Platforms: tired and true (Chris Henderson)
The church poured themselves into the community- the pastor poured their life into the saints- the saints poured their lives into the church. All over the world we can see this cyclical pattern from every steadfast church, across denominational and cultural barriers.
It is the way of the church, you could say.
Saints and pastors win souls, teach Sunday School, lead worship and pray in altars. Saints lend a helping hand, provide prayer support and rejoice with you when you get a promotion. Pastors dedicate babies, join in marriage the babies they dedicate and bury family members. These relationships provide the fruit that proves the platform from which the man or woman of God is able to speak into your life. This is the tried platform. This is the true platform.
I see a new platform entering the scene, a platform I am not totally sure we are ready to wrestle, because it requires no fruit production. This is the platform of electronic media. It may seem like I am shooting myself in the foot, because after all I am blogging this on the very medium of which I speak, but I allow me to qualify the situation further. Nowadays one can do a lot of things online but grow deep meaningful relationships is not one of them. I do know of several couples who have started relationships online, even one or two that got married from those electronic introductions, but not one of them kept the relationship online. They met, they talked, they grew together as two people, they saw the fruit each other produced. They cried together in pain and rejoiced together in joy. These things cannot happen on Twitter, FaceBook, linkedin or whatever tool you find. While I do believe in the need for, and often enjoy, the immediate connection, I cannot tweet my love
for my wife without proving that love with works. If I love her then I must 'feed the sheep' as one man said. Electronic media does not require these works, it actually requires little at all. The platform of electronic media allows one to hide behind an array of fine phrases and witty words while concealing the inner-most parts of the authors true intent. It is suddenly all about Matthew 7:15-16 where Jesus tells us to beware of those that come in sheep's clothing but are ravenous wolves. Authors pose as one thing in a group but are far from the core belief system of that group. We cannot see the fruit that is produced in the authors life, only what the they want us to see. We cannot know the true meaning of what one says without knowing the context of their lives and the fruit they produce.
Furthermore, there could be a man or woman who has no real credibility in life, no witness of fellow ministers, no church who amens them every service, no real ministry, yet they are able to speak on the platform of electronic media because their site is slick and content funny. These things, brethren, ought not be so.
In a day and age where google determines the status of a platform by page rank, I stand to say that the platform where my pastor and your pastor stand every week bearing their souls before God and the saints of your local congregation is the number one platform. Why? because they are known by the fruit they produce, because they actually produce fruit.
I do extend this platform to men and women of God who have proven their opinion with fruit. A life lived for ministry, one who has spent themselves for the kingdom of God. So follow Bro Mooney and find out what he has to say. Go read blogs, but know who wrote them and what they mean. Read books but be aware that the author has an agenda they are pushing.
Remember the place where real ministry takes place, where men and women of God pour of themselves into you is the productive platform in your life. So don't despise that platform in your life, accept it and take blogs for what they are, one man's (or groups) opinion.
It is the way of the church, you could say.
Saints and pastors win souls, teach Sunday School, lead worship and pray in altars. Saints lend a helping hand, provide prayer support and rejoice with you when you get a promotion. Pastors dedicate babies, join in marriage the babies they dedicate and bury family members. These relationships provide the fruit that proves the platform from which the man or woman of God is able to speak into your life. This is the tried platform. This is the true platform.
I see a new platform entering the scene, a platform I am not totally sure we are ready to wrestle, because it requires no fruit production. This is the platform of electronic media. It may seem like I am shooting myself in the foot, because after all I am blogging this on the very medium of which I speak, but I allow me to qualify the situation further. Nowadays one can do a lot of things online but grow deep meaningful relationships is not one of them. I do know of several couples who have started relationships online, even one or two that got married from those electronic introductions, but not one of them kept the relationship online. They met, they talked, they grew together as two people, they saw the fruit each other produced. They cried together in pain and rejoiced together in joy. These things cannot happen on Twitter, FaceBook, linkedin or whatever tool you find. While I do believe in the need for, and often enjoy, the immediate connection, I cannot tweet my love
for my wife without proving that love with works. If I love her then I must 'feed the sheep' as one man said. Electronic media does not require these works, it actually requires little at all. The platform of electronic media allows one to hide behind an array of fine phrases and witty words while concealing the inner-most parts of the authors true intent. It is suddenly all about Matthew 7:15-16 where Jesus tells us to beware of those that come in sheep's clothing but are ravenous wolves. Authors pose as one thing in a group but are far from the core belief system of that group. We cannot see the fruit that is produced in the authors life, only what the they want us to see. We cannot know the true meaning of what one says without knowing the context of their lives and the fruit they produce.Furthermore, there could be a man or woman who has no real credibility in life, no witness of fellow ministers, no church who amens them every service, no real ministry, yet they are able to speak on the platform of electronic media because their site is slick and content funny. These things, brethren, ought not be so.
In a day and age where google determines the status of a platform by page rank, I stand to say that the platform where my pastor and your pastor stand every week bearing their souls before God and the saints of your local congregation is the number one platform. Why? because they are known by the fruit they produce, because they actually produce fruit.
I do extend this platform to men and women of God who have proven their opinion with fruit. A life lived for ministry, one who has spent themselves for the kingdom of God. So follow Bro Mooney and find out what he has to say. Go read blogs, but know who wrote them and what they mean. Read books but be aware that the author has an agenda they are pushing.
Remember the place where real ministry takes place, where men and women of God pour of themselves into you is the productive platform in your life. So don't despise that platform in your life, accept it and take blogs for what they are, one man's (or groups) opinion.