How an Israel Guide Sees Christians
Philippians 3:8-10
Pam and I just spent a couple days shy of a month in Israel. And had Pam not been with me, it would have been really hard. It was so great to have her there leading group with me. Two wonderful, back-to-back groups. Absolutely incredible. Just being immersed in the miracles that are the Holy Land. Every minute of it was absolutely incredible and a bit draining. We had very, very, very busy days. We met Jesus there. I want you to know we met Jesus there. We met Jesus there. We experienced him there in site after site in the most incredible Biblical sites on the planet.
The Bible came alive to us as we immersed ourselves in the Living Word. And as it came alive to us in the place that it was written to be living, the Bible just leaped off the page to us in full glorious color where the events happened. It was wonderful for both groups.
The first group had rain that came at us sideways. The kind of rain that turns your umbrella inside-out. That’s the hard rain. But we had a great time. Both groups had a great time.
But there is what I wanted to talk about today. I wanted to talk to you about what it took. I wanted to talk to you about what it took for us to truly meet Jesus in the Holy Land. I want to talk to you about what it took for the Bible to actually come alive to us in the Holy Land.
Here is something that might shock you. It is not automatic to just go to Israel and have the presence of Jesus just jump out of the rocks. It’s not automatic. You step into Israel and you want it to be this way, and you think you would sense that Jesus is everywhere. Well, he is, but you don’t automatically sense him. The Bible doesn’t automatically come alive. And so, I want to talk to you about what it took for that to happen, because it is exactly the same here. You know Jesus is in this place. You know his presence is in this place and you know that he is with you all the time, in every circumstance, in every situation, but you don’t automatically sense his presence. His Word doesn’t automatically jump off the page to you. It requires something.
And so, every time I come home from Israel I want to just share my heart with you. I just want to tell you, “Okay, listen, everybody experienced something.” We had two unique groups and we did some different things because of weather. And everybody in the groups experienced God in a unique way, including my wife and I. And so, since I am the one with the microphone, I want to tell you how and what the Lord impressed on me. What was the “big thing” for me? And I ask him what that is every time we come back and then I share it with you.
I want to tell you about our guide first. We worked really, really hard to find a guide, to find the right guide. Finding a guide for us is really difficult because well, it’s a long story. But it’s just more difficult than you might think. You can’t just call up the Israeli Chamber of Commerce and say, “Hey, can you give me a true spirit filled, Christ following, passionate, Jesus Freak Jew.” You would hear a click and a dial tone on the other end. I worked really hard, honestly, and I prayed a ton and God gave us this wonderful all-in Jesus following, full, true, Messianic Russian Jew for a guide. And she was wonderful. Her name was Kira. She was truly Messianic which honestly I worked so hard to find someone who didn’t just say, “Oh yeah, I can do that. I can be Messianic if that is what you want me to be. How much, again, are you paying me, because I can be that?”
So she was really a real Christ-follower. She was a real, real Christ-follower. A Russian Jewess. Born in Russia but raised in Israel since she was very young. She worked incredibly hard to overload us with phenomenal, miraculous historical and archeological information. More, really, than we can retain. But just absolutely overwhelmed us at site after site after site. But more importantly, she truly shared our love for the Savior. She truly, really, really, really did. She truly shared our commitment to follow Jesus as Lord, as our only Lord. And she truly believed the Bible. She truly was connected, had a passion for God’s Word, and not just the Old Testament but the New Testament as well. And so we thank God so much for that.
Kira is also an evangelist. She is an evangelistic guide. She guides Russian Jews for an evangelism ministry and she takes them around to the archeology sites and gives them the gospel. She shows them through archeology the truth of the New Testament and Yeshua ha Mashiah – Jesus the Messiah. And she gave us some really unique insights. For Pam and I, really, she unveiled some stuff for us that we had just never really grasped before. It was a combination of her guiding group after group after group. I mean non-stop. It’s a brutal way to earn a living, a brutal career. You’ve got to really love it because you’re just always on the road and you’re with all these different groups. Some of them wacky and some of them not like us. Every kind of crazy religious group you can imagine. Plus, she is evangelizing the Jewish people through archeology and history to give them the gospel and lead them to the Lord.
Here’s the one statement that best defines how Kira felt about us, how our guide felt about us. With all of her experience of guiding for every religious group you can imagine and about twenty or thirty you can’t even imagine or have never even heard of, all the different groups that come to the Holy Land, she said to us numerous times – here it is- she says “You guys are like zero-point-something of all Christians who come to the Holy Land."
And what she is saying is “The way you guys approach the Bible and the way you guys approach Jesus Christ and the way you approach your time in the Holy Land, is less than one percent of all the religious groups I see and all the different religions and denominations that I work with.”
