Finish the Mission
7 Minutes that moved a generation
I tell you what a tragedy is. I’ll read to you from Reader’s Digest what a tragedy is. “Bob and Penny . . . took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their thirty foot trawler, playing softball and collecting shells.”That’s a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. And I get forty minutes to plead with you: don’t buy it. With all my heart I plead with you: don’t buy that dream. The American Dream: a nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement, collecting shells as the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account of what you did: “Here it is Lord — my shell collection! And I’ve got a nice swing, and look at my boat!”Don’t waste your life; don’t waste it.
My Seminary president when he was in seminary never went to class. He worked hard on his final assignment so that he would bring up his grade and pass. Confidently he went up to his professor and submitted his final paper convinced he would get an A+. He received his final assignment back with the words, “great paper, great content, great research, wrong assignment. F.”
Jesus was clear on his instructions: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19)
While preaching in public is what people see the most, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. The public realm is what everyone sees, but what they don’t see the prayers made in the secret place, praying in the Spirit, making disciples, showing mercy to the poor, living in foreign nations as a missionary.
Public preaching isn’t everything, but if it can be pursued in your context, it’s an area that needs a resurgence in the body of Christ and will be a vital element in finishing the mission Jesus gave to us and dreaming for revival in our nation.
The next Great Awakening will be marked by influx of Public preaching. Public preaching sets the stage for love to work at its fullest potential because delivered from fear. There is no fear in love, therefore, if we’re delivered from fear love can work the greatest.
Fear is not a natural emotion, it’s a learned emotion. Kids are fearless until they’re oppressed by cultural norms. My kids preach in public because I’ve been modeling what fearlessness looks like. But one day they might become convinced like the rest of the people to live with our mouths muzzled by political correctness and anti Christ agendas.
I was a very fearful child growing up. I was so gripped by fear I used to hide under tables and become very anti social around guests who would come over to our house. I would be so shy around people that I would often hide behind my moms skirt. I was so self conscious and had such a low self esteem about myself that I would get extremely uncomfortable when people would look my way, especially when I would come out of the airport met by hundreds of on lookers waiting outside.
When I was in high school I hated public speaking. Public speaking was a nightmare. I was assigned the topic of the Korean War in my history class. Just to compensate for the poor delivery I would make I asked dad to buy me some korean army clothes and my dad got me the full gear: the hat, the top and pants. I prepared for my presentation with sleepless nights trying to memorize everything so that I don’t become an embarrassment. When it came down to present my topic, I was shaking in my boots, knees were feeble and I choked. I couldn’t get any words out of my mouth and to make matters worse, I began to cry. That was the end of any possibility of being “cool” in high school.
When it was time to receive my grades, I thought I failed the assignment but my history teacher gave me an A+ because he thought I was crying for North Korea. God is a God of miracles.
It wasn’t until I met Jesus and began to live out the gospels that I began to see fear broken off of my life. There comes a time when one has to make a decision to rise above the fear and live from heavens vantage point.
Once we were transferred out from the Kingdom of Satan we became citizens of heaven. Peter says that we are pilgrims. We are simply passing through this life and we became ambassadors of Christ representing and announcing the Kingdom of God so that people and enter in and be part of this eternal family. Therefore, just as Jesus was bold and sincere in his efforts to set the captives free, we must also wholeheartedly throw ourselves into this mission of bringing souls into the Kingdom.
God gave me an image of a church on fire but once the people came out of the four walls, the fire went out. Inside of the four walls, they could sing their hearts out, but going out into the world beyond the four walls, they would be consumed by the demonic fear instilling culture.
Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16 ESV
God called us to be the light of the world, but we’ve allowed the basket of our fears to contain the light to ourselves as the world around us perish without the light of the gospel of Christ. The more heartbreaking reality is that the majority of Christians think this is normal. Singing our hearts out at church but keeping the good news to ourselves outside of church has become so normalized that it has become abnormal to share the good news in the public realm.
The early church had no such political filter, so they were very bold in their approach to evangelism. One of the first derogatory terms that was placed on believers was the word, “Christians.” Today it is an identification. But during the early church, it was an insult. These disciples followed the teachings of Jesus so obsessively that they were called “Christian,” meaning little Christ’s.
We need public preaching back in our societies. Of course in gospel restricted nations, we must be wise in our approach so that we don’t jeopardize the work underground, however, for nations under religious freedom, we have no excuses.
Public preaching as a way of spreading the word in a wider radius and in the process it has several benefits:
It develops the preachers communication skills that affects every area of minsitry
It delivers us from the fear of man, failure and rejection
It allows us to be more focused on the mission to save souls
We fulfill the command to be a watchmen over people’s souls
It reaches a wider radius thus putting out a wide net to feel our disciples who can join the movement
It emboldens other believers
It reveals to a lost and dying world that there are people who actually love Jesus.
Preaching the gospel is the tip of the spear. If we can preach with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the word delivered will cut down demonic deception and set the captives free. Because our generation has been sedated to not speak up for God, we’re losing an entire generation. But if we stand up for what we believe in, I believe we’ll see the greatest awakening our nation has ever witnessed.
It was the likes of the Wesleys who publicly preached and Franks Asbury and the circuit riders that saved a nation. These circuit riders would criss cross the nation on horse back and many would not reach the age of 30 because they died of sheer exhaustion and the elements as they were met with rain, storms and disease.
I believe God is raising up the watchmen in this hour who will receive the Word of the Lord for their generation like Ezekiel did and live the lifestyle of eating the word, letting it digest and releasing out to the masses. If we hear the voice from heaven, we can become a voice for a generation.
Wesley prophesied into our generation when he said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”
I prophesy that God is going to raise up the Ezekiel’s in this hour who will see the valley of an exceedingly great army filled with His Spirit.
Ezekiel was a type of Christ for his generation. We are living in the most unique times in history where we get to become a voice and a mouthpiece for God. This privilege which was only designated to a few, now is made available to anyone and everyone who choose to listen to the words of Jesus.
Jesus prophesied that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all the world. Will you heed his call or expend all your time, energy and resources on building your own kingdom? God is inviting you to be part of a spiritual legacy that can never be taken away. Will you be like a Mary who chose the good portion and make him your one thing?