Saturday, October 28, 2006

What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do?


Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. KJ

I was asked to speak at a conference in Dallas. The program coordinator had chosen my subject matter and sent me a book to read as my resource. The book that they sent me was a book entitled, “God Will Make a Way” by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. This book was subtitled, “What To Do When You Don’t Know What to Do.” My mind was captivated by this subtitle. What do you do when you don’t know what to do?

Many Pastors and Ministers will attest to how God sometimes makes you experience the message before you can preach the message. Before I could preach this message, I was put in a place where I had to apply this message in my life. I had been trying to take my life and ministry to the next level and it seemed like I was going around in circles. I began to think that instead of conquering the land it seemed as though I wandering aimlessly in circles. I wanted to break this cycle and go to the next level in my ministry.

However, I had done all I know to do and what many ministry experts advised to do. I was burnt out and I don’t know what to do. I had done all I could! I was living on a street called Wits End Blvd when I should have been on Destiny Drive. I didn’t know what to do.

In my life, it was ministry problems. In your life it may be marriage, health, money problems, family, singleness, divorce or the death of a love one and you don’t know what to do. You have done all you could do! You have done all you know to do and what the experts advised to do. For you, there isn’t any love in marriage, health in your body or any money in your bank. There is hatred in your divorce, you are single and you do not have a relationship in sight and at the last resort, you just don’t know what to do! What do you do when you don’t know what to do? I would like to encourage you to trust in the Lord when you don’t know what to do.

Trust In the Lord

Proverbs 3:5 states to “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.” The word translated “trust” as a means “to lie helplessly facedown.” If you are at a place in your life and you don’t know what to do you, you need to trust in the Lord. You need to lie helplessly facedown with all your heart. God is saying that you are doing too much. You are trying to hard to figure out all of life’s problems. You are working two jobs and missing church every Sunday morning and every Wednesday night. You should be working one job and coming to church on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. You should be lying helplessly facedown with all your heart for God to provide for your needs. You have tried everything else, “Why not try God?”

I can remember my worries as I brought my daughter Christal home from the hospital shortly after her birth. I worried about her, because she was very small at six pounds. I had to lay her helplessly facedown in her crib. I was worried that I would not hear her cries in the middle of the night. How wrong could I be? As my little girl who was laying helpless facedown began to cry in the middle of the night, we all jumped to attend to her needs. Her mother and grandmother as well as I vied to take care of her.

There is one thing to learn from the previous scenario. Little babies lay face down and helpless until someone comes to take care of them. This is the insight of the word. As we enter into our own helpless state where we do not know what to do, it is there that we can begin to trust in God the same way that little babies have to trust in their parent to hear their cries in the middle of the night.

You have to in your lay your life down helplessly and facedown in the circumstance while waiting on the Lord. My little girl had her father, mother and grandmother. You have God the Father, Jesus the Son and God the Holy Spirit to attend to you if you lay helplessly facedown and wait on the Lord. Do this with all of your heart. God will help you, but you have to keep waiting on Him by crying out to Him.

Stop Trying and Start Crying

Stop trying and start crying! If you don’t know what to do, just pray. Lay down your cares and burdens in crying out to God. Lie helplessly facedown and cry to God with all your heart. God will come to see about you and tell you what to do in His own time.

For those who have been trying to get right with God, you need to stop trying and start crying. Here is God’s plan for your salvation:

1. Every human is a sinner. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23
2. God's penalty for sin is death. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
3. In His great love, God has made provision for the salvation of sinners. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
4. Each person must put his trust in God's Son, Jesus Christ.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:9-10, 13
Once you are saved, you need to be a part of a bible teaching, bible believing and bible living church. If you live in the Abilene, Texas area, I would love to see you in our service at Holiday Hills Baptist Church. May God bless you and keep you.

Michael Eaton is Senior Pastor of Holiday Hills Baptist Church. You can write to him at meaton@holidayhillsbaptistchurch.com or visit his website at www.holidayhillsbaptistchurch.com.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Real Life Biblical Answers For Real Life Problems "Fatal Attractions"

by Pastor Michael Eaton
This Q&A series is from my book “How To Be Bless As A Christian Single." You can get a copy of the book at http://www.holidayhillsbaptistchurch.com/eBooks.html.
Question:
I am in love with a young man who reminds me of my father. My friends, family, and not even the pastor of my church do not like him. But, I love him. They keep telling me to look at the red flags in our relationship. I can not see any flags and to tell you the truth I do not even know what they are talking about. Is there something wrong with me because I can not see what they are talking about?

