Tuesday, March 16th | Revival Roundtable (pt. 1)

Hello, everyone. Today is Tuesday, May the 16th. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clear View Today with Dr. Abaddon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearViewTodayShow.com. That's right, and you guys can help us keep this conversation going by supporting the show, sharing it online, leaving us a good review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasting content from.

We're going to leave a couple of links in the description so you can do just that. Today's verse of the day comes from Psalm 20, verse 4. May he grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all your purpose. I love the way that's put your heart's purpose. I think a lot of times what we do in Christianity, I know I've done this too, is that we put our purpose and our will and our desires aside because none of that matters anymore because it's all what God wants.

Yes, that's true, but God is also a loving father. He wants your desires as long as they line up with what his ultimate desire is. He wants to give you those things that you want. Now, sometimes those things that you want aren't good for you, and he will say no, but I don't think that it's biblical to have this idea that all my heart's desires and the things that I want out of life, I have to abandon those completely because God has his own plan. God works all things together for good. Even the things that you want, he's going to work together into his plan if you'll trust him and obey him. On those desires and those passions that are in you, God created you. He's the one that gave you those.

That's right. Who's to say that those don't line up with and feed into God's overarching plan for the world? Like you said, if it's detrimental to you or goes against God's will, he's going to move those out of the way because there's something better for you. But those desires that are created in you, those passions that are inherent to you, God gave you those.

So, lean into those and ask God to shift them to line up with his will. Happy anniversary? Thank you. Is that odd to say on a May 16th? On a Tuesday afternoon? I don't think that's odd because today is my anniversary. Shout out to my wife. You had a May wedding?

Yeah, May 16th. Was it inside or outside? The wedding was inside. Pictures were outside. I was going to say, was it hot? It was hot. And it had just rained earlier that morning. So, it was like muggy. Oh, you don't like that.

Sweat central. I mean, and we were taking pictures. Elizabeth will tell you this too. She had like wedge shoes on. So, not heels, but like wedges. And as we were taking pictures, because it's Charleston, so everything is below sea level, she was like sinking into the ground. Wow.

As she was taking pictures, she could feel her shoes just kind of slowly sinking into the ground. But we didn't have an indoor wedding and an indoor reception. How long have you been married? Fourteen years. Fourteen years.

So, you got married. What was the year? The year was 2009. 2009. That's the one. That's the one.

Fourteen years. You got any special anniversary plans? Nope.

No. No anniversary plans. I mean, we'll probably like hold hands.

Like a cookie or something. That was something that I didn't, I think overestimated in marriage was like, every year on our anniversary, we're going to like capture the world. We're going to go see Paris. We're going to go see like Australia. We're going to just do it up on our anniversary. And it's like, do you want to just have a lasagna and sit in the chair at home?

I ordered us some sushi. Let's watch a reruns. Let's look at TV and just sit quietly. Here's the thing. Like, I mean, the place where we are now, we've got kids at home. Like you and I both, we've got, you've got little boys. I've got kids. So like, there's not a lot of this going and doing like, let's, let's get a, let's get away for a week. Okay. We got to have somebody to come watch the kids.

We don't have any family that lives nearby. So we got to coordinate this entire thing. But I will tell you, like the first two anniversaries, year one, year two, I peaked.

I'm never going to, I'm never going to supersede that. Was it a, was it a two parter or was it just, you put all your effort into those two individually? I put all my effort into those two. The first one really happened without a lot of effort from me.

So the first one, we actually were on a mission trip to Guatemala in, in anniversary one, like on our first anniversary, we woke up in a five star resort in Guatemala. Wow. I mean, it looked like something out of a, like a postcard.

It was unreal. I looked at her. I looked at Elizabeth. I remember this that morning, waking up on anniversary one, we married a full year. I looked at it. I was like, it's never going to get anything.

This is it. So did you organize the mission trip? No, it was something we did. We were both still in college. We got married like halfway through our college career.

I know we were babies. But it was something we did as part of our degree program. We got, we got credit hours for it.

We did have to pay for it, but we got credit hours for it. But yeah, I mean, five star resort on anniversary one, that's, you beat that. That was awesome. So anniversary two, I was like, well, you know, anniversary one was pretty good. I'm not going to match that, but we did a bed and breakfast in Savannah, Georgia, historic Savannah. It was gorgeous. It was beautiful. We spent a couple of days down there.

