A Good Name is Priceless

How much does it mean to you to have a good name? Does it mean more to you than having success in this world or wealth or a large ministry? Without reservation, I say it should.

Most people want success in life. Of course, people define success in different ways. Not everybody is preoccupied with money, fame, power, and mega ministries. But however they define it for themselves, most people want to realize success in their life. A potential danger is that one can become so preoccupied with reaching success that he is willing to do just about anything to get there. But God calls us to be people of integrity.

There is no measure of success that will justify prostituting our good name. The Bible puts it this way: “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold” (Proverbs 22:1, NIV).

This verse does not mean that God sees great riches or silver and goal as evil. But time and again, people in the news affirm that these things have such a powerful draw on us. The desire for material wealth is like a drug that can drive people to devise diabolical schemes to advance their cause and to exploit others. Sad but true, even some ministers of the gospel have gotten high on this drug. And God is saying that we should value our reputation above any opportunity or desire we have for material gain or wealth.

Oftentimes, the world operates on the idea that the end justifies the means. But it doesn't work that way in the kingdom of God. A Christians, we should always evaluate our actions in terms of their impact on our reputation. In times when we are not sure, we should err on the side of caution. When we are of this conviction, God will cause whatever we do to be blessed. Equally important, His blessings will never cost us our good name.

If we agree with what God is saying here, then our taking unethical shortcuts, or stepping on others or breaking the law to get ahead, can never be a part of our plan for success. We need not waste our time praying about whether we should embrace such strategies. God has no part in these. They are but the arm of flesh. His way always esteems the honor of one’s name above all worldly success. Let us do the same.

Copyright © 2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

The Power of Music in the Christian Church

Most Christian churches utilize music and singing as a part of their worship services. Personally, I love to hear spiritually uplifting music when I go to worship God. In this post I want to very briefly talk about the awesome power of music in the Christian church.

In the sixteenth chapter of 1 Samuel, the Bible talks about King Saul who was troubled with an evil spirit. Saul ‘s servants advised him to seek a man skilled in playing the harp, declaring that “it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon you, that he shall play with his hand, and you shall be well” (1 Sam. 16:16b).

It seems to me that the servants would have proposed something more extreme to deliver Saul. But they were emphatic that through the playing of music the king would be delivered from the torment of the evil spirit. “And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him” (verse 23)!

One of the fascinating things about music is its power to touch the entire gamut of our emotions. We play love music, we say, to get us in a romantic mood. Music can also help us to relax. Then there is upbeat music that can get us on the dance floor. The possibilities go on and on to no end. But also we see that music can accomplish things in the spiritual realm.

In another instance, after King Solomon had finished the building of the temple and the people had gathered to thank and worship God, the Bible says that as the trumpeters and singers lifted their voices and played instruments that the glory of God filled the house of God: “So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God” (2 Chronicles 5:14)!

What’s the key here? Not only was David skilled in the playing of the harp, but also he was anointed by God. As for the trumpeters and singers, they were Levites who were dedicated to this service. I am saying that in our music ministry in the Christian church, not only do we need ministers of music who play well and who are gifted in the area of singing, but also they must have a vibrant relationship with the Lord, and they must be devoted to the music ministry.

Whenever we gather in the name of the Lord, all kinds of spirits exist among us: depression, demonic oppression, despair, etc. But I declare unto you that music and songs of worship and songs of praises rendered through devoted, anointed singers and musicians have the power to deliver worshipers from these burdensome spirits, and to usher in the presence and refreshing of the Lord.

Copyright © 2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

Poll: Confidence in the Church/Organized Religion Declining

(Article first published as Poll: Confidence in the Church/Organized Religion Declining on Technorati)

Gallup’s annual Confidence in Institutions survey for this year was conducted 7-10 June 2012, and the results were published last Wednesday. Gallup has been conducting this kind of survey since 1973, and annually since 1993.  Participants were asked to tell how much confidence they had—great deal/quite a lot, some, or very little/none—in the list of institutions presented. Based on the results, the biggest declines in confidence were for television news, the public schools, and organized religions.

