God made the world. God made man. Man decided that he could decide good and evil for himself. Death and suffering entered planet earth. Violence overtook the planet. God destroyed everyone with a flood – except for Noah and his family.

After the flood God began teaching Noah and his children how to live together in peace – starting by implementing the death penalty for murder. God called Abraham out from all the people in the earth and blessed him, promising that one day his descendant would be a blessing to the nations. Abraham –>Isaac–>Jacob.

Jacob is renamed Israel. Jacob and family move to Egypt after miraculously being saved from a famine.

After hundreds of years and Egyptian oppression God raises up Moses who delivers Israel from Egypt and leads them out into the dessert to be made into a new nation. After 40 years of testing a new nation enters the Promised Land armed with the Law of God – the only time in history where God Himself gave a way of life to a nation IN WRITING – with the clear intent of showing the world how to live the same way.

Israel as a nation fails to live up to God’s heart for a people. Twice they are destroyed.

Within the remains of a very devastated Israel God becomes human flesh – born of a virgin – lives among us – performs signs and wonders, dies a death on a cross to pay for the guilt of the world. His name is Jesus. This Jesus is resurrected and heads up to heaven and sends God the Holy Spirit to earth to fill and empower those who believe and put their trust in Him.

Now the world has God’s revelation of how to live (from Moses) and God’s empowering to do so (through Jesus and the Holy Spirit). The Kingdom of God begins to spread in the time of the Roman Empire and the remnants of the Roman Empire – exactly as predicted by the prophet Daniel.

Individuals are transformed internally by the power of the gospel and the power is manifest externally through ever more “yeasted” societies. Sometimes it looks like the Kingdom is moving forward. Sometimes it looks like it is lost. Look at it over 2,000+ years and it can be seen that it is ALWAYS advancing, even when it appears not to be!

The remnants of the Roman Empire (happens to be Europe) are “yeasted” with the Kingdom. (No, they are NOT themselves the Kingdom, they are “yeasted.”) Spots of Kingdom are planted all over the world. The gospel takes particularly strong roots in The West, but it also takes roots all over the world. From these places it continues to grow. Individuals changed internally –> flowing into families, communities and nations –> manifested externally in every area of life.

This story will continue until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords and every nation and society on earth is filled with the Knowledge of the Glory of the Lord.

Then at some point known only to God in Heaven Jesus will physically return to planet earth and it will be declared that “The Kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdoms of Our God and He Shall Reign FOREVER and EVER!”

Friends, there is no greater story! We live a destiny that is filled with hope of an ever brighter and brighter future. It does not depend on our plans but on the plans of a Sovereign God who has purposed that it WILL BE SO!

The Dominion of the Kingdom of God is inevitable! It is wonderful and beautiful. It is love. It is a world where each loves his neighbor as much as himself. It is the fulfillment of the Meaning of Life – to Know God and Jesus Christ. We will Know God and Enjoy Him (and each other) forever.

Hear the story of Jesus with your heart, believe it, be transformed, live it, yeast the world, preach the good news, love God until either you go to Him at death or you witness the day of His Return.

Don’t miss out! Don’t be dragged down by negativity! Don’t look for the end of the world, look for the manifestation of God within it! Look up and be glad because the King Comes!

Hallelujah! 

I am supposed to “go to church.” Good Christians do.

The problem is I’ve been bored sick with the messages I hear at any church for years now. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy feeling bad about that. I suspect that this expenditure of heart resources has been a waste – maybe I shouldn’t feel bad. Maybe I’m not the problem.

You see, in my heart I have a deep longing to have impact. I want to do.

And I don’t mean that I want to do the few things that will make the church or pastor feel successful. (Show up, tithe, sign up for the church’s programs, etc.) There is nothing wrong with those things, but they don’t scratch the itch. I suspect I am not alone in this.

I have an “internal itch” that “going to church,” local evangelism, conferences, or even “worship” time will never scratch. Especially if those things aren’t pointed decisively towards dominion.

I have a problem. I want to change the world!

In my case that means traveling, teaching, discussing, debating, writing, thinking (i.e. World Missions). For some it might be running a business, painting a picture, writing a song, or being an athlete.

Is the church a place to go focus on heaven for a while so you can survive your week? Or is it a place of connecting with other world-changers and getting equipped, charged and prepared to take over??

Bojidar Marinov has written an excellent article over at AmericanVision that I think you should read and consider, especially if you are in church leadership. Go read it, then come back and tell me what you think!

Here is a sample:

But then, why would a young man stay in the church? Is there a “male” message in our churches today? Is there a message that gives a young man a worthy cause to work for and to fight for? Why would he stay, to listen all his life to the same sermon over and over again, in many different versions of it? Come back every Sunday to learn—for the n-th time, over and over again—that God loves us? Shed tears over the same emotional stuff every week? Or hear that we live in the “last times” and therefore evil will expand and he can’t do anything to turn the tide? Or that his gifts mean nothing in these “last times,” all he is supposed to do is to “witness” to save a few souls from hell?  [Read More]

It’s an inspiring article. I hope you enjoy it. I hope it causes us to change something!

It’s time for a change!

Pastors should not disengage from politics. Like every other citizen of a country, the pastor must also exercise her/his right to have a say in the governance of the country. However, I also believe that pastors be objectively critical when addressing political matters in the church.

I once served a circuit of 3 churches for 6 years, in 3 communities that had their different political leanings. None of them knew which party I supported. They tried every bait to get to me tell them where I stood. It was hard for them to tell, because I criticized or commended both sides. I knew that being in a position of authority my choice could influence some persons who believed I was on their side and at the same time anger others who would feel I was against them. But that did not stop me from including political statements in my sermons or discussions.  [Read More]

Here is the comment that I posted in response:

Hello Marvia!

Good thoughts. It is certainly important for pastors and Christian leaders to give careful thought to how they approach political issues.

I would like to submit to you and your readers another important consideration: the distinction between what pastors should or shouldn’t do vs. whether or not the government should be deciding what pastors should or shouldn’t do.

Here is what I mean.

We can debate amongst ourselves as Christians what role we want our spiritual leaders to play in informing us about politics. Some will prefer their leaders say little, some will prefer their leaders take a strong stand. You have articulated well in this article a very common belief that American Christians happen to have about this issue.

It is very different, however, for the National Government to prohibit or restrict the free speech of pastors. Whatever we believe pastors should be doing, I hope we can all agree that the IRS should not in any way be inhibiting religious expression of political speech!

The Congress has committed a serious moral error by including the prohibition on endorsing candidates (for churches) in the tax code. The restrictions on working to influencing legislation are inappropriate as well. I submit that both of these sections of the tax code need to be repealed.

The debate about “how much do we want to participate in politics” should be an internal debate inside the Church of Christ, not an external restriction placed by the federal (or state, or city) governments.

Something to think about!

The vision of Gospel for Asia is to mobilize native local missionaries to advance the Gospel. Because they are not a huge Western Relief Effort and because they already have workers on the scene they represent an ideal opportunity to give some money towards the relief efforts in Burma. I did so and I invite you to do the same!

From their website:

Gospel for Asia missionaries and local church leaders moved out from Yangon (Rangoon) Thursday morning to go into Myanmar’s cyclone-devastated villages and search for survivors, according to a GFA correspondent inside the ravaged country.

Five teams were sent out to survey the damage and begin assessing the needs of the traumatized survivors. The teams included students from GFA’s Bible college in Yangon, which has become a center of ministry to survivors in Myanmar’s largest city. [Read More]

-Donate to GFA-

The Donate Button is at the bottom of the Cyclone article
at the GFA website

How not to bring God’s Kingdom into the world.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Original Source of this video:
http://www.sermonspice.com/videos/722/evangelism-linebac/

I was introduced to God personally at age 4. I know, that may seem strange to those who don’t know that God actively pursues relationship and connection with His Creatures!My mother was not a Christian, but she encountered God when I was 1 and 1/2 years old. She led me in a prayer “inviting Jesus into my heart” when I was 4. There has been interaction between the Creator and myself ever since.When I got to high school my friends were the “intellectual type.” They questioned my faith intensely. “Why not Buddha or any of the countless other god’s?” they said. “How do you know the Bible is True, how do you really know about Jesus? Whey would God send everyone other than Christians to hell?”

This questioning sent me on a journey of personal crisis. I found within myself a longing for truth. My mother believing something wasn’t good enough. What the rest of my culture said wasn’t good enough. What the whole world said wasn’t good enough. I didn’t want anybodies opinion, I wanted to know what was true.

I used to sit in an old Blue Ford Pickup Truck out in a parking lot and demand that God show Himself to me in person. I cried out. I cried. I sought. I longed. I yearned. I felt lost. Wasn’t there an answer?

One day I was sharing my doubts with a friend and mentor as we camped in the woods of Northern Michigan. He introduced a radical idea to me. I asked him “why should I believe in the Bible and Christianity?” He told me “because of the evidence!” Evidence? I was shocked. Is there evidence?

This led me on another path where I discovered that many people were going around saying “How do you know your religion is true and not somebody else’s” and “the Bible is full of errors and no different from other religion’s holy books”, but few had actually investigated anything at all. They were usually repeating their college professors.

I read Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell; I read The Resurrection Factor by Josh McDowell; I read Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?: The Resurrection Debate by Gary R. Habermas and Antony G. N. Flew (which is a debate between an atheist and a Resurrection Advocate). These are dangerously persuasive books.

I read He Is There and He Is Not Silent by Francis Schaeffer and learned about Epistemology and Reason in discovering God.

The case was launched to win my mind. I started to see that Christianity was reasonable. It was reasonable to believe in the literal life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is possible to reasonably believe in God. It is not a matter of “blind faith.” God is reasonable. There is historical evidence.

This pursuit was good for me, and I would recommend it, but it was not enough. Something deep inside me needed MORE! I used to tell my friends that I was 99.999999% convinced about Christianity, Jesus, the Resurrection, and the Bible and I was placing all of my chips on that spot. What did I have to lose?

My soul was still starving. My quest continued.

“God, I want to see you!”

Then it started to happen. I began to encounter God! Internally, I started to know Him!

I remember standing in front of a crowded room, staring up at the ceiling, looking into the eyes of God and beginning to fall in love with Him! (not a literal vision, but an internal “revelation.”)

This went way beyond a mere “religious experience.” It was not always emotional.

For three years I immersed in God, the Bible, and worship, falling more and more in Love with my Creator.

In the midst of that 3 years I had a moment of revelation. I was at a university and I met two students who began to launch at me the same questions my friends had asked me in High School. They kept mentioning their professor.

I found myself arguing rather fluently the Case for God and for Jesus Christ. They grew a bit timid. I was shocked. Then they pulled out their Big Bomb. “You need to talk to our professor.” Out of my mouth came something like this: “Your professor is probably smarter than me, he probably is a better debater than me, he may know more information than me; but he would have more luck proving to me that you don’t exist than that God doesn’t. You could be a hallucination, but I know God!” They stood there and looked at me with some pretty silly grins. I don’t think they knew what to do with that. I was never once mean or angry with them.

I am not talking about an emotional experience, I am talking about an internal Revelation and Knowing. I have been unable to doubt the existence of God in the 15ish years that have followed! That is right, I said unable.

I personally believe that everyone has a drop of this “knowing” inside them. Everyone knows God is there. I know some will take issue with that, and I respect that they disagree. But I also submit that it is within us all.

I personally believe that when we all face the judgment on Judgment Day we will realize that God is and always has been Plain and Obvious to all, both in our Hearts and in Creation.

I believe in God because it is reasonable to do so. I believe in God because of the historical testimonial evidence of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe in God because of Internal Revelation and Knowing (also known as the Testimony of the Holy Spirit).

God is there. He is not silent. Jesus literally walked the earth. He was 100% human and 100% Creator God. He literally died to pay for every drop of sin and evil in each individual’s past, present and future. He literally, historically came back to life, shattering the power of death for all time. He is literally going to return to earth to judge the living and the dead. There is literally grace and forgiveness being offered to all. There is literally an accounting to God after death and an Eternal Judgment for all who refuse the Grace that is offered.

I believe it. I have bought it all hook, line and sinker. Jesus is not a crutch for me, He is the stretcher that carried me out of the Grave and into New Life.

I am not threatened by those who say they don’t believe, although I think they are missing out.

Jesus (Yeshua!) is real and knowable! He is the living representation of God and He is God – and I believe in Him and love Him and am delighted to be considered a “Fool for Christ.”

ThirstyJon

Here are the videos of the 1980′s Gary Habermas and Anthony Flew Debate:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Source:  God Tube

Once upon a time there was a young boy who lived in a village at the foot of the Mountains. One day he wandered off into the forest above his father’s hut.

While wandering in the woods the boy discovered a gold mine!

A gold mine!

For the first time in his life he had hope that his poor father could stop fixing pots and pans for a living, and his village could escape generations of devastating poverty.

He ran back to his father’s hut as quickly as he could!

When he arrived he was crushed by what happened.

“Son” said his father, “this village has been the way it has for untold centuries, why are you trying to bring change now? Don’t you see the beauty of our way of life?”

“But Dad” replied the boy “If we go get the gold you can stop fixing these pots and pans and we can build a better hut for Mom and Sister. Maybe we would even be able to journey to The City to buy medicine for Grandpa!” And think of how we could help Widow Lady!”

“Son, don’t be proud! Who do you think you are coming here with all of this nonsense?”

In great distress the boy ran from hut to hut telling everyone he knew about the gold mine.

Finally, an angry village gathered together at the Chief’s Lodge in the central dirt-filled square for a meeting.

“Boy” they said “You have become so proud. Who do you think you are? Why do you think your way is better than our way? We’ve done this for time and forever. Stop judging us. Stop trying to change us.”

“But we wouldn’t have to change all of our traditions” cried the boy. “We just don’t have to be poor and sick and wretched any more! I mean, we’d have to get rid of some things to make room for the gold, but we could still be Us.”

The villagers became so angry that they ran the boy out of the village that very night. The Village Elders got together and made a new decree for all.

The Decree: “From this time and forever more we will not accept anyone trying to tell us there is a gold mine in those hills. Anyone claiming that there is a better way than Our Way will be branded with a Great Brown ‘A’ on their forehead for ‘Arrogant’. All ways will be accepted in this Village. All ways, that is, except the way that claims to have found True Gold. Our customs are not to be challenged. Everything we have is “Like Gold” anyway. Who is to say that the Boy’s gold is better than anything we have?”

The news went out into all the land and everyone agreed. The Decree became The Universal Law of Cultural and Religious Tolerance and even the King Himself signed it!

Everyone agreed except a few. Every now and then someone who was a little extra poor or extra sick or extra sad would wonder out into the Hills because they heard about the Boy and his Gold Mine.

Rumors say that in the Mountains there is a city called Zion where there are no more tears and where evil has been banished.

To this very day the Villages of the Realm have had to establish Fences because Once in a Great While Wanderers bearing brown ‘A’s on their foreheads would come down from the Mountains claiming that “in those Hills lies a Golden City. Leave behind your poverty and wretchedness and Join Us!”

Long Live Jesus Christ – King of the Golden City!

ThirstyJon

© 2007 freedomthirst.com – all rights reserved : Please do not reproduce this story in any form without written permission from freedomthirst.com. You are free to link to this story or forward a link to this story to your friends. Please do not forward the story itself. :: Contact ThirstyJon

Originally Posted: November 10, 2007 | 5:20:22 am

My heart goes out to those brother’s in the world who lack resources and I hope we are always generous with brother’s and sister’s in Christ.

But let us also consider the strategic issues and consequences of creating churches and ministers in other countries that are dependent on the west!

Glenn Penner writes on the Persecuted Church Weblog:

…I do not believe that persecution is the greatest threat to the continuing spread of the gospel. I am much more concerned about something that, at first glace, seems benign and even helpful but which I contend is far more insidious. I am referring to the dependency creating practices that ministries are increasingly promoting in the name of “partnership.”Such programs are varied and wide-ranging. Some claim to be “revolutionizing” world missions… [Read More]

Picture and Quote taken from persecutedchurch.blogspot.com