So much fun. But then anniversary three forward, where we were starting to, you know, be get into the kid realm, kids by this point or not yet not anniversary three. She was pregnant with the twins at anniversary three. But pregnant enough that travel was kind of like, plus I had a summer job for that anniversary and we're going to have to travel for that.

So that made it kind of, kind of dicey. Right. And then after that, we'd had at least two kids and then we ain't going to do no, we're not doing, I'm jokingly saying this, but we are going to celebrate our anniversary celebration at 14 years looks different than it did at one. Sometimes a quiet night at home is the best celebration a man can get. Amen.

Ladies, sometimes all your man wants to do to celebrate is just sit quietly in his chair and you just sit there and hold his hand. That's man. That sounds like a magic. That's right. That's right.

Maybe like play with my hair a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know. Just quiet. That's awesome.

Well, well, happy anniversary. I'm sure it's going to be a good time. I might even come and hang out. That's fine.

Yeah. I might just come and we can, the three of us can celebrate. Yeah, that's fine. I mean, we might be like, Hey, why don't you skedaddle? I'll stick around. Well, you know what? I would like the voice room in their room. If you want to go bunk with them, that's fine.

Slumber party. We're going to grab Dr. Shaw in just a second for our episode today. But if you guys have any questions or suggestions for new topics, text us at 252-582-5028. Let us know your anniversary stories or visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com.

We'll be back after this. Hey everyone, my name's Ellie and I'm David. We want to take a minute and let you know how we can actually serve you as you're listening to Clearview Today. The Bible paints an extraordinary picture of who we are as a church body. The mission of Clearview Church is to lead all people into a life changing, ever growing relationship with Jesus Christ. A huge part of leading people is praying for them. A big reason that Christians have unanswered prayers in their life is because they're not praying.

You know, as John 515 says, and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If you're listening to the Clearview Today show, we want to know how we can pray for you as well. There's a number of ways that you can get in touch with us at Clearview and share your prayer request. But the best way is by texting us at 252-582-5028. You can also send us an email at prayer at clearviewbc.org or you can download the Clearview app on iTunes or Google Play. You know, on that app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you, and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening.

Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. That's right, and if today's your first time ever joining us here on the Clearview Today show, we want to welcome you, let you know who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadon Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor and the host of today's show.

You can find all of his work on his website at abbadonshah.com. I've got to say, you're very close to me. I know, we're very close in today's episode. We usually aren't this close.

I know. We're close, but just not like proximity. I wish I would have showered this morning if I knew that we would have been this close.

I hate to hear that. I absolutely would have. Well, welcome to the studio, Dr. Shah. We have a very special episode of Clearview Today. Lots of friends seated around the table. Dr. Shah, do you want to kick us off and just kind of introduce our new friends today?

Absolutely, absolutely. They're our new friends to me. New friends to our Clearview Today.

Right, exactly. Well, to my left, starting right here, is Pastor John Joyner of Ashley Grove Baptist Church. Welcome to the show.

Thank you so much. And right next to him is my good friend, Pastor Ronnie Morton of Greater Joy Baptist Church. We've known each other for a long time. Yes. Long time. We've been working together. Yes.

And next to him is Pastor Walter Thorpe of Power of Life Baptist Church. Welcome to the show as well. Yes, sir. Thank you. Glad to be here.

It's good to have you here. And then our good friend, Pastor Burwell, is going to be here. He's the pastor of Greater New Hope Baptist Church. And all of these churches are in the Oxford, Granville County area.

Am I right on that pretty much? Yes. How about you? I'm in Vance County. Vance County. Okay. So we are connected. Yes, sir. The rest of them are not. I'm in Vance County too.

Oh, you're in Vance County as well? As well. Right. We're a majority here now.

Feels good. The reason for our gathering here today, I mean, I'm excited to be with friends and Pastor Burwell is going to join us real soon, is because God is doing something. You know, we talk about God doing something, but I feel it when pastors come together. And they feel like we need to come together and exhort, encourage our community, our membership to get back in the churches, to come together again.

Okay. It's been long enough. We've been away. It's time to get back.

