If You Say Go...We Will Go

The words of Jesus ring true today even more than when He spoke them.....
Simple words...
Words that we have sought to theologize...(Yeah...I know it isn't really a word)
Theorize..
Pontificate upon....
Yet one cannot escape the simplicity of His statement.
"Follow me..."

We suggest that the words, originally spoken to the disciples, were for those select individuals that receive a "real" call on their life to enter into the ministry.
In some ways, I hate that word, ministry. Oh, it's not really the word as much as it is the connotation we've attached to it.

To have a call from Christ upon your life, in many churches today,  means that you must be up front and in the lead.
Pastor's have a call....
Minister's have a call....
Even Deacons supposedly have a call...
But the average Joe that sits in the congregation?
Well, he's different.
He's suppose to support the call of others.

To believe in Jesus...
To be saved through His offer of salvation..
Is to be called into a life that transcends the standards and morals of our society.
Now before you think I am going to get all "lofty" and "High minded" about this whole "Call" business. I'm not.
Because of one simple fact.
Those that are called are saved, and should be equipped to go out into the market place, the school, the neighborhood, to continue the ministry (or service) of Christ.
We become His arms, His legs, and His voice to those around us who do not know our Jesus.

Forget the religious junk....
We spend more time trying to get people to believe that we are Christians than we do going about the Kingdom business of reaching out to them.
Somehow we bought into the idea that if I wear enough Christian T-shirts (and there's nothing wrong with wearing a T-shirt)...that if I put that fish on my car (and if you really bold, you'll put the Greek letters inside it) then they will know that I'm a pseudo-follower of Jesus. Well, try something new. How about loving them as Christ loves them? I'm not talking about loving them from a distance. It's not enough to sit in church and proclaim that Jesus loves the unloved and so do we. Such statements have to be backed by action.

I remember all to well this song that I have chosen for today's posting.
It was 2006 and I had a serious call to leave Vineyard.
I knew God was calling me to leave...
My wife knew God was calling me to leave...
But it was soooo comfortable just being a part of what was happening at the Vineyard.
The call was real, and so was my rejection of it.
I used every excuse in the book to counter what I knew to be true.
It was on a Wednesday night, and I was on the worship team for the service that night.
"If You Say Go" was one of the songs I had picked to do. Why? Well, in my mind it was to encourage others to be open to God's call on their life to do the Kingdom work of Christ.

Right in the middle of the song, my wife came up on the stage, which she had done many times before. Usually when she does this, it is because she has received a word for God and wants to share it. Tonight would be different. Instead of walking up to a microphone, she came and stood directly behind me. She leaned in and whispered into me ear..."If you don't go...He is going to kill us all!!!"  Now she didn't really mean that God would actually kill us, but what she did mean was that God was very serious about where He wanted to lead us and I had kept coming up with excuses as to why I wouldn't go. You have to love her for being so bold and forthright. I knew the intent of her message was true in that God was reaching a point to where my hesitation would turn into full blown rebellion against Him. I did not want that to happen.
I announced my departure from Vineyard and the rest is history.

John Wimber use to say that he was a coin in God's pocket,and that God could spend him anyway He chose to.
What about you?
Are you willing to be spent by God, the way He chooses to?

God on you...
mb