The Violence of Affection-based Obedience

Note: Phrases in italics are quotes from the podcast message.

I am thinking we must put teeth to our PASSION.

As I write this blog, a myriad of things are running amok in my mind and heart. I hope I get them organized enough to be able to write something with sense. I have just listened to a highly intense and stirring podcast message from www.ibethelmedia.org 's Kris Vallontton >> Babies Are Dying To Come Out. It is basically an exhortation exposing the philosophical and spiritual roots of abortion but it also tackles in it's intro the role of the Church in advancing God's Kingdom, how we cannot and must not accept the mediocre plight of simply being "church goers" but rather we must be Kingdom advance-rs.

There is a shift that is happening and it's a shift that we must advocate, that of shifting from coming to church to being the Church. To some of you, it might sound familiar but unfortunately, to others, it's absolutely new. That is why we who have come to an understanding of this must not take lightly the task of shaking up the rest of us for us to sober up to this reality.

You will know how close you are to the palace by how you respond to injustice! I think it is not just for me but for a handful of us (more specifically those people who, like me, have shared in the revelation of Affection-based Obedience by listening to an audio preaching we have been passing around online). God has been intensifying and establishing the right concept and even theology of Agape or God's unconditional love. We are being stirred up, gunned down, all-wrecked by an Encounter with the pure Love that casts out fear. A response seems but imperative.
It is but expected that such an unveiling of the eyes towards God must lead to an unveiling of our eyes to what is happening in the nations, in our nation, in our cities, in our churches, in our families. You will know how close you are to the palace by how you respond to injustice! How are we responding to injustice? Are we responding at all? I am not talking about getting angry, or going to rallies, or hating corrupt people so terribly we want to faint. By 'responding,' I mean, what are our hands and feet doing about it? Not just our mouths.

I don't know for how long now, and how huge a percentage of the Church have come to believe that the Church is primarily about membership and getting spiritually fed, when it IS NOT. It is so bothersome that what was intended to be a violent force that shakes up and creates trouble in marketplaces and street corners, has turned into a bless me hub that 'says peace, peace, when there is no peace.'

Jesus said I will build the church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Jesus said 'extend the kingdom.' 'Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons and say the Kingdom's come near you!' Jesus said he'd build the Church and we'd extend the Kingdom. We're building the Church and we're wondering who's extending the Kingdom. And part of the struggle is that we think that the Church is the Kingdom...

This is why we love movements. Because ultimately, it is what Christianity is about. It's about moving out of that church seat and taking God's love and God's Kingdom outside the four walls of our churches. I'm not just talking about evangelism and missions. I'm talking about justice, confronting society with the Word of God, waving the message of righteousness and love, the Gospel that does not only transform individual lives but also transforms society by bringing it's laws, structures, systems, philosophies, ideologies and foundations to submission to God's Word. Then the Kingdom would have come closer and nearer to God's creation. That is why we pray, Your Kingdom come... We do not pray that we will go to heaven to see His Kingdom! We pull it down from heaven and impose it here on earth.

In short, WE MUST DO SOMETHING. Our innate structure - both biological and spiritual - is aching for this something that we have to do. We marvel at the Book of Acts and we wonder why not now? It is definitely the Holy Spirit trying to come out and break up our religiosity.

Please listen to this sermon. I truly recommend and the goal of this blog entry is really to make you listen to it. Babies Are Dying To Come Out. And when you're on that page, you might as well subscribe to Bethel Church's Sermon of the Week Podcast.

The sermon partly end's with this I'd like to propose to you that this is the generation with the answer, and the enemy knows it. In every deliverer generation (like Moses' and Jesus'), the enemy has come with the strategy of infantile homicide. We see this happening in America with the war against abortion. I pray not here in the Philippines. But yes, it may not be legal now, but it does not mean that Filipinos have not stained their hands with the blood of innocent babies. We've been seeing it in the news lately. Makes you wanna ask, what has our nation come to?

And so I would like to propose so many things but let me just propose these two nuggets of disturbing thoughts: First, what are we going to do about Jesus command to extend the Kingdom? Second, since you're alive right now, it only means that you survived abortion. We are that generation that has the answer, and I think, both individually (we are called to a mission that will shake hell to its core), and corporately (we are called to push back the works of darkness). Probably why a certain group in America calls themselves Soldiers of Light.

Twenty nine year ago, when my mom found out that she was pregnant with me, she became bothered and anxious. It was not going well between her and my dad. If this baby had not arrived, she could have taken the first step to solving her problem - starting a new life on her own. I definitely felt the impact of her anxiety during her pregnancy months manifesting as insecurity and paranoia even utpo my college and young-pro days... Thank God, what the enemy meant for evil, God had used for good.

What is your story? You were born to be in an amazing LOVE relationship with your creator. But you were also born to turn this world upside-down, just like Jesus did. Or should I say, greater things shall you do than what He did?