With eyes wide open

This is a most interesting time. Many would prefer to stick their head in the sand and pretend that nothing is changing, but in fact everything is changing. You can't hide from the days we live in or the days ahead.

...

In thinking about our day my thoughts go back to the first century and the life of Paul. He lived in a most difficult time and yet in the midst of very difficult days he was excited about what God was doing around him. In Paul's day he lived under the rule of the Roman empire. Slavery was prevalent. Persecution was rising. His own people had turned their backs on him. He had been beaten and flogged more than once. There was every reason in the world for Paul to look for a place to hide, but instead he engages the world head on. He clearly thought differently about the world he lived in than we do in ours. He knew the only thing that could change his world was the gospel of Jesus Christ.

...

Paul didn't ridicule the government, instead he told believers to be submissive to the rulers over them. He said, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, that the government was placed there by God. The ruler at the time of these words was Nero.

...

Paul didn't criticize slave owners, but instead told slave to be submissive to their masters.

...

Paul didn't focus on changing the culture, he focused his energies on preaching the gospel...on changing lives. He knew the only way you can change a culture is from the inside, one heart at a time. If a man or woman trusts Christ as savior you have changed one life in the midst of a culture. It's that inside out change that will change an entire culture one life at a time. That was Paul's focus- the gospel, the heart, the individual.

...

In our day we, as Christians, have focused our attention on changing culture from the outside through laws, phone calls to our congressman, signing petitions, calling talk shows. But what we forget is that you cannot change culture from the outside in....it only makes the culture around us mad. If culture is to change we must do it from the inside out. One person, one heart trusting Christ, one life changed by following Christ. The enemy has convinced us that we can do more through politics than through saved lives and changed hearts. We have been wrong to believe that lie.

...

Like Paul we need to focus our energies on sharing Christ with a lost world. It's the changed lives that will change the culture. No matter how bad the culture becomes we are still called to one mission- preach Christ, make disciples. In spite of the choices of leaders and government our task never changes. It's the same message Paul preached in his most difficult days. It's the message of transformed lives that will transform the culture.

...

It's time to once more become the church of Jesus Christ and boldly proclaim the gospel that will transform lives and ultimately change the culture. It's time to live with our eyes wide open focused on what God cares about most.

...