Thursday, September 15, 2011

The Parable of the BOAT LIFT Rescue

One of our friends posted a link to an incredible video clip on YouTube. Called "BOATLIFT: An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience." There is an obvious humanitarian inspirational aspect to this story of the hundreds of boats that drove to lower Manhattan on 9-11 to rescue a half million people trapped at the tip of that island by the collapsing twin towers.
But the story line and quotes in this video provide an incredible parable of the Christian's commission to be part of God's rescue mission of souls for eternity. I'm taken back a month ago to a quote from the movie, "The Great Raid." "It is comforting to know that there is someone who desires my life more than an enemy who desires my death." Check out the video and then record some of your favorite quotes that speak to you!


Thursday, September 1, 2011

The Danger of Spiritual Viruses


   Our church has been in pursuit of "helping a friend move one step closer to Jesus." It has been an emphasis to encourage and equip our family of faith in how to build intentional redemptive relationships with those who have yet to put their faith in Christ. The objective is to help them move, even if its just one step closer to a full relationship with Christ.

    We're now encouraging our people to utilize the National Back to Church Sunday as a place to put things into practice. It's time to quit talking about reaching out and actually doing it. National BTC Sunday is September 18. We're then following it up with a series called "GodQuest" that invites people to continue to seek out a relationship with Christ by addressing some of the most significant faith issues that people face.

    But ... isn't it always the case when God's people begin to do God's work in God's ways that there is opposition? Sometimes is obvious and pronounced. But other times the opposition stealth. It isn't obvious and even when it's pointed out many folks still don't recognize it.
 

    In several conversations over the past couple of days a couple of issue keep coming up. A CRITICAL SPIRIT and AN OFFENSE TAKEN. Someone has even been offended that it was suggested to them that they have a critical spirit. This is NOT to say that there are times for evaluation and constructive criticism and evaluation. But there can be a spirit of criticism that takes root and begins to find fault in everyone and everything. The result is destruction and disillusionment.

    That is really bad for the unity of the Body of Christ! Jesus said that his disciples would be known by the manner in which they loved one another. Evangelism and outreach are closely tied to the level of unity and harmony there is in the Church.

    With that in mind I began to think about relevant passages of scripture that the Lord would want to say to me and to my CrossPoint family of faith. Here they are ...


For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God,  and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (ESV)
14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God.
Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
Hebrews 12:14-15 (NLT)

In our strategy to help our friends take one step closer to Jesus we must recognize that there is a tremendous spiritual battle raging. This is an act of war against the Kingdom of Darkness and we must confront the enemy if we are to rescue souls from His prison.
There is, admittingly, an “external” spiritual battle taking place. Those who we are attempting to reach out to, will have thoughts and schedules that conflict with what God is directing us to do. We also have our own issues of time, opportunity and fears that keep us from being what these folks need us to be. Lord willing we’ll focus on that next week.
But the greater threat to being all that God wants us to be are spiritual strongholds within – spiritual viruses that make us spiritually weak and ineffective. One of the greatest spiritual viruses is the stronghold of a critical spirit. Consider what a critical spirit does to us …

(1)    It breaks down spiritual unity of the Body of Christ.

(2)    It diverts incredible amounts of mental and emotional energy away from eternal matters.

(3)    It is a path of increasing passivity.

(4)    It gives our ego a place of worship in our souls.

(5)    It leads us down into the dark valley of discouragement and discontentment.