To say that yesterday was an unbelievable day would be an understatement. You would have had to have been here to see for yourself God’s precious presence. All day long, God manifested Himself and I am still in awe that He would grace us with His Divine presence. God started moving yesterday morning in the prayer room and it spilled over into the morning assembly. We didn’t get to dismiss for Sunday School as God’s people rejoiced, wept, testified and sang His praises. I for one am thrilled to know that old fashion shouting and rejoicing is still alive and well! I love it when folks get a case of the “can’t-help-its” and enjoy their salvation. After about an hour and a half of worship, I finally got to preach around 11:30. The message was out of Philippians 1:25 on “A Life of Furtherance and Joy”. What a thought to know that we can grow and enjoy it all at the same time! We also welcomed Brother and Sister Griffin to our congregation. We thank the Lord for leading them to join the church after several months of visiting.
Last night, God moved on one of our men to come up and help raise the rest of the $8,000 for our piano. God blessed and we raised more than we needed. What a blessing that was to see God’s people giving cheerfully and willingly. Then during the song service, it “broke out” again with shouting, weeping, testimonies, people going to the altar and godly repentance and revival swept the building. I had planned on preaching on the 1,000 Year Reign last night, but we didn’t need preaching after God showed up and started working in hearts. Church started at 6:00, and we didn’t dismiss til nearly 10:00. I don’t think it is any accident that nearly 20 of our men met up here Saturday night to pray for God’s presence to be preeminent in our midst. My soul was thrilled to see the children weeping and praying and worshipping God last night. I was reminded that “All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down!” That’s what it is all about!!
Lord willing, I’ll have the To-do List ready by Wednesday night. We’ve got a lot to do to prepare for Campmeeting. I appreciate all of you that have volunteered to help. Many hands make light work!
I spent a better part of the day getting things ready for the upcoming summer camps. Between the Campmeeting and the Junior Camp, we’ve got a lot of preparation to do. We will get the information into the mail just as soon as the fliers get back from the printer. The dates again for the Campmeeting are June 6-10. The Junior Camp dates are June 22-25.
The theme for Campmeeting is “It’s Been Worth Every Mile” and we are looking for a great time in the Lord as we take a brief break from the battle and regroup and get refreshed. It seems that the ministry and all the hours involved in reaching souls are taking its toll on God’s people more and more in these days. Fighting Satan, the world and the apathy that surrounds us is tiresome. We are eagerly looking forward to taking a couple of days out of this busy year to spend with each other and hear from God’s men. I for one look forward to reminding our folks and those that come that it is indeed been worth every mile of the trip. I treasure these times of preaching, praying, singing and shouting as we strive to preserve a rich heritage of campmeeting worship. This June will be our 31st Campmeeting. Don’t miss it! Make plans to attend.
I thank the Lord for the opportunity to be with Dr. Bill Vaughn and his dear folk up in Vass, NC earlier this week. I was able to run up there for the service on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning before heading back here to preach at the church on Wednesday night. God moved in that place, and I am thrilled that I was able to be there for it. I pity that crowd that mock God’s people for getting together for a “pep rally”. I can’t find anywhere in my Bible where God frowns on His people getting together for any reason, but to meet for the purpose of worshipping him, preaching the devil out of people, exalting God, praying in the Holy Ghost for revival and power should motivate any child of God. I was reading earlier how that in Acts 2:46 “… they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart…” Sounds like God approves of campmeetings to me! AMEN! I can’t wait until June! Until then, we’ll keep plowing and sowing seed and praying and witnessing and preaching and door knocking and see what God can do.
We took a load of students from PVCA to Columbia yesterday and they did a great job. We require all of our junior high and high school boys to prepare a 15 minute message and the girls have to prepare a 15 minute Sunday School lesson. They did wonderful, but we won’t know until next week after the rest of the competition how they did. We’ll be sure and post that once we return.
Greater Vision came out with a song about 10 years ago that went like this: “If just one more soul were to walk down the aisle, it would be worth every struggle, it would be worth every mile. A lifetime of labor is still worth it all if it rescues just one more soul.” Yesterday morning, Brother Jason Parham led a 90-something year old man to Christ. His wife, who passed away a couple of months ago, was saved last year. She was also in her 90’s. After years of faithful preaching and witnessing in that retirement home, it was a blessing to see one more soul reached for God. I want to publicly thank those families (the Parhams, the Gazaways, the Townsends, the Backers, and several others) that go weekly to the retirement homes and preach, witness and sing to those precious people. God will continue to bless you for your faithfulness! Bloom where you are planted for God’s glory!!!
