People Sharing Jesus

    This final section of 1 Thessalonians is filled with words of spiritual instruction.  As in the case of the teaching of Jesus, it is our attitude that is paramount in living the christian life.  The opening words of the section admonish us to respect spiritual leaders because of the work they do.  We live in a time when those who serve in ministry are leaving their posts in unprecedented numbers.  Young people are not preparing for ministry in the local church at numbers sufficient to meet the needs that exist.  Many of the students at seminaries are preparing for Christian work in areas other than the local church.  Why is this happening?  In my view it is because of the failure to obey the teaching of God’s Word about relationships.  Chirsitians believe in grace for themselves, but are often very poor at expressing grace to others.  The result is conflict and discord.  To be sure, ministers need to be respectible, but they too need to be shown grace.  They do not come to their office by accident.  It takes a very special move of God to place a person in spiritual leadership.  Difficulties should be resolved as they would be resolved if Jesus were in the room, because He is.

Numerous admonitions follow the opening.  Lazy people are to be warned, discouraged people comforted, weak people helped, etc.  In all cases, we are to be patient.  Relationships take time.  God works through His Word to grow us into the people we are to be.  Like a gardener working with tender plants we need to nurture one another in accordance with the Word.  Rejoicing comes because we know the outcome.  God’s people should be a singing people.  We should be known for our prayer life and our unending thankfulness.  We are not to quench the Spirit.  It is amazing how a contentious dissenting attitude that refuses to be reconciled can quench the Holy Spirit.  This is a very serious matter.  On numerous occasions, I have watch God remove people from service because they continually quenched the Holy Spirit.  Despising prophecies is a cynical diregard for God’s communication through his servants.  Even a speaker who is relatively dull can bring a powerful Word from God when our hearts are listening for the Holy Spirit’s words.  We are to prove or test all things.  We can cast away the non-essentials, but we should hold on to what is good.  Our actions speak louder than our words so it is important how we behave.  We should avoid any outward action that seems to be unchristian or evil.

Dan Wooldridge

Church growth and the moving of God’s Spirit are not the same thing.  We who live along the Interstate 35 corridor have been watching this area grow for a decades.  Along with this growth almost every church that created any room to grow, grew.  Growing a church in a growing population can be as simple as unlocking the doors on Sunday morning. 

Count me among those with a holy disatisfaction with mere growth in numbers.  I want to see lives changed.  I want to see evidence of the moving and working of the Holy Spirit.  This is exactly what I am privileged to see.  I regularly see the evidence of God’s activity in the lives of people.  I am aware of a great number of situations in which God is doing a work in people’s lives that could not be explained apart from His transforming power.  When I scan the faces in the crowd, the Holy Spirit reminds me of where many of those faces I see have come from.  I am a walking library of the stories of lives transformed by the touch of God. 

Wouldn’t it be interesting if instead of asking how many people attended a given church on Sunday, the question was how many changed lives have emerged from this or that church?  Somehow I think that is the statistic that matters most to Jesus.

Dan Wooldridge

It has been a while since I shared the story of the stained glass windows on Williams Drive.  Crestview had been forced in the late eighties to build the sanctuary extending back onto the lot instead of toward the street.  Williams had been a two lane farm to market road before it was widened to five lanes.  In 1999 we were building our newest building which doubled our space.  We chose to build between two existing wings with the length of the building turned parallel to Williams.  This allowed us to build a building somewhat larger than our sanctuary in a space that was formerly eliminated as a site due to the intention to build a structure perpendicular to the street. 

 Now the question that arose in our plans was how to make this building look like a house of worship.  The answer was to do some really nice stained glass.  We determined not to make the stained glass look like something from the past.  We wanted to make a statement about the difference Jesus can make today.  These windows were not focused on people inside the building, but rather upon the thousands who pass every day.  The center window is a cross.  It is not, however, a cross that speaks of death.  Though it certainly reminds us that Jesus died for us, the message is a burst of light, an unfurled shroud, and a grapevine.  The shroud of course reminds us that He arose and that they found His shroud in the tomb.  The grapevine speaks of the fruit of His Spirit that is present in His people.  If you look carefully you will notice that the windows on either end of the building have elements of the unfurled shroud and grapevine in them.  The burst of light reminds us that Jesus is “The true light that gives light to every man.” (John 1:9)  You will notice also that the people depicted in the smaller windows on either end of the building are dressed in contemporary clothing.  The message is that the Christian life is about the present.  Our faith is not simply a backward looking faith.  We look around and see the work of Christ today.  We also look to the future with great hope.  The window to the West shows ministry, a cup of cold water in Jesus’s name.  The window to the East shows witness, a word from God’s Word shared with a child.  In summary the message is serving and sharing.  A number of people have walked into my office through the years and reported that the windows inspired them to come in and seek to have their spiritual needs met.  That is exactly what we prayed for.  Pray that God will continue to speak to the thousands who pass by each day.

