The Secret To Revival Found In Christ’s High Priestly Prayer-“that the love you have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
~The Secret To Revival~
Salvation, Sanctification, Revival, and Renewal of The Church are Not Dependent on Eliminating Evil ,But rather on Embracing God Through Christ.
This misconception is the most common mistake we make in our efforts to change ourselves and in seeking renewal in the Church.
The most troubling condition is present in many or most churches across America today.
I was troubled as I read a devotional by a man of God whom I greatly respect who wrote a critique using John 17:26 in an effort to identify and correct our disunity in the church.
As he listed the issues to correct he omitted Christ as the answer.
His focus was on the illness and he ignored the cure.
I find no error in his comments, only in who he did not embrace as the answer.
Our answer is a who not a what, personal not mere intellectual assent, the One who Rules the hearts of men, not simply rules themselves, involving both the risen Christ and His truth, not one or the other.
All our problems represent an absence of God’s love through Jesus Christ in us, a void within each of us who claim to comprise the Church in our age.
I have read a series of book reviews on the Gospel Coalition site about Renewal of The Church in America,
and so far each book talks all about the problems we face and almost never mentions the only real solution, who is Christ in us!
I assure you I’m nobody, but I know who my God and Father is
and I know He has loved me with an everlasting love
and I need to tell everyone I can how much He loves them and how much they need to know His love personally.
Omission of sin comes after Christ comes in.
He alone has the power to transform.
Embrace Christ to displace death, and be saved, for He alone can save.
Embrace Christ to displace sin, because He alone, by His indwelling Spirit, can empower you overcome.
Embrace Christ to displace self,and become Christ like, for He has loved us before we knew Him.
Embrace Christ to displace your desires, for He alone is the most beautiful entity in the universe to be desired and you will trade everything for more of Him.
Embrace Christ to displace all the things that entice the Church away from It’s first love, for Christ alone is worthy of all glory, power and praise!
Embrace Christ to change the world, for if any man is in Christ he is a new creation, old things are passes away, behold all have become new, and that is the only real social reform.
Christ’s High Priestly Prayer ends with the following summary of His desire for all who believe.
“I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
(John 17:26)
His love is the context for all our theology and that context must be given preeminence .
When the early Church Fathers made the Nicene Creed they did not clearly set the context for all truth
which is God’s love in us through Jesus Christ.
Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
If Christ is no longer supreme in my heart and daily living, then I have lost the Way, neglected the Truth, and turned away from Life.
A very simple theology in the context of God’s love, for he indwells the true believer and love grows and shows.
We must be one IN Christ, or we will become like the church in Ephesus.
“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen;
repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”
(Revelation 2:4,5)
Christ is our first love, and His arms are ever wide open to embrace us.
https://christcenteredteaching.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/the-simplicity-that-is-in-christ/
Related articles and updates
9-27-2012 Update- Dr. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan New York has released a new book called,”Center Church”, a road map for renewal for the church in which the focus is The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Keller has also called for renewed emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all our theology in a 54 minute video you can watch here. http://wp.me/p1Lr49-MG
Tim Keller is an awesome Christ Centered teacher. I highly recommend him.
Free Sermons
Tim Keller delivered this challenge to church leaders to be ,”Gospel Shaped”, in all our ministry.
“Every sermon should ultimately be about Jesus.” Tim Keller
- Gospel Shaped Ministry By Tim Keller (christcenteredteaching.wordpress.com)
May 6, 2012
Christ Centered Teaching
Christ Centered Teaching 