I guess it's been almost 2 years ago since I preached this message on a Sunday night. I get really heavy of heart when I think about American Christianity, revival, "cutting-edge" church, etc. There are ups and down in the way church is done...all I find myself asking is, "Where is the fruit?"

Anyway...I try to stay light hearted as much as possible and optimistic about where the church is headed in general. So don't think I am a gloom and doom guy...cause I'm not. There are lots of things to be excited about as well, and my whole goal is to stay balanced in these areas.

The Barren Bride

(George Barna Statistics)

“The number of adults who skip church has nearly doubled since 1991, rising from 39 million to 75 million. These un-churched adults, defined as adults who haven't attended church in the past six months other than holidays or special events like weddings or funerals, account for 34% of the population. In a bizarre twist, while about half of the churched population has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, one in six un-churched adults (about 17%) have done so as well. Reaching the growing population of the un-churched will be a special challenge, says George Barna: "Millions of young adults are more interested in truth, authenticity, experiences, relationships and spirituality than they are in laws, traditions, events, disciplines, institutions and religion. The confluence of preconceived notions, past experiences and evolving lifestyles and values means that existing churches simply cannot reach millions of today’s un-churched people. The rapidly swelling numbers of un-churched people may be forcing existing churches to reinvent their core spiritual practices while holding tightly to their core spiritual beliefs. It will take radically new settings and experiences to effectively introduce un-churched individuals to biblical principles and practices. It's going to take a lot more than fancy brochures and contemporary worship music to reach the un-churched.”
A more perplexing question is why don't the 17% of un-churched adults who believe in Jesus come to church? Something's scared them off, and it seems like the body of Christ could use their input now more than ever.

Even more perplexing is how only half of the churched population has accepted Jesus Christ. Perhaps preaching to the choir is more necessary than we thought. And if that's the case, it seems altar calls aren't cutting it.”

If you tackle these facts with those from those Pastor’s wife spoke of during the amazing race, 80% of churches are not growing and 60% of those are actually in decline, it’s all quite disturbing.

So just a run down again of what new people that are entering a church are looking for…
•Only half of the church population has received Jesus Christ as Savior.
•One in six un-churched adults have done so as well.
•The un-churched are more interested in truth, authenticity, experiences, relationships, and spirituality.

If we take notice of that last tidbit, “the un-churched are more interested in truth, authenticity, experiences, relationships, and spirituality”, aren’t we supposed to already be all those attributes? How can we sit in the pew and let this continue? Doesn’t are heart burn within us over such issues?

Ephesians 5 Vs 25-27
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

Are we not the very Bride of Christ? Aren’t we supposed to be holy, radiant, and without blemish? And yet the church of America today is polluted with consumerism and every other sort of “ism”. We want a church this way or we want a church that way. When will we want church Gods way? The great revivals of Wales, Welsh, Azusa, Pensacola, and others have come and gone and what change did it make upon this time and this hour? This generation is lost and we will be the ones held accountable for it! I have titled this message “The Barren Bride”, because I do believe that is what we’ve become. Sure we are beautiful and have been ordained rightly so in Christ honor, but is our beauty only skin deep? Will we not rightly take our place not only in royalty but also in honor? You see we might be royalty by inheritance but honor is completely upon our hearts to search out. Our honor is dependent upon our obedience. I have often said with one word, “GO”, the Lord Jesus commanded the demons to flee from the travailing man and they immediately left him. Today the Lord gives us this same commandment and what will our obedient record look like. Will it be greater than devils?

On the day of Elijah at Mount Carmel, Elijah mocked the false gods and their preachers. Today our God is mocked and our preachers scorned. The false religion of Liberalism and all of its children run wild about and our voice is drowned out by our content. Did you hear that? Our voice is drowned out by our own Christian contentment.

This is what I pray about. This is what makes me cry for my children. This is what makes my heart burn with fierce passion to see a great work from the Lord. From the pulpits point of view, I see no hope in empty seats. From a statistical point of view, I cannot see the light. But from my knees…from my prayer closet…from my secret place…I see hope once more! Just like God telling Elijah, as Elijah cried out believing he was the only one, God is telling us there are others that want what we want…they want to see what we want to see…they want to do what we want to do…They are just waiting and praying in secret!

The Barren Gave Birth to…A Seed Of Promise

In Genesis we have the story of Abraham and his wife Sarah. God promised Abraham a child though his wife was of an old age…you see she was barren. She couldn’t have any children. We read that she faltered in her faith and in doing so she found herself the object of ridicule. And isn’t this always the case with Christianity? We are a laughing stock when others don’t see us behaving like Christians.

Nevertheless, Sarah was barren. She couldn’t have a child. It’s impossible. Not for God! Sarah went from barren to birth, as she birthed a seed of promise into this world.

