LeakeSpeak

I have an ever-growing desire to see followers of Christ everywhere be the Church, rather than going to church. We were meant to be the hands and feet of Christ, not sit passively in a pew! That’s why I loved the analogy developed in the article below. What would it take for us to see more spiritual lions freed from captivity?

Thanks to Frank Viola for sharing the following by Milt Rodriguez:

Lions Set Free

by Milt Rodriguez

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not be entangled with the yoke of slavery again.” Galatians 5:1

A friend of mine recently told me about a conservation group in Zimbabwe that is taking captive lions and rehabilitating them back into the wild.

This is a difficult, four phase process, but they are having success with it. The rehabilitation process has many snags involved because of the effects of captivity on an African lion. When lions are bred and raised out of their natural habitat, some very abnormal patterns begin to develop. In short, they become domesticated. Yet lions were born to be wild.

In captivity, the lions basically forget that they are lions. The forget how to hunt. They forget how to live in the wild. And they forget how to live in a pride. The “pride” is the name for a community of lions. Lions are by and large social creatures and do not do well as loners.

The Effects of Captivity

You and I were born (again) to be spiritual lions. That’s who we are, but we have forgotten our true nature because of our captivity in the religious system. Captivity has conditioned us to believe things that are just not true. We have become something less than our true calling and destiny because of this conditioning. We have become domesticated.

We have become isolated pew warmers; a mutated race that sits and listens instead of participating and functioning. The clergy/laity system has made us passive and spiritually lazy. In other words, we have sold out our birthrights. Just like Esau we have sold out for the comfort of a bowl of lentil stew, that is, our warm and comfy pews. We no longer wanted to bother with functioning as members of the Body of Christ, so we sold out and instituted the clergy/laity system.

We Have Forgotten How to Hunt

This is definitely one of the most important aspects of a lion’s life. Without the act of hunting, how will you eat?

How will the pride eat?

We have forgotten how to hunt for our own food. Part of our conditioning has been that everyday (or every Sunday!) someone opens our cage and throws us a piece of meat. This bypasses the whole hunting process.

Who is this person that throws in that piece of meat? Where did he get it? Apparently, he went and hunted for it himself. But that is not my prey! And I never had to hunt for it myself.

Hunting is much more than just killing an animal and then eating it. There is the encounter of the hunt itself: finding the right place and time; having the right equipment; getting very quiet; smelling the prey; stalking the prey; taking aim, etc. Sometimes you come up empty handed, but the actual engagement is the thrilling part.

As believers, our food is Jesus Christ Himself! Not just teaching and doctrine about Christ, but the very Person and experience of Christ. You need to hunt for this “food” yourself. Sharing someone else’s food is alright at times. But there is nothing like you going out on your own “hunt” and capturing some new revelation or insight into your Lord. This is exciting. This is discovery. This is how you were born to live!

But then what? What do lions do after they have captured the prey?

They bring it home and share it with the pride.

As I said before, lions are very social creatures and they live in a pride. But in captivity there is no hunt and there is no pride. Lions are thrown their food everyday and they do not live as a pride. They are just individual lions living a mutant life of individualism.

A lion in captivity never has to hunt for his own food. He becomes lazy and complacent. He actually believes that this is normal. He believes that someone else is responsible.

We Have Forgotten How to Live in the Wild

“Because we do not regard the things which are seen but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” II Cor. 4:18

There are two kinds of realms that exist. There is the unseen realm (or the eternals) and there is the seen realm (or the physicals). Both of these reams exist together at the same time.

One realm is spiritual and unseen. That is, it has no physical substance or what we would call matter. It has no size or dimension, and it exists without time or space. You could say that this spiritual realm is totally “other than” the seen, physical realm.

Of course, we know that the seen physical realm does have matter, energy, space, time, and dimension. Science tells us all about electrons, protons, neutrons, atoms, and molecules. We seem to know a lot about the seen realm. But the scriptures tell us that this realm is only temporary.

It is the unseen realm which is eternal, and yet, we really don’t know much about that realm at all. How do we live in that realm? How do we live in spirit?

The Creature of Two Realms

As lions, we are called to live in two realms at the same time. But we should live mostly in the unseen realm. This is the “wild” for us. And it is mostly unexplored. It really is the “wild.” It is our natural habitat. And we can never be fulfilled with anything less. And yet, because we have forgotten who we are, we have become comfortable in captivity. We have become comfortable in the seen realm. We actually start believing that the physical realm is everything and then we start investing our lives into it.

Yet we have a Lord who is both Lion and Lamb. He is definitely gentle. But make no mistake about it, He is not tame! He is as wild as they come and the wild realm that is our home is inside of Him (Eph. 1:3).

