Worship: Artistic Transcription

Worship: Artistic Transcription

Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do [it], and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”  – NKJV

 

One day I attended a writer’s workshop and sat in on a session conducted by a lady named Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts.  She began her presentation by imploring the writers in the room to become scribes and not just writers.  She explained that a scribe was one who spent time in the king’s presence to hear from him and then transcribed the heart of the king so the people could read and understand.  It was more than a charge to write but it was a charge to put effort behind making sure what you write has the King’s seal of approval.  As I listened something quickened in my spirit as it relates to artists in general.  How do we know that what we are producing has the King’s seal of approval?  Are we transcribing the heart of the King for the people to experience…or are we simply led by artistic savvy, general knowledge, thoughts, feelings and/or emotions?  According to John 10:4 Jesus explains that sheep follow because they know the voice of their shepard…but how?  The only way we can know the voice of the King is to spend time with the King.  Ezra was known as a “ready scribe” so I think it is fitting to examine his habits as we employ artistic transcription.  Ezra’s process was simplistic; preparing, seeking, doing and teaching.

The verse above begins with Ezra preparing his heart to seek.  Why did he need to prepare his heart? Well let’s first deal with an aspect of cooking to make our illustration.  I remember buying an iron skillet and receiving a set of instructions that I needed to follow before I could cook on the pan.  The first instruction was to wash the pan.  Well that made sense to me, who knows what got into the box in transport.  After washing the pan and making sure it was completely dry, I then had to get a tablespoon of cooking oil and use a towel to spread the oil over the entire pan.  This didn’t make sense to me because in my thinking, I just made the pan dirty again.  Well if that instruction sounded ill-advised, you can imagine that I thought the manufacturer was a complete idiot when I read the next line…”put the pan in the oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes and repeat three or four times”.  So let me get this straight, wash the pan, dirty the pan and bake the contaminants into the pan?  Who wrote this manual?  Well I followed, what I deemed to be less than desirable instructions, and the first time I used the pan I found that it was easy to clean and nobody got sick.  Had I not prepared my pan, I would have ruined it on the first use.  What am I saying?  Well let’s examine the heart for a moment.  In Genesis 6:5 the writer expressed that the Lord saw, “…the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every intent of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually.”  Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”  Without digging any deeper we can see the natural condition of man’s heart is very much contrary to the nature of God.  Understanding that we can’t get to the “hill of the Lord” without “clean hands and a pure heart” we can see that we start with an extreme disadvantage however, there is hope.  2 Corinthians 7:1 encourages, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”  There is a process we can engage to prepare ourselves to be in His Presence and it starts with simple confession.  1 John 1:9 tells us, “that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  This is our preparation.  God knows about it anyway but if we “fess-up” and judge ourselves, He doesn’t have to judge us. (1 Corinthians 11:31)

After we’ve made our preparations, we now must seek Him out.  Earlier this year we dealt with the concept of seeking as it relates to prayer from Matthew 7:7.  In this case let’s examine the word from the Hebrew context.  Seek means, “to resort to, inquire, require; to frequent a place; to consult; to seek deity in prayer and worship; to seek with a demand; to investigate; to ask for.”   Here we find a different phrasing than the Greek definition, but a similar concept.  As a scout I remember playing a game called “Capture the Flag”. The concept was, two teams penned against each other seeking one another’s flag.  Whoever got the opposing teams flag and brought it back across their boundary line won.  Most times the game was played at night and the neckerchief or “flag” would be placed over a flashlight.  The only light you could use to see the flag was the light of the moon and the light under the flag.  One person would guard the flag so that if you approached and were caught, you would be a hostage until someone freed you.  Seeking the flag meant that through all of the obstacles set before you; you had to maintain your focus to not only get to the flag, but to bring it back to your side.  So it is with seeking the Word.  The light from God’s Word is constant and it’s like a beacon that beckons you to come.  However as you begin your search, the body gets sleepy, the phone rings, the kids go crazy…things happen that will take you off your mark.  You must have a press deep down in your spirit that will not let up until you find what you are looking for.  Deuteronomy 4:29 says, “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Now you’ve prepared and you pressed through the seeking and found the Word that you needed. So what are you going to do with it?  I love the fact that the next thing Ezra did was not teach, but do.  How can you teach someone to do something you have never done?  I believe this is the problem with some ministry efforts.  I’m not going to spend a lot of time investing in a book written by someone whose marriage failed if I want mine to succeed.  Don’t get me wrong, they will be able to tell me all the things not to do and this is valuable information.  However I can’t base my relationship with my wife on what not to do, I need to know what to do if my marriage is going to be effective.  The root meaning for the “do” is, “to fashion, accomplish, work, make, produce; to act with effect, to observe, acquire”.  Doing is not theoretical, it’s actual.  James 1:22 encourages that we “Be ye doers of The Word and not hearers only”.  You put the theory in practice and once it’s proven you are qualified to teach.

The Hebrew root for teach is, “to learn, exercise in, to be taught or to be trained”.  I remember being in an elementary school class where the teacher said, “I got mine, you gotta get yours”, in reference to education.  Whether she realized it or not she was communicating that she had “arrived” and we had to work to get where she was.  Although the motivation of the need to work was correct, the attitude that was portrayed in the phrase, carried over into her teaching practice.  This is the same teacher that my mom caught doing her nails while a fight was going on in her class. This teacher was not vested in the outcome for the students at all.  The root meaning implies that in order to be an effective teacher, you must be a student.  As you teach the class, you are practicing the concepts with the students so they learn by example.  Sounds like we can’t get away from “doing” and the reality is, hands on job training has proven to be much more effective than simply sitting through seminars to get instructions.  We must engage the process.

One might ask, “what does this have to do with worship?”  Remember, worship is ascribing worth to God.  Did you notice “scribe” is in the midst of “ascribing”? When we minister in worship, it doesn’t mater if we dance, sing, do a skit or play an instrument; we are “writing” worth to God, which make us scribes. We can’t “copy out” the heart of God for the people if we haven’t spent time in His presence, sought Him for direction and agreed to do what He says.  This is the process makes us apt scribes and allows us to teach the statues of God as we do the work of the ministry.

However you transcribe, make sure you set out to acquire the King’s seal of approval.

Studying to Live

John 6:68, “But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”  – NKJV

 

John chapter six gives the account of Jesus feeding five thousand with five barley loaves and two fish.  The miracle was that so many were able to eat to their fill from the small portions that had been provided.  Bear in mind, the five thousand number only accounted for the men in the crowd, not the women and children so there were actually more people that received food. 

What is interesting to note is how many references are made in chapter six comparing bread, manna and Jesus.  Remember, John chapter one clearly identifies Jesus as the “logos” or spoken word of God by which everything was created or literally “spoken” into existence.  So when you consider Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”, you can see how the references in John marry the connection between physical food and spiritual food.

