If you’re feeling disillusioned today, you should be thankful. Why? Because disillusionment is an essential part of coming to terms with reality, which is the only way your life can be transformed.
We all need to be dis-illusioned from time to time—because that means being freed from our illusions. Dictionaries define an “illusion” as “a false mental image produced by misinterpretation of things that actually exist.” Until disillusionment has occurred in our lives, we’re walking in unreality, unable to experience authentic vision. If you’re honest, you’ll admit that you’ve faced various kinds of disillusionment at one time or another in your life. Perhaps you’ve found yourself disillusioned about the goodness of humanity…the “happily ever after” of your marriage vows…your success as a parent…or God’s desire and ability to work out all things for your good. Or maybe you’ve been disillusioned about the Lord’s promises to heal your sicknesses or provide for your financial needs. Jesus’ death on the cross was the most disillusioning event in history. His closest followers were devastated. After having high expectations during His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (John 12:12-19), a week later they were hiding out in a locked room for fear of the Jews (John 20:19). Peter and some of the other disciples even sought comfort in turning back to their old occupation of fishing (John 21). The pain of disillusionment can also be felt in the words of the two disciples walking to Emmaus: “We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). Perhaps there was something that you too “were hoping” that failed to come to pass in the way you expected. Your “hoped deferred” has made you heartsick (Proverbs 13:12). But if so, be on the alert—Jesus may be right there walking with you at the very moment you’re complaining that He’s abandoned you. God, in His painful mercy, will often strip us of false expectations. The disillusioned disciples couldn’t point to any promise Jesus failed to keep. Instead, their disappointment was rooted in their false belief that He would overthrow the Romans and set up an earthly kingdom. Until we are stripped of our own dreams, God can’t give us His dreams—which are far better! God shakes our false hopes so He can give us a hope that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:26), hope that serves as an “anchor for the soul” (Hebrews 6:19). Not only do the times of testing reveal our faulty belief systems, they also prove the faithfulness of the “heavenly vision” we have been truly given by God (Acts 26:19). The earth was 1500 years old when God decided to destroy man because he had filled it with corruption,violence and evil. Rebellious angels, leaving their place in heaven(Jude 1:6),were breeding with human women creating spawn of rebellious supernatural beings. Needless to say this caused quite a mess. Genesis 6:5&6 describes it this way: 5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Gen 6:8 says,“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” He was considered blameless by God in this world filled with corruption and when wrath was to be released on the earth. Because he knew the end was coming, he preached righteousness for one hundred twenty years while he worked on the ark. His heart knew the terrible wrath of God that was coming on mankind and his ears heard those terrifying final cries of civilization. His mind experienced the destruction of every man, woman and child on the face of the earth.How messed up would you be if you experienced the end of the world? We don’t know how Noah processed this, but when things started getting back to a semblance of normal,we read where Noah grew grapes, made wine and drank too much. Can we blame him ? “Honor all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect. . .” (1 Pet 2:17-18) We value what we honor and honor what we value. The bible says if we honor wisdom,we get knowledge of God,understanding,discernment AND wisdom.(Pr 3:13-20) But if we value only knowledge, we get nothing but pride. (1 Cor 8:1) God calls us to honor all men because He chose to give them life. Jesus lived and died so sinful men could be saved. People are precious to the Father; they are as valuable to Him as His Son. By valuing and esteeming everyone and showing everyone respect,we show that he or she is important to God when we show they are important to us! If God, who is deserving of ALL honor, tells us to honor one another, there is a value HE places on honoring those created in His image, which is disregarded when we don’t. We don’t honor all men,including sinners, because they are sinners, but because God created them and showed us their value by sending His only begotten SON to die in their place! THAT is the HIGH VALUE God places upon man.
Mk 12:14 They *came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth.
James 2:9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Jn 8:32 “And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. We hear this passage and we love the idea of being set free! We are in love with the idea that we are a person who cherishes and absolutely LOVES the truth! …..until someone tells us the actual truth after we have been listening and believing untruth for a long time. The truth can set us free, but when we have listened to & gone along with untruth or lies for a long, long time, it is absolutely brutal to hear,an assault on our emotions, an affront to the idea of what we think reality is! A man asked me this question:” Why do I see greater results when I’m praying for a healing or miracle for a complete stranger,a person I meet on outreach ,than when I pray for my wife or son?” I’m not saying it always happens, but often enough to make one ask.Clearly ,when I pray for my family I sometimes seem to get less results.”This is an interesting question.
