Harvest Paradigm Part 2: The Solution

i've just watched a video on reaching the lost and weeping as i was eating my dinner, i was so undone by it.. there is something deep in my heart that the Lord is stirring and i have a few things i wanna say... so contrary to what i've promised, im not gonna talk about the new song...

I wanna just say how wicked we are!!!

tell me who's more wicked.. the poor?? or those who have bread but refuse to share it?? those who are wandering out there looking for God and looking for answers or those who have it but refuse to go and share it?? those who are bound in darkness and sin patterns or those who sit comfy warming their pews and crowding their altars, having the solution but unwilling to share it??

a few weeks back, i joked with my LG guys about bringing them all to Geylang to witness on the streets to those who are in darkness and who need it... and i was met with a very firm and horrified chorus-"noooooo!".. though i wasn't really very serious about it and i was just opening it up as a possibility, honestly before you all, my heart broke that moment... because it just shows how selfish we are... because it then raises the question.. if we dun do it, who will? if those who have the power dun exercise it, who will? and it shows a lot about the way we think and the way we see things... but can we see those people through God's eyes?

frankly to us, the power of God is just for the sake of getting our As, making us feel better when we're sick.. to provide us with money when we're out of it?? our paradigm, the way we see things is shown through our language, the way we speak... and let us examine our language, even the ones that we use in church.. am i not right in saying that the issues we talk about and pray about concern ourselves and our needs and wants and agendas instead of His agenda? yesterday, Holy Spirit was showing me that the reason why we dun see kingdom things happening in our midst is cos we dun live and preach the Kingdom... examine the way we speak.. why do we talk so much about school? career? money? these things dun even constitute a value in God's economy! and what do we pursue? the next phone model or the next ipod/itouch craze from apple?? surely something so "valuable" is worth our pursuit! need i explain the value of souls then? your soul and mine was worth the pursuit and suffering of Jesus Christ... and the rest of the world for that matter!!!

many people around the world want to do something significant with their lives.. they want the power to change the world.. most of them are not even Christians yet they carry a good degree of influence and have influenced the world through media, technology, industry, etc... and guess wad.. they dun even have the Holy Spirit! now what then about us who do have the power?? who do have the Holy Spirit?? who do have the Kingdom? We have the power to change the world but why dun we function in it??

there are terroists out there who plot to destroy governments, who cause large-scale chaos and destruction and who strategize to move into their next course of action.. yet the church who has the true power fails to dream.. fails to plot, fails to strategize with God in the prayer closet to go win more souls and to plunder hell and populate heaven! the ponderings of our heart are more consumed with self and getting added comfort than strategizing on how to win the lost! Jesus said that a good man brings out good things out of the good treasures that are stored in his heart (matt 12).. and the reason why we dun see our ministry very fruitful at the moment is cos we fail to store these good treasures in our hearts... these dreams and strategies of seeing people saved and come to know God.. they compete for space and our attention with our own selfish desires and endeavors.. and yet we claim that God's gonna multiply our ministry?! how?? a magic wand perhaps?? faith produces action... how much we believe in something is seen by how much we give ourselves into it...

why issit that we are more concerned in building the church? in building the ministry? that's the approach so far that we have toward missions and evangelism and churchianity.. programme-oriented... goal-oriented... but not soul-oriented... with all this talk about building the church, activities and programmes, no one even mentioned the needy out there.. the souls who are in darkness and bondage who need Jesus? no one called attention to them and to their plight and geniuine need for Jesus! (and here we are praying for our ipods and exams) are we then building our own kingdoms? are we then so self-absobred and self-consumed?? we have a tendency to become self-absorbed with what we're doing rather than reaching out to those who need Jesus... God said He would build His church but He commanded us to go! So who's going?! With everyone building, who's going?! What we have is far too good to keep and enjoy for ourselves! We talk more about ministry than souls... like what i said, our language reflects our paradigm... and before we talk about the work of evangelism, let's talk about the heart of evangelism... God wants us to get the order right even as He aligns us with His perspective... the reason we go, is not for the sake of doing ministry but cos people need Jesus...

