It Is Finished (book review)

It Is FinishedDavid Wilkerson was a gentle man (yes, I did intend for that to be two words). The best definition I’ve heard of gentleness is “strength under control,” and that certainly describes Rev. Wilkerson’s words in It Is Finished: Finding Lasting Victory Over Sin.

Pastor Wilkerson’s words carry all of the weight and authority of an Old Testament prophet crying out, “This is what God says!” But his message is delivered with the lovingkindness of a gentle shepherd. Rev. Wilkerson is hard on those things that keep Christians at a distance from God, but loving on those at-a-distance Christians.

It Is Finished is a series of eleven sermons delivered by Pastor Wilkerson just prior to his death. They deliver a powerful message of God’s redemptive love from a man who was constantly learning what that love really meant. He shares his own personal struggles with feeling accepted by God’s love, and then presents a hope-filled message for all of us to accept the Holy Spirit’s invitation to enter into greater intimacy with our loving Heavenly Father.

These sermons are easy to read and will lift your spirits to new heights in God. I recommend this book to all Christians, but especially to those who struggle with feeling accepted by God.

I am a Chosen Books book reviewer.

14 Quotes From “Smith Wigglesworth On Healing”

Wigglesworth HealingI hope these quotes from Smith Wigglesworth On Healing will excite you to read this book. If you’d like to read my book review, please click here.

“Never listen to human plans. God can work mightily when you persist in believing Him in spite of discouragement from the human standpoint. … I am moved by what I believe. I know this: no man looks at the circumstances if he believes.”  

“There are times when there seems to be a stone wall in front of us. There are times when there are no feelings. There are times when everything seems as black as midnight, and there is nothing left by confidence in God. What you must do is have the devotion and confidence to believe that He will not fail, and cannot fail. You will never get anywhere if you depend on your feelings. There is something a thousand times better than feelings, and it is the powerful Word of God. There is a divine revelation within you that came when you were born from above, and this is real faith. To be born into the new kingdom is to be born into a new faith.”

“You must be yielded to the Word of God. The Word will work out love in our hearts, and when practical love is in our hearts, there is no room to boast about ourselves. We see ourselves as nothing when we get lost in this divine love.”

“You can never pray ‘the prayer of faith’ (James 5:15) if you look at the person who is needing it; there is only one place to look, and that is to Jesus.”

“Hard things are always opportunities to gain more glory for the Lord as He manifests His power. Every trial is a blessing. … The hardest things are just lifting places into the grace of God.”

“The Master does not want us to reason things out, for carnal reasoning will always land us in a bog of unbelief. He wants us simply to obey.”

“You must come to see how wonderful you are in God and how helpless you are in yourself.”

“May God help us to see this truth. We cannot be ‘to the praise of His glory’ (Ephesians 1:12) until we are ready for trials and are able to triumph in them.”

“God is never tightfisted with any of His blessings.”

“Jesus was manifested in the flesh to destroy the power of the devil (1 John 3:8). What does that mean? It means this: He is God’s example to show us that what God did for and in Jesus, He can do for and in us.”

“The reason the world is not seeing Jesus is that Christian people are not filled with Jesus. They are satisfied with attending meetings weekly, reading the Bible occasionally, and praying sometimes. … It is an awful thing for me to see people who profess to be Christians lifeless, powerless, and in a place where their lives are so parallel to unbelievers’ lives that it is difficult to tell which place they are in, whether in the flesh or in the Spirit.”

“There is no such thing as the Lord’s not meeting your need. There are no ifs or mays; His promises are all shalls. ‘All things are possible to him who believes’ (Mark 9:23).”

“Faith is just the open door through which the Lord comes. Do not say, ‘I was saved by faith’ or ‘I was healed by faith.’ Faith does not save and heal. God saves and heals through that open door. You believe, and the power of Christ comes.” 

“I clearly see that we ought to have spiritual giants in the earth, mighty in understanding, amazing in activity, always having a wonderful testimony because of their faith-filled activity. I find instead that there are many people who perhaps have better discernment than the average believer, better knowledge of the Word the the average believer, but they have failed to put their discernment and knowledge into practice, so the gifts lie dormant.”

