The Revolution Brigade

I’ve just been perking up my ears a little of late and listening to the conversations around me.  I know that’s a little nosy, but it’s most instructive.  What I have heard loud and clear is a sense of fear that is subverting the church at large.

Fear of change.  Fear of adventure.  Fear of the future.  Fear of the stock market.  Fear of the government.  Fear of terrorists.  Fear of self-sacrifice.  Fear of being afraid.  The list goes on and on.

The problem is that fear will rob us of our destiny in the unfolding of the Kingdom.  Consider the story of the scouts sent into the land of Caanan in Numbers chapter 13.  Ten of them came back paralyzed by fear, and would have forfeited their inheritance as a result.   Only Caleb and Joshua recommended that they take possession of the Land:

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”  And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:30-33)

And so it is with us.  The church, instead of taking possession of the Land, has made itself content to sit on the hillside and gaze at the giants ravaging their inheritance.  Not all of us, mind you.  But enough of us have decided to forfeit our inheritance that we find ourselves almost without a place to call our own.

What’s the answer?  Perfect love, of course.

You see, a man without fear can impart courage to another person, but courage is simply the ability to operate in fear without losing your composure.   What we need is the complete removal of fear from among us.  The only answer is a renewed revelation of Jesus as the love-sick bridegroom God who lives and breathes to empower us to do exploits.

The world should seem a little less scary when we realize that the creator of the universe resides inside of us, and that His agenda is one of eternal benevolence on our behalf.

Jonathan Greene teaches a lesson about Contending for the Fullness of the Faith, which is really pressing toward the mark of the high calling and apprehending that for which we have been apprehended.  This message is a guide to fighting for spiritual growth in a biblical way without striving.

What does it mean to have militant faith?

Dictionary.com defines the word “militant” as follows:  vigorously active and aggressive, esp. in support of a cause.

The bible says in Matthew chapter 11:12 that, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”  The idea is that there are certain portions of the fullness of God’s Kingdom that can only be possessed by those who are willing to take radical measures in seeking God.

This is not the type of militant faith where we blow ourselves up because the world doesn’t do what we want them to do.  In fact, God has already shown us in his word that the world will grow progressively more preverse and evil until the coming of the Lord, so we might as well get over it already.  This is the type of militant faith where we do whatever is necessary to possess the promise of the Lord in our lives.

It might mean fasting and praying all night.

It might mean spending days or weeks in the secret place with Jesus.

Is there anybody out there who values the anointing and the presence of God more than friends, food, and fellowship?  Not that there’s anything wrong with friends, food, or fellowship, but if they prevent you from passionately persuing God, then they are idolatrous.  What if I told you that there was a HUGE pile of gold waiting for anybody who would fast and pray for two weeks.  I bet many more of us would be fasting and praying.  Jesus is the treasure, folks.  His power is the currency that will buy change in our nation.

Basic Training is a group of teachings designed for the new Christians who are in our midst to get a firm grasp on the most powerful, and most fundamental doctrines of the church. It’s a guideline by which we may use the relationships that we forge with these new converts to disciple them and lead them into the fullness of their spiritual authority in Jesus.

We’re going to start by examining what is arguably the most important tool in your tool bag as a Christian: faith. What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Faith is believing that Jesus is the son of God, that he died for your sins, that he was resurrected and taken to heaven by God, despite the fact that you’ve never seen him and all of this happened two thousand years ago.

Faith is knowing that God will do what the bible says that he will do.

Why do we need to have faith?

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

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