Well, don’t you love it how a plan comes together?  Do you ever suffer from “tyranny of the urgent?”  That refers to those times when your schedule seems to be continually deterred by the needs and demands of the urgent.  I had a plan for this week and it totally took another direction.  Don’t get me wrong.  Most of these scheduling detours were for good things.  Most of them had ministry written all over them.  Good things?  Definitely.  Best things?  Not so sure.

So, here I am within a half hour of Friday and I have not accomplished hardly anything that I set out to do this week.  It has just been one of those crazy weeks.  I feel like I have definitely been a Martha this week in desperate need to follow Mary’s example.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

I really feel that the Lord is telling me: “Bill, Bill.  You are trying to do so many things and accomplishing none of them with excellence.  Choose the one thing that is needed.  Seek first Me and everything else will fall into place (Matthew 6:33).”

So…I am going to seek Him first and invest some time in fellowship with my Lord.  I “plan” to get out that second part on the baptism of the Holy Spirit on Monday, but we will see.

In the meantime, if you are like me - a little frazzled and frustrated with your schedule - then take a breath, kick back, dig into the Word, and snuggle up in the loving embrace of your heavenly Father.

I am preaching a series on the Holy Spirit The second sermon in the series was this past Sunday, May 11, and it was entitled “The Seal is For Real!” Can you guess what the sermon was about? You got it: The sealing of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. In that sermon, I mentioned that I believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit happens at the point of conversion for the believer. This view contrasts many today who say that the baptism of the Spirit is some sort of second blessing that comes at some point after conversion and is often evidenced by speaking in tongues. They often see salvation as being a two-stage initiation. During my sermon I did not have time for fully go into detail regarding the foundation for my view, so I wanted to use my blog as an opportunity to do so.

To keep this simple, I’m splitting it into two blogs. Today’s will be showing the Scriptural support for my views. The second (coming Friday) will address the three passages in Acts that are often used to support the second blessing view.

For starters, let me state just a couple of relevant exegetical or hermeneutical (biblical interpretation) principles.

1. When the common sense reading of the passage makes perfect sense, then seek no other sense.
2. Narrative passages are often descriptive rather than prescriptive. They still contain valuable principles for us and have been included in the Word for a purpose, but that does not always make them normative for daily Christian living (Hello, Onan!).
3. Scripture helps interpret Scripture. Passages that are clearly teaching truth and giving us instruction should be used to help interpret narrative passages…not vice versa.

So, here is why I believe the baptism of the Spirit occurs at the moment an individual places his or her faith in Christ.

• There are only seven explicit references to the Spirit baptism in the Bible. All seven represent initiating individuals into the New Covenant (a.k.a. salvation). We find that the first six all compare/contrast the baptism of John the Baptist (repentance and water) with the baptism of Jesus (Spirit). [Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; Acts 11:16] There is no mention of Jesus saving individuals and then the Spirit comes later. Obviously, the Holy Spirit first came down to baptize believers at Pentecost (Acts 2).  This was the initial coming. Now, however, Jesus is baptizing the believer in the Holy Spirit at the time of conversion.
• The seventh reference is found in 1 Corinthians 12:13. “By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” It is precisely in the context of speaking about diverse spiritual gifts within the body of Christ that Paul states we are all baptized by one Spirit…regardless of the gift any individual has received. It is not merely those speaking in tongues; it is all believers. We all “drink” of that one Spirit.
• Jesus told Nicodemus that to be born again and see the Kingdom of God, one must be born of water and the Spirit. The presence of the Spirit is essential in salvation.
• I preached this past Sunday out of Ephesians 1:13-14 (2 Corinthians 1:21-22 is somewhat of a parallel to these verses). Neither of these literally refer to baptism in the Spirit, but both speak to an important role that the Holy Spirit plays in our lives when we give our lives to Christ.
• Ephesians 1:13 states: “In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation - in Him when you believed - were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” (bold italics mine) When you heard and believed, you were sealed. Done. Finished. You were marked with the Holy Spirit when you came to faith in Christ.
• 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 states: “Now the One who confirms us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God; He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment in our hearts.” There is no indication here that the seal, the presence of the Holy Spirit with us, is after salvation. The sealing is part of our salvation.

I will stop there for now. I want to say that even though we are baptized in the Spirit at conversion, there is still a daily need for the filling of the Spirit. The filling and the baptism are very different aspects of our life in the Spirit. At salvation, we get all of the Holy Spirit (not just an installment). With the filling, the Spirit gets all of us. That is what I am going to preach on this coming Sunday (May 18).

Check out Friday’s blog as I address the passages in Acts.

I am Baptist, born and bred. I was on the cradle roll and there has never been a time in my life where I was habitually out of church. Believe me, that is not bragging! Being in church makes little difference if you are physically present but your heart isn’t. (Remember that line.) Anyway, I grew up worshipping every Sunday, but we never raised our hands, got on our knees (except occasionally during the invitation), shouted out, or danced. Actually, I do remember that in a sanctuary of over 1000 people, there used to be one man who would shout an “AMEN” every so often. I am sure he got his share of stares. Now, this was no legalistic uptight church. We enjoyed worship and the music was phenomenal; however, outside of singing, there was no physical activity supporting our worship.

