Take a moment to consider two stories from the American Civil War. The bloody conflict began in earnest when, on July 21, 1861, Confederate forces routed the North at Manassas (in upstate Virginia) in what became known as the First Battle of Bull Run. Much of the battle took place on the farm of a man named Wilmer McLean. When a Union shell exploded in his kitchen, McLean decided he disliked living in a war zone and moved his family south, away from the fighting. His new home? Appomattox Court House, where, almost four years later, General Robert E. Lee would offer his surrender to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865. Mr. McLean used to say that the Civil War began in his front yard and ended in his front parlor.
The second story comes from the Battle of Shiloh, fought on April 6th and 7th of 1862. It seems that a wounded soldier was told to lay down his rifle and go to the rear for medical treatment. He followed orders, but returned several minutes later and growled, "Gimme another gun. This blame fight ain't got any rear!"
Retreat and neutrality are not the way of success in Christian spiritual warfare. When the nation of Israel sought spiritual neutrality, Joshua demanded a decision (Joshua 24:14-16). When the nation of Israel vacillated on Mt. Carmel, Elijah called for a showdown (I Kings 17:17-24). Jesus Christ told His hearers, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad" (Matthew 12:30).We are either the servant of Jesus Christ OR the enemies of Christ, and there can be no separate place!
So, heed the trumpet that blasts out our call to arms and fall in with God's mighty army, marching forth with the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some may choose to hang back, and cower before the enemy, but as for me, "Gimme my Bible. This blame fight ain't got any rear!"
Let's Be Civil,
Pastor David Blevins
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Stop And Stair
The "Miraculous Stairs" housed in the Chapel of San Loretto in Santa Fe, New Mexico, have an interesting history.
The chapel was built in 1873 to serve an all-girl academy operated by nuns of the Sisters of Loretto. Only after the building was completed did anyone realize that it lacked a stairwell to the choir loft that spanned the rear of the nave. Workmen had used a ladder, but that seemed undignified to the sisters, and a traditional set of stairs would have taken up too much space, necessitating the removal of many different seats.
Into the midst of this quandary came an old man leading a donkey laden with wood. Obtaining permission from the Sister Superior, he set to work, reportedly using only a hammer, saw, and T-square. Then he disappeared, without asking for payment.
In the chapel the women found a 33-step staircase, constructed in two tight, 360-degree spirals; a design so economical that almost no seating was lost. The most amazing thing was its bolster: there wasn't one! Architects say the steps should have collapsed the first time that they were used. They did not collapse the first time, nor the second, nor over all these years.
Those steps, however, are not a miracle; they are only an illustration of the daily miracle of the Christian life.
If we span the gap between Heaven and earth, executing the double-turn of emphatic repentance, it is only by the grace of God. According to earthly reason, we stand, like a shiftless relative, with no visible means of support. According to the world, God's church should have collapsed the first time it felt the pressure of persecution or even of ministry. But it did not fall the first time, nor the second, nor for two thousand years.
How will we live godly in such a fallen world? How will we ever be able to raise godly children? Don't worry! Though we look completely vulnerable to the unknowing world, we stand fast, the miraculous work of the Master Carpenter from Nazareth and Eternity (Eph. 2:8-10; Phil.1 :6)!
And why does a staircase exist? To help people ascend! We speak of certain people as being the "pillars of the church", but I much prefer staircases, even though they tend to get stepped on, and become scuffed and worn, because they help people to be edified in their faith. If you are still stuck at ground level, may we invite you to climb, to keep pressing on the upward way (Heb.6:1)?
Stop And Stair,
Pastor David Blevins
The chapel was built in 1873 to serve an all-girl academy operated by nuns of the Sisters of Loretto. Only after the building was completed did anyone realize that it lacked a stairwell to the choir loft that spanned the rear of the nave. Workmen had used a ladder, but that seemed undignified to the sisters, and a traditional set of stairs would have taken up too much space, necessitating the removal of many different seats.
Into the midst of this quandary came an old man leading a donkey laden with wood. Obtaining permission from the Sister Superior, he set to work, reportedly using only a hammer, saw, and T-square. Then he disappeared, without asking for payment.
In the chapel the women found a 33-step staircase, constructed in two tight, 360-degree spirals; a design so economical that almost no seating was lost. The most amazing thing was its bolster: there wasn't one! Architects say the steps should have collapsed the first time that they were used. They did not collapse the first time, nor the second, nor over all these years.
Those steps, however, are not a miracle; they are only an illustration of the daily miracle of the Christian life.
