Easter Salvations

Something amazing happened at Open Door on Easter Sunday: 34 people surrendered their lives to Christ! You could tell something was happening. There was a buzz in the air and the church was packed. It was as if a great momentum was building as people kept raising their hands to respond to the draw of the Holy Spirit. It’s even bigger than you think. We have had people coming to Christ every week for the last six weeks. Something is happening!

What we are experiencing is no accident. We have been doing some very specific things lately that we need to keep doing. I believe revival is starting, and I want to see more of it. Here’s how:

Keep praying. About 6 months ago, we took the names of almost 3,000 pre-Christians connected to our congregation. We have been praying over those names in weekly prayer meetings, 24 Hour Prayer Vigils and Life Groups.

Keep inviting people to Life Groups. Many of the people who have come to Christ these last few weeks have done so in Life Groups or at church after being invited by a Life Group. Life Groups are our most-effective evangelism environments.

Keep doing the 5Bs. If you don’t know what this is, pay attention to what is happening in May at Open Door.

Keep serving. The more people that come to Christ, the more help we need making room for new believers. Our Children’s Ministry is full of children. We need more volunteers to oversee them. We are adding people to Life Groups so fast that we really need to be planting at least one new group every 2 months. That means new leaders need to step up to volunteer. There are dozens of other ministry needs for hosts, tech team volunteers and teachers.

By the way, some of you remember a sermon I preached on Acts 1:6-14 about how pre-revival prayer is always Unified, Purposeful and Continual. In the sermon, I mentioned some characteristics of revival:
The Holy Spirit shows up
The gospel is preached
People repent

All three happened Sunday. So, is this revival?

Hitler, Hell and Atonement

I recently watched a movie about the Holocaust. Seeing families torn apart and children murdered made me feel an emotion I don’t often experience: anger. Most people will tell you that I’m a pretty easy going guy. I don’t get upset about most things. But when I see wickedness at its worse my sense of justice wells up. It infuriates me. Similarly, I’ve had people sit in my office and tell me they were abused as children. They still live with the scars today. My soul aches. Someone has to answer for this. We just can’t let this kind of evil go unaddressed. Worse than rape or murder would be to pretend they weren’t that bad. It would be like telling the victims that their pain doesn’t matter. To be brutally honest, in those moments when I hear about things like that it makes me glad there is a hell. Of course, in these moments I am forgetting how evil I am.

We don’t want God to wink at sin…unless it is ours.
Last night, I attended our Good Friday Service. It is a sobering affair. The pastor wears black. The band plays dark mournful songs about the suffering of Christ. Instead of a sermon Jim (our pastor) read a list of sins written on bricks. As he read the bricks, he tossed them into a rusty metal wheelbarrow. Each one makes a hollow, metallic noise. Some of the sins were murders and abuse. Others related to bitterness and deceit. All of them made the same heavy noise. In that place, hearing all those sins listed together, I didn’t want God to ignore any of them not even mine. They were all horrible. That same sense of justice that made me want punishment for Hitler, rapists and murderers made me call out for justice for my own sins. I am a wicked man. My sin weighed heavy on that cross. I deserve death.

At the end of the service, as everyone sat with the reality of their sin Jim pushed the wheelbarrow across the stage and dumped the bricks at the foot of the cross. The weight of my sins and the worlds were placed on Christ. Justice was served but at the expense of God’s Son. It was a powerful image.

Feeling the weight of my sin has helped me to see the greatness of God’s grace. The God of justice is also the God of grace, and my sin has made that grace very costly. Praise God for His justice and His grace. I am a bad man who has seen someone go to death for me. Grace is good and I want it for the worst offenders just as it was given to me.

Do you think that it is a good thing to wish for grace for rapists and mass murderers? How does it make you feel to think that Hitler could have gone to heaven if he had surrendered His life to Christ?

Ultimate Surrender

Today we remember the death of our Savior. Every year I think more about how my response to His sacrifice seems inadequate. He voluntarily suffered the most painful, torturous death possible. “Thank you” isn’t enough to express how grateful I am. Beyond that, I really don’t feel grateful enough. How can I “feel” grateful enough for such a sacrifice?

Jesus modeled the ultimate act of surrender. Remember that Jesus didn’t “want” to die on the cross. He asked the Father to “let this cup pass” (Matthew 26:42). He knew the cross would be painful. He understood what it meant that he would take on the sin of the world. His response was not, “I’d be happy to;” it was, “Not my will but your will be done.” Surrender was Jesus’ response. Not just any surrender, ultimate surrender. He took on the sin of man and died the most excruciating death ever conceived. How can we say a mere “thank you” to a sacrifice like that?

The most grateful response is to follow Him in surrender. The Apostle Paul says that the prerequisites for salvation are belief in the resurrection of Christ and confession that He is Lord (Romans 10:9-10). Confessing Jesus as Lord is not just a comment. It is an act of surrender in itself. Jesus is not just Lord of heaven and earth. He must be Lord of your life. He has to be Lord of every decision, every thought. If you haven’t given him the throne of your life, then maybe that should be your act of gratitude this Good Friday. Jesus surrendered so that you could surrender too. Don’t just tell Him you are thankful. Show Him with surrender.

How do I know if I’m surrendered? I find it helpful to take inventory of my life now and then. Here are a few things that I do to check myself.
• Do I make decisions according to what will bring God the most glory?
• Have I recently told myself or someone else that I deserve something?
• Do I believe God is going to provide for me no matter what?
• Has God led me to do something that I rationalized myself out of doing?
• Is there a sin in my life that I have not repented of?
• Am I holding a grudge or bitterness toward someone?
• Have I done my best to reconcile broken relationships in my life?
• Am I working and resting to the glory of God?
• Am I submitting to the authorities in my life as to the Lord?
• Have I been in prayerful conversation with God?

How are you living surrendered in your life? What specific things do you do differently because you are following Christ in surrender?