Uprising

"Two thousand years ago God started a revolt against the religion He started. So don't ever put it past God to cause a groundswell movement against churches and Christain institutions that bear His name. If he was willing to turn Judaism upside down, don't think for a moment our institutions are safe from a divine revolt. I am convinced that even now there are multitudes of followers of Jesus Christ who are sick and tired of the church playing games and playing down the call of God. My travels only confirm that the murmurings of revolution are everywhere. I am convinced that there is an uprising in the works and that no one less than God is behind it."
- Erwin McManus

What if God Gave a Revolution and Nobody Showed Up?

I talk with Christian leaders in our area all the time and they are saying the same things I hear from others around the country. "If we don't have a radical cultural transformation, a nation shaking revival from God, we will not recover as a nation." We like to talk about Reformation but many young radicals for Jesus speak the language of revolution. Unless we are willing to give up all for a Jesus revolution for God's kingdom to radically transform this world, nothing else will do. And when heaven invades earth, there will always be massive spiritual warfare. God's kingdom is always a threat to Satan's kingdom. Holiness is always a threat to sin. And freedom is always a threat to bondage and he many ways people are enslaved to the ways of this fallen world around us. True revolution for God is not about rebellion but total submission and surrender to God. True spiritual revolution is where our flesh is nailed to the cross.

The Revolutionary Kingdom

GROWTH TAKES PLACE AT THE EDGE OF RISK

I have been reading through Greg's Boyd's facinating book The Myth of a Christian Nation (Zondervan, 2005). Dr. Boyd says the heart of Jesus's teachings is the Kingdom of God. Here are some excerpts from his book:

"God is not primarily about getting people to pray a magical 'sinner's prayer' or to confess certain magical truths as a means of escaping hell. He's not about gathering together a group who happen to believe all the right things. Rather, He's about gathering together a group of people who embody God's kingdom----who individually and corporately manifest the reality of the reign of God on the earth. And he's about growing this new kingdom through his body to take over the world. The vision of what God is about lies at the heart of Jesus ministry, and it couldn't contrast with the kingdom of the world more sharply" (p.30).

This is a revlutionary kingdom that begins as a mustard seed and continues to grow and grow. This kingdom power does not look like Rambo or the Terminator but looks a lot like Calvary. Boyd continues,

"The kingdom of this world is concerned with preserving law and order by force; the kingdom of Godis concerned with establishing the rule of God through love. The kingdom of this world is centrally concerned with what people do; the kingdom of God is centrally concerned with how people are and what they can become. The kingdom of the world is characterized by judgment; the kingdom of God is characterized by outrageous, even scandalous, grace" (p.32).

In the end, whose kingdom are you living in and breathing in? Whose kingdom power are you living by? Or to say it another way, whose will governs your life, God's will or your own will?

Soul Revolution

DO SOMETHING SO BIG,
THAT UNLESS GOD IS IN
IT, IT WILL FAIL

- Frank Tillapaugh


Our world in changing so fast and many people are struggling to keep up. There are many revolutions going on from the technology revolution and micro chips to the food revolution and better and proper eating habits for a more fit body and life.

One of my friends asked me to listen to him and listen I did for the last two hours. He believes God is prompting him to start a soul revolution. I listened intently as this young minister poured out his heart and vision for what He believes God is calling the churches in our area to reach out to the community abroad.

Every day is a new day and as I look around, as people inside and outside the church are trying to fill their lives with so much 'stuff,' here is a kairos moment, a decisive time to work together as followers of Jesus and share the good news to spiritually hungry people.

I have talked about extreme faith make-over but most of us truly hunger for a God-sized vision and to see a real movement of God among the nations, and not just window dressing for bigger and flashier church buildings.

Here are some questions to ask ourselves which come from Michael Brown's Revolution in the Church (p.17):

1. Will we be revolutionaries for Jesus if it means the loss of titles and pristige and power?

2. Will we be revolutionaries for Jesus if it means the loss of friends and family?

3. Will we be revolutionaries for Jesus if it means the loss of money?

4. Will we be revolutionaries for Jesus if it means misunderstanding and even expulsion?

5. Will we be revolutionaries for Jesus if it means massive personal upheaval?

Will we? Will you?