If we span the gap between Heaven and earth, executing the double-turn of emphatic repentance, it is only by the grace of God. According to earthly reason, we stand, like a shiftless relative, with no visible means of support. According to the world, God's church should have collapsed the first time it felt the pressure of persecution or even of ministry. But it did not fall the first time, nor the second, nor for two thousand years.
How will we live godly in such a fallen world? How will we ever be able to raise godly children? Don't worry! Though we look completely vulnerable to the unknowing world, we stand fast, the miraculous work of the Master Carpenter from Nazareth and Eternity (Eph. 2:8-10; Phil.1 :6)!
And why does a staircase exist? To help people ascend! We speak of certain people as being the "pillars of the church", but I much prefer staircases, even though they tend to get stepped on, and become scuffed and worn, because they help people to be edified in their faith. If you are still stuck at ground level, may we invite you to climb, to keep pressing on the upward way (Heb.6:1)?
Stop And Stair,
Pastor David Blevins
Friday, November 4, 2011
Chow Down!
On Alexander Solzhenitsyn's first day in a Soviet prison camp, he spied two prisoners rummaging through a coal pile. The men unearthed some grimy lumps, then sat down and ate them. "It's sea clay," they explained. "The doctor doesn't forbid it. It doesn't do any good, but it really doesn't do any harm either. And if you add a kilo of it a day to your rations, it is as if you had really eaten."
Knowing that I have to lose a lot of weight, I recently read an article on fat-free dieting that offers basically the same advice. The body burns carbohydrates much faster than fat, causing that empty feeling often associated with Chinese food. The author of the article recommends pectin, a non-fattening fiber used to thicken jams and jellies. It has no real nutritional value, but it does slow down digestion, making you feel fuller for a longer period of time.
Sea clay for starving prisoners and pectin for paunchy Americans: the best you can say is that they don't do any harm and they stave off craving for true food.
I wonder if we could not identify or diagnose something called the "Sea Clay Christian Syndrome"? All week long we stuff ourselves with non-nutrient amusements: magazines, books, television talk shows like Dr. Phil and Oprah, advice from television sitcoms, radio advice from people we have never met (let alone knowing the kind of life they live day by day), etc. The Great Physician (Jesus Christ) does not forbid such pastimes and, taken in small discerning doses, they do have their place. But come sundown, we often find that we have no appetite for the true food of fellowship with Jesus Christ! By Sunday, we have so pumped ourselves with "worldly pectin" that we can barely choke down another hour of worship and Bible study or we don't partake at all. We truly are spiritually malnourished, but we don't feel hungry, so we just shrug it off as our spiritual emaciation grows exponentially (Amos 8:11).
One of my prayers for Clover Hill Baptist Church is that God will grant all of us a hunger, a burning desire for the real meat of God's Word (Job 23:12; Psalm 119: 97, 113, 140; John 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:15 ). " I am the bread of life," Jesus says, and He promises to fill all who come to Him empty (John 6:35, 48). "So, dear Lord, please purify all of us from our pectin and make us seasick of sea clay; may we come to you famished for your Word, and go away satisfied and truly full of hot loaves from Heaven!"
"Chow Down",
Pastor David Blevins
Knowing that I have to lose a lot of weight, I recently read an article on fat-free dieting that offers basically the same advice. The body burns carbohydrates much faster than fat, causing that empty feeling often associated with Chinese food. The author of the article recommends pectin, a non-fattening fiber used to thicken jams and jellies. It has no real nutritional value, but it does slow down digestion, making you feel fuller for a longer period of time.
Sea clay for starving prisoners and pectin for paunchy Americans: the best you can say is that they don't do any harm and they stave off craving for true food.
I wonder if we could not identify or diagnose something called the "Sea Clay Christian Syndrome"? All week long we stuff ourselves with non-nutrient amusements: magazines, books, television talk shows like Dr. Phil and Oprah, advice from television sitcoms, radio advice from people we have never met (let alone knowing the kind of life they live day by day), etc. The Great Physician (Jesus Christ) does not forbid such pastimes and, taken in small discerning doses, they do have their place. But come sundown, we often find that we have no appetite for the true food of fellowship with Jesus Christ! By Sunday, we have so pumped ourselves with "worldly pectin" that we can barely choke down another hour of worship and Bible study or we don't partake at all. We truly are spiritually malnourished, but we don't feel hungry, so we just shrug it off as our spiritual emaciation grows exponentially (Amos 8:11).
