What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
All the great religious leaders of history have one thing in common: they are dead. Only one man has risen from a grave never again to taste death. Jesus Christ died, was buried, remained in the grave for 3 days, then was raised to life again.
Jesus is unique. He is the only one proven to be the Son of God because God validated His Kingship and accepted His payment for our sins all with one incredible stroke: He raised Jesus from the dead!
Paul opens his letter to the Romans with this evidence about who Jesus is:
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which He had promised before by His prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Romans 1:1-4
Because Jesus Christ is very much alive, five things are true right now that wouldn’t be true if He were just another dead religious leader like Confucius, Mohammed or Buddha.
Because Jesus was raised from the dead and is alive…Prayers are answered, We can talk to Jesus 24/7
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God created you. Not only that, he loves you so much that he wants you to know him now and spend eternity with him. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
Jesus came so that each of us could know and understand God in a personal way. Jesus alone can bring meaning and purpose to life.
What keeps us from knowing God? …
All of us sin, and our sin has separated us from God.
We sense that separation, that distance from God because of our sin. The Bible tells us that “All of us like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way.”
Deep down, our attitude may be one of active rebellion or passive indifference toward God and his ways, but it’s all evidence of what the Bible calls sin.
The result of sin in our lives is death -- spiritual separation from God.3 Although we may try to get close to God through our own effort, we inevitably fail.
Find God - know God - God help There is a distance, a gap between us and God. The arrows show our efforts to reach God...doing good for others, religious rituals, trying to be a good person, etc. But the problem is that none of these good efforts actually cover up our sin or remove it.
Our sin is known by God and stands as a barrier between us and God. Further, the Bible says that the penalty for sin is death. We would be eternally separated from God.
Except…for what God did for us.
So, how can we have a relationship with God? …
Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sin for us. He now offers us complete forgiveness and a close relationship with him.
Jesus Christ took all of our sins, suffered and paid for them with his life on the cross. Jesus died for us, in our place. He did this out of his tremendous love for us.
“…he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”4 Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, our sin doesn’t have to separate us from God any longer.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.”
Find God - know God - Jesus not only died for our sin, but after this death on the cross, he physically came back to life three days later, just as he said he would.
This was final proof that everything Jesus said about himself was true. To know him was to know God; to love him was to love God. “I and the Father are one.”
Jesus said he could answer prayer, forgive sin, judge the world, give us eternal life. His countless miracles supported his words.
Jesus was clear, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one can come to the Father except through me.”
Instead of trying to reach God, he tells us how we can begin a relationship with him right now. Jesus says, “Come to me.” “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink...out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
It was Jesus’ love for us that caused him to endure the cross. And he now invites us to come to him, that we might begin a personal relationship with God.
Just knowing what Jesus has done for us and what he is offering us is not enough. To have a relationship with God, we need to welcome him into our life…
Bible, Biblical Counseling, Suffering, Theology
If you have been a Christian for longer than a month, then I’m sure you have heard someone say, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” I’ve heard pastors, biblical counselors, and many other Christians make this comment. However, we need to think critically about this statement though based on what the Bible says: Is it really true to Scripture?
I want to make a case that this statement is untrue and unhelpful. Many godly, mature, and more knowledgeable Christians may disagree with me. If you are one of them, I still hope you read this and engage in the conversation so we can charitably help one another deepen our thinking on this topic. My goal is not to make anyone feel condemned or attacked, but rather to help us all sharpen our thinking, so we can be more precise and helpful as we minister to individuals who are suffering.
Why do I believe the statement “God won’t give you more than you can handle” is untrue and unhelpful? Here are two reasons: (1) The Bible does not teach this. (2) The Bible teaches the opposite truth (at times God does give us more than we can handle). In addition, I think we can give more precise and helpful encouragement to individuals who are suffering.
Reason 1: The Bible does not teach that “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”
Many believers claim that 1 Corinthians 10:13 teaches, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” This verse states, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Many people teaching that “God won’t give you more than you can handle” explain that the word “temptation,” or peirasmos in Greek, can refer to a temptation to a sin, a trial, or any type of suffering. They are right. In fact, the Greek word used here for “temptation” can be used to speak of both suffering and sin. If you look in a Greek lexicon, it will show “testing” or “trial” as a possible way this word can be translated. Why, then, is it wrong to claim that this verse is addressing testing, trials, and suffering?