But our natural habitat is not lived alone. This is a place of community. This is the place of the pride.

We Have Forgotten How to Live as a Pride

The “pride” is the social unit for the wild lion. They do not live alone. They interact in small groups know as prides.

Dear believer, a very important part of your natural habitat is the spiritual “pride.” This has been lost to us as well. Lions in captivity don’t live in prides. That is a special feature only found in the wild. When you discover that you are already free and begin living in the other realm, you will see the need of community life. This wild life is a shared life. Shared with your Lord and shared with His people.

But we are not used to sharing our lives with others. We have been isolated (held captive) for so long that we have forgotten that this is just the normal life for wild lions. In a true pride, you all share your food, share your joys, share your sorrows, and share everything in life with one another.

The big question is: how do we get to this place of freedom? How do we remember how to hunt? How do we remember how to live in the wild? How do we remember how to live in a pride?

Our great God has already provided a solution to this situation. And this solution was in force as early as the first century.

God’s Solution: Walking with Lions

As I told you in the beginning of this article, there is a conservationist group in Zimbabwe that is successfully rehabilitating lions back into the wild. But how do they do it?

They take the young cubs for walks everyday in the wild. An experienced lion “handler” (not trainer) will take a cub on long walks everyday to introduce the young lion to life in the wild. Eventually, the lion’s natural instincts will begin to kick in. They will begin to respond to their natural prey and eventually begin to stalk them. Then, one day, they will learn to hunt for themselves. The lion handlers will also introduce them to a pride in the wild so they can be socially integrated.

God does the same thing with His people. He re-introduces His “lions” back into the wild by the use of “handlers.” These are men and women who are called, prepared, and sent by Him for this difficult task. They do not become caretakers of the believers, but their job is to be re-introducers. Then the believers re-discover their spiritual instincts and habitat that has been long forgotten in captivity.

We can see these people at work in the first century. They were sent out by God as itinerant apostolic workers (or church planters) to lay a foundation of Christ for the assemblies of believers. Their job was to work themselves out of a job. Peter, John, Paul, Barnabas, Titus, Silas, Timothy, and others did this work or re-introducing God’s people to the wild. Then they would leave them on their own to live as wild lions! Every one of these workers had already experienced true “pride life” for themselves and knew about the hunt, the wild, and the pride by personal experience.

In the Zimbabwe program, the handlers have less and less contact with the lions. The goal is to completely release them to the wild, not to control them and keep them domesticated.

Christians are leaving the religious institutions in droves. They are seeking more reality, a deeper spirituality, and freedom. They are being set free from the captivity of the religious system and it is a beautiful thing to see. But that creates an altogether different problem.

Now that all of these believers are being set free from captivity, what will happen next? How will they now be re-introduced to the wild? How will they remember how to hunt? How will they be introduced to the “pride” life?

God’s own rehabilitation program must be the answer. We need to pray that God will raise up many “handlers” who have been called, prepared, and sent to walk with the lions.

You are a lion and you have a divine right to be free in the wild with His pride!

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.

1 Peter 2:13-19

God has been nailing me with this passage lately, speaking to me about my attitude towards all kinds of different authorities. He has commanded us to submit ourselves to every authority instituted among men. In the second paragraph, note that He doesn’t just command slaves to submit to good masters. Even harsh masters are worthy of submission. Ultimately, it is God that we are submitting ourselves to when are subject to those over us.

I have recently learned that submission is not the same thing as obedience. Obedience is our outward actions, but submission speaks to our heart attitude towards those in authority.

To paraphrase Peter a bit in today’s terms, I think we can say: “Honor every authority above you, including every authority in the government, including those you don’t like or with whom you completely disagree!”

In this presidential election season, another good post regarding our attitudes as followers of Christ has been provided by Brian Bailey. Here is an excerpt:

At some point, though, we have to take responsibility for the tone of politics. Even though our discourse is largely a reflection of what we hear from the parties and the media, why should we descend to that level? Why can’t we do better? If you are fed up with how politics is practiced, let’s start changing how we practice politics.

The candidate you support is motivated by political calculation and a desire to win just like his opponent. He has compromised when he shouldn’t have, ducked when he should have stood up, and made many mistakes (and will continue to do so). Like all national politicians, he is a flawed man surrounded by flawed advisors. The nation’s problems will not be solved by his election, but he can and hopefully will makes things better, improve the political process, and appeal to our better natures.

