Dick Woodward: the MBC & Chuck Colson

April 9, 2014

Walking down the Mini Bible College memory lane (remember the 3-ring spiral notebooks?), here’s a video of an interview Chuck Colson did with Pastor Dick Woodward years ago. The video takes about half an hour to watch.

 

If you would like to access the Memorial Celebration that took place on March 15th, you may click here to view the video of it on the Williamsburg Community Chapel’s website. The family has been so blessed by the amazing responses of so many who attended & many others who have watched it online.  It was truly a celebration of Dick Woodward’s life and the legacy of faith he left with us – to God be all the glory! (The 2 hour service requires a time commitment to watch, but don’t miss a minute. Be blessed!)

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Posted by Dick Woodward

God’s Thoughts and Our Thoughts

October 22, 2013

“No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.”  (1Corinthians 2:11 NLT)

Our thought life is like a private chamber.  Nobody knows what we are thinking and we do not know what others are thinking.  Only the spirit within each of us knows our private thoughts.

In the same way, only the Holy Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God.  When we therefore receive the Holy Spirit of God we can know what God is thinking.  One translation writes that “incredible as it may seem we actually have the mind of Christ” when we receive the Holy Spirit.

When you study the rest of this profound chapter you will find that Paul applies this reality to teach us a great truth about the Holy Spirit.  It is a lesson in what we might call “spiritual educational psychology.”  We learn through the eye gate, which means everything we read and observe.  And we learn through the ear gate, what we listen to and hear.  He also references the heart gate, which means our volition and will to apply the truth we are learning.

He then makes the point that when it comes to learning spiritual truth we need another gate: the gate of the Holy Spirit.  When we have received the Holy Spirit we have access to the greatest learning experience possible in our lifetime.  Think of this the next time you spend time in God’s Word.  When you open the Bible, you have access to the very thoughts of God.

Through God’s Holy Spirit and His Word are you learning the thoughts of God?

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Posted by Dick Woodward

Words and Ways of God

May 25, 2013

STEP NUMBER FOUR:  Spend much time in God’s Word.

Let me tell you why.  In chapter 55 of his prophecy, Isaiah tells us there is as much difference between the thoughts and ways of God and the way we think and do things as the heavens are high above the earth (vv. 8-9).   He then goes on to describe one of the many supernatural functions of the Word of God. 

The Word of God establishes an alignment between our thoughts, ways and wills, and the thoughts, ways and will of God.

I once heard Billy Graham tell of boarding a plane before he was famous.  He spoke to an old pastor friend who was sitting in an aisle seat reading his Bible.  The old pastor completely ignored Billy.  When they had been in flight for about an hour, the pastor came back to where Billy was seated and greeted him enthusiastically.  He apologized for ignoring Billy earlier.  He said, “When I pray, I am talking to God, but when I open God’s Word, He talks to me.  He was talking to me when you spoke to me and I could not interrupt God just to talk to Billy Graham.”

Thomas à Kempis opened his Bible every morning with this prayer: “Let all the voices be stopped.  Speak to me Lord, Thou alone.”   If we sincerely want to know the will of God, we must be in relationship and in conversation with God.  We should speak to our loving heavenly Father in prayer and expect God to speak to us as we open the Word of God.  That is why two of the bases we must touch when we seek to know the will of God are prayer and the Word of God.

 

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Posted by Dick Woodward

If You Continue

April 11, 2013

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed.’” (John 8: 31 KJV)

One of the most important words in the New Testament is the word “continue.” From the horrible Mamertine prison in Rome Paul dictated his last words to Timothy, his beloved son in the faith.  He fervently exhorted Timothy to continue in the things he had learned.

International Cooperating Ministries has built more than 4,000 churches in 65 countries.  One of the greatest challenges we face is attrition.  This is both in individuals who profess faith in Christ and churches that are started by professing believers.  We have found that churches are 91% more likely to continue and build daughter churches it they get into our four year curriculum of Bible study we call “The Mini Bible College.”

Our Lord was intensely realistic.  He knew all about the hard reality of attrition.  In His Parable of the Sower He taught that nothing happens 75% of the time the Word of God is proclaimed or taught.  That’s why when people professed to believe in Him, His challenge to them was to continue in His Word and be His disciples indeed.

His Great Commission to His disciples was to make disciples (Matthew 28: 18-20).  There were three participles in that commission: going, baptizing and teaching.  But there was only one commanding imperative: to make disciples.

Apply this word “continue” to your own personal commitment to follow Jesus and remember this concept when you share the Gospel with others.  It is critically important that we, and they, not only profess to believe but make the commitment to continue and become disciples indeed of our glorious and victorious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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Posted by Dick Woodward

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