- I absolutely loved Sunday with my GCC Family! We wrapped up our short, two week mini series called, “Stop Dating the Church.” Jesus said in Matthew 16 that a church built on rock solid, biblical foundations would be so powerful that even the most wicked fortress or stronghold imaginable—even one ruled by Satan himself—even one locked down and walled off behind the very gates of hell—would not…Are you ready for this? Would NOT be able to prevail against even the smallest, healthy, vibrant church filled with fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ! A healthy church is an unstoppable force! Check out what Jesus said about it in Matthew 16:13-19
13 “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”[a]
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,[b] the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John,[c] because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’),[d] and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell[e] will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid[f] on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit[g] on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Sadly, what we so often observe in American evangelicalism is more…well, stoppable than unstoppable. Seriously, think about it yourself for a moment. The church in America…Is it stoppable or unstoppable?
Stoppable—if you’re honest about it. I mean, who ever starts reading of the church in the book of Acts and finds themselves thinking, ‘that reminds me of American Evangelicalism?’
No one.
Why?
Because they have almost nothing in common.
Now, not all hope is lost. If you’ve ever been on a missions trip to a third world area or even a “persecuted nation,” then you may have caught a glimpse of the New Testament church in action. Seriously. Ever notice how God seems to be doing his best work in ‘other places?’ That’s because persecution tends to grow the church while complacency and ease will often kill it. So let me just cut to the chase. Persecution is coming to America. As we drift from post modern to post Christian to anti-Christian at light speed—look for those whose hearts are on fire for Jesus to grow ever more bold in the face of the coming storm! I’ll even give you a hint as to where it’s most likely to start. I believe it will happen with those who are teenagers right now. That’s right, it’s the young people who will step forward boldly for Jesus while many in the comfortable generations before them continue to struggle with securing their functional saviors of wealth and political security even though that’s like trying to nail jello to the wall. The harder you try—the greater the mess.
- Ready for some good news? There is a group at GCC that is clearly rising up to passionately fulfill the Great Commission and Great Commandment for Jesus! As we closed out our, Stop Dating the Church series on Sunday—I challenged people to join me for a partnership class (Basecamp 1) for all those who wanted to get out of the bleachers and into the game. We had twenty five signed up. Sixty four showed up! We ran out of food and we ran out of books, but people shared and we never ran out of enthusiasm! People are fired up for where God is taking us at GCC! Praise God! The ground swell of a coming movement is beginning to form in the hearts of His people! Join me in praying for more and more people to step forward to really ‘be the church!’
- Speaking of ‘being the church.’ A ton of people showed up to help get Shiloh house ready to minister to marginalized and troubled teens. Shiloh’s new headquarters is right there on the campus of GCC so we look forward to years of fruitful ministry with them!
- Join us this coming week for the kick off of our first series through a book of the Bible. This Sunday we begin a study through the book of Nehemiah with the series entitled, “The Wall.” Nehemiah is, hands down the best book on leadership! If you want to learn to be a more godly and effective leader in whatever arena God has you—plan on joining us for the whole series. You’ll be glad you did!