Wow! That’s kind of a big statement. She said it over and over again. I’m asking her questions all the time. And there is this weird thing about when you are touring and you’re new (I’m still new, this is my fourth and fifth time leading) and I’m saying “Okay, what about this, what about that? Can’t we do this? Can we do that?”
And she would just always say to me, “Remember, listen. You’re like zero-point-something of all Christian groups that come to the Holy Land.”
Wow. How is that possible? How can we show up there and have this experienced Russian born Jewess guide say “You’re zero-point-something of all Christians that come to the Holy Land.”
Now she isn’t quoting a Barna Survey. She hasn’t done the whole Barna thing. She is talking from her day to day experience of leading religious group after religious group after religious group after religious group. One day it’s Catholics. One day it is evangelicals. One day it is Orthodox Greek and then it’s who knows what. I could just go on and go on. So I thought maybe I would share with you why. Why she called us zero-point-something Christians.
I want you to know first of all, I think it is one of the greatest compliments that our church has ever been given. For me to show up with these two groups and have her end up thinking, “Wow, this is really unusual. Your passion for the Bible, your passion to know Jesus in the Holy Land is less than one percent of all the people I see.”
That’s just about one of the highest compliments we could receive as a group. So I want you to know why she said it and I want you to know what we should do about it. So, here’s the why.
The first thing that makes us zero-point-something of all the Christians (and she would always say “Christian” like in quotes, and she actually wouldn’t use the word Christian for us because in the Middle East and in Israel, Christian refers to what we call “High Church.” The High Orthodox, the massive monoliths of yuck. If you have been to a High Church with all the stuff and the gaudiness and the yuck; High Roman Catholic, High Greek Orthodox, High Eastern Orthodox, High Church. And then also Christian refers to all the other denominations that hate each other. And so she wouldn’t call us Christians, and I was so blessed by that. She called us believers. What she was saying is “You guys are true believers. You’re not like “Christians.” Isn’t that weird? Isn’t that strange? Here we can say Christian because we know Christian biblically means “little Christ.” But the name maybe in the Middle East, not so much. They don’t really think of Jesus Christ when they say it.)
And so here’s the first thing that made us zero-point-something of all (I’m going to still use the word Christian because it is our vocabulary) Christians – we were all, always carrying a Bible. That’s it! It was like, “Whoa! Are you guys some kind of radicals?”
When we go up on the Temple Mount we were like, “I don’t want to give you my Bible. I know you have a really big gun and you are probably willing to use it on me, but I don’t want to give up my Bible.”
And we would take them anyway, even though we couldn’t, well we didn’t take them on, well maybe someone smuggled one, but at risk of death, but we would take them anyway. Because you know, you can’t have your Bible on the Temple Mount. Just the fact that we always had our Bibles made us unique. The fact that we actually opened them and read them made us really unique.
Now this may be blowing your mind, I hope that it is, when we sat down we actually opened our Bibles and we interacted with them. And we looked at the actual Bible. We read the actual Bible. We meditated on God’s words in the place where this occurred. We allowed the land of the Bible to bring the Bible to life to us. We really did. And it took time and it took effort and it took commitment and it took sacrifice to do that. But that is what we went to do. You would be amazed, I was, at how Christian groups were touring the Holy Land with us, with no Bibles. “Don’t have them. Don’t need them. We’re good! It’s all up in my head.”
You would be amazed! I was so amazed. Now the guides are constantly telling these Christian groups Bible stories. So they would step off the bus, and they would walk over to the side and the guy would say “Here’s what happened here…” And all the Christians would nod in agreement that they knew about that. And then the guy would say, “Okay, photo op,” and then they would take their picture. And then they would jump back on the bus and run to the next site.
Now, I might sound cynical. But not as cynical as I truly am. We would sit with our Bibles and we would be in awe and at one time Kira told me that six groups came and left in the time it took us to read the Bible and pray and worship. Six groups came and left. That made us zero-point-something of all the Christian groups there.
That took sacrifice to do. That took effort on the entire group’s part. It made for very long days. We got up earlier than everyone else. We got back later than everyone else. We literally prayed until we fell asleep. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep one night at debrief. I think I was snoring while everyone else was praying. I’m like “No, that’s tongues.” But you know why? It’s because it takes effort to say “When we sit here we are going to experience God in his Word. And when we sit here we are going to experience God in his Word. And when we sit here we are going to experience God in his Word. And in prayer and in worship.
In fact it took a little bit for Kira, our guide, to figure that out because she is so used to groups not having their Bible, that she would just say “Well, in 2 Kings 19 it says…” and after a few times of me saying “Hey, hey. Hold on. Hold on” Like, let us get there. We have to actually get there. You can’t just read it to us. We don’t trust you. We want to see it in God’s Word. We want the Bible to come to life to us. So just wait until we turn to the table of contents and find where Amos or Jonah or whatever is. And then we’ll go there.”
