Revive Us Again, Part 4
Dave Andrews • April 21, 2021
Remember Who You Are
Yesterday morning on the Bible Quiz, we discussed 2 Timothy 2:9, which reminds us the amazing attribute of God’s Word…it is unchained, unfettered, and unleashed. We may be in that metaphorical prison of our own making, bondage to sin or fear, cooped up at home, or even a literal prison; the good news is, God is out and about free and mighty…still alive and well and active--as is His Word.
In fact, the Word of God and the Christian life are inseparable. It teaches us who we are, and Who we are about. While the world would rather you be afraid to take a stand, to share your faith, to leave your home, to be in pain, God says, believer in Christ, that you are enlightened and empowered. You belong to the Alpha and Omega, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the One Who will throw sin and death into the fire, and He has won you the victory!
Little Christ.
If you confess Jesus as Lord, repented of your sins, and placed your faith in the real Christ of Scripture, you are a Christian. In the original Greek, that means “little Christ.” Of course, we know we are not God and will never be God (sometimes we forget). But we follow in His footsteps. We are His disciples. We get to enjoy the benefits, such as the Holy Spirit, the Fruits of the Spirit, the Armor of God, peace that surpasses all understanding, His protection, His companionship, His joy, His provision, His blessing, and His seal. It also means that we walk that same road of self-sacrifice, carrying His cross, and bearing His stripes. We can endure through pain by his gifts of joy, power, love, self-discipline, sound mind (focused on the Word), and Kingdom perspective.
Charles Sheldon challenged generations to revival through true discipleship. In his book, In His Steps, Sheldon asked “what would Jesus do?” How can you better emulate Christ
in this day and age? Are you a faithful disciple?
Servant of the King.
“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” -1 Corinthians 4:1-2
What a privilege it is to be a servant
of the Most High King! We get to carry the torch the great ones who came before us. We modern day servants have been called from and to different backgrounds and occupations. We have been placed in unique positions and given unique personal gifts
and talents. And as His servants, He has given us unique tasks to fulfill in our lifetime. As a matter of fact, it was all planned long ago! Ephesians
says God planned you long ago, for good works. However one of the great challenges to His will for our life...is us. Sometimes we get busy, apathetic, and forget Who this is all about. We forget that time is short on this earth, and eternity is ahead. We forget that it is all about Him and not about us. I am personally grateful for a patient God! We are all works in progress.
Even in our failure, the good news is we can start today in a small way. I would love to challenge you today, that if you are not sure if God is leading you to some small form of service
for Him, to take a quick baby-step out in faith. If He opens the door…great! If He closes it, great! It is still a success, since it is all about willingness and faithful to glorify the Father, and not simply look for results.
Child of the King.
We call ourselves servants of God because we have a task to do. But in honesty, we are so much more. We are not some mere chained slave, forced to into ceaseless labor for a harsh task-master. We are a child of the Most High Almighty God! Romans 8:15 says,
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Full disclosure here, my wife and I have spent some time considering the possibility of adoption in our family. Those online “gotcha day” adoption videos
get me every time; and every now and then I email my wife Susun one or two of those just to be ornery. Those videos are powerful because adoption is really a powerful thing…everyone can agree, believer or non-believer. We all want a place to belong. But have you ever looked into how much adoption costs? It is quite a lot!
Our adoption cost Christ quite a lot too. And so when I say He paid a heavy price for you, please do not take that lightly. You are bought at the greatest of price. You are not something that He is going to throw away lightly. You are invaluable to God. He has a plan for you, even yet. He grafted you into His chosen people and Kingdom, not really because of who you are, or anything you could do or bring to the table, but because of His love for you. Now you have a place to belong and Someone who loves you more than your mind can comprehend.
Our commitment to Christ and ministry to Him is one that comes out of a loving family relationship. And if you are serving God out of a sense of obligation
rather than love, I want to encourage you to focus on the love of God
right now. How can we start to love God better? One of the best pieces of advice for that comes from my pastor actually. Start telling God you love Him. Something about that act of telling Him solidifies it in our minds, feelings, and hearts. I can say I have experienced this first hand. You will be amazed how that opens up a whole new world!