Serving On Sunday

A couple of years ago a fellow Cedar Springs pastor told me about his plan for Service Sunday. His idea was to shorten his church service, so that his church could go serve in the community. I loved the idea so much that I said, “We want in on that too!”

So this past Sunday was our second year being involved with a couple of other churches in serving our community. I led a group that sang some old hymns at the Metron nursing home, others provided full service gas station attention for local motorists, others washed the windows of businesses along Main Street, others planted flowers, and on and on.

I wrote an article in last week’s Cedar Springs Post encouraging everyone to find ways to serve in our community every day (my article “Make Everyday Special” can be read by clicking here). I pray that our churches in Cedar Springs are known for their involvement in our community year-round.

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These pictures courtesy of Josh Schram, Rich Tolar, and Lori Oxford Photography.

Run To The Pain

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible.

We have become a numbed culture: we try to soften every blow, water down each negative report, ask only surface questions in the hopes that no one will really tell us how much they’re hurting, and then medicate away every symptom. But these symptoms are screaming to be noticed!

Dr. Paul Brand the renown hand surgeon and missionary to leprosy patients in India, wrote:

     “Pain contributes daily to a normal person’s quality of life…. Every normal person limps occasionally. Sadly, leprosy patients do not limp. Their injured legs never get the rest needed for healing…. This inability to ‘hear’ pain can cause permanent damage because the body’s careful responses to danger will break down. … A body only possesses unity to the degree that it possesses pain…. We must develop a lower threshold of pain by listening, truly listening, to those who suffer. … The body protects poorly what it does not feel.” —Dr. Paul Brand & Philip Yancey, In His Image

The Gospels often talk of the compassion of Jesus. His compassion led Him to teach the confused, feed the hungry, and heal the sick. The phrase usually used in the NKJV is descriptive: Jesus was moved with compassion. In other words His feelings moved Him to action.

The Old English way of describing compassion was to say someone was “moved in his bowels.” This is because when someone else is suffering it should be like a kick in my gut too.

Jesus gravitated toward the hurting, but in one story He told, Jesus related something different about His Father’s compassion. It’s the story we now call the story of the prodigal son. In this story Jesus said His Father watched the horizons every day to see if His wayward child would return. When He saw this child coming into view, God saw his slumped shoulders, He could detect his heavy heart and worn-out body. Then Jesus says something amazing, “The Father was moved with compassion and He RAN TO HIS SON!

If our Heavenly Father runs TO another’s pain, what right do we have to ever run AWAY from it? 

If we are to be God-honoring in our interaction with others, we need to—as Dr. Brand says—lower our threshold of pain. We need to feel what others feel, to feel it like a kick in our own gut, and then move toward the pain with help and healing and restoration.

Christians—if we are truly Christ-like—should be known as the most compassionate people of anyone.

So we need to always be asking: What am I doing to let this compassion be seen in my life?

Check out all of the other messages in our series Live Together by clicking here.

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God & Government

Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. (Titus 3:1 NLT)

According to this verse I don’t see a conflict between the Church and the State. 

God calls us as Christians to arrange ourselves properly under the government hierarchy. Submission is not blind followership; submission is obeying all moral laws.

God also calls us to show proper respect to the governing officials, and to be ready to lend a hand to them when we can.

The Church is not in competition with the government. Both the governments of men and the Church are instituted by God. There is a proper role for both. There are some things that should be left to the government, and other things that should be left to the Church, and still other things that both should attend to together.

We need wisdom to know which institution should handle which item. In the meantime, may we Christians always be submissive, obedient, respect, and ready to help.

Check out some other thoughts about a biblical view of government here.

Bright Lights

One of the things Jesus said about Christians was that we are to be the light of the world. That means we need to be involved in our communities, visible to our neighbors, so the light of Jesus can shine out from us.

That’s just what we did last night for our third annual Light The Night event.

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I am so grateful to all of the folks at Calvary Assembly of God who donated candy and prizes, those who filled hundreds of bags with all that candy, and those who came out to greet our neighbors and run the games. Because of the rainy weather, we moved our event indoors, and so I am extremely thankful to Pastor Mary Ivanov who opened the United Methodist Church’s gym for us to use!

Whether it’s a public event like this or not, I pray you will always let your light shine for Jesus!

