PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “We have not seen the last of the best!”

By:  Ron Woodrum

Revivals have been a big part of my life for over six decades.  I was saved in September of 1968.  My parents were saved the next fall, November 1969, during a revival with Gerald Thompson as the Evangelist at the Salem Baptist Church of Decatur.  Later, after God had called me into the ministry, my very first ministry was being a bus Pastor.  But that was soon followed in 1969 with opportunities to preach youth revivals in Central Illinois.  I preached 25 youth revivals during the years of 1969-1971 averaging nearly 10 per year.  The focus of most of those revivals was for Christian youth to surrender their lives to Jesus, and witness and bring friends to the youth meetings.  Many young people came to faith in those days as the sixties welcomed the seventies! I began pastoring my first Church in May of 1971 at the age of 17.  Every Church that I have pastored over the years has had one to two revivals per year.  Over nearly 50 years of ministry I have participated in over 250 revivals, counting the ones I hosted as a Pastor of a Baptist Church, and the one I personally preached as an Evangelist.  In the eighties I averaged preaching about 8-10 revivals per year-all over Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and South Carolina, and Tennessee.  I have had the joy of witnessing revivals transform Churches collectively, and Christians individually.  I can honestly say my life was touched by every one of them.  As a young person I made it a habit to attend revivals at sister Baptist Churches, and also several other denominations-Methodist, Church of God, Assembly of God, Nazarene, Pentecostal, Bible Churches, etc.  Even though there are many that feel that revivals are a thing of the past that no longer impacts American Culture today…I strongly disagree.  Even though most revivals today reach fewer non-Christians than they used to; they still impact the people of God.  When the Church is revived…the community that surrounds it is impacted for Christ.

I want to share a few famous Christian quotes that help us understand the role that revival plays in the life of a local Church, and in the lives of the individual Christians who are identified with the Church.  J.I. Packer defines a revival as “a visitation of God which brings to life Christians who have fallen asleep spiritually, and restores a deep sense of God’s near presence and holiness.  All this ushers in a vivid sense of sin and profound exercise of heart in repentance, praise, and with an evangelistic overflow”.  Stephan Olford writes, “Revival is that strange, sovereign work of God in which He visits the people-restoring, reanimating, and releasing them into the fullness of His blessing.  Such a divine intervention will issue in evangelism, though, in the first instance, it is a work of God in the Church and among individual believers”.  Charles Finney, the revivalist of the early nineteenth century, defined revival concisely as “a new beginning of obedience”.  Simply put a new closeness to God; a new passion for Christ; A new love for God; A new holiness in life; A new filling and refreshing of the Holy Spirit.  One of my favorite descriptions of revival is from John Wesley.  He wrote, “We need to storm the throne of Grace and persevere therein, and mercy will come down.  I continue to dream and to pray about revival…in our day, that moves forth in mission and creates authentic community, in which each person can be unleashed through the empowerment of the Spirit, to fulfill God’s intentions!”  Probably the best quote I have been influenced by on revivals is by Andrew Bonar.  He wrote, “Revivals begin with God’s own people, The Holy Spirit touches their hearts anew, and gives them a new fervor, and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and after He has come to the Church, He next goes to the Valley of Dry Bones…Oh what responsibility this lays upon the Church of God.  If you grieve Him away or hinder His visit-the poor perishing world suffers sorely!”  The responsibility for the condition of America and the World may just be related to the fact that we have neglected the continual need of revival in the life of the Church to keep God’s people passionate and productive in our ministries to that very world!