Danger! Danger!…Watch yourself…Before you get beside yourself…Danger! Danger! (Hip Hop Song: Mystikal featuring Nivea)

Fatal Attractions

A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. NLT Proverbs 22:3

I can truly relate to this question. It is from my own personal pilgrimage that I try to teach singles how to see danger in their relationships so you can take precaution. You said that the young man reminds you of your father and this maybe why you can not see any “red flags.” Most likely the model of your father is not a Godly model of the kind of man you should be looking. I say this only because you have so many people in your life who love you saying that this man is not good for you. If you love your father and he was not a good image of a man for you, you will have to get a new image of a man.


Some counselors like to talk about “red flags” and “pink elephants” to describe a dysfunctional relationship or family situation. In Dr. Susan Forward’s book, Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy And Reclaiming Your Life, she shares a letter from a woman named Janet. She then gives her insight into the toxic families:

“ . . . what I realized was that not only was my husband abusive, but that I had come from several generations of victimized women and abusive men.” Even though the cast of characters may change, the repetitive cycle of toxic behavior can remain for generations on end. The family drama may look and sound different from generation to generation, but all toxic patterns are remarkably similar in their outcome: pain and suffering."

Maybe the reason you can not see “red flags” or “pink elephants” is because you grow up in a toxic family environment were “red flags” or “pink elephants” are the norm. I personally could not see the “red flags” of toxic relationships because I grow up saluting those “red flags” every day.

As a matter of fact, I saluted and pledge aligns to those “red flags” everyday. I could not see the big “pink elephant” because the pink elephant was the family pet. I took the pink elephant for walks every day. I feed that pink elephant every day. I clean up after the pink elephant that was not house broken. I loved the pink elephant. This was the cycle of toxic behavior that I was involved.

I loved my family. I grow up and left home. Went I decided to get married I went looking for a woman who had “red flags” and “pink elephants.” If a woman did not have these “red flags” and “pink elephants” I did not feel at home with her. How could I marry a woman who did not feel like home or family? To me these “red flags” and “pink
elephants” were not warning signs. These where signs that were leading me home. However, these signs were leading me in the same kind of cycle of toxic relationships that has run in my family from generation to generation.

Please pick-up a copy of my book, “How to Choose a Worthy Mate and Find True Love by Breaking the Cycle of Generational Curses.” This book
will help you acquire the insights that you need to make right choices in relationships.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Real Life Biblical Answers for Real Life Problems "The One"

by Pastor Michael Eaton

This Q&A series is from my book “How To Be Bless As A Christian Single." You can get a copy of the book at
www.holidayhillsbaptistchurch.com/eBooks.html.


1. Is it better for me to live my life single and service the Lord or should I give in to the pressures of my family, friends, members of my church, and society at large who all are saying in one chorus of voices that I should be looking for “the one” to marry?

“The One”

But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord. 1 Cor. 7:32-35

First of all let me let you know the you are not alone in your singleness. The U.S. Census says the number of unmarried adults in the United States as of March 2001 is as following:

51 million had never been married. 21
million were currently divorced. 14
million were widowed. The singles of
the US made up 86 million. This is
almost half the U.S. pollution.

Also let me let you know that you are not alone in your frustration and discrimination with your family, society at large and sadly to say even the church. Many of the early church fathers and mothers (like Dr. Luke, Lydia, Barnabas, Timothy, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Phoebe, Paul and Jesus Christ himself) were single. In sprite of this fact many singles in our day and time feel like they are exiles in the church. Many pastors who are single will not be considered by pastor search committees to fill a senior pastor position. I myself have had churches discriminate again for me for a senior pastor position simply because I was single.

George Brana says that 94% of Senior Pastor is married. With singleness being the only reason many pastorless church disqualify would be pastors, sadly to say in our times Jesus Christ could not pastor His church. In our times Paul would not be able to pastor the churches he started. Many of the churches would be reading only half the New Testament. The reason being is because Paul wrote half the New Testament to the churches he started. With out singles in the bible there would be no salvation, no church, no New Testament, no gentile churches in America.

The Church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is in many ways distracted by the things of this world. We would see a great harvest if your family, friends, people at the church and society at large would share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However it seems that our whole society is sharing the gospel of married life. Marriage is not eternal. The bible says that there will be no marriage in heaven.

