THE BIBLE PLACE

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Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:16:32 -0400

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No, I'm NOT Looking for the Perfect Church

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:12:00 -0400

If you have read the post about Calvin Hunt, I’m sure you can sense some of my longings about the state of the true church. There have been times I have shed tears over the state of the pathetic condition of the church. And invaribly someone is going to cough up that catch-all copout phrase, “Well, you know you’re not going to find a perfect church”. To that, I reply that you have the wrong “p” word. I’m not longing for perfection in this life, BUT I AM LONGING FOR A CHURCH WITH ANOTHER WORD THAT STARTS WITH “P” —POWER!

Allow me to illustrate:

The other day I stopped by the local Home Depot, and as I was making my way to the registers to check out, I heard, “Hey Larry” I turned around and looked and there sat my friend Tom. He had taken a seat in a display chair, the kind of chair that people buy for their decks. But something didn’t look right this time. My friend was quite gaunt and had a cane in his hand. As I approached Tom, he began to say he just come from his final treatment for cancer. He told me that he had just completed 11 treatments of radiation and after having gone through all of that, his doctor told him, “you’re on your own now”. Tom looked at me as intently as he ever has, and said, “Larry, I want to be healed. Would you pray for me for a complete healing from the Lord?” He said, “I don’t want just remission, I want a complete healing! I was talking to my mother who is now in her 80s and she said she believes the Lord would like to see me healed completely.”

I agreed with Tom that I would surely pray for his complete healing. After all, I have seen God grant that request to people firsthand more than once. But then I began a conversation with Tom about the procedure for requesting healing from the Lord. I discussed that classic passage of scripture in the book of James chapter 5 and verse 14 that says “is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church…” Of course, Tom knew exactly what I was talking about, having been a Christian for most of his life, and being a graduate of a christian university, (Bob Jones University). I asked Tom if he believed in that, and he said, “Of course I do.” (After all, where else can you turn but to the Lord when your back’s up against the wall?)

Well, I shared with Tom my experience of anointing my own father with oil in the name of the Lord along with the elders of the church that I was pastor of at the time. I shared with him how precious it was when the men gathered around him to anoint him and pray over him. I expressed to the elders at that time that they needed to be sure that they were in right fellowship with God, making sure all of their sins were confessed to the Lord in order that God would hear their prayer for him. (This is in reference to the scripture that says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” Psalm 66:8). Prayer is serious business, and the one being prayed for can’t afford these prayers to bounce off of a brass ceiling because of unconfessed sin in an elder’s life. This is a biblical principle and is one way to keep the church leadership in tune with God.

Among those elders, there was a man who was ready to meet the Lord due to the fact that he himself had cancer throughout his entire body, and knew that it was his time to go. Yet there he was, anointing my own father with oil and requesting of the Lord to save my father from that dreaded disease, the one that would soon take him.

I went on to share with him how my father lived many years after that, to a full ripe age of 88. Then I asked him, “Tom, does your church do that?” His reply is something that I think I shall never forget. He said simply, “I don’t know.” Think about it! If you walked into a bank and asked a receptionist or a teller the question, “Do you make loans?”, and she would say,”I don’t know.” How absurd it would be to even ask the question in the first place! It would be common knowledge that they would make loans! And using the same reasoning, it should be common knowledge in any true church that James 5:15 is in full effect at any time.

Tom had been had been attending his church for quite a long time. If Tom’s church followed James 5:15, then it was never during the time he attended, and it certainly was not common knowledge. Some churches, and this is probably the case with his, don’t even have elders, just deacons and trustees. I personally, think that is powerless and unforgivable of that church to have never made it a priority to pray over those who are sick in the biblical way. Pastors surely will stand in judgment for that. We are taught in scripture that there will be a greater judgment on them (James 3:1). But neglecting James 5:15 seems to be “par for the course” in today’s powerless churches. No wonder our churches are emptying. Would your reply be the same about your church? Along that same line, may I ask the reader this question: Does your New Testament Bible have healing prayer in it? Case closed.

-Larry

I can’t get enough of this song! When I get discouraged...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:51:00 -0400

I can’t get enough of this song! When I get discouraged sometimes I listen to this song. Is it the tempo? Could it be the majesty of all these voices? Or perhaps the strength of the lyrics? All of the above! Ah, but there’s more… you see, first of all I happen to know that there are quite a few “trophies of grace” in the choir. By that I mean that there some people in the choir whose lives were so ruined by Satan that you would have said that they’re impossible, and that there’s no way their life will ever change. And without Christ, you would be absolutely correct. But with Christ, these street hardened New Yorker’s lives have been permanently turned around by God’s grace through fervent prayer. Take, for example, that guy that’s singing the lead in this song. His name is Calvin Hunt. Calvin was spending his entire paycheck on drugs. He even got so low at one point that he literally ended up living in a vacant doghouse. If you want to read a detailed account of how low Satan took him, it can be found in Jim Cymbala’s book, “Fresh Faith” starting on page 136. One night Calvin’s wife Miriam was at prayer meeting. The whole congregation was crying out in prayer to God on behalf of Calvin, not even knowing where he was. (I just have to interject my own heart’s cry here: Please, dear Lord, I want to be part of a powerful church like that!) As the congregation was pleading Calvin’s case before the Lord, Calvin burst through the back door of the church. He stood there looking over the crowd. He heard his name being called out in prayer all over the auditorium. Some were in tears as they prayed with their hands reaching toward heaven. Someone prayed, “O God, wherever Calvin Hunt is, bring him into this building!” The pastor in charge looked up and declared, “Thank you Jesus! Here he is! Calvin fell to his knees and begged God to set him free. Now you can see why he sings with fervor “Nothing is Impossible with God”. Many others have given their life to Christ because of Calvin’s testimony.

The saddest part of this story is that this should not be unusual. But everywhere I look, we have faithless, powerless, prayerless churches that never expect the impossible from God. I can’t find a church that makes it a priority to cry out to God on behalf of broken lives, families, marriages, the sick, the sin sick, homeless, and those in trouble. Instead, I’ve seen church after church (at least 28 Baptist, some Christian,some Wesleyan, Assembly of God and community churches) that have had their focus on music, entertainment, fog machines and stage lighting, buildings, debt, rules, everything but what Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). Effectual, fervent prayer connected with faith and the awesome power of the Holy Spirit is the need of each child of God and every true church on the planet. Who will take up this charge?

Maybe now you’ll understand why this song is such a blessing to me. By the way, Calvin went to be with his Savior in December of 2009 at age 52. What if that church had not prayed???

Here’s a link to the news of his passing:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/gospelsoundcheck/2010/01/gospel-artist-calvin-hunt-pass.html

-Larry

"Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must..."

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:01:00 -0400

“Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
-Larry”