother’s family and performed to a sold out audience with rave reviews, but was denied access to Lodging and Food.
45 years ago, my father, Greg Presley, was Pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church of Ocala, Florida during the St. Augustine Race Riots. He led the Church to be the first Baptist Church in Florida to seat African-American visitors. The KKK burned a cross in the yard of the Manse and I remember my mother’s tears and fear as we watched my Dad take my little .410 shotgun out and defend our home while they danced around the flaming cross. 20 years later I would sing at the funeral of the same man that led that led the dance.
40 years ago I watched the Civil Rights activists H. Rap Brown and Andrew Young go to jail after speeches my father had helped write during demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Threatening phone calls followed my family for years for my father’s role as a speechwriter for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Today I wake to realize the American Dream of Equality and Opportunity regardless of race, gender, or entitlement is closer to being a reality than it has been in my lifetime. As Barack Obama said, “We have come so far”. Transformation is the theme of the American Dream as well as the Christian experience. Truly that transformation is taking place before our eyes at this time in history. I continue to pray for my own spiritual growth, the continued transformation of my country, and the Lord’s guidance for my new President. I hope you will join me.
Rev. Earl G. Presley, Pastor -First Christian Church, Rockdale, TX
Printed in the Rockdale Reporte, Rockdale, TX November 11, 2008
Friday, September 10, 2010
WHAT DISPLEASES JESUS
WHAT DISPLEASES JESUS
A sermon by Evangelist Greg Presley
TEXT: Mark 11:15-19
Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a robbers’ den’.”
INTRODUCTION:
The Choir has sung of Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to His seizure. What brought Jesus to Gethsemane? What sent Him to Calvary? Probably, more that any other one thing, His action of cleansing the Temple. The wrath of Jesus brought down upon Him the self-righteous wrath of the temple officials.
This display of wrath by our Saviour seems paradoxical to His normal behaviour. How do you reconcile this whip-slinging, angry revolutionary with man’s idea of “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild?”
What could have provoked Jesus to such anger? Surely He had encountered graft before; he had seen dishonesty and cheating. This time, though, it was different. Jesus was angry! Taking a small whip as a weapon, He overturned the tables and ran the money-changers out; He attacked the sellers of doves and stopped the through-traffic. This was radical action!
There is a message for the churches here; it is a message to you as church-members and it is a message to me as pastor. It is a message to church leaders about what displeases Jesus.
I. IT DISPLEASES JESUS WHEN GOD IS TAKEN OUT OF THE CENTRAL PLACE IN WORSHIP.
What should have been aids to worship had become a flourishing business that was the central preoccupations for the people involved. The priests, who should have been servants of the temple became its possessors making the temple and all it stood for to serve them. Thus they replaced God as the central figure.
I have seen this very thing take place in the church; I have seen the pastor become the central feature, I have seen an individual become the central figure; the organist or soloist. I have seen pieces of furniture made the center of attraction. In every instance I know Jesus was displeased.
II. IT DISPLEASES JESUS TO SEE GOD ROBBED OF THE REVERENCE DUE HIS PRESENCE.
The temple was being used as a short-cut into the city. The Mishnah lays it down as law: “A man may not enter into the temple mount with his staff or his sandal or his wallet, or with the dust upon his feet, nor may he make of it a short by-path.”
The church is a short-cut today for many to fulfil their ambitions.
There are those who come to church because they think it will enhance their social prestige; there are others who think it will increase their business. Some come to impress others with their goodness, to show off their affluence, to be seen as someone to be looked up to. Church is not to be a short-cut to some personal goal, it is to glorify God .
Many think that going to church will give them happiness, and it can do that, if the motive is to glorify God and not oneself.
Some believe that the church is a short-cut to heaven. Jesus is the only way to heaven.
We must be reverent in God’s presence. To be irreverent is to displease Jesus.
III. IT DISPLEASES JESUS TO SEE GOD ROBBED OF HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE AS JUDGE OF ALL HIS PEOPLE.
The cleansing took place in the court of the gentiles. Between that court and the inner part of the temple hung this sign: “No stranger is to enter within the balustrade. Whoever is caught will be answerable for his death, which will ensue.”
Thus, certain of God’s children declared that the proper worship of Him is only for some people, and that the special people would decide who was worthy!
When Jesus rebuked them, he quoted Isaiah 56:6:
Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for ‘mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.’
The church was less than 50 years old when Paul had to write a letter admonishing the people not to be “respecters of persons.” Today the church is still in need of that admonition.
