Scripture

“And when He [Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

~John 16:8, NKJV

Quote

We cannot  become holy and blessed except by confessing ourselves as sinners before God.

~Martin Luther

I actually love to read the Bible more than at any time in my life and so bible study and sermon prep is not really work to me; if it is, it is work I enjoy. I really don’t think my sermons are worse now than 55 years ago when I started. I am sure my theology is better and hopefully I have learned a thing or two about humility, but there is one great difference that really burdens me. In 1970 I saw conviction. I saw people responding to almost every invitation. I don’t see either anymore. I think about the old hymn entitled BRETHREN WE HAVE MET TO WORSHIP…

Brethren, we have met to worship, and adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit Of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.

I think I am more aware of my own impotence and I pray weekly for the Holy Spirit to be poured out like it was on the day of Pentecost but nothing happens. I don’t intend to give up; I plan to keep preaching as long as God gives me a message and the ability to share it, but my messages are not going to get the results needed. I can’t convict anyone of sin including myself. I can’t bring folks to repentance. Speaking of repentance, when was the last time you saw it? It has been a while since we have seen an old fashion sin confessing Holy Ghost revival where the Consuming Fire, the Ruach ha Kodesh falls and burns up the bull. Our worship is so full of pretense it is bound to make the LORD want to regurgitate. I don’t see a lot of difference between us and Laodiceans. I am not complaining; I am confessing. I don’t see much difference between our big cities and Sodom. May God have mercy on our wretched souls and send Revival.

Extra

PLT all the storms missed us but we didn’t get any rain and we needed a little. I didn’t want a gully washer but I did want a soft rain. I planted two rows of sweet corn Monday. My potatoes and turnip look great but I am going to have to water them. I just knew we would get at least a shower from one of those three storm systems but we didn’t. It did cool things down. I don’t have a problem with 60 degree weather. I may get June to make some chicken stew for tomorrow. This is probably Dogwood Winter.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.