At such a young age I encountered an experience that, no matter how old or young I was, I could speak of. I could warn of. I could advise about. To deny me the space to speak about my experience would be disrespectful at the least, but potentially damaging to those I could help at the worst. I taught my younger brother the lesson as soon as I could, and to my knowledge he has never made the same mistake I did. It seems there was validity in what I was able to share.

Obviously, I’m headed somewhere with this. I am growing concerned about a trend that is crippling us as a movement. Indeed I’ve written articles and posts about it, and shared my feelings with other men I respect, both older and younger. This trend is that of, “despising the youth” around us.

I realize that we have seen an increasing number of young men and women grow disinterested in traditional Pentecostalism, and an ever-widening gap between those who are considered “young” and those, “old”. But this is not a new problem. I think it’s just becoming more noticed now that it is reaching what, in my estimation, is a critical mass. It has grown to a point where it can no longer be ignored. The concern I have is definitely for those youth and the direction they’re headed, but it’s also for an aging population among us that is further pushing the wedge into this divide rather than mending the breach.

Shame on those among us who, with all seemingly good intentions, further cripple our movement with an exclusionary disrespect and segregation of a generation who will one day replace us. They will not be trained through expulsion, led by castigation, helped by neglect, encouraged by insults or empowered by ridicule. To deride a generation saying they don’t have, “enough corn in the crib”, are “all hat and no cattle”, “wet behind the ears”, or whatever other self-aggrandizing statement can be quickly quipped, is nothing more than a shovel-full of dirt being dug into the grave of our future efforts to evangelize the world.

I am now 39 years old, have been in ministry for more than 20 years, have married, buried, consoled, counseled, prayed with and for more people than I could count, though the faces of radiant joy and overwhelming grief and suffering regularly show themselves vividly in my memories. I have experienced life and death, blessing and cursing, trials and triumphs, successes and failures, injury and healing, miracles and disappointments… yet to some, I am but a “young man”. I realize that I have much more life to live, and many more lessons to learn… in fact, I often feel inadequate with my knowledge and frustrated with the shallowness of my accomplishments. But on this side of the middle of life, I can see that life has taught me many lessons of value. Men my age and even older are still considered a voice of youth or even inexperience by men not much older who may have a few more gray hairs, but perhaps not equal experience or wisdom. Understand that I am not making a case to demand or even desire respect or a “place on stage” from anyone… I am certainly quite confident in the reality of my life and ministry, and receive all the validation I need from the God who called me and the people whose lives I’ve influenced. What bothers me is the pattern I see where aging men further separate themselves from a generation that needs them the most by demeaning their voices, minimizing their experiences, and marginalizing their value among us.

I realize that this may sound disrespectful to an older generation that has earned a place among us as elders and leaders, but that is not the intention. In fact, I love, admire and respect those who have lived a life of sacrifice and paid a price to earn a voice among this world. My intention, rather, is to speak a cautionary word to those who might see their age, position or experience as validation in the suppressing of a voice we desperately need among us.

As the icons and heroes, conference-speakers and camp-preachers of our younger days age and die, we will be faced with the fearful reality that, though there may be some to take their place next year, the crop is growing thinner and thinner. Next decade, if the Lord withholds His coming, how many ministers will we have in our movement? How many pastors, preachers and elders?

Further castigate and demean the youth of today if you wish. Quiet the voice of experience, whether it be young or just “young”, if you wish. Make pithy remarks about the accomplishments of a generation younger than us if you wish. But when we sit on the edge of our bed in years to come with whited hair, frail bones and weathered skin… and when we consider the vast expanse of unharvested fields and lack of laborers in that day… just remember that we had a choice today to contribute to it, or try to make it better.

1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

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Unfortunately most people are not taking the responsibility for themselves to have a changed life, which includes altering several things like:

• the way they think
• the places they go
• the friends they have
• and the things they allow or include in their life.

Often there is no real desire to change, mostly just guilt for being the way they are.