Any good book on hermeneutics will tell you every word has a range of potential meanings. The specific meaning an author intends to communicate when using a word is determined by context. A specific example of this concept is that the phrase “beat it” can be used as a command to tell someone “get off my porch,” or it can refer to one of the greatest Michael Jackson songs on the radio. You know which meaning I, the author, intend based on the context of the statement in which I use the phrase. It is here that we come to an important interpretive rule. I can intend to communicate the first or second meaning, but not both at the same time. This rule should be applied to 1 Corinthians 13 as well: Can “temptation” be referring to temptation to sin and to testing/suffering at the same time? There is one way it might–if I am intending to communicate with a pun. However, I do not know of anyone who claims that Paul is attempting to make a pun in this passage. In the context of this passage, we cannot claim Paul meant to reference both temptation to sin and trials/suffering simultaneously through this single use of the Greek word peirasmos. In fact, if we attempt to interpret this verse as though Paul has intended both meanings simultaneously, we commit what New Testament scholar D.A. Carson calls an exegetical fallacy. In his book entitled Exegetical Fallacies, Carson calls this specific type of exegetical fallacy “illegitimate totality transfer.” This is the fallacy of reading every possible meaning of a word into a single use of a word. Carson writes about this interpretive error under fallacy 13, “unwarranted adoption of an expanded semantic field” in the word-study fallacies section of the book.
“Our ability to interpret God’s actions towards us as good is inevitably tied to our contentment and joy.”
Like Chloe, our dissatisfaction with life will inevitably lead us into a cycle of discontentment, sin, guilt, and depression if left unchecked. Discontentment will eventually lead to sin, sin to guilt, guilt to depression, and depression back to discontentment. This cycle slowly destroys everything we encounter and touch, leaving us joyless and empty. In order to break this deadly cycle, the pursuit of joy is essential. James 1:2–4 complements the words of Burroughs:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
If we joyfully interpret everything that happens — sickness, death, loss, poverty — as actions of mercy rather than judgement, it will transform the way we live as Christians. We must look to God’s inerrant word to find comfort that he indeed loves us and does good toward us. Scripture says,
God is the one who helps; therefore, we have nothing to fear. (Isaiah 41:13)
God’s love is displayed and proven when he sent his Son to die for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Nothing can separate us from God’s love — absolutely nothing. (Romans 8:35–39)
God loves us with an everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3)
Jesus loves us with the same love that the Father loves him. (John 15:9)
Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, was a man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3). He was despised and rejected by men, suffered and died for crimes he was innocent of, and soaked up the wrath of God for sins he never committed. God ordained all this. Why? Because God loves us (John 3:16). And since he loves us, we should expect to suffer in this life just as Christ suffered, because “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5).
But thank God that, even “as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Corinthians 1:5). Our ability to interpret God’s actions towards us as good is inevitably tied to our contentment and joy. If we’re unable to see his providence as good, we will never be content, and without contentment, we will never fully know the joy he has for us.
Phillip Holmes (@PhillipMHolmes) served as a content strategist at desiringGod.org. He is the Director of Communications at Reformed Theological Seminary and a finance coach and blogger through his site Money Untangled?. He and his wife, Jasmine, have a son, and they are members of Redeemer Church in Jackson, Mississippi.
Many of the most ardent skeptics insist that God is a figment of man’s imagination. They believe only weak-willed people believe in a higher being who listens to their prayers and acts on their behalf. Therefore, they use the origins of God as an argument against Christianity. They ask questions such as, “Doesn’t everything have to be created in order to exist? How can God exist if He wasn’t created?”
These doubts, along with many others, prevent skeptics and atheists from accepting an eternal God who always was, always is, and always will be. Their theory is, if God can’t rationally be explained, He mustn’t exist.
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What The Bible Says;
In Psalm 90:2, the Bible says, “Before the mountains were born, or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
The truth about God’s origins is that He’s existed for all eternity. No one created Him, nor did He spontaneously appear on the scene. To be sure, this thought is far beyond our scope of understanding. However, the Bible explains in Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”
Even though God’s paths are beyond our comprehension, we shouldn’t view this as a discouragement, but instead, be comforted in knowing our eternal God “is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) Not only has the Lord always existed, but we can also depend on Him who knows us, loves us, and wants to spend eternity with us.
