The Lord has been doing big things in my life here in the last few months. My family and I have moved to Upstate NY, and I have become the Senior Pastor of Open Bible Baptist Church. I am super blessed and very excited! Please expect to see changes to this site as we make this transition.
Updates
Tell Your Children
Tell your children and your children their children, and their children another generation.
Joel 1:3
Sometimes, for various reasons, children and parents disconnect from each other when the children grow up. It is very unfortunate because it is important for children to glean from their parents a good understanding of the past and their perspective on the future. In the past, people understood the importance of this, but in our modern world we have often entrusted this to the public at large.
Joel is telling his readers that this message would be something to pass down. It was not simply meant to be understood as a tale to share. It would be a guide and resource for generations to come.
Listen to This
Listen to this, old people, and hear with your ears all earthly inhabitants! Has this happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
Joel 1:2
Jesus says a very similar thing many times when teaching on earth. Listen with your ears. It is meant to alert everyone to the importance and urgency of the message.
In the second part of the verse, Joel is asking his readers to search their memory, and their past, for anything similar to what he was about to describe.
Joel
How much do we need Him?
I remember in many instances hearing Christians speak of how much someone ‘needs’ the Lord. Maybe they were speaking of a lost individual that was particularly given over to the devil’s devices. Or, they may have been talking about a Christian brother or sister dealing with a great issue or trouble. In any case, there is a measuring of ‘how much’ the individual might need the Lord.
Obvioulsy, the idea here is dependence. We must depend upon the Lord. And, some are percieved by us to need this more than others. But, is that really accurate? Or is it our own imagination? What do we learn from Scripture?
Jesus speaks of the need to go to the sick rather than the whole in Matthew 9:12. But, in the context he is speaking to a group of people who thought they were perfect. Beyond that, He is speaking of the need to reach these people, not their subjective need for Him in thier lives. In fact, it is Christ that helps us understand how much we need Him in our lives. He speaks to the disciples of sending the Spirit in John 14:16. It is His intention to always be with us.
From studying the lives of successful Christians both in the Bible and history, we see that dependence upon the Lord is paramount. I suggest that reliance upon the Lord is, rather than an indication of need, is an indication of spiritual maturity. Those who are great servants of Christ are those who understand the best just how dependent they are upon Him.
The old hymn has it right, I need Him every hour. There is no Christian on this planet that needs to depend upon or rely upon Christ more than I do. Or more than you do. We all must rely upon Him. We may become more aware of our need, or seem to others to be more needy, but we all need to rely greatly upon the Lord.
For Jesus
One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 4:5. Although many have favorited it for one reason or another, I stumbled across it many years ago for a different reason than most.
This verse puts all of life into the proper perspective. While the first part of the verse is wonderful, the second part is what grabbed my attention. The Scripture says ‘ourselves your servants because of Jesus’ and that is the part that I was looking for. To be sure we do not preach to promote ourselves, but to promote the Gospel of Christ. But it is this positioning of believers as servants to one another because of Christ that blessed me even more.
We live in a world full of oppression, manipulation, subversion, and downright deception. Virtually everyone is either bowing down to something/someone, or making others bow down to something/someone. And of course, we have those who want everyone to bow to them. It is a real mess.
So how does this verse help? What does it tell us? It shows us that there is a way to live without seeking to oppress, or being oppressive ourselves. We can, as Christ, come to minister to others. We are to be the servants of all because we serve the Lord Christ. Thus we live free from oppression regardless of our circumstances. And, rather than seeking to force others to our will, we serve them as Christ and allow them to respond to Him, in us.
Always Learning
In the USA, and our world, we are constantly bombarded with information. New ideas are flying our way all the time. We cannot seem to go through a day without hearing or seeing something new. Of course we might say, ‘Isn’t that a good thing?’
The answer might be yes, but it is quite often no. Why? Because we are inundated with a lot of information, but very little truth. We are learning all the time, but are we even capable of knowing what the truth is?
In 2 Timothy 2:7, the Apostle Paul describes some folks who were led astray, and as a result, though they learned a lot they were unable to know truth. They were busy. They were learning. They were saturated with information. They were dizzy with it all. And yet, they remained ignorant of the most important things.
There was also a group on the Hill of Ares in Athens who had a similar problem. They spent all of their time talking about new things. But Acts 17:23 tells us that they were unable to discern the truth when they heard it.
How could someone spend so much time learning, and hearing new things, and yet miss the truth? Information in large quantities has never been the path to truth. Instead, wisdom and understanding applied to some truth will bring one into more. And, once the truth of the Gospel is accepted, Jesus says, the Spirit of Truth then guides a person into all the truth (John 16:13).
Do not stop learning, but always seek the truth!
