Today, We Run!
51 Years of Miracles. What an amazing journey. God has done incredible things here in the past 51 years. And we have seen His great power. Today we reflect, today we remember, today we renew. Renew our passion to reach the world.
In 1956, a small group of people gathered to start a brand new church. From humble beginnings, this group trusted God for the big things ahead.
Today, we still trust God for the big things ahead. We still trust Him to take us to greater heights. We stand today, ready to move, ready to serve, ready to launch.
Throughout our history, there are some verses that dad has shared time and time again. Verses that challenge us, verses that inspire us, verses that drive us to action.
Two of those verses are from Habakkuk 2:
Hab. 2:1 I will stand my watch
And set myself on the rampart,
And watch to see what He will say to me,
And what I will answer when I am corrected.
Hab. 2:2 Then the LORD answered me and said:
“Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
How many times have we heard dad share those verses? How many times have we heard dad read those verses to us when he talked about the vision for this ministry? He used these verses over and over to describe his BHAG.
Dad was a firm believer in casting the vision time and time again. He stood here over the past year, since last July 2—our 50th anniversary—and said that he believed God would do more in the next five years than He’s done in the previous 50. In fact, on July 16th last year, his sermon title was “The Former 50, the Future 5!”
This was his clarion call to us a church. He wasn’t happy to sit back and rest on what was, to simply reflect on the past, to celebrate what had been completed. No, he was a visionary who had a passion to dream big, and to make those dreams come true.
That was dad’s forte. That was where he thrived. As you look back over these 51 years as a church, we see so many situations where he dreamed big, and it happened.
Today, as we pass from this YEAR OF JUBILEE into this FUTURE FIVE, we must understand that we will not dream small dreams. We will continue to dream big dreams. Big visions. Big goals with a big passion.
We will call on the name of the Lord to deliver great victories in this next five years. Great victories because we will be taking on great challenges. Great challenges, because that is what dad would have done. He would have dreamed big, he would have aimed high, he would have cast the vision that would make us all gasp at the very size of it.
And he would have done that so that we could see that when big dreams come true, you know that it’s a God thing.
And so, what are some of those dreams that we begin to dream about today. What are some of those visions that we will be talking about in the coming months and years? What are those great challenges that we will face as a church?
1) We have a dream of seeing 5000 local salvation decisions as a result of this local church!
2) We have a dream of seeing the attendance of this church double in the next 5 years!
3) We have a dream of adding 5000 in attendance in our Sunday School programs!
4) We have a dream of baptizing 500 each year from now on!
5) We have a dream, in partnership with Liberty’s School of Religion and Liberty Seminary of planting 500 churches in the next five years!
6) We have a dream of sending 500 missionaries in the next five years
7) We have a dream of sending 500 of our church members on various short term missions trips
8) We have a dream of having 5000 of our members, of you, involved as lay ministers. Meeting the needs of our members, meeting the needs of our community, feeding the hungry, providing shelter to the homeless, helping the less fortunate, and letting the world see Christ within us!
These are big dreams. These are God-sized dreams. And always, GOD-SIZED DREAMS TAKE GOD-SIZED FAITH AND WILL ALWAYS PRODUCE GOD-SIZED MIRACLES!
That is what we are claiming today. God-sized miracles. We are trusting God to deliver to us exactly the vision that God placed on my dad’s heart. The FORMER FIFTY were amazing years, incredible years; but the FUTURE FIVE will bring miraculous results.
Hab. 2:2 Then the LORD answered me and said:
“Write the vision, And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it."
Dad wrote the vision. He spent 51 years writing the vision. And oh how he made it so plain. He didn’t mince words, he didn’t hide his feelings, he wasn’t embarrassed about what God had called him to do. He always said he wasn’t called to be popular, only faithful. And how faithful he was.
He wrote the vision. Clear as day. Today, we read the vision. We dwell on the vision. We believe in the vision. And today, we run with the vision. Habakkuk 2 says that he will run who reads it. TODAY WE RUN!
The next five years are going to be miraculous years in our church. Not because of anything we can do. Not because we believe we have the power. Not because we believe we have what it takes. But rather, because we believe in God who is all-powerful, all knowing, all loving and we know that through God, anything is possible.
Philippians 4:13 says: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
In His power, we can do anything. In His power, nothing is impossible. In His power, we will fulfill the vision. We will see those dreams come true. Not because of us, but because of Him. NOT I, BUT CHRIST!