Let’s look at bread.  Bread is considered to be a “staple food”, that is, “a food that can be stored for use throughout the year (or produced fresh any time of the year) and forms the basis of a traditional diet.  Staple foods vary from place to place, but are typically inexpensive starchy foods of vegetable origin that are high in food energy (calories) and carbohydrate. The staple food of a specific cuisine may commonly be served as part of every meal, and its name may be used synonymously with “food” in some contexts.”  Biblically the Hebrew root definition matches the preceding explanation from Wikipedia and in particular it echoes the concept that “food of any kind” was often referenced as bread.  Now just for clarity’s sake, “staple” is, “used, needed, principle, most important, influential or chief; as in the principal ingredient.”

Understanding these points help to further clarify Jesus’ statement in John 6:48, “I am the bread of life”.  Jesus, the spoken Word of God, is saying that He is the staple food in the diet of the spirit.  His value is priceless, but He’s not expensive.  He’s a very necessary, high octane fuel, the principal ingredient and truly the Chief Cornerstone!  Skipping on this meal will give you eternal hunger pains.

Jesus continues with the allegory of the bread and the manna but begins to make a distinction.  “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” (John 6:49-51)  When God provided manna to the Israelites, it wasn’t just “something to eat”, He provided a “staple food” in response to their concern for starvation.  From a physically sense, the manna provided sustenance…but it did not prevent death.  Manna was filling but it wasn’t life saving.  On the contrary, Jesus is life-giving and/or life-saving.  You remember the story, God told the Israelites to only take enough manna for each day; daily bread.  However, at one point some were disobedient and tried to take more than they planned to use that day probably for fear that the manna would somehow run out like the Lord had a limited supply.  So God showed early on what He thought about disobedience produced by fear in that when they went back to what they had stored, it was rotten and full of maggots. (Exodus 16:20)  Aren’t you glad to serve a God whose body doesn’t rot?  God’s Word is the same today, yesterday and forever more. It has staying power and eternal relevance.

Well Jesus thins the crowd in verses 53-58 when He says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless       you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven–not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”  Let’s put this in context.  The Israelites had been warned of a curse for not obeying the Lord that involved being besieged and in such desperation that one had no choice but to eat the flesh of their children. (Deuteronomy 28:53)  Also, the Mosaic law clearly stated that you were not to drink the blood of any flesh because it was the source of life (Leviticus 17:14)  Keeping this in mind, would Jesus Christ, Son of The Living God, tell then to do something that is contrary to the law?  As Tyson would say, That’s ludicrous!”  Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. (Matthew 5:17)  However, since they didn’t perceive “who” Jesus was, they missed it…or did they?

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that, “…the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  God’s Word is challenging and convicting.   It teaches, rebukes, corrects and trains. (2 Timothy 3:16)  The truth of the matter is, at some point we have all looked at eating His flesh and drinking His blood as a hard saying.  In actuality, when The Word is comforting and gives us a hug or confirms our thoughts, we’ll embrace it immediately.  However, when it warns us or even gives us instructions that seem too tedious to follow, we’re about ready to go on a fast!  It’s like we say, “Go heavy on the encouragement, a couple extra pats on the back, add a stroke to my ego, but easy on the conviction, hold the warning and no rebuke please”.  When we regulate our diet that way we don’t get the spiritual nourishment we need for survival and therefore there are many suffering from spiritual malnutrition.

After the crowd thins, only twelve remain and Jesus asks If the will go away as well but Peter responds with our opening passage, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”  In the following verse Peter affirms, “You are the Christ, the Son of The Living God.”  This was the confession that demonstrated Peter had a clear understanding of Jesus’ identity and therefore recognized the need to take in all of what was before him. 

This is the crux of the matter.  As artists, it is important to study the word so that our worship is authentic.  As artists it is also important to study so that our presentations are consistent with sound doctrine.  However, before we even get that far, as Christians we need to study so that we have power for living.  It really does no good if we’ve got this prophetic power in one arena and can’t prophesy to release peace in our families.  We’re casting demons out in public settings but can’t get the demon out of our own house.  People are healed from our presentations but we can’t manage life.  Something is backwards.  The only way we are going to flip the script is to value The Word above silver and gold.

In case we need additional motivation to study, go back to the gospels and examine everything Jesus said about Himself in relation to His coming into the world.  Simply replace the “I” and “Me” with “The Word” and you will notice the relationship between the function of the Christ and the purpose behind the Scriptures.  Let’s close with two examples: “…He has sent ‘The Word’ to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…” (Luke 4:18)   “‘The Word’ [is] come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Studying to Create

John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” – KJV

The first chapter of John reveals the personality of Jesus as being the Logos or the Spoken Word of God.  It reveals to us that the expressed Word took on the form of flesh.  The chapter goes on to defend the fact that “without Him, nothing was made that has been made” meaning it took the Word to make everything.  So we can clearly see that there is a “direct connect” between The Word and divine creativity.

Remember, we have a goal that what we present would cause people to fear the Lord.  Not be horrified but to revere; admire, respect, look up to, hold in the highest regard and to be in awe of God.  How can we do this without consulting the scriptures in our creative process?  There is no doubt that we can produce things to make people jump.  However, how straight will they walk when the come back down?  If we are communicating the Words of Life through our presentations then there is more of a chance that what we do will have a Godly impact on the observers.  So what’s in the Word?  Well let’s examine the text and see what we can draw out as a basis for studying to create.

First we see, “the Word was made flesh”.  Now we know Jesus was without sin so when we examine the word, “flesh”, we are not talking about the sin nature but rather the literal, “soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and is permeated with blood”.  Not just any flesh, Jesus was not a goat, chicken or a guppy but in human form.  Do you remember the old cartoons when they tried to show how cold it was by freezing the character’s breath?  Can you picture God the Father speaking and His breath freezing to form the Christ?  Maybe I’m challenging your imagination too far but the idea is that the Word prepared a body so He could travel into time and represent God on Earth…in a tangible format.  God doesn’t want his Word to be aloof from us but He’s giving us something we can feel.

Now God was not looking to make a temporary connection, his endeavor was to dwell with us.  The word dwell has to do with a dwelling place or a tabernacle.  The intention was that the Word would take up residence with us like a family member moving in.  Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…”  If you ever had a German Chocolate Cake then you know that “rich” means loaded and dense.  His desire is to saturate us to the point where we get cut and bleed scripture.  Why?

The next phrase says, “and we beheld His Glory”.  In this case, the word “glory” means, “splendor, brightness, of the moon, sun, stars; magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace; the kingly majesty of the Messiah; the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ”   This was the fulfillment of the prophesy in Isaiah 40:5, “The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”  If we back track in chapter 40 of Isaiah, the Glory of Lord, causes, valleys to be exalted, mountains  to be brought low, crooked placed straightened out and rough places smoothed over (Isa. 40:4)  In other words, His Glory levels the playing field.  So what are the demolition and construction tools?  Grace and Truth!