The candidate you oppose is not stupid, senile, dangerous, different, or corrupt. He loves this country and has served it most of his life. He will defend our nation with honor and always do what he thinks is in the best interest of America. He does not deserve to be mocked, belittled, or hated. The snide and snarky only serve to make intelligent debate between reasonable people impossible, while escalating the smack talk arms race.

There are endless arguments to be made for and against each of these candidates on the issues, but why do we have to demonize and deify them in the process?

Good words, don’t you think? If you don’t agree, I challenge you to consider what it is you disagree with and why.

I encourage you to read Brian’s complete post. I commend him and others who are taking a stand this election against the slew of negativity all too often coming from Christians. If you think the message of honoring our leaders is for Kingdom people, then do your part to positively influence those around you.

Check out these questions shared by Jaeson Ma from the book Happy Are You Poor: The Simple Life and Spiritual Freedom by Thomas Dubay.

How to Know if You are Wasting Your Life

Read the below questions from Happy Are Your Poor and check your heart to see if you are living a superfluous & wasteful life?

1. By what standards do I determine what is necessary?
2. Do I collect unneeded things? Do I hoard possessions?
3. May I, on Gospel principles, buy clothes at the dictates of fashion designers in Paris and New York? Am I a slave to fashion? Do I live in other people’s minds? Why really do I have all the clothes I have: shirts, blouses, suits, dresses, shoes, gloves?
4. Am I an inveterate nibbler? Do I eat because I am bored? Do the weight charts convict me of superfluity in eating and drinking? Do I take second helpings simply for the pleasure they afford?
5. Do I keep unneeded books and papers and periodicals and notes?
6. Do I retain two or three identical items (clocks, watches, scarves)of which I really need only one?
7. Do I spend money on trinkets an unnecessary conveniences?
8. In the winter, do we keep our thermostat at a setting higher than health experts advise: 68 degrees?
9. When I think of my needs, do I also think of the far more drastic needs of the teeming millions in the third world?
10. Do I need the traveling I do more than the poor need food and clothing and medical care?
11. Am I right in contributing to the billions of dollars spent each year on cosmetics? How much of this can be called necessary?
12. Is smoking necessary for me?
13. Is drinking necessary for me?
14. Do I need to examine exactly what I mean by saying to myself, “I need this”?
15. Can I honestly say that all I use or possess is used or possessed for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31)? Would He be given more glory by some other use?
16. Do I in the pauline sense “mind the things above, not those on earth” (Col 3:1-2) (pg 112)

Guy Muse, one of my favorite bloggers, is a missionary to Ecuador who is currently on home assignment in the U.S. He recently shared some thoughts he has since being reimmersed in traditional North American churches after a long time away. I thought he had some interesting ideas that someone just might be crazy enough to try. Here is some of what he said:

After now sitting through three months of worship services and Sunday School classes in half a dozen different churches, what follows are a few observations coming from someone who has long been out of practice of “going to church” as is commonly practiced here in America.

Sunday Morning Sermon. Instead of preaching 30-45 minutes and then everyone going home and promptly forgetting all/most of what has been so conscientiously prepared, why not share a reduced 15-20 minute message and spend the balance of time allowing interaction by the congregation? This personal interaction with the message would bear far more fruit than simply listening to a good man preach. Depending upon the size of the church and seating layout, this could be done in several different ways:

1) The pastor could end with a few key questions that get at the heart of what he was trying to share. As people begin to respond back to the pastor a dialog could ensue amongst all those present. The pastor could facilitate the discussion as several share their wisdom and understanding from their rich experience.

2) People could be encouraged to break up into small groups and share with one another what they sense God is saying to them through what has been shared through the Word.

3) Ask people to share how they intend on applying what they have learned from the Word. What specific actions is the Spirit of God impressing upon them in response to the message? Wouldn’t 10-15 minutes praying for one another and applying the message with their individual situations have a more meaningful impact than simply one person doing all the talking?

It is strange that week after week so much effort has gone in to preparing good Biblical messages, only to be concluded with an invitation which usually has nothing to do with what has been preached. Sometimes 2-3 people will go forward during the invitation, but rarely does it have anything to do with the preceding 30-45 minutes. Why is the bulk of time given to one brother speaking week after week while the remaining 99% just sit and listen? Is church primarily about the message preached by the pastor? What happened to the exhortation by the writer of Hebrews, And let us consider one another, to incitement of love and of good works, not forsaking the assembling together of ourselves, as is the custom of some, but exhorting, and by so much more as you see the Day drawing near?

Read on to hear his reflections on the offering, Sunday School, singing and praise, and prayer.