Dan Wooldridge

Today at the conference in Grapevine I heard a new thought about relational evangelism.  Relational evangelism means building relationships so that there will be an opportunity to share Jesus.  A relationship is a bridge over which the message travels.  The message of new life in Christ is a very heavy message.  The bridge needs to be strong so that it will bear the weight.  Strong relationships take time and effort.  This does not mean that we cannot share with someone we have just met.  It means that we will be more effective in most cases with people who know that we love them. 

How many people do you know who seem to need the Lord?  What will you do to build a strong bridge to them that will bear the weight of the message of Christ?  When we stop building bridges our churches are out of the Lord’s business.  Witness to your world.

                                           Dan Wooldridge

Engage is the operative word for the conference which began tonight at FBC Gravpevine.  Seven of our staff are here.  We also sat with Don Cramer during the conference.  The program consisted of music by the Justin Cofield band who once played at Lane 7 at Crestview, a sermon by Bob Roberts an author and pastor from the Metroplex.  A testimony and song by Vince Carter who played on two national championship teams at Oklahoma and for the Oakland Raiders, and a message by Steve Stroope.  It was a good night.  Great emphasis was placed upon relational evangelism as the essential ingredient of all evangelism.  Disciple making was also emphasized which calls for investment of time, attention, and relationships.

We pick up again at nine.  Pray for us that God will speak to our hearts.  Pray also that we will be inspired as a team of ministers to go home refreshed, affirmed and ready to make a difference.

Dan Wooldridge

Someday Jesus will return to earth.  This is so clearly affirmed that to deny it is to disregard the authority of the Word of God.  The Apostle Paul did not know exactly when Jesus would come any more than do we.  The admonition he gave to the believers at Thessalonica still applies to us today.  I have a particular way of outlining this wonderful passage.

BE REAL    Paul called his recipients “sons of light”.  We are never to be in the dark.  We have enough information about the Lord and His coming to keep us alert to the signs.  We also know what it means to be a child of God, and should know what the evidences are for a genuine relationship with Christ.  Those who participate in churches should always take special care that they are not “playing church”.  The Lord knows those who are His.  He frequently warned those who might be unprepared.  Several of His parables illustrate the real danger of assuming we are ready to meet Him at His return.

BE RELIABLE    We are saved to serve the Lord.  We are to be busy building His Kingdom.  Unlike those who do not understand where history is heading, we are to move forward with confidence knowing our own destiny and the destiny of the world.  Being sober means taking life seriously.  We are to recognize what is important and what really is not.  We are to be aware that spiritual warfare rages about us, and we should have on our spiritual armor.

BE READY    The Lord will come suddenly.  Those who are unprepared will not have time to correct themselves.  Even if Jesus does not come in our lifetime, the reality of his sudden coming is realized at our death.  One of the early spiritual leaders of the church was asked when we should repent.  He answered that one should repent the day before they die.  In reply his questioner said, “But we do not know when we will die?”  “Then repent today”, he said.  Good Advice!

Once a year, I try to get our ministry staff out of town for a retreat of some sort.  This weekend we will leave Sunday afternoon if the Lord allows and return on Tuesday night. 

Instead of just having anyone to fill in the evening service, I have asked Troy Allen who is pastor of FBC Florence to preach for us.  Troy is our son in law.  He and our daughter Paige have served two churches in Texas as pastor and have been at Florence for seven years.  Troy has been our bible study leader on a youth ski trip.  He has spoken at our men’s breakfast, and filled our pulpit on one other occasion.  He has also been a leader in several Disciple Now programs in the past.  Paige is known by many of our people because of having been a student at HPU and UT in our early years here.  She helped with one of our children’s choir presentations and participated faithfully in many parts of our ministry until she and Troy married.  She currently is involved with the Community Bible Study which meets at Crestview and has been a bible study leader in that program.  Many of our people also know their sons Hudson and Greydan who have attended the children’s bible study at Community Bible Study and visited other programs here.  Shannon and I are excited that there is another baby due this summer, a little girl.

