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A Mother’s Faith

Written by amerrill on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on A Mother’s Faith

When my grandmother met my grandfather, he was a lawyer for the United States government, working in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When they met and fell in love, he did what every respectable young man in that day would do: he took her home to meet his mother. But my grandfather had to warn my grandmother about something.

“Millie, I’m taking you home to introduce you to my mom,” he said. “As soon as you walk in the door, she’s gonna tell you, ‘My son Jimmy is gonna be a preacher one day.’”

After my grandmother recovered from the initial shock—after all, lawyers are not often compelled to become preachers—my grandfather began to explain how, as a little boy, he became deathly ill. This was back before the days of modern medicine, so when a child got sick it could be a very hopeless situation. His mother prayed, “God, if You take my little boy, I will understand. But if You would somehow heal little Jimmy, he will grow up and be a great preacher and a great man of God one day.”

And God answered her prayers.

My grandfather began to get better instantly and within a few days was completely healed. Staying true to her promise, his mother soon began to introduce her boy by saying, “This is my son Jimmy. He’s gonna be a preacher one day.”

It didn’t make any difference whom he was being introduced to; my grandfather’s mother would always say the same thing over, and over, and over again. During his elementary and junior high years, my grandfather was afraid to bring anyone home from school because he knew what his mom would announce right as his guest walked in the door! Now in his thirties and bringing home his wife-to-be, it would be no different. The same scenario. Nothing had changed. The greeting was going to be what it had been for the last twenty-five years. My grandmother told me that when they walked through that door, just like clockwork, the first words she heard were:

“Hi, Millie. Nice to meet you. Did you know that Jimmy’s gonna be a preacher one day?”

After they were married, my grandfather and grandmother attended a very small church that probably had no more than thirty people on their best Sunday. The pastor left suddenly, and they were without a preacher. The elders approached my grandfather and asked him if he would be interested in doing some of the preaching. Of course his response was, “I’m in the law business, and I know nothing, absolutely nothing, about preaching.”

But my grandmother had another reaction. She said, “James, let’s pray about this,” and then told the elders, “Give us two weeks to pray, and then we will let you know.”

I can only imagine the reaction of my grandfather at that moment! After what I’m sure seemed like the longest two weeks in his life, my grandfather went to the elders and committed to preach for two weeks. My grandmother said his exact words were: “Two weeks. I will preach two weeks only. That will be it, and don’t ever ask me again.”

He did, in fact, preach those two weeks . . . and the next week . . . and the next week . . . and the next week. By the time it was all said and done, my grandfather was the pastor of that church for almost thirty years! He built the largest Christian church in Oklahoma at that time. Even though he became a great soul winner for his generation, his greatest legacy is found in his three children who became preachers, including my father, who preached for close to seventy years. And here I am, a grandson, a third-generation preacher whose three children are also serving the Lord. All because of the faithful prayers of one woman—a great-grandmother I never met, but whose prayers changed four generations!

A mother’s love is one thing. A mother’s faith—and prayers—are another thing altogether. Thank God for mothers, and Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas everywhere.

“She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.’” – Proverbs 31: 25-29

Excerpt from “Compelled: The Irresistible Call to Share Your Faith” (available on Amazon and every where books are sold online) by Pastor Dudley Rutherford, senior pastor of Shepherd Church in Porter Ranch, California, which has three campuses in the Greater Los Angeles area.

How Can We Become Bold to Share the Truth?

Written by amerrill on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on How Can We Become Bold to Share the Truth?

When I was nineteen years old, I preached at a little church in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The church only had about forty people, most of whom were elderly. Of those forty members, only one was younger than me. I would love to say we had a youth group, but in reality, it was more like a “youth kid.”

I was just starting college in Missouri, so I had to drive about two hours every weekend to get to the church. At this time I was a very shy, mild-mannered, and meek guy. I was the kind of guy who didn’t want to offend anyone. People who know me now are shocked to learn this, but it’s the truth.

Smoking in the Church

Every time I drove to Fayetteville, I was terrified of the three elders of the church who awaited me. I referred to them as the “smoking elders” because all three of them smoked cigarettes. They burned through them by the pack. And what’s worse, they actually lit them up inside the church building. (Yes, I said inside the church building!)

Their smoking always bothered me. I knew it was an unhealthy habit, and the fact that they were church leaders indulging in plain view of the church wasn’t helping us out at all. Who wants to go to church and smell cigarettes as soon as they step in the door? Many, many times I wanted to talk to them about it, but I couldn’t. They intimidated me.

Preach the Truth

One day the director of a local orphanage called me and asked if he could bring the kids to church. “Of course,” I replied. “Come over and we’ll have lunch for you, too!”

He brought about ten kids, which increased our church attendance that Sunday by 25 percent. After the service was over, we all moved downstairs to enjoy our lunch together, but the director pulled me aside and asked to speak to me. Once we were out of sight and away from everyone else, his demeanor changed. He got right in my face and started poking me in the chest with his index finger.

