The Outrageousness of the Gospel and the State of the Church

Somewhere along the way, the telling of the gospel seems to have lost its luster. The gospel itself will never lose its luster. It’s always fresh and new, always outrageous, always touching, always unbelievable except by faith. The only way to share the gospel effectively is to give it the presentation it deserves. Our God is a grand God who does outrageous, dramatic things. People have come along and put a damper on the telling of these things. Like a wet blanket covering a smoldering fire, they have done an injustice to the gospel. They have portrayed it through a boring and stale lens. I would argue that anyone who does this possibly doesn’t comprehend the gospel themselves, so there's no way they would be able to effectively share it with others. If they felt the burning fire of God’s love they would be able to express it. Head knowledge is not the same as heart knowledge. This has done a disservice to people because they think they’ve heard the gospel when what they've really heard was a stale powerless representation of it. They’ve seen a bad replica, not the real thing. The real gospel turns hearts to God. Unfortunately many have sanitized the gospel and even commercialized it. In spite of all this the real gospel is still there, but most have never heard it in all of its depths of glory. It deserves the very best we have to give in its presentation. The telling of the gospel should be done by those whose souls are on fire, burning with the love of God, who live it daily. The gospel should be shared by the living, and not the dead.

Ministry is not a job, but a calling. Functions of the church have been homogenized over time and the church has lost its power. The girl scouts are presently out and interacting with the community more the church. Church has become an insular activity when it was never meant to be. The function of the church was meant to be expressed in an outward manner. It is meant to be alive in the world, not hidden away behind closed doors. Why are we living hidden away like we’re in a country where we’d be persecuted for expressing our faith?  This is America and we still have freedom of religion and freedom of speech. We have the greatest news in the world to share; not sharing it would be a crime. The boldness to share the gospel comes with the filling of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately this is not known by most Christians because many in Christian leadership presently do not even have the infilling of the Holy Spirit themselves. (I am referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit).

As a church we’ve played it far too safe, let opportunities pass us by, limited ourselves and others, and controlled what was never meant to be controlled by man. We have been a church of factions, separated, isolated, divided, insulated, homogenized, commercialized, and busy with the wrong things, distracted from what really matters. We’ve lost our power somewhere along the way.

Soon all of this will change. Leadership will be changing hands to those who will do the gospel justice. There will be a changing of the guards. The old way of playing church is over. The current leadership will not pass their leadership on to others. It will be taken from them. They will be stripped of authority for failing to do what was required. They’ve buried their talent in the ground and played it far too safe. Even those who think they’ve taken chances have not done what was required. Their power, authority and gifts will be taken from them and given to others who will use them properly. The old leadership will despise this because they can no longer control the church or Christianity. They will lose their grip and become enraged. All the old ways will fall by the wayside, the patriarchy, the oppression, and the control will be done. Those God puts in power will promote freedom, not oppression, and God will be in control once again. God Himself will be the one to promote these people.