It’s called “the mic creep.” It occurs when, in the midst of a program or service, the emcee begins to move toward a guest speaker to indicate “it’s time to wrap it up…you’re going long.” I’ve used the move many times myself, but recently I had “mic creep” occur to me! I saw it happening out of the corner of my eye, as the emcee of the Sunday School class began to creep closer, indicating, “You’re done here, Husted. Land the plane!”

I laughed internally, even as it was occurring, as I was given 2-3 minutes to promote an upcoming EA event, and yet I always like to incorporate Scripture into any speaking opportunity.

Recently, I’ve been studying the life of Elijah, including reading A.W. Pink’s commentary, so I found inspiration in the content below.

1 Kings 17 – Elijah Predicts a Drought to evil King Ahab

2And the word of the LORD came to him: 3“Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan

A.W. Pink notes, “Instead of a river, God often gives us a brook, which may be running today and dried up tomorrow. Why? To teach us not to rest in our blessings, but in the blesser Himself.”

Over the past 5 years of Empowering Action, God, in His wisdom, has not seen fit to provide EA a raging river of financial support, overflowing its banks, but he has provided a constant brook.

4You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

Pink again notes, “The prophet might have preferred another hiding-place, but to Cherith he must go if he was to receive the Divine supplies: as long as he tarried there, God was pledged to provide for him. How important, then, is the question, Am I in the place which God has (by His Word or providence) assigned me?”

As individuals and institutions, it is imperative to regularly ask, “Am I in the place which God assigned me? Am I performing the good works that He prepared beforehand that I should walk in?” (Ephesians 2:10)

For me I find clarity of my current calling in personalizing Paul’s words to the church of Rome, in Romans 1:1, which states,

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

“Kent, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to empower Christ’s church to combat poverty, set apart for the gospel of God.”

And I find motivation to “keep my hands to the plow” as long as the Lord commands in this endeavor in the following passage from Psalms and quote from Richard Baxter.

“It will be an unspeakable comfort to look back on a life well spent. And to be able to say, ‘My time was not cast away…It was spent on doing good to men’s souls and bodies.’”– Richard Baxter

Psalm 90:16-17

Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!

 

In his outstanding book Mission Drift, Peter Greer writes,

“The excellent leader is the steward-in-chief of the organization’s story…Leadership comes down to protecting the story, bringing others into the story, and keeping the organization accountable to the story. The leader tells the story, over and over again, refining it, updating it and driving it home.”

This week, as I found myself attempting to “invite” others to “join the story of EA,” by sponsoring an upcoming pastor’s conference, I wrote the following,

“I thought that perhaps the church and/or the October trip participants might be interested in contributing to this upcoming training opportunity in September. This preaching conference in Santo Domingo will be attended by a select core of our volunteer pastors, who will be facilitating the network development efforts, led by Raydel Riquelme, our new Church Network Development Director from Cuba. The goal is that they would serve as a catalyst in reproducing church leaders bathed in Scripture, serving out of an abundance of their own personal walk with the Lord.”

 “Serving out of an abundance of their own personal walk with the Lord.” Or, as I’ve entitled this blog, “Operating off the Overflow” something that Scripture is clear we must do daily in every facet of our lives, if we wish to honor the Lord.

This morning’s devotional from Andrew Murray on Paul’s words to the Corinthian church sums it up well,

Christ’s love controls us. (2 Corinthians 5:14)

“Think about this: God longs to have our hearts filled with His love so that He can use us as channels for this love to flow out to others. Let us be satisfied with nothing less and sacrifice everything to secure a place for this love in the hearts of men and women.

 Heavenly Father,

Fill my heart with Your love. May Your love overflow from my heart to the hearts of others. I pray that my words and actions shine with your love so that others may experience You through me.

Amen”

Summer is a busy time for EA, as we regularly host visiting groups coming to encourage and be encouraged by working alongside our church partners in the Dominican Republic.

Often times I’ll ask the group, “What can we pray for the churches that we are visiting today?”

Answer: The same thing we pray for any church in the US: Health.

We can look to The Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica long ago to guide our prayers today.

We see fruit from a root. The result of the Word of God and the Work of the Holy Spirit produced an impressive faith.

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:1-10)

The apostle Paul knew that spiritual life is created by God’s words and Spirit working together. He knew this because he had witnessed the change in their lives. Listen to Jonathan Leeman in his new book Word-Centered Church: How Scripture Brings Life and Growth to God’s People,

Amid temptation, they were obedient. Amid persecution, they had joy. “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia” (1 Thess. 1: 6–7). It’s not surprising then that Paul would refer to the Word of God as the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6: 17). There is no greater power a church has at its disposal than preaching the Father’s Word of the Son working through the Spirit.