This is old, but it was too cool not to share. Jaeson Ma blogged about the Student CPX, a month-long training that took place this summer to equip college students to plant churches on their campuses. Here is an excerpt from his post:

When we first got there we found out the dormitory we were staying at had a horrible history. Over 700 Native American children were starved to death with disease/famine in the basement in relationship to the American government nearly 70 years ago. The first day, our student missionaries were getting sick, doubting their purpose there, others were hearing voices in the hallways and some even encountered evil spirits in the dormitory. We knew it would be a spiritual battle between light and darkness. We had to come in an opposite spirit of faith, hope and love. So we set up a 24-7 prayer room in the dormitory and began prayer watches on the campus…

Keep reading on Jaeson’s blog to hear the outcome.

College students, watch for another Student CPX next summer! If they do one, the only good excuse for not going is that you’re coming to do a summer internship with GFM

They say that if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got. As we look at the needs of the world today, do we in the Church really want to keep doing what we’ve always done and get what we’ve always got? If not, then we have to change what we do.

I came across a fantastic list of “wakjob ideas” for campus ministers posted a couple of months ago on Shane Deike’s Movements Everywhere. As I read them, I tend to think the only thing wackier than trying one of these would be accepting the status quo.

Here’s a sampling of ideas, and I would encourage you to check out the complete list:

• Launch 50 churches out of your current campus ministry (small little viral things with 21 year old elders and you as the master apostle - thats with a little ‘a’ in apostle btw). Tell the students that you will gather weekly to worship and train, but you want them each to start a simple viral church . . . . and you can show them how.
• Never speak at a meeting again - only lets students share what is on their heart in the mission each and every week. Let mission inform theology and worry about the messes as you move ahead.
• Never meet with someone one on one again. Only in small groups and only with someone besides you leading the discussion.
• Never get a new believer involved with what is already going on . . . really . . . only help them start something new in their existing community (like Zaccheus or that Ethiopian dude).

I’ll add a couple of my own ideas specifically related to making disciples of all nations:

• Make it the goal of every small church on campus to disciple at least one student from another country and help he/she plant a church made up of members from that country.
• Challenge each church to send out at least one student who spends the first 5 years after college in a foreign country making one disciple and helping that disciple start a new church.
• Get each church to fully fund one foreign missionary.

Radical? Maybe. Crazy? You can decide. Impossible? I don’t know. How content are you with the way things are?

Alan Knox, who is an excellent blogger in my opinion, has been doing a series entitled “Scripture…As We Live It”. You can find the entire series here. Is it as convicting to you as it is to me? Here’s one example of a passage of Scripture he has “remixed”:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind unless they’re wrong, having the same love unless they’re wrong, being in full accord and of one mind unless they’re wrong. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit unless they’re wrong, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves unless they’re wrong.
(Philippians 2:1-3 remix)

This is for the kind of college students we often see in Mexico for summer internships–the kind who deeply desire to be used for the kingdom of God. If that’s you, I encourage you to check out the following opportunity. It has nothing to do with GFM, but getting intense training in campus church planting looks like a great way to spend a couple of weeks of your summer!

Jaeson Ma points us to the Bella 10 movement. I have not had the opportunity to see the movie Bella, but I know just a bit about it from my dad, who works with Dennis Rainey’s organization, Family Life. It’s exciting to hear how God is using this movie for His purposes. Check it out and spread the word!

Check out Jaeson’s blog to hear about a number of other exciting things that God is doing. On that note, for those who are burned out, disillusioned, or worried that the Christian movement is very slowly dying in North America, don’t despair! God is moving in many powerful ways, although He’s not always using the traditional structures that we might expect. You might have to look in some unconventional places to find Him. Instead of griping about His bride, pray hard, seek His face, and find out what He wants to do for His kingdom through YOU!

I’m learning that one of the jobs of an effective blogger is to point my readers to good material that others are producing.  Accordingly, I would like to direct you to a very thought-provoking post by Alan Knox, entitled Won’t Get Fooled Again.  Here is an excerpt:

Once upon a time, God used pagan prophets and philosophers. How foolish! Not today. Nothing good can come from culture. Today, God wants his people to read Christian books, watch Christian movies, and listen to Christian music. If God has something to say, he would never be so foolish as to speak through a pagan.

Once upon a time, God ate with prostitutes, drunks, thieves, and other malcontents. How foolish! Not today. God has enough good people now that he doesn’t need to hang out with that sort anymore. It would be foolish for God to be found among the dregs of society today.

I don’t want to take away from Alan’s blog traffic, so that’s all I’m going to give you here.  But if you have read this far, I strongly encourage you to take a couple of minutes to click over to his site and read the entire post.