God can open the prison doors, but when he taps you on the side and says, “get up and get out”, you’ve got to go. Then, as Peter, realize that was just the first stage of deliverance… there are guards to that prison that you must go past who will put you back in if you let them, and an iron gate to the city that will test you further… and it won’t open until you encounter it.

Acts 12:8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. (NIV)

Deliverance will still require full repentance and a transformed, renewed mind. People can’t escape the fact they must own their responsibility of a continued change of life. When a person receives the Holy Ghost, they receive the power to change. In Romans 12:1-2, Paul is speaking to the church and telling them that the key area of transformation is the renewing of the mind. Many people receive the Holy Ghost but never have their mind renewed. While they have the power to change, they don’t because they are walking around with the same old mind.

Sometimes God’s deliverance comes in different ways, too.

• Sometimes God just gives us a different view of the problem. He teaches us what it problem is.
• Sometimes, He destroys the cause of the trouble Himself (Pharaoh’s army).
• Sometimes He uses us and He uses our own efforts to overcome and destroy the trouble (Noah built a boat).
• Sometimes He causes our enemies (or trouble) to destroy themselves (Gideon and the Midianites).
• Sometimes He helps us to endure the trouble, and sometimes prevents the effects (Joseph).
• Sometimes He puts someone or something in our life to help us through it (Elijah and the ravens, Daniel in the Lion’s den, Paul’s help while in prison).
• Sometimes He doesn’t remove the trouble at all, but prevents the consequences (Paul and the viper bite, the 3 Hebrew boys).
• Sometimes He allows the consequences to come upon us to show us He’s the only thing we truly desire. God will allow our sin to punish us for our wrong… He chastens those He loves.

Ultimately, God will COMPLETELY deliver us when this life is over and our final rest is with Him. Until then, we have this life to “endure to the end”.

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II Thes.1:11 states “Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power.” The Greek rendition of power (dunamis) here means force; might; violence; strength; mighty work, etc. Matt. 11:12 relays “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”According to God’s plan and through His Spirit, prayer has the power to turn people from the power of Satan to the power of God. Acts 26:18 says, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto the power of God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

Light is a kind of “energy” that exists as a range of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye. Have you opened your eyes and evaluated your life lately to determine if you may be wasting some valuable time on “formless energy”…trivial things that are temporal and don’t really matter in the long-run? Remember, prayer has eternal value and when we pray in accordance to the will of God and choose to release our energy or vigor in that capacity, then it will be very rewarding.

God is light. In the beginning He said, “Let there be light,” and the darkness dissipated at the entrance of it. Although the power source may have been connected partly and previously through the initial infilling of the Holy Ghost, when Christians pray, it continually turns on God’s “light switch” in their lives. The light activated from that switch also shines upon the lives of others who sit in darkest, blinded by the god of this world. We then can see the chains that bind others and direct them to God so that He can set the captives free. That light creates a fire when ignited by the burden of the Lord and we may effectively engage in fervent prayer. John the Baptist declared that Jesus would baptize “with the Holy Ghost and fire.” If that fire is truly shut up in our bones, as was the case with Jeremiah, then surely we will speak God’s Word in prayer. Jer. 23:29 says “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD.” Ps. 119:105 also declares “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” That fire can burn away the chains and that light can cause the blind to see!

Once while in the corner of a dark church closet, engaged in vigorous intercessory prayer for a lost soul (stranger) that I beforehand just had met on the streets, a brilliant, bright, white, natural light suddenly appeared in the corner where I was praying and hovered above and overshadowed me for about one minute! It was unlike anything I had ever seen or experienced before! What emanated from that comer was not an overhead fluorescent light activated from a light switch that was turned on nor an iridescent lamp that was swiftly plugged into a power socket, but rather it was light generated from “power from on high!” It was evident that this glorious presence of God was manifested by tapping into the Power Source through prayer. Another young lady in the church was present nearby when the light appeared. So, she was a witness of this divine manifestation also, and this was such a testimony…she shortly later received the Holy Ghost. No human being had cut on the light to generate this power, but rather God Himself was the power source…and the light, as well! He is the Light of the World. Ps. 27:1 says “The Lord is my light and my salvation…” God is “the light that shineth in darkness and…the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:5, 9). This appearance of light is just a glimpse of what God desires to unveil. Light travels at a speed of about 186,000 miles per second. God is faster. Time cannot even measure or confine Him. In fact, God is Omnipresent. He’s already there. Miracles can happen in an instant! Prayer is exciting! Prayer is powerful!