Perhaps God’s infinite presence is best explained in the words of Pastor Charles Swindoll when he says, “He is Yahweh, the eternal I AM, the sovereign Lord of the universe. He cannot do what is unjust; it is against His nature. He has never lost control. He is always faithful. Changeless. All-powerful. All-knowing. Good. Compassionate. Gracious. Wise. Loving. Sovereign. Reliable.”
As you ponder the concept of God’s origins and ask yourself the age-old question, “Where does God come from?”, consider reflecting on His eternal qualities - qualities that assure each of us of His unfailing love that’s always existed and will continue to exist for all eternity.
What would happen if you embraced the possibility that the God of the Bible really did create the world and really does care for you?.................................
JANUARY 27, 2023
For the love of Christ compels us.
2 Corinthians 5:14
Recommended Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:12-15
When someone asked missionary David Livingstone why he had forsaken a life of ease to explore Africa and share the Gospel, he replied, “The love of Christ compels me.” In the museum dedicated to him in his hometown of Blantyre, Scotland, visitors can still see those words emblazed by his name.
God so loved the world that He sent Jesus. And Jesus so loved the world that He sends us. He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). We often grow weary of preparing to teach the church preschool class or teach the small group that meets every Wednesday night. Perhaps we wonder if our financial support for missions does any good.
Why don’t we stop? One reason! The same love that compelled Christ to leave heaven and propelled Him to earth also compels and propels us. Because of God’s love for us, we are able to love others. By loving others as God loves us, we can point them to Christ and God’s marvelous gift of salvation.
Ask God for a fresh dose of His compelling love!
God had an only Son, and He was a missionary and physician. A poor, poor imitation of Him I am, or wish to be.
David Livingstone
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Read-Thru-the-Bible: Exodus 38 – 40
What then shall we say in response ... -
If God be for us, who can be against us?
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
Dear Friends, these are powerful scriptures, for us to claim when needed
That is a very passionate singer, thank you.
I am working with a Chromebook and it won't let me bring songs here, trust me we tried.
I see there are more videos from Bella, the one I have seen is where she talks a lot more to the 7 people from the 7 countries........
She just switches from one language to another with such ease.
I wonder where this little darling is today.............
The emblem of suff'ring and shame;
And I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.
Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He'll call me someday to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I'll share.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: George Bennard
A growing number of people, millions worldwide, say they believe that life definitively ends at death – that there is no God, no afterlife and no divine plan. And it’s an outlook that could be gaining momentum – despite its lack of cheer. In some countries, openly acknowledged atheism has never been more popular.
“There’s absolutely more atheists around today than ever before, both in sheer numbers and as a percentage of humanity,” says Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and author of Living the Secular Life. According to a Gallup International survey of more than 50,000 people in 57 countries, the number of individuals claiming to be religious fell from 77% to 68% between 2005 and 2011, while those who self-identified as atheist rose by 3% – bringing the world’s estimated proportion of adamant non-believers to 13%.
While atheists certainly are not the majority, could it be that these figures are a harbinger of things to come? Assuming global trends continue, might religion someday disappear entirely
It’s impossible to predict the future, but examining what we know about religion – including why it evolved in the first place, and why some people chose to believe in it and others abandon it – can hint at how our relationship with the divine might play out in decades or centuries to come.
There are several reasons people might suffer that have nothing to do with discipline.
1. Show God’s Glory
In John 9, Jesus and his disciples encounter a man who has been blind from birth. The disciples ask Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” (John 9:2)
“‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him’” (John 9:3).
The disciples were operating under a common assumption of the time that any suffering one experienced was the result of sin that had not been confessed and atoned for. Jesus gave an alternate reason: a person might suffer so that God would be glorified. A person might suffer for a time so that they might experience an even greater good in the future.
2. Improve Us and Bring Us Closer to God
When times are good, it’s easy to forget about our need for God, even though He is the one sustaining the very world we live in. It’s easy to become complacent in our relationship with Him.
Thus, Paul writes, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).
Suffering helps us to lean on God and improves our character. Thus, sometimes suffering is for this reason rather than as the result of any poor choices.
