Wounded warriors afraid of further wounding cannot be allowed to participate in the battle. Deadly fear spreads and freezes them and those around them. Dangerous hesitation destroys the timing of the urgent response to the enemy.

if what we have now were functioning as Jesus designed and defined ekklesia, the present “church-anity” would be something the world has never seen before.

Here’s the problem: the church is not in the religion mountain and never has been.

Luke 4 preaching does not redeem and restore people and cultures with economic agendas. You will not redeem and restore anyone with social justice. You preach spiritual salvation to those who are currently not hearing that message. That is what the word “poor” means in the Scripture Jesus quotes. Then, He does precisely what the Scripture says He will do.

Beware the tendency to devalue God’s Word by pouring it out of your alabaster box when you have only accumulated a few drops.

Paul says, “Use all of God’s weaponry.” He then seems to assume that doing so will result in winning! “You will oppose in the evil day” – a way of describing the conflict that we face against principalities, power, and cosmic dominators.

God is faithful. He has provided us the fathering leaders we need. To be ready, we need to get the kingdom citizens back into kingdom culture, bear down hard on the rebellion, reset the entire church-growth error, embrace the Bible more than humanly-devised systems and perception, and get on with the goals of God.

In general, when we ask modern church-anity to display the successful harvest, we nearly always end up looking at the three soils that produce nothing Father wants from the seed provided.

The opportunists present you with the hope of fame, fortune, and future. They appear to be the ultimate of kingdom opportunity, but the opportunity is not for you, but them and their following.

Train your children to honor you. Begin by training them to honor your voice. If they honor your voice, they surrender their attention. If they surrender their attention to you, they are valuing your voice so they can hear your words. If they hear your voice, they will learn your values.