Just as His presence descended upon the mercy seat behind the veil on the Ark of the Covenant in the holiest of holies, so does His light and fire consume the sacrifice of prayer to bring mercy in this sinner’s stead. God has many wonderful ways in confirming that He has heard our prayers when we go beyond the veil and abide in that secret place under the shadow of the Almighty. King David relayed “For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God shall enlighten my darkness” (Ps. 18:28). Truly, what we need to help the despondent and destitute in this world is not a Doctor’s degree in “psychology,” but rather we need the Master’s degree in “kneeology,” and can obtain it when we kneel to the Master in prayer and let Him “teach us to pray.”

Pursue God with passion and pray with vigor, and be as like David in this context…”a man after God’s own heart.” Observe the many songs that he sang and the prayers that he prayed, particularly in the Book of Psalms. Notice how God was with David and how he was even named in the lineage of Christ. Wow! What will be your connection to God? More than ever, will you pray with vigor? If God sees that fervency, vigor, and passion (fire, energy, and light) emitting from you, How can He refrain from blessing you as you pray according to His will. Whosh…there comes down the Fire, Power, and Light on the mercy seat to consume that sacrifice…of prayer. What an attraction! God wants to greatly use you; so, like never before, experience the vigor of prayer!

Flo Shaw
International Coordinator
World Network of Prayer

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We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”

Solomon uttered words of wisdom in Proverbs 3:27, “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.” Indeed, the admonishment becomes even more serious when coupled with this statement from James, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin.”

Let us seize on today and cash the check we are holding in our wallet.

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Horner thought he would be horrified, because it looked like it had been through a typhoon — unloved and neglected. That old Scofield was literally read to tatters by then — covers absolutely gone, spine vanished away, glue-backing visible and all curled up, stitching coming apart, the prefatory material destroyed all the way up to Genesis 1 and the concordance vanished past the entry for “sin.” It was unbound, with stringy mess and paper debris hanging out. He was so embarrassed. He thought the doctor would chastise him and recommend he get a new study Bible if he was serious about the Word.

However he flipped through it and handed it to his wife and said, “If your Bible is falling apart, you probably aren’t.” And he was hired on the spot.

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The note was to explain about a new “noise filtering system” that was to be installed in the 1,000-plus employee complex within the coming weeks. It wasn’t the system alone that got my attention… it was what I read next.

The memo went on to say that white noise is merely a constant flood of sound that fills the air around you. It’s purposes is to dampen the other sounds and “chatter” that fill the room. As the memo went on, they described how the white noise at first will be irritating to us; it would be very noticeable, but we were encouraged to ignore this irritation. “Before you know it, you won’t even realize it’s there” the memo said, “you will become de-sensitized to the noise, and it won’t be offensive to you anymore.”

There is nothing wrong with white noise in an office space… actually it can be a very good thing as it drowns out the sounds around you. What disturbed me was the thought that “white noise” enters into the spiritual lives of Apostolic people every day! As we are bombarded daily with temptations and we are assaulted by the blunt sinfulness of the world, it first is irritating to us. But the problems start when we begin to get accustomed to this sin, and it is no longer offensive to us.

Let’s not let the sinfulness of this world drown out the voice of God in our lives.