Dependence Day
I think ‘Thanksgiving’ is a great name for this day. It reminds us of our appropriate response to what the day is about. It works well, and does not need modification.
But I have an alternate name for this day to share with you. It is no replacement, it simply speaks to the cause of the day. This alternate is ‘Dependence’ Day. In America, where Thanksgiving Day is chiefly celebrated, we also have ‘Independence’ Day. That day reminds us that we can, by much blood and effort, be independent from tyrannical human governments.
Though ‘Thanksgiving’ describes exactly what we should do on this Thursday in November, this alternate moniker points out very clearly why we should do it. We may be independent from some forms of human evil, but we are still reliant upon Almighty God for our very existence. We cannot truly, and must not attempt to, live independent from Him.
As you enjoy the great blessings usually shared on this special day, give not only great thanks but great recognition to the One Whom we are all dependent upon. He alone can give us true freedom, both physical and spiritual.
It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.
From the Thanksgiving Day proclamation George Washington signed in 1789
REvive Ministries Featured Minister: Pastor David Kemp
Dr. David Kemp started college as a music major, but God changed his interests and he switched to Bible and pastoral ministry. He taught Bible at Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga for 18 years, right up to the day the school closed its doors. Since the first Sunday of 2016, he has served as pastor of Hickory Valley Baptist Church in Chattanooga. And over the years, he has still had plenty of opportunities to serve the Lord with music! His favorite Scripture verse is Psalm 145:3. He and his wife of 40 years, Carolyn, have three children – Melody, Angela, and James – and three grandchildren.
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.
Psalm 145:3
I have known Dr. Kemp since my college days when he was my professor for New Testament and Bible Doctrines. I consider him to be one of my mentors. He is a good example of faithfulness. His zeal for the Word of God is infectious. I will never forget sitting under his teaching, learning about the timeless universal truths we find in Scripture.
Pray for this man, his family, and his ministry.
At REvive Ministries we know that no ministry or minister is perfect. However, we desire to rejoice in and encourage all those that are actively doing the work of the ministry. Featured ministers or ministries are ones that our ministry thinks the Lord can use to bring revival to the church in America.
A Minister’s Motto
My mother wrote this about my Grandad Dillon. I can personally say this is exactly what I have seen in his life. He stands today as a testament to the fact that his motto will serve anyone well.
My dad’s Motto: Start small, work hard, get good, don’t quit!
Many years ago, he started small. My dad surrendered his life to the Lord, and he began by being a faithful worker in his church.
Over the next several years, my dad worked hard. He surrendered to preach and decided to go Tennessee Temple Bible College. While he was relocating to Tennessee and getting funds together for school, he started small again – his first church in an old store building. He worked hard with his wife alongside. He spent many Saturdays out visiting all day even after working all week at a full time job. It was hard; he had many struggles but he continued forward by the grace of God. Today, Echoes of Mercy is still meeting in Cleveland, TN. My dad also held meetings in nursing homes, low income projects, and had a “bus” (it was actually a van) ministry. He got good and did not quit!
Finally, my dad was able to go to school to study to become an even better preacher. Having never completed high school, he started small, it was hard, but with God’s grace, he went forward. He became “gooder” and “gooder” at English and Speech; He didn’t quit!
Once he graduated, he immediately started small again; he started a church in his hometown of Smyrna, TN in the house where he lived. He, with mother alongside, worked hard and went out visiting people every Saturday, sometimes all day long. Eventually, he built (most of it with his own hands) a church – Bible Baptist – on Seminary Road. He got good and had many revival meetings and wonderful services. Today, there is still a thriving church on Seminary Road.
Start small, work hard,
get good, don’t quit!
-Bill Dillon
Getting on in years, and facing many difficulties, my dad continued to start small, work hard, and get good. And he certainly did not quit. He began another church on Rocky Fork Road, and today there is a Spanish Pastor who has an outreach to Spanish people that was made possible partly due to the hard work of Bill and Debbie Dillon and their generosity in transfer of the property to the Spanish people.
Alzheimer’s had hit the home of Bill and Debbie Dillon so preaching was not his role; now he was caretaker! But, he didn’t quit. He continued to work hard and get good at doing everything his wife had once done. He cleaned the house, washed the clothes, and even cooked them a few meals. He took care of his wife in a wonderful way until the day she passed to glory! He worked hard, he got good at it and he didn’t quit.
Now he deals with Parkinson’s, dementia, and poor eye sight. But what does he do…………he continues to walk when it is difficult, he continues to dream about starting another ministry. He still passes out tracts and tries to tell others about the Lord.
It is only by God’s grace that any of this happened; God allowed Bill Dillon to live out a motto that he never even used or thought of until he was old. He started small, he worked hard, he got good and he did not quit his entire life!