So while over time we may visit different churches, our prayer remains the same throughout the world: For the Word of God and the Work of the Holy Spirit to produce a faith that transforms communities in the name of and to the glory of Jesus Christ.

The Church can no longer afford to be tone-deaf, appearing at times completely oblivious to its surroundings, particularly in this age, which desperately needs to have the truth of God’s Word brought to bear on the events of the day.

It is true that the news cycle cannot dictate our preaching calendar, but often churches seem oblivious to current events. In doing so, they miss windows of opportunity to demonstrate that Scripture is both timeless and timely.

“The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” (1 Pet. 1:24-25)

Silence in the face of historic events, natural disasters and political and societal developments inadvertently communicates that God’s Word is irrelevant, as opposed to providing a lens to view the World.

The 1647 Westminster Confession declares that ALL things necessary for God’s own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life are either expressly set down or can be deduced from Scripture.”

The Church must declare the Word of the Lord both corporately when it gathers on Sundays and individually as it is scattered throughout the week.

Cyrus, King of Persia 500 years before Christ was born, believed that “men did not know what cares he sustained under the imperial crown, for it they did, they would not stoop to take it up.”

The burden of leadership is in deed heavy.

The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, experienced intense physical suffering from gout, rheumatism and Bright’s disease (inflammation of the kidneys). In addition, emotionally Spurgeon endured intense slander and recurring depression over his years of service, resulting in his stating,

“You will find the bravest of God’s servants have their times when it is hard to hold their own; when they would be glad to creep into a mouse-hole, if they could there find themselves a shelter.”

Psalm 34:17 should be of comfort to all believers; however, particularly heartening to those who serve in leadership, stating,

“When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.”

I’ve personally found the following words of nineteenth century theologian C.H. MacKintosh particularly reassuring and instructive,

“It is most needful for all servants of Christ to remember that whenever the Lord places a man in a position of responsibility, He will both fit him for it and maintain him in it. It is, of course, another thing altogether if a man will rush unsent into any field of work, or any post of difficulty or danger. In such a case we may assuredly look for a thorough breakdown, sooner or later. But when God calls a man to a certain position, He will endow him with the needed grace to occupy it. This holds good in every case. We can never fail if we only cling to the living God. We can never run dry if we are drawing from the fountain of Christ.”

These are certainly chaotic times in the world.   And yet amidst the daily reports of crisis around the globe we can take comfort in God’s sovereignty, recognizing:

1. the origin of sin, as seen in the 4 Broken Relationships of Genesis 3: God, self, others, creation;
2. the hope of Scripture’ story which assures us that Christ is the creator and heir of all things, and he will eventually reconcile all things to himself. (Col. 1:19-20; Heb. 1:1-2)

Two great quotes that should be of comfort to all followers of Christ:

The first from Vaughn Robert’s God’s Bible Picture: Tracing the Story line of the Bible

“The Kingdom of God is what we see at the creation in the Garden of Eden until the fall. But then human beings disobey God and forgo his blessing. The consequences are devastating not just for humanity but for the whole creation; everything is spoiled. But in his great love God promises to put things right again and re-establish his kingdom on earth. The rest of the Bible tells the story of the fulfillment of that promise: partially in Israel’s history in the Old Testament period, and then perfectly through Jesus Christ. So the Bible is about God’s plan of salvation: his promise to restore his kingdom, and then the fulfillment of that promise through his Son Jesus.”

The second from F.B. Meyer’s Paul: A Servant of Jesus

“Each great crisis in the past has helped to advance the glorious reign of Christ. Was the fall of Babylon a crisis? It gave mankind a universal speech–the language spoken by Alexander and his soldiers–the delicate, subtle Greek in which the New Testament was written. Was the fall of Rome a crisis? It opened the way to the rise of the northern nations, which have ever been the home of Liberty and the Gospel. Was the fall of Feudalism, in the French Revolution, a crisis? It made the splendid achievements of the nineteenth century possible. And we may look without dismay on events that cast a shadow on our hearts. They also shall serve the cause of the Gospel. In ways we cannot tell, they shall prepare for the triumph of our King. Through the throes of the present travail the new heavens and earth shall be born. The agony is not as the expiring groan of the dying gladiator, but as the sigh of the mother bringing forth her first-born. These things, said our Lord, must needs be; and they are the beginning of travail (Matthew 24: 8, R.V.). And amid all Jesus rides in triumph to his destined glory and the crown of all the earth.”

My friends know that I am a huge admirer of pastor and author Robert Morgan, even since stumbling upon his work 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart. He recently released a new book on meditating on Scripture entitled Reclaiming the Lost Art of Biblical Meditation: Finding Peace in Jesus.

Psalm 119:148 states “My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.”

