What would it take to see a worldwide awakening?
Why aren’t we seeing it today?
How could we be a part of a global revival that ushered in the return of Jesus?
These questions and more have plagued me since I was eleven years old. I think the hidden keys to a future awakening lie in the ancient book of Acts. Here you find ten unsexy, unpretentious un’s that show us the path to a sweeping movement of God.
At first I tried to put all of these “un’s” in one blog. It was way too long. So I’m going to do my first blog series ever. The un-series. I probably will interrupt it a few times with other blog-worthy news. And once it’s all said and done I’ll probably post all ten together in an “Executive Summary Blog”. Wait. That’s an oxy-moron. Corporate speak doesn’t go with techy talk. But it does sound good. Let’s call it a foxy-moron.
But I digress.
On with the un-series. What is the first un we see in the book of Acts that launched the biggest revival ever?
Un #1 Unthinkable Goals
Before Jesus ascended he gave his disciples some unthinkable goals. “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem” (Dangerous) “Judea” (Dangerous and Hard) “Samaria” (Dangerous, Hard and did I say Dangerous?”) “and the uttermost parts of the world” (huh? Did he say “uttermost”?)
Basically Jesus is commanding his disciples to go global without e-mail, without cellphones, without www.theapostlejohn.com, without planes, trains, automobiles or scooters. Walk it out and shout it out. And what’s truly amazing is that is exactly what they did. They took the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome in about thirty years.
I think we as believers today are taking the world wide advancement of the gospel more lightly than those believers who lived a generation ago. We seem increasingly enamored with building houses, stopping AIDs, curbing poverty and bringing justice to the world. While all of these are good and noble acts they are not the final mandate of our Lord Jesus Christ. He told us to make disciples of all nations and be witnesses of the gospel until everyone, everywhere is in the fold. Helping the hurting is something we do along the way to global evangelization. I totally believe in feeding the poor and ministering to those in need. But I think that if we do these acts of goodness without sharing the message of good news we do a HUGE disservice to those we minister to. We are making their world a better place to go to hell from. We’ve brought them temporary comfort as they march toward a cliff toward eternal separation from God in, yes, fire and brimstone.
If we truly want to minister to the poor then let’s minister to the whole person: body, soul and spirit. Let’s be like Jesus: give them real bread for their bodies and then the best bread, the Bread of Life, for their souls. Let’s give them real water to quench their physical thirst and then the Living Water to quench the deepest longings of their spirit. Check out my old post Social Justice or the Great Commission for more controversial information on this one. For those who are still offended after reading that post then, in the words of Sigourney Weaver in the movie Aliens, “I’m happy to disappoint you.”
Do you want revival? It starts with unthinkable goals. Taking the gospel to everyone in our neighborhood, city, state, nation and world is pretty unthinkable. So go for it!
Why not make your unthinkable goal right now? How about this one? To share the gospel with everyone you know in God’s timing, in God’s power and with God’s love! I am doing my best to do that dare myself. It is leading to some great, fun, awkward and transformational conversations.
So, in light of the unthinkable goal that Jesus gave his disciples, what’s your unthinkable goal? Be specific!