First we see His Glory is full of grace.  In this passage, grace is, “good will, loving-kindness, favor; of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues”.  When you think of grace, think of an umbrella that protects you from the elements.  Under the umbrella there is security or safety.  The rain is still coming down but you are not getting wet.  By rights you should be drenched…if it wasn’t for the umbrella.  The grace of God allows us to walk through life’s challenges and experiences and learn from them rather than be consumed by them.  It’s grace that allows us to come out of a storm stronger, wiser and better.  Truth be told, it was grace that provided salvation; “the holy influence that turns souls toward Christ”.  Grace is what started the process, mercy provided the sacrifice but if it wasn’t for His Grace, there would have been no need for the blood to be shed.  WOW!  Can we create presentations, write songs, and paint pictures that reflect His Grace; whereby God could use it as a vehicle to exert His holy influence upon souls, turning them to Christ?  Not without His Word.

Next we see that His Glory is full of truth.  This “truth” is defined as, “the gospel or what the gospel represents”.  This is why the two go hand-in-hand as being representative of His Glory.  Truth tells us that all have sinned and fall short of His Glory.  (Rom. 3:23) Truth tells us the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.  (Rom. 6:23) Truth tells us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  (Rom. 5:8) Truth tells us that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved because when we believe in our heart we are justified and our confession is what saves us. (Rom. 10:9-10) Seems like very elementary stuff, but if it’s so elementary, why are so many on their way to hell?  Probably because at times we endeavor to share the things that will cause our life to be abundant or we share the things that allow us to cry through a trial but do we purpose to share things with the intent of soul winning?  Christ came that we would have an abundant life, yes, but it begins with knowing for sure that we will be able to spend eternity “dwelling with Him”.  This is the gospel truth; elementary, but it still saves.

So here we see The Word came to us so we could get a picture of the Glory of God; full of grace and full of truth.  This grace and truth was intended to be so much apart of us that God can use the manifestation of both in us, to draw people to Himself.  If we are going to be an effective tool in the hands of the master, we must be deliberate about our study time.  Yeah, probably everyone who reads this article can claim some form of creative genius and if we are not careful we’ll think that our genius is from us and not from the God who gave us life and strength and really the abilities we posses.  God has a purpose for our creative gifts and we must consult His blueprints if we are going to construct something that truly reflects His Glory.

Praising Through Study

Praising Through Study

 Psalms 119:7, “I will praise You with an upright heart as I learn Your righteous laws.” – NKJV

 

Donnie McClurkin penned a song with the lyrics, “Create in me a clean heart so I may worship Thee.”  We should take notice of the fact that Donnie’s song shares the same sentiment as the above passage.  It is necessary to have a clean heart in order to be able to worship God.  Why?  Well according to scripture, no one can ascend to the holy mount of God unless they have clean hands and a pure heart. (Pro. 24:3-4)  In order to coexist in a space with God, we must be in right standing with God.  Now we are justified by the blood of Christ but that doesn’t indemnify us from the protocol of a clean and pure heart before God.  Let’s examine the passage.

First, it says, “I will praise You”.  In this passage, the word praise is the Hebrew word “yadah” which means, “to throw, shoot or cast”.  Within this definition, you find, “to give thanks, laud, praise; to confess (the name of God); to confess (sin).”   Wow!  So even in the midst of praise, we confess our sin?  Now I don’t know about you but when I have committed sin, the last thing I feel like doing is praising.  Let me qualify that statement.  I have always viewed praise like cheering at a football game.  You are usually elated and excited.  “Yeah, I just told a lie cause I didn’t have faith that God could bring me through this situation based on truth”…doesn’t have that “praise ring” does it?  Yet the definition states that confessing sin is a part of praising God.  If we stay with the definition, “to throw, shoot or cast”, praise can literally be the result and process of coming before God with the confession of wrongdoing and the acceptance of His Grace to be able to come into His Presence and not die.  Basically we are casting our sin down before Him so it gets judged but we are forgiven.  Now that oughta make somebody praise Him!

Sounds good but in order to be in this place in our spirit, our heart has to be in the right place.  The root for upright is the word, “yosher” which means, “straightness, uprightness; what is right, what is due”.  Now let’s connect this to the heart.  The root for heart is the word “lebab” which means, “inner man, mind, will, soul, understanding”.  The definition goes on to state that the heart is the “inclination, resolution, determination (of will); conscience; seat of appetites; seat of emotions and passions”.  The thought to follow God or to feed our flesh starts in the heart. 

In the packaging industry we used to see labels that read “Right Side Up”.  The implication was if you shipped the package with the right side up then it would reach its destination undamaged.  However, if the package was upside down, there was a possibility that upon arrival you might need to simply return to sender because it was going to be of no use to you…unless you have Krazy Glue.  Considering from the definition that our heart is the seat of consciousness…an upside down heart literally means all the good stuff can…fall off the “seat”.  Now if our heart begins in a place that thinks of evil continually (Gen. 6:5), as a child it’s bound with foolishness (Pro. 22:15), and it’s deceptive and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9)…there’s not a whole lot of room to lose good stuff.  This is why it is important to guard our heart because out of it flows the literal issues of life. (Pro. 4:23) 

N ow before we go looking for a scalpel, remember the heart does have the capacity to house faith (Psa. 27:3), love (Mat. 22:37), and wisdom (Pro. 14:33) but we need something to help it along. 

Easton’s Bible Dictionary defines the law as, “a rule of action.”   If we stop there without going to deep we probably have enough to drive home the point.  God’s law gives us the rules and regulations of how we should conduct ourselves.  Just looking at the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, we see 10 rules to live by. 

First we are told to have no other gods.  Basically we are to give no one else the supreme authority and position over our lives but The One True God. 

The next commandment almost seems to clarify the first.  In case you missed when He said no other gods, He begins to spec out the things that were worshipped in Egypt and tells us not to make graven images or idols of anything in heaven, on earth or under the earth.  Next we are told not to take the Lord’s name in vain.  That word vain means, “emptiness, vanity, falsehood; nothingness, emptiness of speech, lying; worthlessness (of conduct)”.  When I was growing up, I minimized this command to simply allowing God’s name to be a part of a curse word but the meaning is much deeper.  It is exchanging God’s truth for a lie.  Have you ever gone through a serious trial and blamed God for what you were dealing with?  Have you ever gotten the revelation later that it wasn’t God?  How about the set of circumstances you had to deal with that you were crediting the devil for.  Did you ever discover that some of your storms were created by God to shift you in the right direction…or do you think Jonah storm was created by the devil? 