CONCLUSION:
Christ, if He should come to our church, might be angered. Oh, we don’t have the tables out selling doves or exchanging currency; we have, however, replaced God as the center of our worship. The preacher, the singer, the choir, the musicians, the liturgy, the order, the feeling—what is the central figure in your worship? Who is fit to worship with you in your church? Have we really opened the doors of our churches to all of God’s children? Have we distinguished among people according to their race or
social status? Are we judging who is worthy to come with us into the inner circle of the church?
Are we using the church or are we serving the church? These questions confront us: Is Jesus angry with us?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
On "Separation of Church and State
While Church and State may be separate by law, the obligation of the Christian to be "like Christ" is a call that most of the world today considers hypocritical at best and obscene at worst. The Church today is dying because the world is waiting for Christians to act upon what they say they believe. That means putting the compassion for others ahead of themselves; it means clothing the naked, healing the sick, feeding the hungry and giving hope to the hopeless. This activity brought Christ into conflict with the powers of the Temple and Rome. They ultimately crucified him for it. In the political arena, Christians are called to espouse their ideology within the public arena so that the world sees Christ - not money, not race, not individualism, not anything but Christ. If we achieve that, we must be willing to be crucified with him also. Jesus was a threat to the Temple controlled by the politicians of Rome. The religious right has become the modern day Pharisees that Christians need to stand against like Jesus did. Equating a victory for those who are disenfranchised from basic health care with a defeat for Christians is very much like throwing moneychangers out of the temple when you look at it from that perspective.
The modern Christian is empowered by the right to "free Speech" but is usually afraid to voice the Gospel and its message that brings us into conflict with the status quo. When the "sons of God" act like the "Son of God" then we can move into the "Kingdom of God".
The modern Christian is empowered by the right to "free Speech" but is usually afraid to voice the Gospel and its message that brings us into conflict with the status quo. When the "sons of God" act like the "Son of God" then we can move into the "Kingdom of God".
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Overcoming the Pain of the Past.
By Earl G. Presley, A Voice for Today Ministries
Galatians 1:11-24
For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.
Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!
Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy." And they glorified God because of me.
Paul experienced a revelation of Jesus Christ while traveling on the road to Damascus. Paul's conversion is described in greater detail in Acts 9:1-31. Although Paul was highly trained in Judaism, he embraced a call to ministry to the Gentiles (Galatians 1:16).
It is important to note that Paul was, in many ways, isolated. He did not spend a great deal of time in the company of the apostles; in fact, he was practically unknown in the churches in Judea. What Paul learned was revealed to him by the Lord. This was due, in part, to the fact that he had a terrible reputation for persecuting Christians before his conversion (Galatians 1:23).
What's Your Story?
Paul's testimony appears repeatedly in the New Testament. Through it, we learn that testimony is an important part of Christian community.
Where have you come from;
Where are you going?
Who has accompanied you on the journey?
What is your call?
To whom are you called?
These were just a few of the questions answered by Paul's testimony.
What's your testimony? (And have you had an opportunity to share it?)
Overcoming the Pain of the Past.
Paul was haunted by his past. The Jews persecuted him as one who had wandered from the faith. At other times, the Christians shunned him because he once persecuted them. The records of Paul's conversion mentioned his checkered past frequently. The good news of Paul's story is not hard to find: Paul was not imprisoned by his past. He made no attempt to hide the evil things he had done in ignorance and unbelief. He always made sure that his audience knew that it was only the grace of God working in him, and not his own giftedness, that caused him to become one of the most influential men in the church of his era. He never took credit for the work of God.
Paul's ability to overcome is good news both for those who sin in secret as well as for those whose sins have been made public.
The way that Paul overcame his past is good news for all of us who have be deluded by “Religion” to persecute God. Paul was so convinced that his relationship with God through Christ had changed him that he was able to pen these words: "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17, NRSV)
Our testimony is as necessary as Paul’s.
I grew up in the Church.
My Mother was a devout Christian. My Father was a Baptist Minister. I went to church, sang in Sunbeams and Youth Choir and made a profession of faith at 9 and was baptized.
I saw a side of the “Church” that not everyone sees.
In the name of Justice and Christian Compassion my family suffered. At the hand of “Christian People” in our first Pastorate, the KKK burned a cross in the front yard of the Manse because the Church voted to seat African American visitors.
In St. Joseph, MO I learned that it was unacceptable for the Union people to teach Sunday School and be leaders in the Church. My Father was fired while away at Convention in Miami by a packed house of people who we had never met, but were “Members”.