Mark 12:25 says, “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” Marriage is not a destination. It is a method of travel. The best method of travel in the servant to our Lord and Jesus Christ, the bibles says is singleness. That is why so many of the early leaders of the church were single.

This bring me to answering your question. Biblical singleness is to be a time of single minded devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not to be a time of single minded distraction to finding a mate or “the one.” If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you already have “The One.” I, like Paul would want you to spend your singleness in undistracted devotion to the Lord. Be holy both in body and spirit and think of how you may please the Lord.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Real Life Biblical Answers for Real Life Problems "Love or Fear"

by Pastor Michael Eaton

This Q&A series is from my book “How To Be Bless As A Christian Single." You can get a copy of the book at
www.holidayhillsbaptistchurch.com/eBooks.html.



Question: Fear

What if you admire a person so much that you are afraid to say anything to that person? If it has been 5 years or more, how do you handle something like that?


Answer: Love


“There are only three classes of people in the world,” an unknown preacher confessed. “Those who are afraid, those who do not know enough to be afraid, and those who know their Bibles.”

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2Timoth 1:7

You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4:2e-3

There is a passage in scripture that I think of when I read this question. It is a scripture that I have been determined that would not apply to me. This scripture says, “You do not have because you do not ask.” The issue it seems that you are faced with is fear. Paul wrote Timothy to say, “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity….” There is a fear that can motivate action and there is a fear that will paralyze. Generally, the fear that we have may play a role in our destiny. While growing up, I had a fear of speaking in public. I had to overcome that fear in order to live out my destiny as a preacher.

I do not know if this woman is meant for you. However, I do know that the fear that you have is not of God. I can go as far to say that you only have a crush on this person. For if there were any Godly love the bible says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,..." 1 John 4:18

Fear in this case could also mean that you have low self-esteem. If you are a Chirstian you can change your self-esteem into Christ-esteem. If you have Christ-esteem you will think of your self as an answer to prayer. You could be God's answer to this person prayer for a mate.

Or in the worse case this fear could mean you have deified this person. You have made this person a god. If so, you are involved in idolatry. You can not love a person on a petastal.

My advice than would be for you to pray about it. If you feel that God is leading you, break the ice by letting her know in a Godly way that you are interested.

Machiavelli made the notorious assertion that given the choice between love and fear, a prince ought to choose the latter. You could be making a choice right now. If I were you, I would choose love.

Also get a copy of my e-book, "How To Be Blessed As A Christian Single" at http://www.holidayhillsbaptistchurch.com/eBooks.html.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Putting Power In Your Preaching




By Michael Eaton


The 1992 movie entitled “Prelude to a Kiss” follows the traditional pattern of a romantic love affair. The characters Peter and Rita fall in love and get married. The prelude to the kiss was the giddiness of the newness of falling in love fast and furiously. This is what came before a kiss that would cause an upheaval. Julius an uninvited wedding guest approaches Rita and asks to kiss her as a means of congratulations. She agrees and when their lips meet transference takes place. Suddenly, Rita finds herself in the old man's body while his essence inhabits her form. When Peter and Rita head off on their Jamaican honeymoon, she is literally not the girl he fell in love with.

The Preacher’ Prelude

I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. Jeremiah 23:21 KJ

The preacher’ prelude is as problematic as the kiss is to the plot of, “Prelude to a Kiss.” The preachers’ calling is a kiss from God that would cause transference from the prelude of his life. Because of this transference, it is not uncommon for the most powerful preachers of our time and times passed to have never wanted to preach. Unwilling preachers seem to make the most powerful preachers in their time. Because they received a kiss from God, and an upheaval of wills takes place. The transference transports an unwilling preachers’ plan for his life to God’s plan for his life.

The older preachers always said that there were two kinds of preachers. The preacher who “went” and the preacher who was “sent.” In the Old Testament God expressed His anger for the “went” preacher by saying, " I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." (Jer. 23:21). The New Testament makes plain that God gives a special call to those whom He sends to preach the Gospel. Romans 10:15, "And how shall they preach unless they are sent?" The great British preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones declared, "A preacher is not a Christian who decides to preach," "It is God who commands preaching, it is God who sends out preachers."

Seventeen in twenty pastors (83 percent) believe that God has clearly communicated to them a unique calling—to a life of ministry in their current job…More than a third (37 percent) of pastors say their calling became known to them through a gradual process rather than a defining moment.