Next week, I will begin a new sermon series that will take us through the rest of the summer. This series is entitled, “Preparing to Build, Seeing the Vision, Living the Dream!”
In this series we will be talking about what it will take for us to accomplish these God-sized dreams. About what it will take for us to see the FUTURE FIVE as dad saw it. We will be talking about building this church, from inside our individual hearts, to reach out around the globe with the Gospel.
2Chr. 14:7 Therefore he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the LORD our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.
So they built and prospered! That promise is what we are claiming. To build and prosper. Not for our glory, but for God’s glory. Not for our church, but for Christ’s church. Not because of our abilities, but because of Christ’s availability on the Cross. NOT I, BUT CHRIST!
We will be building. Building relationships. Building partnerships. Building good will in our community. Building belief in almighty God.
We want to take these words. To take this vision. And see it to fruition. To see it come true. To see, once again, God’s great power at work, to see His hand moving in our midst, to see His love covering us, and to see the power of the Cross changing lives all over the world.
This is where we are heading as a church. We are determined to fulfill God’s calling, God’s vision to saturate the world with the Gospel.
That is why we are calling on everyone to once again wear the Jesus First pin. For 30 years, we have sent this pin literally all over the world. By the tens of millions. And we are, once again, asking those tens of millions, to wear them. To wear them proudly. To wear them unashamedly. To wear them boldly.
To proclaim Christ as the most important thing in their lives. I ask you as a church. Wear this pin, not only on your lapel, but wear it on your heart. Let the world see Christ in you.
Let them know how important Jesus is in your life. Let them know what He has done for you. Let them know the joy that comes from knowing him personally and intimately. Let them know. Let them know!
WRITE THE VISION, MAKE IT PLAIN. Over these next five years, we will be writing and rewriting. You will hear about it often. You will see the vision over and over. Why? Because we must run with it. We must be energized by it. We must be excited to see it happen.
Isaiah 65:21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Again, a great promise from a great God. He tells us to build. He tells us to inhabit. He tells us to plant. He promises us that we will enjoy the work and will experience the rewards of our work.
Is. 66:1 Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?
Heaven is His throne and the earth His footstool. What does this mean? It means that we should never be ashamed to claim God’s promises. We should never be ashamed to serve Him, to love Him. We should never be ashamed of our love for Him.
This world is His. And though others may laugh at us. Though others may mock us, may criticize us, may attack us. This world belongs to God. We serve Him and Him alone. We serve Him unswervingly and unashamedly. We build His house. We build His kingdom.
We win souls for the Kingdom, and He will be honored.
Over these past 51 years, that is exactly what has been done. Dad never worried about what others thought about him, he just served.
Dad never cowered in the face of criticism, he just served. Dad was never embarrassed about his faith in God, he just served. He just served, and look what God did!
We must always look back at the thousands of victories in our church’s history. We must look back for strength. We must look back for encouragement. We must look back so we can always understand who God is, and what He will do for and through us!
We must remember how God took what seemed to be a most unlikely servant and used him to impact the world. We must always remember.
Joshua 4:5 “and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, “What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”
We read these words a few weeks back. We talked about how God led the children of Israel across their Jordan on dry ground. We see how Joshua called on Israel to place those stones as a memorial, so that all who would come behind them would know of the power of God.
So the children who came behind would ask the question, what does this stone mean? Why is it here? Why is it important? And they will answer, so that we will always remember what God has done. How he stopped the waters of the Jordan, so they could cross. How he stopped the waters, so they could make it through their challenges.
Josh. 24:26 Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.”
So many times through the Old Testament, they left stones of remembrance. Stones that would always remind them of what God has done. To always remind them of God’s power, of God’s deliverance, of God’s love.
Today, on the 51st anniversary of our church, we, too, are placing a stone of remembrance. As we look at the screens right now, we will witness the unveiling of our stone of remembrance. This stone will forever sit at the entrance to our church as a reminder of what God has done.
On the plaque that sits in front of that stone, these words are written. Josh. 4:21 Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, saying, “Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; 23 for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”
That stone is there today so that all who come behind us will know of God’s faithfulness, His power, His deliverance. Because we must always remember what God can do.
You see, as we look back over these 51 years of miracles at Thomas Road Baptist Church. As we look back at these 51 years of God using my dad, Jerry Falwell, to lead us. We must never forget what God has done and what God can do.