3. A Result of Following Christ
In John 15:18, Jesus says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” Christians face discrimination, persecution, and even death for their faith. In this case, the bad things that happen are because the Christian is doing something right. Jesus warned that a sinful world would hate those who were “not of the world” (John 17:16).
Paul encourages us to rejoice in these sufferings (as noted above in Romans 5:3-4).
4. The Natural Result of a Fallen World;
my favorite song...
What a day that will be,
When my Jesus I shall see,
And I look upon His face,
The One who saved me by His grace;
When He takes me by the hand,
And leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day that will be.
There'll be no sorrow there,
No more burdens to bear,
No more sickness, no more pain,
No more parting over there;
But forever I will be,
With the One who died for me,
What a day, glorious day that will be.
He will meet you where ever you are, nothing shocks him, he knows you, he knows everything you have ever done and yet he loves you. Before you took your first breath he knew you, you were his before you were this worlds.
He will meet you where ever you are, nothing shocks him, he knows you, he knows everything you have ever done and yet he loves you. Before you took your first breath he knew you, you were his before you were this worlds.
As you said hplady, Jesus tried to keep it simple, so all would understand.
I believe that there were people in those days who could neither read nor write........
I remember that when that moment came for me in May of 1975, I was able
to do something that I was unable to do before.
I was freed from something that had been bothering me for some time.
I have never been sorry that I accepted the love and salvation that Jesus offered.....
The modern society of 80 is the new 18 really doesn't work. Is it set in its ways or is it reinventing itself every 5 minutes like a young David Bowie? An unhappy combination of both and there's a culture war made out of 80 is the new 18, the hasbeen bang-on trend.
Remember, God is merciful, and if you maintain hope and a desire to know the truth, He will reward you with the answers you seek or at least with the peace and reassurance you need in order to continue in faith (see Matthew 7:7; 2 Nephi 32:3; Alma 32:21–22; Moroni 10:5; D&C 6:36).
by Mike Oard
Many ask: “If Noah’s Flood really covered the whole earth, then where did the water go?”
This question has a simple answer, and once we understand what happened and how, we can see the reality of the biblical Flood all around the world.
As the ocean basins sank, thousands of metres of sediment washed off the continents, forming the continental margin.The floodwater is in the oceans.
Actually, the Bible tells us where the water went. By Day 150 of the Flood catastrophe, the floodwaters had risen until they covered “all the high mountains under the whole heaven” (Genesis 7:19). After that “the waters receded from the earth continually” (Genesis 8:3), a process that took about seven months.
As the water receded from the continents, it must have flowed into the oceans. It only takes a quick look at a globe of the earth to appreciate that the water indeed sits in the oceans. The Pacific Ocean alone takes up almost half the earth’s surface .
Figure 1. This view of the globe shows how the waters of Noah’s Flood receded into the oceans. The Pacific Ocean covers virtually the whole hemisphere.
Logically, the only way for the water to drain from the continents into the oceans is for the continents to rise and the ocean floors to sink. As our knowledge of the structure of the earth has grown we can appreciate how that could have happened.
The top part of the earth, called the crust, sits on top of the mantle (about 3,000 km (1,900 miles) thick), which in turn sits on the earth’s iron core. The continental crust is about 40 km (25 miles) thick, while the thickness of the oceanic crust is only around 7 km (5 miles). Up-and-down movement of the crust during Noah’s Flood, called differential vertical tectonics, explains how the waters drained from the continents. On a smaller scale, mountain ranges would have risen and valleys sunk.
As the continental crust rose and the ocean floors sank, the floodwater covering the globe drained off, causing massive erosion of the continents. By the time the floodwaters had fully receded, the surface had been transformed into its present shape. After that, Noah and all those with him left the Ark, 371 days after the Flood had begun (Genesis 8:18–19).
As the ocean basins began to sink, the water flowed across the continents in wide sheets, shaving the surface flat. Geologists call such features ‘planation surfaces’. The runoff eroded the uplifting mountains, transporting the rock debris across the continent, and rounding any hard, resistant rocks into boulders and gravel. Large deposits of well-rounded quartzite rocks are found at numerous places in the northwest United States and adjacent Canada.
.
Schematic of a guyot, a volcano likely truncated at sea level producing a flat top (drawn by Jes Spykerman). There are thousands of guyots on the ocean bottom, especially in the western Pacific, indicating that the ocean basins have sunk.