What are you trying to fill your life up with?

Do you see a soul revolution on the horizon?

God, Save The Christians

"To have religion on the level of mediocrity
is the most unqualified form of perdition"
- Soren Kierkegaard

I have been reading Shane Claiborne's delightful and challenging book "The Irresistable Revolution." I remember Greg Boyd once said that Jesus did not call us to religion but to a revolution. Somehow much of Christendom has forgotten that which is why we need some new John the Baptists, savvy disciples like Shane Claiborne, and grumpy philosophers like Soren Kierkegaard.

Shane shares in his book how Don Miller in "Blue Like Jazz" tells the story of a bunch of college students who dressed up like monks and set up a confessional booth but rather than getting people to confess their sins, they confessed their sins and the church's sins to anyone who would listen and forgive. I love hearing ordinary radicals doing something for Jesus whether it's college kids going for broke or old Christians who have decided that they have nothing to lose if they go broke for the gospel's sake.

Claiborne introduces many of God's misfits like Brennan Manning, a recovered alchoholic priest who writes, "The greatest cause of atheism is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable" (p.270).

All of this reminds me of Rob Bell and Don Golden's book provocatively titled, "Jesus wants to Save Christians." Bell has tried his own fair amount of behind the scenes discipleship because we all know too well how easy it is to have Jesus name on our lips but our hearts can be very far from him. Bell wants Christians to genuinely serve and work for the world and not engage in the myth of redemptive violence and empire building.

So maybe the expression "God, save the Christians" is another way of saying "God save the church?"

What do you think?

Ordinary Radicals

"IF THE DEVIL CAN'T STEAL YOUR SOUL,
HE JUST KEEPS YOU BUSY DOING
MEANINGLESS CHURCH WORK"
- Shane Claiborne


Shane Claiborne has a blog called "The Simple Way" and is both a prolific writer and radical disciple of Jesus Christ. He has served all over the world from cleaning lepers in Calcutta to working for peace during the bombing of Iraq. Here are a few excerpts from his book The Irresistible Revolution:


"We must be careful not to allow ourselves to be written off as radicals when church history and the contemporary Christian landscape are filled with ordinary radicals. But today people crave the spectacular. People are drawn to lights and celebrities, to arenas and megachurches. In the desert, Jesus was tempted by the spectacular---to throw himself from the temple so that people might believe---to shock and awe people, if you will. Today the church is tempted by the spectacular, to do big, miraculous things so people might believe, but Jesus has called us to littleness and compares our revolution to the little mustard seed, to yeast making its way through the dough, slowly infecting this dark world with love. Many of us find ourselves living differently from the dominant culture end up needing to 'despectacularize' things a little so that the simple way is made as accessible as possible to other ordinary radicals." (p.132)

The concept of multidimensional discipleship is essential as we consider how to retain a radical discipleship that is multiethnic, intergenerational, and includes singles and families. Otherwise we will just end up surrounded by people who look like us, think like us, and respond to the gospel in exactly the same way we do (p.139).

How many times have you went to a church event, small group gathering, or conference and everyone was simply talking to the choir?

Gospel Revolution - Part 3

WE NEED A REVOLUTION OF HOLY SPIRIT FIRE,
A SUPERNATUAL REVOLUTION
- Michael Brown


The reason America is in such a mess today is not so much because of corrupt politicians and sinful movie stars. No. The primary reason is the backslidden, compromised church. The reason there is so much darkness is because the light within the land---the house of God!---has been dark . . . 'We have seen the enemy, and it is us.' To be consistent, the call to violent activism would have to sound like this: 'Kill the compromised clergy! Slaughter the sleeping saints! Shoot the sinning shepherds! Nuke the noncommitted! Blow up the bankrupt believers! Wipe out the worldly watchmen! Who among us can throw the first stone---or shoot the first bullet?

It is not time to pick up arms and guns; it's time to put on the whole armor of God. That is the key to our success. That is how we win. The warfare begins with us, God's people. And when we are changed, we can change the world . . . When a person undergoes a revolutionary encounter with Jesus Christ in the dimension of the Spirit, he becomes a catalyst of revolution . . . A revolution not by the sword but by the cross . . . a revolution of love.

