The Pastor's Blog

(Text-Driven Preaching)

How do we distinguish the seeker-driven, need-oriented church from the one that is biblio-centric in nature? (The Bible is central.) After all, they look very similar, right? They certainly both seem to preach the Bible. Let me say first that there are a number of good churches that have a strong contemporary service where the Bible is central to all they do and say. What separates the seeker-driven church from one that is biblio-centric in nature has nothing to do with whether one is traditional or contemporary in worship style. We here at Mountain View have a blended service each week with a decided lean to the contemporary side. However, we often blend hymns into our worship. (And yes, we will at times do a more contemporary rendition of a hymn.) Many do not include hymns today because they feel they are no longer relevant to the younger generation. Therein lies the first difference between a biblio-centric church and a seeker church. While we feel everyone should have the privilege of worshiping in their own vernacular, we continue to hang on to the great hymns because they teach great biblical and spiritual truths. We at Mountain View feel that the content of our worship is vitally important and should teach biblical truth.

Another characteristic of the biblio-centric church is that the preaching is exegetical or text-driven. The reason I use that term text-driven is because the term expository preaching has been stretched to such a point that I am not sure what it means to many today. Perhaps we could say it is like the word evangelicalism. Evangelicalism is now an umbrella that covers a much broader spectrum than it did 50 plus years ago.

Text-driven (exegetical) preaching is a term that says the actual structure of the sermon, to some extent, as well as the content or substance of the sermon and the spirit of the sermon, all should come from what we find in the text itself. The process of digging into the text for its meaning and message is called exegesis. So in that sense, the sermon is not topically driven, nor audience driven; nor felt-need-driven. It is text-driven.

Too often a preacher starts with a text, and usually a topical idea from the text, and then he weaves his message around that topical idea. Instead of beginning with the text and studying the text first, such preachers begin with the commentators and a few word studies. The digging into the original text for the real intent of the original author is a lost art. Too often the study is to make a passage fit a need of the audience.

We believe that God’s word has power and greater authority when we allow the Holy Spirit to take its textual meaning and speak first to the messenger, and secondly to the people of God through the messenger. We recognize the need at times for topical series. We certainly do those here. However, they are the exception, not the norm. For when you are committed to text-driven preaching, you will find that the majority of the preaching series will be based on verse by verse studies of God’s word with a passion to capture the meaning and message of the original writer. The preaching will not be driven by felt-needs or its popularity to a given audience. Equally, we believe that the goal of the biblio-centric church is to equip believers to study the word of God…not simply to give them a few croutons from the bread of life. (II Timothy 3:16-17)

My purpose is not to condemn any one group, but to first state clearly what we are all about at Mountain View. Secondly, I desire to call preachers and teachers back to the in-depth study and teaching of God’s Word. I believe that it is a sad commentary on our preaching today when sermons seemingly are graded as good or very good based solely upon the amount of application alone. My fear is that we are producing a church in the U.S. that is a mile long on application and a foot deep on spiritual depth and perception. Such famine will eventually leave the church malnourished of its power.

Byron Morgan

But I have this against you, that you have left that first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.—Revelation 2:4-5

Debbie and I recently celebrated our fortieth anniversary. We decided that we would take the week off and combine a week’s vacation with our fortieth anniversary celebration. In determining what we would do that week, we looked at different places, like Asheville, Charleston, etc. But what felt most right to us both was to go back to where it all began forty-three years ago, at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Ms. So we took off for Mississippi. We started at the top of the state, spending a day in Oxford at Ole Miss (Many of you know I am an avid Ole Miss fan.). Then we took off for Hattiesburg. We resisted the temptation to see family and friends because we felt this week was just for the two of us together. We spent three days in Hattiesburg, visiting the campus, talking to old and new professors, walking on the campus, going through old dorms, and visiting places where we use to hang out together. We had a tremendous time but the highlight of many highlights on this trip was the evening that we started by visiting our favorite seafood restaurant that has all the catfish you can eat and the world’s best hush-puppies. Then we went back to the campus and sat out on a bench in the same area of the campus that we spent much time together before we were married. For three and a half hours (from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.) we walked down memory lane recalling so many things that we remember about our first years together there at William Carey. Most of our reflection was filled with joy and laughter about those great “first days and years” together. There was something surreal about sitting in that same spot forty-years later and recalling where God had taken us in life. There were some tears about some of the trials that God had seen us through. But to be there and to recall the experiences, the emotions, the things that excited us about each other those first days,and especially recalling the unmistakable providential hand of God in the leading the two of us together, was almost like an epiphany. Words cannot describe what a wonderful night God gave us. In fact, as I told Debbie, it was as if God was one step in front of us making this trip something special.

