David Richardson

My son, Emerson, was really sick earlier this week.  For about 4 days, he struggled with a bad stomach virus.  And it was not pleasant at all.

After struggling with his virus, he grew extremely weak.  The reason is quite obvious:  with his virus, he was losing a lot more than he was taking in.  His doctor called me to say that his blood work revealed he was “extremely dehydrated.”

Fortunately, he now is fine.  After getting the right fluids in him, Emerson perked right up.  Now his energy level is back up, and he is his normal self.

This made me think about the fact that lots of Christians suffer from spiritual dehydration.  They are exerting lots of energy working for God.  But they are not replenishing their hearts and minds.  The end result is they are spiritually exhausted and weak.

One of my favorite Bible verses is Ephesians 5:18, which reads ”be filled with the Spirit.”  Being filled has to do with being under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  Through refueling daily on scripture, prayer, and worship, we have God’s purpose, peace, and power for our lives.

I believe this filling is daily.  Our bodies need food and water every day.  Otherwise we will grow weak physically.  The same principle applies to our spiritual lives.  Our hearts and minds need a steady diet of scripture, prayer, and worship if we are going to be strong.

The best thing about this filling is that God offers to fill us with Himself.  He wants to saturate every fiber of our being, and bring all of His many gifts with Him.  I can’t think of a better blessing than that.

Are you spiritually dehydrated?  Do you lack purpose, peace, and power?  If so, slow down and be filled through scripture, prayer, and worship.  Let God stuff you full of Himself and all of the good things that come with Him.  Then you will have everything you need for life and service.

 

Several years ago, I participated in a DMin seminar under Dr. Timothy George at Beeson Divinity School.  There were about 10 of us students.  It was a fantastic couple of weeks that I will never forget.

On the first day of the seminar, Dr. George was getting to know a little bit about each of us.  He was going around the table and allowing us to introduce ourselves.  When the first guy finished telling us about who he was, Dr. George surprised him (and the rest of us) with this question:  “Are you a good preacher?”

It grew silent in the room for a few seconds.  None of us saw that coming.  To be honest, I can’t remember what his answer was, because I was wondering what I was going to say if Dr. George asked me the same question.

When my time came, Dr. George did not ask me that question.  He asked me something else.  I think he enjoyed the element of surprise in our discussion.

But, for some reason, I have wondered ever since then how I would have answered that question…

At the moment, I thought “What if I say I am a good preacher?  Does that mean I am arrogant?”  I was not sure what to think or say.

( Since we are on that topic, let me share a thought:  I think we Christians often mix up what humility is.  I don’t think humility means we can’t say we are good at something; instead, I think it’s perfectly fine to say we are good at something because God has enabled us to do it.  Remember David taking on Goliath?  David was confident that he was going to take down the giant.  Why?  Because the power of the Lord was with him.  So maybe we Christians need to quit downplaying ourselves.  After all, GOD made us and equipped us. )

Anyway, back to Dr. George’s question.  My thought process was something like this:  Some guys can preach better than me.  But I can also preach better than some guys.

Then, in the midst of this, I remembered that it is the Holy Spirit that flows through the preacher in the pulpit.  It is the Holy Spirit that softens hearts, opens eyes, and changes lives.  Even the most gifted, eloquent speaker is powerless without the Holy Spirit working in and through him.

I realized Dr. George already knew that.  He understood that better than us.  Looking back, I now know he asked the question to get a little glimpse into the mind and heart of the student.  And it was a neat way to do that.

For some reason, I have been wondering what I would say if I was asked that question now.  If I bumped into Dr. George somewhere and he asked me, I think I know what I would say.  And I am at peace with my answer:

“I think I am a good preacher, because God has gifted me to do it.  But He has a lot more work to do in me so that His Holy Spirit can better work through me.”

That would be my response to Dr. George’s question.

So, what about you?  Are you good at what you do?  How do you feel about the role you are playing in life?

Greetings!

*  Life is good in Sebring.

*  Our Honduras Mission Team is back home.  They returned last night (Saturday), and were at church today.  Was great to see their smiling faces.

*  I can’t wait to hear their stories and see their pictures.

*  We had a BIG crowd at church today.  The pews looked mighty full from where I was standing.

*  I started a 2-week talk on “Celebrating By Giving.”

*  A wonderful way to celebrate God’s goodness for us is to give back to Him.

*  Today we talked about giving back to God our [1] Temple (body), and [2] Time.

*  Will you do that this week?  Give God your body and your schedule.

*  Next Sunday (the 29th), we will talk about two other things to give back to God.

*  Loved the music this morning!

*  The First Baptist Sebring music ministry is one of the best I’ve seen anywhere.  I am proud of Nuno and the rest of the team for hitting it out the park on a weekly basis.  They make it possible for us to lift praises to God every Sunday.

*  Tonight at 6:00 was our quarterly business meeting.  It was mostly a time for updates.  No major decisions were made.

*  I decided after tonight’s meeting that, from now on, we will have about 20 minutes of worship (music & brief message) before we have our Sunday night quarterly business meetings.  That will be a good change.

*  Week 2 of Upward Basketball was yesterday.  Everyone appeared to have a really good time.

*  I like how Upward pulls this community together.

