The Thirst for Freedom

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!

The Christian view about world history is pretty remarkable. The Bible actually runs a genealogy back to the first human being!

The Bible tracks from Adam to Noah, and then after Noah to all the people groups in the ancient world. This is a pretty amazing claim.

Watch almost any contemporary movie dealing with something “ancient” and you get this sense of a mysterious, unknown long-ancient past. Yet in a Christian Worldview, while there may be mystery about the details, history has a beginning and it is going somewhere. It started with Adam and leads up to now, and eventually the return of Christ. God is doing something definite, and we can see it throughout history!

We are heading towards a Bride of Christ loving God, one another, and “leavening” the whole earth until the return of Jesus. The book of Daniel portrays a kingdom getting bigger and bigger and overtaking all of the kingdoms of the earth. Revelation declares that “the kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our God.”

A Christian view of history? God is sovereignly raising up a people who know Him and love Him and live according to His ways. This people will inherit the earth. This people will draw and then embrace everyone who will be “saved” into that Kingdom. The Holy Spirit in them will do this!

I like this.

We aren’t going to evolve into a higher species. We are going to make ourselves extinct. We can and will take dominion of the earth while loving one another!

I’m into that.

Colorado Christians remember those who died at the hands of a shooter on December 9th. This highlight video is about 13 minutes long.

Source:  God Tube