Now, understand, I don’t believe that Debbie and I have had a need to have this major renewal in our marriage by our returning to where it began. We have always prided ourselves on making our communication healthy. But what a joy it was to take this trip back. Personally, I think it is one of the several things that every couple over fifty should do in order to keep the flames burning in their marriage. But ever since that week, my mind has gone back to the verses above that rebuke us for leaving that first love that we had for Jesus. Much like many marriages, that which was once a deep love for Jesus and the experiences that nurtured that love, have now become a distant memory. Sadly, with many Christians an insatiable love for the Savior and a desire to know Him more deeply have been replaced with a Pharisaic piety and prideful mediocrity that decry our claim to faith.

It is a question that every Christian, especially those who claim to have been Christians for several years, should ask. Have I lost the love and the passion that I once had? If so, we should do as our Lord tells us in the verses above. That is, we should “repent and do the deeds we first did.” We should go back to those “first days and first years.”

So how does one answer that question? I mean, what measuring stick should one use? Let me suggest some that I have applied to my life to answer this question. How is your devotional time with Christ? Do you remember the times when you couldn’t wait to just talk to Him and share your heart? Do you remember the times when you couldn’t wait to read the bible so that you could know more about God?

How is your church attendance? Do you remember the times when you couldn’t wait for Sunday to roll around so that you could attend that bible class and then hear the Word of God proclaimed? You couldn’t wait to hear God speak to you through His Word! Has that passion been replaced with a ho-hum attitude that essentially says, “What else is new? I ‘ve heard it all.”

What about memorizing scripture? What about that “promise notebook”? Do you remember when you loved learning new promises and scriptures to memorize? I probably could raise more questions, but you get the point.

Maybe your marriage needs to revisit those emotions, those experiences, those things that first excited you about the other. Maybe you need to revisit how God brought you together and how His fingerprint was clearly on the deepening of your relationship leading to your marriage. But perhaps even more importantly, you need to revisit that first love and the deeds that once accompanied the love you first had for Jesus. Have YOU lost that loving feeling?

Pastor Morgan

One of the great sections of Gary Thomas= book, Seeking the Face of God, has to do with “entering the quiet.” This refers to disciplines which believers must learn in order to keep their souls quiet before God. Such disciplines keep the noise and detractions around us out of our souls, or to say it another way, they mitigate the distractions which often lure our souls away from a moment by moment, personal, and intimate commune with God.

Thomas gives us four disciplines to achieve this end. One of these, I have always felt intuitively to be true, but Thomas was the first to put it in such well thought out words. Better yet, he takes us back to the “ancients” (the church fathers through the years) who practiced this discipline. The one that I am thinking of is what Thomas calls “the discipline of a limited curiosity.”

According to Thomas, the simplicity that comes through a limited curiosity frees us from being “tabloid Christians.” This refers to a tendency we see on the national level, but unfortunately it exists even in the church. Whenever we hear of a scandal, or we “smell blood,” we usually want all the details. In the church there is the view by some, usually legalists, who feel an entitlement to know all the gory details of someone’s scandal or shattered life. As Thomas puts it so well, in this we become “spiritual peeping Toms.” As believers, we try to camouflage it with prayerful concern or feigned love, but often, as Thomas notes, we just want to satisfy our own spiritual and carnal lusts.

Thomas  Kempis wrote, “How can he abide long in peace, who thrusts himself into the cares of others…who seldom concentrates on his own thoughts? Blessed are the single-hearted: for they shall enjoy much peace.” Gary Thomas states:

We have to realize we don=t need to know all that we want to know. We need to cultivate the discipline of letting go of cares that don=t concern us. We need to trust God and those He has placed in leadership. If someone is not accountable to us, we don=t need to know the details. Our responsibility is not to figure out everything but to keep ourselves at peace.

Again, another great quote from  Kempis: “My son, be not curious, nor trouble thyself with idle cares.”

“Curiosity kills our souls,” declares Thomas. “When we dive unnecessarily and uninvited into the lives of others, we lose our own inner grounding.” Another great one, Climacus, urged, “Stay away from what does not concern you for curiosity can defile stillness as nothing else can.”

