June 17, 2002
Bright challenges messengers to walk in the Spirit
___By Charlie Warren
___Arkansas Baptist Newsmagazine
___ST. LOUIS--Bill Bright, founder and chairman of Campus Crusade for Christ, challenged Southern Baptist Convention messengers to liberate themselves from the flesh, walk in the Spirit and practice spiritual breathing.
___ Addressing the closing session of the 2002 annual meeting June 12 in St. Louis, Bright offered suggestions for ushering in revival.
___ Speaking from Hebrews 1:1-3 and 1 John 1:5-9, he issued a call to revival, urging Christians to remove the roof off their lives and tear down walls down so there is nothing between them and God.
___ That means leaving no sin unconfessed, Bright said. He recommended "spiritual breathing," in which a person lists and confesses sins while exhaling and inviting the Holy Spirit to fill them while inhaling.
___ The keys to revival are to embrace the cross, die to self, be filled with the Spirit, experience new life and "walk in the light," Bright said.
___ To embrace the cross, he offered an acrostic--C for conversion and commitment, R for repentance, reconciliation and restitution, O for obedience, S for sacrifice and surrender, and the final S for service.
___ He said a Campus Crusade survey revealed that only 5 percent of believers in America acknowledge the Holy Spirit.
___ "I would rather lead someone to walk in the Spirit than to lead someone to Christ, because the one who learns to walk in the Spirit will himself lead others to Christ," Bright said. "The most important person in any community is a Spirit-filled pastor."
___ He said he often asks people what is the greatest thing that has happened to them. "Every true believer will say nothing compares with the assurance of eternal, abundant life," he reported.
___ The only way to know the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit, Bright said, is to hunger and thirst after righteousness and "cry out for him from the depths of your being." He expressed gratitude for ways Southern Baptists and Campus Crusade have worked together.
___ In 1951, Bright and his wife signed a contract to be "slaves of Jesus," he said. "Twenty-four hours later, God in a special way gave me the vision for Campus Crusade for Christ. The vision followed our surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ."
___ Now suffering from a form of incurable fibrosis, Bright said he expected to be dead a year ago.
___ "I'm standing here today by the grace and glory of God," he said. "I'm praising him, although I am ready to go. The last year has been the greatest and most productive year of my life."
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