Morgan adds,

“Meditation is not new, and it is not new age. God, not the gurus, devised it, and it’s based on the Bible, not on Buddha. Biblical meditation is an antidote to the unprecedented stress of our age. In a world where everyone is overwhelmed and undervalued, our survival, sanity, and saintliness depend on reclaiming the lost art of biblical meditation…Meditation is staying our minds on the Lord, loving Him with every thought, fearing Him, and delighting in His commands.”

He then adds a wonderful anecdote to accentuate his point.

When Harry Truman became president, he worried about losing touch with common, everyday Americans, so he would often go out and be among them. Those were in simpler days, when the president could take a walk like everyone else. One evening, Truman decided to take a walk down to the Memorial Bridge on the Potomac River. When he grew curious about the mechanism that raised and lowered the bridge, he made his way across the catwalks and came upon the bridge tender, who was eating his evening supper out of a tin bucket. The man showed absolutely no surprise when he looked up and saw the best-known and most powerful man in the world. He just swallowed his food, wiped his mouth, smiled, and said, “You know, Mr. President, I was just thinking of you.” According to Truman’s biographer, David McCullough, it was a greeting that Truman adored and never forgot.

 The Lord adores it when He finds us just thinking about Him. As we read God’s Word each day and deliberately think about it—focusing our minds on His person and claiming His promises—we’re built up, and we come to understand our world and ourselves more clearly.

This should be our personal aspiration: to be daily in the Word, meditating on it, claiming its promises, gleaning its wisdom, being sanctified and accordingly comprehending more clearly the world and ourselves.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church of Rome,

“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” (Romans 1:11-12)

One of the benefits afforded to short-term mission participants, who come to serve alongside our in-country partner churches, is the opportunity to both encourage and be encouraged by Dominican church members. One area that always seems to impact visitors is the hospitality of the Dominican people with their desire to welcome visitors into their home and quickly find a place for them to sit.

When visiting the home of a believer and experiencing such warmth, I try to make a point of affirming this practice, which was a hallmark of the early church.

-In fact, pursuing hospitality was so important to the early church that Paul made it a requirement for leadership:
Hebrews 13:2 – “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

-1 Timothy 3: 2 – “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.”

The often blunt and insightful Apostle Peter was being realistic when he wrote, “Offer hospitality to one another without complaint” (1 Pet 4:9).

It’s interesting to note that the degree to which the hospitality of the early church was transformational to society:

-Christian hospitality extended Jewish hospitality beyond those who shared one’s culture and social standing.
-Christian guests and hosts could be of different nationalities, languages, and social classes.
-Christian hospitality transformed Greco-Roman hospitality in its service to the needy rather than the rich.
-It was primarily the poor, widows, and traveling missionaries who received hospitality.

Distinctively Christian hospitality focused on those who would be unable to reciprocate – strangers who were in need.

The above descriptive terms of the early church should also be characteristic of churches today, throughout the world:

-“different”
-“beyond”
-“service”
-“focused”

The result will be the Gospel-centered and Gospel-serving churches being transformational agents within society.

Much of EA’s efforts are in the midst of brokenness, which can be traced back to the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3. When seeking to find personal as well as ministerial encouragement, the answer is always to look to the Word of God.
Recently, I ran across the following verse:

“When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” (Psalm 94:19)

19th century theologian Albert Barnes made the following comments regarding the passage:

“However much the psalmist might be disturbed by other thoughts, yet here he found rest and peace. In God – in his character, in his law, in his government – he had an unfailing source of consolation; and whatever trouble he might have from the cares of life, and from the evil imaginings in his own mind, yet here his soul found repose.”

It is also interesting to note that the term “consolations” is also used in Isaiah 66:11-13 to describe the comfort a nursing infant finds in its mother’s arms. What a powerful image of the comfort we should find in our Creator!

Robert Louis Stevenson tells the story of a storm that caught a vessel off a rocky coast and threatened to drive it and its passengers to destruction. In the midst of the terror, one daring man, contrary to orders, went to the deck, made a dangerous passage to the pilot house and saw the steerman, lashed fast at his post of holding the wheel unwaveringly, and inch by inch, turning the ship out, once more, to sea. The pilot saw the watcher and smiled. Then, the daring passenger went below and gave out a note of cheer: “I have seen the face of the pilot, and he smiled. All is well.”

We can find consolation that “All is well” when we remember our pilot, our heavenly Father, holds firmly the steering wheel of our life’s ship in His grasp. As a result, we can echo the lyrics of the hymn “It is well with my soul:”

“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.”

“They who have passed through honest doubt without making shipwreck of their faith attain to a confidence and assurance regarding the truth of Christianity which nothing can shake or weaken. Their faith before was a sapling which had never felt a breeze, whereas now it is an oak which has been nursed into strength amid furious storms. They will feel that it was worth all the disquiet they suffered to attain to the firm peace which they now enjoy.” – The Bible Illustrator