Do words mean anything
In a world of lies?
Only a promise
From One that does not lie
Can restore order and joy
When the earth shut down for a year
When the human world was fighting a disease
The animals made a comeback
Nature was able to get
A little breath of fresh air
And new life exploded for a while
It only takes a spark
To start a wildfire
As we have seen
In this part of the country
Especially if it is dry and windy
The conditions are becoming so dark
That it is a perfect time
For a spontaneous revival
Not led by a prophet or pastor
But by the Lord Himself
God will speak within all of us
In the midst of our crisis
In the midst of our loneliness
And in the midst of our despair
Many young people commit suicide
Every year now
What must it be like
For new life to enter such a dark world?
Our schools and many parents
Leave their kids with few tools
To resist he who comes to kill and destroy
Everyone must fight for themselves
Especially in our new Internet frontier
It is just too different a territory
For our current civilization
To understand and react to
We are in a time of great change
We are in the eye of a perfect storm
Things could break down at any time
Just like Christ can return at any time
At the brink of a new world
We hide in fear from the future
There is so much to do to prepare
But few of us can connect the dots
Christ tells us to prepare for His second coming
By doing good works for each other
But this quickly gets political and ugly
How do we transcend social groups
Within the Church itself?
What can we do that is not political
At least in some way?
Maybe we need to think smaller instead of bigger
Instead of convincing others to believe
We need to convince ourselves
God does not have us convert people
But it helps if we give others a
Positive impression of the Church
Ultimately we are not doing well in this regard
We are essentially
Spitting in the face of unbelievers
By telling them they are being immoral
In their everyday lives
While we promote immorality
On a national scale
If we want the Church to cross cultural groups
Within a single society
We have to do a better job of
Finding what we have in common
We all agree that we all see a crisis
All people today confront the same technology
And we all see society falling apart
We disagree on the details
But we do agree something must be done
Everyone sees morality as going downhill
We need to re-look at the Bible
And see what is clearly says
And what it does not clearly say
And let go of the things it is not clear on
There are many things the Church
Has taken a stance on
Thought its history
But Jesus focused all His efforts
On feeding, healing, and forgiving
And training others to do the same
Except we cannot forgive sin
Only God can do that
We have to show others
In their language and culture
What kindness means
After all, can’t we agree on at least this?
And isn’t this a big part of what the Gospel is?
How else could you describe
Christ’s death and resurrection?
We don’t need to bring everyone
To God by ourselves
It is a miracle of God
When anyone is saved
But we need to stop creating
More barriers to salvation
Kindness may not be random
But it is not contrary to Scripture
In a world of lies?
Only a promise
From One that does not lie
Can restore order and joy
When the earth shut down for a year
When the human world was fighting a disease
The animals made a comeback
Nature was able to get
A little breath of fresh air
And new life exploded for a while
It only takes a spark
To start a wildfire
As we have seen
In this part of the country
Especially if it is dry and windy
The conditions are becoming so dark
That it is a perfect time
For a spontaneous revival
Not led by a prophet or pastor
But by the Lord Himself
God will speak within all of us
In the midst of our crisis
In the midst of our loneliness
And in the midst of our despair
Many young people commit suicide
Every year now
What must it be like
For new life to enter such a dark world?
Our schools and many parents
Leave their kids with few tools
To resist he who comes to kill and destroy
Everyone must fight for themselves
Especially in our new Internet frontier
It is just too different a territory
For our current civilization
To understand and react to
We are in a time of great change
We are in the eye of a perfect storm
Things could break down at any time
Just like Christ can return at any time
At the brink of a new world
We hide in fear from the future
There is so much to do to prepare
But few of us can connect the dots
Christ tells us to prepare for His second coming
By doing good works for each other
But this quickly gets political and ugly
How do we transcend social groups
Within the Church itself?
What can we do that is not political
At least in some way?
Maybe we need to think smaller instead of bigger
Instead of convincing others to believe
We need to convince ourselves
God does not have us convert people
But it helps if we give others a
Positive impression of the Church
Ultimately we are not doing well in this regard
We are essentially
Spitting in the face of unbelievers
By telling them they are being immoral
In their everyday lives
While we promote immorality
On a national scale
If we want the Church to cross cultural groups
Within a single society
We have to do a better job of
Finding what we have in common
We all agree that we all see a crisis
All people today confront the same technology
And we all see society falling apart
We disagree on the details
But we do agree something must be done
Everyone sees morality as going downhill
We need to re-look at the Bible
And see what is clearly says
And what it does not clearly say
And let go of the things it is not clear on
There are many things the Church
Has taken a stance on
Thought its history
But Jesus focused all His efforts
On feeding, healing, and forgiving
And training others to do the same
Except we cannot forgive sin
Only God can do that
We have to show others
In their language and culture
What kindness means
After all, can’t we agree on at least this?
And isn’t this a big part of what the Gospel is?
How else could you describe
Christ’s death and resurrection?
We don’t need to bring everyone
To God by ourselves
It is a miracle of God
When anyone is saved
But we need to stop creating
More barriers to salvation
Kindness may not be random
But it is not contrary to Scripture