Just watched Francis Chan teaching at IHOP. What God has done in this moment is indescribable. Francis Chan has said yes to teach in the place that many call a cult. He has said yes to the thing that will cost him reputation. He has said yes to advancing the Kingdom at all costs. Many will say he has aligned himself with Mike Bikle but we know the truth. He has aligned himself with God.
He also struck me to the core with his message. The challenge is to hear the voice of God, to stay the course even when false messengers are being sent not just by the enemy but by the Lord Himself to send us the message that will steer us from the truth of the Gospel. Why would God deliberately send delusion? Well He says He does so that is good enough but it is clear that God wants to know that when we hear Him will we stay the course? Will we do what we said we would do? He wants to know that if we have heard from Him will we be sent off course by others who have heard something else from Him? Will we go with the numbers or will we stay steady? Are we moved by man or God? Pretty simple at the end of the day. For us to know we are hearing from Him it must match with what He says and does in the Word because the Word is His living voice. For us to sync up what we hear from the Lord and what He is consistently saying then we must be in His word. We must know what it says and then we must do what it says. We must not find its use in an excuse for our shortcoming and sin but we must be rooted in the whole of what it says. We cannot be followers of men and their teachings but we must be grounded in what God says and then we must do what He says.
This was the heart of his message tonight and then he dropped into Revelation 3:1
“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent.
What? What just happened? Who is this guy? Who is this God that he says stay the course and know the word. Don't listen to teachers who will fool you and then says through a teacher from out of nowhere, "oh by the way you need to repent." The key here is the tenderness God has for us. In verse 2 He says, "Wake up and strengthen what remains." What a gem God sees that there is this thing alive on the inside and He yells, "wake up. That thing is still in you. It's still alive. Strengthen it." It's a hard word. What God is saying is you used to love me more. Hate to hear that. Know it's true. I don't want to spend forever having loved Him more in the past.
Apparently, I am not alone. It seems pretty much the entire message of God throughout all time. Even from the first. "You used to love me more." He says it alot.
"I'm coming back to the heart of worship. It's all about You."
