we stand poised at the edge of the great precipice that divides what is past and what is yet to come. with eyes focused on what is unseen, we will finally accomplish that service the Great Redeemer has entrusted to us, the complete renown of His sovereign glory. that awesome task, that, unfortunately, has taken two millennia too long, will be accomplished by a terminal generation that will grasp only for what is unseen and will choose to not be content to retreat into the pleasures and the comforts established by generations past. Will this generation arise now? only history can tell us, only God can foreknow it, only the Spirit can guide us, and only we can desire it.
but why? why does a line have to be line drawn in the sand? why do we have to desire to step over the edge? why do we have to be the ones who have to walk off the edge of the cliff? why do we have to be watchful and mindful of every subconscious action?
let me tell you why. the answer is that our perspective is skewed. what we see one way is not how God, Himself sees it. we look at it like we’re stepping off the cliff; God sees it as we’re stepping onto the cliff from flying around, unsafely, on our own. the line must be drawn for people to take sides. “He who is not for Me is against Me,” Jesus said. if we do not stand with Jesus on His side of the line, and not because it is popular, because in a popularity contest, Jesus loses, we will be cut off. yet again, the popularity contest is skewed, because we are focused on what we can see and not what is unseen.
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
30 June 2005
29 June 2005
image is everything
what i don’t get is how we can have churches on the corners of one of the most crime-ridden areas of major metropolitan cities and have such little impact. what great disservice we do to have a sunday morning service, a sunday evening service, and a wednesday night service and call it impacting the community. how is it an impact if the youth are still strung out on drugs, the girls are prostituting themselves and the boys are killing each other? yet we have a secret society at prayer so far removed from what is happening just outside the four walls. what service are we actually providing?
why do we claim the victory then ignore the battle? is there a direct relationship between the spiritual disrepair of the world and the lethargy contained within the four walls? how can the church claim victory for what is not involved in?
what price are we willing to pay? Why do we expect the cost to go down?
there is a form of spiritual inflation at work. as the church continues to withdraw into the four walls, the price at which the lost will be returned grows greater.
when will the church decide enough is enough?!?
who is willing to pay the price to reach the fourteen-year-old selling crack on the corner? who will cash in and go reach the pimp and the two prostitutes in the alley? will the next gang murder be enough? or will we shake our heads and go about our business? will the next rape be too much? how about the next drug deal?
why are we, the one’s the world claims to be intolerant, so tolerant of sin? why are we so concerned about our image? the image God wants us to reflect is His, not the world’s- not tolerance. we are supposed to reflect His image, to radiate His glory. yet we are content to hoard the gifts of God for ourselves. we prostitute the Gospel. we will be held accountable for the things we see, the things we hear, and the things we choose to ignore. And that SCARES me! we claim that ignorance can be bliss and cognitively ignore the state of the world around us. then when catastrophe strikes, we claim it is God’s judgment on a world fallen into sin.
it appears that our christian counter-culture is not merely a subculture, but an actual counter culture. we put our christianity on the counter to wait until we have to pick up again when we grab our Bibles on the way to church. practical atheism is plaguing the pulpits and the pews in the western church. it is birthed in many seminaries that are little more than theory think-tanks by those who only want the benefits of christianity with out paying any of the price. they are serving tomorrow’s pastors and church a bland, tasteless, salt-less Christianity. in truth, it is a gospel without Christ.
if the church can’t separate itself from the world, the Groom will pass over that potential bride and find a true and holy bride for Himself.
it is imperative that we realize that when we ask for God’s judgment, or when we pray for a revival of our churches, not only will he take us seriously but His judgment will begin within the four walls. it begins within the congregations and those who are only there to socialize will be weeded out. the Bible doesn’t even mention weeding, but Jesus suggests something even more drastic! they will be spit out, removed far from Him. forgive the graphic nature, but when something is spit out, it does not merely dribble down the chin as in the case of a baby, but it is removed far from the person and they walk away from it. Jesus also mentions pruning off the dead branches so that new ones can grow.
in some cases, pruning is within the branch; religious spirits and sins that are unintentional are among the first things to go. in other cases, the whole branch must be cut off so the tree can continue to grow and not die. the dead branches that have been cut off are set on fire to bring to dust. a dying branch can be saved, but a dead branch cannot live again.
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
why do we claim the victory then ignore the battle? is there a direct relationship between the spiritual disrepair of the world and the lethargy contained within the four walls? how can the church claim victory for what is not involved in?
what price are we willing to pay? Why do we expect the cost to go down?
there is a form of spiritual inflation at work. as the church continues to withdraw into the four walls, the price at which the lost will be returned grows greater.
when will the church decide enough is enough?!?
who is willing to pay the price to reach the fourteen-year-old selling crack on the corner? who will cash in and go reach the pimp and the two prostitutes in the alley? will the next gang murder be enough? or will we shake our heads and go about our business? will the next rape be too much? how about the next drug deal?
why are we, the one’s the world claims to be intolerant, so tolerant of sin? why are we so concerned about our image? the image God wants us to reflect is His, not the world’s- not tolerance. we are supposed to reflect His image, to radiate His glory. yet we are content to hoard the gifts of God for ourselves. we prostitute the Gospel. we will be held accountable for the things we see, the things we hear, and the things we choose to ignore. And that SCARES me! we claim that ignorance can be bliss and cognitively ignore the state of the world around us. then when catastrophe strikes, we claim it is God’s judgment on a world fallen into sin.