One of the complaints I often heard about revivals was that the same people came forward revival after revival to re-dedicate their lives anew and afresh to the Lord Jesus Christ!  My response has always been– “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG WITH THAT!  PERHAPS THAT IS WHAT HAD KEPT THE CHURCH ON THE CUTTING EDGE”.  Like the Hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing says, “Prone to Wander, Lord I feel it.  Prone to leave the God I love!”  If rededication, at a minimum of once per year, kept us vitally functioning as Christians individually, and Churches collectively…then Praise The Lord.  We could use a few rededications right now!  I came across an interesting story the other day.  It was the story of a man of God that felt the call to be a missionary to Formosa.  Formosa was the Portuguese name for Taiwan.  The Chinese country in the Far East, recently given back to mainland China.  Thomas Barclay answered the call to go as a missionary to Formosa, and ministered there for over 60 years.  He translated the entire Bible into their language.  Behind that life of service lay a covenant with God that he wrote when he was sixteen, and which he renewed every year for the rest of his life!  (I would call that a re-dedication).  It read, in part, “This day do I, with the utmost solemnity, surrender myself to Thee.  I renounce all former lords that have had dominion over me, and I consecrate to Thee all that I have:  the faculties of my mind, the members of my body, my worldly possessions, my time, and my influence over others; to be all used entirely for Thy glory, and resolutely employed in obedience to Thy commands, as long as Thou continuest me in this life; with ardent desire and humble resolution to continue Thine through all the ages of eternity; ever holding myself in an attentive position to observe, with zeal and joy, to the immediate execution of it.  To Thy direction also I resign myself, and all that I am and have, to be disposed of by Thee in such a manner as Thou in Thine infinite wisdom shall judge most subservient to the purposes of Thy glory.  To Thee I leave the management of all events, and say without reserve, ‘Not my will, but Thine, be done!’ “Renewing that annually brought about 60 plus years of faithful service.  I would, without hesitation, define that as an on-going REVIVAL!

When we usually talk about revivals we refer to Great Awakenings of the Past.  It has been so long that they are now viewed as “Ancient History!”  No one expects to see them ever come again.  Shame on us.  God has not changed!  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!  One of my favorite quotes speaks to this very subject.  It is a quote from the great Scottish Preacher and Theologian-James Stewart.  He wrote, “It is God’s way to go beyond the best that He has done before; therefore a living faith will always have in it a certain element of surprise and tension and discovery; that what we have seen and learned of God up to the present is not to be the end of our seeing, nor the sum total of our learning; that whatever we have found in Christ is only a fraction of what we can still find; that the spiritual force which in the great days of the past vitalized the Church and shaped the course of history has not exhausted its energies or fallen into abeyance but is liable to burst out anew and take control.  God is promising wonders that He has never done before so that there will be more jubilant doxologies, more exultant hallelujahs.  For there is no limit to the love of God, no end to the redeeming Grace of Christ, and NO EXHAUSTION OF THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT”. (“Expect Great Things From God”-The River of Life: Sermons of James S. Stewart-1972). My prayer is– “God Do It Again!”  “Do it as you have never done it before!”  “Lord send a revival-let it begin in me-in us-and spread like wild-fire”.  WE HAVE NOT SEEN THE LAST OF HIS BEST!  BELIEVE IT!

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE:  ”    The Glory of the Son is Shared with those who take Him”.

By:  Ron Woodrum

     A wealthy art collector shared his passion with his only son.  Together they collected rare works of art.  They had everything in their collection from original Picasso’s to original Raphael’s!  They would often sit together and admire the great works of art together.  When the Viet Nam war broke out the son was drafted and sent into conflict.  He was killed in battle rescuing another soldier from his battalion, the father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.  His paintings soon lost all interest to him.  They were only a painful reminder of a life and love shared with his only son.  About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a know at the door.  A young man stood there with a large package in his hands.  He said, “Sir, you don’t know me but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life.  He saved many other lives that day too.  He was carrying me to safety when he was struck by a bullet, right in his heart, and he died instantly.  When you are in battle you have a lot of time waiting and watching.  During times of lull in the battle we often talked about our families back home.  He spoke so often about you.  And how much you loved art.”  The young man held out his package.  “I know that this isn’t much.  I’m not really a good artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this!”   The father opened the package.  It was a portrait of his son drawn by his fellow soldier!  The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears.  He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the portrait.  “Oh no sir, I could never repay your son for what he did for me!  My gift to you…because of your son!” 