And Pastor Morton, my good friend, he reached out to me a few weeks ago about a possibility or a few months ago, actually, we talked about this, of having a revival meeting and where we bring various churches together and God laid them on your heart. And I'm excited about that. You want to talk to us a little bit about that? Yes. This is the evidence.

This is the evidence that we're sitting around the table. Amen. Without a vision, the people perish.

So we should all be visionaries. One of the things that I've always admired, especially about you, Dr. Shaw, but I think just of the pastors of this area as well, is just that emphasis on church. The church is an essential part of our community. It's an essential part of our lives. And I think we saw over the past few years, people really start to move away from that, that a church was a non-essential part of life.

And I appreciate, and I'm very grateful for this opportunity for people to start to come back. And you told me that one time that most of life is just coming back to God. That's right.

That's right. I think some pastor somewhere said this, and I think many of us have kind of repeated the same statement, which is the past two, three years have seen the death, right? The post-mortem of a lot of churches, a lot of churches did not, were not able to stand back up after the pandemic. And this pastor said this, he said, he said, it's not that the pandemic killed the churches. They were already dying. A lot of them were already dying where people had already detached themselves from the truth, from the love of Jesus Christ, from the fellowship and all of that. And so pandemic just gave them a reason to sort of make their exit. It's so sad.

And they're not able to bounce back. Yes. It's tragic. But Paul said, Paul said in his writing to Rome, in his salutation, as he's getting ready to close the letter, he says that should focus on the good. In chapter 16, the Romans read it and less about evil. We are more concerned about what's evil going on in the world than we are about what's good going on in the world.

That's right. And so Paul warned, he gave a warning in that 16th chapter in the salutation. Amen to the church. Keep your eyes on what's good. I mean, we've kept our eyes on a disease for so long that I think may not be physically, but I think almost emotionally and mentally and spiritually, we have been diseased now.

And it seems like people can seem to get back. But what people do, Dr. Shaw, okay, when you have a disease, what do we do? We quarantine it.

What do we do? Okay. But we don't have, we can't quarantine the negativity of people who are teaching false doctrine. That's right.

That's the most dangerous thing in the world other than a disease. Absolutely. I like how Pastor Morton put it that we are to focus on the good. What do you think are some of the good things that you guys have seen God do over these past couple of years in your own churches and in your own communities? Well, it allowed us to be creative in how we deliver the word. It allowed us to be creative in how we gather together. For a long time, we had parking lot ministry. We never closed the doors. When I was at Greater New Hope with Pastor Spotswood Burwell, we never stopped worshiping and gathering together, even though we were in the parking lot, we still gathered and we still had ministry.

It was still working in the community. So we never stopped doing God's business and doing kingdom work. So it allowed us to be creative. And then with our Bible study in Sunday school, we were doing it on the phone lines instead of in person. So we still got creative and it actually increased attendance because people never had to leave their homes, never had to get dressed and get in their cars.

And they could call right after dinner and they could get on the line. And since that time, Pastor Burwell has continued to do that because he liked the greater participation. So it did allow us to teach us how to be a little more creative. And also when you think about technology, media, how do you grab the young people?

It's hard for them to sit there still sometimes in an hour or two hours, but they're online and they can actually see it. But it got us more creative, but also kind of got us to the real Christians who really attended the church, who really was on fire for the Lord. It kind of got us to the place where we said, okay, I'm going no matter what. And then those were the ones who start planting the seeds everywhere else and say, how do we do this?

And just like my brother said, creativity, it started happening. We use some of the young minds and some of the more mature scholars combine them together. And next thing you know, we got solidarity, but now it's time to get back into the sanctuary. So solidarity has got to get back to the sanctuary so we can do all this on the internet and all that. But fellowship is so important. And the enemy knows to isolate us and keep us isolated because now it's something else.

And then something else, a myriad of reasons why we shouldn't be gathering. But how long can we do that? It's like the old illustration you take in a campfire, you take an ember out and set it to the side.

How long is it going to stay hot? It's going to burn out. And I think that's how it is, the faith of people. When we come together is when we ignite each other. We grow, we mature.

