Because the World Can't Live Without Jesus

Because the World Can't Live Without Jesus

Dr. Ray Pritchard

This
morning Marlene and I on the road again, driving to Chicago for the
Keep Believing board retreat this weekend. Starting tomorrow night our
board is meeting in McHenry (located on the Fox River northwest of
Chicago, not far from the Wisconsin border). Here is part of an email I
sent to the board a few days ago in preparation for the retreat:

"As I have been thinking about our time this weekend, I have three goals in mind:

1) To spend time together developing deeper unity of heart and mind about what KBM is all about.
2) To talk through our current challenges.
3) To dream together about what God may want to do through KBM in the future.

Several days ago I asked the Lord what message he wanted us to have
for this weekend. Quick as a flash—I mean, just like that—the answer
came back to me, and I think it is from the Lord. We must live the message we proclaim.
That is a profound thought if you stop to ponder it. The best
ministries, the ones that change the world, are ministries where those
involved become the message itself. They have ultimate street cred.
Many ministries flounder because they end up being like
this:

Leaders (GAP) Message

But the strongest ministries are on the ones in which there is no gap:

Leaders/Message

The late Bill Bright was a good example of a man who embodied his
own message. Billy Graham does it as well. I think the same could be
said for Rick Warren. (And I would add the late D. James Kennedy,
founder of Evangelism Explosion, to that list.)

So here is the thought with which we will begin: We must become the message we proclaim. We can’t just talk about the message. We must become
the message. And as I thought that, my mind was drawn to 1
Thessalonians 2:1-12. I ask all the board members to read these verses
and meditate on them before Friday night. And then read Acts 17:1-9.
The KJV of Acts 17:6 says that the Jewish leaders declared of Paul and
Silas, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here
also.” 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 tells us how Paul and Silas had that kind
of world-changing impact.

I am calling on the board to meditate and pray over all of this and ask what God is saying to us about KBM.

1) What sort of people should we be?
2) How can we embody the message we proclaim?
3) What needs to happen in us first?
4) If 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 were all we had, what would that tell us about how to do things?

Let’s spend some time thinking and praying ….. with open hearts and
with anticipation. Pray, “Lord, speak to me” and “Lord, do things we’re
not used to.” Our only real danger is that we will think that we are
coming this weekend to make decisions about money and resources. We’ll
do that but if that’s all we do, we could do that over the telephone.
The New Testament constantly presents great truth and then says, “What
sort of people should we be in light of this truth?”

I will share one more thing with you. In last week’s sermon email, I
quoted part of a letter from a widow who decided to give her magazine
money to help KBM. This weekend I will share the whole letter because
it is not unconnected to the above. I can’t get one little phrase from
her letter out of my mind. She said, “I CAN live without my mags
(Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping) but the world CANNOT live
without Jesus.”

Here’s the phrase as it keeps coming to me . . .Because the world can’t live without Jesus.

I somehow connect it in my mind to KBM:

Keep Believing Ministries . . . Because the world can’t live without Jesus.

So here is my challenge. I would like everyone on the board to ponder all that I have written:

We must live the message we proclaim.
The message of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12.
What needs to happen in us first?
Lord, speak to me.
Because the world can’t live without Jesus.

This may be the most crucial ministry event we’ll attend all year
long. Soon after this we begin almost two months of non-stop travel and
ministry. But it is this weekend that will give us direction and
encouragement for the next leg of the journey. And I believe God will
help us lay a strong foundation for the future."

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