Doing some reading on Vacation, and found this gem:
“I love churches that aren’t about helping people become churchy.
Churches should be about helping people experience a transformed life in Christ that challenges folks to live out their faith daily in today’s culture. That’s a lot harder than just being churchy, quite frankly. Churchiness is easy. You just follow the prescribed rules.
Real faith is dynamic. It’s controversial. It’s dangerous. It’s constantly growing. It asks challenging questions. It involves mystery. You can’t put it in a box. You can’t keep it quiet. You can’t outgrow it. You can’t out-dream it. It’s more focused on others than it is on itself. Real faith gives me peace but makes me discontent to let things stay the same.
It’s amazing to see what God chooses to do through a church that embraces this kind of vision for life together. It’s revolutionary.” –Tony Morgan, Killing Cockroaches
Tony, my man…I could not have said this better myself. And if you haven’t checked out Overlake, then I’d love to invite you…not to churchy, but to revolutionary…
5 comments:
I love the idea of life together being revoluntionary. AWESOME!
I love this!!!
pastor mike.....great blog...coincides with a book i just started from brian mclaren/a new kind of christianity: 10 questions that are transforming the faith.....the key words that you both mention...that faith IS "dynamic"!
I am deeply concerned and grieved that some of our nation's most prominent Christian leaders just can't get it right when it comes to issues of Bible prophecy or Israel. Equally troubling is the fact that eschatology has vanished from our pulpits some 15 – 20 years ago because it is "divisive," "confusing," and might drive away today's "seekers." I cannot figure out why the message that "the King is coming" doesn't fit in to today's "feel good" theology.
The Bible says in II Thessalonians that there will be a great "falling away" from sound doctrine. Perhaps that explains the surge of the trendy theology
But even more respected is Rick Warren, the man trying to give us all "purpose" while at the same time telling his readers to stay away from Bible prophecy. While I know that many have grown from the whole "purpose-driven phenomenon," I am grieved that this powerful Christian leader says on pages 285-286 of his book, "The Purpose Driven Life," that Jesus told his disciples, "The details of my return are none of your business."
Rick, give us chapter and verse for that! We are to focus on our "mission" which isn't Bible prophecy. We are to preach the gospel to every nation and then the end will come says Rick, but that happens in the Tribulation.
He suggests that prophecy is a "diversion of the devil" and then implies that those who do not focus on the work God has planned for us-from which prophecy diverts us-is not fit for the Kingdom of God.
He doesn't get it that two thirds of the Bible is prophecy and that Jesus tells us to "watch and pray" for His return. In Matthew 16, He chastises the Pharisees for knowing the signs of the weather but not the signs of the times.
Rick robs of us our "blessed hope" and our "purpose" could in no way have anything to do with sounding an alarm to the lateness of the hour which would fit into Rick's evangelistic plan. Bible prophecy and evangelism fit like a hand in a glove!
The misunderstanding or abuse of prophecy goes all the way to the top. Many of us campaigned for George W. Bush praying that by his second term he would be reached by men with sound theology to better shape his Middle East goals. But he remains blinded by his Replacement Theology background-that is, the Church is the new Israel so we can pressure Israel to carve up her land until the cows come home and there will be no consequences.
Most of his staff falls into the same camp, but they all put America at risk. If they only had been taught sound eschatology, this might not be the case.
I conclude that you can have an international platform, sell millions of books, and even rise to high political office with little consequences if you have indifference towards prophecy or skewed eschatological theology, and have Israel not much more relevant than the Canary Islands.
The bottom line is this: Millions of prophecy books including "The Late-Great Planet Earth" and the "Left Behind" series have won untold numbers for Eternity. The hour is much too late to have these theologies torn apart and ridiculed when we need to use such teachings to win the lost while we have time!
How convenient of the enemy to blur the sound theology behind true Dispensationalist teaching and get people wondering if all prophecy is history, the Church is Israel, and we are deluded if we think our "purpose" is to believe sound prophecy teaching when that is but a diversion.
I am terribly frustrated with the new mood in the church, but I wonder if God is grieved more than all of us put together. Since one-fourth of the Bible is prophecy-related, God put it there for a reason. It's not a diversion from our "purpose." With Warren being so evangelism-minded, he should know that evangelism and Bible prophecy fit like a hand in a glove.
Great blog esp. of breaking away from religion and embracing authentic faith. God's work in you is an inspiration. It adds courage in my heart to be radical in faith.
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