One of my prayers for Clover Hill Baptist Church is that God will grant all of us a hunger, a burning desire for the real meat of God's Word (Job 23:12; Psalm 119: 97, 113, 140; John 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:15 ). " I am the bread of life," Jesus says, and He promises to fill all who come to Him empty (John 6:35, 48). "So, dear Lord, please purify all of us from our pectin and make us seasick of sea clay; may we come to you famished for your Word, and go away satisfied and truly full of hot loaves from Heaven!"
"Chow Down",
Pastor David Blevins
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Go Fish
There is a body of water in Massachusetts called Lake Char. That, at any rate, is its' English name taken from a species of trout. The Indians, however, gave it a different moniker, a 44-letter word meaning, "You-fish-on-your-side-I-fish-on-my-side-nobody-fishes-in-the-middle." The United States Board of Geographic Names reports that it intends to stick with "Lake Char." Too bad, I say.
What I mean by that is that even though the Native American name is unwieldly, it certainly has character! It also says something about the culture that once surrounded the lake. I wonder if we could play a similar game with church names? We give them nice, presentable titles, usually something about God, the Bible, or the street where the church building is located, but what if we gave them titles that really describe what goes on in those churches?
How about, "You-sit-in-your-pew-I-sit-in-my-pew-nobody-sits-on-the-front-pew"? It would certainly tell us something about the boundaries that often throttle our brotherhood/fellowship and leaves visitors on the outside with nowhere to sit at all. What do you think of, "You-have-your-friends-I-have-my-friends-nobody-makes-new-friends"? That one might help us figure out why visitors or even new members sometimes fail to be tied into, assimilated into the Body of Christ, our local New Testament Baptist Church. Here is an interesting one, "You-will-not-forgive-me-I-will-not-forgive-you-everybody-else-needs-to-choose-sides"? This one would help us to understand why some churches dry up spiritually, become stagnant and die.
But the term "church", as we have it in the New Testament, really means "the called ones" or "called out assembly." The true confession and position of the Body of Christ is "You-leave-your-side-I-leave-my-side-everybody-meets-in-the-middle-with-God's-love-and-let's-serve-the-Lord-together." May God make us just such a church! When that happens, we will quit worrying about protecting our favorite spot - we will quit worrying about showing off our catch and we can start looking around for someone to help us haul it in (Luke 5:1-11)!
Go Fish,
Pastor David Blevins
What I mean by that is that even though the Native American name is unwieldly, it certainly has character! It also says something about the culture that once surrounded the lake. I wonder if we could play a similar game with church names? We give them nice, presentable titles, usually something about God, the Bible, or the street where the church building is located, but what if we gave them titles that really describe what goes on in those churches?
How about, "You-sit-in-your-pew-I-sit-in-my-pew-nobody-sits-on-the-front-pew"? It would certainly tell us something about the boundaries that often throttle our brotherhood/fellowship and leaves visitors on the outside with nowhere to sit at all. What do you think of, "You-have-your-friends-I-have-my-friends-nobody-makes-new-friends"? That one might help us figure out why visitors or even new members sometimes fail to be tied into, assimilated into the Body of Christ, our local New Testament Baptist Church. Here is an interesting one, "You-will-not-forgive-me-I-will-not-forgive-you-everybody-else-needs-to-choose-sides"? This one would help us to understand why some churches dry up spiritually, become stagnant and die.
But the term "church", as we have it in the New Testament, really means "the called ones" or "called out assembly." The true confession and position of the Body of Christ is "You-leave-your-side-I-leave-my-side-everybody-meets-in-the-middle-with-God's-love-and-let's-serve-the-Lord-together." May God make us just such a church! When that happens, we will quit worrying about protecting our favorite spot - we will quit worrying about showing off our catch and we can start looking around for someone to help us haul it in (Luke 5:1-11)!
Go Fish,
Pastor David Blevins
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Smile, You're On Candid Camera!
I was thinking about Jehu not long ago. Do you remember Jehu? He was the man who was very anxious to show his "zeal for the LORD." According to the text in 2 Kings 10:15,16 this evidently involved taking a chariot ride with the future monarch. Put that alongside 2 Kings 9:20, and we get some insight into what this zealot considered religious behavior: "The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously."
Well, based on that standard, we Baptists ought to be right smack dab in the middle of one great revival for we love to think we are in a NASCAR race when we drive!
This Old Testament passage occurs to me almost every time that I am cruising the highways around Richmond. I guess you could even call it a religious experience, since the four-lanes are filled with crazy drivers of the Jehu-variety!
That is, until they spy the Photocop.
Do you know about the Photocop? It is a camera set at license plate level or higher and rigged to a radar device, stop light, or toll booth. If you drive faster than the posted speed limit, run a red light, or try to skip out on paying the toll fee, a switch is flipped and the machine photographs your license plate number. The department of Motor Vehicles will then send you a ticket along with a nice note and no, you cannot order 8x10 glossies or even wallet size!
