by Chris Chloupek
“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” Matthew 11:12
Our awesome brother and campus minister, Mike Patterson, preached a powerful message for our staff entitled, “Rated R for violence.” The word forcefully advancing means in the Greek, “to force and to inflict violence”. The words “forceful men” means the violent take it by force. We are so excited that Sunday, May 4th we are having our Special Missions Contribution. We are sending Matt and Helen Sullivan and their three children to
Sadly, many disciples have been hurt by their own or others’ sin. Many have walked away from the church they were baptized into. Lost is the dream of going to all nations in a generation as a unified movement of God. Church leaders who in the past were forcefully and faithfully leading God’s people have lost their individual dreams as well as God’s dream for them to forcefully lead their people for God. They are seized with fear and now look at their calling in the ministry as job security. Presently,they seem only concerned about keeping their people under their leadership to keep their budget up enough to get paid. They put out letters forbidding their members to leave, in an effort to control them and make them feel like they are sinning if they don’t stay. This happens because their churches have been shrinking and not growing for years. During this time, many disciples have been continuing to walk away, because they are dying spiritually. This is so wrong! God’s Word still reads the same. God is still in control of His creation. He wants us to learn from our sin and mistakes. However, He wants us to not lose heart and stop believing His call for us to live out His word in our lives. The greatest command still says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)
Luke 18:8 asks the question; “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” This is a such a sad statement. Will Jesus find faith in you when He returns to the earth to collect those who are faithfully waiting for Him? Jesus makes it clear that it isn’t easy to stay faithful. This was why He set up His church and died for it. Only a sold-out movement of disciples of Christ parallels the New Testament church. Luke 14:33 says; “Anyone who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” As a church we need to have one-another relationships that are loving enough to where we disciple one another- “in love”. Unfortunately, people want to have Jesus as their Savior, but not as their Lord. Acts 2:36 says, “Therefore let all
The Bible calls us to give sacrificially, “Bring the whole tithe”. (Malachi 3:10) How many disciples really tithe from their income? It is a faith issue. Jesus tells us we must give up everything. And some who call themselves disciples don’t even give a tenth of the 100% of what God gives them. Jesus tells us to be “devoted to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42) To be devoted to God and one another, we also must not let our schedules take control. Sadly, many disciples have started to allow themselves to decide what and when they will obey when it comes to Scripture. Their consciences are so hardened, that they are not the least “bothered” by their lack of commitment to Jesus and His church as family. Colossians 1:18 teaches, “He is the head of the body, the church, He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.” Does Jesus have the supremacy in your life? Or do your kids sporting schedule or your football games have more supremacy in your heart? The Bible clearly warns, “Because of the increase of sin, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”(Matthew 24:12-13) How loving is your fellowship? It should be very loving! The second most important command from Jesus is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Each disciple of Christ must live for God and His will as the number one priority in one’s life. God will not allow people to have a “Burger King” church, which means- “a have your way” church. We need to have it God’s way! Phoenix Church- let us be simply, “Jesus’ church” and hold forcefully to our “violent” Savior. His violent decision to die on a cross is what it took to forgive our ungodliness! Let us then be forcefully advancing (violent men and women) and bring glory to God in this, OUR generation!