(Thank you Delbridge Langdon Jr. for supplying some of our pictures from last night.)

My Part

The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy—

…God our Savior, Who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).

And we all say, “Yes!!” Then I quickly ask, “So what’s my part in this?

The quick and easy answer springs to my mind, “I have to tell others about Jesus!” This is true—and it is needed—but this is NOT what Paul says here.

Did you notice the ellipsis (the …) at the beginning of the verse I quoted above? Here’s the part that comes before—

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, Who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (verses 1-4)

My part in all men coming to a knowledge of the truth is PRAYER. Specifically, prayer for those in authority over us. These prayers translate into an environment where we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

It’s in this peaceful environment that we are better able to be “a teacher of the true faith” (verse 7).

My part is not to add to the noise.

My part is not to argue my position.

My part is not to protest.

My part is to pray.

I hope you will join me in prayer not only for the upcoming election but all year round for those in authority so that all…may come to a knowledge of the truth.

Thursdays With Oswald—Not A Saint, But Many Saints

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible.

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Not A Saint, But Many Saints 

     The Book of God is insistent on this: we cannot develop a holy life alone, it would be a selfish life, without God in it and wrong. …

     Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone, you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts, He alters them. 

From Biblical Psychology 

I’ve got news for you: It’s not about you as an individual.

If you have asked God to forgive you of your sins because you believed that Jesus paid the price for your salvation on the Cross, you haven’t just been saved from death; you’ve also been saved to a fuller life. A key component of this fuller life is your interaction with other Christians.

Search through the New Testament and you will find that the word saint never appears in the singular form—it’s always plural: saintS.

I need other Christians to help form Christlike character in me, and other Christians need me to do the same for them. Don’t ever buy into the lie that you can be a Christian and live an isolated life.

You are a part of the Body of Christ. Don’t rob the Body of your vital role! Together we saintS are so much stronger and more effective than a solitary, isolated saint.

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Full

These are my unedited notes in my personal journal after reading…

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:2-6)

Wisdom = sophia → heavenly wisdom that is earthly practical. I use this wisdom to “let my conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that I may know how to answer everyone” (v. 6).

Every opportunity … always full of grace … answer everyone

How do I stay “salty” and graceful?

Grace-full comes from being prayer-full, watch-full, and thank-full (v. 2). And these come from being devoted to those things. I am not grace-full by accident; it is the fruit of prayer-fullness, watch-fullness, and thank-fullness. I don’t accidentally pray, watch, and give thanks; those come because I am devoted to them.

Or rather, devoted to the One who is eternally grace-filled. The One who is supremely worthy to be worshiped, and adored, and served, and glorified. I worship Him and glorify Him best when I tell others about Him. After all, I don’t glorify and promote anything in which I’m only casually interested. My devotion to God spills out in my devotion to prayer, watching, and thanking. And this develops the fruit of grace-fullness, which draws others to God.

O Lord, may I be utterly FULL of You!

THAT Kind Of Church

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible.

The book of James is written to a bunch of Christians. James knew his audience was the Church (see James 1:1).

Keep that firmly in mind when you read these words from James 3:2—

We all stumble in many ways. (New International Version)

For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things. (Amplified Bible)

Indeed, we all make many mistakes. (New Living Translation)

I hate to break the news to you, but that means:

  • Your pastor’s not perfect
  • Your church isn’t perfect
  • You’re not perfect

You attend a church with people who stumble, and offend, and mess it up. Your pastor stumbles, and offends, and messes up. And so do you!

Isn’t that wonderful?! We all make mistakes! So we all need to give and receive the same forgiveness. We all need to extend grace to others and receive grace from others. You need to help others back up when they stumble, and you need to admit when you’ve stumbled, and let others help you get back up.

Abraham Kuyper wrote—

“Sin is a destroyer that creeps in everywhere. Therefore we must expect an imperfect church. In fact, we church members carry the sin of the world with us into the church, too often hiding it under a veil of spirituality. If the church were not the Bride of His Son, surely God would in holy wrath destroy not first of all the church, but rather first of all the wretched sin-ridden church.”

To these beautifully imperfect Christians, James concludes his teaching with these words:

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. … My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (James 5:16, 19-20)

Yeah, let’s be THAT kind of church!!

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