As believers, we are not called or even entitled to be judge, prosecuting attorney, and jury for everything that is going on around us. We are called to have a healthy limited curiosity that allows the whisper of God’s voice to be heard in the chamber of our soul without distraction or competition. The next time you are tempted to be a “tabloid Christian” or a “spiritual peeping Tom” ask yourself the questions, do I really need to know this? Is this really any of my business, spiritually speaking? And, oh…don’t forget, except for the grace of God so goes you!

Dr. Byron Morgan

I have had this gnawing within me for a while that those Patriarchs of the faith in centuries past probably knew more about the pursuit of God than most of us today. That is why I found Gary Thomas’ book, Seeking The Face of God, so refreshing and enlightening. Seeking the Face of God is replete with quotes and description of the church fathers (and mothers) down through the centuries that had a burning passion to know God.

At this present time I am preaching a series on Sunday morning entitled, “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good Christians?” This series has drawn my mind back to this book and the thoughts of the church fathers. In this book, Thomas has a section that is entitled, “The Journey of the Dark Night.” Thomas rightly points out that most every believer does and must face the dark night of the soul. It can come in varying degrees and in many shapes. Perhaps James description in chapter one is appropriate when he says, “Count it all joy when you encounter various trials….” The word “various” in the original Greek means literally “many shapes and sizes.”

The point is, like gold, we all have dross in our lives that needs to be burned away. Thus, the need for the dark night of the soul. However, when we don’t understand what is happening or when we are led to believe that the loss of religious feeling is evidence that we’ve turned away from God or even that God has turned away from us, this dark night can cause us to become disillusioned or even angry with God. Gleaning the wisdom of some of the ancient ones might help us as we journey through the dark night of the soul.

Thomas points out six things that would be helpful on this journey. Let me name two. (Perhaps I will come back later and address the others.) First, Thomas points out that we must respect the necessity of silence. During the dark night of the soul, Satan will often whisper, “If your heavenly Father really loved you, He would not let you go through this dark night.” But we must understand that God is leading us through a hard but necessary journey and (God’s) silence is a vital aspect of the journey. Here Thomas makes a potent statement: “The truth is, God is simply calling us into maturity. He is preparing us to drive, `Blind,’ without sensual (feelings) support, through the night of faith….His silence, then, is not abandonment or agreement with the accuser’s twisted logic. It is a necessary weaning of sensual support.”

Another understanding that we need to have is that the desert, what Thomas calls the “dry spell,” is what God, the academic dean, plans for our spiritual curriculum. Thomas a` Kempis stated, “If great saints were so dealt with, we that are weak and poor ought not to despair…” Thomas points out that it can be an encouragement to us to know that most Christians have experienced the dark night. We are not abnormal or less committed Christians for going through it. We are simply average Christians going through a normal spiritual process. The confession of other Christians who have faced spiritual barrenness can encourage us and remind us we are not alone.

Additionally, this will help us to recognize that the Christian life is not all about being “high” emotionally. Today, too many Christians live by their emotions and when there is an absence of such emotions, they begin to falter spiritually. In fact, often many run to find some new spiritual experience which works against what God is doing in our souls. I will say more about this in my next blog. Suffice it to say, that the “dark night of the soul” is a necessary passage for most Christians moving them to maturity. In fact, the ancient ones felt that something was wrong if they had not experienced such a dark night. I am convinced that if we Christians are to move past what seems to be a epidemic of shallowness in the Body of Christ today, we must learn to embrace the dark night with faith in a loving God who desires to deepen our faith and bring us to maturity using the dark night of the soul.

This past Sunday I talked about our approach to Ministry. I shared the four-fold plan for disciple-making that our Lord left us found in the book of John.  We concluded with looking at our Evangelism Infrastructure and Discipleship Infrastructure. I have had several very positive responses to the message for which I am grateful. My challenge was for us to stay the course on disciple-making realizing that disciple-making is not about programs or numbers but about people (“flesh on flesh”…people touching people) My challenge is to stay the course and to focus on relating to those unbelieving friends.

There was a quote that I wanted to share from Bill Hull that time did not permit. It is out of his book, The Disciple-Making Pastor, which our Elder board is going through together this fall. Bill Hull’s thrust in this particular chapter is that disciple-making, which he calls “the kingdom mentality,” must be front and center of every pastor and every church. Then he begins his concluding remarks.