And then she would read and she always read from the Bible. She loved her Bible. We wanted to experience the Bible coming to life. It’s a huge deal. You might think it’s not that big of a deal. Let me assure you, it’s a big deal. And here’s why I am sharing it with you today.
It’s because it is a perfect picture of the Christian church. To go to Israel you see churches from all over the world, all the time, more than you want. The people know I was a little distracted. We would be someplace and I would be like, “Gah! Another bus is coming!” Because you know, I had to ask the Lord if we could have the entire country to ourselves. And it seemed to be pushing the limit a little bit. And so we got to share the land a lot of other people. And what we saw is a perfect picture of the church, the church in the world.
And here it is, listen to me please. We like to hear somebody talk about the Bible. We like to hear somebody talk about the Bible. We like to hear somebody tell us about the Bible, tell us what the Bible says. Tell us some story that includes a reference to the Bible. Like, “Yeah, use the Bible, I know you have to. But don’t get boring with the supernatural, living, life giving powerful Word of God! Don’t bore me with that! Tell me about a story when you were skiing with your dog.” (If you have recently heard a pastor tell a story about skiing with his dog, I didn’t mean to imply him personally.)
We seldom as a Church, I’m talking about the universal Church, we seldom take out our Bibles actually read what it says, understand it correctly and then apply it to our lives. When you do that, you are a zero-point-something Christian. When you actually say, “Wait a minute, let’s get the Bible out.” “Wait a minute let me call someone at the church and say ‘Hey, this is the problem, what scripture should I be reading?’” And then read the scriptures, meditate on them and pray, ask God to guide you and then move your life ahead according to his living Word. If you do that, you are a zero-point-something Christian.
And that’s what we were accused of being! So we are good! The majority of people who call themselves Christian never actually use their Bible to direct their lives. The majority of people who call themselves Christians never actually use the Bible to direct their lives. They never take their Bible out.
We are looking at stones, we are looking at 2,000 year old rocks and we are saying, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. What does the Bible say about these rocks?” How many Christians do that about what they see in their lives? Hey this is what I see in my life. What does the Bible say about it? If you do that you are a zero-point-something Christian. Meaning a zero-point-something percent of all Christians. We see how rare it is in Israel.
The opposite of being a zero-point-something Christian is being a 99-point-something Christian. And so, I’m just being gut level honest, alright? The Church is made up of 99-point-something Christians. It just is. I’m not really that cynical. It’s the truth. It’s the truth. And we have this ability here which is why I love where God has put me, because we have this ability here to be different. Because we don’t have to be worried about not offending the 99 point something Christians, so that we can keep the seats full, so that we can pay the million dollar mortgage payment. It’s a blessing. You are being recognized as a zero-point-something Christian. And you should be blessed and proud in a good way.
So here is the first lesson. Don’t be happy, don’t be satisfied listening to someone tell you what the Bible says. Don’t be satisfied listening to some church tell you what to believe about the Bible. You know that 99 point something percent of Christians believe what the Church says. They go to church, whatever church they happen to go to, someone says whatever it is they say, and then the people say that’s what I believe. Why do you believe that? Well because my church says it. Never, never, never, never, never, never take what the church says over what the Word of God says. NEVER!
99-point-something percent of all Christians just believe what the Church says. But the Church wasn’t divinely inspired and written supernaturally and miraculously preserved. The Church isn’t the living Word of God, the double edged sword that pierces between bone and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Church is run by sinful men and women who have adopted traditions over the years that when you go to Israel and study you say, “Hey, wait a minute. That’s really paganism, right?” “Yeah, it’s paganism.” “Yeah, but it’s in the church.” “Yeah, I know, but people like it.”
Please, please hear me. I am trying to tell you what makes a zero-point-something Christian. Don’t believe what the Church says. Believe what the Word of God says. And if you don’t understand the Word of God, first of all, get an NLT so you can understand it. Second of all, get some discipleship. Get some discipleship. Get someone who is not telling you, “Well, here’s what we believe.” (So what.) “Well, here’s what the church believes.” (So what.) Just ask if there is anyone else who can tell you what the Bible says. Get that person and then believe what the Bible says.
I’m not saying we don’t need teachers. I’m not saying we don’t. We need disciplers. We need teachers. Why? Because we need to learn what the Bible says. But if the teacher is telling you this is how the church does it, or this is what the church says, or this is church history, or this is church tradition – run. Just run! It’s the same thing here. Just run and find somebody who is teaching the Bible.
To be a zero-point-something Christian you truly believe what this verse says.