it appears that our christian counter-culture is not merely a subculture, but an actual counter culture. we put our christianity on the counter to wait until we have to pick up again when we grab our Bibles on the way to church. practical atheism is plaguing the pulpits and the pews in the western church. it is birthed in many seminaries that are little more than theory think-tanks by those who only want the benefits of christianity with out paying any of the price. they are serving tomorrow’s pastors and church a bland, tasteless, salt-less Christianity. in truth, it is a gospel without Christ.
if the church can’t separate itself from the world, the Groom will pass over that potential bride and find a true and holy bride for Himself.
it is imperative that we realize that when we ask for God’s judgment, or when we pray for a revival of our churches, not only will he take us seriously but His judgment will begin within the four walls. it begins within the congregations and those who are only there to socialize will be weeded out. the Bible doesn’t even mention weeding, but Jesus suggests something even more drastic! they will be spit out, removed far from Him. forgive the graphic nature, but when something is spit out, it does not merely dribble down the chin as in the case of a baby, but it is removed far from the person and they walk away from it. Jesus also mentions pruning off the dead branches so that new ones can grow.
in some cases, pruning is within the branch; religious spirits and sins that are unintentional are among the first things to go. in other cases, the whole branch must be cut off so the tree can continue to grow and not die. the dead branches that have been cut off are set on fire to bring to dust. a dying branch can be saved, but a dead branch cannot live again.
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
28 June 2005
come follow me
do you want to look for my fullness?
do you want to make history with me?
do you want to count for my Kingdom?
do you want to see miracles and stand for justice?
do want to see reconciliation and people set free?
do you want to see nations transformed by the power of prayer?
then come, follow me,
and I will show you where to go.
it’s not to the platform and the spot-lit speaker.
it’s not the conference, the meeting, or the camp.
come with me to the darkest places
come to the hurting, the howling, hollow faces
come with me to the addicted, convicted and caught
come with your light, run with your salt,
come to the sorrow; the suicide tree
come to the stable
come follow me.[i]
i came across this poem in a book that i finished reading lately. that second stanza really hit me between the eyes. And my soul screamed out, “YES!” while conferences, meetings, and camps can serve to refresh us, what are they refreshing us for? they should serve to direct us to following where God is going. but often times, we go to conferences, meetings and camps to see what God is doing in someone else’s ministry. what God is doing in their lives and that we may wish that we too could experience that touch of God’s grace or that we may witness a miracle in our lives or the life of someone we may meet at the event.
it’s not about that. if we truly want to go for God in all His glory and to count for His kingdom; if we truly want to see reconciliation, lives set free, and nations transformed, then we need to go where He is sending us. not that we will be separated from Him, but that He wants us to join Him in that place to change the atmosphere, lives, and nations.
conferences, meetings, and camps should be a short stop on the way, not a place to continuously return for something new, cutting edge or to hear someone famous. there are some truly awesome things happening in the earth today, and God’s glory is being poured out, but God doesn’t want us to simply gather in one place to hear about it, He wants us to go and experience it. think about that. we don’t have to settle for the stories of others- He wants us to experience it in the nations! He wants the nations to experience it! He wants you to take His glory to the nations. He doesn’t want to settle within the church. He can’t settle within the church. He won’t settle within the church. And if we try to force Him to, He will go elsewhere and begin again with a people who are willing and open. He’s done it in the past; He’ll do it again today.
let’s not get left behind.
[i] Written by Ian Nicholson and quoted in the book Red Moon Rising (Lake Mary, FL: [Relevant Books], 2003) 181.
do you want to make history with me?
do you want to count for my Kingdom?
do you want to see miracles and stand for justice?
do want to see reconciliation and people set free?
do you want to see nations transformed by the power of prayer?
then come, follow me,
and I will show you where to go.
it’s not to the platform and the spot-lit speaker.
it’s not the conference, the meeting, or the camp.
come with me to the darkest places
come to the hurting, the howling, hollow faces
come with me to the addicted, convicted and caught
come with your light, run with your salt,
come to the sorrow; the suicide tree
come to the stable
come follow me.[i]
i came across this poem in a book that i finished reading lately. that second stanza really hit me between the eyes. And my soul screamed out, “YES!” while conferences, meetings, and camps can serve to refresh us, what are they refreshing us for? they should serve to direct us to following where God is going. but often times, we go to conferences, meetings and camps to see what God is doing in someone else’s ministry. what God is doing in their lives and that we may wish that we too could experience that touch of God’s grace or that we may witness a miracle in our lives or the life of someone we may meet at the event.
it’s not about that. if we truly want to go for God in all His glory and to count for His kingdom; if we truly want to see reconciliation, lives set free, and nations transformed, then we need to go where He is sending us. not that we will be separated from Him, but that He wants us to join Him in that place to change the atmosphere, lives, and nations.
conferences, meetings, and camps should be a short stop on the way, not a place to continuously return for something new, cutting edge or to hear someone famous. there are some truly awesome things happening in the earth today, and God’s glory is being poured out, but God doesn’t want us to simply gather in one place to hear about it, He wants us to go and experience it. think about that. we don’t have to settle for the stories of others- He wants us to experience it in the nations! He wants the nations to experience it! He wants you to take His glory to the nations. He doesn’t want to settle within the church. He can’t settle within the church. He won’t settle within the church. And if we try to force Him to, He will go elsewhere and begin again with a people who are willing and open. He’s done it in the past; He’ll do it again today.
let’s not get left behind.
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
[i] Written by Ian Nicholson and quoted in the book Red Moon Rising (Lake Mary, FL:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
