Living Worthy of the Gospel

In January of this year, I had the opportunity to be apart of the  Passion Conferences in Atlanta, GA. I wasn't able to actually go their, but they did have a live stream online that I was able to watch.  For those of you who do not know what Passion is, the best way I can describe it is Isaiah 26:8  "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your truth we wait eagerly for you, for your name and your renown are the desire of our souls." That's what Passion Conferences are about, a movement of people desiring to make his fame and renown magnified all over the world.

One of the speakers for Passion this year was a man by the name of Francis Chan.  He is truly a remarkable man of God who I have a deep admiration for.  He has such a deep passion and commitment to the word of God. His message that night was  based on Philipians 1:27 "...conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the Gospel..." (ESV)



Let me illustrate this verse to you by using a scale:

The idea is that you put your life on one side of the scale and the weight of the Gospel on the other side.  The goal is to be living our life in such a way that the two balance out (i.e what we say we believe about the bible should match how we live our life).  The scale to the left is a good picture of how our lives should be.




 
 but for a lot of us, in light of what we say we believe, our lives often look a lot like this on the scale:

does the second scale often look like your life? It does for me.  Lately, i've thought a lot about this myself and I came to the  conclusion that if I were to put my life on a scale and the weight of the Gospel on the other, there would be a huge discrepancy between what I say I believe and how I live.

One example that I've thought about concerning this issue has to do with our belief of passages that talk about Hell.  Do you really believe in a literal Hell? Honestly, think about it for a moment,  do you really believe that those who have not repented of their sins and placed their trust in Jesus alone to save them will spend an eternity in a place called Hell?   If we really believe in Hell then we should be out on the streets pleading with the lost.  Our lifestyle should match our belief in this. This is sadly something I really haven't believed to the degree that it affects my life. And chances are you have felt the same way.


So what do we do? I know thinking about this can be overwhelming and the easy thing to do would be to just give up and do nothing. But that's exactly what Satan wants us to do.



I want to end with a story about a man named Rodney "Gypsy" Smith.

Rodney Smith was a 18th century evangelist. He was born in England. His mother died when he was a small boy. His father led him to Christ at the age of 15. Two years later, smith joined General William Booth's mission, and began preaching to crowds that numbered from 100 to 1500. He conducted evangelistic campaigns in the United States and Scotland for over 70 years.  He came to America 30 times and preached around the world twice.  In the Paris Opera House he had 150 conversions out of the cream of parisian society.

One day, Rodney was asked what the secret to revival was?  This was his response: "Go home. Take a piece of chalk. Draw a circle around yourself. Then pray, 'O Lord, revive everything inside this circle.'"


Powerful statement made by that evangelist isn't it?

I don't know where you are on the "scale".  Maybe you like scale #1, your walk matches your talk. If that's you then praise God!! Or maybe you are like me and feel like you would fit the second scale, your walk does not match your talk.

The only way that our lives will ever come to a place that matches what we say we believe about the Bible is when Jesus comes and revives our life.

At the end of Francis Chan's talk, a song was played that I believe really captures that statement by Rodney Smith about revival.  This has been my prayer and my hope is that you will make it yours as well.  

Note: for this song you will have to click on the link on this video to go to youtube as it will not play directly here.

Lyrics:

Spirit fall
Spirit fall
Holy Spirit fall
Fall on me

Come like a mighty wind
Light the fire again
Come and breathe your breath on me

Come magnify the son
Savior of the world
The hope for everyone