Toward the end of the Flood, mountain ranges began to emerge above the water and the runoff became more channelized. These flowed across mountain ranges, ridges, and plateaus, eroding gorges from one side of the barrier to the other, a feature called a water gap, through which a river or stream now passes.
Is there evidence for up-and-down movements?
Indeed, there is abundant evidence for differential vertical tectonics of mountains and valleys, and continents and oceans. This is revealed through the study of geomorphology, i.e. the shape of the earth’s surface. Mountains show evidence of upward movement along faults,
Larnelle Harris, Sandi Patty - I've Just Seen Jesus
LYRICS:
We knew he was dead
It is finished, he said
We had watched as his life ebbed away
Then we all stood around
Till the guards took him down
Joseph begged for his body that day
It was late afternoon
When we got to the tomb
Wrapped his body and sealed up the grave
So I know how you feel
His death was so real
But please listen and hear what I say
I've just seen Jesus
I tell you he's alive
I've just seen Jesus
Our precious Lord alive
And I knew, he really saw me too
As if till now, I'd never lived
All that I'd done before
Won't matter anymore
I've just seen Jesus
And I'll never be the same again
It was his voice she first heard
Those kind gentle words
Asking what was her reason for tears
And I sobbed in despair
My Lord is not there
He said, child! it is I, I am here!
I've just seen Jesus
I tell you he's alive
I've just seen Jesus
Our precious lord alive
And I knew, he really saw me too
As if till now, I'd never lived
All that I'd done before
Won't matter anymore
I've just seen Jesus
I've just seen Jesus
I've just seen Jesus
All that I'd done before
Won't matter anymore
I've just seen Jesus
And I'll never be the same again
I've just seen Jesus!
#Gaither #IveJustSeenJesus #Vevo #LarnelleHarris #SandiPatty
Larnelle Harris, Sandi Patty - I've Just Seen Jesus
LYRICS:
We knew he was dead
It is finished, he said
We had watched as his life ebbed away
Then we all stood around
Till the guards took him down
Joseph begged for his body that day
It was late afternoon
When we got to the tomb
Wrapped his body and sealed up the grave
So I know how you feel
His death was so real
But please listen and hear what I say
I've just seen Jesus
I tell you he's alive
I've just seen Jesus
Our precious Lord alive
And I knew, he really saw me too
As if till now, I'd never lived
All that I'd done before
Won't matter anymore
I've just seen Jesus
And I'll never be the same again
It was his voice she first heard
Those kind gentle words
Asking what was her reason for tears
And I sobbed in despair
My Lord is not there
He said, child! it is I, I am here!
I've just seen Jesus
I tell you he's alive
I've just seen Jesus
Our precious lord alive
And I knew, he really saw me too
As if till now, I'd never lived
All that I'd done before
Won't matter anymore
I've just seen Jesus
I've just seen Jesus
I've just seen Jesus
All that I'd done before
Won't matter anymore
I've just seen Jesus
And I'll never be the same again
I've just seen Jesus!
#Gaither #IveJustSeenJesus #Vevo #LarnelleHarris #SandiPatty
Students have packed the chapel and overflow spaces at Asbury University for nearly a week, holding round-the-clock prayer and worship.
People attend a revival in Hughes Memorial Auditorium on the campus of Asbury University in
People attend a revival in Hughes Memorial Auditorium on the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. February 14, 2023
By Bob Smietana
(RNS) — Last Wednesday (Feb. 8), students at Asbury University gathered for their biweekly chapel service in the 1,500-seat Hughes Auditorium.
They sang. They listened to a sermon. They prayed.
Nearly a week later, many of them are still there.
“This has been an extraordinary time for us,” Asbury President Kevin Brown said during a gathering on Monday, more than 120 hours into what participants have referred to as a spiritual revival.
The revival has disrupted life and brought national attention to Asbury, an evangelical Christian school in Wilmore, Kentucky, about a half-hour outside of Lexington. Videos of students singing, weeping and praying have been posted on social media, leading to both criticism and praise from onlookers. News of the revival has also drawn students and other visitors to the campus to take part in the ongoing prayer and worship.
