Finding Community
Brad and Wayne discuss David Wilkerson's open letter of impending calamity on the United States that is making the rounds these days and then take a humorous look at how our own efforts to know God better might look to God. Then they settle into a discussion about the changes in relationship that happen when you move from a performance-based approach to the faith, to living in the certainty of the Father's affection. What do we do when some of our valuable friendships whither up in the face of our transformation, and how do we find new friendships that will give us companionship on the journey?
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I think Brad is on a track that is illusive. I think as I experience more freedom I don’t have to physically move away, God is moving me and the friendships shift. If the freedom I experience is from above then their reaction (which sometimes is jealousy but mostly I think human beings (myself included) live confused) has no impact on me. If it does then you may have not fully stopped “going” to church. Your mentally still going and the focus is still all about you. This all goes back to when I am living loved….. I love……and I have compassion because He lives in me. And my journey has some of the same pieces same struggles with “is this right” is this true being a follower of Jesus is not about going to a meeting place? Community isn’t about a group or a place?
And the Spirit inside me says Yes and so much more. ” Follow me I’ll show ya” And I find new friends and the old friends don’t go anywhere its like they go dormant and then I get to see them again.
Yesterday I really think God was telling me my next bumper sticker to create for fun is “Stop going to church”
My first bumper sticker is “Emotions are blind don’t let em drive”.
Here in Oklahoma we have these little yard signs everywhere that say “take someone to church” or the signs say “We attend St. so and so” ad nausium. I really want to make a little sign that says Let’s all stop going to church and start Being the church and watch the world change. Wouldn’t that be fun?
p.s. thanks for the scare who the blue blazes is David Wilkerson? No one shared this news with me until I listened to you guys!!!!!
Thanks again Wayne and Brad for this one. We had the same response to Dave Wilkerson’s ‘prophecy’. Really, if we are living loved, we can’t be moved by these things, can we? We wonder what the purpose of such pronouncements is? To scare us all into ‘being good’? Come on!! When God is no longer ‘scary’, as you say, you just don’t care about such talk.
And the letter you read with the description of how it is when you move out of the box and try to keep the old friendships going is so, SO spot on! It’s the same here in Australia! All of a sudden we have two heads, and they continually pray that we will ‘come back’, but won’t go near you otherwise.
We wonder if perhaps John 1 could read… “in the beginning was the church, and the church was with God and the Church was god… etc.” We grew into ‘church’ because it was there before we were, was always there, and we did not dare to question it as it shaped and molded us to fit in to it and maintain itself through us. We could do nothing without it. (Reading Frank Viola and George Bana’s “Pagan Christianity” explains how it got to be there in the first place – a very helpful book.) What joy there is in being free of it! Yet being part of the Body of Christ is more real than ever, because we no longer ‘sort’ others by which box they come from, but love and accept on the witness of the Life within.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I think this says it well enough on how those in Christ should respond to doom and gloom.
THanks Don for those verses. Really great!
Wow! I had to say something. This is the first time I have been on your site and when I heard what you said about David Wilkerson, I was upset to say the least. He has not been saying this urgent message for 10 years or so. This is the first time in 36 years that I have ever heard him warn the people this way. Maybe you need to read the Vision and see that what was an impossibility in those days is now so.
We trust very few out there who preach and he is one that we do. Not because of any reason except he is a total man of God and has proved it by his life and ministry. He never begs for money. He knows God is his source. He started Teen Challenge, he has warned of impending judgement but made it clear that 911 was not it and it wasn’t – it was a warning. He was told by God to make 1000’s of sandwiches the day before it happened. He is at ground zero. I wouldn’t mock him one ounce for he has done what it says in I John 2:6.
And God does chastise his children. If you are not being chastised heavily right now then I wonder if you might not be fully committed to Him. For all I know are being chastised and brought into the image of the Son. And all are being called into prayer big time.
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
Prayerful