(Michael Brown's REVOLUTION, pp.287-288).

POEMS FOR RADICALS

Chris liked this poem so we thought we would post it!

Can you feel it coming?

Can  you feel it stirring?

Can you feel it shaking everything?

This is the hour---this is the generation.

There's people standing.

There's a voice that's sounding.

There's a banner being raised for righteousness.

This is the hour---this is the generation.

Revolution---we're taking ground.

Revolution---we won't bow down.

Revolution---let the trumpet sound.

Revolution now!

We will fight to the death.

Worthless idols we detest.

Let the army's anthem roar,

Holiness to the Lord.

[written by a graduate from the Brownsville School of Ministry as song lyrics.  In Michael Brown's REVOLUTION, p.11]

GOSPEL REVOLUTION - PART 2

Chris Criminger 

 

Across the land is a a new breeze of the Spirit.  America grew in the spirit of Revolution but God's Holy Spirit is bringing a revolution of radical disciples.  A spiritual revolution with a strong challenge to the church for holiness.  Here are some more excerpts from Michael Brown REVOLUTION:  THE CALL TO HOLY WAR:

 

God's kingdom is a threat to Satan's kingdom.  Holiness is a threat to sin.  Freedom is a threat to bondage . . . The gospel is subversive to idolatry!  It says that 'man-made gods are no gods at all.'  What is an idol?  An idol is anything that takes the place of God in your life--anything that you worship and adore in His stead. It is the thing that absorbs you and dominates you, the thing that has your heart and emotions, the thing that influences your will and guides your life.  It is that to which you give yourself, that which consumes your energy and inspires your dreams, that which really is the center of your life and the object of your adoration (pp.83, 116).

 

There is no message more radical, more revlutionary, more prophetic, more dynamic, more dangerous to hell than the message of HOLINESS TO THE LORD (emphasis his) . . . True conversion does not come by the sword but by the Cross, not by the taking of life but by the laying down of life . . . We live by dying (to self and this world); we receive by giving; we overcome evil with good, defeating hatred with love (pp.173, 237).

 

If we are winning people to a compromised life or compromised church, what are we really winning them to?

 

Gospel Revolution

"THE GOSPEL IS THE ULTIMATE REVOLUTIONARY MESSAGE.
IT SAYS WE ARE GOVERNED BY A HIGHER AUTHORITY,
RULED BY ANOTHER POWER, AT HOME IN A DIFFERENT
WORLD"

---Michael L. Brown



We like to showcase some people who are living out a radical disciple lifestyle. Michael L. Brown was a former drug addict and Jewish rock drummer who is living out Jesus radical manifesto calling all Christians to a holy and spiritual revolution. Dr. Brown is a writer, scholar, and courageous debater for Christ and against false ideologies and idols of our day. He also promotes revivals among God's people and churches and was a strategic leader at the Brownsville School of Ministry.

Listen to Dr. Brown's passionate words:

Rather than making disciples of sinners and teaching them the ways of God, we are being discipled by them, learning their ways, immitating their lifestyles, and conforming to their standards . . . Whose standards have changed more---those of the Church or those of the society? . . . When one compares the Church and the world, there is virtually no difference between the two. We need a revolution! (p.71).

Without radical cultural transformation, without sweeping national revival, without a Jesus-centered moral revolution, without a holy, nation-shaking move of God, it is virtually impossible for us to recover ourselves (p.73).


Here are a few of the issues and areas he deals with in his book:

1. Now is the time for a holy shake-up (where are the radical disciples of Jesus?)

2. Dedication is the fundamental principle; music is the sound of the revolution; and smashing idols is its
passion.

3. Radical disciples of Jesus must expose the gods of this age and speak like Jesus did, subversely and
boldly (and know the difference when to do this).

4. Uncompromising holiness and unswerving allegiance, even to death is the standard and driving force.

5. Take up your cross, put down your sword is the way of this Jesus revolution.

6. The power is to give up one's life to save it and never to turn back but to press in and step out.

7. The great commission is God's battle plan and strategy.


Comments? What do you think of Dr. Brown's proposal? What are some creative things you are doing to live your life for Jesus in an age of compromise and confusion?

C Criminger