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"If you abide in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free...So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed!" (John 8:31-32,36)

The Missing Element

February 21, 2017 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

The Old Testament is old. It was not written to us in the 21st Century. It is not relevant to our culture and time. The person who says that is ignorant of what the Old Testament Scriptures reveal about the depravity of man and the holiness and eternal purposes of the God of the Universe.

To say that the laws, principles, moral and spiritual standards God gave the Jewish people have no relevance to our time and culture is to exhibit gross ignorance of both Judaism and Christianity. It is an absurdity. God said to Jeremiah,

“Behold, I put my words in your mouth. See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant…You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:9b-12)

Jeremiah, like other select individuals, was called by God to deliver His message to His people – both those of faith and those of unbelief. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, they were rendered infallible in speaking and writing. Evangelicalism in America today appears to have lost its prophetic voice. The New Testament declares to the Church,

“Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy…one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation…One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church…therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy.” (I Corinthians 14:1, 3-4, 39)

Today, as never before, the Church needs those who have been called by God to prophesy to the Church. I’m not talking about professed biblical scholars who foolishly set dates for the rapture of the Invisible Church. The gift of prophecy, as Paul stated, is for the “edification, exhortation and consolation” of the Church – the body of Christ. It is not a ministry to unbelievers. Its focus should be to call the people of God back to God and away from its absorption of our pop culture in worship and practice.

The Old Testament Prophets didn’t simply speak God’s opinion on the nation of Israel. They spoke God’s revealed word of discernment and judgment. They boldly proclaimed,

“My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water…My people are foolish, they know Me not. They are stupid children. And they have no understanding. They are shrewd to do evil, but to do good they do not know.” (Jeremiah 2:13, 4:22)

How long do you think an emergent church leader would last if he preached like that? The Old Testament Prophets spoke God’s judgment upon His people, the Jews. And in doing so they condemned the heathen around them with whom they had compromised and made alliances. They even prophesied that God would use those pagan nations to punish His chosen people.

Ancient Israel and Judah had forsaken the authoritative rule of the God of their fathers. They had amalgamated themselves with the worship of pagan deities and had sunk to the immoral practices of their heathen neighbors. Today’s emergent church, in many ways, has been invaded by the American pop culture. Emergent churches sought “new measures” for attracting the unsaved and opened their arms to our culture’s ways of marketing. In making alliances with the practices and psychology of our pop culture, the Evangelical Church has become as popular as any social organization. In doing so the traditions, creeds, theology of our Protestant forbearers have been abandoned for a message suited to satisfy the “tickling ears” of the masses. Traditional forms of worship were cast aside for new, emergent forms of liturgy. What’s missing in our Starbuck generation of relationship-building evangelical churches? What’s conspicuously absent is intestinal fortitude for pastors to preach the whole counsel of God. The gift of prophecy both in the Old Testament and the New Testament Church was and is to boldly proclaim the valid implications and applications of authoritative Scripture, whether church attendees like it or not. Until we see that on a broad scale our nation will continue to devolve in ways never resembling the greater generations of our past.

The Old Testament scriptures contain vital history, theological wisdom, divine promises, and unchanging judgments of God upon the sin of His people and those who know Him not. To ignore its truthful teachings is to incur the judgments the Prophets proclaimed. They are as relevant and applicable today as when they were first spoken. Not written to us, they are for our generation and generations to come. And what’s more,

“When He ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men…He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:8-12)

Where do you hear the voice of God’s prophets for this era of doom and death?

Beryl's Blog, Christian Vocation, Christian Witness, Church, Culture, Emergent Church, Evangelical Church, Mission, Spiritual Truth, Truth Tagged: culture, Evangelical Church, Judgement, mission, Spiritual Truth

Be Bold

February 8, 2016 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask,
and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.”

(John 16:24)

When I was growing up in a Baptist church in Richmond, California, we always had a Bible study and prayer meeting on Wednesday night. When pastoring, I always had a Bible study and prayer time in the same manner. After feasting on the Word, I would name specific things we should pray for and also ask for prayer requests to be shared. We would split up into groups of two or three individuals throughout the sanctuary. That way visitors could be welcomed and everyone could share more personal requests and everyone could pray.

Today, in the vast majority of Protestant churches, prayer meetings have been abandoned. It appears that we are too busy, personally or corporately to take time to pray. What’s it like at your church? Are there good reasons why we should gather for prayer? Here are a few reasons why I think we should.

Jesus Christ has provided our access to God’s Throne of Grace. The writer of Hebrews put it this way:

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefor draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”
(Hebrews 4:15-16)

[Read more…]

Beryl's Blog, Devotion, Evangelical Church, Faith, Mission, Prayer Tagged: Evangelical Church, faith, mission, prayer, Spiritual Truth, vision

A Kind Of Shapeless Idleness

February 8, 2016 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“And you also shall bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
(John 15:27)

What Jesus said to His disciples in the upper room has applied to every believer regenerated by the Holy Spirit from that day until Jesus returns to take us to be with Him at His second coming. It is my studied conviction that the devolution of American culture can be traced to the apathy and fruitlessness of American believers who have failed to be ambassadors for Christ to our post-Christian culture. We are His witnesses. We have been with Him from our choice by the Triune God before the foundation of the universe to be His witnesses to our time and place in His world.

Statisticians tell us that less than five percent of professing evangelicals have ever sat with a repentant sinner to whom they have witnessed the life-saving good news of Christ’s gospel. Too few have heard in their spirit the singing of angelic beings rejoicing in the conversion of a sinner saved by God’s amazing grace in response to their witnessing on behalf of their Lord.

