It is Time to Rally Once Again!

Introduction

It has been my honor to serve the Lord and VAIB over the past few years. My time as

We Must Rally Back to God

Psalm 127:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows: For so he giveth his beloved sleep.

I say we must rally back to God based on the principle laid out in these two verses. Note that “Except the Lord” is used twice in the first verse.

‌Except the LORD build the house…Except the LORD keep the city

‌The idea, as we all know, is this. Without God, any person who builds a house (understood as a family) or watches over a city (understood as protecting the town) is treading water. They are accomplishing absolutely nothing. It is, as the Holy Spirit notes, vain. The word “vain” implies being wholly worthless or useless.

‌I think verse 2 is amusing. It seems the Holy Spirit is mocking many of us with this verse. Look at it again.

Psalm 127:2 KJV 1900

2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows: For so he giveth his beloved sleep.

As I was diving into this verse, I realized it was a picture of those who try doing things without God.

We get up early thinking we all have this must get done. Then, we stay up late trying to finish everything we started because we feel they must be finished to accomplish the task given to us. When we finally lay down to get some rest, our minds feed on the “bread of sorrows.” What an exciting description! It means the food of complex, difficult, or painful work.

How many of you try to sleep at night but all you can do is think or feed on the problems, plans, and challenging people of your church? You lay there all night scheming and thinking of all the work that you need to get done or it is all going to fall apart.

‌What are we doing? We are leaving God out and planning all that we will do to handle the issues at hand. I know; we try to spiritualize it by saying we are pleading with God to work. However, I know from firsthand experience we are pleading with God to bless what WE have planned and use OUR schemes to accomplish His will. Did you see the problem? We are not relying on God to do what God does! Instead, we are removing Him by making our plans.

‌Here is the funny thing!

‌All of us have preached this passage in our churches. We often preach it to help our people understand the value of making God the center of their homes. However, I submit to you this morning that we must be reminded of this thought.

‌Except the LORD build the church, we, as pastors, labor in vain.

‌I have thought about this a lot over the past year. I will admit that much of my ministry was an attempt to build God’s church through my efforts. I became so convicted this past year that I completely changed how I viewed how a church should be built. I returned to that remarkable passage of Scripture where Christ told Peter...

Matthew 16:18 KJV 1900

18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Each local church represented here at this meeting belongs to Christ, not us as pastors. We must remove the mindset that this is our church.

I realized, we, Calvary Baptist Church in Bedford, belong to Him, and He is the One Who builds His church. As a pastor (under-shepherd), my sole responsibility is to empty myself of who I am and allow God to work through me. With that in mind, I instituted Sunday nights as nothing more than a prayer meeting. We started in January by praying straightforwardly as a church each Sunday night. That prayer was this, “Lord, we belong to you. You said you would build your church. We offer ourselves to you as the avenue of building our church, and we are counting on your strength, power, and ability to bring growth to our church.” Here is the fantastic thing! We have experienced more growth in our church than ever before. Why? As a church, we turned back to the source of spiritual growth. The Lord Jesus Christ is spiritual life. I learned a valuable lesson as a pastor. It is one that I stand here reminding you today. Nothing of value is accomplished unless God is the one doing it.

You cannot build a godly family without God. You cannot keep watch over a city without God. Pastor, you cannot build the ministry entrusted to you without God. As the Virginia Assembly of Independent Baptists, we cannot protect our state without God.

There is no doubt that we are facing a great crisis in America. We have moved so far away from God that God is nonexistent in our government, educational institutions, and society. Gone are the days when we were considered a Christian nation founded upon Biblical principles. It is nice to preach and speak of our forefathers and their belief in God. Unfortunately, that time has passed in America, and it is time that we, as pastors, accept that fact. However, it does not mean that God cannot work, that our churches are no longer valid, or that an assembly like ours cannot be effective. It means that we have to rally back to the source of all power, the Lord Jesus Christ. We must preach Christ. We must stand firm in our resolve to represent Him no matter the cost.

Over the past month, I have been privileged to preach through 1 Corinthians 15. What a blessed chapter in God’s Word! As you know, the entire chapter centers upon the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The main issue addressed in that chapter is the false teaching that Christ did not rise from the dead. I love the language the Holy Spirit uses in that chapter. He gives the counterargument based on the premise that Christ did not rise from the dead. If that is true, our faith is vain, we remain in sin, and we are men most miserable. Eventually, the Holy Spirit states that if Christ is not alive, we should eat and drink for tomorrow we die. What a sad and miserable existence if Christ is not alive. But listen to verses 33 and 34 of that same chapter!

