The Watered Down Gospel...

Today was rather interesting. I found myself in church listening to a sermon about "The Great Commission" and going out to preach the gospel to the lost and the broken. Somehow I felt unconvinced while listening. Perhaps it was my cloudy judgement, or perhaps it just didn't dig as deep as it should've, I don't know. And then I found myself in a beautiful house down in Scotts Landing with a down to earth American-Canadian-kiwi family together with a Maori brother, his son and a New Zealander who was supposedly a missionary. While the bread was superbly soft and delicious and boy do I wish I knew where on earth that heavenly dough was from, I soon found myself in an uncomfortable position where I wanted to leave... and yet I couldn't because of my driving incapability. Now the thing which made me squirm on the inside was when they started talking about the gospel. The watered down gospel of Christ. That was uncomfortable, honest to God. Firstly because I hardly ever share the gospel these days, or ever. I've always been in an environment where we talk about the love of the Father, His vision for the season, hearing His voice, angels etc. and the list goes on. It was always in a safe environment where everyone had a fair encounter with God and knew what each one was talking about. We had a common perception so to speak. Stepping out of that circle made me utterly confused. Am I judging? Am I being an elitist? Do I consider myself more "holy" than another? Those thoughts put me on the edge of my seat honestly. Well back to the point - so they were talking about sharing the TRUE gospel. Now what is that?! Yeah I was totally wanting to leave. And they were just sharing their thoughts and opinions on what the true gospel is - how we do have to share about the conviction of sin and hell and the renewing of mind. I couldn't buy that at that point. I just always thought that we just need to show people the love of Christ, tell them how good God is, speak into their future and the divine purpose God has for them. As they proceeded on with the sharing, I sat there and began to ponder. Perhaps it is true that I have been afraid to offend people, to scare them off, hence I've never felt the need to share about the consequences of sin. And perhaps it is because of that that I never felt empowered to carry this message to the unbelievers. I remember this time in Vancouver when I was sitting around with my close friends, now it was so easy to talk about sex and gossip, and yet when it came to a point when they shared with me about talking to God, I couldn't say anything. All I said was yes it's good to talk with God. And I couldn't spill the truth that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life, and about the need to repent because we have to come into the knowledge of what Jesus did for us which enables us to come to the Father. I just didn't and couldn't bring myself to say anything. And yet I have such a heart for the oppressed and the people lost in darkness. So as I began to ponder (and still am), I start wondering if perhaps that is what I need to learn. I know God is good, I have such great experiences with God, I know He is full of love and compassion and He wants to reveal His heart to us, and yet I don't know how to relate that to people. Sure I can talk about it in the comfort of my closest friends who are walking with God and whatnot, but I don't know how to bring it across to people who are just completely clueless about the nature of God. Maybe it is true. And I think God will start enlightening me on that process. I have been wondering about the lack of transformation and movement in the church, let alone the church, even in my own life and of those around me. Are we supposed to just keep all this goodness that we know about to ourselves? Will it be too shallow to think that we can only minister in one way, in film in my case, and just not bother about the other people who come in throughout my life and have spoken over them??

Anyway God has His way of doing things that I find very intriguing. He always seems to bring the answers to the questions in my heart through people and experiences. And I never forget that He reminds me that in this season I will learn to partner with the Holy Spirit. Which is AWE-some. So anyway as they were praying for me, I think the thing that struck me most was that he said I would be an imparter of faith and that a new level of compassion from God was gonna come upon me and He will equip me for it if not I would be overwhelmed by it. Which is interesting. I honestly am going to pray with God for that. I think I'm getting tired of a powerless life. I want to be empowered by God on new levels. I want to experience all that He has planned for a time like this. I don't wanna just sit back and work for that one vision of seeing God move through films. I think that is one of my main callings to go into the media industry, but I want to see God move everywhere I go no matter where I am. I want to see the lives of people changed by God, I want to see radical transformation in people. I want to see the power of the Holy Spirit manifest in great measures! I think it'll start somewhere, and probably soon. And I wanna be a part of God moving man.

Well!