...Niagara Falls
Have you ever been to Niagara Falls? Totally unreal experience....almost 30 years ago.... Ellen and I were sitting in the boat that takes you right up to the falls...just looking up in awe....watching the mountains of water pouring over the edge above.... almost right on top of you....the mighty roar of the water eliminating any possibility of conversation...but nothing needed to be said....stunning....raw power...un-contained....no beginning...no end.... we just saw God in a way we never had before.
The other day, listening to Mumford he used Niagara Falls as an illustration of the Kingdom of God. It went deep into my heart the minute he made the comparison....of course... there it is.... the raw un-contained power of God...just pouring out constantly....no beginning.... no end.... why don't we get it?
We need to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom..... people need to plug into God's Niagara Falls and stop playing in all the little puddles that have been formed when the Kingdom hits the earth and there is a splash here and a splash there down through 2000 years of Church History. Every time it hits, there is big splash and a fresh new pool of water....as we get our hands into it.... take over.... make our new set of rules..... leave God out of it.... the Holy Spirit leaves...... then another splash of Niagara.... another pool here.... another pond there.... over and over and over again.
What we have left today are a bunch of little puddles, pools and ponds...some with pretty muddy waters...some just stagnant little ponds....some just a puddle where no one can even get wet any more.
Us little kids can really have fun splashing around in the new pools or bigger ponds, especially when things are really hot and it makes me feel so good, but eventually we need to go home and face Mom and Dad in our messy, muddied up clothes and explain how it was that we got that way.
Maybe it is time to leave the puddles, take a chance, leap off into the falls...into the raw power of God to take us wherever it is He is going.....
It is the Gospel of the Kingdom.... the gospel of who God is....and you know what He says He is.....He says that He is Agape...that's the Greek word for a totally unselfish, totally giving love that lives His life for others and not for myself. That's another word in the Greek...Eros...totally selfish, taking kind of thing, that lives my life for me.
The love thing is another posting. As is what the puddle has done to the meaning of the Kingdom. Maybe I can get into that tomorrow.
Meanwhile...why not leave all the muddle of the puddle?
:)
The other day, listening to Mumford he used Niagara Falls as an illustration of the Kingdom of God. It went deep into my heart the minute he made the comparison....of course... there it is.... the raw un-contained power of God...just pouring out constantly....no beginning.... no end.... why don't we get it?
We need to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom..... people need to plug into God's Niagara Falls and stop playing in all the little puddles that have been formed when the Kingdom hits the earth and there is a splash here and a splash there down through 2000 years of Church History. Every time it hits, there is big splash and a fresh new pool of water....as we get our hands into it.... take over.... make our new set of rules..... leave God out of it.... the Holy Spirit leaves...... then another splash of Niagara.... another pool here.... another pond there.... over and over and over again.
What we have left today are a bunch of little puddles, pools and ponds...some with pretty muddy waters...some just stagnant little ponds....some just a puddle where no one can even get wet any more.
Us little kids can really have fun splashing around in the new pools or bigger ponds, especially when things are really hot and it makes me feel so good, but eventually we need to go home and face Mom and Dad in our messy, muddied up clothes and explain how it was that we got that way.
Maybe it is time to leave the puddles, take a chance, leap off into the falls...into the raw power of God to take us wherever it is He is going.....
It is the Gospel of the Kingdom.... the gospel of who God is....and you know what He says He is.....He says that He is Agape...that's the Greek word for a totally unselfish, totally giving love that lives His life for others and not for myself. That's another word in the Greek...Eros...totally selfish, taking kind of thing, that lives my life for me.
The love thing is another posting. As is what the puddle has done to the meaning of the Kingdom. Maybe I can get into that tomorrow.
Meanwhile...why not leave all the muddle of the puddle?
:)