1 Corinthians 15:33–34 KJV 1900

33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

‌Essentially, we are warned not to fall for the false teachings of this world. If we do, we will spiral into a negative message that will only cause others to give up their hope in Christ. Instead, we need to “AWAKE to righteousness and sin not.” In other words, “Wake UP and Rally back to Christ, the Righteous One.” The last half of verse 34 is a provocative statement. The Holy Spirit states, “For some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” I believe there are two implications here. First, some believers did not possess actual knowledge of God’s character or they would not have been questioning Christ’s resurrection. Second, many unbelievers need to hear the gospel (the death, burial, and resurrection) of Christ. No matter which way you lean, the fact remains that both are shameful. It is a shame to turn away from knowing God. It is a shame to turn away from preaching the gospel. Now note this. This book, 1 Corinthians, was written to believers, not unbelievers. It was a letter penned to the local church of Corinth. If you study this book, you will find the underlying issue in this church was their abandonment of God. They were doing things their way instead of doing it God’s way. The result was a flawed testimony for God, and nothing was being accomplished.

Is it possible that America is in its current condition because churches have abandoned doing things God’s way? Have we, as pastors, become so caught up in the latest and greatest way to build a church that we have taken on what is Christ’s responsibility?

God placed me here this morning not to preach to those who are not here but to you. We, as pastors, must return to God and start letting God build our churches. We must return to preaching the Word of God and nothing more.

If we don’t, we are doing everything in vain. We are tired men who spend our days and nights dreaming up more useless ways we can build God’s church. Since my epiphany about Christ building His church, I have experienced better sleep and easier days.

I like the ending to 1 Corinthians 15:57-58

1 Corinthians 15:57–58 KJV 1900

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

There it is again! Our victory is through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our job is simple. We are to be stedfast, unmoveable, and always abounding in the LORD’s work. Not our own. When place God in His rightful place as builder and watcher, our “labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

Now, back to the text and my next rallying point.

We Must Rally Around Life

Psalm 127:3–4 KJV 1900

3 Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: And the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; So are children of the youth.

Verse 3 is all about life. From the very beginning, God ordained that men and women be married and have babies. That is the bottom line. It is reinforced by this great Psalm. Children are an “heritage” or an inheritance directly from the Lord. Adding to that is the fact that the “fruit of the womb” is the Lord’s reward to parents.

This very basic issue of life is the very issue under attack throughout American society. There is an all out attack by Satan to undermine the family unit.

All across our educational and media outlets are efforts to redefine what is man, a woman, and a baby. For years, we were told that it a fetus was nothing more than a unborn fusion of cells. Thus, a baby wasn’t a baby until it was born and having an abortion then was not morally wrong. Medical science, of all things, brought that argument down with the dawn more sophisticated sonograms showing a living, breathing person from the moment of conception. So, essentially, that argument didn’t work even though there are those who refuse to accept what if right in front of them. Now, we have experts telling us that woman or man is not really a woman or man. Instead, you can be whatever you want to be. You be dog, cat, or elephant. With this new modern intelligence comes the effort to redefine marriage so that it is morally acceptable for a man to marry another man or a woman another woman. Even more frightening is this effort to force all this upon our children in our public schools and libraries. Everyday there are new articles from new’s outlets stating this is the new norm.

For example, on September 18 (less than two weeks ago), USA today released a new article titled, “What is modern monogamy? Why it’s a fit for some couples?” Listen to just this one small excerpt from this article.

The term "modern monogamy" is sometimes used to speak to a dynamic where an individual prefers an exclusive partnership with another person but understands relationships as impermanent or seasonal. Many To Honor. (2023) What is modern monogamy? How it's saving some long-term relationships. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2023/09/18/what-is-modern-monogamy-how-its-saving-some-long-term-relationships/70824743007/

The article goes on to state that is okay to be monogamous relationship with someone and know that it you don’t have to stay in the relationship long term. In fact, it is okay to move from one monogamous relationship to another whether with a man or woman. That, my friend, is teaching straight from Satan himself.

This is of course just one of thousands of articles and teachings floating around society today. We know that everything from abortion to transgender is being accepted by our entire society at an alarming rate. It is like a tidal wave of immorality sweeping across this country.

By the way, none of this should be surprising to us. We are read the end of the book! We know what must take place before Christ’s impenitent return. However, we, as pastors and churches, have a duty to stand for life. We must stand to protect what God has ordained. We do it regardless of what some intellectual genius has to say. We stand no matter what a president does or says. We stand for life because God ordained life and He blesses those who embrace what He has ordained. In fact, now is the time for us to rally around for our children.

