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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.

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, 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.

The Word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

Joel 1:1

This can be taken as the title of this writing. We do not know a lot about Joel. There is debate as to the timing of his writing. But, the content shows that the timeline followed the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem.

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.

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.

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!

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

In addition to being a revival speaker, I work in Information Technology. One of my favorite tools used in IT is what is known as a baseline. A baseline is a set of data that tells a company what their environment usually looks like. It gives IT a measure by which to know when things are running like they should be, and when they aren’t.

The baseline is established by measuring and recording various data points while systems are running properly. These measurements are averaged and assembled into a summary of the regular operating condition of the environment. This gives IT an overview of how their systems ‘should’ look when everything is normal.

A baseline is very helpful because it provides a chance to identify problems that might otherwise get missed or ignored. And, it allows for dealing with issues early, proactively, before the problem becomes a big issue.

In the Christian life it is important to do the same thing. Ask yourself what your walk with the Lord looks like ‘on average’, measuring it in some meaningful way. Don’t feel like you have to judge or praise yourself. A baseline isn’t meant to be a record of accomplishments or failures. It is meant to show how things usually are.

Periodically investigate your prayer life. Ask yourself how your Bible reading is going. See what your regularity is for daily devotions. More important, analyze the effectiveness of these things, and determine if growth is occurring. Again, don’t worry about perfection here. A baseline isn’t meant to make you fixate on performance.

Instead, a baseline seeks to reveal flaws before they become unmanageable. It helps when you are overwhelmed, but don’t know why. It provides an answer when you are asking yourself ‘what happened?’ questions. It can encourage you, motivate you, and make you more informed about your spiritual life.

Form time to time REvive Ministries will share previews of sermons that may be shared at one of our revivals. This is intended to serve several purposes. First, it gives individuals attending churches that will host a REvive Ministries revival a chance to read part of a sermon they may hear during the revival. Second, it gives busy pastors the convenience of spending only a few minutes to get an idea of the available sermon material. And finally, it is what I like to call a ‘seed’ sermon. A seed sermon can be used as a starting point for sermon preparation. If ministers who subscribe to the ministry updates choose to, they may build their own message off of the seed thought.

For the first ‘seed sermon’ I would like to share a message entitled ‘The Job Factor ‘. This sermon is based on the conversation between the Lord and the devil in Job chapter one. Looking closely at some of the verses in this passage, this message seeks to answer some big questions:

• What do Christians do when bad things happen?
• How can Christians address the concerns of sceptics?
• What is ‘plan b’, and what is the problem with it?
• What motivates you?
• Is your Christianity superficial?

Many of us may feel we have the answers to these questions already. However, this sermon seeks to challenge your understanding and dives into your true motivations. Many may find it hits them close to home. Even if this message doesn’t apply to you directly, there is a high likelihood you know someone who it applies to.

The message is an opportunity for young men and women to re-evaluate before spending many years with ‘plan b’ wicking energy from their spiritual life. It speaks to older, wiser believers who will look back and understand their motivations better. It calls to those who are in conflict to see what may be causing thier inability to move towards peace in their hearts. Young ones overwhelmed by scepticism in their education may find new hope and resolve. And many others…

Mothers may need to pray for sons. Daughters may need to pray for fathers. There is a large number of Christian people who need to hear this message, and take it to heart. You may have a family member, or a friend, that you can pray for, or with. Or, it may be you that needs to understand, and overcome, The Job Factor.