Twelve Years Ahead

 

 

"In a little more than ten years St. Paul established the Church in four provinces of the Roman Empire (Galatia, Madedonia, Achaia and Asia). Before AD 47 there were no churches in these provinces; in AD 57 St. Paul could speak as if his work there was done" (Roland Allen – Missionary Methods).

This past Sunday I posed a question: "What would you like to see done in our area for Jesus Christ over the next 12 years?" Perhaps my fellow bloggers can water that seed question. The blank billboard is for you to fill in the space with dreams and desires for gospel visibility.

I am not asking for prophetic utterances, unless of course God gives you one. I would like for you to prayerfully consider the question. Our region is increasing in spiritual darkness - how can the church address this issue.? So, in light of what God allowed Paul to experience - what should be our hope for the gospel in our region?

The King's Prayer

Hopefully there has been some positive progress in understanding how Jesus rearranged the categories of His world.  Everything began to change as the kingdoms of men fell  and the kingdom of God increased. This reversal came as the gospel was received and lived by faith.  We should read the Bible to see how truth was experienced by the people who were interacting with Jesus and the Apostles. The Bible isn't just information but transformational. The stories are really stories of either gospel transformation  or enslavement to self and sin. 

 

I believe one major factor in the effectiveness of Jesus and the Apostles is the interaction of the Spirit in their lives. We need to think more deeply into the relationship we have with the Spirit of power so that our lives would be characterized as Spirit filled. 

This coming Sunday we will look at the prayer of Jesus in John 17. I would encourage you to view this as a Spirit-filled prayer. In fact the only way a person could pray this prayer was if they were filled with the Spirit.

Our church doesn't just need prayer - we need Spirit filled prayer!

 

 

Racing through Life

Is there a way prayer can slow us down? Can prayer cause us to stop and think, discern or change our perspectives? It seems we spend a whole lot of time in prayer hoping God will do the many things we ask Him to do instead of asking Him to do one thing - change us and we all know change rarely happens in a fast paced world.

I haven't moved very far from Hebrews 5:7-8: "While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God's Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do."(The Message)

With that Scripture in mind I hope to generate some discussion on the final question I posed this past Sunday:

  *  With the glaring evidence of the powerlessness in the church, why do we still avoid matters like prayer, fasting and repentance?

So what would be your answer? Maybe you have been in a church that hasn't neglected those things and you would share your experience of what that was like.

One thing is for sure - prayer can be a discouragement for all of us. My only cure for my discouragement is to go again to the gospel of grace and remember that Jesus died for my failures. Rest in His great love and great grace.

Power Connection - Matthew 17:14-18

Jesus not only claimed to have but actually demonstrated that He did have ALL AUTHORITY! His invitation to His disciples was clear - receive Me and you will receive all of Me including my authoritative power.

Jesus would very often put His disciples in difficult situations that would test their desires for Him and their faith in Him. This was not a new way of training because the Rabbinical training system often included episodes of such difficulty that the disciple would be embarrassed by his inability or lack of understanding of the situation. We all know what it is like to be "new" at a job and not have the fully scope of our duties or even how we would carry them out.

So why does Jesus rebuke His disciples after they demonstrated such inability to cure the "lunatic" (Matthew 17:14-18)?

I hope to put make sense of this question on Sunday because we all, as disciples, need to understand the source of our power and more importantly perhaps, how to live in constant relationship to that power.

The Forver King

Okay, I borrowed the pic from the Web site. Rhonda does a great job of finding cool pictures. Just note their is no "sermon sidebar" to click.

I appreciated Tom's observation about how we need the transformative work of the gospel within the life of the church. It seems to me that only as we live the kingdom of our Lord within the church will the power flow outside the church. What gets in the way? I have mentioned sin and sleep but the idea of "openness" keeps coming back to me. I keep returning to my thoughts on Jonah - he simply didn't live open to God but had a closed life.

I would appreciate any comments on some specific things the Spirit needs to break through in our church that would give us a deeper openness with each other and of course with God.

The UnKingdom - Not the Kingdom of Men

In this past Sunday's sermon I talked about the Person, Purpose and Plan of Jesus.

The Person: Jesus is the eternal son of God who was crucified, buried, rose again the third day, ascended into His Father's presence and is coming again. I noted that because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ all of the kingdoms of men will eventually fail and eventually fall. I challenged us to receive this risen Jesus by faith individually and by faith collectively as His Church.

The Purpose: When Jesus came to earth and began His public ministry He preached that the kingdom of God had arrived. A new administration was taking hold and this administration would not be temporal but an eternal kingdom. This kingdom will one day be presented to His Father and will endure forever. The glory of this King and His Kingdom will never fade and His people (the redeemed by His blood) will sing His praises through endless days.

The Plan: How will Jesus do this great work? It definitely began when He came in the flesh. He lived out the kingdom among us in complete perfection. He worked for things that mattered and of course in accordance with His Father's will was lifted up as the sacrifice for sin. After His resurrection He told His disciples that all authority was His in heaven and on earth and that in this authority they were to move out and make disciples of all the nations.

It is through the church that individual lives will be changed but it is also through the church that cultures, societies and nations would be changed. I noted that Paul instructed the church that they were to preach to the rules and authorities in heavenly places that Jesus Christ is the manifold wisdom of God. When the apostles did this preaching not only individuals were saved but the kingdoms of men began to fall and kingdom of God became visible.

It has been my experience that most churches see "kingdom spreading" only in terms of personal/individual evangelism. I would suggest that this one dimensional approach has weakened the kingdom cause of Jesus because it on many levels quenches the Spirit among us. It is my hope that the church (Durkeetown and others) will see that through the multiplication of churches we will not only be more effective in personal evangelism (the visible world) but also be obedient to making the manifold wisdom of God known to the rulers and authorities in the unseen world. When we do this we will be preaching the Cross to its fullest dimensions.

Let me hear from you - I would be interested in listening to your perspectives on the unKingdom.

"Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men,
so one act of righteousness leads to justification
and life for all men." Romans 5:18 (ESV)

As we reflect on the life of Jesus this week which will culminate in the mighty saving act of God at Calvary - my hope is that our faith would grown deeper in love and appreciation for the public demonstration of God's love.

I also hope, with a gospel-confidence, that as we reflect on the goodness of God we will be led to a deeper repentance and holiness of life. That this repentance will result in joyful displays of extravagant love as we do many good works in the name of Jesus.

This coming Sunday as I preach from 1 Corinthians 15:58 I will have in view one final aspect of gospel-confidence. I will trust God to bring us to a "steadfast, immovable, always abounding" life that is willing to risk all because we know that our "labor is not in vain in the Lord."