   I want to strongly urge you to be in attendance Sunday night.  Troy is one of our youngest pastors in Williamson County.  He is currently moderator of the Williamson Baptist Association.  We have known Troy since he was twelve and were privileged to be a pastor to him and his family in Kingsville, Texas.  He has faithfully served the Lord since he was a child, and I want our people to know him and pray for him and his family.   One of our newest members will lead the music for the service.  She too is a young adult.  Heather Daniel Perkins is an accomplished musician and has led music in numerous churches, and Christian ministries.  She is leading worship at Super Summer at Hardin Simmons.  This is one of the Youth Evangelism Schools.  We are planning to have Heather help us with various parts of our ministry this year and we want you to meet her.  Barry Smith will be introducing our speaker.  Barry actually was Troy’s bible study leader in Kingsville and has known him for a long time.  DON’T MISS THIS SERVICE.  IT SHOULD BE A REAL BLESSING.

Dan Wooldridge

   ”Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”  So said the Greeks who came to the Feast of the Passover very close to the time of the crucifixion. (John 12:21)  It was one audience that Jesus did not directly grant.  Instead He launched into a teaching about one seed dying so that many seeds can be produced.  What did He mean?  At least one meaning that should be taken from this passage is that Jesus was about to multiply His ministry by dying for us.  This He would do by the victory of the resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit.  There is one factor that must not be overlooked in this.  The Holy Spirit indwells those who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  We are called to give audience to a world that wants to see Jesus.  It is a daunting task to be sure.  We are to so be filled with the presence of Jesus Christ that when people spend time with us they are to in some measure be aware that there is something different about our lives.   That something, in reality, is someone; Jesus.  Christ wants to make Himself known through us.  He wants people to see Him fleshed out again in human flesh; our flesh.  The hand on their shoulder may be ours, but the heart behind the hand should be His.  How can this be?  The key is in our prayer life.  We should spend more time praying that Christ could indwell us by His Spirit.  Our list of needs that we so often lift to Him are not nearly as fundamental to the life we desire as is His own presence in us.  Sometimes His means of meeting our needs will be found in a more dynamic and powerful experience of His life in us.  When people come to Christians for answers, there should be a sense that Christ is so real to us, and in us, that he cannot be reduced to an academic pursuit. 

How else can you explain the impact of the Apostles than to affirm that their message was more than words?  Transformed lives speak louder than words.

Dan Wooldridge

       Jesus was always noticing one person in the midst of crowds.  Whether it was one sick woman who touched the hem of this garment, or one lonely man who climbed a tree, or one blind beggar who wouldn’t be silenced, Jesus showed us love in action and helped us see the importance of one life.  When you pray for me, ask God to help me learn the wonder of the one and the many.  What I mean by that is the real challenge of not being so caught up in the many that I miss the one.  Whenever Jesus focused on one, there were inevitably others in the crowd who also wanted His attention.  Somehow He knew where to focus.  Any of us who would follow Him need that same awareness.  Lives are changed one by one.  Jesus changes them.  He uses all of us who love and serve Him to communicate His Word and His presence to people one by one.  I believe that churches need a healthy dose of the ability to see one among the many.  Churches also need more people who can put self aside and invest in the lives of others.  In my own experience, my needs are met as I make myself available to help meet the needs of others.  One of our senior adults said it well.  “When I am feeling lonely or sad, I pray and ask God to lead me to someone whom I can encourage and bless.  As I encourage and bless others, I feel the presence and the joy of the Lord.”

Let us go and do likewise.

Dan Wooldridge

     Some have labeled the western mindset as “the culture of death”.  The enthronement of self always leads to the devaluation of others.  The recent case of Calee Anthony illustrates just how far this self centered approach to life can take us.  It is almost certain that this beautiful little girl was murdered by her mother.  Though not yet proven in court, this would be only one of a number of cases of child murder by parents in recent years.  We should not be surprised.  For twenty five years now, we have been allowing the unborn to be disposed of legally.  It was inevitable that this transition would come. 

Jesus reminded us of the God’s law as to the consequences of murder.  He further illustrated that the perverse heart was the seed bed for these actions.  A hateful attitude is murderous.  Such a heart wills destruction and therefore is guilty before God.  Exodus 21:22-25 reminds us that the unborn are valued by God.  The Lex Talionis code contained here was designed to limit punishment that it not exceed the offense.  It sounds strange to our ears today.

Deuteronomy 24:19 reminds us that the weak and helpless are to be cared for and that God rewards those who bless them.  Luke 20:47 records the severe consequences of not taking care of the defenseless.  All human life is precious to God.  God watches to see how we relate to and care for one another.  He will not overlook a callous disregard for human life.

Dan Wooldridge