Last night some friends and I took place in The Secret Church simulcast, 6 hours of intense Bible study, modeled after a secret church meeting of persecuted Christians. This study was very convicting, intense and brought about a lot of theological questions and ideas… Simply put, it called for a search of the heart, soul and mind.. To join in with brothers and sisters bold enough to give all they have to follow Christ, brought me to a very humbling place.. All too many times we take a safe place of worship for granted and instead of the verb worship we result to the noun worship. (This entirely shifts our focus in the wrong direction.) These teachings also left my brain like a sponge overflowing with water, I still haven’t began to scratch the surface of some of the questions and ideas presented but it has left me with a pretty profound idea.
Jesus makes this idea clear in Matthew 10, when he says, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” It’s time to stop thinking about miniscule things and consider loosing our lives in total abandonment to the One that gave His life for everything!
There is no denying in this Holy Week that we serve an UNBELIEVABLE God and Jesus came to our rescue to save all of us from our own downfall and ignorance. It’s the GREATEST story ever told!
One of my favorite things that got said last night is our salvation results in a revolutionary taste capacity! Just stop and think about that for a few minutes.. A REVOLUTIONARY TASTE CAPACITY!! When we truly see Jesus as the Rescuer, our tastes for things that lead us down the wrong road are no longer satiable and our tastes for the things that are going to glorify God eternally for being our Father, Redeemer, Friend, list goes on and on and on.. become the forefront and the most sought after things in our lives!
There is nothing more important then our relationship with our Creator and the chance to glorify him through everything we say or do!
I have always connected with music and it allows me to meditate and focus on the challenging ideas or discover something new that my ignorance has blinded me to. It being Holy Week, John Mark McMillan’s “Death In His Grave” has taken on new meaning and has opened my heart to the ultimate sacrifice that allows and causes me to seek to lay my life down everyday.. The song was written in poetic language, but something about it strikes home.. Just to read and contemplate the chorus which goes puts a smile in my soul:
On Friday a Thief
On Sunday a King
Laid Down in Grief
But awoke with the Keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid Death in His Grave
Wow..Right?
In Revelation 1:18 Jesus says, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I live forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” If that doesn’t make your heart beat fast and put a smile on your face, I pray that you’ll do some searching and dig in deeper to discover the One that Loves you with an unconditional love beyond our understanding!
I pray that you will meditate on these lyrics in preparation for the Greatest Jesus Party to ever take place! HE LAID DEATH IN ITS GRAVE and HE LOVES US MORE THEN WE CAN POSSIBLY FATHOM! So much that it shouldn’t be a question of how we should serve, it is a question of how can we not serve every moment of every day?
I pray for the team that our hearts will be undivided and fully focused on the One that changes lives and for the persecuted church to grow and be bold enough to stand on the promises that this world can take nothing but He can give us everything! For unreached people or persecutors I pray that Jesus will soften their hearts to His words and life, nothing means more! It’s time for a revolution and a Jesus Party!
Man I can’t wait y’all, trying so hard to live in the present..