Psalm 119:105 (NLT)
105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
Not my “church.” It doesn’t say my church is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. It says God’s living Word.
In Jerusalem, here is what we see. We see all these churches warring. Literally warring. I mean at one site that you would know if I told you, a big, big site; there were actually police barricades stacked up ready to be used. Not because the Muslims or because someone is going to attack the Christians, it’s because Christians attack each other there. Because the site is run by six major religious groups that they all call Christian that are constantly at war with each other, they have to call the police in. Don’t let that happen to you. God’s Word is the only true lamp to guide your feet and a lamp for your path.
2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NLT)
16 All Scripture (not church dogma) is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
All scripture, not church dogma, not church tradition, not church history. And listen, the word doctrine, I have to be careful, because there is doctrine in the Bible. Genuine, legit Bible only doctrine. But it’s not church doctrine. It’s Bible doctrine. And none of that church dogma, teachings, traditions, history, none of that is inspired by God. What is inspired by God? All scripture is inspired by God.
And so here’s what happens when we talk to people. We see it in Israel. We see it and say “Where are the people that just want to love Jesus?” Oh, they are zero-point-something of all Christians.”
All Scripture is inspired by God. The problem is, it takes work to say God I need to know what your Word says. I need your pure, unadulterated Word. I need to find someone to disciple me. To teach me how to find what your word really says. It’s way easier to walk into a church and have someone in a church say “This is the way it is.” And you say, “Okay, well, this must be the way it is because this is the way the church says.”
Stop it. Stop it. You have to be actually and actively using God’s Word for it to lead and guide you. Don’t ever exchange it for the teaching of church.
We do everything we can to avoid what we call the “High Church” sites. These are sites that have been purchased by the High Church. And again, if you don’t understand the High Church, it’s the original and those that came from the original church and the early years. We avoid them.
A small group of us went into one this year for the first time. It was a big one. And it hurt me. I was a mess; honestly, I was a mess when I came out. I was a wreck. Here’s why. If you don’t know this yet, it’s time to come to grips with it. Pagan practices easily infiltrated the church in the early years. Full on, full scale paganism. Idolatry. These pagan rituals and pagan approaches where the deity is the big bad deity and you’re really small and you must do what the spokesman for the deity says or else. And this all comes from historical paganism.
Well, in the early 300’s, I’ve told you this before, but it is a good time to remind you, Constantine the emperor of Rome made Christianity the official Roman religion. And everyone thinks “Yay!” But it wasn’t “Yay!” Here’s what he did. He had the Roman Legions take over every pagan temple and shrine in the known world and the world that Rome controlled around 320 A.D. And then Constantine said, “Listen, we can’t really afford a huge uprising.” (This is history. This is easy to find.) He says, “Listen we don’t want really a big uprising so leave all their idols and leave all their pagan practices in the shrines but change the names to the early Christian names – we would say Biblical names. Just change the names but allow them to continue the same approach to their practices.”
And so they had idols all over the churches. Big idols, little idols, skinny idols, fat idols, every idol. And every idol was for a different thing. And so they just changed them and said, “This is the idol of this, this is the idol of that. This is the idol of this, this is the idol of this and then eventually someone says “Let’s call them saints.” But you pray to the idol and if the idol hears you, if you have sacrificed enough or given enough to those who speak for the idol then the idol may help you find your car keys, or whatever it is you’re asking the idol to do. Guys, this is history. That paganism has never left the High Church . I’m not talking about just the big church, but all the offsprings that make up that High Church world.
1700 years of paganism in the church. And when you go to Israel, guess what they are still doing? Still they are doing the same thing. If I just kiss this rock. If I make this sign. If I put my prayer on this particular stone. If I pay my penance or my offering at this particular place then the God of this will do this for me. It’s all superstition. And it is rampant. And they call those people Christians. And, it’s hard to be there in that. So that’s one thing I learned.
Here’s the second thing. When Dani stood up here last week and prayed, she prayed about the power of the name of Jesus. And she prayed for the power of the name of Jesus and part of that is because she knew we were there and she experienced the need for the power of the name of Jesus in Israel with us last year as she helped lead the group with me last year. Because what really is missing in Christianity in Israel is Jesus. That hurts, doesn’t it? That hurts. Listen the devil doesn’t care if you go to church. But there is one thing he wants really bad to keep the world away from, and that is Jesus. The power of the name of Jesus. The power of the relationship. The power of Jesus Christ being in you and you being in him. And you living in that power. That is what the enemy is working to keep out of the Holy Land.
And that is what the enemy is working to keep out of the big church, the overall church, which is what is missed by honestly 99 point something percent of all Christians who are going to church, doing what they say, checking off the box and going home. We need Jesus. We need the personal, powerful relationship with Jesus Christ. We need to have a desire to truly experience his power and a desire to truly know him. To know him personally and to know him intimately.
