Pastor Bob’s Blog

Imagine yourself meeting with Jesus after he was raised from the dead. You’ve seen him being scourged. You’ve watched spikes being driven into his hands and feet. You’ve seen his body hanging on the tree, and have seen him breathe his last breath after crying out, “It is finished!” You’ve watched his body being removed, and you know it was interred behind an immovable stone. And you’ve waited and wondered.

Then you hear that he’s alive again. You run to meet him. He’s alive! Some, including Thomas, have doubted. But there he is. Bigger than life. Bigger than death.

You just want to celebrate. You want to enjoy his company and the company of his other followers. You want to sing a few songs, tell some stories, hear him teach.

But he seems serious, driven, impatient. You’ve seen him like this before. There’s something on his mind. And he starts to speak.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 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. Amen. (Matthew 28:16-20 NKJV)

Jesus did all he did to fulfill the mission the Father gave him. But he left a body behind. His Church. And he sent it on a mission.

Read through the book of Acts. These people went. They gathered in Jerusalem as he told them, just long enough to pick up the power of the Holy Spirit. Then they spread out and made disciples. People were healed and delivered. Jesus spread through them exponentially throughout their world. Why? They had seen him. They had been with Jesus. They’d seen a guy who had been dead, but was raised up and at with them. When he told them to proclaim the good news, that was no problem! They were excited to do it!

We’ve become people who meet, and think that’s all we’re supposed to do. Sunday meetings. Conferences. We have books, CD’s, mp3′s. We fill ourselves with knowledge, and we think it’s enough. It’s not. Jesus didn’t just send his early followers on a mission. Jesus sent us on the same mission. It’s to continue HIS mission.

We’ve even met to talk about going. We’ve sung songs about going. We’ve heard from people who went, and have told us wonderful stories about what it’s like to go. But we’re entering an era in which the Church has to shake off fear and complacency and just GO.

We have a mission. It’s to continue the Master’s mission. But we can’t do it just hanging around the place where we meet. We have to go. Out of our comfort zone. Using the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, the love of God, and the Name of Jesus. We have the best good news to proclaim. Let’s get it done!

I just read that a popular conservative television host had opined on his show that anyone who goes to a church that mentions “social justice” should flee.

Really? Justice is a recurring them in the Bible.

One of the most-quoted scriptures in the Old Testament is this:

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
(Micah 6:8 ESV)

In the New Testament, Jesus scolded the Pharisees:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
(Matthew 23:23 ESV)

I may differ with some of the directions taken by ministries centered on “social justice” in their interpretation of scripture. But to suggest that God is not a God who wants his people to pursue justice in our society – especially for the weak and poor – is to ignore huge chunks of the Bible. Our prayerful quest should be for the means the Lord wants us to use to pursue justice in society, not whether we should pursue justice.

Today while I was scrolling through my Twitter feed, I read a tweet that made me stop and think. It said, “Don’t stop praying till the mountain has moved.” It always seems right to pray, and perseverance in prayer is scriptural. But I had a “check” in my spirit.

Jesus talked to his disciples about what to do to mountains. When the disciples were amazed that Jesus had spoken to a fig tree, and it had withered, he told them in Mark 11:22 to have faith in God. Then he gave them a key to operating victoriously in the Kingdom of God: “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” (Mark 11:23 NKJV)

What is your mountain? Sickness? Loneliness? Debt? Lack? Bondage to a sin or habit? Yes, pray. But do what Jesus told you to do. Use the name of Jesus and start talking to it. Believe what you say. Eventually you are going to see the “mountain” crumble and be washed away in the stream of God’s power, released by what you have spoken in faith.