Jason shares his experience at the African Arts Festival in St. Louis St. Louis African Arts Festival – Fusing African Culture and People Together! (stlafricanartsfest.com)
Continuing the story of Sun Ministries
God called us through Isaiah 61 to initiate reformation of the church and rebuild the ancient ruins. God has a design for Church, and we should be doing that.
Every Christian should be seeking to do things the way God wants them done. What if every Christian lived they way Jesus taught us to live? Doing things God’s way is incredibly inconvenient.
Many people don’t question church structure.
If you’ve been transformed by Jesus, you will live more like Him
Are you disconnected from your theology? Do your beliefs about who God is, does it change your behavior and values?
Jesus came to the oppressed, and undid the oppression – He made the way for freedom.
Are we afraid that we’re going to give something to someone who doesn’t deserve it?
Isaiah 58 – What does it mean to be afflicted? “afflicted” means oppressed or beaten down. Same word used when we’re told to humble ourselves, or when God humbles His people in the desert to reveal their hearts. It actually has 5 contexts in scripture
- God humbling His people
- People humbling themselves
- People who are afflicted
- rape
- and false humility (Isaiah 58:3). The hypocrites are “afflicting” themselves. They are doing things that are essentially meaningless and ineffective, and trying to convince God they are afflicting themselves, humbling themselves. Ceasing from eating for a day is not the same as being raped.
Satisfy the desires of the afflicted – sometimes, those might not be the “holiest” of desires.
To humble ourselves is to afflict ourselves, as the people are afflicted. We do what Christ did. We lay aside our rights and become like those to whom we are sent. They are afflicted, so must we be. This is humbling ourselves. And it is how you set captives free.
The hypocrites of Isaiah 58 are setting up an if/then situation with God. This is a transactional relationship, and not honoring.
God sets up His own if/then’s for the people, revealing to them who really has power in the situation.
Isaiah 58 continues talking about the sabbath, which is NOT one day a week, because we are no longer under the law. But it is our new life in Christ, which is rest.
Rest is not inactivity, nor lack of diligence. It frees us from devising our own strength and wisdom and holding ourselves responsible for the results.
Our whole life should be an act of turning our feet from our pleasure.
Songs
TobyMac – Diverse City
Amena Brown – John 1 Amena Brown
This episode originally broadcast live on May 29, 2015 on KXEN 1010AM in St. Louis, MO
For more info:
www.sunministries.org
Theme music: “The Resistance” by Josh Garrels (www.joshgarrels.com) licensed by Marmoset Music (www.marmosetmusic.com)