Priest of God.
1 Peter 2:9
tells us that we are a chosen people, and a royal priesthood…a special possession of Christ, that we may declare the praise of the One who brought us out of the darkness
(which the world
is in), and into His light! Did you know you are a priest? You are a representative of the light of Jesus, a mediator between the world and Christ (the Great Mediator). How does that change your perspective about yourself?
I always get a chuckle when a pastor walks into the room and all of a sudden, people become much more cautious about what they are doing or how they are speaking. I recently saw a video of Billy Graham
on Johnny Carson in the 70s. Carson was never known to be the cleanest talk show host, even in his day. But he sure was treading careful with THE Billy Graham! And Graham was his usual God-centered self, simply fulfilling who he was and what he did, which was preach the Gospel. So how are you ministering before the Throne? Do people take notice when you, God’s priest, enter a room? If they “act differently” around you, and in a good way, chances are it’s a sign you are on the right track. Continue to be faithful as a priest of God, even when the world acts as it is expect to. We need more like you.
As we seek revival together, I want to encourage you to not fear as the world fears, not think as the world thinks, and not act as the world acts. We are different. We are true disciples, servants, and adopted royalty with full fledged rights as children of the Most High Almighty King. We act different, think different, look different. We are the chosen, the priests—on the winning side. We are bold in our stand for Him because He will and already has secured our victory. Let’s together remember Who we are, be who we are, and minister before God as representatives of Christ, wherever He has placed us.
-Dave Andrews
KJOL Station Manager
Our August drawing is of course over, but congratulations to our three winners of couples registrations to the Weekend To Remember Conferences. If you missed out, I want to let you know, that underway through September 15th, the Family Life Today Weekend to Remember Getaways are half off…so be sure to use the group nam
Big Daddy Weave released their new album “Let It Begin” in May. It was their first album in six years. There’s a reason for that. Most bands release new albums every two or three years, but on January 2, 2022, Jay Weaver died from COVID. He was Mike Weaver’s younger brother (hence the “Weave” in the band’s name). They spent the next three years processing the loss and putting their grief into song. In 2023, they released the duet with Katy Nichole, “ God Is In This Story .” God is in this story, God is in the details Even in the broken parts, He holds my heart, He never fails Later that year, Big Daddy Weave released “ Heaven Changes Everything .” In the light of eternity I have this hope Thank You, Jesus, Heaven changes everything In 2024, they released “ Let It Begin .” Mike Weaver said he had been intensely grieving the death of his brother and would cry every time he told the story on stage, until one night the healing began. Meanwhile, Matt Maher had written this song without knowing that Weaver's healing that had started. Mike remembered, “He reached out to me and was just like, ‘Man, I’ve had this song that has been on my heart for you guys.’ I read the lyrics, and it’s what I couldn’t say.” If my wounds could tell one story, Let it be a testimony That You don’t leave me where I’ve been. If this is healing, let it begin Their new single is “ I’ve Just Seen Too Much .” Listen for it on KJOL. Some days it feels like I’ve been losing more than I have found I won’t tell you that I’ve got it all together, If you know me, then You know my faith has wavered If you ask me why I trust Him When it feels like everything has come undone All I can tell you is, I’ve just seen too much
Chuck Girard of Love Song dies Chuck Girard , the co-founder of the band Love Song, died on Monday, August 11. He had been diagnosed with cancer which spread to his lungs. He was 81. Chuck Girard was one of the founding members of the iconic Jesus music band Love Song , which had its birth at Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa in 1970. (The band was briefly featured in Greg Laurie’s movie “The Jesus Revolution.”) After Love Song, Chuck had a solo career marked by his worship anthem, “ Sometimes Alleluia .” He gave concerts several times in western Colorado during the 1990s. Around 1976, Girard gave his testimony of how he and his friends had formed Love Song around 1968, before any of them actually knew Jesus. “We felt that drugs and psychedelics were part of God’s plan to reach men who could be reached by no other means. We