Track 6: What do you see? – (A message to church leaders)

January 25, 2010 by BBurrows
Filed under Your Daily Walk

Track 6: What do you see?

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and marveled, sating one to another, Behold are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our tongue, wherein we were born?

And they were amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And is shall come to pass in the last days, saith God. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and you daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Acts 2:1-8 and 12-17 (KJV)

First before I start this track, I want to lift the country and people of Haiti in prayer. The earthquake that hit Haiti this past week is one of the most destructive attacks on humanity that I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. Haiti as you know, and have learned is a very oppressed, poor and corrupt nation before this devastation, but also, as I have learned, a nation full of good, hard-working, Christian people. I believe that God saves and salvages and I know God can bring grace, calm, peace and prosperity to this nation through this tragic event. My prayers are with the people and missionaries of this country and please give what you can and pray daily that people come to know Christ through this event.

I am on the Leadership Team of my company and as a member of this team we read one leadership training book a month. In January we were assigned to read the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen Covey. As in most of these readings I try to apply the lessons learned to both my professional career and my Christian walk – and this book was powerful in both. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Powerful Lessons in Personal Change focuses on paradigm shifting – it focuses on how we view the world. And, in that view are we looking at the world through tinted glasses?

In our humanity we follow a very simple formula of life – see, do, get. What we see drives what we do and results in what we get! But isn’t funny, after we get what we saw, which was a result of what we did we aren’t happy with what we got! Too many times that is the case in our lives. The book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Powerful Lessons in Personal Change suggests that we need to change what it is that we see – to change how we view the world – to shift our paradigm.

The book offered this great example of viewing differently what we see – of shifting our paradigm. “Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, ‘Light, bearing on the starboard bow.’ ‘Is it steady or moving astern?’ the captain called out. Lookout replied, ‘Steady, captain,’ which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship. The captain then called to the signalman, ‘Signal that ship: we are on a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees.’
Back came a signal, ‘Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees.’ The captain said, ‘Send, I’m a captain, change course 20 degrees.’ ‘I’m a seaman second class,’ came the reply. ‘You had better change course 20 degrees.’ By that time, the captain was furious. He spat out, ‘Send, I’m a battleship. Change course 20 degrees.’ Back came the flashing light, ‘I’m a lighthouse.’

We changed course (20 degrees).

How are you looking at the world and when was the last time you shifted your paradigm? Like the captain we can get so focused on what we see which drives what we do that we fail to recognize what is right in front of our eyes. On September 22, 2009 the USA Today reported that 22% of Americans between the ages of 8 and 29 years of age claim no religious identity! And, if this current trend continues that in five short years one-in-five people in America under the age of 30 will not claim any religious identity. As I travel from church-to-church in the ministry I find most churches are oblivious to this fact – they don’t see it – and their focus and concentration is on attracting young families 30 years-old plus! They just don’t see what is right in front of their eyes that 29 year-olds and under are dying to this world at a machine gun rapid pace. I watched one church that was blessed with a groundswell of 20 year-olds, 20 year-olds on fire for Christ and ready to work, ignore what was right in front of their eyes and focus on young families! They couldn’t see it, let alone do it! Needless to say, they now suffer like most churches with no 20 year-old population.

I think back on the day of Pentecost in Acts and the paradigm shift that had to occur. Here are a group of people who just lost a loved one in a brutal crucifixion! A group that saw the Savior die, and resurrect. Think about that for just one minute and the paradigm shift that had to occur to acknowledge and believe what they were seeing and what they would do! Now, they are all in “one accord” in prayer when a “sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind” filled the house and there were “cloven tongues like as of fire” and “they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance”! Looking at this from the outside we could conclude that they were drunk, or high, or crazy! That the winds were from a twister or hurricane, and that the “cloven tongues of fire” were of the devil!

But in this paradigm shift from the world to the Spirit, those folks in the room realized what they were seeing and knew what they had to do – they hit the streets claiming God’s word. “Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And is shall come to pass in the last days, saith God. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and you daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”

What is it you are seeing and what is it driving you to do and what has been the fruit of your efforts? I am asking you to shift your paradigm this week and view the world through a different set of eyes. See if you can recognize the dying world in front of you and let’s see what it is you do. Several events over the past two weeks have forced me to shift my paradigm and change course. My prayer is that you are flexible and willing enough to shift yours.

God bless and thank you for reading.

Jesus Christ 4 Life After Death 4 Eternity

Research and acknowledgments:

Ben Burrows is a lay writer and speaker, and founder of ‘Groovin Toward Glory Ministries, co-founder of D.O. and the Gorillas of Gospel, Street KING Productions and co-author of “BOOK! The Raps and Rhymes of God”

USA Today, Tuesday September 22, 2009, Life Section, page 7D, headline, ‘15% now check no religion’