Next we are told to keep the Sabbath.  How many of us have violated this one?  I mean really in today’s world, who has time to rest?  Don’t get me started.  However, when we don’t rest we are the ones who get stressed out, our bodies shut down and our tempers are short.  Hence, we’ll probably tell the truth…without a whole lot of love!  

Number five is to honor our parents.  It doesn’t tell us to only honor honorable parents but to honor our parents period.  The reality is, we didn’t choose them and they didn’t choose us.  It was God who decided on this relationship and by honoring them; God’s purpose will be fulfilled. 

Next we are told not to murder, steal, commit adultery or bear false witness against our neighbor.  The lack of explanations behind these four in scripture says to me, we don’t have to get deep with these…just don’t do it. 

Finally, we are told not to covet our neighbor’s stuff.  This really boils down to being happy with what God ordained for us to have.  If we really believe Jeremiah then we understand from chapter 1 that God had a purpose and a plan for our lives before our parents met and even before the earth was formed.  We also understand from chapter 29 that the plan was not to harm us but to give us a future.  It is intricately woven and well thought out and we will get everything He has for us at His appointed time.

It is the truth of God’s Word that puts us in a place where our heart can be right with God.  It’s not going to happen by osmosis, we have to meditate on His Word day and night and only then will we be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that will produce fruit in season.  If we are studying His word, it will be the lyrics to our song, the script for play, the movement in our dance, the image that we draw and the melody that we hear.  We’ll produce work that testifies to who He is and what He has done in our lives and it will point people to the cross of salvation.

Prayer: The Process

Matthew 7:7, “”Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” – NKJV

This is the last leg of this journey on prayer.  First we looked at intercession using the example in Mark 2:1-5 of the story of the four friends who brought the paralytic to Jesus.  Here we acknowledged the challenge to get from self-focus to not only recognizing the needs of others, but being concerned enough to deliberately sacrifice our time to “go in” on someone else’s behalf.  Next, we talked about the need to confess our sins as we approach the throne.  Yes, we have needs and concerns, but if we are truly going to step into God’s Presence and commune with him, gotta “wash our hands” first.  Since we know there are many more passages about prayer in the Bible, we can conclude that this series is not completely exhaustive.  However, there is one more thought on the subject that I believe the Lord wants us to walk through.

In the “Sermon on the Mount” recorded in Matthew chapters 5-7, Jesus covers the topic of prayer twice.  He first approaches the topic from the standpoint of discouraging insincere, public performance prayers; then He returns as if to say, “Hey y’all, it’s really not that deep… just ask.  Funny the acronym for the stages prayer form A.S.K.

First Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given to you.”  Seems to simple right?  Many times in life, we are afraid to ask for things we want or even need because of the fear of rejection.  In church you regularly hear people talk about the 80 -20 rule; 20% of the people do 80% of the work.  What I’ve learned since I’ve been in church is that many times the reason only 20% of the people do 80% of the work is because we keep asking the 20%.  We refuse to walk all the way of to the other side of the church and ask someone to do something because we are afraid they will say no.  Instead we see someone already busy and ask, “Brother Mike, I know you’re on 5 ministries already but the Lord is able and you can do 6.”  Yet Christ gives us a promise that tells us we don’t have to be afraid.  In verse 8 He declares that, “everyone who asks receives”.  In John 15:16 Jesus says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”  If we go back up to verse 14 we see that Jesus doesn’t just think of us as servants but he thinks of us as a friends and based upon that relationship the promise comes.  Look at what it says, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”  So based on friendship with The Son, we have the benefit of answered prayer.

So we begin with simply asking but the next step is to seek.   The passage goes on to say, “seek and you will find”.  We just learned that when we ask, God answers.  However, have you ever asked God for something and it seemed like there was no answer?  According to this passage, that’s really not possible.  Even the silence Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane was an answer.  So how do we position ourselves to locate the answer God has already given to our situation?  Well the word “seek” in the Greek, means, “to aim at, strive after”.  If you have ever lost money I’m sure you can relate to what seeking means in a very practical sense.  We will turn over every chair in the house, empty everyone’s pockets, might even shake our children upside down until we find it.  Seek also means, “to seek in order to find out, to inquire into.”   Now the obvious question from this passage is, seek where?  If we want God’s answer, we have to seek His Word.  Sidebar – if God is answering, it will not be contrary to His Word.  It behooves us to become familiar with what His Word has to say on a mind-boggling issue.  It makes it harder for the enemy to trick us into fear, uncertainty and doubt.  His Word is enlightening to the eyes (Psalms 19:8), makes one wise (Psalms 119:98) and brings light to a situation so we know what steps to take.  (Psalms 119:105)

So now you’ve stepped past the fear of rejection and asked.  You’ve pulled out Strong’s Concordance, Halley’s Bible Handbook got on BibleGateway.com and Blueletterbible.com…and you still don’t have an answer!  Isn’t that how it works sometimes?  If we are honest, I’m sure we can all testify to the fact that there are times it seems as if we’ve followed all the preacher blueprints, spoke life, confessed success and still seemed to came up empty.  This is the point where we are ready to throw in the towel and call it quits but Jesus is saying, “there is one more step beloved, knock”.

Strong’s Concordance says “knock” is, (of importunity) troublesomely urgent: overly persistent in request or demand.”  In Luke 18, there is a story of a woman seeking justice from a judge who didn’t fear God.  The scripture tells us she kept approaching with her plea and for a time he refused but finally he says to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!”  Wow, so if she gave up, she would have never gotten her breakthrough.

Not trying to be exceptionally deep here but one typically knocks on doors so I took a look at the word “door”.  In Rev 3:20 where Jesus stands at the door and knocks, “door” means, “an entrance, way or passage into.”  Hmm…could it be that our promises are locked up and protected from the adversary behind the door no man can open, yet when we knock, we gain access?  Remember, the enemy is not omniscient or omnipresent…he has no clue what is really going on, he just follow patterns in our lives and basically tries to guess the outcome.  Our promises are not only hidden from his tampering, but hidden from his view…locked away until the appointed time when we are ready.  We signal we are ready with persistent knocking.

So what does this have to do with an Artistry Journal in particular?  Well if you are a Christian who’s gifted artistically, you want to produce art that draws folks to Christ.  Even though we may minister regularly on Sunday, the reality is, there are different people in the room each week (we hope) and the needs of the “regulars” change.  Prayer is the only link we have to being effective no matter when we are called upon and no matter where we go.  We should pray for fresh revelation so we can minister a fresh word, not just the warmed up left overs of what we rehearsed last week, or what we have done over and over again.  The temptation is to go with the familiar instead of seeking God face for what He wants us to share. 

