I just got back from a 3 day conference held at Sarang Church in Anaheim. It was a pastor's conference themed: "Evangelism and the Gospel Centered Church." The conference was a great time of renewal and conviction for me.
It has now been a month since we started a corporate prayer & fast. Where should this lead toward and how should it affect the people of Hillside Ministry? The answer is living in the gospel and living for the gospel and living out the gospel.
God's word in Colossians 1:27 says, "...to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians uses the term mystery on several occasions. The mystery of the gospel was being revealed through the ministry of Paul to the Gentiles. It was a mystery b/c Jesus had not yet come. The gospel was still veiled to most of the Jews during the time of Jesus. But this gospel has been disclosed to the saints (the believers). The church possesses intimate knowledge of this gospel hence bears the awesome responsibility to disseminate effectively and powerfully the message of this mystery.
The intentionality of our witness as Christians in revealing this mystery must be questioned - have we really experienced the gospel the Bible talks about? If we are truly experiencing the gospel then the work of salvation should continue its effect of bringing people to the Cross and reconciling them to God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. We share not b/c we are not living by the gospel. Is the gospel the power of God unto salvation or are you still trying to figure out the mystery of the gospel?
2 comments:
I think Dr. Myles Munroe, saids it best when he said you cannot understand the Mystery of the Gospel until we understand the Kingdom of heaven. If you want to study more read his books. Dr. Myles Munroe wrote three books; "Rediscovering The Kingdom" "Understanding The Kingdom" and "The Most Important Person On Earth."
The Presence of God
Exodus 33:14
14 The Lord replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Exodus 34:5-6
5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed him, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.
Psalms 103:7
7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Isreal.
Habakkuk 3:3-4
3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. 4 His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed form his hand, where his power was hidden.
Exodus 34:29
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.
Deuteronomy 32:13
13 He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him fruit of fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from flint crag.
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