As we know, that battle is being fought in our backyards just as it is around the nation. Now, it not the time to give up. Now is the time to rise up and rally to God as we rally for our children.

Note in our text that children are “as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.”

As I thought about this verse in context of the VAIB, I was reminded of this struggle. When I first came to Calvary, I inherited an aging congregation. I immediately knew that our biggest challenge was to get younger. We needed younger families. We needed more children. As you know, every congregation needs to reach the next generation in order for that church’s ministry continue. For some churches that may not be an issue. I know that it comes easier for some congregations than others. Praise the Lord if you one of those congregations. I would encourage you, as a pastor, to thank the Lord everyday for the youth you have. You are truly blessed. However, not every congregation is so blessed. In fact, what I am hearing from around our great state is that there way more churches with older and diminishing congregations than ever. There is a strong possibility that in the next 5-10 years that 50% of the Independent Baptist Churches in Virginia alone will be gone. The bleak picture is that we are not reaching the next generations.

Here is my thought!

We must get back to rallying around life not just as churches, but as an organization as well.

Over the past 10 years, one of the greatest criticisms I have faced in our church is my constant harping on reaching young couples and filling our church with children. Many have said, “Pastor you care more for them than you do the older people in our church!” That is totally not true! However, our church will not survive for the Lord if we don’t rally around young families and children. Churches who lose their focus on their children will lose the ability to fight the fight for the Lord. Remember the verse. Children are “arrows in the hands of a mighty man.” What are arrows for? They are for shooting the enemy. Arrows are offensive weapons. One of the greatest weapons of medieval history was the English longbow. Every long bowman had a quiver full of arrows. When those men fired their volleys of arrows into an opposing army it was devestating. Wave after waver of arrows from a longbow demoralized armies on the battlefield.

Here is my application!

Perhaps our enemy is no longer demoralized because we have quit firing volleys of arrow. Our supply of arrows is drying up.

Why? We lost our focus. We got away from God. We became weary in our efforts to stand up for life. Every church and every pastor has their own unique situation. At our church, the task of bringing young families and children into our congregation has been difficult work. Yet, we must not give up. We must remain unmoveable abounding in our love for life. We cannot back down.

This brings me to my last challenge.

We Must Rally Against the Enemy

Psalm 127:5 KJV 1900

5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: They shall not be ashamed, But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

While studying this verse, I realized we may not be interpreting it correctly. Hear me out! The whole context of this Psalm is that God must do everything. If we leave God out, everything is in vain. The examples are building a house without God and watching over a city without God. From there, the Holy Spirit dives into the importance of life (children) and reminds us that life is God’s way of building a house and watching over a city (nation). Then, He encourages us to have our “quiver full of them.” He then goes on to say...

“They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”

For as long as I can remember, everyone seems to interpret this as the children will be the ones who are not ashamed and will speak with the enemies in the gate. I have heard this preached many times. However, if you look closely, you will note that the subject of verse 5 is the men who have quivers full of children.

Blessed is the man (men) that hath his quiver full of them: They (such men) shall not be ashamed, but they (such men) shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

My interpretation is this. Men who recognize the value of life and pursue having children will be well-armed. They will have the courage to stand for life and confront anyone who would come to rob them of those precious lives. I can tell you that when my boys were young and at home, I was more than prepared to defend them. I still am. I see a direct correlation between valuing life and it being the catalyst for protecting life! People who do not value life could care less about protecting life.

We see examples of this everywhere—many of the people who promoted abortion were people who had no children. Interestingly, there are many testimonies of people who changed their minds about abortion when they had children. Today, we have this overwhelming unconcern for life. Why? Many of the people promoting immorality do not value life. We are even starting to see this in many so-called churches and church organizations. I can tell you that when churches lose sight of life, we are in big trouble. That is why this is so important.

Now, understand this: our churches are the one place where life is valued. As Independent Baptists who know and preach the true Word of God, we understand the importance of life. We know the Giver of Life, as I stated before. Thus, we are the ones who must courageously stand against the enemy. We must stand in the pulpit each Sunday and defend life without compromise. Each year, as members of this extraordinary Assembly, we must stand together and defend life in Richmond. We need this Assembly. We must have our voices heard.

Yes, I know the tiring argument that we are just a handful of pastors, and our voice is not that great. I say that is hogwash! The Bible is filled with examples of God using a small and weak group of people to fulfill His purposes. Note the description of the people He chooses to use in 1 Corinthians.