That makes me think of another Bible text - Revelation 20:12, which says, "and the books were opened...and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."
God is sort of like the ultimate Photocop and He is not limited to one intersection in one city, nor only to traffic violations (Prov. 5:21; Prov. 15:3).
Like the Photocop machine, God's judgment is delayed, but no less certain (Heb. 9:27). However, the Good News is that God the Father is willing to expunge your record - to expose the sin negatives of your life to the dazzling light of His Son's (Jesus) love. So, let me ask you - is the film clean? Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? If not, then please trust Him and get saved today by repenting of your sins, asking Him to cleanse you from every one of your sins, and inviting Him to live in your heart!
Smile, and say...Jesus,
Pastor David Blevins
Well, based on that standard, we Baptists ought to be right smack dab in the middle of one great revival for we love to think we are in a NASCAR race when we drive!
This Old Testament passage occurs to me almost every time that I am cruising the highways around Richmond. I guess you could even call it a religious experience, since the four-lanes are filled with crazy drivers of the Jehu-variety!
That is, until they spy the Photocop.
Do you know about the Photocop? It is a camera set at license plate level or higher and rigged to a radar device, stop light, or toll booth. If you drive faster than the posted speed limit, run a red light, or try to skip out on paying the toll fee, a switch is flipped and the machine photographs your license plate number. The department of Motor Vehicles will then send you a ticket along with a nice note and no, you cannot order 8x10 glossies or even wallet size!
That makes me think of another Bible text - Revelation 20:12, which says, "and the books were opened...and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."
God is sort of like the ultimate Photocop and He is not limited to one intersection in one city, nor only to traffic violations (Prov. 5:21; Prov. 15:3).
Like the Photocop machine, God's judgment is delayed, but no less certain (Heb. 9:27). However, the Good News is that God the Father is willing to expunge your record - to expose the sin negatives of your life to the dazzling light of His Son's (Jesus) love. So, let me ask you - is the film clean? Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? If not, then please trust Him and get saved today by repenting of your sins, asking Him to cleanse you from every one of your sins, and inviting Him to live in your heart!
Smile, and say...Jesus,
Pastor David Blevins
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Running For God
In Homer's Iliad, there is a scene where Achilles, hero of the Greeks, faces Hector, the Trojan general, in battle. Hector loses his nerve and makes a run for it so that the two warriors end up staging a three-lap footrace around the walls of Troy.
Describing the scene, the blind poet writes, "good was the man that fled, but far better was he that followed after, and swiftly indeed did they run, for the prize was no mere beast fro sacrifice or bullock's hide, as it might be for a common footrace, but they ran for the life of Hector."
That particular line reminds me of Paul's words to the Corinthians in I Corinthians 9:24, 25. Using the image of the Greek games the Apostle Paul makes a couple of statements that parallel the scene from the Iliad.
First of all, a race can only have one winner. Either Achilles will slice Hector's head off, or Hector will disappear into the city gates, out of danger. In the Christian life, we either gain the prize or we leave the field to the enemy, Satan.
Secondly, the prize motivates the effort. Hector ran harder than he might have under other circumstances; Paul realizes that an athlete might be able to live without a crown of laurel leaves. However, we run for an imperishable crown for the glory of God!
So the Christian is highly motivated in both directions. Negatively, the price of defeat looms large, while the positive prize drives us forward. A final thought: Hector loses in the end because the wily goddess Minerva tricks him into stopping when he should have continued to run. How blessed we are to know that we serve the true God (Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18) who never leads us astray; who gives us strength to continue rather than an excuse for quitting (Isa. 40:31).
So, lace up your shoes and run to win. Refuse to slacken your pace until the gates of that glorious eternal city close about you!
Don't Walk With The Devil - Run For God,
Pastor David Blevins
Describing the scene, the blind poet writes, "good was the man that fled, but far better was he that followed after, and swiftly indeed did they run, for the prize was no mere beast fro sacrifice or bullock's hide, as it might be for a common footrace, but they ran for the life of Hector."
That particular line reminds me of Paul's words to the Corinthians in I Corinthians 9:24, 25. Using the image of the Greek games the Apostle Paul makes a couple of statements that parallel the scene from the Iliad.
First of all, a race can only have one winner. Either Achilles will slice Hector's head off, or Hector will disappear into the city gates, out of danger. In the Christian life, we either gain the prize or we leave the field to the enemy, Satan.
