Overview
The purpose of the just concluded Theology from Below (TFB) session is to emphasis the doing of the message. Doing the message will doubtless produce an experience. Experience inspires the stories. Stories have power to transform both the teller and the hearers.
Life is a story. People do not have stories today because they are not obeying. If you don’t have a story, it is due to lack of experience, and if you don’t have experiences, its due to negligence in doing the word. The Bible calls it “handling the word of God deceitfully” (2 Corinthians 4:1-2). You manifest something by making it visible. The Gospel message is written with the intention that it would be obeyed.
KCP Vulnerable part / Our Achilles Heel
Our weak point is evident in 2 Timothy 3:1-7 – But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy…..always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (NKJV)
James 1:22 advised us to be doers of the word and not hearers only. If you hear an instruction, opportunities will come for you to prove it. The only language that the world understands is “seeing something that is better than theirs.”
The message of the kingdom still uses words (1 Corinthians 2:1-5), but there is a “However” clause as seen in 1 Corinthians 2:6-7. The Gospel is simple not ambiguous, but it is a mystery that needs unveiling.
Last Session’s Focus — The Opposition to the Temple
While the enemy’s strategy in Ezra’s day was to paint God’s people as a pack of rebels, the strategy today is to paint the church as an irrelevant group of people that should not be taken seriously. We no longer allow the Word / Bible infiltrate everything we do. Whenever you put things out of biblical context, it becomes evil.
There is an on going campaign geared towards discrediting God’s reputation today just as it was in Ezra’s time. Temple Managers now destroy what they have been called to build. There is a widespread “deceitful handling” of the word of God today.
The work of the temple ceased (for sixteen years) like it has in our day. The temple work ceased on the wings of adulterated word. The only power that can reactivate the work is the Prophetic Word of God. A new sound, shape, form, structure and mind is critically needed now. The critical need is not just speaking lips but SPEAKING LIVES. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power (1 Corinthians 4:20, NKJV)
The gospel of power needs to be rediscovered. We need to build capacity, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally and ethically. We need the power of Prophetic Imagination. That God given wisdom to critique a defensive status quo and envision a new reality by life quality. Its not going to be individual based, but through a processed community.
Conclusion and prayer
What type of standard have you set for your life? There must be a new sound. Make up your mind to have a value in your life. Announce a new day by the standard of your life and the qualities of values you have set. The primary reason for you being saved is that you become a vessel that God can work in and through so that He might find you a worthy medium to affect the earth. God wants Speaking Lives.
Lord, tune our hearts, cause us to share in your heart beat. Empty us of all the junk that we have been filled with. Illuminate our hearts, open our eyes to see where the real issues are, and help us to embrace a new challenge. Amen.