Stand Up!

Preachers seldom face as large an audience as confronted Dudley A. Tyng on a March day in 1858. More than five thousand men were gathered in Jaynes' Hall in Philadelphia to hear the beloved preacher. At the time, the city was being stirred by a great revival. There was a certain charm and appeal about this speaker. He seemed to find just the right words to stir his listeners. He was so moving and convincing in his message that he drew thousands to those gatherings.

Three weeks later, he was dead. The city was shocked when it read of the accident that had claimed him as its victim. Mr. Tyng had gone to his home at Brookfield, near Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately Mr. Tyng suffered a fatal accident on his farm. Shortly before he passed away, he was briefly conscious. Those by the bedside heard him whisper, "Tell them to stand up for Jesus." Undoubtedly, it was the message he wanted carried to his friends in the minister's union who were conducting the city-wide revival.
There was one acquaintance in particular, to whom these words came as a challenge. George Duffield, pastor of the Fifth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, had been the late preacher's intimate associate and close fellow worker. To him it hardly seemed possible that one so beautiful in spirit and so dedicated to the Master's cause could have passed so abruptly from the scene. He began thinking that Mr. Tyng's final words should be translated into some enduring form of memorial.

The following Sunday, when the time came for the sermon in his own church, Mr. Duffield preached from the text in Ephesians 6:14: "Stand therefore." At the close he read a poem he had written, "Stand Up! Stand Up for Jesus!"Probably he never dreamed that he had written a great hymn. A copy of the lines was given to his Sunday school superintendent, who in turn had them printed on a special leaflet so that they could be sung by all the children.It could not stop there. The words seemed to fire men's souls throughout the land. When George Duffield made a trip to the battlefront in Virginia a few years later, he was deeply stirred as he heard thousands of army men sing "Stand Up! Stand Up for Jesus!"

The lyrics to a song from several years ago say “You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.” Truly if we do not stand for Christ then we will fall to all the temptations and tricks that Satan can muster. Standing for Christ means just what Ephesians 6:13 says; “Take up the whole armor of God”.

Each day we must “put on” this “armor”. The interesting thing is that even the knights of old could not put on their armor themselves. They had to have a page or servant help them. We cannot obviously put on righteousness ourselves; we must have God’s help. We would not dream of adorning ourselves with our own salvation, truth, and shield. All of these things comes from God, and He alone will make sure that we are ready to be able to stand for Him.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in His strength alone;The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.Put on the Gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer;Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.
George Duf­field, Jr.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Ephesians 6:11-13

Time

My daughter was watching the original Disney Winnie the Pooh video the other day. You know the one; Pooh meets Tigger for the first time, they have a blustery day, and Pooh has a nightmare about Heffalumps and Woozles. I loved Winnie the Pooh stories when I was a child, and I think I love them even more today.

I remember back in the days of only three channels on television, this same Winnie the Pooh came on for several years as a “Special Program”. It came on about the same time each year and I always looked forward to it. There was no such thing as a VCR, so if you were going to watch something, you had to wait on it to make its annual appearance.

The same thing was true of several other shows. Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, The Ten Commandments, and of course all of the Christmas and other holiday shows all came on television regularly and you actually waited for them to air.

There was something magical about those nights when you finally got to see that one show you had looked forward to all year. Sometimes the wait was hard, but it was always worth it.

Somewhere along the way, we became a world of convenience. Jiffy Pop gave in to Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn; going to the movies gave in to renting the latest feature and watching it in bed; going to the bank gave in to the ATM and online banking; the Sears catalog gave in to internet shopping, and the evening supper gave in to the drive-thru. We just can’t seem to tolerate waiting for anything anymore.

One of the biggest problems with this is when we try to apply it to our Christian walk. We want instant answers and instant results from God. When God doesn’t answer our prayers right away we tend to do one of two things. Either we begin to doubt His involvement in our lives or even His very existence, or we try to fix things ourselves. Either way we are on the road to failure.

But what do we expect when we do not give God our time that seems to be so precious to us. We seem to find the time to spend hours per week at football games, dance recitals, the lake, the woods, the gym, or the party down the street. However, we just can’t seem to squeeze a few minutes each day to read God’s word and speak with Him.

