What Now? What Next? - Christ Not Causes, Part 1

We are living in a dramatic time is I've spoken with pastors and leaders all across the world and they have been asking me to pivotal questions.

What now and what next. With all this happening in the world. What are we to do in our churches.

What are we to do in our families, as we see the very foundations of Christianity crumbling across the world. That's the series today. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge trip Living on the Edges and international discipleship ministry start helping Christians what Christian they were excited joy. This is trip begins teaching a brand-new series addressing the very concern after what our world is church at large is at a crossroads. Pressures from society. The gospel the next several programs triple share six key attitudes every believer must adopt in order to continue making disciples. Before we begin a quick listener. Note talk these messages at an outdoor venue. So throughout this series, you may hear some echoes another ambience strip to kick off our series. What now what next. This talk Christ, not because the world has never been true in our lifetimes what it in right now and as I talked with multiple friends and leaders and I may not here but all around the world keep asking me, and I'm asking them so what now what next, what are we going to do what now what next. And that's a big question also for the church and I like to take a crack together with you and address that issue in one of the little tools that I've used personally and we use in our organization. It's called before helpful listed senior notes. And if you're asking yourself some of this confusions. IK what now what should I do me what's coming up. What's next, make a list and in the column right down in the column. This is what's wrong just in your personal life and what's going on family finances.

The world make another column and say this is what's right in and list all the things that are right.

You'll be surprised how many things are right that you forget about because the wrong feel so loud and then you make a column that says what's confusing. It's hard to make a decision to know what to do until you get clear and in the last little column is what's missing. Often the key to your future.

The key is there's a person missing or some information missing or something that's missing, and what I'd like to do is flip that and walk through that process, not micro my life for years but macro but I think if I got a group of you together and I said you know when you think of the world right now. What's wrong, I would hear things like wow morality declined of the church, 68 to 70% of her own young people leaving the faith trillions and trillions of dollars of debt division politically division racially. I mean we we could have a pretty good list that were all experiencing about what's wrong and I want to suggest that in every era we could make a pretty good list, but I like you in your notes if you jot down Isaiah chapter 5 verse 20 is in every era there. There's fruit.

Think of a tree and there's lots of negative or evil fruit, you know, there's the issue of the unborn. I mean, there's so many there's an issue of the sex trade. There's the issue of education.

There's all kind of evil fruit, but if you go down the trunk to the root Isaiah 5 verse 20 in a similar situation, the prophet would speak for God and say hello to you when you call good evil, and when you call evil good, when you call that which is sweet, bitter, and when you call that which is bittersweet and goes on. It basically says when there's a complete shift and you lose sight of God loose side of truth which all morality, all relationships, everything is based on. I want to tell you that's the root African a change personally and big picture.

We gotta get to the deeper issues then I'd say what's right and what's right right now in our world and we can make another list and ask you to open your Bible, here's what's right.

Romans chapter 8, the apostle Paul. Just listen to what's right currently for you and our world. Verse 26 in the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words and he who searches the hearts knows the mind of the Spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God hears something right for you right now the third person of the triune God is praying for you. Praying for me.

Praying for America. He's praying for world notice. He goes on verse 28 and we know that God causes all things to work together for the good to those that love them.

The called according to his purpose and he talks about those who foreknew he called and they says ultimate purpose is to conform us to the image of Jesus, so we know number one right now regardless of all the junk that's happening all around the world and maybe in your world are in your marriage with one your kids with your boyfriend the spirit of the living God is praying for you and the sovereign father is orchestrating everything happening in your life for America for the world or India or Africa for a good and that good isn't that.

It just works out our way or will be happy and everything will be like the way we want it but the good is that he will conform me to conform you. If we lean in and he'll make us more and more like Christ.

And when more and more of us are like Christ, then we become that light, and that love and that salt and that power that we transform things. That's what's right but that's not enough.

He goes on what then shall we say to these things.

If God is for us who can be against us. He who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things. Who will bring a charge against God's chosen God is the one who justifies.

