A robust commitment to Christ, a fearless love of His
Gospel, will carry us beyond hymn singing on Sunday. Jesus calls us into action now. Armed with Love that is bold the
Church will go to the places where hate festers and defeat it. Equipped with
Spiritual gifts, we will show the world that the Kingdom of God is here to
overthrow the darkness. Before you nod in agreement, please understand that
means real sacrifice!
Many of us have asked God for easy assignments, far from the
front lines. God's people are often
missing in action at critical moments when evil might be turned aside, when sin
threatens to overwhelm yet another life, neighborhood, or nation! How many pray or, at least think, something
like this - "I will serve you, Lord, but only where it requires minimal
inconvenience and little sacrifice in terms of my autonomy and lifestyle."
Have you ever considered any of the following:
Adopting an unwanted child?
Mentoring a fatherless child?
Answering a call to vocational ministry in some less than desirable
place?
Committing real time, not spare time, to teach kids at your
church?
Feeding the poor, visit those who are elderly and lonely, or
lead a prison Bible Study?
Getting up regularly to pray for the world at 4:30 AM?
Encouraging your kids to accept a call to full-time
Christian ministry as a pastor or teacher despite the sacrifice that comes with
that vocation?
If not, why not? Have you preserved your own comfort
and offered to serve, but only at your convenience? Jesus’
words about our call to carry our Cross are ones that we usually either ignore
or soften, but that deserve our full attention.
He said, "If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about
yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. If you want to save your
life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find
it. What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself? What
would you give to get back your soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26, CEV) If we
read that commission in the soft voice of the Sunday School class it loses much
of its meaning. I hear Him speaking more
like a drill sergeant! Come! Forget
yourself! Give yourself! Change your world!
Can you hear? Will you answer? “Be
strong with the special favor God gives you in Christ Jesus. 2 You have heard
me teach many things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach
these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to
others. Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. And
as Christ’s soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this
life, for then you cannot satisfy the one who has enlisted you in his army.”
(2 Timothy 2 NLT )
The stakes are huge.
The destiny (present and Eternal!) of your family, your church, your
town, your nation; yes, the world -
depends on the Church (you and me) standing up and reporting for duty.
Andy Stanley teaches that real and passionate visions
develop in four stages:
1. Defining the
Problem.
2. Outlining a
Solution.
3. Determining the
Reason something must be done.
4. Deciding to do
something now! (Visioneering)
Evil is on the rampage, destroying lives, and deluding
people to march straight for Hell. There
is no quick fix, easy solution, or painless healing. It’s war, but not with guns, rather it is for
hearts and minds. It will not be won with another government program, by
talking heads on cable news, or after another study from Harvard. The solution is the message of the Gospel,
that Christ Jesus has defeated evil and opened the way to eternal life. So, "knowing the time, that now it is high
time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first
believed." (Romans 13:11, NKJV)
Please! Watch out that you're not diverted into the
sub-culture of conservative American Christianity. Regardless of what many teach, Jesus did not
die on the Cross so we could pay lower taxes, buy more guns, and fight bloated
government spending! Our calling is not
to try to pass laws banning gay marriage or punish young women who seek an
abortion. Our enemy is Evil. We confront sin, selfishness, greed, and
hatred – first in ourselves, and then pray desperately to learn to love others
to life! Our mission is one of justice, mercy, and compassion. We are advocates of the poor, liberators of those enslaved by sin, and
priests of the living God who are sent to bring healing to the nations.
Let us pray to understand the mission of Jesus and for the
Strategy of the Spirit that will contextualize the Gospel in our time. "God’s
Spirit is on me; he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To
set the burdened and battered free, to announce, “This is God’s year to act!”
(Luke 4:18-19, The Message)
"Then I heard a
loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the
kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our
brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore
rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the
sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he
knows that his time is short.” (Revelation 12:10-12, NIV)
Who will answer the call?
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