Anybody have a testimony?

I am currently reading the book of Exodus. Last night I read chapter 13, which offers further instructions concerning the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread. In v 8 we read:

And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.

When I read this I thought about the Lord’s Supper. Specifically, I had what I think is a great idea for a communion service.

Whenever they observed the Passover, they were to tell their children, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. Would it not be great for us to do this at the Lord’s Supper? They observed Passover to remember God delivering them from Egypt. We observe the Lord’s Supper to remember God delivering us from sin by the cross of Christ.

I thought, Wouldn’t it be a wonderful service if, before we partook of the Supper, we gave people an opportunity to tell their story of how they came to faith in Christ? Y’know, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me… It would be great for our children and young people to hear our testimony. They may have never heard it.

My first pastorate was in Pensacola, FL. I was visiting in the home of one of the members. She was a faithful regular, the daughter of one of the pillars of the church, and a single mom with three children. For some reason, which I cannot recall, she shared her testimony with me that day. When she finished, her son said, "Mom, I never heard that before." It was good for him to hear that his Mom, who had grown up in a Christian home, had intentionally embraced the faith of Christ.

That’s what would happen in the service I thought of last night. People, our children, would hear our story. They have always and only known us a believers, but when they hear us testify, "This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I believed in Jesus and He saved me", they will hear how we needed Jesus, how we believed in him, and how he saved us.

Sounds like a wonderful service to me!

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

I'm redeemed ! I'm redeemed!

Praise the Lord!

Churches I attended the past few years

I was a pastor for 25 years and was therefore compelled to attend the churches I pastored. The last church I pastored was Bible Covenant Community Church in York, SC. I was there for 20 years. Sadly, when I left BCCC (and not in the best way), I was cast on a sea of uncertainty, without a church home. After a few years of searching we are back at BCCC. The other night I got to thinking about all the churches I attended before returning. Here is the list, in no particular order, with some commentary (some of it surprising).

Faith Assembly of God – I arrived, dressed in jeans, aloha shirt, and flip flops, and instantly realized I was tremendously underdressed! The worship started and it was a song I knew. Immediately, I was overwhelmed with a sea of love and began to weep. After that song, they had announcements and then spent forever explaining how “Casual Sunday” (next week; I was a week early!) would work. Since this went on and on, I left.

Episcopal Church of our Saviour – I knew that Episcopal Churches had communion on Wednesdays and since I hadn’t had communion in a while I woke up early, having worked the night before, and went to the 10 am service. Worst church service I ever remember attending. Good thing the pastor didn’t stand at the door that day and ask how I liked it – I was prepared to tell him!

St Anne Catholic – What? Yeah. I was working every Sunday morning as a security guard and unable to go to church. One Sunday I began flipping through the channels looking for a church service to watch. Security guards lead such exciting lives – Saturday and Sunday, I was there, but no one else. I found Notre Dame Church, it was in English, so I’m pretty sure it was somewhere in the US. I downloaded the liturgy and began to follow along as best I could. One Sunday night after work, I stumbled upon St. Anne’s broadcast. It was the same service! I began attending their 5 pm Saturday service. And you know what? God was there! I would often just cry through the service. First time that happened was in the processional. They begin each service with the priest, and all his helpers for the day, marching down the aisle, carrying the crucifix. First time there, he began to walk down the aisle, and I was overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord. They had a small praise team and the worship was rather folksy. Say what you will about the Catholic Church, they read more Bible in each service than any other church I attended did in a month.

The Body – A Church for Anybody I never did care for the name - A Church for Anybody, I always thought it should be A Church for Everybody. Very disorganized service and the pastor admitted, with some pride, that he did not read (didn’t like to read). You could tell.

New River Community Church. First Baptist. Calvary Chapel Ft Mill (I thought I was going to hear a word of prophecy for me). Ft. Mill Church of God.

North Rock Hill – tried this church several times. Never did feel comfortable. Came home one Sunday and told Mary and one of my daughters, “Next week, if I say I’m going there, smack me or something.” A different daughter was now attending this church and I would occasionally go to be with them. One day, for the last song, they sang Promises (Desperation Band). Man, did God ever minister to me that day. Once again I was weeping like a willow tree!

Westminster Presbyterian & Ebenezer ARP – I learned that Presbyterians like to talk. They talk about every song they are going to sing before they sing it, then a little more after they sing it.

Rogers Memorial ARP – contemporary service. We sorta liked it until the day the Pastor explained, “You got all of the Holy Spirit you’re ever going to get when you were saved. There’s nothing more to expect or pray for. That’s where we stand on that.” OK.

Steele Creek Church at Charlotte – too far to drive every Sunday

Lakeshore Christian Fellowship – Great worship. Awful preaching.