“We’ve been here in Hughes Auditorium for over a hundred hours — praying, crying, worshipping and uniting — because of Love,” wrote Alexandra Presta, editor of The Asbury Collegian, the school’s student newspaper, who has been chronicling the services on campus. “We’ve even expanded into Estes Chapel across the street at Asbury Theological Seminary and beyond. I can proclaim that Love boldly because God is Love.”
The ongoing meetings in the chapel — which have none of the flashing lights, fog machines or other trappings that accompany many modern worship services — have also brought back memories of a similar revival in the 1970s, which is recounted in a video produced by the university. The gatherings also come at a time when many young Americans have lost faith in organized religion — with a recent study finding that 43% of adults under 30 say they never attend service.
Officials at Asbury did not respond to requests for comment.
Michael McKenzie, associate professor of religion and philosophy at Keuka College in upstate New York, said revivals have long been a staple in the Methodist tradition that Asbury belongs to. The school is named for Francis Asbury, a circuit-riding preacher who helped Methodism grow from modest beginnings to the largest Christian group in America during the 1800s.
RELATED: South Carolina’s largest UMC church set to leave denomination
The denomination often grew through revivals, large group meetings that stressed a personal experience of God and a return to the basics of Christianity. One of the most famous revivals in American history took place in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, about an hour northwest of Asbury, where thousands gathered in 1801.
Methodists in America have fallen on hard times in recent decades, with the largest denomination in the tradition — the United Methodist Church — declining precipitously in membership and facing a schism over LGBTQ inclusion.
McKenzie, who has studied early Methodist revivals, said that revivals often happened when people felt things had gone wrong and were trying to recapture something that had been lost.
Online accounts of the meetings at Asbury, he said, seem to “fit all the historical signposts of previous revivals.”
“I think a lot of people sense that America and American Christianity have lost its way,” he said. “And they seem to me that they are looking to get back to Jesus in a profound experiential way.”
Like revivals in the past, said McKenzie, the one at Asbury seems to have happened spontaneously. They often bypass leaders and start from the grassroots. That makes them harder to predict or control. They can also be a way of separating spiritual experience from the baggage of organized religion, said McKenzie.
Many of the nation’s colleges were founded by church groups that hoped revivals would be a regular experience in the lives of students, said Andrea Turpin, associate professor of history at Baylor University. For some students, she said, the revivals were a place to experience religious conversion, while others may have experienced a deepening of their faith at such revivals.
“You would cancel classes, you’d have prayer meetings and it would sweep through the school about once a year,” said Turpin, who studies religion and higher education.
An 1806 revival at Williams College in Massachusetts, known as the “Haystack Prayer Meeting,” helped launched the modern international missions movement in the United States. At Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, founded in the 1800s as a seminary for women, many of the school’s early students went on to work in Christian service, often prompted by revivals, said Turpin.
For the Rev. Matt Erickson, pastor of Eastbrook Church in Milwaukee, a five-day campus revival at Wheaton College in the mid-1990s was a life-changing event. Erickson had come to the school in hopes of preparing for the ministry, but that calling had faded during his studies.
He recalled that during a campus missions conference, students began coming forward to ask for prayer and for spiritual renewal. That led first to an all-night prayer service and then to a series of evening meetings that ran late into the night. The last evening of the revival was a commissioning service for people who wanted to go into the ministry. Erickson said that experience led many of his friends into the pastorate or other Christian work.
“There was a sense of the presence of God,” he said, adding that it went beyond simply an emotional experience. He said he hopes what’s happening at Asbury can lead students there into lives of service to God and others.
Erickson said he’s been a bit dismayed at some of the social media criticism of the revival —saying it will take time to see if the gatherings lead to real change in people’s lives.
Author and activist Shane Claiborne is also optimistic. He has been following the revivals and talking to students from afar and said a revival can lead to action. Claiborne, who has friends on the Asbury campus, pointed to the revivals of Charles Finney in the 1800s. Many of the people who responded to Finnney’s altar calls for salvation also joined the abolitionist movement.
“I believe in social transformation,” he said. “I also believe in personal and spiritual transformation.”
Howard Snyder, a retired professor of the history and theology of mission at nearby Asbury Theological Seminary, which is separate from the university, said revivals can provide hope in difficult times. They become real if they lead to people living out the values of Jesus’ teaching.