Not only that, what about challenges within the ministry?  Who should I take with me to sing, dance, act, write?  At face value, we can tell if they are talented but are they anointed?  Maybe I got goose pimples when they sang but was that because I identified with the song and the message behind it regardless of who was singing, or was it the ministry that came from them?  These answers don’t come right away because we have to press past our flesh which is tempted to only look for the skill. 

When all is said and done we must access the simplest method of communication that we have, ask, seek and knock.  James 4:2 it explicitly states, “Yet you do not have because you do not ask.”  So go boldly to the throne of grace, “that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  Our help will be released when we A.S.K.

Prayer: Washing Worship

Psalms 32:5-6, “Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”– and You forgave the guilt of my sin.  Selah.  Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to You while You may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.” – NIV

 

As we continue on the topic of prayer I took a look at 1 Timothy 2:1, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, [and] giving of thanks, be made for all men” – KJV.  Now realizing that supplications, intercessions and giving of thanks are all types of prayer, I was puzzled that the King James Version included the word “prayer” as one of the four mentions so I began to dig.  At first pass I found “prayer” was replaced with the word “worship”; devotional adoration, exaltation, and praise unto God”.  However, the Greek root yielded, “prayer addressed to God; a place set apart or suited for the offering of prayer, a synagogue.  A place in the open air where the Jews were wont (or accustomed) to pray; outside the cities where they had no synagogue.  Such places were situated upon the bank of a stream or the shore of a sea, where there was a supply of water for washing the hands before prayer.”  Understanding that the hand is a symbol of human action and the washing of hands is a symbol of innocence (Mat. 27:24) and sanctification (1 Cor. 6:11) it shed a new light or reinforced one of the processes of getting into God’s Presence…examine yourself. 

This psalm begins with the identification of the fact that a blessed man is one who has received forgiveness.  According to 1John 1:9, the process for receiving forgiveness is confession.  Quite simply, confession is, “to concede; not to deny; to admit or declare one’s self guilty of what one is accused of”.  Now if you have been listening to Donald Lawrence’s “Law of Confession” CD, you also understand that this word means to “agree with what has already been said.”  In other words, God already knows our faults and our shortcomings.  Psalms 139:3 says, “You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.”  So when we sin, God knows it.  Not only does He know when we sin, He knew the sin we were going to commit before it came into existence.  While it was just a thought, He was already on it.  Sometimes I wonder why God still lets me breathe when He knows what I’m about to do.  Then I think about the fact of His grace and His mercy…does He let us live just so He can forgive when we are finally ready to come to Him? 

Psalms 32:3-4 continues with, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.”  As I child I can remember trying to conceal the fact that I had done what I wasn’t supposed to do.  I had gone into a drawer that was off limits, accidentally spilled something and then tried to clean it up knowing that when my parents opened the drawer, I’d be busted.  I spent the entire day with my heart in my throat awaiting the moment they would open the drawer and discover what I had done.  As they would walk towards the drawer, my heart would race.  Now my parents were a little devious because when they discovered what was going on, they would do stuff like lean on the drawer and call me in to have a conversation with them.  They might let it go till the next day before they dealt with me.  You can imagine that the anticipation of my punishment was sometimes heavier than the manifestation. 

Now God is not quite so devious in His presentation.  Though He may implore similar tactics, His goal is not to see what level of stress it takes to bust our heart.  His objective is to get us to the place where we confess so He can forgive.  Let’s look at verse five, “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”– and You forgave the guilt of my sin.’”  Whereas confession to my parents still merited a spanking, God is saying that confession removes the guilt; “perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt or punishment of iniquity”.  So wait a minute, He pressures us to get us to the place where He doesn’t have to spank us?  (Hmm…mental note for parenting.) 

The goal is not to whip us, but to help us avoid the whippings that our sin merits.  Look at verse six, “Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to You while You may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.”  The “mighty waters” in this passage refer to danger and violence.  Remember the wages of sin is not just a bad feeling, it’s not a boo-boo, it’s death.  Sin separates us from our purpose.  What ever God has created us to do, He won’t allow us to get to while we have sin on us because we carry the sin that is on us into our purpose and contaminate the outcome.  If we look at the story of Adam and Eve, yes they were kicked out of the Garden of God’s Presence due to their sin but it was deeper than that.  Imagine if they had eaten of the Tree of Life prior to the redemption of sin?  Mankind would have been eternally dead; that is forever separated from God.  So His mercy kicked them out before anymore damage was done to the destiny of humanity.  Now think about entering into prayer with sin on your heart.  Have you ever prayed something stupid or completely out of God’s Will and then wondered why your prayer wasn’t answered?  I can remember running late for work and praying that God hold the bus up for me because I’m one of His righteous ones.  I was standing on the idea that I was going to receive grace and be blessed even though it was totally my fault that I was running late.  It was as if I was assuming that everyone else on the bus must be sinners and therefore I was going to enjoy this privilege in spite of.  Never crossed my mind that there were saints on the bus praying to get to work on time too…and they were where they were supposed to be on time.  God gave me another opportunity to adjust that prayer and it began something like this, “Lord I know I’m wrong.  I didn’t prepare last night for work and I got up late ignoring the first alarm.  I’m sorry.  Please forgive me.  If your will still permits for me to make it to work on time I will be grateful.  If not, I ask that you would cover me so my lateness will not put me in a compromising position at work…”  An entirely different posture and I believe He honored the sincerity of my heart.  That prayer continued asking for blessing on my boss, the projects we were working on, etc. but I couldn’t go there without first dealing with my on issues. 

Please remember God is not confused, shocked or awed by our sin.  In fact, He knew we were going to do it before we did and has already worked out a plan around it so that His promise for our life is not thrown off by it.  In fact, when Jesus said, “It is finished”, He did not mean that sin would not occur any longer, He was simply stating that “it” no longer had power over us.  The reason the power of sin is gone is due to the fact that Jesus paid the debt for our transgression with His blood.  Therefore, our confession simply says we acknowledge that we have sinned and we accept the ransom He put up for us.  Remember prayer is communication with God.  We can go boldly to the throne of grace in our prayer closet.  Now if we are at the throne in prayer, then we are truly in His Presence and according to Psalms 24:3-4, we can only ascend the Hill of the Lord and stand in His Holy Place if we have clean hands and a pure heart. 

As we pray for the impact of our ministry for the benefit of the kingdom agenda, let’s remember to wash our hands before we address our Lord.

Intercession: Pressing into Prayer

Mark 2:1-5, “A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.  So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.  Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.  Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” – NIV

 Recently I went away on a men’s retreat and we discussed many of the challenges men face on a daily basis.  Each day someone was sharing a bit about their testimony.  This group of men had been through a lot.  On the last day we had a very brief session that ended with prayer.  We were charged to pray for the issues that were uncovered during the weekend and to pray for men who were not there that are dealing with the same things.  What resonated in my spirit in the midst of the prayer was to pray for men to return to their homes; the fathers and husbands who left because of whatever.  What was interesting for me was the fact that my father didn’t leave home.  I’m sure that after 39 years of marriage he had moments where he thought about it…but he stayed.  So why was I so moved to pray for this issue at the retreat?  I submit to you that as I listened to the 40 and 50+ year old men share the “still present pain” of being left, I began to care.  I was brought to tears in the prayer like it was my issue.  It took the stillness of a retreat to provoke me to pray for something I’ve known has been an issue for men forever.

I know we talked about compassion last month but honest intercession won’t happen without compassion.  This could be why the Intercessory Prayer Ministry at most churches isn’t even a tenth of a percent of the population at the church.  We are so bogged down with our own issues that we don’t have time to pray for someone else.  Oh yeah we’ll pray for healing if we are sick and while we’re sick we’ll pray for everybody who’s sick to get well but while I’m running and jumping…am I really thinking about the kid on crutches?  Now we might think we are doing something because we are praying for people who are unemployed but the reality is, in this economy of course we are praying for the unemployed because we realize that tomorrow it could be us!  The question that is on my heart is how often are we praying for something that doesn’t directly affect us?

The word Intercession has a couple of Greek roots depending on how it is used but there is a consistent theme across the meanings.  First we find, “a lighting upon, meeting with; a conversation; a petition”. This is a technical term for approaching a king, and so for approaching God in “intercession;” it is rendered “prayer” (i.e., seeking the presence and hearing of God on behalf of others).  As I prayed about what to share, the Lord brought back to my mind the story in Mark 2 of Jesus at Capernaum.

If you recall the story you realize that in Mark 2:12, after the debate with the “teachers of the law”, that this man was healed but what I want to deal with real quickly is the process that got this paralyzed man to deliverance and how it relates to intercessory prayer.

First let’s deal with the issue of where Jesus was in relation to where the man was who was lying on the mat.  The four men saw their paralyzed friend and got the Denali, loaded the man in the back and drove from wherever they were to Jesus right?  No, they walked with this man on a mat.  No one knows how much he weighed but it doesn’t say it was a paralyzed boy so we can assume this was a full grown man.  We don’t know how far they had to walk either but if by the time they got there it was standing room only; it’s safe to assume the walk wasn’t around the corner.  One challenge with intercessory prayer is the lack of energy to pray.  Statistics say now that most people can attest to being overextended and the Barana Group reports that Christians are just as overwhelmed as those who don’t claim the faith.  From the time I leave for work till I get home is roughly 10-12 hours a day.  Now if I got home and chilled that would be one thing but I have two kids, a baby and an 8 year old and my wife works at night…think I’m done working when I get home?  Somebody is reading this and saying, “You think that’s something, try walking in my shoes” and that’s my point.  To even get to the place of prayer we have to press.

Next Jesus was inside of a house and people were crowding in around him.  One of the best analogies I can think of is going to the hottest club back in the day when a celebrity was in town.  Maybe you didn’t do clubs but the atmosphere would be crowded from the inside out.  The club had a fire code and at a point when they reached capacity, no one was admitted until someone left.  Now if it was the hot star of the day, you waited outside until someone left…however long that took.  I imagine the same was true for Jesus.  The crowds came for the miracles.  Let’s be honest, people had needs and once their need was met they listened but what brought many to the house was their ailments and they were not going anywhere until their issue was resolved.  Since the followers of Christ “house” the Holy Spirit, can we think of our brains as that house?  All of the issues of our own lives would be represented by the people crowding in.  Truthfully couldn’t you pray all day about your laundry list of issues?  When someone comes to you with their stuff your noble heart truly desires to pray for them but if you don’t take a moment to pray right then or write it down to pray later the chances are…you’ll forget because of all your stuff.  Sally sits in the cube next to you and just got laid off…at first you want to pray for her but then reality hits, that you could be next.  “I love you Sally but Jesus cause them to passover my cube cause I can’t hardly pay my mortgage now and I got a car payment, the electric is due, I gotta get the plumbing fixed and Johnny needs shoes and….”  That’s the reality.  Once we press pass our tiredness, we have to press past self focus.

Finally the men realized that standing outside was getting no where so they carried the man on top of the roof and began to tear up the roof of the house to lower the man in.  Wow!  Let’s visualize for a moment.  Everyone is in line and these four cats decide to go up the side of the house.  Can’t you imagine, “Hey, what are y’all doing?  Don’t go butting in line?” What about from the house as they were tearing the roof off, “What is that?  Are you crazy?”  Even in the midst of prayer you have to battle the adversary.  He’s bringing more issues and more challenges to distract you and that is when you must keep your face like a flint.

What I got from this story is the fact that if we are going to be effective in praying for one another we must take the time to make a concerted effort to reach the goal.  It is not going to be easy but we need to care enough about someone else that our own issues take a back seat.  Remember, the end result is that the four men were successful and their friend’s issue was resolved.  They were fervent in effort and God honored their press!

Artistic Compassion

Jude 1:22, “And of some have compassion, making a difference:”-KJV

If you have been on this journey for the past 2 months than you know the Lord has had us in a series dealing with the relationship between evangelism and the arts.  We closed January looking at our “Artistic Power” and confirmed that the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 1:8 for the purpose of giving us the ability to be used of God to win souls.  In February we looked at the “Artistic Charge” rendered in Mark 16:15 to leave the “Come Ye Ministry” for the “Go Ye Ministry”.  Neither of these passages was written specifically to artists but to Christendom in general.  However, if we are artists who claim to be in relationship with Christ, than we know the passage applies to us as well.  If we are honest I believe this series has been convicting but I also believe it has been encouraging.  The church “at large” has been very pre-occupied with what is going on in the four walls (whether those four walls are where we worship weekly or if the “walls” are the conferences and programs directed at the saints) and I believe the challenge has been set before us to first care about the lost and then utilize our anointed, artistic, charisma with the intentional purpose to reach the them.  Well I do sense God giving me permission to move on so that I don’t become a “serial killer” but there is a final entry in the form of a testimony.

Earlier in March I was asked to minister at an assisted living facility.  For those who don’t know, this is not quite a “senior center”.  This is a place where people go after they had a medical trial by which now they need assistance with everyday living.  Prior to the medical trauma one could dress themselves, take their medication, basically handling their daily routine but right now they are having trouble with these thing and need help.  It is possible that people come through assisted living and return to normal life functions but it is also possible that people come through assisted living and go to a more permanent care situation like a senior center.  It just depends on what the person is dealing with.

Originally when I was asked to come, I thought I was coming to be a part of an already existing service and to do a mime presentation but I was asked to handle the service (including delivering a message) which put me in a catch 22.  I couldn’t go in with mime make up and start preaching, well I could but everyone would not be ready to see that oneJ.  So I sought the Lord and decided to take the children’s mime team with me and prepared an abbreviated message.  I’ve visited these facilities before many times and was aware of people coming in to do services but I had never actually been to a service in a center so I had no idea what to expect.

I had 12 children with me and their parents and we walked into a room with eight people.  One was visiting a resident; six were in wheel chairs and one was immobilized on a bed.  I may be exaggerating when I say the room was the size of maybe 2 hospital rooms adjoined but it was far from “sound stage spacing”.  The children presented a mime to Kirk Franklin’s Brokenhearted (Hero CD) and I shared a brief message from Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”-NKJV   Because of the spacing in the room, we had to leave the doors open while the children ministered and the entire nursing station stopped to watch.  One nurse stayed in the room until they got done.  When the children finished, they went downstairs to take their make-up off while I shared the message and prayed for the residents.  Fortunately God brought the lady who asked me to come so she guided me through what to do next.  One thing we did was went around the room and simply hugged each person.  Then the thought hit me to run back down and get the children.  They came up and went through the room as well just hugging and shaking hands.  Prior to the children returning to the room the residents who could speak, thanked me and told me they appreciated the message and the children, etc., but when the children returned to the room and hugged them, something broke in the room.  One lady cried out, “Hallelujah!”  It was very clear to me that of all the ministry that took place that day, the one with the most impact was the ministry of compassion.

Overall the book of Jude gives out warnings to guard against false teaching premise that grace is a license to sin.  However, this one chapter book ends with a focus on going after lost souls with a call to compassion.  (Please note: The goal with this journal entry is not so much an exegesis but more of a topical focus.)  Jesus’ ministry was one of compassion.  If you look through the gospels you will find the miracles of Christ combined with the compassion He had for the people.  Jesus made sure folks who came to hear him were fed because he had compassion. (Mat. 15:32) He healed the sick because of compassion. (Mat. 14:14).  What is interesting to note is the fact that every time Jesus exuded compassion and manifested a miracle, the response of the people was to follow Him. (Mat. 20:34)  Don’t miss this. 

Those who go into the prisons and the homeless shelters, those who arrange programs for battered women, those who serve at the soup kitchens, those who set up services at the Salvation Army and the YMCA not just because you don’t have a building yet but because you desire to be in the community where people need to hear The Word, I just want to commend you for your efforts.  Your labor in not in vain.  Yes some of the people you serve already have a relationship with Christ but I guarantee many who are watching do not.  By “going”, you are actually following the footsteps of Christ and at the end of the day; you will probably have more “kingdom impact” than the mega church movement.  I’m not knocking the large churches but I am knocking the thought process that is excited about attending a large church where “someone” is ministering to the community but everyone else is bragging but not involved.  I’m knocking the thought process that says, “If I tell you to come to my church and hear/ see me (sing, dance, play, etc.) than I’ve done my evangelistic bidding for the year.”

If we claim to be called by God to do what we do than we must recognize there is a yoke breaking anointing on our lives.  Yes the people of God need the edification that comes from our ministries but the call of the church is to be a witness to the world.  We would be really upset if the firemen stayed in the fire station all the time and never went out to deal with fires.  Well this is what it’s like when we spend our ministry planning only focussing on the four walls.  I know that there are hatred groups running around burning down churches but sometimes I wonder…does it take a literal fire at the church to get us out into the community?

Jude makes a very simple plea, “And of some have compassion, making a difference”.  Compassion is not just crying because you see someone in need but it’s caring enough to be willing inconvenience yourself to help.  Ministering outside the walls is not convenient…many times they won’t have a green room or an offering.  Many times they won’t have a Bose sound system, or even idea space for changing or the actual execution of the ministry itself.  Many times all they will have is an opportunity for us to be used of God to make a difference.  We close this entry with a reverse altar call…Whosoever will, let him/her go…Won’t you “go”?

Artistic Charge

 Mark 16:15, “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” – NKJV

Last month we dealt with the topic, “Artistic Power”. Here we talked about the fact that in Acts 1:8, God’s intention behind the Holy Spirit coming upon us in power was to empower us for effectiveness when sharing the gospel through our art.  This month the Lord still impresses on my heart the call of the Christian Artist to evangelize.  What I hear the Spirit of the Lord saying is, “I’m tired of your religious meetings!” (Amos 5:21)  We have become so comfortable in the four walls of the church that it would take a power outage or a literal fire before we’d think of going outside!  It has gotten so bad that we punk each other into attending every meeting and activity that takes place in church.  If we attend a fellowship where something is happening everyday…and we attend everything…and we go to work everyday…manage our families everyday…exactly when are we impacting the community around us for the sake of building God’s Kingdom?  Some would argue that the days of going door to door with tracks and standing on corners are over.  I disagree but for the purposes of this article I’ll indulge this thought process.  So if we are in church all the time (our own or visiting) and wearing it like a badge of honor but not going door to door with tracks…what are we doing?

Mark 16 begins with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  First Mary Magdelane, Mary (mother of James) and Salome are heading to the tomb and are told by an angel that, “He is risen”.  The angel goes on to charge them to go back and tell the disciples.  They leave afraid and told no one.  One of the major reasons we don’t evangelize is fear of rejection.  It is much safer in the church sharing the gospel with each other than to go out into an area where we have no idea how we will be received. 

Next Jesus appears to Mary Magdelane.  When Mary saw Jesus, she ran and told the disciples but they did not believe her.  Jesus then appears to a couple of the disciples Mary spoke to.  Once they realized it was Him they went back to tell the others but the others still did not believe.  The thing that moves us forward with evangelism is seeing Jesus clearly.  We don’t see Jesus from the physical sense, but through the Word of God we are enlightened as to who Jesus is and what He represents.  Once this happens, we have no other choice but to yearn for someone else to know Him. 

Later Jesus appears to the Eleven and rebukes them for not believing.  It is important to keep in mind that God has an expectation of us.  Once we do our part, He will do His.  Ezekiel 33: 8-9 says, ” When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.  But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself”.  This passage makes it clear that we don’t wear the weight of responsibility for “making” someone else believe; we are only responsible for sharing the information we have.  Once we put the information on the table, we pray that God’s Will is accomplished.  The responsibility is now on the recipient to move from a place of wrath to a place of grace.

After the rebuke, Jesus lays the charge above.  This charge begins with “Go into all the world“.  Without being too deep, go means go!  I know someone wants the Greek for “go” so here it is…poreuō means, “to lead over, carry over, transfer; to pursue the journey on which one has entered, to continue on one’s journey.”  So we are not to stay where we are but to move from one place to reach someone in another place.  If you read the gospels you see Jesus was mobile with His witness…and not just going from temple to temple.  He left the “Come Ye Ministry” for the “Go Ye Ministry”.   

