God @ Work: Cultural Shifts
Judges 6:25-25; 7:1-9
Sustained Momentum (= A *Movement) will require a culture shift.
*=When momentum is personalized, systematized & decentralized in multiple sectors at the individual level. Momentum usually starts at the top and seeps throughout the masses & then becomes grassroots efforts that seeps out to various sectors of society.
This means that normative attitudes, expectations and methodology with which things are done must not only be avoided...they must be destroyed.
*Normative= Ideal standard or model
*Culture = a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture; Development or improvement of the mind by education or training; The behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.
Brennan Manning, acclaimed author and Catholic Priest, once told an audience that I sat in:
“In order to grow in intimacy with and knowledge of God, one must toss out everything they think they know about God!” ~Brennan Manning
Jesus said: Put me before mother/father; Love your enemies; Serve to be great; Take up your cross daily & bear it. (These things counter cultural for us.)
Normal life that is full of either pain and greed
Introduction of Jesus
Spiritual bliss
Call to obedience
Reaction of friends/family
Interruption of Jesus
Reassessment of Jesus, faith and self-motivation
Repeat call to obedience
The newer, flexible and more in-tuned you & an accurate perception of Jesus...and self.
Momentum CANNOT be maintained (by definition). It is unleashed & decentralized
Creation of a movement (Perpetual momentum)
Meets you; Shows you something you really want; Allows you to try to attain it on your own; Proves that you cannot get it on your own; You either decide you no longer want it or that you’ll get it by your own strength...either method is a form of “death!” This “death” to the false sense of self-sufficiency creates the awareness of the need for something and Someone greater to take control of matters; We now call Jesus (We choose Him and His methods and His perfect will)!! He hears...and we’ve just hit the tipping point of momentum.
This is a Holy moment!
(I-VII are merely the tipping point...pre-momentum)
When God IS @ Work He & the Work need to be acknowledged because the Eternal God, Who, has always been invisible to the human eye, has chosen the reveal power, authority, compassion and strategy for transformation, openly.
If we are not careful we’ll miss the true miracle and moral of the story.
It’ll be like holding on to a perfect apple and beholding it’s beauty so tightly that you forget to apply its seed back to the ground...soon the apple will disintegrate and you will have lost the only opportunity for more....planting of the healthy seed!
When culture is shifted significantly...God often instructs His followers to build an altar or God changes or allows the person’s name be changed i.e. Sarai, Abram, Gideon... in order to perpetuate the momentum into a movement!
Scriptural insights: (Judges 7)
You have too men (send the frightened men home); 22K left after God sifts.
Still too many...send the men to the water and I’ll instruct you..keep 300
I’ll save you with the 300 men
Gideon overheard the dream of his enemies...God overcomes your opposition
Obey (blowing trumpets, breaking jars, and shouting to God!)
God joined forces to destroy HIS enemies (see Numbers 25)
Challenge:
Ask God for a doggy bag? Learn to do this at home.
Discern what “cultural shift” needs to happen in your mind and heart so that you can experience God’s momentum and help to start a movement around you.
Judges 6:25-25; 7:1-9
Sustained Momentum (= A *Movement) will require a culture shift.
*=When momentum is personalized, systematized & decentralized in multiple sectors at the individual level. Momentum usually starts at the top and seeps throughout the masses & then becomes grassroots efforts that seeps out to various sectors of society.
This means that normative attitudes, expectations and methodology with which things are done must not only be avoided...they must be destroyed.
*Normative= Ideal standard or model
*Culture = a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture; Development or improvement of the mind by education or training; The behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.
Brennan Manning, acclaimed author and Catholic Priest, once told an audience that I sat in:
“In order to grow in intimacy with and knowledge of God, one must toss out everything they think they know about God!” ~Brennan Manning
Jesus said: Put me before mother/father; Love your enemies; Serve to be great; Take up your cross daily & bear it. (These things counter cultural for us.)
Normal life that is full of either pain and greed
Introduction of Jesus
Spiritual bliss
Call to obedience
Reaction of friends/family
Interruption of Jesus
Reassessment of Jesus, faith and self-motivation
Repeat call to obedience
The newer, flexible and more in-tuned you & an accurate perception of Jesus...and self.
Momentum CANNOT be maintained (by definition). It is unleashed & decentralized
Creation of a movement (Perpetual momentum)
Meets you; Shows you something you really want; Allows you to try to attain it on your own; Proves that you cannot get it on your own; You either decide you no longer want it or that you’ll get it by your own strength...either method is a form of “death!” This “death” to the false sense of self-sufficiency creates the awareness of the need for something and Someone greater to take control of matters; We now call Jesus (We choose Him and His methods and His perfect will)!! He hears...and we’ve just hit the tipping point of momentum.
This is a Holy moment!
(I-VII are merely the tipping point...pre-momentum)
When God IS @ Work He & the Work need to be acknowledged because the Eternal God, Who, has always been invisible to the human eye, has chosen the reveal power, authority, compassion and strategy for transformation, openly.
If we are not careful we’ll miss the true miracle and moral of the story.
It’ll be like holding on to a perfect apple and beholding it’s beauty so tightly that you forget to apply its seed back to the ground...soon the apple will disintegrate and you will have lost the only opportunity for more....planting of the healthy seed!
When culture is shifted significantly...God often instructs His followers to build an altar or God changes or allows the person’s name be changed i.e. Sarai, Abram, Gideon... in order to perpetuate the momentum into a movement!
Scriptural insights: (Judges 7)
You have too men (send the frightened men home); 22K left after God sifts.
Still too many...send the men to the water and I’ll instruct you..keep 300
I’ll save you with the 300 men
Gideon overheard the dream of his enemies...God overcomes your opposition
Obey (blowing trumpets, breaking jars, and shouting to God!)
God joined forces to destroy HIS enemies (see Numbers 25)
Challenge:
Ask God for a doggy bag? Learn to do this at home.
Discern what “cultural shift” needs to happen in your mind and heart so that you can experience God’s momentum and help to start a movement around you.
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