“This leads to my closing thoughts: Pastors too often get stuck in their spirits with the idea that if the vision is fulfilled in the lives of people, the church will grow large. When that doesn’t happen, they might conclude that the plan is not working. Therefore, a new plan, very much like all the other plans for church growth, must be engineered and executed. This is the devilish temptation and deception. The kingdom may grow while a local church that faithfully participating may not…

“It can be that many will find Christ and begin to follow Him but never come to our church. The disjointed society in which we live doesn’t lend itself to neighborhood churches. If a large percentage of a congregation is planting the seeds of the kingdom daily and broadly, then yes, there should be new souls entering into the congregational life of that church. But there will not be enough by that method to create a very large church. If the church becomes large, it will be due to a combination of factors broader than simply disciples who are obedient. This is very hard for some to accept, but a spiritually mature congregation may not be a large one or even exciting by contemporary standards. The healthiest frame of mind for a pastor is to forget numerical church growth and to concentrate instead on advancing the kingdom through the members, letting the growth issues take care of themselves. We must break free of the strong grip of consumerism.”

I found this quote extremely timely for a couple reasons. First, we must never allow the pressure for numbers to move us away from the passion for producing disciples who have “Great Commandment Hearts” and “Great Commission Lifestyles.” Secondly, with Judgement House on the horizon, his statement was very appropriate….”to concentrate instead on advancing the kingdom through the members, letting the growth issues take care of themselves.” This is not to say that we don’t want to grow but the goal of Judgement House (or anything else we do) should not be our own church growth, but the advancing of the kingdom.

I am tremendously excited to see how God will advance his kingdom through Mountain View’s Judgement House.

I sometimes scratch my head when I hear Christians talking about holiness. I get this impression that they are talking about something that is out of reach for all believers yet something that all should aspire to obtain. There is no doubt that we need to recognize and ascent to the reality that God is a holy God. A holy God can not have fellowship with unrighteousness. No matter how much we understand grace we must, too, understand that God hates sin. That is why there needs to be the daily confession of sin and appropriation of God’s cleansing grace. There is no misunderstanding about that. But is holiness unobtainable in the believer’s experience? Are God’s grace and holiness at odds with each other? You would think that some think this when they are quick to remind those of us who teach grace that “we have to be careful with that grace stuff, for God is holy.” Usually that is followed by some pontificating that leaves me scratching my head as to what they think holiness is for the believer.

I have come to conclude that many arrive at the aforementioned view having spiritual cataracts. For these holiness seems like a prison. Holiness is obtained by a biting discipline that is more judicial and legislative than an outgrowth of one’s walk with God. In my view, nothing could be further from the truth. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that the Christian life should not have disciplines. I am saying that it appears to me that holiness becomes the goal rather than a deep love relationship with the Savior. When the latter is lost, holiness becomes that prison of living by the rules. (Btw, that is exactly what the Apostle was talking about in Romans 7)

The ancient writers taught that true holiness has at its root an overwhelming passion for the one true and holy God, not for rules, principles and standards. To the early church fathers holiness was relational, not judicial.

One of the ancients, Fenelon, wrote it this way, “It is not by fussiness that we become faithful and exact in the smallest things. It is by a feeling of love, which is free from the reflections and fears of the anxious and scrupulous. We are as though carried away by the love of God. We only want to do what we are doing, and we do not want to do anything at all which we are not doing. At the same time that God, jealous, urges the soul, presses it relentlessly in the least details, and seems to withdraw all liberty from it, it finds itself free, and it enjoys a profound peace in him.”

Teresa of Avila joined Fenelon in this understanding of a relational holiness: “[As the soul] has already experienced spiritual delight from God, it sees that world delights are like filth. It finds itself withdrawing from them little by little, and it is more master of itself for so doing. In sum, there is an improvement in all the virtues.”

It appears to me that holy holiness is drawing near to and having our appetites transformed by God. Isn’t that what the Apostle Paul meant in Romans 8:4 when he states….

…in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but the according to the Spirit.

My preoccupation is not to be with laws, rules, and standards but with a holy and gracious God who invites me into an unbelieving fellowship with him through the Holy Spirit that brings joy and abundant living while transforming my spiritual appetites.

Dr. Gary Thomas says it well. “Holy holiness focuses on drawing near to God. As the love of God fills our hearts, the desire for sin is cut off and dies like a withering plant that never gets watered.”

