The Result of the Right Changes…

      For several weeks I have been focusing on leading change in the church. I have emphasized how hard it is to make sure we are making the right change, and now I am in the midst of talking about doing it at the right time, and in future articles, I will talk about doing it the right way. But I heard something this past weekend that forces me to pause and remind us what God wants us to look like when we have made the right changes, at the right time, in the right way.
 
     This past weekend Calvary Baptist Church in Glenwood held its Second Annual mission emphasis, and one of their speakers is a missionary with our International Mission Board (IMB). By the way: Thank you Pastor Matt Rappley and Calvary for your ongoing support of missionaries and the way you live out the Acts 1:8 challenge. Because the IMB missionary and his family serve in what is called a Level III area (a country that does not grant missionary visas) I will not give his name in this article, but if you are interested in contacting him, ask and I will give you his prayer advocate’s e-mail address.
 
     In the region where he serves, God is moving mightily among people who have been hard to reach. The foundational principle missionaries and local pastors use provides a picture of what the Bible tells us that the church is supposed to be. Just a reminder, the New Testament word we translate into the English word church literally means “those whom God calls to serve Him.” Their principle is...

God is changing the world through regular, ordinary believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit and who are convinced and acting on the conviction that Jesus is coming soon.

      God is changing the world: “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” II Cor 5:17. Unfortunately, in too many American churches deep genuine life transformation (Romans 12:1-2) is a rare exception rather than the norm. David Platt’s book Radical should actually be titled Normal Christianity.
 
     Through regular, ordinary believers: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” I Peter 2:9. Remember, Peter was writing to early believers who had been scattered due to the Jewish persecution in Jerusalem—not to early apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Peter was simply echoing what God desired the nation of Israel to be. Through Moses, God said, “if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” Exodus 19:5-6.
 
     Who are filled with the Holy Spirit: Two passages Baptists love to preach, but too often practice using our own power and abilities are Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28 18-20.  “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” Acts 1:8. “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Matt 28:18-20. As promised, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to indwell the believer.
 
     Who are convinced and acting on the conviction that Jesus is coming soon: The small group I lead on Wednesday nights is currently studying Jesus’ letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor from Revelation 2-3. As you study them, one thing you can’t miss is that the early churches—even ones who were chastened—endured persecution that often led to death. But they maintained a passion and sense of urgency for others to hear about Jesus. The comfort and leisure of American Christianity has led us to an intellectual affirmation that Jesus is coming, but it has somehow created apathy. Maybe we have lost our first love like the church in Ephesus. Or we have watered down the word of God like the church in Pergamos. Or we are allowing people in our church to live in open disobedience to God without lovingly saying something to them like the church in Thyatira. Or we are a church that thinks we are alive, but we are really dead like the church in Sardis. Or we have become a lukewarm church, neither hot nor cold, like the church in Laodicea.
 
     No matter where your church is today, the right changes, at the right time, in the right way should be making you more obedient to God’s vision for churches being used by God to change the world through regular, ordinary believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit and who are convinced and acting on the conviction that Jesus is coming soon.