“Authentic revivals return the church to what it is supposed to be,” he said in an email. “The people of God faithfully following Jesus.”
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Christ is Preached;
Paul acknowledges two groups who were preaching the gospel message. Both groups were preaching in a public forum, and both groups were preaching the truth, but still the groups were quite different. The first group was preaching out of envy and rivalry. Their mental attitude was one of jealousy toward Paul. They wanted some of the attention that Paul was receiving, and they were willing to promote strife, discord, and contention in order to show their opposition to and competition with Paul. They were probably true Christians, and they may have even had the proper attitude when they began their ministries, but they had fallen into reversionism (backsliding). Although they preached the gospel openly, and publicly proclaimed its truth, they were at the same time contentious and self-seeking, thus providing a selfish and ambitious rivalry for Paul. Their motives were no longer sincere or pure. Instead, their impure motives proved to be a source of trouble and pressure for Paul.
There is a valuable lesson here to be learned by church leaders of our day. It is all too easy for a sincere preacher to begin a ministry with pure motives, and then be tempted to compromise his position in favor of political tactics that will grow his church just so that he can keep up with all the other churches in terms of growth of attendance and budgets.
However, there was a second group that was not only preaching the true gospel, but they were doing it with an attitude of goodwill. They maintained a good frame of mind. Their motive was one of love, and they hoped to promote the gospel through a partnership with Paul, rather than as his competition. They respected Paul's authority, and were glad to be a source of help to him.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again, your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.
Yes, Paul is determined to rejoice despite the false motives of others who are preaching the gospel. He is not justifying false motives or the teaching of lies, but he is glad that the work is being done. He is not preoccupied with checking the motives of every preacher. He is content to leave that between the preacher and God! Paul's happiness is not dependent upon the motives of others, or whether they like him. He is interested in truth--not motives. He will leave the motives with the Lord. Besides, we cannot be sure of the motives of others anyway, so why waste time judging them? We can't do anything about it anyway!
Paul knows that through the prayers of the Philippians, things will work out anyway.
Paul eagerly expects that he will have the courage to speak out for Christ, and that his honesty and truth will result in his deliverance. He will soon stand on trial before Nero where he will defend his position in Christ and hope for his release from prison. He is confident that through this ordeal, Christ will continue to be exalted or magnified through the work of the Holy Spirit in his own body, meaning his own humanity in soul and spirit. He is sure that Christ will be exalted, but he is less worried about whether he himself will live or die.
Paul explains that to live is Christ. He means that for him, life itself means triumph over sin through the blood of Christ on the cross. Then he says that to die is gain. Paul knows that when he dies, he will profit from the previous circumstances of his life. He will take his spiritual maturity to heaven with him, which he built up in this life on earth! Heaven will be even that much better then.
If Paul lives through this ordeal, he will go on to more fruitful labor. He will continue in service to God, and he will reap divinely good works through his efforts. Yet he is unsure what he will choose . He is in a dilemma as to what he would rather have happened to himself--life or death. His desire or constant longing is to be with Christ. Afterall, that is his hope, and ours. That's what we're waiting for, and the sooner it comes, the better. However, God will determine when our time here is ended. Paul says that God has decided that he needs to stay alive a while longer in order to minister to churches such as the church at Philippi. God still wants to use him to strengthen their spiritual maturity and increase their joy in Christ Jesus.
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved--and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
Whether Paul lives or dies, the Philippians are to conduct themselves properly. They are to continue to carry out their responsibilities to Christ in the same way as a citizen or politician would carry out the responsibilities of a public office. The Philippians are to remain true to Christ's gospel of grace in all things. They are to know and learn Bible doctrine so that they will know what they are to do as Christians.
If they keep their conduct pure, this will serve as evidence to Paul that they are standing firm in a constant and stable spirit of unity. Their faith in the gospel will yield the full body of truth in them.
It is important that the Philippians are not scared by their opponents, which are spiritual adversaries--demons. Paul has encouraged them to be full of knowledge and training in the Bible so that they won't be frightened by the spiritual warfare. These demons work through humans and can be frightening unless one is prepared to deal with them. Paul reminds us that their destiny is destruction. This refers to eternal death--the lake of fire--reserved for these demons as well as unbelievers.