Who is the one who condemns Christ Jesus is he who died, yes rather who was raised was at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us if you thought about this recently.

I mean you can just think everything is so terrible and it's so wrong and there's no hope. And what about this and what about that the spirit of the living God is praying for you. The father is working all things for your good and Jesus is at the right hand of the father praying and interceding for you now. It's his agenda.

He's praying about the condemnation, the fears, the struggle, who will separate us from the love of Christ and then he starts to mention some things are happening globally will distress will tribulation or persecution will famine will nakedness, or peril, or sword in the apostle reaches back into the Old Testament. He says no, for your sake were being put to death all day long, were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

That's their experience but in all these things we are overwhelmingly conquerors through him who loved us and then he says why here's your hope. I don't care what your circumstances. My circumstances, I have seven friends. It all happened within about 10 days and I finally just Teresa and I were talking I got a yellow sheet of paper. I just had to list the seven names and five of the seven have the most serious kind of cancers you can get in the other two are in horrendous situations and there's just moments right now. We feel like there's just waves of junk and negativity. But Paul said I'm convinced that neither death nor life, your angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come. No powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord, and these four little list is, here's what I want you to know what's wrong, truth has evaporated in our culture and now were getting the consequences. Proverbs 1412 says there is a way that seems right to a man or to even mankind and it's the way of death and we've got our own way and never reaping a lot of consequences. What's confusing. I think what's confusing in our day is we really don't know what to do and there's so many different voices telling us what to do and where to go and how to get out of the situation.

Proverbs 16 says the mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps Jesus the first century was so much like what were living in.

It was so bankrupt.

It was so brutal. It was so violent it was so unfair. There was such injustice, whether for slaves or women all kinds of people of color. If you want. And Jesus would say to those disciples. In the midst of all of that.

If you're confused, ask, and will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be open for everyone in the midst of a confusing world who keeps on asking, and keeps on seeking keeps on knocking what you can find the final little thing here is the fourth question is what's missing and if you're taking some notes and want to put a passage down.

I would write down James 15. The biggest thing missing is men and women filled with the spirit of God who have the wisdom of God the wisdom of God is knowing how God is arrange life to work and following in that path in your specific situation.

Knowing what to do when to do it how to do it in alignment with the spirits working through his word and we are in a very very unique time in all of world history, and in my research I came across day very interesting articles actually written in 2020. Pretty early on, called the end of the epoch, a new beginning for capital markets in the 21st-century by Bruce Vinson. I put the quote in your notes because I think just seeing it in print. He says the measure of where we are today will not be marked as the beginning of a recession or even a depression but is the end of an era. Listen carefully to this, especially if he's right.

I think he is. Make no mistake our old world is gone and the way it works is change forever.

As with all such times the change happened fast and it's permanent this will forever transform our lives, our markets and our world. Here's the application it's time for new ways of thinking and solving problems. What are the implications of three observations that I think of it very clear implications for your personal life for the churches in America for the churches around the world and also for countries and nations number one observation is we must accept. Normal is never returning how people communicate whatever be the same finances will never be the same geopolitical structures and never be the same the same and normals never coming back. The sooner we accept that the better.

Some people will more about the past and the beast document second observation is that we must rebuild because we can't return.

We had a rebuilding it.

It's a new paradigm. It's new thinking because of the tragedies and difficulties that it happened we will have opportunities to fix things that were systemic for years and will have a chance to rebuild things in new ways. This is the third part that excites me. We must lead boldly, underline boldly in the sky Ross moment of history in Greek.

There's a couple different words for time Chronos is like, you know, from 2 o'clock to 3 o'clock to 4 o'clock. I'll be there at seven tonight that's crying us sequential time sky Ross means it's a window of time.

It's it's an opportunity it's it's a little slice like Galatians 44 it says in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, literally. It's when the world was pregnant.