And honestly, I’ve been a little hard on the other groups; we did see some groups who really were seeking Jesus there. We really did. And I was blessed so much to see them. We spent time seeking Jesus there. We spent time with a wonderful Messianic ministry in Tel Aviv and it was so powerful, that is seeking Christ on behalf of the people of Israel and taking the power of the name of Jesus Christ to the Jewish people.
But the masses. The 99 point something. Both there and here, are happy to be tourists. Listen, it matters. They are happy to be tourists. They are happy to hear a story about the Bible and then get a photo op. Right? In Israel it is like, “Okay, here is the scene. Tell me a little story, oh yeah that’s nice. Give me a photo op.”
What do they do at home? Come into church, “Let me hear a little story, not too bad. Okay good. Give me a photo op, I’ve been to church, we are good to go.”
I mean, that is some hard core cynicism right there. But it is a perfect illustration of too much of the church. Here’s why. It’s because to press in, to fully commit, to fully surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord in every area of your life, it’s hard. It’s hard. It takes time. It requires sacrifice. So the 99-point-something percent of the church is happy to hear a story and get a photo op and then go back to their own lives. It’s not so for the zero-point-something Christian. That’s us. That is who we want to be. The zero-point-something Christian. “I’m not happy hearing a story about the Bible. I want the Word of God to speak to me! I’m not happy knowing I just went to church. I want to experience Jesus Christ in my life. I want to know him. I want to know his power. I want to know the fellowship of his suffering; I want to be moved by him. I want a no turning back, all in commitment to follow Christ no matter what.”
That is a small percentage of what the world calls the Christian church. We have accepted that following Jesus takes time, effort and sacrifice. Real sacrifice. And we are completely confident that it is so worth. It is so, so worth it, both for this life and eternally.
Here’s the battle cry. We believe this is the only way to live for Christ.
Philippians 3:8–10 (NLT)
8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him . . .
10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death
11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
Paul says “I want to know Christ!” That’s it! I want to know him, everything else is worthless compared to knowing him, to walking in the power of his resurrection and experiencing the fellowship of his suffering no matter what the path, no matter what goes on, no matter what the trial, it’s all worth it. And when I attain to the resurrection of the dead I will find out that Romans 8:18 is true, for these present sufferings cannot be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us. Following Jesus is about eternity. It’s not about today. And this commitment to know him is what makes us a zero-point-something Christian. To know Jesus at this level.
In the land where Jesus lived and where he died, it’s zero-point-something of the people that are following him at this level. Odd? That’s the same as it is anywhere else. You would think it would be otherwise. Here’s why. In the land, in Israel, if you follow Jesus at this level, it costs you everything. If you are Jewish and follow Jesus at this level, now not only do the Muslims hate you, but even the Jews aren’t happy with you. If you are a Muslim and you follow Jesus at this level the Jews still feel the same and now the Muslims will try to kill you. So now, everyone is after you. When you follow Jesus in the land of Israel, it costs you something.
Listen. Isn’t that what Jesus said? Didn’t he say that it would cost us? We stood on the shore where Jesus called his first disciples and we were challenged, each and every one of us to respond to the same call that Jesus put out to Peter and Andrew and James and John. When ultimately the third time he met them he said, “Come, follow me.” And they left everything to follow him. He called them to a complete re-ordering of their lives. He called them to turn their backs on everything that was common and comfortable. On everything that they thought was this life. And he called them to abandon it all, at least emotionally, and step into the unknown with him. To follow him where he would take them at all costs. And each one of them said “Yes, Lord. I’ll follow.” And each one of them paid dearly, ultimately with their lives. It costs them everything to follow Jesus.
We stood on the spot where Jesus asked Peter, “But who do you say that I am?” in Caesarea, Philippi, and Peter says “You are the Christ! The Son of the Living God!” Good job Peter, but right after that in Matthew 16:21-25 we read,
Matthew 16:21–26 (ESV)
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
(Peter wanted the CROWN – Without the CROSS. Peter wanted Jesus to be king of Israel without having to die. He wanted something different than what Jesus was coming to bring.)
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? . . .
There is a great cost to following Jesus. Pay it! Pay it! PAY IT! Because whatever you are saying no to Jesus for is about to vaporize. It’s about to slip through your fingers and you’re going to lose it. And then you’re going to be found without Jesus and you’re going to say “Where’s that stuff I turned to Jesus for so I can have it?”