That said, why do so many Baptist churches pick and choose Scriptures with regard to worship? I must admit that I kind of cruised through Baptist History at Seminary, but when did the Baptists decide that dancing had no part in worship? When did we begin to look at raising hands as a distraction or irreverent? When did Pentacostals and Charismatics get the patent on energetic and free worship? When did shouting become something relegated to the ball field and rejected in the sanctuary?

Here is my main question: If we, as Baptists, consider ourselves people of the Book, committed to biblical inerrancy, why don’t we appropriate the physical postures we see in Biblical worship into our worship today?

Let me go ahead and address some common responses.

1. The important thing is that I worship with my heart, I don’t have to do that other stuff. There is certainly truth in the statement that the most important aspect of worship is the heart. Let’s be honest though, isn’t that often just an excuse to keep from doing the things we aren’t comfortable doing? When we are worshipping God with all of our hearts, doesn’t it make sense that it would affect our physical posture? After all, when God issued the greatest commandment in the Shema (Deut. 6:4-5), he did not stop with “Love God with heart and soul.” He added “with all your strength.” Worship is a vehicle to express our love for God. Let us not stop with the heart. Remember the statement I said earlier? “Being in church makes little difference if you are physically present but your heart isn’t.” Well, what if we turn that around. Being in church makes little difference if you are there in heart but refuse to worship Him with all of your strength (your posture). Too strong? Maybe…maybe not.
2. I am not comfortable doing those things. You see, I think that really hits the nail on the head. I would greatly appreciate someone showing me in the Bible where worship to God is meant to be comfortable for the worshipper. Granted, we receive a huge blessing when we worship God. But that is a by-product, not the goal. The main goal of worship is to exalt God above all. That might just cost me a little bit of comfort. It doesn’t take long on my knees before they start to ache. The reason we may not be comfortable with biblical postures for worship comes from our tradition, not the Word of God. Not only does the Bible show singing, shouting, raising hands, and dancing to be normative in worship, at times it even commands them. (Ps. 149:1; 100:1; 134:2; 150:4 respectively)
3. Nobody should tell me how to worship, that is my business. You are absolutely correct that no other human being should dictate how you should worship. That is between you and the Lord. But that is the point, isn’t it? Do we involve God in deciding how we will worship or do we just make those decisions for ourselves? Does God have a right to instruct us on how to worship Him? Have you consulted Him? Have you studied His Word on the subject? Too often we make our decisions based upon our own desires rather than what God wants. I am just encouraging you to talk to Him about it and obey what He says.
4. I think it is distracting when people raise hands and move too much in worship. If someone is following a biblical posture of worship and you allow it to distract your worship, then (apologies for my bluntness) the problem is with you, not them. Stop focusing on others and focus on the Lord. That is what worship is all about.
5. Doing those things in worship is irreverent. I have one question. Who decides reverence in worship: Do we or does God?

The Bible is full of references of singing, shouting, dancing, and raising hands in worship to the one true God. I could list them all for you, but it is probably more helpful if you do some research on your on and not simply take my word for it. It is a tremendous study.

One final word: Have you ever paid attention to David as he leads the Ark of the Covenant into Bethlehem (2 Samuel 6)? If you picture David leading in the ark of the Covenant by serenely walking with his arms folded, you are sadly mistaken. He was dancing with all of his might…whirling in fact! {Please note: I need to lose about 70 pounds and do some serious testing of the knee before I would attempt a whirl! But it is a concern of health, not proper worship } When chastised by his wife he states, “I was dancing before the LORD…I will celebrate before the LORD, and I will humble myself even more and humiliate myself.” (2 Sam. 6:21-22a)

Let us be bold enough to worship our LORD with all of our strength!

Every Tuesday my staff and I go to lunch. It is creatively called the “STAFF LUNCH.” I instituted staff lunch several years ago for the purpose of bonding. We rarely talk about ministry issues or projects. We just hang out and always laugh. My guess is that Staff Lunch will be a foundation for many future blogs. (Johnny, our Worship and Senior Adult Pastor, always provides me the opportunity to exercise my creative mind in coming up with food concoctions for him to eat. Another time…another blog.)

Anyway, this past Tuesday the boys and I went to Chick-fil-a for Staff Lunch. We had a good time, though I was extremely disappointed that Johnson did not accept my challenge. Nothing gross, I just wanted him to climb to the top of that play thing they got in there and slide down the slide. So what if the manager was watching. Who cares if there were 12 kids in there with double that many parents eagle-eyeing them? Alas, Johnny refused the challenge. That may have been the first time ever he has opted out, so I won’t go too hard on him.