There were Roman roads and there was a bank rep philosophy in this window of time. Christ strategically came and were now living in one of the sky. Ross moments with unbelievable challenges but unbelievable opportunity to put a little passage there from first Chronicles 12 because I think this is what we need to be is a time of huge transition and there was a group of men from Issachar who understood the times and new.

What Israel should do my personal challenge to me first to me and my wife and then to you understand the times discern what you should do discern what God wants to do and then get on board with what God is doing in this real strategic window of time. There is a lot of different opinions and a lot of different things, but I started from. This is what I know the Bible teaches what I've studied and looked at is how great movements of God. It happened historically in the Bible and through church history, and there some very definitive patterns about how it works and how it doesn't work and I just like it. Let's go on a journey together to out loud process is my first point is we start our journey. Our world is desperate for hope, stability, direction and deliverance. The world has never been more right for we need a Messiah.

We need someone to fix this and what I want to say is who's going to fill this void. If we get just sort of unconscious and start focusing just on ourselves and our own little worlds. Some people will fill the voids of what's happening in the world instead of who needs to. I gave some options will philosophies and truth claims. Forcing the rise of sin, old thinking, and Marxism were seeing the rise of a lot of isms, a new truth claims in religions. Will they fill that void. Or maybe it will be all science and technology always got all these problems.

Don't worry, science is the answer. Everything's empirical work will just boldest this new technology that's going to solve everything, or will it be powerful people and institutions. It happened all around the world. It's happened historically when there's a vacuum like this there's people with power desire and they get a game plan or number four will it be the body of Christ will be what happened in the first century. What seems so even unthinkable, but it was like this little tiny group of 12 in this little tiny group of the hundred and 20 and they were like a grain of wheat that fell into the earth and died and they brought forth much fruit, because it wasn't them trying to do God's will in their power and their energy. It was them dying to themselves in the same power that raised Christ from the dead dwell in them and they lived in ways that by 313 A.D. of the 16 million people in the Roman Empire.

33 million confessed that they were believers of Jesus huge. They turn the world right side up as during the plagues they served in love and died as they saying going into Coliseum's thanking God for the honor and the privilege of dying for Christ.

So a different kind of faith is. I was in Jordan with the young doctor probably 3233 there's a contract out on her from Yemen and were meeting with her to help her and and she just that I don't expect to live very long before we go back where you teach us to die. Well, in every, get around people like that, all of a sudden there's there's a faith there's a lens there's a God there's a spirit there's a truth, there's a word so radically different than how's my life going.

I'm not very happy. I'm not as fulfilled as I'd really like to be in my marriage and by the way, all the things are true. I don't want to dismiss him, but the American dream and the gospel somewhere entered into a marriage about 3040 50 years ago and we've been asking all the wrong questions for quite a while.

It's all about us. My fulfillment my happiness. Jesus has become the.

The self-help guru to give me a wonderful marriage and healthy, wealthy and wonderful all the time and if I sorta read the Bible, pray, go on a missions trip and even give above 10% will sort of the unconscious agreement is he's got to make my life work out you know my kids will get in trouble and I won't get cancer and when those things happen. We say God where are you, we've claimed a God and a set of promises that are nowhere here when I'm in the third world. They claim different promises for even called to suffer for his sake. Therefore, following the steps of Jesus who although he suffered did not revile but entrusted himself to his faithful Creator.

All I'm saying is I think the world is going to be very different.

It's going to require a very different kind of Christian, and here's the part that I'm very very excited about. I want you to know that we have the greatest opportunity to experience God and make the greatest difference in the last hundred years, at a minimum, and possibly no group of followers of Jesus with the technology we have with the world situation probably not since the Reformation and I will tell you the spirit of the living God will tap some people on the shoulder and he will breathe life into some churches and probably won't be a lot of them, and though be a group and we will see God do things like weeds too will see God do things and it will be swimming upstream message of Christ causes from a series what know what next aching disciples in the disrupted world before we go any further trip you wanted to jump in here and share your application for this teaching. While it's fresh so what's on your mind.

