REVIVALTALK

      Leighton Farrell was the minister of Highland Park Church in Dallas for many years. He tells of a man in the church who once made a covenant with a former pastor to tithe ten percent of their income every year. They were both young and neither of them had much money.       But things changed. The layman tithed one thousand dollars the year he earned ten thousand, ten thousand dollars the year he earned one-hundred thousand, and one- hundred thousand dollars the year he earned one million. But the year he earned six million dollars he just could not bring himself to write out that check for six-hundred thousand dollars to the Church.             He telephoned the minister, long since having moved to another church, and asked to see him. Walking into the pastor’s office the man begged to be let out of the covenant, saying, "This tithing business has to stop. It was fine when my tithe was one thousand do...

  Psalms 23:4 – “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Tony Cooke writes in his book, Because the Lord is My Shepherd , “The 23rd Psalm is loved for so many reasons, but it is perhaps the fourth verse that causes it to be such a source of comfort during the most traumatic and difficult times of life. While this psalm vividly portrays God’s comfort and support, it does not ignore the hard realities of human existence. Rather, David’s words show us the power and care of a Shepherd whose influence penetrates and transcends even the worst that life can throw at us.” [i]   A believer is not exempt from the challenges of life. The Psalmist David writes in Psalm 34:19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” The good news in Psalms 23:4 is “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” Our great shepher...

  Psalms 23:2 – “He makes me to lie down in green pastures..”             David writes this Psalm from the perspective of a shepherd. He begins with “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” This speaks of relationships and resources. Verse 2 reads, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures.”   Phillip Keller writes in his book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalms 23 , “The strange thing about sheep is that because of their very makeup it is almost impossible for them to be made to lie down unless four requirements are met.” 1.     Owing to their timidity they refuse to lie down unless they are free of all fear.   2.     Because of the social behavior within a flock, sheep will not lie down unless they are free from friction with others of their kind.   3.     If tormented by flies or parasites, sheep will not lie down. Only when free of these pests can they relax.   4...

Leviticus 27:30 – “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord.” The tithe is holy to the Lord.  This is the portion of our income God requires us to return to Him.  Some would argue the tithe was only under the law of Moses.  In Genesis 14:20 Abraham tithes to Melchizedek some six-hundred years before God gave the law to Moses.  We must be careful not to mishandle holy things.             In Genesis 28:10-22 Jacob stops in Luz and sleeps on his journey.  He dreams of a ladder with its top reaching into heaven.  There are angels ascending and descending the latter.  At the top of this ladder was the Lord. He identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, and Isaac. He identifies Himself as the Covenant God of Jacob’s fathers....

  Matthew 16:18 – “ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” We have entered into a time of divine reset.  God has pushed the reset button. We continually hear people using the words, “A new normal.” Perhaps Romans 8:22-23 describes the times we are currently experiencing. “   For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”  Many are wondering, what will our future look like?  There are many businesses that will not survive the Covid-19 lockdowns and economic downturn.  People’s jobs and livelihood have been threatened and some are very fearful of the future.  I want to encourage you. As...

Hebrew 13:8 – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” We serve a now God.  When He appeared to Moses at the burning bush in the wilderness on Mt. Sinai, He reveals Himself as “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14).  He is not the great I was.  Some only see Him as the God of yesterday.  We must raise our level of expectation.  I love to study the moves of God in the past.  I love to hear the testimonies of past victories, but I have an expectation that we have not witnessed all He desires to do in our lives. He is not just the great I will be.  Some will only embrace Him in a future context.  He is going to move.  He is going to send revival.  He is going to save the lost.  He is not just the God of the past or future, but He is the God of the present.  Psalms 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”             We serv...

The Discipline of Listening James 1:19 – “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”             Paul Tillich writes, “The first duty of love is to listen.” [i]   One of the primary responsibilities of the believer is to learn to listen to the voice of the Lord.  Fifteen times in the New Testament, more than any other command, the believer is commanded, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.” [ii] If we are going to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then we need to learn the joy of hearing His voice.  Listening requires discipline.  We must become good listeners. There are times in our lives that we need to still ourselves, stop talking, stop praying, and learn to wait in His presence and hear what the Spirit is saying to you.  You might ask, “How do I know that God...