Rice: ‘Florida Baptists—to the fields, to the fields!’

Nov 18, 2008
JAMES A. SMITH SR.
Executive Editor

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LAKELAND (FBW)—Times of economic, political and moral challenges are cause for Florida Baptists to “step out” rather than “back up,” Willy Rice preached Nov. 10 in his president’s address at the Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting in Lakeland.

Preaching from Jeremiah 32 in which the prophet was instructed by God to buy a field even though the Babylonians were on the brink of capturing Judah, Rice said the account shows Florida Baptists how to face their challenges by trusting God’s providence and purpose.

Rice, senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, completed his second and final one-year term as FBSC president in presiding over the gathering at First Baptist Church at the Mall.

During a time of great economic distress with Jerusalem besieged by the Babylonians and a day of great moral compromise epitomized by the Israelis’ sacrificing of their own children to false gods, Rice said the challenges of Jeremiah and Florida Baptists may not be too dissimilar.

“When you can take a little child and for your own corruptness and for your own power and because of your own lust take the life of that little child, you’ve hit rock bottom,” he said, noting that such practice was similar to abortion in America.

“A culture that disregards human life has hit rock bottom morally,” Rice declared.

WILLY RICE

In the midst of Judah’s impending collapse, Rice said God told Jeremiah to do an “extraordinary” and “unusual” thing—buy a field, even though the Babylonians would soon overtake the land.

“It doesn’t take Donald Trump to figure out that’s not a good deal. I mean, when the Babylonians are marching through, it’s not the time to be trading perfectly good silver for a worthless deed to a desolate piece of property,” Rice said.

The “simple real estate transaction so many years ago” teaches Florida Baptists today that they should “trust God’s providence—quit worrying,” Rice said.

“Jeremiah knew the future belonged to God and because he trusted the providence of God, the sovereignty of God, the power of God, he acted on what God told him to do,” Rice said, noting that while “careless indifference” is not appropriate, “God’s people have no business being afraid.”

Florida Baptists should not worry because “God rules over the affairs of men,” Rice preached, pointing to biblical examples of God setting up and bringing down rulers, including Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar.

“I want to tell you nothing has happened in recent days on Wall Street or in Washington or anywhere else that should keep us from serving the Lord, preaching the truth and advancing the kingdom of God. God is on the throne tonight,” Rice declared to the applause of the audience.

Rice said God also rules over the affairs of His people, noting that God had previously promised Jeremiah that He would bring His people back to Jerusalem after He had judged them with exile.

“Some of us are walking around here this week with our heads hung down, shuffling around, looking at the ground. You almost expect [music director] Terry Williams to break out a funeral dirge and somebody to step up tomorrow and offer a resolution that we surrender unconditionally. I want to tell you, we’ll do nothing of the sort,” he said.

“Friend, I want to tell you, nothing has happened that should keep us from doing exactly what God wants us to do. The Bible is still true. Men are still lost. The Holy Spirit is still moving. Jesus still saves. He’s still alive. He still reigns. He is still returning. And the kingdom of God is still advancing.”

In addition to trusting God’s providence, Florida Baptists need to “trust God’s purpose—keep working,” Rice preached.

“This was no time to back up; this was a time to step out. This was a time to lay a down payment. This was a time to say, I believe God rules the future. Therefore, Jeremiah said, ‘I’ll take the field,’” he said.

Rice said Florida Baptists should “keep going” and “keep giving.”

Too many churches are struggling because they have a “crisis of purpose. We have forgotten why we are here. We have become so inward focused that we have forgotten about what is outside our four walls,” Rice said.

“We’ve got too much activity and too little productivity. … There’s nothing wrong in most of our churches that a good, heartfelt effort at winning souls wouldn’t solve,” Rice said.

Florida Baptists’ fields are unreached young people; unwanted and abused children; and the desperate poor of Haiti and politically oppressed Cubans.

“I say, Florida Baptists—to the fields, to the fields! Let’s get out of our churches and take the fields by going and preaching the Word of God.”

To take the fields, Rice added, would require Florida Baptists to keep giving, even during difficult economic times.

“There’s no recession in heaven. Our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He is not checking the Stock Market to see if He can bless His work. He can fund His work,” Rice declared, adding that the “the biggest crisis in most of our churches is with faithfulness, not finances. It’s with obedience and not economics.”

The fault for such unfaithfulness, Rice said, is with preachers who have failed to teach tithing.

“I don’t want to meddle too much tonight, but maybe just a little,” Rice said to laughter. “Preachers, it’s hard to inspire people to generosity when we’re not generous and when we don’t lead our churches to be generous.”

Acknowledging that churches have their own needs, Rice said the needs of Florida require resources.

With Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt in the audience, Rice answered potential critics who would suggest he was “just pushing a program.” The Cooperative Program, he said, should be renamed the “Cooperative Missions Program” or Cooperative Missions Strategy” to “focus on the purpose” rather than “on the program.”

“I want to ask you something tonight: What is your strategy for going into all the world, all the time, at the same time? It’s one thing to talk about doing it. It’s another thing to measure out the silver and take the field,” he said.

“I say tonight … let us decide in this convention under God, for this cause, we’ll take this field. We’ll take this field. We’ll take this field for Christ. Amen.”

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