I think this succinctly sums up what revival looks like. A revival of God doesn’t happen when the church puts it on the sign board; it happens whensoever God pleases, and when His people have been crying out to him to bring it.
Even if you don’t have 35 minutes, it’s worth it to watch this.
This week has been insane.
I’ve been working on a ton of stuff, both personal and for radius. This past week, I was given the honor of speaking at the gathering, so I had a ton of preparation throughout the week, but it was well worth it. It was a peculiar taste I will say, that is, the actual feeling I had about speaking. I usually don’t have “anxiety” about speaking in the normal sense of the word, but rather a good “heaviness” that accompanies me as I search the text and grill my own motives. This time, there was no anxiety to speak of, but there was an extreme heaviness over me – I may need to explain this more.
The heaviness I’m referring to is a good thing. I suppose it is there in order to physically manifest what is going on spiritually. Maybe. I do believe that the weight of his burden is light, and yet, this weighty feeling was driving me on to press in.
And so I spoke. And I prayed that God would use his Spirit in order to make clear the mess, and to pour out what he had spoken of long ago.
It was a beautiful night. He is such an enjoyable God.
All in all, a good week. But a good one for the Kingdom as well.
It’s been quite awhile, but I do plan on updating this thing as much as possible over the summer. I’m living at home, and that’s beginning to pan out into what it will look like for the rest of the summer, but I have a job that I’ve been working at for about 3 weeks.
I’m working at a church called radius. It’s a small college-aged (mainly) church that has the will of a lion and the heart of God at the center. The places are few and far between where people are confidently taking the Kingdom of God by force, and consequently, the kingdom of hell. It’s been an intense process, seeing as I’m one of the so-called “interns”. It’s an interesting battle; my work is mainly self-led throughout the week, due to my focus. I’m seeing if this whole teaching thing is for me.
I’m excited to be in a place where equipping and bringing up leaders is not just a sign of a well run church, but a necessity. I’ve learned so much already about the innards of a Church and “the” church as a whole. My appreciation and love of the little “c” church and the big “C” church has deepened during my time here. I enjoy seeing that there are churches that are sitting under the spring of living water; still operating in the same Spirit of the early churches on the Mediterranean Sea.
I have been challenged to increase my intake of Scripture and books, while trying to maintain a healthy love of studying Hebrew/Greek lexicons. They can be great for exegesis, but sometimes my head temperature increases a few degrees when I’m looking over them.
By far my favorite part has been the discipleship sessions with the radius pastor (but really, teacher) Stuart. I feel like the questions we have are the same, which is a great thing to have; we’ll start diving into an issue of teaching, and we’ll both bring up the same thought or question. It’s great to have his experience and his giftedness pouring into me. I still don’t know how I got this thing.
I’m excited to see where this goes-and to see if this teaching thing really is what the Father desires for my life.
Cheers.
It has been quite some time since I’ve last written. I could tell you that I’ve been busy, but I’m actually just a horrible blogger, so I haven’t dropped anything on here in awhile. My life has been in a good upheaval lately. I want to fill you in on what’s going on with me, but there’s a substantial amount to cover. This might happen over a few posts.
1. Mentors/disciples are good. The Jewish people had it right when they required disciples to follow Rabbis like it was their job. It actually was their job for about a six month time period. They kissed their wives good-bye and went off to study with a Rabbi in the desert for half a year. But the payoff was immense; they learned so much in such a short period of time. Everything the Rabbi did, you did. It was considered a blessing to have the dust of a Rabbi’s footsteps on you. There was so much involved with committing to a discipleship. It was a major life shift. Your knowledge of the scriptures had to be impeccable, meaning that you probably memorized the Torah and the majority of the prophets by the time you were 16. When Jesus called his disciples (minus the qualifications of a traditional disciple), they understood the commitment they made; there were no part time jobs when you studied under a Rabbi, much less Jesus. After only a few years with Jesus, a few of his disciples were recognized in Acts for “having been with Jesus”. Before Jesus, these guys were either cheating people out of money or catching fish without much luck. Yet even after such a short time, people could tell they had been with Jesus. As humans, we may be pretty hardheaded sometimes, but these guys really got it. They were lacking in faith many times, sure, but by the time Pentecost rolled around, you could tell some wonderful shift had happened to them. They were being sent out on their own + Holy Spirit. There was no more doubting. No more doubleminded Peter. In fact, Peter was the last to repent (for his denial of Christ) in the gospels, but the first to stand up and speak in Acts. Something changed with them, and it happened quickly.
Needless to say, having someone disciple you is an experience every follower of Jesus needs. My personal endeavor has been a really good one thus far. Finding someone with some years on them is a good idea. You can’t go wrong with someone who has been walking the walk and talking the talk for a long time. Usually you can easily tell if someone is walking in maturity or not. If their life isn’t a letter of the Spirit, you might want to find someone else. Another key factor is their ability to converse with you in a real, open way. If communication is lacking in a discipleship, it might just wear you down instead of build you up. And finally, find someone who is going to support you when you step out in faith; find someone who pushes you to the edge of your grid and makes you take a look at both yourself and your belief system.
One last word about being discipled: be teachable. You’d say “Of course, that’s what being discipled is about,” but I would tell you this: our pursuit of a discipler probably means we have some knowledge of God and some idea of what we believe, and while that’s wonderful, we need to check our pride at the door. Remember, the idea is to learn. You chose that person because you have seen them bear lasting fruit in their lives. Besides, it’s a great experience to have your spiritual grid shaken up often. It solidifies your faith by seeing the vastness of God’s kingdom and how he interacts with other people in a way that may be foreign to you.
May you find a mentor who challenges you to live life abundantly in Christ Jesus.