Yesterday was another wonderful day in God’s house. Praise the Lord for several first time visitors yesterday morning. Let’s keep Bringing Them In and trust God to save. It was a blessing yesterday after the morning service to baptize 10 precious people. I’d love to do that every month!
Last night, we continued our series on End-Time Prophecy and dealt with the Demise of the Dragon. What a blessing it was to be reminded of the final end and destruction of that ole Deceiver! AMEN! We also was thrilled to have Brother Harmon Rutledge and his family with us, missionaries on their way to Thailand.
Tonight, if you get the opportunity to come, we’ll be meeting for the Christian Leadership class at 7:00 PM here in the sanctuary and continuing our study on leadership qualities and characteristics.
The Romantic Escape was a lot of fun this year. We enjoyed some great fun and fellowship, as well as some soul-stirring services. The preaching and teaching caused our married couples to thank God for their mates and for another opportunity to draw closer to them. I appreciate those couples that came this year. I look forward to hearing how God is blessing their marriage in the days and weeks ahead.
Saturday, we buried Grace’s uncle G.W. Young. Keep his family in your prayers as they mourn his passing.
Today was another good day in God’s house. The morning service was blessed with some old fashion worship, testimonies and a message the Lord gave me yesterday at the funeral out of John 21. Jesus reminded Peter of the fact that now he was young, but one day he would be old and feeble and be carried places he didn’t want to go. I preached on “Do It While You Still Can” and used several passages in Acts to show the changes that Peter made in his life in order to capitalize on every day. He became Involved in the Sanctuary (Acts 1), Intoxicated in the Spirit (Acts 2) and Instrumental in Soulwinning, (Acts 2, 3, and 4) It was a simple message, but God blessed us with great liberty and a great response to the altar. In the evening service, we had Brother Ronnie Smith and his family, missionaries to Northern Ireland. They sang and he preached a challenging message.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars (members of PVBC) for March 6th as we go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. We had a wonderful turnout last month and passed out probably 1,000 bags of tracts and literature, even though it started raining. I’d like to do twice that many in March, so let’s go ahead and be praying for good weather and a great number of God’s people to hit the streets on that day. I need a lot of help getting those bags stuffed, so stop by and give us a hand.
The Lord’s day was a blessing. In many ways. His presence was so real in both services. How many ways can a child of God express their appreciation for His love and His mercy? The Lord met with us today, beginning in the prayer room this morning. I really enjoy that time of sharing prayer request and making our burdens known to the brethren. The service this morning was an encouragment to God’s people with a message entitled, “So He Made It Again” out of Jeremiah 18:1-6. I’m so thankful that when my vessel is marred in His hand, He doesn’t give up on me, but keeps on working in my life. What a blessing!
The evening service was blessed tonight with many testimonies of God’s people sharing how God has blessed them and how He has worked in their lives. We picked back up on the Prophecy Series with the second part of the message on the Battle of Armageddon. Wow…what a blessing it was to hear how we are not going to be on the receiving end of God’s ultimate wrath and judgment, but will be on the WINNING SIDE! AMEN! The day was topped off with two men joining the church that have been coming for some time. God also let us raise almost 50% of the funds needed for the piano. What a wonderful day in His house.
We are having Open House in the school this week, so if you are interested in visiting the Upstate’s Best Kept Secret during school hours, then stop by for a packet of information. The Romantic Escape will be the end of this week, so don’t put it off any longer - sign up today! We’ll have a blast for sure!
What a blessing it was Sunday to experience the overflow of a refreshing and a renewing in the hearts of God’s people. There are those that deny the need for a revival in these last days. I’m afraid they are either deceived about their own spiritual condition, or they are so frustrated and bitter that they don’t believe it is possible. I want to bear witness that if Revelation 2:5 tells us to “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”, then revival is not only POSSIBLE, it is COMMANDED! Remember, Repent and Repeat - that is the key to revival. Do the first works - the same first works that you did when you had your first love. Not rocket science - just not very appealing to the flesh!
Seeing God work in the lives of our people this past week has been a huge blessing to me. Sunday was evidence of the “overflow” that follows a move of God in people’s hearts. Sunday morning, I didn’t even get to preach as God’s people stood and testified with tears and rejoicing at God’s working in their lives. What a blessing to see people that are focussed on “seeking the Lord with their whole heart”. Sunday night, I had more liberty to preach than I’ve had in a while, and that’s saying something. I thank God daily for the great liberty to preach His word here at Pleasant View. But for the past several week, it’s been unreal. I believe the hunger and thirst of God’s people for His word and His will has attributed to the great liberty to preach, and I praise His name.
This week, Lord willing on Wednesday night, we will pick back up with our series on the Home. I’ve had a message on my heart for several weeks out of Proverbs 14:1. Pray for God to give me the green light to preach that tomorrow night.