Like the iron sharpens iron. But if we keep detaching, keep separating, can't function like that for long. When you reminded us of that, Dr. Shah, through the past several years, through everything that went on, we kept emphasizing, you kept emphasizing, we'll do what needs to be done. We'll meet people where they are. But at the same time, this is no substitute for meeting together.

The goal is always to get back to meeting together. That's where the priority should be. Because that's where true community and true impact changes. And just like you were saying, the intergenerational ministry happens.

The linking together across generational lines of those who are older, those who are younger, where we can truly see the greatest impact. So we do things like livestream. We do things like reaching to people who can't make it to the church doors.

But you're very clear. And I appreciate so much that that's not a substitute for actually meeting in person. I remember us doing that. I remember in Pastor Burwell's church, Greater New Hope in the parking lot, we had some ministries, we are clear to be church brought gift bags and all those kinds of things. And it was a wonderful time. You remember that? Yes, sir. You sang.

Sure did. Joy of the Lord is my strength. I like the word shepherd. I haven't been around these gentlemen in the past couple of days. I can tell you they're shepherds. They care about the people. Because you can have a hired hand and then you can have a shepherd. That's right.

There's a world of difference. The hired hand doesn't care. As long as the paycheck is coming, people can come and go, man, we got a lot more money like we used to. That's the thing right now.

The trend is this. Churches are taking a lot more money than they ever did before. So the temptation is, since we got our budget being met, why do we need to be frustrated over the people not coming in and fussing at them? They're giving their tithes. Just coast.

Yeah. But that's a hired hand. A shepherd doesn't sit back and say, I don't see the sheep, but man, we got plenty of money in the back. A shepherd says, I don't see that sheep, so I'm going to leave the 99 for the one. I want to find out where that one is.

That's exactly right. People forget that even though you might not see anybody in the sanctuary, there are angels that sit among us every Sunday morning. Every time. I'm not preaching to the choir. Somebody's looking and somebody's watching. I see one person come in who I've never seen in my life. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, this couple comes and they say, the Lord sent us here. They're in a black neighborhood where it's parvished. There are only Caucasian people in the church, and they got more power and more strength.

They're more bolder than the people who've been sitting in there. God uses everybody to cause them that hot coal. God will put one in the church, and it'll catch your fire. Amen. You talk about shepherding, and I know y'all can join in and chime in on that, but if we're not careful, and if we don't just go by what we see now, we will be mistaken because this past two, three years has made a tremendous impact on the mental stability of people. I'm talking about Christians and young people, especially young generation.

Shepherding, going after people, bringing them back, youth, bringing them back, students, bringing them back, and getting them connected is going to be the need of the hour. We have to do this. I mean, do y'all see that in your communities? Oh, yes.

I work in a public place, so I see the diversity in each area that I go, and it's amazing how people are starving to be empowered. Yes. You know, I call him my dad. So, you know, Pastor Daddy right here, he just said, you know, empowering when people come to you and come to your church or either just come to you as an individual, it's something about what you can give back to them in words and in praise and in the mannerism that draws them.

And what does the word says? We can draw men unto him, and all we got to do is just live upright and also show that we care, show that we love them. You know, I learn a lot from the folks that's here, Pastor Burwell, at solidifying. I see what's happening. Yes. So results.

That's the key word. Results. We shouldn't just talk. There should be some results. Can you talk about building a 300-seat auditorium for more people? If you don't have a vision that doesn't come in, if you haven't seen it, what are you going to build it for? So the results is I might not have been called to pastor a 3,000-member church. One soul, it says the heavens rejoice when one soul come to Christ. So I just want my reward.

I'm not jealous of no man. I want to, you understand me? I'm able to handle it. But the key is that when we started this early in ministry, we were sitting out in the middle of a parking lot, and now things have changed. The whole community has changed. You all haven't been there in a while, but the results is the community has changed. It's a new community where people can walk their dogs. There's drug dealers are not there anymore, and office buildings are there. We've got the community center there. We've got the health department. All these things are happening in the church's community because we stood firm on what God gave us to do.

Stick to the assignment. Tell us a little bit about what's on the horizon, especially with the revival coming up. I mean, what's God doing in these next couple of weeks? Well, the purpose for the revival, let's start there. There's always a purpose, but there must be a plan before the purpose. God has planned, and then we have to have purpose. The plan comes first. The plan was a mystery that was kept hidden from us before the foundation of the world that Christ would come. Amen. Amen.