And again what do they need? The dun need some guy with a singlet running past them telling them that Jesus loves them, run to Him.. as much as i love the idea (and it's so much better than doing nothing).. why dun we run to them? why dun we take Jesus to them?! they need that love communicated and demonstrated to them practically, not just through a singlet... have we peddled a practical gospel? do we pride ourselves with a cheap publicity stunt? Now that we have carried that message upon our backs, do we feel the lot better that at least we did something for God? tell that to the widow struggling to cope.. tell that to the angsty pai kiah about to kill himself if not another.. do they feel better after seeing ur singlet? (note: i have nothing against those dear brothers and sisters who do run with that singlet.. this is not a comment about them or their attitude.. i'm just using the singlet as a convenient analogy to bring a point accross...)

again... Jesus said "go"... we must bring Jesus to them, bring His healing to them, bring deliverance to them... bring salvation to them.. not just some kind religiously-neutral words and a sincere hope that they'd notice that cross that we're wearing on our necks... no... they need power to break them out of sin addiction.. they need power for physical healing... they need a purpose and hope to live for.. they need to know their destiny, what on earth they're here for.. they need to be loved, discipled, fathered and mothered... God's transforming power is available to them.. even to turn school dropouts into achievers.. and gangsters into preachers.. they may look like they have fishing lures with all those hooks and piercings attached to them yet didnt Jesus promise to make us fishers of men? sometime back, Jesus was speaking to me and He said something that is still ringing in my heart... "I've paid with My life. What price are you willing to pay?"

A few weeks back, i had a thought... God made the church, by its very nature, a potent force for the transformation of society.. not only in terms of salvation but also transformation of the economy... the removal of crime rates and vices.. even the feeding of the multitude and the eradication of poverty.. this is what we call "healing the land"... we cant leave it to the NGOs.. they dun have power and the resources of heaven like we do.. so why issit that we are so impotent?? do we give the devil and the world reason to mock us?? are the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us cheering us on or are they slapping their foreheads? those who gave their lives and blood for the cause of the kingdom.. are they gonna see a generation unwilling to part with just a bit of time or endure just a bit of dicomfort talking to their friends?? NO WAY MAN!!! this generation is marked by the Lord for signs and wonders.. we are the people who are willing in the day of His power! and we have to live by that word spoken over us...

for some it's merely about numbers.. to grow the church (and yes if the church is gonna grow, we dun need extra people warming our pews for that matter)... why? so that we'll be famous? more people, more fun rite? but that's too small, if not altogether wrong! God wants something far bigger on our agenda, the transformation of society and the changing of culture... so that the Lamb of God may receive back souls, the full reward for the price He paid! it's more than just revival folks! And as the church, we need that goal to be on our agenda and our vision too. Its time we stop seeing other churches as competitors for membership but partners in creating a dynamic kingdom culture as we change society together.

there's just so many things in my heart that i cant express.. that's why you see that my points are all over the place and sort of incoherent.. but aside from learing the points, i want you guys to catch my heart and that's why im writing this... perhaps this may all be very high-sounding and i know that personally i've also yet to live through what im preaching.. but we gotta start somewhere right?? the vision and desire needs to be birthed in our hearts first... perhaps some may say that im beeing too extreme or radical in being brutally honest about what im writing... but let's look at it this way... all these years, conventional solutions have not been working.. maybe it is time to get extreme and radical... (and even if u see this as extreme, it's supposed to be normal Christian living!) some may give an excuse saying we're not ready.. my question is if not now then when? we're in the season of harvest and the harvest is ready even if we're not... and every farmer knows that if they dun reap the harvest at the right time, they expire...

on a slightly separate note i also wanna make an announcement regarding revival... as we know, revival is not for ourselves to keep or enjoy... its so that souls may come into the kingdom... well yesterday during Prayer Meeting, i felt led by the Spirit to decree that revival has come.. yes of course i doubted it... but the thing about this is that it has already been decided and we need to proclaim it and forth-tell it before we even see it in the natural.. it's kinda like declaring your healing before we actualy see it happening... and i do see little signs of it happening here and there already too.. :) so let's operate in the spirit of faith and echo it out until we see it fully manifested in our midst...

Revival has come!!!

God bless! :) Btw, i most gladly welcome replies to what im writing.. maybe even turn it into a discussion...

Oh and i'd like you to listen to this song... Solution by Hillsongs United
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKSIG-ol3Z0

It is not a human right
To stare not fight
While broken nations dream
Open up our eyes, so blind
That we might find
The Mercy for the need

Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
Yeah

It is not too far a cry
To much to try
To help the least of these
Politics will not decide
If we should rise
And be your hands and feet

Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey Now
As we hold to our confession

Woah-oh-oh,
God be the solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Yeah, yeah

Higher than a circumstance
Your promise stands
Your love for all to see
Higher than protest line and dollar signs
Your love is all we need

Only You can mend the broken heart
And cause the blind to seeE
rase complete the sinners past
And set the captives free
Only You can take the widows cry
And cause her heart to sing
Be a Father to the fatherless
Our Savior and our King
We will be Your hands, we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
On the darkest place, we will be Your light
We will be Your light

We will be Your hands , we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place, we will be your light
We will be your light

We'll sing
Woah-oh-oh,
God be the solution
Woah-oh-ohWe will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Woah-oh-oh,
God be the solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.

Yeah, yeah
We will run we will run
We will run with the solution [2x]
We will be Your hands we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be Your light
We will be Your light
We sing