(All quotes are from Seeking the Face of God, by Gary Thomas)

When sin has it way with us, we are often devastated and quick to believe Satan’s statements of shame that tell us that we are failures and we will never fly as high for Christ again. The book entitled, Seeking The Face Of God, speaking profoundly to this subject. Again, let me share some of the insight.

In this book, Gary Thomas states, “It would be heresy to suggest that we should ever sin so we can grow. Sin is always the wrong choice. However, when we do sin, we might as well cooperate with God in learning a lesson from our fall so we don’t repeat it. Genuine repentance renews the soul like few other activities and places us in a posture of learning.”

The reality is, as Thomas points out, we may actually feel closest to God right after we’ve blown it and met Him in repentance. This is because this pride of ours, that is at the root of all our sin and is so odious to God, is finally broken by sin. Sometimes it is even broken by temptation.

One of the ancients, Fenelon, said, “Thou allowest a mixture of good and evil even in the hearts of those most devoted to thee. These imperfections which remain in good souls serve to humble them, to detach them from themselves, to make them run more eagerly to thee.” (quoted by Gary Thomas)

Gary Thomas commenting further on this states, “When you sin, accept the lesson in humility and go to God in weakness. I’ve found I am rarely ‘stronger’ than when I am newly repentant and receiving God’s consoling forgiveness.”

I think Thomas a’ Kempis sums it up well. “Temptations are often very profitable to us, though they be troublesome and grievous; for in them a man is humbled, purified, and instructed.”

Let me reiterate that I would not advocate seeking out sin or even temptation but I would want every believer to understand that under the canopy of God’s grace, failure, even sin, can become a stepping stone to drawing closer to God and becoming more the man or woman of God that He so desires us to be. Be encouraged, God majors on sin shattered lives.

Dr. Byron Morgan

                                                                                                                            August 7, 2010

The study of Daniel 7 is a fascinating study. In Daniel 7 we find the most comprehensive, the most pervasive and the most panoramic prophesy of the future world (or the unfolding of God’s prophetic calendar) in the whole Old Testament and perhaps in the New Testament, at least in one chapter. In fact, the verification of of Scripture that stands out as the most incontrovertible of all possible verfications is that of fulfilled prophecy. What the Bible says will come to pass will, indeed, come to pass. And only an omnipotent and omniscient could both know and bring to pass the things that are predetermined. This is stuff that puts spiritual meat on our spiritual ribs as we take them to heart by faith. Really looking forward to teaching these great truths tomorrow and next Sunday.

10^th Anniversary Celebration Wednesday, June 2, 2010

I have had a little over a week to reflect back on the 10^th Anniversary Celebration banquet in Debbie’s and my honor. I had not given a lot of thought about what to expect. I assumed we would have a nice luncheon and perhaps a gift of some kind, and that would have been fine, but this was far beyond anything we expected. The words that were shared were tremendously humbling and encouraging. Others came to us afterwards and said they wanted to share but felt they would Alose it@ if they did. All the heartfelt sharing was a special gift beyond any monetary value. I wouldn=t take anything for that very special outpouring of love. In fact, someone said to me, AThe people who shared were so vulnerable in their sharing. You really felt like this was a family.@

The financial gift overwhelmed us. I was told after the dinner that the original goal was $2,010 (as in the year 2010) but the money kept coming in. What means the most to us is the fact that the gift represents people who were expressing what was in their hearts. It is true that you will put your treasure where your heart is. That gift spoke volumes to us. Again we are so appreciative.

Then there was Kathy Ray=s stirring video kaleidoscope of pictures of Debbie and me over the years. (Some of those pictures I could have left out, but that=s okay.) That will be a treasure for us. Finally, the dinner and how it was handled was first class! Again, I can=t say it enough. We are very appreciative to Becky Perea for organizing the dinner, and for all who helped out. Also, thanks to Anita and Wayne McCurley for their leadership in this event.

I guess in conclusion I would like to say, and this is really what I have been driving at, that in so many churches today the love relationship of a pastor/shepherd with his congregation is nearly nonexistent. In fact, now the pastor’s role is viewed more as a CEO than a shepherd. The reality is that we are called by God to be shepherds, and the shepherd is to love the sheep even when they do not love back. But what a beautiful relationship it is when that love runs both ways! At the banquet we certainly felt that to be the case. Thanks to all of you.

Pastor Byron