We are gearing up for the Romantic Escape next week. I’ll be preaching twice, Sister Grace and Sister Chris Raynes will each take 30 minutes in a split-session with the ladies on Friday morning, and Brother Doug will have an hour with the men during that time. We will have a blast, so if you’ve not made your mind up to come, do it now!
Dr. Bearden made it in Sunday afternoon in time for the evening service. The weather prevented him from coming in on Saturday. God began working Sunday morning and on Sunday evening, He continued in a wonderful way. Dr. Bearden preached on “Revival According to Asa” out of II Chronicles 14. The service last night was touched by an amazing spirit of brokenness and soberness that resulted in a full altar of God’s people doing business. With prayer around the clock and several people fasting, the service tonight was an overflow of the previous services. God’s people rejoiced in the singing and there were many testimonies of how God had worked in hearts and lives. Dr. Bearden didn’t even get to preach, but rather followed up with some Biblical admonitions and a review of the unofficial theme, which has been seeking after God. The service tonight closed with the church in the altar praying for God to continue doing what He’s been doing for the past several weeks. We are all still amazed at how faithful He’s been to meet with us in spite of our unworthiness. He is so good! We are all looking forward to the service tomorrow night. This revival has been one of the best attended revivals we’ve had in a while with the large majority of God’s people being so hungry for God to work. I praise Him for all He has done. He is so worthy!
We went ahead this morning and had church, though many of our people were iced in. I’m glad we did! Wonderful service this morning. The Lord moved during the song service and our hearts were blessed by several sweet testimonies. I preached from Rev. 2 on “Falling In Love With Jesus All Over Again”. My desire was to prepare our hearts for the revival with Brother Bearden, who will begin tonight. If we all could just fall in love with our Savior again, that would solve most of our problems!
Looking forward to some great preaching by Dr. Bearden. If you can make it out one night, we’d love to have you visit with us. Services begin at 7:30 nightly (except for tonight, service begins at 6)
After a busy day at the church, I’m sitting here in my recliner looking out the window at a blizzard (South Carolina version). The boys and I just split a load of wood and we’ve got a roaring fire in the fireplace. Friday nights are always a lot of fun here at home with the family. The snow just adds to the excitement. The girls are collecting snow outside in big bowls so Mama can make some snow-cream. That’ll be good after our homemade chili and baked potatoes (that don’t look right. I’ll have to call Dan Quayle and see if I spelled potatoe right…. : )
Brother Bearden called this morning and is trying to figure out how to navigate around this winter weather. He’s still planning on being here for the Sunday morning service. Either way, we’re kicking off our revival Sunday. Let’s pray hard for a real touch of God. We are still planning to have baptism after church Sunday (outside!!) The baptismal candidates insisted on having it and not putting it off any longer. Thank the Lord for a water heater!! I went ahead and got it started today, just to play it safe!
Pray for revival and bring them in. Compel - that’s Greek for “hog-tie and haul”. Let’s get there early Sunday and spend some time in prayer before the service. God’s going to do great things … I can just feel it! Begin now asking God to reveal whatever might be hindering your relationship with Him. His promise: Draw nigh to God, and He’ll draw nigh to you! Claim that verse this week.
After a relaxing week at Hilton Head for our family vacation, we are glad to be back in the saddle. Our hearts go out to Brother Patrick and his family at the loss of his brother. The funeral on Saturday provided us with some opportunities to pass out some tracts and invite some people to church. Pray for these dear folks that need the Lord.
The services yesterday were a real blessing! I never cease to be amazed at the wonderful liberty to preach and the attentiveness of God’s people. The altars have been getting a lot of use lately! It’s always a joy to see God’s people doing business and making committments. I have been amazed at the number of visitors and rejoice in the goodness of God in bringing in people. Yesterday’s message was “Cash The Check!” and dealt with our riches in Christ found in Ephesians chapter 1 and 2. I definitely want to experience ALL OF IT! Last night, we looked at Proverbs 11:1 and Job 31:6 and preached on “The Balanced Church”. Lord help us be not be guilty of a false balance!
This week is CRUNCH time getting ready for revival and the first day of Operation Saturation (Feb. 6th). I’ve still got one more tract I want to write and get ordered before then, so I’d better get on the ball. I’m amazed at the number of people that keep coming up in our path that needs help in the area of rehab or addictions. I have had a burden for almost 5 years to work with alcoholics and drug addicts. I’m praying for God’s leadership in branching out and ministering to these needy people. When we do, I’m confident that God’s hand will be in it. Help me pray for committed workers and laborers in this area of ministry!