Sunday, October 25, 2009

Imagination

Why is it so difficult to reach people for Christ in America today? Why does it take so long for some of our friends and neighbors to see Jesus in us and come to receive Him as Lord? Why can we hear of multitudes of people responding to an invitation to come to Christ in some other nations of the world but seldom here in the USA?
Perhaps our friends see our inconsistencies and hypocrisy and reject Jesus because of our lack of character. It may be blamed on a previous “bad experience” in church. It may be due to our neglect of prayer and intercession on their behalf. All of these, without a doubt, contribute to the moral decline of America in general and the responsiveness of those we love and pray for in particular.

In addition to these, I am becoming more and more convinced that people in our culture are more difficult to reach than most others in the world. In part, the reason includes the fact that our culture has embraced the postmodern rejection of meta-narrative along with moral relativism, religious pluralism, and individual liberty. Creativity and innovation are a higher value to most than stability, continuity, and tradition. Everyone’s reality is defined by the individual rather than by an outside standard or authority. One author declared, “Reality has confronted imagination, and reality has lost.”

Recently, Marjie and I viewed a National Geographic documentary called “Monsters of the Deep.” Allegedly, the story was about the life journey of a pre-historic sea creature. The 45 minute film was approximately 90% computer generated animation depicting the conditions this little creature experienced from birth to death along with its adventures of escaping from the predators until finally experiencing a natural death. The entire story was so life like that one could easily assume the film depicted the actual life of this creature. However, the truth is that archaeologists found the skeletal remains of an animal with a shark tooth embedded in a bone, and from that one finding, the story was created known as “Monsters of the Deep.” Interesting! Educational? Never mind, if it is true or not. Imagination developed a story based on very little evidence but depicted it in a most believable way.

This is the context of our culture and how people get their information and how they form their views of the world around us. Their belief system is influenced by many such visual and audio presentations, usually without their critiquing the reality of what has been communicated.

What does this have to do with faith in Christ? Everything! As Christians, we deal with reality. The foundation of our faith is not based on imagination or virtual reality. It is founded on the historical fact of Jesus actual birth, life, death, and resurrection from the dead, and ascension into heaven. It calls for total commitment to a God who must be trusted and believed in as the Lord of all and Savior through his atoning sacrifice on the cross. Total, absolute commitment to the Creator of the universe is not what people are normally looking for. That would cost and require too much.
Here is my question: How can we communicate this greatest of all messages in a more creative, imaginative manner without compromising the truth of God’s Word? What have you done to spark people’s imagination through creative means in your church or ministry?

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Utterance Gifts

Pentecostals are noted for belief in the current relevance of utterance gifts that are distributed by the Holy Spirit. When exercised within the context of the gathering of believers, the object is to allow for their expression without allowing for "wild fire" to take over and hijack the service by being dominated by personalities and personal agendas rather the edification of the body of Christ. Every pastor has struggled with how to encourage the appropriate use of these gifts without encouraging the misuse of these gifts.

The AG leadership has recently published three resources that I highly recommend to you for personal study as well as potential study by the people in the local congregation. All three are short and very readable but direct and helpful. I encourage each of our pastors to consider how one or more of these might assist in the healthy development of the saint's use of the utterance gifts. These can be purchased from GPH or call headquarters in Springfield. They are...

1. When the Spirit Speaks, by Warren Bullock,
2. Living in the Spirit, by George O. Wood, and
3. Divine Order, compiled by Randy Hurst

I trust these will be an asset to you in teaching and training your people in the proper use of the gifts of the Spirit.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Eurasia Experience

We just completed our Ministers Enrichment yesterday morning at the Philip Bongiorno Conference Center in Carlisle, PA. Many expressed the impact the week had upon their lives and their renewed passion of reaching our world for Christ. I would like to invite you to share what was most meaningful to you. Was it...

1. The worship and prayer time,
2. Huldah Buntain,
3. One of Omar Beiler's messages,
4. One of the workshops,
5. The amazing meals,
6. The Eurasia Experience itself on Tuesday evening,
7. Interacting with friends, or
8. Something else you want to reference?

If you were not able to be with us, you missed a good one. (I hope they all are, of course.) Perhaps you would want to comment on something that particularly impacted you heart.