21 August 2006

[revival or riot.... take your pick!]

Jesus cast out 10,000 demons with one command. we use 10,000 commands to cast out one demon.

isn't that a bit strange? what was Jesus' secret? He was the Son of God? ok. so what do we say about the early church believers who had great signs, wonders and miracles occur?

i want to see what is real, just seeing with the natural eyes isn't always seeing what's real. we live in an illusionary world. our eyes are tricked by what we think we see. when we see Jesus in all circumstances, we can see what He is up to. when we see what He is doing, we see what the Father is doing. when we do what we see Jesus doing we WILL see results! the secret lies in doing what we see the Father doing and not what we think we should do...

brothers and sisters, kingdom life isn't just offered to us! kingdom life is in us! it's exciting to just think about that all day. we are called to be stewards of the mysteries of the kingdom that God has placed inside of us.

let's go a bit practical, shall we?

as citizens of the united states (for you who live in other countries, insert your own country's name), we cannot be denied the rights our citizenship affords us. we cannot be denied access into our own country.

we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven (and we know this because Paul wrote about it and Jesus actually said it). if we are citizens of the Kingdom, and we have the Kingdom within us and we have been charged to have dominion on the earth to fill the earth and subdue it, then we should naturally express our kingdom culture wherever we go.

let's take a real look at what we are producing. are we really reproducing something we can be proud of? are we reproducing strong christians who are effectively reaching their world for Christ? or are we reproducing people who are get lost in the christian sub-culture? is their christianity anything more than bible-based self-improvement? or are they active in communicating the gospel to those who are perishing? i fear that if they are the former, then we must deal with the issues in our lives. we reproduce who we are. if those we continue to produce bound-up believers then it's time we look at their teachers. perhaps our attitudes and issues need to be dealt with so that they do not develop our problems.

we either need a full-scale revival in the church or we need a riot against the four walls of the established church. we need to rethink our "strategies" for reaching the world. madison avenue marketing doesn't work too well in light of eternity. we should not jeopardize souls to fit our growth schedules. we do not need to tell people what they want to hear. we must tell them what they need to hear.

i don't know how to finish this post. really. so, perhaps i'll leave it as is. comments are welcome.

[for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]