Follow Jesus. The true call to follow Jesus is in the abandonment of self. It is an abandonment of the way that the world thinks, the things of man. It’s a call to know Jesus personally and intimately. It’s a call to know the power of his resurrection and it’s a call to know the fellowship of his suffering. It’s a call to find your life by losing it. It’s a call to gain heaven by rejecting the things of this world. It’s a clear call, and it costs.
It’s a radical call. We see it in his own land and we see it here. And it is the zero-point-something Christian who responds to the call. It’s the same all over the world.
The good news is I believe there is a zero-point-something movement growing. I really do. I sense it. I see it. You’ve just got to look in the right place. There is a zero-point-something movement that is growing. There are zero-point-something Christians all over the world. And they will never compete with the numbers of the High Church because the zero-point-something Christian area actually laying their lives down to follow Christ.
But more and more people are hearing the call of Jesus to abandon the things of the world in order to gain a true relationship with him. More and more zero-point-something believers refuse to be tourists in the things of God. Refuse to stop by, hear a story, take a snapshot and go back to living. More and more zero-point-something Christians are rising up among us realizing that in abandoning everything for Christ is actually gaining everything. It is gaining a true fulfillment now and in eternity. It’s gaining true peace now and in eternity. It’s gaining true power now and in eternity. And it is gaining a purpose that is worth living for. More and more people are finding out.
The zero-point-something gate is narrow. Jesus said so. Matthew 7:13-14.
Matthew 7:13–14 (ESV)
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
It’s hard. It’s hard. And if no one has told you it is hard they are lying to you.
So, here’s my heart after being in Israel for a month. Here’s my word to you. Be a zero-point-something Christian. Be one of the few who actually say, “You know what, I’m kind of tired of the tourist thing. I want to really follow Jesus. I want to know him. I want to experience his power, I want his word to come alive and transform my life.
Here’s how.
1) Learn to read your Bible. Learn to read your Bible. Find someone to help you – that’s called discipleship. Learn how to find what you need in your Bible and then read it to understand it and then do it. That will make you a zero-point-something Christian.
2) Be committed to a genuine life transforming relationship with Christ. And if Jesus Christ isn’t transforming your life, then you don’t have a life transforming relationship with him. I’m being hard on you but it is for your good. Listen, if your life is being transformed by Christ it’s because you have a life transforming relationship with him. And if you’re saying, “Oh, no, no. I have a relationship with Jesus Christ it’s just that I don’t need any transforming.” It’s not true, don’t fool yourself.
Be a zero-point-something Christian, guys. And you will find a life that is supernaturally powerful, that is spiritually abundant, and that is confidently eternal. It’s the only life worth living. And then God will use you, send you out to make others zero-point-something Christians.
That’s my commitment coming back from watching it in the land, that is my prayer for this church. How about you?
The Bible came alive to us as we immersed ourselves in the Living Word. And as it came alive to us in the place that it was written to be living, the Bible just leaped off the page to us in full glorious color where the events happened. It was wonderful for both groups.
The first group had rain that came at us sideways. The kind of rain that turns your umbrella inside-out. That’s the hard rain. But we had a great time. Both groups had a great time.
But there is what I wanted to talk about today. I wanted to talk to you about what it took. I wanted to talk to you about what it took for us to truly meet Jesus in the Holy Land. I want to talk to you about what it took for the Bible to actually come alive to us in the Holy Land.
Here is something that might shock you. It is not automatic to just go to Israel and have the presence of Jesus just jump out of the rocks. It’s not automatic. You step into Israel and you want it to be this way, and you think you would sense that Jesus is everywhere. Well, he is, but you don’t automatically sense him. The Bible doesn’t automatically come alive. And so, I want to talk to you about what it took for that to happen, because it is exactly the same here. You know Jesus is in this place. You know his presence is in this place and you know that he is with you all the time, in every circumstance, in every situation, but you don’t automatically sense his presence. His Word doesn’t automatically jump off the page to you. It requires something.
And so, every time I come home from Israel I want to just share my heart with you. I just want to tell you, “Okay, listen, everybody experienced something.” We had two unique groups and we did some different things because of weather. And everybody in the groups experienced God in a unique way, including my wife and I. And so, since I am the one with the microphone, I want to tell you how and what the Lord impressed on me. What was the “big thing” for me? And I ask him what that is every time we come back and then I share it with you.
I want to tell you about our guide first. We worked really, really hard to find a guide, to find the right guide. Finding a guide for us is really difficult because well, it’s a long story. But it’s just more difficult than you might think. You can’t just call up the Israeli Chamber of Commerce and say, “Hey, can you give me a true spirit filled, Christ following, passionate, Jesus Freak Jew.” You would hear a click and a dial tone on the other end. I worked really hard, honestly, and I prayed a ton and God gave us this wonderful all-in Jesus following, full, true, Messianic Russian Jew for a guide. And she was wonderful. Her name was Kira. She was truly Messianic which honestly I worked so hard to find someone who didn’t just say, “Oh yeah, I can do that. I can be Messianic if that is what you want me to be. How much, again, are you paying me, because I can be that?”