We must never forget those stories that dad shared with us about how he came to follow Christ. We must never forget how he was too lazy to get out of bed on Sunday mornings to turn off the radio that his mom had turned on, to Charles E. Fuller’s OLD FASHIONED REVIVAL HOUR.
We must never forget the day that he and Jim Moon walked into that Park Avenue Baptist Church to check out the girls, heard the Gospel, and walked out new creations in Christ.
We must never forget how he told the pastor the next day that he needed a Bible, and the pastor told him to go buy a Scofield Reference Bible. This Bible in my hand is the one he purchased that day after he was saved.
We must never forget how he walked into that church one day and there was a sign over the pulpit that said, “ARE YOU A T-I-T-H-E-R? And dad wanted to know what a tither was.
We must never forget how he changed the course of his life when he left plans of becoming an engineer or a journalist and went off to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO.
We must never forget how he took that class of 14 year old boys that was actually a class of one on the first day. Of how dad wanted to quit after that first Sunday. And of how God challenged him during that time to recommit. And how that class grew to 56 in the first year.
We must never forget the story of dad asking for the keys to an empty dorm room at BBC to use as his prayer closet. Of how he prayed there day in and day out, because he knew the power of prayer.
We must never forget as dad returned to Lynchburg, Virginia, to start a church in June 1956 with those 35 members. Small beginnings, oh but what God had in store.
We must never forget how dad knocked on 100 doors a day and how God used that to grow this church from 35 to over 800 in one year.
We must never forget how dad almost immediately went on radio and television because he wanted to saturate the community with the Gospel.
We must never forget how the church grew and grew. How people’s lives were changed. How souls were saved by the thousands. We must always remember what God has done.
We must always remember how God put the vision in dad’s heart to start a Christian educational system. To start LCA, then to start LU. How he had the vision of a student entering preschool and going through to their doctorate without ever sitting under a teacher or professor who wasn’t a Bible-believing, born-again Christian.
We will always remember dad’s passion for seeing America return to its Christian heritage. We will always remember the I Love America rallies that took place all over this nation.
We will always remember how God gave dad the vision of speaking to the culture. Of speaking out against sin. Of how he started the Moral Majority in the 1979. And how God used that to help put Ronald Reagan in the White House and how it brought millions of Christians into the public square.
We will always remember his passion of training up Young Champions for Christ who would go out and impact the world.
We will always remember his passion of planting churches, of sending out pastors, to lead Christians everywhere.
We will always remember his passion for sending out missionaries to help those in foreign lands who needed to hear of the love of Christ.
We will always remember his passion for this local church. How he wanted to see it reach out to this community, to share God’s love in this community.
We will always remember his BHAG (his big hairy audacious goals) that he shared with us.
We will always remember those ads that started running in the Lynchburg newspaper saying 365 DAYS TO THE NEW TRBC.
We will always remember how he stood up in the pulpit and said we would move in on July 2, 2006.
We will always remember how he believed it, while many others didn’t. But he had faith, he believed in the power of God.
We will always remember on July 2, our 50th anniversary, when at 10:30am, the first song started and a new era at TRBC began. Just as dad said it would.
We will always remember the scores of people who flooded this altar, who walked into that baptistery, who joined our church in those days to come. Testimony to the power of God.
We will always remember the first Living Christmas Tree in this building and the people who made decisions for Christ during the programs.
We will always remember those times, over and over, where dad said that GOD WILL DO MORE IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS THAN IN THE PREVIOUS 50!
We will always remember on April 29, 2007 when he preached the sermon on the INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF GOD’S SERVANT. He said that God’s man or woman is indestructible until he has finished the work that God has called him to do.
We will always remember on May 13, in the 6PM service, after the kids choirs had performed the program, that he stood where I stand today. And in 5 short minutes, shared with us his passion for families. He said that his job as pastor was to raise up Godly men, Godly women and Godly children, to change the world.
A five-minute sermon that will speak to us for decades to come.
We will always remember this man, this man that God used to raise up a church, to raise up a school system, to raise up millions around the country to speak out against sin.
We will always remember how God used this man to preach the Gospel. How God gave this man a passion for souls. To share the faith. To help the hurting. To reach the lost. To give hope to the hopeless.
We will always remember what God can do through one man wholly committed to serving him.
We will remember! We will always remember!
And we must always remember, that God wants to use us to do the same!
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