If you what to have power in your preaching you must be call out, set apart, and sent by the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit gives the supreme power to preach the Word of God. Peter is a great example of that on the day of Pentecost in Act 2:14-41.

The Greatest Power

The Holy Spirit is the greatest power for the preaching of God’s Word. God must call out the preacher in the genesis of his preaching. The preacher must depend on the Holy Spirit’s power in preparing His sermon. The preacher must depend on the Holy Spirit for the delivery of His message.

I have been a great fan of preaching without notes or with a partial outline. Dr. Kent Anderson on this website offer these homiletic insights to preaching without notes.

Generally, it would be wise for the preacher to make use of as little notes as possible without losing coherence and impact…Fewer notes is probably better as long as the quality of content remains uncompromised…It should be noted that preaching without notes is not the recitation of a memorized manuscript. The preacher does not need to be on the platform trying to recall those things that have been formerly committed to memory. This can be crippling. The preacher, rather, is working out of the overflow, sharing from a heart and mind that has well assimilated the truth and stories of the sermon.

This is great insight to preaching without notes. The Holy Spirit takes the well-assimilated truth or stories and adds power. When I am preaching without notes or a partial outline, I am amazed to see how the Holy Spirit speaks by filling in the lines. I have become so dependant upon the Holy Spirit’s power. There have been a few times when the Holy Spirit as I was speaking changed my sermon to His message. I do not know how He did it. I just know who was doing it. I opened my mouth and other words begin to come out. I remember preparing my sermon, however, I am not talking about being unprepared. I begin to discern that this is not my discourse. There were a few times that I prayed under my breath, “Ok Lord, I will follow you and I cast myself upon the staffing wind of the Holy Spirit’s power.

As I listen to the tape later to see what the Spirit said, I have learned that the Holy Spirit makes sense. Now figure that out. When I listen to the tape there was a direct divine design to His message. In other words, I was not out chasing rabbits. We have all heard those kinds of sermons. You would think that after thirty minutes to an hour, that you would understand the sermon. How you ever asked the question? “Now what did he say? There are times that I preach without notes or with an outline. I am always excited to listen to the tape to see what the Spirit has said. The Holy Spirit almost always changes some part of my sermon to His message. The Holy Spirit is the powers that calls you, assists your research, and always assist you in delivering His message.

The Preachers’ Prayer

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. Acts 6:4 KJ

Put power in your preaching through prayer. The call to preach is a simultaneous call to pray. It is by prayer that you depend on the Holy Spirit of God. We should pray before we prepare. We should pray before we preach. We should also pray before parting from our people. Powerful preaching begins with powerful pray. Also, people can see a sermon better than they can hear a sermon. Therefore the preacher’ prayer should not just be a prayer to preach powerfully. It should be a prayer to live powerfully.

A. W. Tozer gives a wonderful example of this kind of prayer. His prayer although prayed about a century ago stands as a beautiful jewel of a prayer for the preacher of the New Millennial. Here is an excerpt from his prayer as a preacher seeking God's power and glory.

Lord Jesus, I come to Thee for spiritual preparation. Lay Thy hand upon me. Anoint me with the oil of the New Testament prophet. Forbid that I should be come a religious scribe and thus lose my prophetic calling.

Save me from the curse that lies dark across the modern clergy, the curse of compromise, of imitation, of professionalism. Save me from the error of judging a church by its size, its popularity or the amount of its yearly offering.

Help me to remember that I am a prophet - not a promoter, not a religious manager, but a prophet. Let me never become a slave to crowds. Heal my soul of carnal ambitions and deliver me from the itch for publicity. Save me from bondage to things. Let me not waste my days puttering around the house.

Lay Thy terror upon me, O God, and drive me to the place of prayer where I may wrestle with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world.
Deliver me from overeating and late sleeping. Teach me self-discipline that I may be a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Let me stand before the great or minister to the poor and lowly; that choice is not mine, and I would not influence it if I could.

Fill me with Thy power by the Holy Spirit, and I will go in Thy strength…

The preacher’s prayer is to be filled each day with the wisdom and strength of the one who initially called him to the task of preaching. The power to preach comes from an abiding with God. Abiding with God is more than prayer. However, you cannot begin to abide with God without prayer. If we really believe that the primary job of the preacher is to pray and study as Act 6:4 says than our daily routine would look more like the scheduled listed below as opposed to the busy routines of the twenty- first century:

9:00A-12:00P Prayer Time
12:00P-1:00P Fasting & Prayer
1:00P-5:00P Study The Word

Thomas Chalmers, the noted Scotch theologian, believed that most failures in the ministry are due, not to lack of study or visiting or church activities, but to lack of prayer.