thought that LSD was the key to spiritual knowledge. I thought the Beatles were Second Messiahs. I really thought they had discovered something and they were trying to convey it to us in little doses. “And when their White Album came out, I felt ripped off. I felt the Beatles had copped out, that if they did know anything spiritual, they were afraid to tell it, and perhaps they didn’t know. “So we got obsessed with this idea of having a band that could communicate God to people. And we started--in the middle of our psychedelic period--a God band that was called Love Song, and we would go into nightclubs and throw in our God songs in the middle of our music, and a lot of the songs would have Jesus’ name in it, and people were just not used to hearing Jesus’ name in a rock ‘n’ roll band in a bar! “And we would go out and evangelize people on our breaks. We would go out and say, ‘Hey why don’t you come out with us on Sunday. We’re gonna drop acid and get into God.’ It’s a classic example of the blind leaving the blind, of people who were sincerely deceived, sincerely wrong. “And 2½ years later, after we started that first band, the Lord was faithful to draw us up to a place called Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, and for the first time in my life, the gospel was communicated to me. And for the first time in my life, lights went off and I went: That’s what it’s all about! And I really discovered that what I’d been looking for my whole life was Jesus Christ, the victorious Son of God who died on a cross and three days later, rose again from the dead!” ( transcribed from audio of an unknown source. Here is a similar testimony from 1971 at Calvary Chapel, when Chuck was just 28 .) Postscript: in 1971, a copy of the original Love Song record made its way to a small Colorado town called Wray, where a 14 year old boy listened to that album over and over after becoming a Christian. It was the first, and only, contemporary Christian music we had ever heard. And 54 years later, that boy is still playing Christian music for anyone who will listen!
Just two weeks after breaking his back in a skateboarding accident, Forrest Frank says God miraculously healed him . "So I broke my back exactly two weeks ago," he said . "I got an X-ray and a CAT scan. It showed I had multiple fractures. I wake up today, forget to put on my back brace, I pick Bodie up, and I realize, Wait, I'm not wearing my brace! What is going on? I order an urgent X-ray. I have complete healing in my back. I have no fractures in my back!" Frank says he believes God would have healed him the first day, but God wanted his songs and testimony to come to life first. While being confined to his bed, Frank wrote a song called " God's Got My Back " which he released a few days later. (You can hear it daily on KJOL.) Frank made his announcement of his healing on Saturday, August 2, giving him just a few days to prepare to perform at the Iowa State Fair on August 7!
Lauren Daigle has released her first new song in two years, “ Let It Be A Hallelujah .” The first verse borrows from the hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be” by Frances Havergal in 1874. Take my life and let it be My soul devoted Lord to Thee Take my moments and all my days Make them endless praise Take my heart and let it move In spirit and in truth For the glory of Your name Daigle says she actually wrote this song eight years ago . "Years ago, in the writing cycle between 'How Can It Be' and 'Look Up Child,' I remember this gem, 'Let It Be a Hallelujah,' landing in the land of Dropbox and never making its way to my record," Daigle shares . "Fast forward years and years later, I truly believe that God had an incredible design filled with intention behind why this song wasn't brought forth into the world in the season in which we wrote it. This song was savored and salvaged for a time when my life needed to intersect with it."
Musician Forrest Frank--who had the hit song Good Day--had what surely could be called a “bad day” on July 18 th . He broke his back! Frank was playing with his two year old daughter in the driveway when he crashed his skateboard and hit the side of the house. He broke his L3 and L4 lumbar vertebrae. You can see the video on his TikTok page . So while he was confined to lying on his back, what did he do? He wrote a song! What’s more, he recorded and produced it on his laptop while lying on his bed! He released the finished version of the song a few days later. It’s called “ God’s Got My Back .” God’s got my back Even when I fall or get attacked God’s got my back Even when I’m low and full of lack God’s got my back Even when my soul is full of sorrow I don’t have to worry about tomorrow Why’s that? ‘Cause God’s got my back!