A gifted writer and attorney said:

“To live our lives and miss that great purpose we were designed to accomplish is truly a sin. It is inconceivable that we could be bored in a world with so much wrong to tackle, so much ignorance to teach and so much misery we could alleviate. It seems that ambition and avarice know no boundaries. Yet life goes on with too many living in a kind of shapeless idleness. Recreation becomes the goal in life. Pubs abound, sports are perpetually proliferating, gambling consumes many, and almost any form of entertainment is pursued to fill the void created by a meaningless life. Year after year goes by in unprofitable pursuit. Young and old alike live for things that do not satisfy and ignore the very things that bring fulfillment. We are not criminals or murderers or thieves. Our sin is not so obvious. We live according to the standards of society, drifting along on this world’s ideas of living, oblivious to the consequences.”[1]

That statement was not uttered recently. It was stated in 1797 by William Wilberforce, the Christian, English attorney and graduate of Cambridge University, who died three days before he learned that Parliament would pass the law abolishing from the British Empire the dreaded slavery trade. He knew what it meant to be a witness for his Savior!

The imperative of personal evangelism has been erroneously centered in the professional clergy. From Acts 8, verses 1 through 4, we learn that it was the witness of the laity that turned the world upside down by being “scattered abroad going everywhere preaching the Word.”

The Evangelical Church in America must return to the spiritual purpose, the imperative of personal evangelism. Jesus said, “As My Father has sent Me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). Until the clergy starts preaching the Whole Counsel of God and the laity starts witnessing the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, the church will be historically noted as the “age of shapeless idleness.” We will indeed be spoken of as the “Laodicean” church of Revelation 3, the lukewarm church deserving to be spit out of the mouth of God’s stated purpose.

To Ponder:

  1. Do you believe that it is your responsibility to be a witness for Jesus Christ to those God has placed in your path of life?
  2. Does your pastor or preacher teach the imperative of personal witnessing on behalf of Christ?
  3. Have you ever knelt with an individual to hear them open their heart to God in repentance and confession, placing their trust in the work of Christ for the salvation of their life?
  4. Are you willing to take another look at the imperative or Christian witnessing?
  5. Will you ask God to place before you people who need Jesus Christ and give you the courage to “say a word for Jesus”?

To Pray:

“Father in Heaven, please forgive me for my failure to be your ambassador to my friends and neighbors…my unsaved loved ones. Please teach me to be an effective witness of your saving grace to others who desperately need you. Please teach me the joy of seeing my life be a light to those in darkness, to those lost and without hope in this dying culture. I ask this for Your glory alone and the praise of your Son’s substitutionary death on my behalf. Please, blessed Spirit of God, cleanse me of my self and use me for the glory of the Kingdom of God.”

“Give me a passion for souls, dear Lord, a passion to save the lost;
O that Thy love were by all adored, and welcomed at any cost.
Though there are dangers untold and stern confronting me in the way,
willingly still would I go, nor turn, but trust Thee for grace each day.
How will this passion for souls be mine? Lord, make Thou the answer clear;
help me to throw out the old life-line to those who are struggling near.
Jesus, I long, I long to be winning men who are lost and constantly sinning;
O may this hour be one of beginning the story of pardon to tell.”[2]

[1] William Wilberforce, Real Christianity (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1973), pp. 71-72.
[2] Herbert G. Tovey, Special Voices, No. 3 (Kansas City: Lillenas Publishing, 1914).

Beryl's Blog, Christian Witness, Church, Discipline, Evangelical Church, Mission, Witnessing Tagged: Evangelical Church, mission, witnessing

Give Thanks for These

June 8, 2015 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yes, I have a godly heritage.” (Psalm 16:6)

We are so remiss to give thanks for the blessing of Providence. We read in the Scriptures of the saints of old – Abraham, Joseph and others – how God in His mercy saved, protected, and preserved them. Yet in our temporal freedom and abundance, we fail to show gratitude to the Father of mercies. We are an ungrateful lot! And what are those mercies we so easily neglect to consider?

Statisticians tell us that only five percent of people on this earth live under true democracy. Ninety-five percent live under military, political, or religious dictatorships. Look at the list of almost 195 nations and see the poverty, physical danger, diseases, and terror that holds these people in a dungeon of hopelessness. [Read more…]

Christian Vocation, Evangelical Church, Holy Spirit, Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Truth, Theology Tagged: Christianity, Divine Providence, doctrine, Evangelical Church, mission, Postmodern Christianity, revival

Things That Go “Thump” In The Night – Part I

December 14, 2012 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:8)

As a herdsman in Judah, Amos knew the roar of a lion. Many of us have heard on nature programs what the sound of a lion is, grunting his magnificent, guttural sounds in the darkness of an arid night.If I were a herdsman in the land where lions roared, I, too, would be filled with fear, especially if I had no rifle at my side. But my nights are different.

Since retiring several years ago my sleep habits have changed. I often take an afternoon nap or doze in the evening to catch up on sleep I missed the night before.

Then I waken in the early hours of the morning and shuffle to my study. I’ve found that my best hours to read, study, pray, think and write are in those hours before the sun comes up. I’m told I’m not alone in this practice. It was even recorded of our Lord that, “Rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35) [Read more…]

Christian Vocation, Christian Witness, Emergent Church, Evangelical Church, Salvation, Spiritual Truth, Theology, Witnessing, Worldview, Worship Tagged: culture, Evangelical Church, Judgement, mission, Old Testament Prophets, Postmodern Christianity, revival, theology, witnessing

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Beryl Smith

AvatarBeryl has a great love for studying the Bible and Christian theology. Beryl is a 12th generation descendant of Ralph Blaisdell, an English Puritan who came to America from Bristol, England in August, 1635 on the sailing ship “The Angel Gabriel.”
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