I saw passive aggressive behavior first hand.
I watched my mother cry when we had to move and heirlooms were broken. I watched my father become broken both physically and mentally from a collapsed lung and Duodenal Ulcer caused by stress. My father told me once as we reminisced “It never occurred to me that me and Jesus couldn’t do anything”
When I was a teenager, my music skills gave me the opportunity to join my father in Full-time Evangelism. I learned how to share my testimony about Jesus without the inconsistency of the Church. I learned to not share the dissention, the backbiting, the bigotry, the exclusivity, the guilt and the negativity. I learned that Jesus’ Gospel and what I saw in the Church People I knew had very little to do with each other.
I met Dr. S.M.Lockeridge Pastor of 1st Bapt. Church, LA. He was an African-American educated in Fort Worth at Southwestern Seminary in the Basement, taught by professors on their own time. He said, “You can’t expect regenerate behavior from unregenerate People.”
When I was 22 I left the Church.
I didn’t set foot in a church for almost 5 years. But the Holy Spirit came to me and said “you can’t change it from the outside”. I returned and changed denominations to the Disciples of Christ because of their stated non-creed “No Creed but Jesus”.
I worked as a bi-vocational minister for 22 years, never allowing myself to be dependent upon a congregation for my livelihood. I was disobedient to my calling. I was deluded by “religion”. I still didn’t understand that it was about Jesus and me, not the “church”.
I now serve as Pastor of First Christian Church of Rockdale, TX. I try to hold up Jesus as the source of ministry, compassion, love, and justice. I have probably fallen short of my Lord’s expectations once again, but I know that my relationship with Christ is stronger, more vibrant and real than ever before.
My obedience has been reward enough for me. I see clearly the prize before me and the reasons why I haven’t attained it. I see even more clearly, like Paul, my shortcomings and my past baggage.
I see the miracles God has done in our congregation. I see a deacon, who came to know the Lord with a broken body from a car accident, who is now a spiritual leader of his family and this congregation. I see an elder that thought cancer would disfigure his face only to go to pre-op and the cancer was gone. I see a family who ask for prayer for one with cancer. She fought through Chemo and Radiation for months and then went to the Dr. and the Cancer was gone.
As the old hymn says, “This is my story, this is my song; Praising my Savior, all the daylong”
What is your testimony?
Can you tell it outside the context the Church?
Can you share it with a total stranger?
Can you show someone how to have a living, breathing relationship with the Son of God by the validity of your own relationship with Him?
Can you demonstrate how the love of God can forgive you and also give you the power to forgive those who offend you.
Can you share how the love of Christ can change all the struggles of life into the Beauty of Holiness?
Most importantly, do you have a Testimony? Are you Born Again, a new creation? Have you repented of the delusions of your religion that led you to persecute the Lord Jesus Christ by your actions and in-action, your keeping control of your life and possessions?
If you don’t have a testimony; If you don’t know this King of Glory; and you want to repent of the sin in your life and dedicate yourself to Jesus in such a way that He will be the most important relationship in your life; then I invite you to present yourself to him in prayer. Find a congregation of believers and present yourself as a new creature, repentant for the decisions you have made that grieved God. Begin a new life in Christ, a new creation in a new relationship.
Galatians 1:11-24
For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.
Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!
Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy." And they glorified God because of me.
Paul experienced a revelation of Jesus Christ while traveling on the road to Damascus. Paul's conversion is described in greater detail in Acts 9:1-31. Although Paul was highly trained in Judaism, he embraced a call to ministry to the Gentiles (Galatians 1:16).
It is important to note that Paul was, in many ways, isolated. He did not spend a great deal of time in the company of the apostles; in fact, he was practically unknown in the churches in Judea. What Paul learned was revealed to him by the Lord. This was due, in part, to the fact that he had a terrible reputation for persecuting Christians before his conversion (Galatians 1:23).
What's Your Story?
Paul's testimony appears repeatedly in the New Testament. Through it, we learn that testimony is an important part of Christian community.
Where have you come from;
Where are you going?
Who has accompanied you on the journey?
What is your call?
To whom are you called?
These were just a few of the questions answered by Paul's testimony.
What's your testimony? (And have you had an opportunity to share it?)
Overcoming the Pain of the Past.
