Serve With Gladness

 I remember well when God first called me to preach. I just wanted to serve. I also had so much to learn. My first preaching assignment was to a group of students at Woodlawn Baptist Church in Lufkin, TX. I did not know come here from sick them. I was a young teenager with a testimony. The whole first sermon lasted seven minutes. I had so much material prepared I thought. I quickly realized I had not prepared enough. 

There was a lot more training before God ever entrusted me with my own youth group at Rochelle Baptist Church in Rochelle, TX. I started with four students. That church had not baptized anyone in years. I recall with fondness the day we baptized five students. From there I ended up in Weatherford, TX and watched God grow a youth group from seven to forty-five with most of those students getting saved. 

I was a dreamer in those days. Salary did not matter. I only wanted to serve Jesus. 36 years later that has not changed. I still dream and salary is irrelevant in determining where I serve. Sure, I want to provide for my family. It has never been about the money. It has always been about serving Jesus. First, as a youth minister. In subsequent years I served as a traveling evangelist, twice a church planter, and ultimately as a pastor. I have served in churches of less than a dozen and one church of several hundred. One thing remained constant, I wanted to see Jesus save people. 

That does not get old. It makes the hard things in ministry worth it. Endless sermon preparations, meetings, visits, counseling, and enduring criticisms. All part of the ministry. Some people grow bitter the longer they serve God. The battles take their toll. The spiritual assault can rob one of joy. The onslaught of unrealistic expectations and criticisms can make a person jaded. 

We are exhorted to serve God with gladness. To serve Him with delight. [Ps 100:2] To keep coming to Him with joyful singing. He is the source of the gladness and the reason for singing. Not external circumstances. In His presence is fullness of joy forever. [Ps 16:11]

After all these years, every up and down, every trial and triumph, every personal revival and need for repentance, every praise and public criticism God is still the source of gladness. He is the reason to live with perpetual joy and to keep singing. He is the melody of my heart. No matter what swirls around me. 

An Angry Rant

 I never know what I'll encounter when I go teach at the substance abuse detox center every Sunday afternoon. I have taught only one on a few occasions. Today eight showed up to get into the word. They come from all over the United States. Some have no base for Christianity. They are foreign to Christian beliefs and even how to navigate around the Bible. 

Today, I met a man named Pitman. He was angry. He came in with a massive chip on his shoulder. I taught from Luke 18:35-42. At one point, he made a comment that gave evidence this man has studied the Bible. He is a follower of Jesus. He is also a long time alcoholic. He is angry with everyone. With the substance abuse program itself, with churches, and with himself. He went off on a rant about churches. He reported visiting many and not finding help or being welcomed with his wife. He also criticized preachers for preaching weak mealy mouthed messages and not the meat of the word. 

He was especially critical of pastors not caring about helping people, but rather padding their pockets with plush offerings. This is not the first time someone has derailed one of our studies. This man was physically large. To some intimidating. While he spoke nobody else interrupted. After a while, he got it all out. Later on he started down the same road when I had to reign him back. 

A recent survey of lost people indicates 72% of them think the church is full of hypocrites. Religious people who do not care about lost people with real hurts. The angry man talked about showing up at a church asking for a can of food and they told him they did not give out food until Saturday. He was hungry then. He wants to find a place for him and his wife, but he has found issues with all the churches they have visited. 

There are no perfect churches because churches are made up of imperfect people. There are good ones and ones who do not please the Lord. I grieve for what the people of God have done to the bride of Christ. We have drifted far from that original church in Acts 2:42-47. Some churches deserve the criticisms against us. Other churches labor feverishly to reach lost people and meet their basic needs. These are splendid examples of what God wants for His church. 

Many people have been burned by churches. Rejected and isolated. Others have been welcomed initially only to find out they aren't truly embraced by others, but just another person to sit in a seat and fill up a building. Churches have made some critical mistakes over the years. Some churches have gotten it right as well. Those are the churches that remember the mission [Matt 28:19-20] [Acts 1:8] and they live that mission out weekly. 

One thing I've discovered at the detox center is people will tell you the raw unfiltered truth of how they feel. They are not pretending. They are too broken and too desperate to pretend. Most know they are in trouble. Most understand they are destroying their lives through addiction. It's not physically easy to go there each Sunday afternoon after preaching and teaching twice before. In some ways, it is like walking into Satan's den. Isn't that where Christ followers need to be. To penetrate the darkness with gospel light. 

I can handle a rant if I also get to keep ranting about Jesus to those who will listen. We have lost count of all those whom Jesus saved over the past several years. Jesus cares about the unloved. He does not give up on the down and out whom others have written off. I keep showing up and pointing people to Jesus. That is what I believe He would have me do in this season of life.