Dead serious, he said, “Preacher, I’m gonna tell you something. Every single day these kids fight the temptation to drink, swear, and smoke. The last place I ever thought they would see a bad example was in the church! You better start preachin’ what people need to hear and not what they want to hear.”

Then he said, “We will never come back to this church again.”

Though his words were harsh, they were a necessary wake-up call. For the rest of that afternoon, I was racked with conviction. My church had served as a bad example to those kids, and it was all because I didn’t have the guts to say what needed to be said.

[Photo credit: factoids on Flickr]

Boldness Unleashed

That evening, as I arrived for our Sunday-night service, I prayed earnestly for God to grant me boldness to do just what that man had said. To preach what people needed to hear.

During my prayer, I felt the power of the Holy Spirit rise up within me and fill me with courage and purpose. Before I even entered the church door, I knew I would finally be able to speak what God had placed on my heart. When I got up to preach that night, I threw away my prepared notes. I stood up there and let them have it with both barrels.

I don’t remember everything I said during that message, but I do remember saying at one point, “If God had intended for you to smoke, he would have put a chimney on your head! Smoking won’t send you to hell, but it will sure make you smell like you’ve been there!” I stressed the fact that we shouldn’t be smoking in the first place, let alone inside the church of Jesus Christ, because doing so would undoubtedly set a poor example for others in the faith.

Truth be told, I was surprised at myself. I never knew I could speak like that. And many in the church were just as surprised as I was. The point being, God unleashed a boldness in me that was completely contrary to my nature.

Fired in Fayetteville

The very next Sunday morning I made my drive from college to Fayetteville. I was preparing to deliver the message when one of the three elders pulled me to the side.

Calmly he said, “Dudley, we’ve decided to let you go.”

“Why?” I asked.

He said, “For financial reasons.”

“Financial reasons? You only pay me $50 a week!”

“I know, but we just can’t afford to keep you.”

I tried reasoning with him, saying, “I’ll tell you what; I just want to preach. What if you paid me $5 a week? That would at least cover the gas. Would that be in the budget?”

He firmly answered, “No, we’re letting you go. Today will be your last day.”

I immediately felt that same boldness rise up in me again, except this time it was twice as strong! For the second service in a row, I threw my sermon notes away and let them have it again. They definitely didn’t want me to come back after that message.

I will never forget what the orphanage director said to me on that Sunday afternoon in Fayetteville: “You better start preachin’ what people need to hear and not what they want to hear.” If I had a photo of him digging his finger into my chest, I would have it framed and sitting on my office desk to this day. It changed my life.

Fire in Your Bones

Today you may be just like I was at age nineteen—timid and frightened to say what you know in your heart is true. God can empower and embolden you to proclaim truths you never thought were possible. He will change the lives of others before your very eyes.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7 nkjv)

Sharing the hope of the Gospel with as many people as I possibly can is my life’s burden and passion. Do you feel this compelling call as well? Pray and ask God to fill you with boldness and courage to speak up. Pray and ask Him to dissolve concerns about what others might think of you or say or do if you tell them the truth.

You don’t have to be a full-time preacher or pastor to get involved in God’s mission to save the world through His Son Jesus. If you ask Him, God will instill in you a burden for sharing your faith. Just as the prophet Jeremiah proclaimed in Jeremiah 20:9, the Word of God will become like a fire in your heart and in your bones that you won’t be able to hold in even if you tried.

 

Taken from the book, Compelled: The Irresistible Call to Share Your Faith, © 2018 by Dudley Rutherford. Used with permission by Worthy Books, an imprint of Worthy Publishing Group, a division of Worthy Media Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Hope for All

Written by amerrill on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on Hope for All

If you’ve spent much time in California during the past few years, you know how desperate we’ve been for rain. Thankfully, the long-awaited downpour we’ve had this winter seems to have quenched our state’s five-year dry spell. We needed the rain because our land is dry and thirsty. This is true spiritually for our state—and our entire nation as well.

We are a dry and thirsty land spiritually. We have the highest percentage of people who do not believe in God in this country than we’ve ever had before. More people are atheist or agnostic than ever before, which means there are more people who have no understanding of the presence of God in one’s life. Many of our institutions mock God. We have people whose needs go unmet every single day because of apathy and greed. Pornography and abortion are like a plague in this country. Religious liberties continue to be stripped away from people of faith. And instead of “In God we trust,” it has become “In man we trust, or “In self we trust.”

We have lost our way politically—as we can clearly see from the unprecedented vitriol and ugliness of this past election, on both sides equally. Moreover, I’ve never seen our nation so divided racially. Just look at the comments section of most news articles on social media and you’ll see how quickly people begin to spew hateful prejudices against one another. It must grieve the very heart of God who has made us all in His image (Genesis 1:27). He has called us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31) and to consider others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3).