Thanks Dave into the last thing I talked about after all the disruption in the breaking into a new era. Perhaps a new epic of human history, rather than be fearful and I know that's the temptation and, as I shared in this message.

I've talked with literally pastors and leaders and individuals all around the world and there is much cause for anxiety and fear. But these are the windows in human history we are in a Galatians 4 for a moment. What I mean by that. It says when the world was pregnant and that's literally what it says, God sent forth his son. In other words, there was a dynamic and unique situation in world history. That was the prime time for Jesus to come and what you find and great movements of God is there is a disruption. There's something usually very difficult or challenging or painful, and it sorta upsets everybody's applecart and it upsets it to the degree that there is an opportunity to put things back together to change things to move forward. There is an openness there is a anxiety and a fear among unbelievers about what's life all about. I've talked with those in evangelistic ministry, who tell me they have never seen so many people respond to the gospel. I've talked to pastors who talk about. Yes, a lot of people left the church.

We had many struggles, but we've also seen amazing doors open.

Here's what I want you to do. Pray and ask God to use you ask him to help you overcome your fear in our next broadcast on give you a very specific step to take that why think empower you to face the most challenging things that are coming your way.

That's a great word shipped FedEx it well. I have you. I happen to know that the series came about in a very unique way over the last year and 1/2. Could you tell us that story and sure what you want our listeners to learn from the series be glad to Dave I found myself throughout much of the pandemic doing a monthly webinar with pastors in over 60 countries and whether it was in the rural areas of India or South Africa. These questions kept coming up when we get into the markets are closed, the pandemic, there's the virus. Churches are closed economies are shut down.

What are we as pastors and leaders to do multiple things. It seemed to just bombard individual Christians and leaders all across the world, and after talking with them, and these webinars for well over a year. The two questions that kept coming up were what we do now.

What's next, the great commission and God's calling hasn't changed, were to go to all the world and make disciples for Jesus Christ.

But how do we do that when the world is so disrupted and what God gave me was an acronym that brought us back to what are the core tenets where does our focus need to be how do we live out our faith in this disrupted world. What's it look like to love and to care to be light and salt in the very challenging times in which we live. Stay with me on this series because we can either curse the darkness. We can learn together how we can make the greatest difference ever.

Thanks for the trip. While we hope you make plans to be with us for this entire series. And if you happen to miss a program you can always listen on the chipping revamp or LivingontheEdge.org before we go chip you have one last important thing to share today is giving Tuesday if you don't know what that is. It's a special day to support nonprofits and ministries that are important to you and we have a special project at Living on the Edge that I'd like you to consider supporting beginning in January 2022 all the way through March were to provide life training for pastors in India and Kenya around a resource that we put together and literally is going all around the world called the art of survival. It really helps people know how do I make it through the worst of times. These pastors I've met with for the last year they are hurting. They'd literally been crushed and we want to help them and this is where you come in for three dollars you can help a pastor receive this training along with the book that he will then be able to teach to his church. So if you want to help you know 10 pastors it's $30. You want to help 100 pastors, it's $300.

Here's what were saying we you pray and just ask God how we could partner together to love pastors to give them hope personally, and then to help them help the people in their churches all throughout India and Kenya and then what makes this great is what ever you give it will be doubled dollar for dollar by a small group of people who wanted this to be our best giving Tuesday ever. Would you join us in helping them today will if you'd like to be part of this important ministry work. We'd love to have you join us. Your financial support will literally put these useful resources into the hands of pastors board desperate for help and is chip just said. Every dollar we receive today will be doubled for greater impact, so now is a great time to partner with us to send your gift, give us a call at AAA 333-6003 or go to LivingontheEdge.org that's AAA 333-6003, or LivingontheEdge.org app listeners just Donate for all of us here. Thank you in advance for your support. As we close, let me remind you of an easy way to listen to our extended teaching broadcast your chip anytime on Amazon's Alexa echo and echo.just say Alexa open Living on the Edge and you'll hear that days extended teaching any time you want well for chip and everyone here is really saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge