This blew me away today and I hope it challenges you all!. By Perry Noble
Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, South Carolina, spoke about radical devotion at this week’s Radicalas. Here is an excerpt from his message:
Radical devotion begins with an accurate view of Jesus. I don’t think we would speak to Jesus the way we speak to Jesus sometimes if we just understood who he was.
‘Jesus, I’m over my head!’ I know.
‘Lord, God, I’m so powerless!’ Duh.
‘God, I don’t know what to do.’ I know; that’s why I called you.
I think before we can discover what Jesus wants, we’ve got to see who he is … I believe when we discover who Jesus is, our hearts will beat for the same things that his heart beats for and we will understand what he wants us to do.
We don’t have a resource problem in the church today; we don’t have a staffing problem; we have a Jesus problem and, if we will take the church and bring it back to Jesus -- because it is his to begin with -- that’s when we will see some supernatural things take place among us -- like the Bible says can and should be happening in his church.
Pastor, let me ask you a question: do you want you people to see who you are or do you want your people to see who Jesus is? You can tell by how many pictures of you are in the church vs. how many pictures of Jesus there are. If it’s all about Jesus, pastor, why don’t you go back to your church and take all the pictures of you down and instead point people to the cross -- because if they believe in you, they will go to hell.
1 comment:
Yes, its true we can be flippant in prayer. Is it learned or a habit? Jesus should be our best friend, so how do we talk with best friends? Jesus says, come to me and learn from me. I know I NEED Jesus, but perhaps sometimes we lose that need? The Word of God 'in us' helps us to pray to Jesus and get to know him more and more, closer and closer. I think Jesus must have a filter system and what ever I say from my heart, He hears excusing the mess, and inapt speech but seeing the heart. Otherwise we may say very little and leave whats really inside, inside. The psalms are great for guidance on talking to Jesus. His Word convicts our hearts too. About looking to the pastor more than Jesus, Mark, I dont think you promote yourself in pictures or anything else although its obvious that many leaders do, and thats not right. We need to encourage one another to read the Word of God and pray. I've found that if I learn just one verse, to be sure God will bring that verse to mind in prayer,so it is a joy to pray His Word in us too. So spending more time with our best friend learning from Him! Recognising my Need for Jesus is key for me anyway. He is so loving.
Post a Comment