Lovin' Tellin' The Story

Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised... Acts 1:4a. If I had to guess I would say that most of us who are steeped in good ol' western culture have a desire to see things happen immediately to some degree. I mean look at the commercials for wireless services, it is always about having the fastest data plan so that you can have what you want, when you want it. How many of us would come apart at the seams if we were forced to deal with dial-up internet? I'll be honest, I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to instant gratification. Patience is simply not one of those qualities that I want to practice very often. We run the very serious risk of apply this same "Iwantitnowitis" to revival and spiritual awakening. I know that for the past few weeks I've been absolutely pumped about the launch of OneCry and the response that it has had throughout the nation. As of now there are ov...

Here is a worship song that is becoming more and more widely known. The really beautiful thing is that like, "The Heart of Worship" it puts all of the focus on Christ. It is in that aspect that this is a great song of revival. David Bryant, one of the leaders of the National Revival Network, defines authentic revival as a "Christ awakening." Real revival is not about being in awe of great preachers or great worship leaders. Heck, revival isn't even about being in awe of the work of God. It is about being in awe of God in all of His glory, majesty and power. Let us stand in awe of Him today! Lyrics You stood before creation Eternity within Your hand You spoke the earth into motion My soul now to stand You stood before my failure Carried the Cross for my shame My sin weighed upon Your shoulders My soul now to stand So what can I say What can I do But offer this heart O God Completely to You So I'll walk upon salvation Your Spirit ali...

Today marks the official launch of OneCry . In light of that I am going to take a slightly different approach to this blog. There are at least two reasons for this shift. 1. I am now a full-time pastor and the responsibilities of that role limit my time to write. 2. I believe in OneCry and revival so deeply that I want to devote the bulk of this blog to that topic. With all of that in mind let me share a little bit about what I envision the direction of Lovin' Tellin' The Story will be in the future. Obviously, there will be a strong focus on revival and revival topics. You may notice that some of the more recent posts were titled "Songs of revival." Well, I fully intend to keep these kinds of posts coming because they are less time consuming and music and worship are definite elements of revival. Secondly, I want to focus more on specific revival truths like repentance, brokenness, or humility. I may also sprinkle in some stories of revival from past and prese...

Photo courtesy of rotten969 And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. Luke 1:38 There is no doubt in my mind that there is much to learn from the story of Mary being told that she will conceive a child who will be the long awaited Messiah. However, one of the most profound things I see in this passage in Luke 1 is the characteristic that Mary displays in the statement you see above. That characteristic is submission. If we look at the passage as a whole we see that Mary gives us a miniature snapshot of the entire Christian life. In verse 28 we see that she has experienced the grace of God. One of my favorite definitions of grace is, "unmerited favor." That is, we get something we don't deserve. There is no earthly reason why God would choose Mary to be the mother of the Messiah and yet He did. Mary experienced God's grace. Further along we see that Mary believed t...

How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years. Luke 1:18 Have you ever been just plain confounded, or shocked at the way God chooses to answer your prayers? Make no mistake about it, God hears and answers our prayers. My question is, how do we respond to His answers? In the first chapter of Luke's Gospel he gives us something that none of the other gospel writers do, an introduction to John the Baptist's parents, Zacharias (Zachariah) and Elizabeth. He does this in the context of telling of the miraculous circumstances surrounding the birth of the forerunner of Christ. We are told that Zacharias and Elizabeth are a godly and righteous couple who, despite their close walk with the Lord, have not been blessed with children. The feeling that we get from the chapter is that this lack of children had been a matter of fervent prayer for these two for who knows how long. In the end, however, Zacharias is performing his priestly duties in t...

Photo courtesy of Czarephani I was contemplating the idea of change today when the Lord gave me a beautiful metaphor that I think is worth sharing. You see change is one of those things that, even though it is inevitable, we often resist it. Sometimes it is good to resist change because it is for the worse but the opposite is also true and if change is for the better and brings us closer to the will of God we need to do it whether we like it or not. Change though, however necessary, can break people and organizations if not done with care. This is where the metaphor comes into play. My grandmother on my mother's side of the family, Mimi to be exact, used to weave baskets. She made big baskets, small baskets, round baskets and square baskets. There were all kinds and made out of all shapes and sizes of wood slats. One day I was with Mimi and Pop-pop down at the lake house and she was going to teach me how to make a basket. Well, the first thing that we had to do was take all t...

It always amazes me how much the prophets of the Old Testament have to say to us in American today. Honestly this should be no surprise because we know that the Word of God is "living and active" and even though it was written thousands of years ago it is just a applicable today as it ever was. This morning part of my Bible reading was Ezekiel 27 and 28 which is a lament over Tyre and a prophecy about the overthrow of the king of Tyre. The words of God through Ezekiel are haunting, especially when you look at them in light of where we are in the United States in 2011. Chapter 27 is a lengthy description of how prosperous and great the city of Tyre was in its heyday. It was a powerful merchant city that had influence and connections all across the Mediterranean and Middle East. Their merchant ships carried all kinds of riches and good across the trade routes and it seemed as if none could touch them. However, we see in verse 27 and following that none of that will stand wh...