I have so many mixed emotions as I write this letter. Every day I more fully enjoy life with my wife, family, and friends. The passion to influence the world comes from a place of peace and fulfillment, not lack and desperation! I am daily growing in my experience of Christ in me! Kingdom living, i.e., living from the heart is so incredible. No matter what’s going on around you, you are being influenced by what is going on within you! That’s life at its best!
I am also incredibly fired up about influencing America. There are so many reasons for us to expect the worst but God…. He is the God of hope. Hope is the confident expectation of good things. Hope is what gives rise to faith. Faith is what changes the world we can see into the world we can’t see!
From The Nine Virtues meditation that many of you are using I love meditating on, worshipping, and confessing that I am a man of hope. As people of hope we should be the ones who see a way when no one else can see one! I desire to be that person who, against all odds, always sees the invisible with the eyes of my heart; the impossible will always seem possible. I want to see as God sees!
We can change America but we can’t do it the way it’s been done in the past. Regardless of how others live, think, and behave we must think, live, and behave as disciples, fully committed followers of Christ!
More than any time in my life I understand what it is to hate sin and love righteousness. Remember, sin is not what we do wrong as much as it is what we think, feel, believe, and do that causes us to see and experience life less than HOW IT SHOULD BE (righteous). Every erroneous belief whether religious, political, or cultural that impedes my ability to see and experience myself as I am in Jesus will ultimately bring pain and suffering in my life. If you love people you have to hate sin! If you love people and desire for them to enjoy life at its best you have to love righteousness… life as it should be!
The very first sermon I ever preached in the Baptist church was at a time when there was a big conflict about “once saved always saved.” The essence of my sermon was regardless of what you believe about the security of the believer, if you are living your life in a reckless, irresponsible way you must not be experiencing a salvation that is very precious to you!
The second sermon I preached was called “Follow Me” and it was about discipleship. I wrapped it up by talking about Jesus foretelling Peter how he was going to die. About that time John walked by and Peter inquired, “What about him?” Jesus said something like, “What difference is it to you if he lives forever? You follow Me.” Peter, like we are, was so concerned about what everyone else was doing that he was avoiding the only question he needed to answer. “Will you follow Me no matter what?”
My whole Christian life I have lamented over those who lived life so much below what Jesus was offering simply because they wanted to do things their own way. I meet the occasional Christian who wants to know what’s right or wrong, but rarely do I meet anyone who really wants to live as Jesus lived. The result is Christians do not know how to incorporate the Word of God into daily life without turning it into legalism!
If we could get just a percentage of Christians in America to incorporate the Word of God into their political decisions, America would never go off course again! But that would also mean incorporating the Word of God into our life decisions! But it could happen; and I intend to proceed as if our efforts can facilitate it happening!
Please do everything possible to get my newest eBook to every person you can. Will it make some of your friends angry? Yes! If you are in the ministry will you lose some of your followers? Yes! There could be a great cost, but better to pay it now than later.
I once heard someone telling a story about living in Germany as the Nazis were first coming to power. They said, “We kept silent when people began to disappear. We didn’t speak up when they took our neighbors. We didn’t speak up when they killed the Jews. And when they came for our family there was no on left to speak up!” Bonheoffer says that when the trains carrying the Jews to labor camps and execution would pass by the churches they would sing their hymns louder so they didn’t have to hear the cries.
It’s hypocritical for me call on a loving God and do nothing for the people He loves. It is hard- hearted to rejoice in my freedom and do nothing for those who are bound! I am living in denial if I sing louder to cover the cries of desperation in the world! I will not become so self-consumed that I covet the following of the crowd even if I am leading them nowhere!
We are here for a purpose: reaching the world for Jesus; and together we are doing just that! This eBook is part of our Operation One Billion! We intend to influence one billion people with the love of God. We desire to make them whole with the love of God and bring them into an abundant life by becoming disciples of Jesus.
As you know, we just put our program on Vimeo which immediately made it possible for people to view our broadcast using a computer, iPad, iPhone, or droid. Plus, because Vimeo is on Apple TV for $99 you can purchase the Apple TV box, attach it to your internet through Wi-Fi or cable, and view our program on your television. This is great for I-Groups! As soon as we can find someone to write the code for us we will begin broadcasting on Roku, which is another device for watching programs over the internet!
Remember, Operation One Billion is not just the Bible School in a Box. It is about influencing one billion people in America and around the world!
Thank you for helping me change the way the world sees God!
