It has been said, 'If can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.'
For some churches it is more truthful to say, 'If you can't handle the heat, just convince yourself heat was never needed to start with.'
See, maybe we love lukewarm a little too much. It's less confronting. A little less controversial. A little less loud and obnoxious. In dying churches we don't get out of the metaphorical kitchen of church life so much as we stick around and cause an ice-age.
If God is a consuming fire, and he sent the 'fire of the Holy Spirit' at the day of Pentecost, then why do we not embrace what is encapsulated in this image of fire? Fire causes us to consider a passionate faith, a vibrant expression of discipleship, a purging away of our sinfulness, and empowering of God for living the way of Jesus.
God is in the kitchen stirring up a new way of redemptive life that transforms the church and revolutionizes society. Heaven forbid I ignore the fire of God, and settle for something much less.
For some churches it is more truthful to say, 'If you can't handle the heat, just convince yourself heat was never needed to start with.'
See, maybe we love lukewarm a little too much. It's less confronting. A little less controversial. A little less loud and obnoxious. In dying churches we don't get out of the metaphorical kitchen of church life so much as we stick around and cause an ice-age.
If God is a consuming fire, and he sent the 'fire of the Holy Spirit' at the day of Pentecost, then why do we not embrace what is encapsulated in this image of fire? Fire causes us to consider a passionate faith, a vibrant expression of discipleship, a purging away of our sinfulness, and empowering of God for living the way of Jesus.
God is in the kitchen stirring up a new way of redemptive life that transforms the church and revolutionizes society. Heaven forbid I ignore the fire of God, and settle for something much less.
good stuff Pete, curently I am turning up the heat and some hate it. I am just gonna keep turning it up....
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