On Solid Ground

the will of God. A teacher who isn’t following God’s will is a wolf, and will devastate

the flock if we listen to them. The test isn’t how charismatic a leader they are, or

how profound a thinker they are, or how many books they’ve sold, or even how

large a following they have. The test is: are they following God’s will? The issue isn’t

whether what they are right in what they are saying. The issue is, are they right with

the Lord? Today, the Church is hungry for men with high character who will not

succumb to the seduction of celebrity.

This October I served on the faculty at the Glorieta Christian Writers Conference.

Among my duties for the week was to meet with aspiring writers. My job was to

evaluate their work and give them advise how to improve their craft. Some of the

writers were quite good, others struggled with writing a complete sentence. I tried to

be as encouraging as I could as I gave these writer’s my honest evaluation. A couple

of times I got past the surface issues to ask a heart-wrenching question, "Why do

you want this work published?" Each time I asked that question, the person flinched,

and stammered around for a few moments without really answering the question. It

was evident to me that they hadn’t even considered that question before.

You see, I believe the "Why" of writing has to come before the "What." Some

aspiring authors know what they want to write, but never wrestle with why. If the

"why" is to achieve some level of celebrity, it is an invalid reason. The only reason to

write, or teach for that matter, is because the message is burning a hole in your heart

and you can’t keep from communicating it to others.

Like Peter and John, Christian communicators should cry out, "for we cannot stop

speaking what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:20 NASB) The test, is whether or

not the communicator is in God’s will, and we are all to be fruit inspectors.

After settling the question of which gate to walk through and which teachers to listen

to, Jesus asks his listeners to decide what they will do with His teachings. He said

that those who heard and didn’t apply His teachings are like a fool who builds his

house on the sand. In contrast, those who heard and applied His teachings are like

the wise man that build his house on a firm foundation.

Which are you? Notice that both the foolish man and the wise man listened to His

words. It is not enough just to hear what He says! If we are wise, we will heed His

words.

If you’ve listened over the past eight weeks, you’ve heard a call to revolution. A call

to live a radical Christian lifestyle. Together, we’ve discovered Jesus’ call for us to

be a preserving influence in our culture and to boldly shine the gospel’s light into the

darkness. We learned that Jesus expect us to do more than what is expected--to do

more than is right. We are to totally depend on Him by resisting the temptation to

worry and to humble ourselves before Him and pray.

My question to you is, "What are you going to do about it?" Are you ready to join

the revolution? Do you want more out of your Christianity than putting in your time