OK, it seems I’ve been Twittering my life a way lately; little blurbs here and there, re-tweeting something someone else said because I liked it, but not much else. I’ve been meaning to post something of significance (ok, significant to me…), but have not been disciplined enough to focus long enough on any one thing. Forgive me for the meandering…
Anyway, I had a late meeting tonight and was preparing most of the day for it. At one point, when I was taking a break, I clicked on Justin Taylor’s blog, Between Two Worlds, and read this post about David Platt, pastor at the Church at Brooks Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. What caught my eye was this statement:
He delivered the most powerful sermon in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors' Conference.
It got my attention because I had been following the goings on at the Southern Baptist Convention earlier in the year, but somehow had missed this. (It wasn’t until after I heard the sermon that I realized this was the PASTOR’S Conference which was held separately, which I hadn’t been following… go with me on this.) I also read the article in Christianity Today where he was interviewed and I was taken by his devotion to preaching the Word and his desire to raise the biblical literacy of his congregation. My interest was piqued, so tonight when I got home, I determined to listen to the sermon.
There are parts deep down inside of me that now wish I hadn’t. It was powerful. It was convicting. It is the type of sermon that doesn’t let go easily and very easily can persuade you to listen again, to be further convicted, persuaded to GO, to let go.
Interestingly, I listened to this after hearing my pastor speak this weekend on Acts 16 and Paul’s journey where he was denied entry to some areas by the working of the Holy Spirit. It was encouraging to hear this passage this weekend. It helped my put into perspective why I’m still here and not there (there being the Middle East, where I had thought God was calling me). I have been thinking I had missed out on this calling, or had mis-interpreted His call or there was something wrong with me. Pastor Jim helped me see that I was where God wanted me. He had a purpose for me here now. This was where I need to be now.
Add to all of this the message that I heard last weekend(8/2/09), from the pastor at my daughter’s church in Valencia. He talked from Luke, the passage about the rich young man. It, like this Sunday’s message, was convicting, yet encouraging to me regarding where I am and why I am where I am. I was convicted that I need to be using the wealth that God has given me much more wisely (and yes, I mean wealth, because compared to the rest of the world, I am… we are… wealthy indeed). But even with the conviction, there was encouragement that God had me where He wanted me, in the situation He has chosen for me, here and now.
Then I heard tonight’s sermon. I felt the pangs of remorse that I wasn’t doing enough, that there was something wrong. And then I realized… I’m not and there is. Pastor Platt raised the bar to remind me that if I wasn’t careful I would run the risk of becoming complacent and complacency was not an option. Just because it was OK that God had me here, doesn’t mean that I should get comfortable. I was reminded once again of what I had been taught in my Perspective’s class several years ago on developing and maintaining a wartime lifestyle.
I believe that God cannot expect less from us in our Christian duty to save other nations than we in wartime require of ourselves to save our own nation. This means that we must be willing to adopt a wartime lifestyle if we are to play fair with the clear intent of Scripture that the people who sit in darkness shall see a great light. Otherwise, as Isaiah said, "I faint when I hear what God is planning" (Isaiah 21:3). – Ralph Winter
Oh, Lord, be my strength, that I not be faint-hearted.
All Things Elda 