Hey guys, Happy Sunday! What a great meeting we had this morning!
You know, while preparing to share more about doing purpose driven church with our Launch Team this week, I had the chance - once again - to venture into the realm of the absurd, looking for some video clips and other presentation minutiae. What do you suppose I found in abundance on You Tube, when I typed in the words "purpose driven church"?
What I found is the same thing you will find if you type in such words as Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, Jerry Falwell, Benny Hinn, Rob Bell, Erwin Macmanus, John Macarthur, Billy Graham, Kenneth Copeland, or any of a dozen other "Big Names" in ministry today.
Rock throwing detractors.
Here's what's weird. Rick Warren is obviously at the forefront of purpose driven everything. I guess it's for that very reason that people from every camp throw rocks at him. Pick a leader in the news, they are covered with rock marks. Pick a leader in politics, religion, science, philosophy and what one thing will they have in common? Rock marks.
I have - over the past couple of decades - received something from ALL of the above-named ministers. I have also thrown out some things I have heard the above named individuals say. But Lord, keep me from ever bending down to pick up a rock for the purpose of marking them. Ever. Maybe the rock throwers do it for attention - like teens post goofy or suggestive pictures and comments on myspace. The rocks throwers and the teens have this in common: What they do, they do for ALL THE WORLD TO SEE.
Here's the frightening thing. The vast majority of the ones throwing the rocks are themselves ministers of the Gospel. Think about it. Or better, pray about it.
"Thank you Father, for the local church. Lord, I pray you keep us from such a glaring spotlight. Who can possibly withstand it?"
How we gobble one another up when they don't believe exactly as we believe. How quickly we take a rock in our hand when we disagree. Question: How do people find the time, to spend so much time hating other people - when it takes an entire lifetime to learn how to love other people?
What do you think about all that?
Amen. These things ought not to be! We are all members of ONE body, made to sharpen one another, not slice each other to ribbons!
ReplyDeleteChrist said that's how people will know we are his...
ReplyDelete... by the way we love eachother!
that's probably why the enemy gets us fighting eachother. no 1 it makes us less visible to the lost. and no2 if we are busy attacking eachother then that's time we AREN'T spending working to advance the Kingdom.
smart tactics...
we have resolve not to ever attack our own. we love God, eachother, and the lost. no one is exempt from God's love. no one should ever be exempt from ours!