We think that we can just cruise all week and not even give God a second thought and it will all be OK on Sunday. Sunday morning worship has become a Christian drive-thru where we get just enough to get us through until the next week. However, we are getting no real nutrition because we are not feeding from the bread of life. We are not drinking from the living water that Jesus promised would make us never thirst again. We believe we just don’t have time to fill our hearts and souls with the spiritual nourishment that He so longs to give us, so we run by church for a quick fix.

If you think you are short on time, you are correct. All of you who are reading this are running out of time. You are running out of time to tell someone you love them, to forgive those who have wronged you, to spend a few precious moments with your children or to see a sunset. But most of all, you are running out of time to serve the One who gave His life so that you could live, and to share that good news with others.

Make the commitment today to spend more quality time with God this week. It will make His week to hear from you, and just might make your eternity.

"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their
lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five
were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.
The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a
long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. "At
midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' "Then
all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the
wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.' " 'No,' they replied,
'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil
and buy some for yourselves.' "But while they were on their way to buy the oil,
the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the
wedding banquet. And the door was shut. "Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!'
they said. 'Open the door for us!' "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I
don't know you.' "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the
hour. (Matthew 25:1-13)

He who testifies to these things says,
“Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (Revelation 22:20-21)

Light your space

At one of the institutions of higher learning that I attended, I decided to take tennis for PE credit. I really did want to learn to play. My mother plays very well. She has competed in many tournaments and hates to lose. She bought me a very nice racket and had me ready for my class.

The first day of class, our instructor (who was a member of the tennis team) had us hit the ball back and forth. We worked on nothing else all day, but getting the ball over the net. I assumed the mechanics of the class would come later. After the first class was over, he called us aside and told us that he would work with anyone who was genuinely interested, but if we did not want to return, he would make sure we got credit for the class.

Which do you think everyone chose? Of course! There was not a single person who ever returned to that tennis court for class. We all got an “A” for that class and we were happy. However, I never picked up my racket again except to pack it when I moved. It is still somewhere among my possessions to remind me that I never reached my potential because it was convenient for me to do nothing.

Several centuries ago in a mountain village in Europe, a wealthy nobleman wondered what legacy he should leave to his townspeople. He made a good decision. He decided to build them a church. No one was permitted to see the plans or the inside of the church until it was finished. At its grand opening, the people gathered and marveled at the beauty of the new church. Everything had been thought of and included. It was a masterpiece.

But then someone said, "Wait a minute! Where are the lamps? It is really quite dark in here. How will the church be lighted?" The nobleman pointed to some brackets in the walls, and then he gave each family a lamp, which they were to bring with them each time they came to worship."Each time you are here'" the nobleman said, "The place where you are seated will be lighted. Each time you are not here, that place will be dark. This is to remind you that whenever you fail to come to church, some part of God's house will be dark".That's a poignant story, isn't it? And it makes a very significant point about the importance of our commitment and loyalty to the church.

The poet Edward Everett Hale put it this way:
I am only one,but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

I have no idea if there ever was such a church as the one described in the story above. I do know that if it happened today there would be a lot of “dark” places in the church. I don’t necessarily mean in the church building itself. I mean in the church as a whole: the church that Jesus said He would build, against which the “gates of hell would not prevail”. (Matthew 16:18) When we choose to not let our light shine before all, we darken a little bit of God’s kingdom.

What kind of church member are you? Are you completely satisfied just sitting in the pew Sunday after Sunday, being “spoon-fed” the Gospel? Are you doing all that you can to ensure that the message of Christ is lived out in your life both inside the walls of our church and out in the community? What if every single member of Edgefield First Baptist served our church, attended our church, loved our church, shared our church, and gave to our church exactly as you do? What kind of church would this be?

I believe that God is blessing our church right now because of the faith and courage of some. However, what would happen if everyone became engaged and impassioned about the work of God’s Kingdom? It starts with you. Will you be obedient to Him and light your space in this church and in His kingdom?