Carolinas Cornerstone Church – hard to get to and thoroughly Baptist

Grace Ministries – a church on the extreme south side of Rock Hill. I went a couple of times. Very similar to BCCC. Good church, just so far away

theGathering – a C&MA church in Ft Mill. They have two pastors who take turns preaching, as in every other week. We attended a few times. One Sunday after the service I questioned the pastor about something he had said and he went off on me! Mary asked me, “What did you do?”. I said, “Nothing that merited that response.” When we got home I had an e-mail from the pastor apologizing for what he had done and explaining that he always has a hard time with questions after he preaches. That was strange, so we didn’t go back.

Ultimate Life Church – this was just down the parking lot from theGathering. Both of them have odd meeting locations, in a business park. When we would leave theGathering we could see their parking lot. It looked like a happenin’ place so we gave it a try. It is a charismatic church, but more along the lines of a prosperity church, and they were all dressed to the nines. The worship was very forced and the teaching was sorry. The teaching was on Romans 8:28, And we know all things work together for good to them that love God He proceeded to re-write the verse and remove any hope and assurance the verse offers – “ All things does not mean everything, but only the good things God is doing in you” and so on.

Eternal Church – this is a contemporary church plant in Ft Mill by Westminster Church. Meets in the Y. I’m sure they are a good church, just nothing clicked.

Calvary Chapel of Rock Hill - the pastor is a friend of ours but I don’t believe in a secret, pre-trib rapture and he does, so I knew I wouldn’t have many opportunities

Which leads us back to BCCC! (to the tune “Do, a deer, a female deer…”)

Long list, ain’t it? And to think, I had people chastising me because I wasn’t in church. I admit, at first I (we) was looking to find a church like BCCC - God had surely blessed us and we had a sweet fellowship, and nobody did church like we did. But I realized that wasn’t realistic. Then I confess, it was a little discouraging seeing the state of the church in Rock Hill. The irony is, I would not go to a church in another town because I wanted a local church, and here we are going to a church in York!

Don’t know why I got to thinking about this but I did. Took me two nights to get the list (hopefully) complete!

An open book

My youngest daughter called last night and told me she had been to The Santa Fe Indian Market. According to their web site “It is the largest and most prestigious Native arts market in the world and the largest cultural event in the southwest.” She said, “All the time we were there I was thinking, Dad would love this.” She’s right, too. Sounds totally interesting to me!

A couple of weeks ago I made a comment about a TV show that Mary was watching, one that I couldn’t get into. I made a fb comment to this effect and another daughter replied with a description of how I watch new shows:

1. “It wasn't my idea to start watching it, therefore I will approach it with much skeptism.”
2. If things aren't explained upfront, you lose interest - not because you can't handle it, but because you would rather not

I read that to Mary and she burst out laughing, “She sure has you pegged!”

Several years ago, still another daughter went to Ecuador. She came back with a knife for me. She said, “I know how much you like knives.” At that time I was not aware of that about me!

I must be an open book and my girls know how to read!

On reading Irenaeus and Justin

I recently read two very good, very old books: The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching by Irenaeus (130-202) and Dialogue with Trypho by Justin (100-165).

The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, sometimes known as Proof of the Apostolic Preaching was written to someone named Marcianus, and begins, “I will show forth in brief the preaching of the truth for the confirmation of your faith. We send you as it were a manual of essentials, in brief the demonstration of the things of God.” And he proceeds to set forth the Gospel, as preached by the Apostles.

Dialogue with Trypho is the account of a discussion between Justin and a Jew named Trypho.

I say again they are very good. And I highly recommend them, especially for pastors and preachers and teachers of the Word. Why? What do I find so good about them?

1. Their knowledge and command of the Bible. They know the Bible so well and are able to quote verses from all over the Old Testament. And remember, this is before computers! I’ve been a Christian for 40 years. I’ve read it, studied it, taught nearly every book of the Bible. Sometimes I get to thinking, I know it pretty good. Then I read these guys! I am truly impressed by their grasp of the Scriptures. And humbled by it. And hopefully motivated to know it better.

2. The teaching ministry of the early church. I am deeply impressed. They faithfully and fully passed the faith on. Justin and Irenaeus did not go to Bible College, or Seminary. They learned the Word through the ministry of a local church. A pastor or Bishop, who also knew all this, taught it to them! Yes, lots of one on one time. But when you read their works, it is amazing. Impressive. Convicting.

3. They preached Christ from the Old Testament. They had the New, they knew it, they quoted from it, but they preached Christ and the Christian life from the Old Testament. So often today we ignore the Old Testament. I have heard pastors say, “We don’t preach from the Old Testament because we are a New Testament Church.” Inexplicable and utterly sad.

4. They preach Christ. For them the Gospel is Christ. So often for us today the Gospel is, How to go to heaven when you die. But they were focused on Christ, who He is, how He fulfilled prophecy in His life and ministry. And salvation; while they talk about forgiveness of sins, they emphasize deliverance from death, restoration to life, and participation in the life of God. The gospel is Jesus. He is the Christ. He is the Son of God. He is destroying the work of the devil (idolatry). He is now saving men from all nations. And all this from the Old Testament!