That was the mystery. Okay, so that was the plan, the plan of salvation. So back to Bethel. I had a dream one night. I had a vision. The Lord spoke to me and said, Surround yourself with men and women who can hear from me.

And I want you to tell them it's time to come back to Bethel. So God aligned up what we're here for. Mm-hmm. All of you all are in the vision. Okay, let me explain that to you. When there's a vision and you're in the vision, that means you're going to live to see it completed.

That's right. Amen. Okay, so the vision, okay, is that Jacob was running from what? Fear, causes, and runs people to their purpose. He thought he was running from something, but he was running to his purpose. God had a plan. And so what it was, it got into the plan that you must... It's about making a vow. Right. We, a lot of people in the pandemic, promised God. And he said this, they promised me that if I would take care of them during this time, then they would, they made a vow.

Okay. And so now you tell them, it's time to come back to Bethel. So I'm expecting a diversity of people. I'm expecting people that we haven't seen before. I'm expecting it not to just be one revival. He said, do revival. It's time for revival, not one time a month, one time a year, but it's time to have revival. And that means we're going to have to continue to do this and integrate the younger people into it. That's why we're having a youth night so that we can integrate all people into this. So it's about a vision.

And I arose immediately. And remember what Jacob promised. If you be with me, wherever this journey takes me, and if you bring me back, then I will give you a 10th of whatever. You see, it's not about the money, but it's about the vow.

Better not to vow and not pay. And so this is what it's about, us coming together, crying loud, sparing not, and showing the people that I'm excited. I'm expecting a diversity of people. And this is going to spread. This is going to go bigger than you think than just the story.

Amen. That's so exciting to hear, especially with the emphasis on revival needs to happen. Young people, you're talking my language when you start talking about teenagers and students. Where can people find more information? We're running short on time. Tell people where they can go to look for more information. When and where is the revival taking place? I know you can give some answers to that. Sure.

We have the flyers. They're being posted on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, from various sources, from each one of us, as well as the from each one of us as well. You can also, of course, hear more information on the radio. We're also streaming this on YouTube as well. So it's going to be everywhere.

It's coming up on May the 22nd through the 26th. We're going to have a ball. And all four of you guys, plus Pastor Burwell as well. We're going to have five nights of power. Amen.

And I like how you said earlier, you know, the one who's going to, it's not an end. It's actually a raise to the next level. That's right. Yep.

You want to do like you did in the, in the, in the little 30 seconds? And it's what I love about this. And the reason we're involved at Clearview Church, part of this, this movement is because of the gospel. If the gospel wasn't there, you and I wouldn't have never connected because, you know, if we think good things are going to change people or, or social help and helping people feed the hungry, those things are wonderful. Those are simply the prep work, but it's Jesus that who changes life. It is the gospel of Jesus's coming, death, burial, and resurrection that changes lives.

That he is God's son that became man and took our sins upon himself, died in our place that changes lives. And so this revival, of course, we want people to come back. We want, you know, unity. We want to help people. We want to serve our community, but it's all centered on the person and work of the second person, the Godhead, Jesus Christ. And the reason I'm so much at ease because sometimes you can't find that.

Am I right? It's hard to find people like this to sit around the table. It's hard because somewhere when it comes to the gospel, they have either compromise or they don't have a clue, or they have a whole different idea of what the gospel is. So, so I, I feel like this group of five men believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth coming from the word of God, from Genesis to Revelation as the inerrant word of God. That, that, that's what unites us. And, and that's, that's why I'm part of it. That's why I'm excited about it. If you guys want more information about the Back to Bethel revival coming up, you can contact us here on the Clear View Today show by emailing contact at ClearViewTodayShow.com, or send us a text at 252-582-5028.

Don't forget on that same website, you can partner with us financially. Join with us as we stand shoulder to shoulder and seek to impact the nations with the gospel. I'm excited.

I want to keep talking about this. Maybe we can do this on tomorrow's episode of the radio show as well. I would love that. I would love to have Pastor Burwell will be here with us then, as I'm looking forward to, to, to talking more about this. That's right. Absolutely. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear View Today.