James S. Stewart suggested in “Heralds of God,” “. . . whether your congregation be large or small a great part of your task on its behalf lies in the realm of intercession . . . I mean praying for every family, each separate soul, by name.” He advocated praying for about three families a day. Visualize their circumstances, think of their work, difficulties, temptations. This consumes time, but the effect on the people and the minister himself would be most helpful.

Prayer and preaching is like rowing in a boat with two paddles. As long as you are using both paddles, you will be able to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform people into the image of Christ. However, you will preach in circles without the paddle of prayer. You will also pray in circles without the paddle of preaching the Word of God.

We tend to fall short in our prayer ministry. When we fall short in the prayer ministry, our preaching and peoples lives are lived in circles. We have a church, ministry, and people that are analogous with the children of Israel who wondered for forty years in the wilderness trying to accomplish an eleven-day journey.

We don’t pray and that is why we preach the same sermon on an annual or semi annual basic. We don’t pray like we should. That is why we buy our sermons online and call it research. We don’t pray and that is why we look and preach identical to the latest TV preachers. We don’t pray for our people and that is why Satan is having his way with our parishioners. We don’t pray and that is why we can’t be saved from the curse that lies dark across the modern clergy. We are cursed of compromise, of imitation, and of professionalism. We can’t be saved from the error of judging a church by its size, its popularity or the amount of its yearly offering, because we do not pray! I may not pastor a mega church, but through prayer and praise I serve a mega God!

It is unlikely that we can spend all our time in our prayer closet. However, we can supernaturally spend time in prayer as we begin to pray without ceasing. Pray before every meeting. Pray before every service. Pray before every meal. Pray before every trip. Pray before every letter that you write. Pray for every member. Pray for every problem. Pray for each sermon that you deliver. Pray before devotion and pray before every book that you intend to write. We as preachers’ must pray for God’s power to preach, our preparations and for the people. Really powerful preaching comes from a powerful prayer and praise life before God.

The Preacher’ Praise

And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. Revelation 19:5 KJ

If we are going to have power in our preaching we had better realize whom the God we serve. We are in the employment of the powerful God who is worthy to be praise. At any time the church gathers together, it should be a time for praise and worship. The most wonderful places to preach are after praise and worship has taken place. Praise and worship is the best time for God to prepare the hearts of the people to hear the Word of God. The Word of God says that He inhabits the praise of His people in Psalm 22:3. When we are preaching to people that God inhabits, preaching becomes more powerful!

Many times our preaching doesn’t have any power, because we are preaching from a place without praise. Neither we, nor our church are properly praising the Lord. Get the praise right and powerful preaching will follow! Many times in the church, the preacher is busy at work or so busy being praised himself that we forget to praise God. The preacher must remember that his church is really his church home. His church is where he goes to worship and praise God. If he does not worship at work than he doesn’t worship at all! This is what Howard W. King had to say in an article entitled, “When The Preachers Loses God.”

“… The preacher’s self-importance seems justified by his busyness. Why is he so popular? Why are his services sought by so many? Why is so much praise lavished upon him? The inference is that he is a very important person. But the preacher’s seeming greatness may dim his vision of God and dull his sensitiveness to God’s presence. As Stewart affirmed, “Nowhere surely are pride and self-importance more incongruous and unpardonable than in the servant of the cross. ”

Sundays and any other days the church gather together is not just about the sermons we preach and the bible studies we teach. Our primary task is to worship and praise God. We put power in our preaching by praising the God we serve. We praise Him in the service before we preach. Many times the pastor is too busy at worship time. Pastors are busy leading the service during worship service. If you can, get someone else to lead the worship time. Some pastors are in their study preparing to preach during the worship time. If you have not gotten a message by the Sunday at the 11:00 AM service, it is to late! Leave your study and go praise God. You will be able to find your message during the worship service. You can always preach a message about what a mighty God we serve!

I generally like to exert physical power during the Sunday service. The first exertion comes when I am praising God through song. The second exertion happens when I preach. Preachers put power in your preaching by praising God first!
Conclusion

Preachers, put power in your preaching by being called and depending daily on the Holy Spirit’s power. Preachers, put power in your preaching by praying without ceasing. Preachers, put powers in your preaching by praising the God you serve.