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be
hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand,
and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
(Matthew 5:14-16)

Football Weekend

OK, I’ll admit it. I am very excited. Nothing energizes and excites me like football season. I was definitely not disappointed this weekend! I watched Strom Thurmond defeat Batesburg-Leesville in a dramatic way, I was thrilled to see Appalachian State upset Michigan (with the help of one of Edgefield’s own, number 16, CoCo Hillary), I appreciated South Carolina’s stunning win over Louisiana Lafayette, and was on the edge of my seat for the entire Clemson vs. Florida State game.

Basically, all my teams won this weekend. That doesn’t happen often. Therefore, I just know this will be a great week!

I guess I’ll join the rest of the world and give a nod to the Appalachian State Mountaineers. Who in the world would have thought that Michigan, who was ranked number 5 in the nation, could fall to Appalachian State? I don’t think anyone questioned the validity of the football program at Appalachian State. They are a great football team. However, when it comes to match-ups like this one, the larger schools have more players that usually can out last and wear out even great smaller school teams.

There were Saturdays in recent years when I was afraid Furman might walk out of Death Valley (In SC, not Louisiana) with a win. The Tigers just wore down the smaller school by the third quarter and pulled out the win.

“What does any of this have to do with anything?” you may ask. I say it has a great deal to do with our world and how we view things. We tend to think all of the power, prestige, and influence goes to the strong, wealthy and persuasive. We tend to think that there is no hope for the “little people” anymore.

How many businesses just give up because Wal-Mart comes into town? How many battles are lost because the enemy looks too large or powerful? How many situations in our lives are not resolved because we think we are not skilled enough to handle them?

Because of this we cheer wildly when the “underdog” wins because we would like to overcome the greater enemy ourselves. We have hope that we can rise to greatness in our own situation. If Appalachian State can beat Michigan, then we see many things as possibilities that we may have thought to be impossible before.

Jesus said many times that the last shall be first and the first shall become last. (Matthew 19:30, 20:16; Mark 9:35, 10:31; Luke 13:30) God also doesn’t like the proud. In the Bible, those who think too highly of themselves usually do not fare very well in the long run.

Consider what we call “The Beatitudes” in Matthew chapter 5. Jesus says that the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake are the blessed ones. Isn’t it interesting also, that Jesus reserves His most biting words for those who were in the most powerful positions of those days?

Imagine this. On one side of this contest is an empire that covers almost the entire known world. There is an advanced form of government, an elevated, intelligent society, and a military that was unstoppable. Within this larger body is a religious group that has aligned itself with the government to maximize its influence and power. This group not only has the power to dictate morality and political allegiance to those who follow it, but also is given the authority by the larger government to carry out justice as deemed necessary to its people.

On the opposing side of this conflict is a thirty-something year-old carpenter’s son, and a ragtag group of twelve men. One of whom is a traitor, and the rest are undependable at best. In fact, when the real contest begins, they all run away to hide, leaving only this one, solitary man against the mighty Roman Empire and the Jewish Sanhedrin.

Some would say He lost the contest, because they killed Him. However, just as the last seconds were ticking off the clock for the end of the game, the ground rumbles, the stone was rolled away, and our Savior burst forth from the tomb in a glorious way.

What in your life seems too big to handle? Can you truly say that it is greater than the monumental test that Jesus faced? If God fought for Him to save you, do you not think He will stand with you as well?

He will. I’ve read the end of the book.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more
death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former
things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

Fears

One of the things a pastor does is visit the hospitals to see and pray for those who are ill. Most of the time, these visits are quite uneventful. They consist of talking with the patient and family and having a prayer with them before leaving. In fact, the actual visit is always the highlight of the trip. The travel to the hospital and actually finding the patient is the adventurous part.

I have visited patients in more than one hospital where the information desk had no record of the person’s name. In these cases, I have learned to inquire about the patient at the nurse’s station where they are most likely to be. You can usually find out more from the nurse’s station than the information desk. At least here in Edgefield, we only have one floor and since everyone in Edgefield either knows everyone or more than likely is related in some way, most of the people that work in the hospital can help.