Next He says, “and preach the gospel to every creature”.  In this context, the Greek definition for the word “preach” is that of an “official” herald with formality which gives way to the concept of the office of a preacher or the ministerial duty of preaching.  However, we see right in this chapter that the first person to carry the gospel message that “He is risen” was a woman who was considered to be a disciple.  As a matter of fact it was Mary Magdelane, the woman Jesus drove seven demons out of.  The first person who gets to tell the story is not the team of “preachers” but a benefactor of one of the miracles Christ performed.  She was a recipient of healing and deliverance.  I think the example alone implies that the responsibility to share the gospel spans beyond the pulpit area.

If you don’t feel lead to stand on the corner with a megaphone, or go door to door with tracks, I’m not going to argue with you.  Today is a different world.  We’ve got Facebook, Myspace, Twitter…etc.  However, if your friends list is only “the church” how evangelistic are these tools for you?  If we are honest, most of us use these tools as a source of edification to build one another up in the faith.  Now I’m not knocking this type use; in this day and age it is needed.  I would be lying if I told you that I have not been blessed by the testimonies and encouragement of my brothers and sisters on these mediums.  Let’s just be clear, this is not “outreach”.  What about our engagements?  Are our calendars filled with traveling from church to church?  If they are, we can’t check off evangelism in that category either.  We are banking on the unsaved coming into the church (service or event) to find Christ.  I’m not saying this doesn’t happen but how many times does the doors of the church open and all we do is catch saints exchanging memberships?

If God has anointed us to be creative, has He given us anything that we could use to specifically target the lost?  I guess a more precise question is, “do we even care about the lost?  Well this is what God placed on my heart this month so I thought I’d share.  The reality, Jesus is coming back one day.  Saved or unsaved we are all going to have to give an account for our thoughts and deeds.  The sobering introspective reflection for the month is how will we respond when He asks about our heeding of the consistent command in the gospels to share His message with the world?  This is not an attack, it’s just an honest question…what are we doing?

Artistic Power

Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – NIV

The book of Acts is the book that records how the apostles were used by God to spread the Gospel through out the world after Jesus ascended into heaven.  First we are told how Jesus spent time talking to the disciples about the Kingdom of God for 40 days.  During this time he tells them, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5)  Later they ask Him if He is going to restore the kingdom to Israel at this time and Jesus doesn’t answer (actually He says it is not for Him to say) but directs their attention to our passage. Though Jesus didn’t answer the “when” I believe He did answer the “how”.

 The first thing He mentions is, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you”.  If we examine the word “power” from the original Greek text, we discover that it is the word, “dynamis”.  By definition the word means, “strength, power, ability”.  Within the Lexicon definition there are three specific things that are associated with type of power; “power of performing miracles”; “power and influence which belong to riches and wealth”; and “power and resources arising from numbers”.  Looking through Acts we see demonstrations of miracles such as Peter healing the lame man by the gate called Beautiful (Acts 3:6-7); demonstrations of influence which belong to riches and wealth such Paul being able to purchase lodging to preach in Rome for 2 years after arriving there as a prisoner (Acts 28:16-30); and demonstrations of power and resources arising from numbers such as Paul and Barnabas preaching and a city gathering to hear then evangelizing a region (Acts 13:43-47). So the Holy Spirit gives strength to do signs and wonders, power to influence for riches and wealth and ability to rally resources and people to complete a task.  WOW!  So what’s all that for?

 Well the next part of the verse says, “and you will be my witnesses“.  The word “witness” from the original text is the word, “martys”.  By definition it speaks of a legal and historical sense; “one who is a spectator of anything”.  Just recently we all bore witness to the first African-American president being inaugurated in the US because we saw it happen.  Our testimony will be for those who didn’t see it for themselves.  Our children will grow up thinking this is the norm but we’ll have to remind them that it wasn’t always the case and not to take for granted the opportunities that are available now. 

 This word also has another meaning that we don’t like to think about too much and that is the ethical sense; “those who after his example have proved the strength and genuineness of their faith in Christ by undergoing a violent death”.  Obviously the Lexicon points to Stephen who was slain while preaching as Paul looked on prior to his conversion. (Acts 20:22) So what does this mean?  Considering the fact that in the US there’s no abundance of folks literally being assassinated for the sake of the gospel (be mindful that yes this is happening in some countries) what can we draw from this point?  I’d like to suggest there is a death to self that we must consider if we are ever going to be effective with evangelism.  We are going to have to realize it is going to be inconvenient and not welcomed in every arena.  They are fighting to make it illegal in this country so we must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  If we really want to operate like kingdom citizens, we may need to do a little more than invite non-believers to our concerts and programs at the church.  There is surely a need for knocking on doors, passing out tracks and even standing on street corners with megaphones but what can we do with our gift that is evangelistic?  I dare say we need to be willing to minister in unconventional locations.  Let’s face it, everywhere we go outside the church, we are going to be called, entertainment.  (In fact in some churches we are going to be called that as well…from the pulpit!)  At some point we are going to have to ask ourselves how much we want to fight with folks who don’t know any better. 1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”   Now granted, this passage is talking about non-believers so education made be in order when we find believers calling what we do entertainment.  However, what if we are asked to come outside “the four walls”?  Jesus fellowshipped with segments of society you would find in your local bar or night club and I serious doubt they recognized the authenticity of His “ministry” until He began to “minister”.  By the same token, one encounter with Him changed their lives forever.  No everyone didn’t drop their water pail and start preaching the gospel but some souls were won and according to Luke 15:7, the heavens will rejoice even over one soul…more than over the 99 folks in church…who by their choice are receiving our ministry as entertainment but using the correct “Christian jargon” to make us “think they see” the spiritual.  (Amen Keyboard and Monitor.)  Please note…I’m by no means suggesting we ought to empty out the church and hold service at the nearest bar…but I am suggesting that our “out-reach efforts” should include more than filling our calendars with traveling from church to church conference to gospel celebration.

 If we look at the example of power in the Gospel accounts we noted at the beginning, you will find that each ones ends with the gospel being spread across the land.  After the healing by the gate, Peter and John preached to the folks drawn by the miracle and in Act 4:4, 5000 men were counted in the crowd that believed; Paul set up shop in Rome and preached for 2 years to everyone who came to his lodge (Acts 28:31) and in Acts 13 we have an example of a sorcerer being struck blind which drew a multitude, Paul preaching to the multitude who after hearing, believed and the Gospel was spread throughout an entire region. (Acts 13:48-49)  In essence God is saying he will make us effective and provide us with the resources to accomplish His Will or better said in scripture, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3) 

 To quote the Spiderman movie, “with great power comes great responsibility”; so let’s ponder what we will do with the artistic power bestowed upon us by The Father.