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• Ideas don’t come from watching television
• Ideas sometimes come from listening to a lecture
• Ideas often come while reading a book
• Good ideas come from bad ideas, but only if there are enough of them
• Ideas hate conference rooms, particularly conference rooms where there is a history of criticism, personal attacks or boredom
• Ideas occur when dissimilar universes collide
• Ideas often strive to meet expectations. If people expect them to appear, they do
• Ideas fear experts, but they adore beginner’s mind. A little awareness is a good thing
• Ideas come in spurts, until you get frightened. Willie Nelson wrote three of his biggest hits in one week
• Ideas come from trouble
• Ideas come from our ego, and they do their best when they’re generous and selfless
• Ideas come from nature
• Sometimes ideas come from fear (usually in movies) but often they come from confidence
• Useful ideas come from being awake, alert enough to actually notice
• Though sometimes ideas sneak in when we’re asleep and too numb to be afraid
• Ideas come out of the corner of the eye, or in the shower, when we’re not trying
• Mediocre ideas enjoy copying what happens to be working right this minute
• Bigger ideas leapfrog the mediocre ones
• Ideas don’t need a passport, and often cross borders (of all kinds) with impunity
• An idea must come from somewhere, because if it merely stays where it is and doesn’t join us here, it’s hidden.
• And hidden ideas don’t ship, have no influence, no intersection with the market. They die, alone.

Where do your best ideas come from?

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Having preached sermons for over thirty years, I have tried the various sermonic forms and concluded that expository preaching is best.

Why?

(l) Expository preaching stays close to the revealed Truth. There is no other Book like His Book. Therefore, to drift from it is to slide into relativism and personal opinions. To stay close to it is continually to come under its eternal light.

More and more, the revealed Truth is being sidelined for flash and fake. It is being substituted with cute and cunning. Nevertheless, God never set out to communicate such cheap “gospel.” He was born and died to set before the mortal mind the divine mind. Therefore, to make a life-long expounding of that heavenly thought is the commission of every Christian pulpit.

(2) Expository preaching opens up heavenly creativities that originate with the Holy Spirit Himself. To go week after week into the pastor’s study in an attempt to come up with one’s own imaginative lore and luck is to trudge into eventual boredom. Rightly so. We mere mortals in ourselves simply do not have what it takes continually to manufacture that which nurtures the eternal soul.

Therefore, we must be humble enough as preachers to admit that we need to come under the divine fire. It is that flame which ignites the energies to produce a sermon that can truly bring one’s hearers indeed into the holy of holies. It is that igniting from above which evidences an on-going Pentecost within the truly obedient.

(3) Expository preaching opens up spiritual nurturing theme upon theme, never to be come upon in any other literature than the Holy Scriptures. One inspired chapter after another overloads the earnest preacher with enough accents to spin into numerous sermons each week. These truths abound for they unfold the divine nature Himself.

To neglect these revelations is to bring sterility to the Christian holy desk. To zealously attack the Scripture’s passages with fresh zeal at each sermonic preparation is to uncover treasures from above. These are what each generation must feed upon in order to find the daily strength to overcome the trials of our sojourn.

(4) Expository preaching honors the Holy Spirit who inspired the Word. He is its Author. He is the One who superintended the Mystery. Therefore, the preacher approaches humbly that written Word in an attempt to pray for the incarnate Word to speak anew. With such petitions heavenward, the incarnate Word never disappoints. In fact, He stands at the preacher’s door and knocks.

The Holy Spirit will move the preacher’s human spirit, verse upon verse, unmasking concept upon concept, frequently rushing the preacher’s brain into such glad excitement as to stir his soul beyond measure. Such a privilege is given only to the studious pastor who gives his best to each sermon prepared and preached.

(5) Expository preaching lifts the Word to laity who seldom read the Word for themselves. We wish it were otherwise; but even in the most Biblical environs, the rush of today’s lifestyle truthfully leaves a Biblically illiterate people. This is sad; nevertheless, stark reality will aid us at this point.

All the more than that, the student-pastor keeps the Biblical foundations intact within his own life and then in the formation of his sermons. The stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Daniel, Isaiah, Jesus, Paul how they need to be told and retold. The themes of redemption, hope, sanctification, heaven, and grace need to be laid continually before the waiting congregation. This is best seen through when preaching expositorily — jewel upon jewel upon jewel — not from earth’s coves, but from heaven’s coffers.

(6) Expository preaching grows the preacher himself. When the pastor spends more time in his secular reading than he does in the sacred reading, his pulpit and prayer closet show it. The leanness is not worth it in the end. In short order, the sensitive pastor realizes what is occurring, then hopefully flees back to the Book.

