Grace and Christian Values

Bob Grass tells of seven things that he calls "the church's all time biggest blunders." Number one is that we have 'unbeliever doctrine.' Some of the seminaries say, "Parts of the miracles didn't really happen." It is taught. Another one is that we have tolerated division. Isn't that the truth? We've done pretty well at beating up and hating each other. We have cultivated a religious spirit. A religious spirit basically says this: if you don't do this but you do that, then you are a good Christian. Another blunder is that we have encouraged super-stars, we exalt certain people. Everybody goes to this meeting or that meeting because we are exalting super stars in the faith. Another blunder is that we have equated money with success.

Yet another blunder, a very serious one, is that we stayed in the pews and became irrelevant. We just taught people to be escape artists. We have propagated the philosophy, 'Let us just occupy till He comes. Let us just hold down the fort and maybe Jesus will come and save us from it.' But God has called us to advance the kingdom. Anytime we do not advance the kingdom of God and we back off, we create a void. What does the Bible say happens when you leave the house empty? Is the enemy going to look at that and think, "I think that we'll just leave that empty. I don't want to invade that because that space belongs to the church." No! Anytime that the church steps back and turns it over for nothing and leaves a void, the enemy comes in and takes over.

There are seven mind-molders (e.g., things that mold the and shape our thinking). These seven institutions are things like the government, church, and media. These things shape the way that we think. You do not have to have a majority to shape people's mentalities. Bob talked about the time he was in a meeting.

One time when he was at a Christian conference, they showed a video of a Nigerian crusade where over a million people were saved. They were panning and re-panning the audience to see if there really were millions there, with over a million who gave their hearts to Jesus. He stood in awe about this. As he was watching all this, a man next to him said, "Yes, and the Muslims will come in and will disciple them." He was offended at that. So he looked at the man and said, "what are you talking about that the Muslims are going to come in and disciple them?"

The man was from South Africa. He answered, "Well, that's what happened in South Africa. Just a small percentage, less than 10% of the population of South Africa are Muslims, but they control 30% of the government jobs. They control half of the school board positions. And now they are dictating policy."

It does not take a majority to change minds and make the decisions. It takes people who are radical and who are committed. Our objective is to create radical Christians to advance the kingdom of God. Protesting does not work. It is just exercising your right to free speech. All it does is say you have one voice. What works is to penetrate those systems and to change them from the inside.

Lance is a person who lives this out this type of penetration I have been talking about. He does not just talk but actually lives it out. Before he was a pastor of a church, he was a business consultant. Now, God is bringing him back into the business world. He is still pastoring a church, yet he's penetrating major systems. He said that, not too long ago, the United Nations (UN) asked him to meet with about twenty to thirty youth leaders from around the world. They would just simply bring people in from around the world, people they think would be very successful world leaders. They bring them in for about five or six months. Therefore, he went in. They invited him for two days and said, "You can do whatever you do for these two days."

This man also does business seminars where he talks about principles of leadership. Where did he get those principles? Right out of the Word! The people responded, "Those are awesome principles. Where did you get them?" The person who ran one particular course was so enthralled with what he was learning, he met with Lance and said, "I'd like for you to meet with about two hundred UN leaders." And he did! Where did he get those leadership principles? Right here in the Word of God!

He was telling us a story about a friend of his who is in consulting. His fees are around $9,000 a day and he is making major changes in education in the United States. He has simply been taking the principles out of the Word Of God, principles of how we relate to each other with respect. They write on the board the different rules of the class. You were invited to stay in the class if you follow the rules. He just basically took the Word Of God, because the principles work. Does tithing work whether you are a Christian or not a Christian? Absolutely! The principle of giving works. It just works.

If you are a believer, then you have the answer. Everything the world is looking for is found right here in the Word of God, the answers to all the solutions in your work, all the solutions in your neighborhood.

I mentioned (in an earlier lesson) very briefly the transformation that took place in the nation of Uganda, where they had the AIDS problem. They asked, "How do you solve the AIDS problem?" We said, "Let's look here, where the principles are. First, you just have one wife! Then you stay faithful to your one wife!"

They began to bring in the biblical principles. Within three to four years, they reduced the AIDS from 30% with women down to 4%, plus the miracles of God which were healing people. That was an awesome deal.

Then they said, "Well, that worked pretty good, now what can you do with the finances?" "What is the biggest problem with finances?" The answer was corruption in the government. "Well, you need to put Christians in those positions." And they turned that nation around. We watched that video. This is contained in the Transformations II video -- if you have not seen it, then get a copy and watch it.

The principles work! God has given you the principles in His Word. You can bring the kingdom of God into your situation. Only just bring God in! You don't have to come with "Well, God said you had to do it this way." You can just give them the principles. And all of a sudden, they say, "It works!".

Let me tell you something about the world. They do not have all the filters that the Christians have. They do not care about the source. All they want know is "Does it work?"

Christians often say, "I don't know. That person preached that message that time and I did not agree with one point. I don't know if I can trust anything that they say."

That is one of those points. Just look at the Word. There is so much in the principles of the Word of God that can be applied to you, where you work, in your neighborhood, in family situations. Also, when others see how they are working with you, they will say "Man, that was pretty good! Where did you get that?" Then you can tell them the source.

God has called us to advance the kingdom of God. Part of the role we want to do here as a church -- and this is important -- is to help you become equipped in order to do that. No matter where you are, your work, your home, your neighborhoods, whatever, God has called you to penetrate those systems to bring in the kingdom of God. The result will be righteousness, peace and joy.

God wants to put within you a certain disposition to be able to do it. I am not talking about becoming some bible-thumping freak. If you do that, then all you do is put up a wall and people cannot receive you. If they cannot receive you, you cannot build a bridge. Paul said, "To the Jew I became a Jew, to the Gentile I became a Gentile, to the pagan I became a pagan. Without compromising the convictions of God, I became those things." When you get to the house of God, you can freak out all you want. But let me tell you, if you're going to penetrate the systems, God needs to give you the wisdom to penetrate them. God has called you to do that. You can because the authority and power that you carry is greater than the authority and power that is out there. And, God will honor your obedience. He will honor that because you carry the stuff. That is what forcibly advancing the kingdom is like.

Are you in the army? The answer is "Yes." Whether you like it or not, you were inducted into God's army when you received Jesus. God is raising up a group of radical believers, radical in the sense that your life does not belong to you, to belongs to Him. These radical believers are interested in advancing His kingdom, penetrating the systems that God has put you into and bringing in the righteousness of God.

God wants you to be one of them. He wants you to bring the authority of Christ into the places you go and the things you do. Do you know what God will do? God will give you favor to accomplish that end. You will walk in and say, "I don't know why I'm telling you this." That is the favor of God. And expect the door to open. If it's not open, pray until it does, because God gives you the authority.