The father loved the portrait.  He framed it and put it over the mantle, in the center of the room, displacing other famous paintings!  Every time visitors came to see his rare collections of art, the father spent most of his time directing their attention to the portrait of his beloved son!  A few months later the man died.  Since he had no immediate family left his art collection was to be auctioned off and proceeds be given to a charity.  His collection was so well-known art collectors came from far and wide to bid on each item.  The room was filled with famous originals of many great artists.  But up by the podium, on an easel, was the portrait of his beloved son.  The auctioneer pounded the gavel to get the attention of the crowd and said, “I am instructed to begin the bidding on this picture of the son.  Who will bid for this portrait?”  There was total silence.  No one bid at all.  “Who will bid-$100 dollars?”  Nothing but silence!  Then a voice spoke out-“we want to bid on the famous originals!”  “Yea-skip this one!”  “Nobody is interested in the portrait of the old man’s son!”  “Move on to the others!  That is why we came!”  The auctioneer persisted. “Who will start the bidding?  $100?  $75?  $50?”  Silence.  Then…”We want the Van Gogh’s…The Rembrandt’s…The Raphael’s”” Get on with the real bids!”  The auctioneer continued on…”The son…. who will take the son…start the bidding on the son!”  Finally, a voice came from the back of the room.  It was the voice of the longtime gardener of the Old man.  He had come to watch the auction, knowing he had no money to bid, but said “I’ll give $10 for the portrait of the son!”    “We have $10…who will go $20?”  The crowd was getting angry.  They didn’t want the son…they wanted the special works of art… those worthy of investment for collections.  The auctioneer pounded the gavel.  “Going once, going twice, sold to the man in the back for $10”.   A man on the second road groaned, “Finally, now let’s get on with the collection!”  The auctioneer laid down the gavel and said, “I’m sorry…the auction is over!  The owner instructed me to auction the portrait of his son first.  Whoever took the son inherits all the rest of the collection along with the son!  The man who took the son gets everything!”

2,000 years ago, God gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross because He loved you and I.  He gave His life to rescue us from eternal destruction of sin.  The instruction of His Will…the New Testament states “whoever takes the Son inherits everything!”  That is why Paul told the Corinthians “I am determined to know nothing among you but Jesus and Him crucified” (I Cor. 2:2).  We are to glory only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! (Gal. 6:14).  One of the great Christian scholars of the twentieth century was Frank Gaebelein.  He was the major professor at the Stony Brook School on Long Island New York.  One of his chief students was the great scholar who battled the Kingdom of the Cults world wide-Walter Martin.  But the school was founded by Frank’s father Arno Gaebelein.  A.C. Gaebelein was known for his deep commitment and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.  He lived and taught to glorify and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ.  He said, “We shall one day see His face, and His name shall be on our foreheads.  We are sons with Him, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Him.  The acquired glory of our Lord is and will forever be the inherited glory of every sinner saved by grace, and we will share that glory with Him!”  That is why Paul said, “Whatever you do…do all to the glory of God!”  (I Cor. 10:31).  That is why J.H. Thornwell said, “If the church could be aroused to a deeper sense of the glory that awaits her, she would enter with a warmer spirit in the struggles that are daily before her!”  The great musician Johann Sebastian Bach headed his compositions with J.J.  meaning “Jesus Juva-Jesus help me!”  He ended them with S.D.G.  “Sola Dei Gratia-To God be the Glory alone!” Those of us who know the God of Glory- through the gift of Grace by the Glorious cross of His dear Son…should so magnify the Lord of Grace and Glory.

Dr. J.H. Jowett wrote in his book The Transfigured Church wrote:  “We leave our places of worship, and no deep and inexpressible wonder sits upon our faces.  We can sing these lilting melodies; and when we get out into the streets, our faces are one with the faces of those who have left the theaters and music halls.  Thee is nothing to suggest that we have been looking at anything stupendous and overwhelming.  Far back in my boyhood I remember an old saint telling me that after some services he liked to make his way home alone, by quiet by-paths, so that the hush of the Almighty might remain on his awed and prostrate soul.  That is the element we are losing!”  I might add “that is the element…not that we are losing…but have already lost!”  To show His glory…we have first to SEE it and SHARE it!