FSM Blogger

I got the chance to see something I have never seen before—giant Redwood trees. These things are massive. They stand up to 320 feet in the air and can be as big as 20+ feet WIDE!! They usually grow in clusters (like 3 or 4 together). Anyway, there is something interesting that can happen to these trees. When the forest the live in catches fire they become vulnerable to the flames like all the other plant life around them. Well, if the fire gets close enough, they actually begin burning. Usually the fire is small but can burn ‘inside’ the trunks of the tree. I actually stepped inside one tree that had burned from the inside all the way to the tops of its branches. You could actually see the sky if you looked up its trunk from inside. They can literally burn from the inside out. Yet, they don’t die. They just keep on living. But you can definitely tell which have been burned and which haven’t. The ones that have are black at different places along their surface while the others remain perfectly ‘red’.

I tell this because I think the first step in reaching this world with the message of the gospel is to catch on fire from the inside out. We need to become more noticeably on fire for God. Can you remember first realizing that you actually needed the grace of God in your life? Do you remember what that realization caused you to do, to think or act? Can you remember the feeling of exhilaration come over your body when you finally admitted that you were not perfect and could not make it through this life on your own—you needed help? If the answer to any of these questions is no then you need to revisit your faith and dependency on God. You need to pray right now for God to convict you and get your life right with him. If you answered yes to all the questions, then you are one step closer to reaching others and helping them to see, feel, and know what if means to be sold out to Christ—to make Him the leader of their lives.

The first step to reaching others with the message of hope is to first be reached ourselves. To be totally sold out and to be totally dependant on God. Now that is a novel concept in a world that teaches us to be totally dependent on nothing but ourselves. I think this is one of the largest barriers to the spread of the Good News. The Good News is not about self-help or self-healing or self-support, it’s the opposite (Paul puts it best stating that when he is weakest, he is at his strongest level because his weakness allows God to totally and completely use him). Your healing comes from a power that is NOT inside you but is PUT in side of you. God, through Christ, shattered all the walls and curtains and barriers that once held us back from him…he even conquered the one thing we can never get past without him—DEATH!!

Its time to be on fire. We have got to become totally dependant on God. We have got to become totally on fire. We have to first know what it means to be forgiven (which means we first have to admit we need forgiveness) then show others what that means in their lives. I think people are dying to hear it, experience it, live it and know it. I mean, hey, just ask Oprah or Dr. Phil. They make a living on folks that are in need of a second chance in life.

We live in a different world. When I say different I mean that no longer are we in an environment that automatically knows what you mean when you talk about ‘going to church’. It also means that people look at you funny if you speak about spirituality as something that means ‘that which only comes from God’s power and spirit’. Anyway, Mindy and I have been on vacation this past week. It has been awesome and has also given me some time to think and reflect on a few things. I want to begin sharing them over the next few blogs if everyone doesn’t mind. My first thought I want to leave with you is this: We no longer can reach people the way we reached people 50 or 30 or even 10 years ago. We have to adapt our method of sharing the gospel. That doesn’t mean we change the gospel, just our method of sharing and reaching others. What are some positive ways you have seen it done? I am curious. How do you feel we can reach this new world with a timeless message? Shout it out from the roof tops!!!