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Change is not a Bad Word

I have been praying and thinking about the condition of the church today. We have produced a sub-culture within the culture. God never intended for the church to become a sub-culture within the culture, but we have been called to challenge and impact the culture.

We have our own language, our own shops, our own television and radio stations. I don't believe that these things are bad or necessarily wrong, but I believe it is possible to isolate yourself from the culture at large. Most of our friends are our fellow Christians or churchgoers. We have Christian events, and Christian cruises, and most of us will avoid sinners at all cost.

This is very different than the Church in the New Testament. Jesus went home with sinners. He was called a "friend of sinners," and a "winebibber." I believe we have lost sight of the Great Commission. In Matthew 28:18-20 - "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." 19 - "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,"20 - "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

In Acts 1:8 Jesus gave these instructions: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” We hear a lot about the power of God, but where is the passion that it should produce to witness to those who are lost.

If we are going to be relevant to this generation then we must be willing to embrace change in the way we communicate the greatest message of all time. Therefore we need to communicate it in a way that is relevant to our culture. The generation today is visual. They have tools and toys that I never had growing up. Multiple channels, High Definition Televsion, videos, iPods, cellular phones and text messaging. One of the newest forms of communicate is called twitter. You can check it out at twitter.com

How do we change the way we communicate to our culture? We embrace today's technology and use it to communicate the message of the Gospel. Our goal should be same as the Apostle Paul wrote about in Romans 1:17 - "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

The danger of becoming a sub-culture within our culture is that we become disconnected and irrelevant to the great culture around us. This is a season to embrace change. The coming year will be a year of harvest. With all the uncertainty and fear in our society today many are going to look for something that can provide them with hope and bring peace in the midst of their chaotic lives. Are we up to the challenge? Let's pray together and ask God to enable us to be effective witnesses to our culture.
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