I want to zero in on the results of the survey pertaining to confidence in the church/organized religion.  According to the survey results, confidence in the church/organized religion declined 4% this year relative to last year. Also, for the sixteen institutions addressed in this year’s survey, the results were compared to their historical averages as well. For instance, for the church/organized religion, while 44% expressed confidence in this institution for this current year, that was 12 percentage points below the historical average of 56%. Similarly, public schools, Congress (no surprise here), and television news are all currently at least 10% below their historical average ratings.

According to Gallup, “The declining confidence seems to be a part of a broader pattern, rather than a product of isolated issues facing individual institutions.” The implication is that once the economy improves and Americans begin to feel better about the state of the United States, their confidence in the major institutions will improve.

For the church I think it’s more complicated than that.

Speaking from a Christian perspective, I believe there are at least two general reasons why there may be a drop in confidence in the church. One has to do with the mission and message of the church. Again, from a Christian perspective, the church’s mission is to bring people into a personal and growing relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ and to provide practical answers to the tough questions in life. For those who attend Christian local churches and who feel the church has failed to deliver on this primary mission, they have legitimate grounds for losing confidence in the church.

The second reason has to do with people’s expectations of the local church. For instance, some people expect the local church to be more active than they currently are in meeting the temporal needs of the needy during tough economic times. Also, I have seen several surveys that suggest growing dissatisfaction with the local church because many people expect the church to be more accommodating to same-sex marriage, abortion, sex before marriage and the like. 

The point is that we have to be careful in what we read into the results of any survey. The question posed in the recent Gallup poll required a subjective answer, and that’s what participants gave. But the truth is that the reason some people may have lost confidence in the church/organized religion has to do with an individual’s idea of the church’s mission versus the church’s understanding of her God-given-mission, and these two can be worlds apart.

Copyright © 2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

We Must Pray for Strength

Lately, I have been seeing a number of prominent individuals falling prey to their weaknesses, mostly in the area of sexual sins or unethical deeds. Politicians, preachers, athletes, movie stars, you name it. The fact is that all of us have weaknesses. That’s why we must pray for strength. “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation,” Jesus instructed His disciples (Matthew 26:41). “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

In the abovementioned verse, Jesus reveals that prayer is the means by which we can endure temptations and not give in to our weaknesses. But how much do we believe that? When we acknowledge a personal weakness, do we regard prayer as a vital part of our strategy to overcome in the hour of temptation? And when we are faced with that set of circumstances that always gets the best of us, do we really believe that because we have prayed that it will make the difference this time?

The point is that it’s not enough for us to pray. We must believe in our heart that prayer makes the difference. For it  is when we mix our prayer with faith that we experience God’s miracle-working power. We must be of the conviction that with God on our side, we can overcome any personal challenge.

I am convinced that one of the main reasons we see as much moral failure among ministers and Christians is because of a deficiency in a vibrant prayer life.  As we read the Bible, we see that on several occasions Jesus prayed for hours or even all night long. This is one of reasons that though He ministered as a human being on earth, He lived everyday of His public life victoriously.

I thank God that I am a Christian and that He has changed me on the inside, but I am still clothed in a fleshly body. That’s where my problem lies. Human, I am subject to the temptations of my flesh. I would be lying against the truth to say otherwise. So would you.  Remember that denial does not negate reality.

That’s why we must tap into the power of prayer. It’s God’s will that we NEVER bow down to our flesh when we are tempted to do the wrong thing.  Accordingly, He will give us whatever we need in order to overcome the temptations of our flesh, if we pray for strength and believe.

Copyright © 2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?

It seems to me that most people who attend a Christian church regularly will tell you they are born again Christians. We throw that term around like a tired cliché. First of all, there is no such thing as a Christian who has not been born again. Here is what Jesus says about that: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

But what does it mean to be born again? The word again, used in this verse, comes from the Greek word anothen (AN-oh-then), which means anew. The point here is that when a person becomes born again he becomes a new creation on the inside. Sure, physically he looks the same as he did before conversion, but that is certainly not true about the spiritual part of him.

To be born again means that through a work of the Holy Spirit, we are miraculously changed and a new spirit now lives on the inside of us. This is a very powerful point because through this spiritual rebirth we now have the very character of Christ residing at the core of our being. This new spirit on the inside of us always wants what pleases God, and always dislikes what displeases God. This awesome experience is what causes that change of spiritual appetite whereby we hunger after God and the things of God such as prayer, Bible study and serving God--things we had little or no interest in before.

Some people have the idea that when you become born again it makes you do the right thing but it does not. When we become born again, we still have freedom to choose whether or not to obey God. But because we have been born again, and our inner person always wants what pleases God and always dislikes what displeases God, the Holy Spirit can bear witness with our spirit and they two remind us and lead us and quietly speak to us to do the right thing.

We can still choose to disobey the Holy Spirit and violate our inner being, but if we have genuinely been born again, we won’t like how we feel inside.

I have tried to answer the question I posed at the beginning of this post by sharing some practical points on the effect of having been born again. I chose this route because we can’t possibly explain the mechanics of this life-changing and miraculous process.

Perhaps as some of you read this post you are wondering, how do you become born again? The answer is by genuinely repenting of your sins and truly believing that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and that God bodily rose Him from the dead and that He lives forevermore. In other words, we become born again through faith in Christ.

If you do this from your heart, quicker than the time it took me to pen the answer, God will miraculously change you and make you a new creation.

Copyright ©2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

Be Angry but Don’t Sin

All of us become angry at one time or another, but some of us are much better at anger management than others are. Anger in and of itself is not a bad thing. God gave us anger as an emotion because some things should anger us. Some of the senseless killings that make the national news, for instance, really get me wound up. But the Bible says, “Be you angry, and sin not” (Ephesians 4:26). That means we should never allow our anger to drive our actions.

Husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, fellow colleagues, etc. tend to say some of the most hurtful things to each other when they are angry. Who says such words don’t hurt? Sometimes, they wound beyond repair. And what can we say about actions driven by our anger?

Recently, a local resident, thinking his wife had been cheating on her, waited for her to come home, and stabbed her to death right before her little children. Obviously, there is no way to right this wrong. God gave us an emotion called anger but He calls us to respond in ways that please Him.

Whenever we allow anger to get the best of us, we become less effective at doing whatever we should be doing for the Lord, our employer, ourselves, or whoever. Professional athletes know this all too well. They know that if they allow the opponent to get under their skin and cause them to become angry they will lose concentration, and they are headed for defeat.

Also, when we allow anger to take the driver’s seat, rational thinking takes a back seat. I am sure there are tens of thousands of prisoners—maybe more—this very day who regret the fact that they  acted out of so much anger that their thinking became compromised, causing them to commit criminal acts. That’s why when we become angry, we should pause and think and ask ourselves: What does the Word of God say about how we should deal with the matter at hand?

I am saying that we must condition ourselves to always be driven by the Word of God and never by raw emotions. This discipline does not come overnight, but if we diligently work at it, it will come. This is the sure-fire way by which we can be angry and don’t sin.

Copyright ©2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

How Most Christians Feel About Christian TV

(Article first published as How Most Christians Feel About Christian TV on Technorati)

A rather interesting article appeared last Thursday in Christian Today, one that touches on how most Christians feel about Christian TV. According to the article, Pastor David Wright, chief executive of DoersTV.com, polled his channel’s more than 100,000 Facebook fans to ask how they felt about Christian TV, and according to him, 90 percent of the feedback was negative.  Pastor Wright said he was shocked to discover that the majority of the Christians who responded hate Christian TV and do not watch it. That’s pretty strong language. Some of the reasons they gave were:

·         Too much begging for money and fund-raising

·         Boring and a lack of quality programming

·         Lack of integrity of Christian leaders being broadcast

Perhaps the findings are not representative of the Christian community at large. On the other hand, DoersTV.com is a free Christian TV network online. Since the network caters to the Christian community, it’s reasonable to assume that most of those who responded to the poll are pro-Christian. Furthermore, being a preacher of the gospel, I also have heard a number of Christians express similar views.

My point is that those of us who belong to the Christian community and who provide Christian programming via TV, radio, and the internet should not disregard the feedback that Pastor Wright received. On the contrary, I think we should view the responses as a customer satisfaction report of sorts.

If we are serious about making an impact on the community we serve, we must be able to receive constructive criticism from that community, and address the issues at hand. All successful businesses seriously do that. Just a few months ago, my family and I went to one of our favorite family restaurants, but this time the service was unusually bad. When I asked to speak to the manager, he was more than willing to come to my table and hear my complaint and to do what he could to retain me as a customer. Similarly, as Christian leaders, we too must heed what our listeners and viewers are saying about our product; if we don’t, we won’t remain relevant.

This is not to say that we must abandon biblical truth to please people. That would be a serious disservice. We must remain true to the biblical message. But this we can do without going overboard with the financial appeals; this we can do and still provide dynamic and high quality programming; and this we must do with the utmost integrity.

Copyright ©2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

Don’t Give Up; You Will Reap in Due Season

We know it’s the right thing for us to live our lives doing good, but continuance in well-doing can at times become a major challenge, depending on the circumstances. We have physical and emotional limits that can become overwhelmed under the right set of conditions. For some of us, the cost of continuing to faithfully do what we are doing caries a serious financial price tag. If I am speaking to you, consider this verse of encouragement: “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

When we let our light shine and walk in the love of Christ, people with needs tend to gravitate toward us. And I believe this reality will become even more pronounced in this self-serving  world as we get closer to Christ’s return. So when an elderly family member becomes incapacitated through Alzheimer’s, for example, the rest of the family is looking to us as the Christian to step up to the plate and shoulder the burden.

I think you get my point.

Let me make it clear that I am not saying that as Christians we should allow others to walk on us, and that we must shoulder everyone’s burden to prove that we are a Christian. I am simply saying that when a person is a Christian, because he or she genuinely cares for others, the likelihood that such a person will find herself bearing the burdens of others is higher than it is for the general population. And my sole goal in this post is to encourage you, and let you know that you will reap in due season, if you don’t become weary to the point of giving up.

As for the verse I quoted above, a key phrase in it is due season. When does that occur? Of course, when you are becoming weary along the way, due season, in your view, is past due already. But I submit to you that God is faithful not to forget your labor in this life. He rewards you when the time is right. Moreover, the longer the time of sowing, the greater will be the harvest that you reap. But note the proviso in the verse: “if we faint not.”

So don’t give up; keep doing the right thing; God has a blessing with your name on it.

Copyright © 2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

Poll: Most Southern Baptist Pastors Say Electing a Black Leader Would be Good

It is anticipated that in this month the Rev. Fred Luter , pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, will be elected as the first African-American president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). According to the results of a recent poll conducted by Lifeway Research, the majority of SBC pastors believe such a historic event would be good for the denomination.

In the survey, pastors were asked to express the level to which they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Without regard to any individual, I think it would be a good thing to have an African-American as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.” Nearly 1000 pastors responded. Sixty-one percent agree it would be positive, 10 percent disagree, and 29 percent don’t have an opinion.

Generally speaking, a Luter presidency should be no news because in Christ there is no black, white, Hispanic, etc. The only thing that should matter is that the new president is deemed qualified for the job. But given Rev. Luter’s past work in the SBC, including his current position as vice president of the SBC, it is reasonable to assume that his qualifications are not in question.

On the other hand, the prospect of the first African-American SBC president is newsworthy because the SBC is the largest Protestant denomination, it is predominantly white, and the split among Baptists that lead to the SBC’s formation in 1845 was rooted in race and slavery. It was not until 1995 that the denomination issued an apology to blacks for slavery. During that same year, Luter became second vice president of the SBC.

Reflecting on the question posed to church leaders in the survey, I am not exactly sure what is meant by “a good thing.” But I do agree that having a qualified black leader at the top post in the SBC will be a very positive statement.

The denomination has experienced a decline in membership during the past several years, and about a 5 percent drop in baptisms in 2010 relative to 2009. Leaders recognize the need to become more inclusive if they are to reverse the current trend. Also, according to Ed Stetzer, president of Lifeway Research, seven percent of SBC churches are primarily African-American, and in the last 20 years, the percentage of non-Anglo SBC churches has grown from five percent to 20 percent. Also, in the body of Christ, diversity is a good thing—even at the very top.

Copyright © 2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.