One visit that I will never forget happened after I had been in Edgefield for about two weeks. Derry Billingsley, our minister of music at the time, graciously volunteered to go with me to visit someone who was in CCU at the VA Hospital in Augusta. Since I had no idea where that was, I accepted.

As we entered the building, Derry told me that he knew where CCU was so we didn’t need to visit the information desk. We took an elevator up a few floors and got off. We stepped from the elevator and the door closed behind us. As we walked into the hospital corridor, something didn’t feel right.

Only about half the lights were on, most of the rooms were dark, and there were no people around. We approached the nurse’s station where there were a few papers and some pens, but again, no people. At this point, I began to get a little uneasy. A busy hospital corridor is one thing, but an empty, dimly lit one is a bit creepy for me.

Derry suggested that the CCU might be through the electric double doors nearby, so we went to try them. I pushed the button and the doors opened to an even darker area. Derry stepped in, but I did not. The door began to close behind him, and he had to rush to get out. He and I both had enough and began walking briskly toward the exit. We were met by an employee who then informed us of the relocation of the CCU.

Our fears were unfounded, but seemed real at the time. I still believe there was probably a security camera person rolling on the floor laughing at us. We both felt silly for getting a little nervous in that darkened corridor. I just couldn’t help remembering the hospital scene in one of the old Halloween horror movies.

Isn’t that the way fear is though? Most of the time, our fears are unfounded. We are afraid of things that go bump in the night only to find them to be nothing in the light of day.

There were about 10 recent reports of a hairy creature frightening people at a campsite in Winnipeg, Canada. One witness informed the Mounties of this creature that was pounding on their camper. The Mounties investigated, and discovered an 18 year-old man wearing a gorilla mask playing practical jokes on the campers. Now a hairy creature pounding on your camper at night is indeed disturbing, however, once the discovery of the man in the mask is made, it seems silly.

Satan’s number one tool against us is fear. As many of you have heard me say from the pulpit, F.E.A.R. stands for False Education Appearing Real. 2 Timothy 1:7 says

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

God doesn’t want us to go around fearing all that we don’t know or understand. He wants us to boldly go out in His name and love the lost enough to overcome our fears and share God’s love with them knowing He will protect us when we are in His will.

The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
(Proverbs 28:1)

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.
(Psalm 91:1-7)

Skydiving

I saw an article this week on EdgefieldDaily.com that intrigued me. There is a French skydiver who is going to attempt breaking several records in a jump he will make next month. He will float into the atmosphere in a weather balloon, and jump out head first at about 131,000 feet. Since he will be falling from such an altitude he will also reach a speed of nearly 1000 mph. This will break the sound barrier at 760 mph. He believes he will reach the sound barrier within 37 seconds, and the entire jump will take only about 8.5 minutes.

His equipment is equally as fascinating. His suit is designed to heat up as it meets resistance, so the minus 212º f temperature won’t bother him. His helmet is also designed with hearing protection since he will experience a sonic boom when he hits the sound barrier.

This jump will set several world records. If he is successful, he will have the record for the longest sky dive, the highest parachute jump and the highest altitude achieved by a human in a balloon. Even with all the obvious dangers, the 63-year-old Michel Fournier says he is “looking forward to it”.

All this reminds me of a newspaper article in my office that I have kept for many years. I’m not sure why I kept it. Perhaps it is the horror of the story; maybe I’m still trying to figure out what exactly happened. For whatever reason, the story got my attention and has kept it for about 12 years now.

The headline of the article reads, “Skydiving Plane Crashes, 12 Killed”. There were twelve people on board the plane including the pilot and co-pilot. This means that the other 10 people were in the plane for one reason; they planned to jump out of it and parachute to earth.

A quote from the article further adds to the mystery; “There were parachutes on board, but there was no evidence that anyone tried to leave the plane.” First of all, I would not be on a plane for the purpose of flying very high into the air and jumping out “just for fun”. Secondly, if I were going to do such, I certainly would think something like the plane going down would prompt me to get my parachute and give it a try. These people obviously didn’t even try to get out.

