Dave’s Monday Blast – May 20, 2019
Jesus said in (Luke 12), “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, “It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is…You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?” Christ calls us to be interpreters of the present times, to “discern the winds.” We need to know the winds of a gospel-centered life that fosters the principles of the Kingdom of God, and recognize winds not rooted in the gospel, winds that foster principles of the kingdoms of the world.
How do we do this? We discern winds by the Scriptures, prayer and reflecting with each other to discover truth. INTENTIONAL men discern challenges and call for solutions, like the men of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12:32) who “understood the times and knew what Israel should do.”
We must be committed to being the most discerning in our times, what Jesus calls “being wise as serpents.” We also need a reputation as the most gracious in our times, what He calls “being gentle as doves” (Matthew 10:16). We believe in the truth that “Jesus Saves.” We believe that He is in the business of transforming lives from the inside out. We believe that our task is to testify to our culture concerning this transformational truth.
We discern winds by recognizing the transcendent authority of Scripture, by engaging in prayer that transforms and by creating a life-giving culture with a vision to take the good news to all within our spheres of influence.
Biola University President, Barry Corey states: “The more we discern this present time, the stronger our mission stands and the more courageous our vision will be. We don’t need to lead with fear or defensiveness, but with the life-giving truths that missional fidelity calls us to, because we know the world desperately needs what we have in Christ.” That’s good isn’t it!
Next week I want to explore this idea further and find its application in the Church.