Genesis 12 Vs 2-3
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

I love this promise! “I will bless you”, the scripture says. Do you realize that in these simple two scriptures that it says the word bless five times? You see to birth the promise of multiplicity seems impossible to us. We can accept the status quo of a good church, but what God wants is a great church. He longs for Bride whose name is great. He longs for a Bride who is blessed and is a blessing. To quote another preacher, “to often we settle for good, when we could have had great”.

The Barren Gave Birth to…A Seed Of Provision

If we continue further down the road in Genesis we come across the story of Jacob and Rachel. It’s a tragic story of trickery and deception, but to be fair there is one of the greatest love statements made by Jacob about Rachel. Jacob is recorded as saying, that seven years of labor were but a few days to him when considering her hand in marriage. Most of us know the story that he was tricked into marrying Leah, Rachel’s sister. That brings us to this scripture…

Genesis 30 Vs 1
“When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!”

Let me say that Rachel was on to something here in this statement, although I do believe it is made to the wrong person. This is the attitude of divine prayer. If we could just pray, “Give me souls, or I’ll die”, or “Give me revival, or I’ll die” what fire the church would burn today. Unfortunately for the Church and Rachel we miss the mark here and then scramble on to try everything else but talk to God. If you read on you will see the most ridiculous two women I believe in the whole Bible. They have consumed themselves in a battle that has their husband sleeping with all sorts of other woman. I am not making that stuff up either… However, look at Vs 22…

Genesis 30 Vs 22-24
Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, "God has taken away my disgrace." She named him Joseph, and said, "May the LORD add to me another son."

From barren to birth, Joseph is brought into this world and would go on to see glorious visions that would lead him to Egypt and eventually to the throne of Pharaoh. From there he would eventually be in a position to provide provision for not only his family, but also all of Egypt. All of this came from a barren woman whose desperate cry was “Give me children, or I’ll die”. What would you die for? Are your prayers this desperate? If not they should be! How can we accuse God of not hearing our prayers if we have not sought him with honest fervency? Doesn’t the scripture say, “The fervent prayer of the righteous avails much”? If we are born again, then there is no lack in righteousness because it is imputed in us through Christ, however fervency is another matter all together. You have to want it so badly that you eat, sleep, and breathe the matter.

The Barren Gave Birth to…A Seed Of Protection

Once again we fast-forward to the great books of Samuel. Most of you know where I am headed by now…

1st Samuel Vs 3-20
Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons? Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD's temple. In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. 11 And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head."

Hannah was a woman barren and scorned. If there ever was a truer picture of the church today it is that of Hannah. Just like Hannah, when will we do something about it? Look at verse nine, it reads, “Hannah stood up”. Its time the Church stood up. It’s time we get a holy anger at what we are reading and hearing from the world. I am sick and tired of being mocked by this false bride. We have lived in fear for far too long. Our battle is not of the physical realm but of the spiritual realm. When did we retire bitterness of soul and weeping? We all wish to be filled with the Holy Ghost and long for a day like the Pentecost that the Prophet Joel describes…but let us be mindful of the scriptures that precede the great “this is that” prophecy…

Joel 1 Vs 12-13
“Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”

This will always precede a revival of any kind…we must return to the Lord with broken humble hearts…praying, fasting, and weeping. Hannah wanted a child. She was tired of being mocked…so she did something about it. She poured out her soul before the Lord…weeping like her life depended on it.

1st Samuel 20
“So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him.”

From barren to birth, Samuel was born into this world by a mother who prayed so undignified that the preacher thought she was drunk. Samuel would go on to set a standard in all of Israel. He provided the word of the Lord to a people who were more concerned with worldly affairs than that of Gods. He was the great warrior of Israel…maybe not like we picture a warrior, but a warrior nonetheless. When the Philistines rose up at Mizpah, it was Samuel’s voice that was heard in intercession. When Saul could not bring himself to kill every Amorite as the Lord had commanded, it was Samuel that paved the way. Samuel sought to protect his nation above approval from the people and even kings. He was everything we are supposed to be in a witness.

The Barren Gave Birth to…A Seed Of Proclamation

Now we are really turning a few pages…all the way into the New Testament. We now find another barren woman by the name of Elizabeth. She is wife to Zechariah, and like Abraham’s Sarah, she finds herself older in years and beyond the thought of childbirth. However, God had different plans.

In speaking of Zechariah and Elizabeth…

Luke 1 Vs 6-7
“Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.”

A little farther down we read…

Luke 1 Vs 11-17
“Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Take note that the angel said, “Your prayer has been heard”. Isn’t that the theme of all of this? Prayer? The scriptures do not give us what this man prayed for but I am sure he wasn’t prepared for the answer! If you look in verse 18 we find Zechariah saying, “How can I be sure of this?” I love it when God tells us something and we are just dumbfounded at how it’s at all possible. We too easily forget who God is!