We’ve lost our way economically and morally; we are a bankrupt nation. Our federal government is close to 20 trillion dollars in debt. That’s $170,000 per tax payer. But we are not just bankrupt economically; we are bankrupt morally. There is the breakdown of the family unit, which causes us to be relationally challenged. We have more people who are being engulfed and enslaved by addiction to drugs, alcohol, and pornography. And we are living in times of terrorism. There seems to be a tragic attack just about every week somewhere in the world or on American soil.

Because there is so much discouragement around us, God put it in my heart that “Hope for All” would be our theme this year at Shepherd Church. Last year, our theme was “Love God, Love People.” This year is about offering hope to a broken world. The year 2017 at Shepherd is for people who are lonely, lost, confused, broken, disenfranchised, discouraged, afraid, or empty. It’s for people who are addicted and hopeless, desperate and searching. I want people know that they are loved. I want people to know that they are valued and important—that they matter; that they are respected, cared for, wanted.

The parables in Luke 15 demonstrate how much God cares for those who are lost and without hope. A shepherd loses a sheep. A woman loses a valuable coin. A father loses his son. Each of these people did whatever they could to find that which was lost, and they serve as pictures of Jesus Christ’s love and compassion for the lost. In Luke 19:41-44, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. In Matthew 9:35-36, Jesus went through the towns and villages and—

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Our Lord has great compassion for those who are sick, hungry, thirsty, naked, and oppressed. We see throughout the Gospels that everywhere Jesus went, He offered hope to the hurting. He came to this earth to love and forgive; heal and redeem; restore and save. We need to model Christ’s example.

I want people to look at our church and say, “There’s a church that cares for people. There’s a church that doesn’t throw aside someone who is addicted, but helps them. There’s a church that’s willing to sacrifice for others. There’s a church that has the best volunteers in America—they serve and they welcome everyone. They hold no prejudices. They see others as better than themselves. There’s a church that offers hope to all people. There’s a church that strives to love like Jesus.” If you would like to learn more about the hope that is found in Jesus, please join us at Shepherd Church.

5 Things Every Believer Needs to Know

Written by amerrill on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on 5 Things Every Believer Needs to Know

If you are a parent, you probably know what it is like to have a persistent son or daughter continually ask you for something they want. It could be a brand new toy or an athletic shoe that just came out on the market. It could be permission to go to a party or a concert with friends. Right or wrong, the child can become relentless in asking because they feel that the desired item is important.

In Ephesians 1:17-23, the Apostle Paul begins his letter to believers living in the city of Ephesus with the words, “I keep asking God…” He wants God to bless them with five important things. Paul was a man whose life had been radically changed by an encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. He became a great leader in the Church, authored nearly half of the New Testament, and was imprisoned and killed for the faith.

So when Paul wrote about how he unceasingly asked God for something, much like a child petitions his or her parent, our ears ought to perk up. We ought to investigate what it is he found so important that he asked and asked God to give it Christians living at that time.

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When we examine these five requests, we find that all five are still immensely pertinent for modern-day Christians. So without further ado, here are five things every believer needs to know, according to the Apostle Paul:

1.) To know God better.

In Ephesians 1:17, Paul wrote, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” The spiritual wisdom and revelation we receive are for the purpose of knowing God better. If you want to get to know someone better, you will spend time with that person. You will also spend tough times with that person. The best marriages are two people who remained lovingly committed to each other through thick and thin. The same is true for our relationship with God. Don’t give up on Him when the going gets tough. He is the one who will see you through it!

2.) To know our hope.

Verse 18 says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…” The hope Paul spoke of does not mean “hope so”—like if someone asks you if you are going to heaven when you die, and you say, “Uh, I hope so.” This word in the Bible comes from the Greek word elpis, which means “confidence” and “expectation.” It is a motivating force to purify our lives and hearts before the Lord. (See Ephesians 2:12-13, 1 Peter 1:3, and 1 John 2:28ff.)

3.) To know we are God’s inheritance.

As verse 18 continues, Paul mentions “the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people…” He wants the Ephesians to know that they are God’s inheritance. In worldly terms, we wait patiently to receive an inheritance from a relative, but this verse tells us that we are God’s inheritance! God is waiting for you! He sees you not for what you are now, but for what you’ll become.

4.) To know God’s power.

In verses19-20, we see that Paul wants believers to know “[God’s] incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” The same power that rose Jesus from the grave can resurrect a dying marriage, relationship, or impossible situation. If you understood this truth you’d never live another day in defeat (see Philippians 3:10).

5.) To know that everything is distant second to Jesus.

Lastly, Paul wrote, in verses 21 and 22 that God raised Jesus Christ “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church…” Nothing compares to Jesus. He is above every nation, ruler, celebrity, and political candidate. No accomplishment, accolade, or achievement comes close to what Christ did, in love, for us on the cross. Let this truth take away any worry you may have today, and put your trust in the name of Jesus.

If you would like to know God better and the hope we have in Jesus Christ, please join us at Shepherd Church. Visit www.shepherdchurch.com for services times and locations.