Posted: 7/23/04
God's gift so great, Christians
can't keep quiet, pastor says
By John Hall
Texas Baptist Communications
SAN ANTONIO–God has given Christians something worth talking about, and it's too good for them to keep it to themselves, insisted Charles Booth, the featured preacher at the African American Fellowship/Church Health and Growth Conference.
God's miraculous work in healing and altering lives around the world will lead people to faith, said Booth, senior pastor of Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio.
To illustrate, he recalled the story of Jesus healing a deaf man, as recorded in the Gospel of Mark. Although Jesus told witnesses not to tell anyone about the incident, the crowd could not contain themselves and reported the miracle to many others.
| Charles Booth, pastor of Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio, tells the African American Fellowship/Church Health and Growth Conference the Christian message of God's wonder-working power is too good to keep quiet. |
Similar miracles happen daily, as God works in human lives, he noted. People get off drugs, see cancer disappear overnight and survive difficult surgeries. When the miraculous happens, individuals are compelled to tell others.
“When I put my mind on revival and remember what (God's) done, I've got to tell someone,” Booth said during the Baptist General Convention of Texas-sponsored event.
And when Christians speak the truth of the gospel with power, they can “get the hell out” of others, he promised.
The gospel may not immediately change lives, because sin is so ingrained in a person's life, but the message will work in a person over time and bring him to know Christ, he observed.
“I believe the power of Christ in the first century is the same as it is in the 21st century,” Booth said.
Speaking the truth with power and certainty must be done in pulpits as well, he added.
Too many times, pastors are turning their heads from sin within their congregations and avoiding preaching biblical principles because they are afraid of upsetting people, he claimed.
But God's movement in lives gives a depth to people's faith and provides each person a testimony, he continued. Those stories touch lives in the name of Christ.
African Americans in particular have a glorious song to sing as God brings them out of a long history of bondage, he said, noting the civil rights movement and resulting legislation have brought new freedoms to African Americans and given them an opportunity to praise God for his goodness.
“When you are delivered, God gives you a song,” he said.
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