The theme for the week of the 2015 Fall Meeting of the Baptist Bible Fellowshipis Revitalization. The last night, Wednesday, was filled with energy and faith The music, as every other night, was uplifting and fresh. It was held at High Street Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri.
We had two great speakers tonight. Jerel Bland pastors The Hope Church in Detroit, Michigan and Anthony Milas is pastor at Granite United Church in Salem, New Hampshire.
Below are some of the highlights of these two messages…
Our Real Enemy – Jerel Bland
The question we should ask is not ‘What do people need?’ but ‘What does God want to say?’ In asking that question, Jerel felt led to encourage us that we should deal with problems with a spiritual mentality. (Romans 8:5)
Ignorance in our churches is rampant. We are very clear on Who we worship and what brings. But we often do not understand what we are to fight against. People often come together, not because of what they have in common but what they have a common enemy.
We should not be ignorant of Satan’s designs – to steal, to murder. His primary objection is to destroy and his primary method is deception. Satan is not a scape-goal for man to excuse his actions. It’s not always the devil’s fault. But it is important to say boldly, the devil is out to deceive, and steal, and destroy.
We have to remind our churches who we fight and how we fight. Detroit has led in every major negative social statistic. People blame manufacturing fall. But the fall of Detroit began with the race riots of ’67. It was similar to what happened in Ferguson, MO. We are engaged in a war for souls.
To Satan, no lives matter. No black lives, no white lives, no lives in uniforms, no inner cities lives, no American lives, no Muslim lives, no lives. He wants to destroy them all.
But Jesus comes to give life, more abundant life. The only change that will matter is taking Jesus to people. This will prove not only that Satan is wrong, but Jesus is right. When you see people of different races come together in a place like Detroit, it causes people to know that Jesus makes a difference. May God use us to be His vehicle for reconciliation.
We not only have the opportunity to love, serve and worship the same God, but we have the same enemy – Satan. Let’s stand for truth!
Jerel Bland serves as lead pastor of The HOPE and the K-LOVE Hope Center in Detroit, Michigan. The father of six and recent grandfather is focues on using every resource, partnership and skill that God has given, to do his part to bring true revival to the city of Detroit.
We’re Better Together – Anthony Milas
As Christians, we are the reflection of Jesus Christ to our world. We are hope dealers to a world that needs to hear the Gospel. Jesus is a game-changer and a life-changer. The world needs to hear that message.
Revitalization matters because our world needs Christ. When we walk in a room, the atmosphere should get better because we are children of God. But sometimes the picture of God’s church gets blurry.
We don’t got to serve God, we get to serve Him. We aren’t perfect, but we get to point people to a perfect God who will forgive them.
The purpose of our fellowship of churches is to encourage one another to do the work of God to reach a lost world for Christ. The best days of our ministry, our church and
Jesus Christ is who He said He is and can and will do what He will do. Don’t talk about what God can’t do. Talk about what you want Him to do through you.
We may love our city but Jesus died for our city. He wants us to reach them no matter what. Do anything short of sin to reach them. God has chosen to use you to reach your community.
The greatest ‘I told you so’ story in history is the resurrection of Jesus. He told them He would die and rise again. And He did! When He showed up, He told His disciples that He was given all authority. He was going to Heaven and put His disciples in charge of the mission to ‘go and make disciples.’ (Matt. 28:18-20). We don’t have to figure out what God wants us to do.
Why revitalization? Because the job is not done. It is the church’s job to make disciples. The world needs us. And because the next generation of church leaders need to be trained.
The Holy Spirit is given that we might tell people about Jesus everywhere (Acts 1:8). We need to go everywhere telling everybody Jesus. But when Jesus told His disciples this and left, they just stood there. ‘Why are you still standing here?’ It’s not complicated. The church is God’s game plan to take the gospel to the world.
Let’s get ‘er done!
Anthony Milas is lead pastor at Granite United Church in Salem, New Hampshire. He has a passion to transition dying churches, multiply healthy churches, and birth new churches. He and his wife have been married for 29 years and have three children and three grandchildren.
You can read my other articles about this meeting at: Revitalization.