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LIQUIDTHINKING IS: Stephen Zedler Jimmy Doyle Andy Mullins Current Sountrack
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Monday, November 07, 2005
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is the Only Gospel, Part II Matthew 7:21-23 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' These people are able to do all these things... they perform miracles, they cast out demons... but they have no part in Christ? What sense does that make? A while back ago, I wrote about the bronze snake that Moses lifted up in the desert to heal the people of Israel, and how later, Hezekiah had to end up smashing it, because people were worshipping the gift rather than one who gave it to them. My guess is that, many of those people who cry "Lord, Lord" do the same. Misuse of the gift doesn't mean God takes the gift away. We can use the gifts without the blessing of God, and they will bear fruit. But in putting the emphasis on the gift, rather than God, we create a whole new law. We box God into it. It becomes an equation. "IF I do this, THEN God will do this." Or it becomes a contract. "Okay, God, I held up my end of the bargain. Now it's YOUR turn to perform." Or it becomes a law. Either way, it is not a relationship. So Christ doesn't know us. "The names of God lead to Nehushtan. The God of names leads to calvary." In focusing on the acts of God, the roles of God... God as healer, God as provider, God as savior, we have unknowingly bottled God into our mold. We've sought to control him with our knowledge of him. Isaiah 29:13 13 The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. This is the result of our dogmas. Those who believe they have God and salvation figured out... they know the secret, they know the formula, and their only job now is to make sure that the recipe is passed to as many souls as possible... those people have exalted something other than God. They have tried to trap God. All they have left is a bronze snake. Worship is to enthrone and exalt God, not attempt to manipulate him into performing for me or making me comfortable. It is entirely possible to make my knowledge of God an idol. Unless God himself is king, and my knowledge of him is laid down at his throne, I have not submitted to his kingdom. This is especially hard for me, because I want to know I'm doing it right. I want to see the roadsigns. "1/4 mile to the exit, then turn right." But that's not trust. It's a formula. I've taken a gift and made it a rule. We do it with worship. We do it with discipleship. We do it with healing. We do it with tongues. We do it with teaching. We do it with prosperity. We do it with being "post-modern" or "emergent". But those aren't the gospel. God on the throne is gospel. Getting caught up in these lesser gospels only leads to disillusionment and division. More later... (yeah, what if it DOES take me a couple of weeks?)
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Jimmy Doyle is a dad, husband,
teacher, friend, and other things. Currently he's just trying to figure out what it means to follow Christ and be in community with others. He enjoys having conversations with fellow pilgrims on the journey.
Stephen Zedler has a wife and three kids who he loves very much. He has been called by God to study and teach history, particularly U.S.
history. He also believes that God has called him to reform the way children are educated in America.