So she was really a real Christ-follower. She was a real, real Christ-follower. A Russian Jewess. Born in Russia but raised in Israel since she was very young. She worked incredibly hard to overload us with phenomenal, miraculous historical and archeological information. More, really, than we can retain. But just absolutely overwhelmed us at site after site after site. But more importantly, she truly shared our love for the Savior. She truly, really, really, really did. She truly shared our commitment to follow Jesus as Lord, as our only Lord. And she truly believed the Bible. She truly was connected, had a passion for God’s Word, and not just the Old Testament but the New Testament as well. And so we thank God so much for that.
Kira is also an evangelist. She is an evangelistic guide. She guides Russian Jews for an evangelism ministry and she takes them around to the archeology sites and gives them the gospel. She shows them through archeology the truth of the New Testament and Yeshua ha Mashiah – Jesus the Messiah. And she gave us some really unique insights. For Pam and I, really, she unveiled some stuff for us that we had just never really grasped before. It was a combination of her guiding group after group after group. I mean non-stop. It’s a brutal way to earn a living, a brutal career. You’ve got to really love it because you’re just always on the road and you’re with all these different groups. Some of them wacky and some of them not like us. Every kind of crazy religious group you can imagine. Plus, she is evangelizing the Jewish people through archeology and history to give them the gospel and lead them to the Lord.
Here’s the one statement that best defines how Kira felt about us, how our guide felt about us. With all of her experience of guiding for every religious group you can imagine and about twenty or thirty you can’t even imagine or have never even heard of, all the different groups that come to the Holy Land, she said to us numerous times – here it is- she says “You guys are like zero-point-something of all Christians who come to the Holy Land."
And what she is saying is “The way you guys approach the Bible and the way you guys approach Jesus Christ and the way you approach your time in the Holy Land, is less than one percent of all the religious groups I see and all the different religions and denominations that I work with.”
Wow! That’s kind of a big statement. She said it over and over again. I’m asking her questions all the time. And there is this weird thing about when you are touring and you’re new (I’m still new, this is my fourth and fifth time leading) and I’m saying “Okay, what about this, what about that? Can’t we do this? Can we do that?”
And she would just always say to me, “Remember, listen. You’re like zero-point-something of all Christian groups that come to the Holy Land.”
Wow. How is that possible? How can we show up there and have this experienced Russian born Jewess guide say “You’re zero-point-something of all Christians that come to the Holy Land.”
Now she isn’t quoting a Barna Survey. She hasn’t done the whole Barna thing. She is talking from her day to day experience of leading religious group after religious group after religious group after religious group. One day it’s Catholics. One day it is evangelicals. One day it is Orthodox Greek and then it’s who knows what. I could just go on and go on. So I thought maybe I would share with you why. Why she called us zero-point-something Christians.
I want you to know first of all, I think it is one of the greatest compliments that our church has ever been given. For me to show up with these two groups and have her end up thinking, “Wow, this is really unusual. Your passion for the Bible, your passion to know Jesus in the Holy Land is less than one percent of all the people I see.”
That’s just about one of the highest compliments we could receive as a group. So I want you to know why she said it and I want you to know what we should do about it. So, here’s the why.
The first thing that makes us zero-point-something of all the Christians (and she would always say “Christian” like in quotes, and she actually wouldn’t use the word Christian for us because in the Middle East and in Israel, Christian refers to what we call “High Church.” The High Orthodox, the massive monoliths of yuck. If you have been to a High Church with all the stuff and the gaudiness and the yuck; High Roman Catholic, High Greek Orthodox, High Eastern Orthodox, High Church. And then also Christian refers to all the other denominations that hate each other. And so she wouldn’t call us Christians, and I was so blessed by that. She called us believers. What she was saying is “You guys are true believers. You’re not like “Christians.” Isn’t that weird? Isn’t that strange? Here we can say Christian because we know Christian biblically means “little Christ.” But the name maybe in the Middle East, not so much. They don’t really think of Jesus Christ when they say it.)
And so here’s the first thing that made us zero-point-something of all (I’m going to still use the word Christian because it is our vocabulary) Christians – we were all, always carrying a Bible. That’s it! It was like, “Whoa! Are you guys some kind of radicals?”
When we go up on the Temple Mount we were like, “I don’t want to give you my Bible. I know you have a really big gun and you are probably willing to use it on me, but I don’t want to give up my Bible.”