When a person loves God, has made family the #1 priority and prays for a healing at home ,it’s normal to expect them to get healed.And many times they are. But sometimes they don’t and it seems inequitable. When we serve God we expect our family to be “covered”. Of course a dad wants them healed before a person on an outreach and while it’s exciting to pray and get spectacular results, it’s frustrating to come home when your wife is fighting sickness and pray and get..not so much. It’s a great question and while I wouldn’t call this answer doctrine its more of a scriptural observation,which I call the “Nazareth Effect”. This is a term I use to describe the unbelief which is tied to familiarity which we all encounter when people close to us like our wife or close friends need and ask for a healing. Why is it difficult to see breakthrough with people we know so well? How is it so difficult at times to prophesy to close friends who we know intimately? Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, inclinations, or dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. John Adams
”Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” Lenin “If you elect me,I will give you FREE everything!” If you went to a public school ,college or university in the US there is a great likelihood that Marxist-influenced,America-hating educators wrote some of your curriculum. They used words like “progressive”,which actually means ”headed towards communism” or “unfair”,implying those who excel should share their rewards. This is an attempt to sell you on socialism. Words like “inequality” & “fairness” are used to sell you on the idea that “life isn’t fair” and the government will make it fair. Well the truth is: Life ISN’T fair and the government can’t make it fair! America isn’t perfect but has created the greatest economy the world has ever seen due to allowing all people freedom to have equal opportunity. There is and never will be a guarantee of an equal outcome,no matter what Bernie Sanders promises. The Hero Generation
“Hero generations are born after a spiritual awakening, during a time of individual pragmatism, self-reliance, and national (or sectional or ethnic) chauvinism. Heroes grow up as increasingly protected post-awakening children, come of age as the heroic young team-workers of a historical crisis, demonstrate hubris as energetic midlifers, and emerge as powerful elders attacked by another awakening. By virtue of this location in history, such generations tend to be remembered for their collective coming-of-age triumphs and their hubristic elder achievements. Their principle endowments are often in the domain of community, affluence, and technology. Their best-known historical leaders include Cotton Mather, “King” Carter, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. These have been vigorous and rational institution builders. In midlife, all have been aggressive advocates of economic prosperity and public optimism, and all have maintained a reputation for civic energy and competence to the very ends of their lives. Examples among today’s living generations are the G.I.s (WWII) and now Millennials, born 1981 to 2004.” ( LifeCourse) It is Interesting that the themes of so many movies,TV and games since their birth is filled with heroes or superheroes in movies or shows like Hunger Games, Heroes, Superman,Call of Duty, X-Men,Batman,Avengers,etc.The sensitive creative ones have picked up on the calling of this group and are telling stories with the HERO themes. Millennials (born 1981-2004) are now America’s largest demographic group with over 85 million. Every generation has had its own challenges but Millennials are facing a unique set unlike any other.
1.Millennials are the most highly educated generation in history. This sounds exciting, but with the supply of educated workers much higher than the demand in the workforce, it created a perfect storm of unemployment & underemployment, a frustrating beginning to their careers. A large percentage of Millennial women work with a much better education than past generations,but many men stay home with kids; 56% are even working jobs that have nothing to do with their educational level. 2) Are technologically immersed and savvy. This is the age group producing apps and inventing FB and Instagram and other amazing innovations. But the geekiness causes them to be less personally involved and more self-involved. They were promised by their parents and teachers all kinds of great things but they just are not seeing them materialize.Some of them think they can “just Google it” about ANY-thing. Many are too dependent on technology rather than human interaction. NOW that we are in political primaries for the 2016 election, one politician described one of his competitors as “low-energy”. This proved to be a devastating blow to the candidate because while he is very laid-back ,his attacker has a reputation for speaking his mind, taking charge and is HIGH energy. Since most voters see the problems today as massive and in need of a decisive leader that will FIX the mess, candidates who come across as indecisive and uncertain are not going to be heard. When this topic was the news cycle, the thought came to me that the church in the US has the same problem!
Whether we want to admit it,the church is in a crisis today because the country and culture are in a crisis so we desperately need high-energy churches led by high-energy leaders to get Kingdom work done! With the troubling trajectory our culture and country is headed,pastors can no longer afford to be cowards and hide behind their services or a stealth Christianity.Issues we face are forcing us to “put up or shut up”. Today is similar to the days of Elijah,when Jezebel and her hundreds of prophets were controlling the agenda in the land. We must call out and challenge people and the institutions to choose today who they are going to follow! “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him! 1 Kings 18:21 Galatians 5:22-23– But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self- control; against such things there is no law.NASB
Every behavior has either a good or bad consequence. If we are kind to to others,our relationships are enhanced.If we work hard at school and study we will have good grades; If we go to work we get paid; if we are a good employee we will likely get promoted. Of course, if we don’t do these things, we will most likely get the negative results: poor grades, no paycheck and bad relationships. These are natural consequences of our behavior. The problem comes when someone interrupts the law of sowing and reaping in another’s life. A person’s drinking or abuse should have consequences for the drinker or the abuser. “Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path” (Prov. 15: 10). |
AuthorPastor Marc Lawson Archives
July 2018
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AboutThere are 168 hours in every week. The 166 Factor is the answer to the question: "Who are you the OTHER 166 hours a week when you are NOT in church?" Join the community here as we will be discussing this and other topics related to Reformation in the Church, The End of Church (As We Know It) & The 166 Lifestyle.
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