Saturday, January 8, 2011

What these times demand...

Back from a fun vacation. Time to get the grey matter stirred to the great conversations at hand. There are many and they warrant much time. Here is one:

How do we interpret these times?

One of the things that I love about Paul Johnson as a historian, is his ability to integrate his historical navigation through matters political, social, spiritual, economic, ethical, educational and the like. As the church readies herself for this new decade, she should certainly consider all these matters to determine her role in a spiraling world. We need more than the revivalists suggest. We need more than theologians would engage us in. We need more than the emerging conversation has brought. May I suggest we need each other fully? The power quest of the revivalists will keep us hungry for more of His divine presence and power. We certainly do need the weight and wonder of sound theology to prevent us drifting into the murky waters of heretical chaos. And then, we certainly need the humility to listen to the young. They do carry the "purposes of God for their generation". That will offend us, [as we did when we were 20 something], they will stretch us, enlarge us, challenge us, but if our heart is captivated by Jesus, they will delight us.

I would love to hear from you about what these times require from the church world wide.

Numbers 1:28
From the descendants of Issachar: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

1 Chronicles 12:32
from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command;

4 comments:

  1. UNITY & POWER displayed in manifest presence! When the world starts seeing us live in the miracle of unity, and sees the miraculous power of God manifesting itself in the church as a whole, there is nothing that can stop the grace of God's love being revealed and the harvest being gathered!

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  2. I do not think this will be an "either/or" season. I think this will definately be an "and also" season ~ that is we need all that you mention AND UNITY. Ed and I use a word -- synergism (the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc) when we talk about the effect of unity especially in ministry -- for us, especially ESPECIALLY in groups that are prophetic. I even see it in the "natural": maybe for me the most dynamic example is the Beatles (music group from 'ages' ago...I think you remember them.) There was something so dynamic in the group that never translated to their individual careers. The Lord showed me, some time ago, a picture of unity. He showed me a molecule of salt. It is made of the elements of sodium and chlorine. As individual elements they are both VASTLY different than salt in every way imaginable. Yet when combined (brought into unity/synergism, if you will) they 'leave' all their individual traits behind and become what Jesus told us to be :SALT in the world. The bond -- the unity -- brings such change to each element and creates something profoundly important.

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  3. Chris, you must hear our friend Rob Rufus' weigh in on this this morning at CCI HK! Here's the link: ustream.tv/cci-live-stream
    I'm not going to steal from his thunder, you must listen yourself!

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  4. Some things come only thru prayer and fasting; this generation needs a supernatural encounter.

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