Too many times we are trapped in a crashing plane in our lives, holding on to the very thing that could save us. However, what is outside is very scary, and although the inside might destroy us, at least we are familiar with it. What makes us stay in our comfort zone when Jesus is standing out in the storm of this world with the waves pounding, the lightning flashing, the thunder roaring, the wind howling, saying “come”?

For some reason, we think the people who need to hear about Christ are going to just wake up one Sunday morning and decide to find a church to attend. While I know first-hand that this does happen, it doesn’t happen often. Those who are lost need to hear the gospel. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17). If they do not come through our doors, then how will they hear? They will only hear the word out of our mouths and see it in our lives.

The problem is that while God does bless us with his presence on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, He is much more active “out there”. “Out there” is where those people live who are not like us. He is with them where there is hurt, disease, poverty, injustice, war, famine, abuse, drugs, and scandal. Jesus stands in the midst of this storm and calls out to us to “come”.

Will you meet Him there, in that uncomfortable scary world, or will you remain in your little plane that is crashing with your parachutes strapped on, never to attempt an exit that will save your life and many others?

And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You
on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat,
he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
(Matthew 14:28-29)

Fishing

As many of you know, my family just got back from a great beach vacation. It was nice to get away and just spend time with my wife and kids for a week. The kids were great fun and watching them play on the beach and at the pool at their ages was a real treat.

We did many of the same things we always do at the beach. We swam, built sand castles, ate out, and wandered around at Broadway at the Beach. However, I did get to do one thing that I will never forget.

My 5 year old wanted to go fishing. Now, I don’t mean he wanted to go down to the shore and throw a line in, he wanted to go out into the ocean. I finally found a reasonably priced excursion and on Thursday morning we headed out before the roosters got up, for a half-day fishing trip.

We went out on a boat with about 20 other people to fish for snapper, sea bass, flounder and others. The captain took us about 15 miles out to sea. Needless to say, my son was very excited. After about an hour ride out into the ocean, we finally put out lines in the water to fish.

I baited the hooks countless times, and we only brought in very small fish. Others on the boat were bringing in good size sea bass and the like. I could tell my son was beginning to get frustrated, so I suggested we take a short break. We ate some crackers and just looked out over the ocean for a few minutes and enjoyed the father/son time.

I recommended that we throw the lines out again and he reluctantly agreed. After about three times with no bites, he wanted to give up. I convinced him to keep trying, because this is why we had come. He continued trying.

Some time passed, and we were about 30 minutes from heading back in when I saw his line take off. He began to reel the line in, but the fish was fighting. I helped him bring the fish in and by this time we had the attention of the entire boat. What we pulled in was about a 2.5 foot long shark.

My son could hardly contain himself as we pulled the shark in the boat and the captain told him it was a keeper. There just happened to be a contest for the heaviest fish and my son won with his shark. He won a trophy and some money, which he later spent at the Bass Pro Shop on the way home.

After Jesus’ resurrection, He spent some time with the disciples. On one of these days, Peter decided to go fishing. Some of the others who were fishermen decided to go also. They were not having much luck, when Jesus called to them, asking if they were catching anything. They just simply said “No”.

Jesus then told a bunch of fishermen, who knew the lake well that they were fishing in, to fish on the other side of the boat. When they did, they couldn’t bring in the fish because of the weight.

How many times do we give up too quickly because things that we can see with our eyes don’t seem to be working? How many blessings of God do we miss because we are fishing on the “wrong side of the boat”? What is the work we need to be doing in our churches and community that we simply do not do because we have tried to accomplish it every way WE know how, to no avail? Who does God want us to share the gospel with, but we offer up excuse after excuse, because we feel inadequate?

God wants your nets to be full, and your work for Him to be fruitful. But, we need to be listening to His voice in order to receive our instructions on how to reap His harvest. The 5,000+ people would not have been fed that day if they had only tried to use the visible resources available. Don’t make the mistake of putting God in a box and limiting Him in His work by the standards of this world. Give your all to God and watch what He can do with it.

He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. (Matthew 14:19-20)