Posts Tagged ‘Bible study’
reward
We were reading through Genesis in our Monday house community. I’ve read through Genesis a few times but didn’t remember this part… a verse that seems fairly key.
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” [15:1b]
God had just given Abram his mandate to bless the world. He messes up already, but hasn’t derailed the train entirely. And I think we all know he’s in for a wild ride. And God comes to him and says something very simple… don’t fear, I will protect… and I’m your reward, your treasure. Don’t forget it.
I think how often I’ve been consumed with everything else. Success, respect and security. These have often been my treasure, my reward… for all my hard work, for all my heartache. And yet God reminds Abram [and me] that with all that he’s going to be doing, the great “mission” he’s going to be on, the things that will come along and masquerade as the prize… God says… I’m your prize, I’m your treasure, I’m your reward. And because of that you have no need to fear. If you hold on to that, fear will not be oppressive.
And when I think of the free-est moments in my life… it’s the times when I’m relishing being God’s prize and his treasure… and fixed on God being my reward, his approval being my prize. It’s the Bible’s claim that if we make anything but Jesus our treasure, it will result in slavery. But when Jesus is our treasure, it only leads to freedom.
Still a work in progress.
no movement in north america
I’ve been reading a few blogs that are thoroughly convicting. There are common themes among the radical apostolic types. It’s this radical recommitment to the simple ways of Jesus. We talk, but we don’t do. And the world knows it. And I’m finding more and more that the linchpin in all this should be discipleship. Following Jesus with reckless abandon. It’s not church methodology… finding a model that you just reproduce… but a simple heart to do what Jesus wants no matter the cost.
David Watson who has been a part of a mind-blowing church planting movement in India says this… wrote this about why there are no real church planting movements in North America:
In the last 15 years, over 40,000 churches sprang up in an area in North India known as the ‘graveyard of missions and missionaries.’ Some of these churches are tenth generation church plants and studies show that the tenth generation is as mature and Biblically sound as the first. While persecution in this area is high, so is the faith of the church. They walk and talk with God. They see miracles everyday. They share their faith. They plant more churches. They pray for the sick. They take care of the widows and orphans. Although many are illiterate, they study the Bible inductively. They believe we have a choice – we read or listen to God’s Word, believe, and obey Him or we don’t. There is no middle ground.
People ask, “Why don’t we see church planting movements in the United States?” It is because we read God’s Word, but are not obedient. We amass knowledge about God, but we don’t do anything with our knowledge. We say we read God’s Word inductively but we usually stop before we get to the hard part: obedience. Until we read God’s Word and obey it, we will not see church planting movements in the United States.