Secondly, the prize motivates the effort. Hector ran harder than he might have under other circumstances; Paul realizes that an athlete might be able to live without a crown of laurel leaves. However, we run for an imperishable crown for the glory of God!
So the Christian is highly motivated in both directions. Negatively, the price of defeat looms large, while the positive prize drives us forward. A final thought: Hector loses in the end because the wily goddess Minerva tricks him into stopping when he should have continued to run. How blessed we are to know that we serve the true God (Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18) who never leads us astray; who gives us strength to continue rather than an excuse for quitting (Isa. 40:31).
So, lace up your shoes and run to win. Refuse to slacken your pace until the gates of that glorious eternal city close about you!
Don't Walk With The Devil - Run For God,
Pastor David Blevins
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Pining For You
In "Big Two-Hearted River", Ernest Hemingway pictures his hero, Nick Adams, tramping through a fire-gutted forest, seeking a spot for trout fishing. When Nick gains the edge of the burned-over swath, the first vegetation that greets his eyes is pine trees - jack pines to be exact.
Susan Schmidt of the University of South Carolina commented on this detail in an article that would be found in a past issue of The Hemingway Review. She writes, "Jack pines...are well adapted to fire ecology; in fact, jack pines need fire to be able to re-seed. A forest fire may kill individual trees but the continuation of the forest depends upon periodic fires. Seed cones can stay at the top of the trees as long as twenty-five years waiting for a fire. The extreme heat melts the pine cones so that the seeds can be released." She goes on to describe the custom of French Canadian woodsmen, who used to believe that jack pines poisoned the soil. "No superstitious woodsman would chop down a jack pine, but would burn it to 'kill it', thereby allowing it to re-seed."
All of this makes me think of verses like James 1:3, 4 which tells us that the trying (the Greek word means "to burn") of our faith produces patience which leads to maturity in our Christian walk. From time to time, faith fires crackle across the life of a believer, leaving him with the "burnt-out" feeling so common in our stressful time. We tend to react (or even over react) with sorrow, and we are very quick on the draw to complain to God about the crisis. We should learn our lesson well and be just as quick to realize that the Master Forester knows His business, and He is engaging in some jack pine faith ecology. There are seed cones of faith, talent, prayer, and ministry perched high atop our lives somewhere, and only the fires of trial can release them. An individual blaze may destroy a cherished dream, but it is so vital to the continuation of the Kingdom work as a whole.
So, if you feel burned up, burned out, or just plain burned - glorify God! You and I often only see the tree - But God looks at the pine cones and sees the forest. Even if the enemy (Satan) were to set a blaze in an attempt to destroy you, he did the one thing that assures spiritual survival on your part! Why? Because the flames of persecution and the blood of the martyrs have always been a driving catalyst in the growth of the church (Read the book of Acts and The Martyr's Mirror).
Pining For You,
Pastor David Blevins
Susan Schmidt of the University of South Carolina commented on this detail in an article that would be found in a past issue of The Hemingway Review. She writes, "Jack pines...are well adapted to fire ecology; in fact, jack pines need fire to be able to re-seed. A forest fire may kill individual trees but the continuation of the forest depends upon periodic fires. Seed cones can stay at the top of the trees as long as twenty-five years waiting for a fire. The extreme heat melts the pine cones so that the seeds can be released." She goes on to describe the custom of French Canadian woodsmen, who used to believe that jack pines poisoned the soil. "No superstitious woodsman would chop down a jack pine, but would burn it to 'kill it', thereby allowing it to re-seed."
All of this makes me think of verses like James 1:3, 4 which tells us that the trying (the Greek word means "to burn") of our faith produces patience which leads to maturity in our Christian walk. From time to time, faith fires crackle across the life of a believer, leaving him with the "burnt-out" feeling so common in our stressful time. We tend to react (or even over react) with sorrow, and we are very quick on the draw to complain to God about the crisis. We should learn our lesson well and be just as quick to realize that the Master Forester knows His business, and He is engaging in some jack pine faith ecology. There are seed cones of faith, talent, prayer, and ministry perched high atop our lives somewhere, and only the fires of trial can release them. An individual blaze may destroy a cherished dream, but it is so vital to the continuation of the Kingdom work as a whole.
So, if you feel burned up, burned out, or just plain burned - glorify God! You and I often only see the tree - But God looks at the pine cones and sees the forest. Even if the enemy (Satan) were to set a blaze in an attempt to destroy you, he did the one thing that assures spiritual survival on your part! Why? Because the flames of persecution and the blood of the martyrs have always been a driving catalyst in the growth of the church (Read the book of Acts and The Martyr's Mirror).
Pining For You,
Pastor David Blevins
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