Living a lifetime with the Scriptures deepens the preacher’s own wells for divine understanding. More and more the secular age cries out for those Christian pulpits who are mounted by men and women who truly know the timeless Truth which sets us all free. These preachers first know the Truth in their own experiences; then they relate its gusto to their hearers.

(7) Expository preaching outlasts the sermon. Hearers take home the Word of God, not simply a current event or a tickling humor or a flighty bit of zesty “wisdom.” Marinating in the sermonic themes from Scripture continues throughout the hearer’s day, hopefully throughout the next week until the next sermon is heard.

When the pastor opens the Word to expound upon it, verse by verse, theme by theme, accent by accent, the people hear, not so much from the human behind the pulpit, but from the Lord Himself. The ever-present Holy Spirit remains faithful to His own revelation. He then works far more meticulously within the souls of the hearers than any onlooker could ever detect on Sunday and then through the next Saturday.

(8) Expository preaching brings excitement to the pastor himself in preparing and preaching the text. It is an adventure that weekly becomes especially alluring. There is a captivation about his work that is beyond description.

While other clerical labors may grow stale, the expository preaching enlivens and enlivens with its own magnetism. There is an enticement about it which defines its own eternal definition. In other words, the preacher knows for certain that he indeed has hold of something formed in the forever it has come from “out there” and will return to the “out there.”

Such timelessness baits for the good of the gospel. It converts the soul. It cleanses church life. It brings heaven down to earth. Expository preaching reveals itself to be its own blessed reward.

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We can have obedience with or without sacrifice, and sacrifice with or without obedience (and there’s a difference between sacrifice without obedience and sacrifice with disobedience. One can be a spontaneous permissible sacrifice that is not required, such as was the case with Elijah and the fire from heaven; and the other can be sacrifice that is forbidden, which was the case with Saul). The Bible doesn’t say sacrifice is not good… but just that obedience is the better of the two.

With that being said, there are many clear examples in scripture where sacrifice elicited favor from God.

Abel, Naaman, Abraham, Gideon, Isaac, Jacob, and the list literally goes on. Ultimately, as Paul states in Romans 12, we are instructed (tasked with obedience) to present our bodies a, “living sacrifice” to Him.

Obedience is better than sacrifice… but obedience coupled with sacrifice is beautiful.

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I heard a statistic the other day that blew my mind. Anna Sklar, the author of a book called Runaway Wives, was a guest on a local talk show. In the course of the discussion, she cited that ten years ago, for every wife or mother who walked away from her home and responsibilities, six hundred husbands and fathers walked out. Today for each man who walks away, two women do.

Pause and let that sink in.

Understand, I’m not advocating either, nor am I taking sides. I’m just amazed at the unbelievably rapid rise in the number of women who choose escape as the favorite method of coping.

Contrary to our great American heritage, many of today’s citizens would rather quit than stick. That which was once not even an option is now standard operating procedure. Now, it’s “if you start to sink, jump, don’t bail” . . . or “if it’s hard, quit, don’t bother.”

Every achievement worth remembering is stained with the blood of diligence and scarred by the wounds of disappointment. To quit, to run, to escape, to hide—none of these options solve anything. They only postpone the acceptance of, and reckoning with, reality.

Churchill put it well: “Wars are not won by evacuations.”

No, battles are won in the trenches . . . in the grit and grime of courageous determination . . . in the arena of life, day in and day out, amidst the smell of sweat and the cry of anguish.

The apostle Paul, the man who bore on his body “the brand-marks of Jesus” (Gal. 6:17), was a living example of his own counsel: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. . . . Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Cor. 15:58; 16:13).

Giving thought to giving up? Considering the possibility of quitting? Looking for an easy way out? Entertaining the idea of running away . . . stopping before it’s finished . . . escaping from reality?

Don’t! The Lord never promised you a Disneyland. In fact, the only time He ever used the word “easy” was when He referred to a yoke.

Every journey is accomplished one step at a time. Don’t stop now.

Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll

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