Brooklyn Tabernacle<\/a> in New York, engaged in a straightforward and practical conversation-style message. \u201cI want to encourage you. Don\u2019t quit and don\u2019t get sidetracked\u2026 You are doing the most important thing on the face of the earth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\u201cWe are the salt of the world. We are it. God has chosen to do His work through His body, the church.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 81 years old and 50 years in ministry, Cymbala has a wealth of experience to share. His goal on Monday night was to speak directly and sincerely to pastors and help them avoid the mistakes he made.<\/p>\n
He focused on Matthew 3:11 as he urged pastors to allow their ministries to be infused with the Holy Spirit and offered practical ways to welcome the Holy Spirit while warning against reverse evangelism. \u201cThe culture has evangelized the church instead of the other way around.\u201d Culture is not what pastors need to be concerned with; preaching the gospel is, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Jesus\u2019 church,\u201d he reminded pastors. While telling pastors to not make their ministries about themselves and their own vision and purpose for the church, he also encouraged them to be natural. \u201cBe who you are; don\u2019t copy anyone else, and be the same person at the pulpit and out of it because the moment you act, the Holy Spirit says, \u2018Bye.\u2019\u201d The main thing should be to preach the gospel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he\u2019s breathing share Jesus; if he\u2019s not leave him alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Holy Spirit baptism of ministry is not \u201cskinny jeans and fog machines.\u201d A Holy Spirit \u201cfire baptism\u201d brings light to ministry, and it brings revelation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay God open our eyes that we see people the way He sees them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not soulful organ music or shouting at people from the pulpit that leads them to Christ. It\u2019s deep Bible preaching that will draw them near to their Savior. Fire penetrates. It leaves nothing behind. \u2026 That\u2019s what we need in our churches\u2013biblical messages that penetrate, he said.<\/p>\n
Cymbala closed the night with an altar call to everyone who wanted that \u201cfire baptism\u201d and included himself in the lot. Nearly every pastor in the auditorium approached the altar prayerfully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LUTZ\u2014 New York pastor Jim Cymbala closed Monday evening\u2019s session of the Florida Baptist State Convention urging Florida Baptists to \u201cbe themselves\u201d and let the Holy Spirit bring a \u201cfire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":50400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,39,40,11,19,45,25],"tags":[493,494,41,495,445],"class_list":["post-45776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-annual-meeting","category-annual-meeting-archive","category-developing","category-expanding","category-news","category-statewide","category-stories","tag-brooklyn-tabernacle","tag-fbsc-tampa","tag-fbsc23","tag-florida-baptist-state-convention-2023","tag-jim-cymbala"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69199,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45776\/revisions\/69199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}