As we are leaving the restaurant I go to put on my shades and they break. I was so disappointed. I had actually paid $10 for these…they were high class!! Huge step up from the ones I used to get at the Dollar Tree. So, I had the boys drive me to a nearby Walmart. I make the statement, “You can just drop me off and wait in the car…but don’t leave me.” Then I thought about it. “You know, if you did leave me, I bet I could find a ride with someone I know within 30 minutes.” You see, it is very rare for me to go to Walmart and not see someone I know. The more I thought about it, the more my faith and courage grew.

That’s it. Leave me here. You go on back to church. I will have a ride within 30 minutes, with someone I know! The Walmart Challenge had been inaugurated. I walk into the store and immediately go to the bathroom. “Lord, I just need to go take care of business. I really don’t want to meet my ride in the bathroom!” As I come out, I run into a lady that has been visiting with us at church. If you are counting, that means I ran into someone familiar within approximately a minute and a half. We talk for a minute. A lady alone. Her name escaped me at that moment. Nah, I am going to pass. There will be someone else.

I get my new shades and some shampoo (I know my head is shaved, but it is a habit and I like it ). So begins the search. At the 8 minute mark, I spot them. Crystal and Cory Giffin along with Brayden, their 4 year old daughter, riding in the cart. “HEY!” So we chat for a moment. Then, “So, uh, would you mind giving me a ride back to the church?” They agree with confused looks on their faces. I explain the challenge and they start laughing. Who would have guessed it? I had my own personal Good Samaritans within 8 minutes! I am just thankful that I did not have get the snot beat out of me to find them. I did have to wait on them while they shopped but I didn’t mind. Mission accomplished.

The Walmart Challenge: Stage 2 will be to get a ride with someone I don’t know and use the ride to share my story. Stay tuned in!

This past Sunday a little of my “retro” ran into a little bit of my “here and now.” We had a one day parenting conference with Dennis Nunn called How to Reclaim Your Rebellious Teen and How to Keep from Having To. It was a tremendous, meaningful, practical, and powerful day. At one point, Dennis talked about time. Before I tell you what he said, let me give you a flashback.

It was 1993, my senior year of college. The time was quickly approaching when our carefree, non-stop, relationship-centered days of college would be a distant memory. On the horizon were real jobs, real responsibilities, earlier bedtimes, and separation from friends you had spent the last four years living with, eating with, hanging with 24/7. DC Talk, a popular Christian band, came out with a song called Time Is. The song is about making the most of our time on earth - using the gifts and the gospel that God has given us while we have a chance. In addition to its already powerful meaning, it had special significance as each day grew us closer to graduation…and goodbye.

Right now is the time that we gotta get with it / the gift that He’s given ain’t just an exhibit / but a tool that He’s given us to use for His sake / and just as He has given, He can surely take / the signs of the times are dropping like flies / the cries of the people around us imply / they’re looking for an answer that we already know / but time is definitely on the go / all the money in the world can never stop the hands of time / and a wasted day in your life is more than a crime

I remember one late night/early morning getting together with some of my best buddies/brothers, Mark Carnes and Jackie Watts. We actually made a “music video” to Time Is which was unbelievably funny. There are still 2 VHS copies in existence. If you are lucky you might be able to view this classic footage. I make a tumble roll over a dorm lobby couch that today would definitely send me to the hospital for multiple sutures and a concussion. But those were the days of invincibility.

Fast forward 15 years (are you kidding me!). I’m happily married to a beautiful woman and we have two incredibly gifted children, 8 and 11 (those are their ages, not their names ). I am sitting in worship Sunday and Dennis states, “With children, the days are long and the years are fast.” Short and sweet. (I am pretty positive that Dennis was quoting someone else, but I can’t remember who…so I will give credit to him.) Every stay-at-home parent of a baby to preschooler knows just how long a day can be. I can remember days of coming home from work and my wife virtually saying to me “Your turn! I am off-duty!” I only had to pull those full days a couple of times to feel her pain. The days can sometime move by one tick at a time.

But then you turn around and sit down and realize “MY SON IS GETTING READY TO ENTER MIDDLE SCHOOL!” Hold up now. How did that happen? I had always heard that time flies, but now it is a whole new ballgame. This isn’t simple leisurely flying; this is rocket ship speed.

Dennis also mentioned that you actually only parent your children until they are teenagers then you get to watch what is reaped from what you have sown. No redos? No time travel back to say or do things differently. Scary. Remember, though, that it is never to late to start doing the right thing. Forgetting what is behind…I press on…(Phil. 3:13-14)

Bottom line: Take no day for granted. As soon as you see your spouse or child or parent or friend, embrace them like you will never see them on this earth again. Tell them you love them. Think carefully before you speak. Listen more with intentional understanding. Share truth unashamedly. Deny self. Glorify God in your response and actions to others. Invest in people not things. Make the absolute most of every day on this earth, for Heaven is just around the corner.

a wasted day in your life is more than a crime