If I were a betting man, I would venture to say Zechariah wasn’t asking for a son. I think he was content with his age and at his life. I think he was praying for a Savior. Right as he was praying in the temple, I picture him seeking earnestly the Lord concerning the Christ…and that’s when the first miracle happened. When men’s will and the will of God aligned themselves together. The second miracle is when an older woman, barren by her years birthed into existence a man completely driven to raise a dead nation. This man would later be called “the greatest man born of a woman”.

From barren to birth John the Baptist was born in the fire and lived a life of fire. The late Leonard Ravenhill points out that, “John never raised one dead body, but he raised a dead nation. He was a voice when many men were just echo’s.” John used all that he had to turn a nations head even though it cost him…his own.

This is the price of passion. This is the price of Pentecost. To see what the Apostles saw we must give all…there is no other way. The generation in the church right now has no other direction by which it might turn. It must head straightway towards revival. There is no other hope by which we might once again shift this nations moral and ethical standard. The church must awaken itself from its deep sleep! The former generation and the latter generation are depending on it. But there is hope!

There is hope in our barren state. There is hope that we too can go from barren to birth through the Spirit of Almighty God. What will we birth? If we pray, groan, agonize, and weep before the Lord…if we wear our carpets out with such soul travail…if we call on the name of our God to remember us…if we will only repent and turn from our laziness and contentment…then it is possible that we will birth into existence the greatest revival the world has ever known. All of the woman we spoke of tonight were barren. They were ridiculed and mocked. They were desperate. The church today is barren…losing more and more souls to a hell fire than a Pentecost fire. The church today is ridiculed and mocked because our character is different than our profession. We say one thing and do another. Who can tell that we are even a church if we look, act, and talk like the world. The one thing the church is not…not yet anyway…is desperate! When will you be desperate to see a better world for your children? When will you weep with bitterness of soul and cry out to the living God for change? Change will not come from the outside in, but it must come from the inside out.

Like I promised...here are a few quotes that I love...

"A man who owns only one watch...knows what time it is, but a man who as two watches...is never quite sure."

"Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them."

"It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom."

"Be on guard against any tampering with the Word, whether disguised as a search for truth, or a scholarly attempt at apparently hidden meanings; and beware of the confusion created by the senseless rash of new versions, translations, editions, and improvements upon the tried and tested Bible of our fathers and grandfathers. "

"As sure as God puts His children in the furnace he will be in the furnace with them"

"Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom."

"Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength"

"It is a great pity when the one who should be the head figure is a mere figure head."

"He that deserves nothing should be content with anything"

"No one is so miserable as the poor person who maintains the appearance of wealth."

"Every generation needs regeneration"

"Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us. "

"As the apostle says to Timothy, so also he says to every-one, ‘Give yourself to reading.’ ... He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains proves that he has no brains of his own..."

"You cannot slander human nature; it is worse than words can paint it."

"The God of this world is riches, pleasure and pride."

Hey it's Christmas...

This month has been really a huge transition month for me as I have officially found employment as a Connect/Worship Pastor for Marble Falls Assembly Of God. You have probably already read that...told you I was in a writing slump this month.

However, I will post some stuff I have been collecting...some quotes, a sermon, and possibly a few ideas I have been reflecting on...

So be a bit patient with me as I am trying to actually prepare my house for a giant move, be a good husband, and enjoy the good news that God has blessed me with...

Just thought I would post a Google Map link of the church that I am looking to starting working at. I am excited and up to the challenge of adding to the team there. There is so much potential there.

First Assembly Of God: Marble Falls, Texas

Last week I embarked on an adventure down south to Marble Falls, Texas. What a beautiful place...the Colorado River runs right thru the heart of the town, which is definately on the up and up. Five small communities that surround the area all pour into Marble Falls for school, shopping, and more. The place is booming to say the least. My trip, however, wasn't a vacation. It was for an interview.

Around or maybe over, ten years ago, I embarked on a journey to pursue full-time ministry. It's my heart to be able to give 100% to changing and transforming lives. I am happy to report my dream became a reality as of this past Sunday morning. After talking with the pastors of Marble Falls First Assembly of God, I am sure I have found my new home and the beginning of a what feels like a life long dream come true.

I'm back and tired...

Converge was awesome this weekend. Lives transformed and hopefully far from silent today. Hopefully today there will be some teenage angst against immorality and injustice. Hopefully today marks a new horizon for the next generation to be everything the former generation lacks. Today is their day of change...their day of hope...their day of love...their day to spread the gospel and cause an explosion that has yet to be seen.

OK...off my soapbox rant...

Really different stuff this year at youth convention. I saw some stretching and forward thinking that really made me happy. On Saturday night, they had a worship and prayer vigil that they called, "Encounter - A Truly Unique Worship Experience". It was off the chart. There were different sections in the room set aside for prayer, worship, communion, and so much more. It was two hours of alter and prayer. Awesome! Way to go NTYM leaders!

Also...on the hunt for a few videos that were shown at Converge. There were three videos that were awesome...one on "worship is not"...one on "worship + justice"...and one on "Speed The Light". Wish me luck finding them...the hunt is on.