*  The feedback I get from people on Upward is overwhelmingly positive.  People around this area absolutely love it.

*  I just heard that Coach Joe Paterno died today.  That’s sad.  May God comfort his wife and family.

*  Clay Smith will be with us at First Baptist Sebring on Monday and Tuesday.  He has given us some helpful insights over the past year.  I sure do appreciate that.

*  I get asked often about my dad’s health.  He is doing much better.  God is healing him and restoring his health.  Mom, my brothers, and I are relieved to see his progress.

*  In case you did not notice, I did a blog post yesterday about sex.  (Yep, you read that right.)  To read it, just click *HERE*.

*  Remember to set aside February 12 for our 90th Birthday Celebration!  First Baptist Sebring is going to have a blast on that day.  After Sunday School at 9:15 that morning, we will worship at 10:30 and enjoy “Dinner On The Grounds” immediately afterwards.

*  We have hired my new administrative assistant.  Bobbie Henderson is retiring in a few weeks.  She has done a wonderful job over the years.  I have enjoyed working with Bobbie.  Her replacement is Pam Harris.  She will be a fine addition to our team.

*  Well, that’s all I have for tonight.

*  I will have at least 2 new blog posts this week, so do check back here when you have time.

Peace to you and yours.

David

 

O.S. Hawkins, Moral Earthquakes : “Christians are not antisex.  We simply have a higher view of it than mere animal instinct.”

Sex.

Let’s talk about it.

I’ll tell you where I stand on it:  Sex is a wonderful gift from God that is to be celebrated and enjoyed by a man and a woman who are married to each other.

Sex is not man’s idea.  It’s God’s idea!  Yep, you read that right.  God is who came up with it, and He calls husbands and wives to enjoy it with each other.  We know this because of the following words uttered in the Garden of Eden:  ”…a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

Because it is a gift from God to us, sex is 2 things:  [1] Sex is good.  There is nothing ‘dirty’ about sex.  If God is good, then everything He gives us is good.  [2] Sex is sacred.  God has put His stamp of approval on it; therefore it actually does have meaning and value.

Yes, it is to be celebrated and enjoyed.  Sex is not something people have to endure or put up with so that more children can be born.  While sex obviously does play a role in procreation, it also is about pleasure for married couples.  It is a sacred way for husbands and wives to prove their trust, express their love, and have their fun!

Just to be clear, allow me to state the obvious:  Guys, the only woman you are to have sexual contact with is your wife.  Only her!  Ladies, the only man you are to have sexual contact with is your husband.  Only him!

If you are married, make sure you stay mindful of your spouse’s sexual needs.  Guys, you need to take care of your wives in this area.  And ladies, you need to take care of your husbands in the same way.  Paul gave married couples some wise counsel about sex when he wrote the following in 1 Corinthians 7:5  “Do not deprive each other…”

Married couples, let me share with you a couple of thoughts:  [1] Make time for each other sexually.  It’s a busy world.  There are kids to raise, bills to pay, projects to complete, and schedules to follow.  That is why you have to carve time out for your spouse.  [2] Protect each other sexually.  To be blunt, if you forsake the sexual needs of your spouse, you are making him or her more vulnerable to temptation.  Like it or not, if you don’t take care of your spouse in this area, there are other people out there (without a conscience) who would be more than happy to give your spouse needed attention.  No, this does not in any way whatsoever give your spouse a license to sin sexually if you neglect her or him.  (There is never, ever any excuse for immorality.)  But this does mean that you have an important choice to make:  you can either choose to lovingly protect your spouse by meeting their needs, or you can selfishly desert your spouse by forsaking their needs.

If you are a parent, make sure you talk with your kids about sex when they are at an appropriate age.  While they may act like they don’t want to have THE TALK, they really do need to hear the truth from you.  You are to be their guide.  Don’t let some ignorant, hormone-driven teenager in the school locker room be the one who shapes your child’s thoughts and feelings on sex.

When I was a teenager, my dad always left open the lines of communication with me about topics such as sex.  He always allowed me to ask him any question.  Nothing (and I really mean NOTHING) was off limits when it come to our father-son discussions.  Because of my talks with Dad, I was not clueless about what was right and what was wrong when it came to sex.

As far as the church goes, I think there are two extremes we need to avoid.  [1] The extreme of never talking about sex. It’s a tragedy when the church is silent on the topic of sex.  If the church is about God, and if sex is a gift from God, then shouldn’t the church clearly explain God’s plan for sex in our lives?  I think so.  [2] The extreme of talking too much about sex. It seems that some preachers today go overboard in talking about sex.  I may ruffle some feathers here, but was it really necessary for Ed Young (a pastor in Dallas) to challenge married couple in his church to have sex for 7 days in a row?  To take this one step farther, was it really necessary a few weeks ago for Ed to post a sermon series trailer on the internet that was filled with obvious sexual references?  In my mind, the answer to both of these is a big, fat NO.  While it is important to address the topic of sex in the church, let’s make sure we do so with maturity, class, and discretion.

So that is where I stand:  Sex is a great thrill to be enjoyed by a man and woman who are married to each other.  It’s an important topic for parents to discuss with their sons and daughters.  And it’s a sensitive matter that the church needs to address with clarity and wisdom.

As Forest Gump once said:  “And that’s all I have to say about that.”