5. I am persuaded that they are accurately reflecting and repeating what the Apostles taught. I believe their approach to the Old Testament, their interpretation, their presentation, are all apostolic. After all, And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Thus Jesus taught the Apostles and I am sure they taught the churches. Irenaeus and Justin were not partners, yet you will find in them the same interpretation of passages. How? The apostolic voice in the early church.

So in brief, this is why I am so impressed by these two books.

On teaching Sunday School

I was asked to teach the combined Sunday School class over the summer. I have two more weeks left. I think it has gone well, but I'm happy to report there will be no surveys at the end!

I am very grateful for the opportunity. The elders and the church have been very gracious. I am especially thankful for Pastor Todd and his willingness to pursue this. He let me address the church, resume attending the church, and then he pursued and promoted this opportunity for me. He has only attended a few times, but he did say at least I wasn’t teaching anything heretical!

I decided on the Sermon on the Mount. So, how has it gone? I have really enjoyed it! I have explained a couple of times that I was not attempting a detailed explanation of the sermon, I just wanted to hear the voice of Jesus and share with them the joy and challenge of hearing the teaching of kingdom life as if it was for the first time. I have been blessed and hope the brethren have as well.

I have noticed one thing. I am completely out of the pattern/habit of teaching every week. I would teach one Sunday and before I knew it, it was Thursday and I had to do it again! So different than thinking about it at work. At work, I can think about it whenever I want to and have time. I can skip a couple of nights, or a week and return, no pressure. But not when you are teaching a SS class. Every week they expect you to show up. And be prepared! But that rhythm is returning. Oh wait, this is Monday night. I better take another look at Matthew 7…

As I said, my time is quickly coming to an end. August 25 in fact. Two more weeks. Would I like to do this again? Yes. For sure. Maybe an epistle, or an Old Testament book, or maybe a series on The Faith. But there is another thing I would like.

Yeah, I would like to preach again. That has been added to my prayer list. I have mentioned this in another post: I am willing to have assigned, supervised preaching opportunities. That is, Pastor assigns me a verse, or part of a verse, or passage, or topic and asks me to preach on that, while he is there. I don’t know what he thinks about that or if he would do it. Or if he just wants to afford me (numerous, regular) opportunities. That would be great too!

I’m not pushing. Really. Although Todd did ask me, “What do you want to do?” I am thankful for this opportunity. And if it comes again, I will gladly do it again.

What was the difference?

I just finished reading the gospel according to Matthew. Jesus is clearly the theme of the gospel and I was most taken with him. But as I was reading the arrest and trial of Jesus, I was really struck by a verse about Judas:

he . . . went and hanged himself

Why did he do this? You know the story: he had betrayed Jesus for money, realized his mistake and tried to undo it, but was rebuffed. He responded by hanging himself.

How sad.

He wasn’t the only disciple to fail Jesus at this point. All the disciples forsook him; Peter denied him; and Thomas did not believe his resurrection.

Yet, all of them were restored to Christ and then greatly used by the Lord. Peter the denier became the prince of the apostles. Thomas the doubter became the apostle to India. All of them restored except for Judas. He went and hanged himself.

What was the difference? As I see it, there are three possibilities:

Something in God – He was against Judas, never did like him, and had predestined him to hang himself.

Something in Jesus – He was so ticked off at being betrayed that he turned a deaf ear to his cries, refusing to hear him or acknowledge him.

Something in Judas – his response to failure was different than the others.

Option #1 is absolutely horrible to contemplate and is in no way a reflection of the God of the Bible.

Option #2 is equally abhorrent! Behold all the sinners, great and small, forgiven by Jesus! This would make this sin the unpardonable sin, whereas Jesus said, all manner of sin can be forgiven, except for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

This leaves us with Option #3 – there is something in the way Judas responded that was different than the others. The other disciples stayed together until they met Jesus and meeting with Jesus resulted in restoration and reconciliation. But Judas,

when he saw that he [Jesus] was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.

He forsook the fellowship and didn’t wait for Jesus. All he saw was his sin, his terrible sin. He didn’t see Jesus, didn’t wait for Him. Peter denied the Lord and I’m sure he felt terrible about it. But he saw Jesus. Thomas didn’t believe that Jesus had risen, he refused to accept the testimony of the others. Then he saw Jesus, My Lord and my God. All Judas saw was himself. He did not see Jesus. And he . . . went and hanged himself.

Jesus makes all the difference. If you fail, if you fall, wait for Jesus. Stay with the brethren and wait for Jesus. When you see Him you will be restored and reconciled.

Peter was restored. Thomas was restored. All the rest of them were restored. Was it really possible that Judas could have been restored as well? I don’t know. This is just what I thought about when I read those very sad words, he . . . went and hanged himself.

If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.