Tag: God

Modern Prophets

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2019 and beyond… what will the world look like? It seems as though the world is in a constant state of change sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the better. With the birth of the technological age, humanity is making leaps and bounds to better our lives with entertainment, production, leisure, even love. But, as they say, with great power comes great responsibility and we have not always been so responsible. Whatever demonic evil thought the nuclear bomb was a clever idea clearly needs a wake-up call. Abortion is at an all-time high, the last century was the bloodiest in the entire history of humanity. As humanity evolves, chaos and corruption are an inevitable price for purchasing prosperity and harmony – apart from God’s Kingdom.

Imagine though something altogether different. Imagine a world where people love one another without condition or expectation, where prosperity and life flow freely and people live in unison from every tribe nation and tongue. No war, famine, corruption, or chaos, and sin is washed as white as snow. Just the world we all sense it ought to be. The Bible calls this image God’s Kingdom and God calls His Church to be heralds of the Good News of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth. We haven’t always done this well. From time to time, along the way, instead of taking up God’s message we took up arms and killed one another. Instead of loving our neighbours and displaying to the riches of God’s grace we abuse them and display darkness preach chaos. However, I believe today is a new day.

God is still as passionate today about sending forth His message as He was two thousand years ago when Jesus commissioned His disciples with the great commission. I believe God is continuously calling His Church to preach repentance and good tidings in every nation, with a fire in their bellies and breathe new life into dry bones. I think He wants us to be prophets. He wants us to effectively and meaningfully engage with our contexts (mines Australia) and deliver God’s message that saves. He wants us to call them out of the darkness and into the light. He wants the nations to turn from their sin, uphold the poor and the widows, and be reflections of God’s Kingdom here on earth. It sounds crazy, I know. We can only ever get so far with this. Even with our prophetic sense of purpose in the world, the Spirit guiding us and the Gospel on our tongues the Kingdom will only come in all of its glorious fullness with our Lord Jesus. Until then, preach:

For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

(Romans 10:11-15)

Do Christians Need to Go to Church?

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What a question. It’s one I’ve heard a lot over the years in different ways. “Do I need to go to church in order to be a Christian?” “Do I need to go to church to be saved?” “If I can read the Bible for myself, and catch up with other Christian throughout my week for coffee and Jesus chats, why do I need to go to church on a Sunday?” Great questions and they’re honest questions I’ve asked my self as well. I think that a part of the problem with these sorts of questions presupposed a certain kind of modern church that isn’t healthy or biblical. This might stir up some controversy so strap yourselves in for a ride.

In short, yes one does need to attend a local church in order to be a healthy Christian. Why? A Christian not attending a local church but expecting to have a healthy Faith is like a bodybuilder not going to a gym and not lifting weights but expecting to win first prize in their next comp. It’s like a writer never actually writing anything at all but expecting a book to still be published, or a coffee connoisseur only ever drinking Nescafe Blend 43  (God forbid). I think you get my point, it just doesn’t work. Ok, sure. A person who drinks bad coffee might still consider themselves an expert on coffee. They might have read every book on it, joined every Facebook group and listened to every podcast (important for any coffee enthusiast), but that can never replace sitting down in the actual shop, drinking the actual cup of coffee and enjoying, savouring and experiencing every moment of the sweet velvety nectar that flows from the throne room of God Himself (I’m obviously drinking a very nice cup while a write this).

Fundamentally, I believe, what often lies behind this question is discontentment with the state of our local churches. Fair enough. Take my context, for example, the Sunshine Coast. The Coast is absolutely flooded with churches. Almost everywhere you look there’s a “city life community good point” named church that gathers people to do life together, to encourage and build up. The problem, however, is that that’s where it stops. (Get ready for the trigger) The vast majority of churches on the Sunshine Coast (not all) pitch to their congregations that loving one another, that living out your destiny or purpose, that living the “good life” in this slice of heaven called the Sunshine Coast is the Good News that Jesus offers us. That is not all the Gospel is.  Let me be clear, the Gospel includes – certainly in the age to come – the good life, a life free from suffering, pain, financial hardship, no sickness or death. The Gospel includes the mandate to love one another as ourselves in order to image God. However, the Gospel starts with Jesus as King (Luke 1:26-33) who offers forgiveness of and freedom from sin (Romans 3:23-26), victory over Satan and the powers of darkness (Colossians 2:14-15), a new heart, mind and soul (Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10), and (among many other things) union with God Himself (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Most of the people I find asking these sorts of questions are in churches that have an emphasis on living the “good life” instead of first God, Jesus and the Gospel. Rarely do I ever hear the question asked in healthy Gospel-centered churches. Why? Because when the entire Gospel is presented, not just part of it, the sheep are fed and are fueled to live the good life, to love neighbours and get involved in social justice out of a gospel-centred motivation.

For the sake of the article, let me again be clear: The good life, loving your neighbours and wanting what is best for yourself now is a part of the Good News (God wants this for people), but, it starts with Jesus, sin and darkness and then leads to those things (if not in this life – remember Jesus promises hardship and trials – then certainly in the age to come). It is my desire and prayer that the Coast would experience a sort of reformation where we go back to the ancient ways of preaching Gospel-centered messages to feed our sheep, where we pray, seek and save the lost, and see Christians being deeply moved by every facet of the Gospel, not just the physical benefits (which are great).

A Crack of Light in the Darkness

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It’s not much of a secret, though I think we try to cover it up, life is often full of darkness, seemingly meaningless moments that amount to nothing. Life can often feel like banging your head against a wall never feeling anything, never going anywhere with purpose. I’m sorry about that. I am really am. I wish I could wrap you up, hold you and tell you everything is right, that life is only ever good and happy. The truth is, life is far from it. However, there is a glimpse of light in the darkness.

Our God wouldn’t be very good now would He unless he brought a bit of light into our world, a bit of hope into despair, a bit of electricity into our otherwise numb, meaningless existence. What am I talking about? Good News. You see, the Good News that is the entire storyline of the Bible is as deep and it is wide. Let me tell you something, once you take hold of it, once it seeps down into the depths on your very own soul it is like a single beam on light craking the dark sky on a rainy day. At first, it blinds us. Then, it excites us. Finally, it wakes us up and brings us new life.

There are some out there that would have us believe that the darkened sky is all there is, the head banging, the despair. Jesus, however, would have us believe something different. Like a desperate father that weeps and wails for the return of his children, so too does Jesus long for humanity to turn to Him, to set them free from the brokenness, sin, and despair that so easily ensnares them. If love is what we lack, then He has it. If it is peace, then He provides it. If it is brokeness then He wants to pick up the pieces.

Nothing though is without cost. First, Jesus gave up His life for yours so that there would be a way out of the dark broken despair (John 8:36). This is called the atonement. Second, this way out, in a nutshell, is called grace and while grace comes freely to anyone who wants it (Ephesians 2:8), it will cost you your life and your heart. Why? Because Jesus isn’t simply interested in making your life a little bit more tolerable, He wants to completely transform your from your innermost being all the way out. You’ll be a new person, with new desires, a new heart, spirit, mind (Ezekiel 36:26), and you’ll be connected to God in such a way you never could have been otherwise (Romans 6 and 8). This is hard but worth it because He will wipe every tear from your eye, heal every wound (Revelation 21:4), give life and give it abundantly (John 10:10).

Through the Dry Blue Desert

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This poem was inspired by a recent blog I posted that shares about my journey and where I’m at now in the journey of faith. Read that then read this, sometimes there are only things that only poetry can explain.

The blue desert is unyielding and never fair. Wind – the deserts breath whisps around us, drawing us nearer to death.

Our mouths are dry from speaking destruction, our throats are rough from vomiting and gaging chaos into the world.

Yet we thirst for our Oasis in the world’s strange blue desert. Somewhere safe, abundant, flourishing and satisfying.

Our Oasis is there waiting for us to drink from Him. Pleading for us to rest in Him and to invite others to find Him.

Walk wanderer walk and you will find life everlasting.

A Scary Search for God Through A Million Miles of Blue Desert

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Weird title hey? I was looking over the books of one of my favourite author’s Donald Miller and sort of meshed all the books I’ve read together. So enjoy that. Anyway, here are some random musings for the week. This is about really what I’m going through now in my walk with God. I hope this resonates with some of you. I’d love to hear from some of you 🙂

For me, my journey in the Faith started just before I turned twenty. God and Jesus were unfamiliar people, Christianity immediately seemed to be far too institutional, and the people in it weren’t any better then I was outside of the Faith. I hit the ground running, eager to be light years ahead theologically of anyone I knew and to change the world, the church, and the Faith for Jesus. Needless to say, I was vomiting zeal while injecting uninformed idealism into my veins. Furthermore, I was desperate to belong, On any given day I was inches away from being Reformed, charismatic, or some other tribe within the Christian-Protestant tradition (I think I was almost Catholic or Orthodox at one point). I read copious amounts of books on prayer, the Bible, revival, church, theology, and the classics from Spurgeon, Murray, Torrey, Finney. I went to a bible college where, like a sponge, I soaked up a theological education that placed me, so I thought, on top of the “Christian ladder.” I would even hit the streets where I would share the Gospel with anyone who’d walk by, desperate to pluck a soul from the fiery furnace of Hell that I believed any and all were destined to go without the forgiveness of sins. I was, as they say, a machine. It wasn’t until I started walking with a mentor and close friend of mine that I started to realise I was doing a lot but something really lacked in my relationship with God. The intimacy was missing that I think every Christian from time to time mulls over and wonders if God is even there. All of a sudden I started searching for God instead of doing a bunch of things, and it scared me. Suddenly my grounding wasn’t in my actions, my reading list or my theological education but I desperately was trying to find grounding in God Himself and in doing so, I hoped to find out who I truly was. This journey has been as strange, bewildering, lonely and hopeless as wandering through a million miles of dry blue desert (and it’s still going).

What am I even talking about? I’m not sure I know. What I do know is this. God is more than books and theology. God is more than the sermons and lectures, works and good things that I do. I’m reminded of a quote by Donald Miller where he says:

“There is something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by a God who knows what He is doing. (They hang there, the stars, like notes on a page of music, free-form verse, silent mysteries swirling in the blue like jazz.) And as I lay there, it occurred to me that God is up there somewhere. Of course, I had always known He was, but this time I felt it, I realized it, the way a person realizes they are hungry or thirsty. The knowledge of God seeped out of my brain and into my heart. I imagined Him looking down on this earth, half angry because His beloved mankind had cheated on Him, had committed adultery, and yet hopelessly in love with her, drunk with love for her.”

I read that and let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding on to for maybe the last seven years. I need the knowledge of God to seep out of my brain and into my heart. I want to feel God as much as I read about God. I want to actually talk to Him, hear Him and feel His Spirit working in and through me. If the Christian life is only listening, reading, doing and never experiencing, I’m not sure that I want it.