Paul was haunted by his past. The Jews persecuted him as one who had wandered from the faith. At other times, the Christians shunned him because he once persecuted them. The records of Paul's conversion mentioned his checkered past frequently. The good news of Paul's story is not hard to find: Paul was not imprisoned by his past. He made no attempt to hide the evil things he had done in ignorance and unbelief. He always made sure that his audience knew that it was only the grace of God working in him, and not his own giftedness, that caused him to become one of the most influential men in the church of his era. He never took credit for the work of God.
Paul's ability to overcome is good news both for those who sin in secret as well as for those whose sins have been made public.
The way that Paul overcame his past is good news for all of us who have be deluded by “Religion” to persecute God. Paul was so convinced that his relationship with God through Christ had changed him that he was able to pen these words: "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17, NRSV)
Our testimony is as necessary as Paul’s.
I grew up in the Church.
My Mother was a devout Christian. My Father was a Baptist Minister. I went to church, sang in Sunbeams and Youth Choir and made a profession of faith at 9 and was baptized.
I saw a side of the “Church” that not everyone sees.
In the name of Justice and Christian Compassion my family suffered. At the hand of “Christian People” in our first Pastorate, the KKK burned a cross in the front yard of the Manse because the Church voted to seat African American visitors.
In St. Joseph, MO I learned that it was unacceptable for the Union people to teach Sunday School and be leaders in the Church. My Father was fired while away at Convention in Miami by a packed house of people who we had never met, but were “Members”.
I saw passive aggressive behavior first hand.
I watched my mother cry when we had to move and heirlooms were broken. I watched my father become broken both physically and mentally from a collapsed lung and Duodenal Ulcer caused by stress. My father told me once as we reminisced “It never occurred to me that me and Jesus couldn’t do anything”
When I was a teenager, my music skills gave me the opportunity to join my father in Full-time Evangelism. I learned how to share my testimony about Jesus without the inconsistency of the Church. I learned to not share the dissention, the backbiting, the bigotry, the exclusivity, the guilt and the negativity. I learned that Jesus’ Gospel and what I saw in the Church People I knew had very little to do with each other.
I met Dr. S.M.Lockeridge Pastor of 1st Bapt. Church, LA. He was an African-American educated in Fort Worth at Southwestern Seminary in the Basement, taught by professors on their own time. He said, “You can’t expect regenerate behavior from unregenerate People.”
When I was 22 I left the Church.
I didn’t set foot in a church for almost 5 years. But the Holy Spirit came to me and said “you can’t change it from the outside”. I returned and changed denominations to the Disciples of Christ because of their stated non-creed “No Creed but Jesus”.
I worked as a bi-vocational minister for 22 years, never allowing myself to be dependent upon a congregation for my livelihood. I was disobedient to my calling. I was deluded by “religion”. I still didn’t understand that it was about Jesus and me, not the “church”.
I now serve as Pastor of First Christian Church of Rockdale, TX. I try to hold up Jesus as the source of ministry, compassion, love, and justice. I have probably fallen short of my Lord’s expectations once again, but I know that my relationship with Christ is stronger, more vibrant and real than ever before.
My obedience has been reward enough for me. I see clearly the prize before me and the reasons why I haven’t attained it. I see even more clearly, like Paul, my shortcomings and my past baggage.
I see the miracles God has done in our congregation. I see a deacon, who came to know the Lord with a broken body from a car accident, who is now a spiritual leader of his family and this congregation. I see an elder that thought cancer would disfigure his face only to go to pre-op and the cancer was gone. I see a family who ask for prayer for one with cancer. She fought through Chemo and Radiation for months and then went to the Dr. and the Cancer was gone.
As the old hymn says, “This is my story, this is my song; Praising my Savior, all the daylong”
What is your testimony?
Can you tell it outside the context the Church?
Can you share it with a total stranger?
Can you show someone how to have a living, breathing relationship with the Son of God by the validity of your own relationship with Him?
Can you demonstrate how the love of God can forgive you and also give you the power to forgive those who offend you.
Can you share how the love of Christ can change all the struggles of life into the Beauty of Holiness?
Most importantly, do you have a Testimony? Are you Born Again, a new creation? Have you repented of the delusions of your religion that led you to persecute the Lord Jesus Christ by your actions and in-action, your keeping control of your life and possessions?
If you don’t have a testimony; If you don’t know this King of Glory; and you want to repent of the sin in your life and dedicate yourself to Jesus in such a way that He will be the most important relationship in your life; then I invite you to present yourself to him in prayer. Find a congregation of believers and present yourself as a new creature, repentant for the decisions you have made that grieved God. Begin a new life in Christ, a new creation in a new relationship.
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