And we would take them anyway, even though we couldn’t, well we didn’t take them on, well maybe someone smuggled one, but at risk of death, but we would take them anyway. Because you know, you can’t have your Bible on the Temple Mount. Just the fact that we always had our Bibles made us unique. The fact that we actually opened them and read them made us really unique.
Now this may be blowing your mind, I hope that it is, when we sat down we actually opened our Bibles and we interacted with them. And we looked at the actual Bible. We read the actual Bible. We meditated on God’s words in the place where this occurred. We allowed the land of the Bible to bring the Bible to life to us. We really did. And it took time and it took effort and it took commitment and it took sacrifice to do that. But that is what we went to do. You would be amazed, I was, at how Christian groups were touring the Holy Land with us, with no Bibles. “Don’t have them. Don’t need them. We’re good! It’s all up in my head.”
You would be amazed! I was so amazed. Now the guides are constantly telling these Christian groups Bible stories. So they would step off the bus, and they would walk over to the side and the guy would say “Here’s what happened here…” And all the Christians would nod in agreement that they knew about that. And then the guy would say, “Okay, photo op,” and then they would take their picture. And then they would jump back on the bus and run to the next site.
Now, I might sound cynical. But not as cynical as I truly am. We would sit with our Bibles and we would be in awe and at one time Kira told me that six groups came and left in the time it took us to read the Bible and pray and worship. Six groups came and left. That made us zero-point-something of all the Christian groups there.
That took sacrifice to do. That took effort on the entire group’s part. It made for very long days. We got up earlier than everyone else. We got back later than everyone else. We literally prayed until we fell asleep. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep one night at debrief. I think I was snoring while everyone else was praying. I’m like “No, that’s tongues.” But you know why? It’s because it takes effort to say “When we sit here we are going to experience God in his Word. And when we sit here we are going to experience God in his Word. And when we sit here we are going to experience God in his Word. And in prayer and in worship.
In fact it took a little bit for Kira, our guide, to figure that out because she is so used to groups not having their Bible, that she would just say “Well, in 2 Kings 19 it says…” and after a few times of me saying “Hey, hey. Hold on. Hold on” Like, let us get there. We have to actually get there. You can’t just read it to us. We don’t trust you. We want to see it in God’s Word. We want the Bible to come to life to us. So just wait until we turn to the table of contents and find where Amos or Jonah or whatever is. And then we’ll go there.”
And then she would read and she always read from the Bible. She loved her Bible. We wanted to experience the Bible coming to life. It’s a huge deal. You might think it’s not that big of a deal. Let me assure you, it’s a big deal. And here’s why I am sharing it with you today.
It’s because it is a perfect picture of the Christian church. To go to Israel you see churches from all over the world, all the time, more than you want. The people know I was a little distracted. We would be someplace and I would be like, “Gah! Another bus is coming!” Because you know, I had to ask the Lord if we could have the entire country to ourselves. And it seemed to be pushing the limit a little bit. And so we got to share the land a lot of other people. And what we saw is a perfect picture of the church, the church in the world.
And here it is, listen to me please. We like to hear somebody talk about the Bible. We like to hear somebody talk about the Bible. We like to hear somebody tell us about the Bible, tell us what the Bible says. Tell us some story that includes a reference to the Bible. Like, “Yeah, use the Bible, I know you have to. But don’t get boring with the supernatural, living, life giving powerful Word of God! Don’t bore me with that! Tell me about a story when you were skiing with your dog.” (If you have recently heard a pastor tell a story about skiing with his dog, I didn’t mean to imply him personally.)
We seldom as a Church, I’m talking about the universal Church, we seldom take out our Bibles actually read what it says, understand it correctly and then apply it to our lives. When you do that, you are a zero-point-something Christian. When you actually say, “Wait a minute, let’s get the Bible out.” “Wait a minute let me call someone at the church and say ‘Hey, this is the problem, what scripture should I be reading?’” And then read the scriptures, meditate on them and pray, ask God to guide you and then move your life ahead according to his living Word. If you do that, you are a zero-point-something Christian.
And that’s what we were accused of being! So we are good! The majority of people who call themselves Christian never actually use their Bible to direct their lives. The majority of people who call themselves Christians never actually use the Bible to direct their lives. They never take their Bible out.
We are looking at stones, we are looking at 2,000 year old rocks and we are saying, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. What does the Bible say about these rocks?” How many Christians do that about what they see in their lives? Hey this is what I see in my life. What does the Bible say about it? If you do that you are a zero-point-something Christian. Meaning a zero-point-something percent of all Christians. We see how rare it is in Israel.
The opposite of being a zero-point-something Christian is being a 99-point-something Christian. And so, I’m just being gut level honest, alright? The Church is made up of 99-point-something Christians. It just is. I’m not really that cynical. It’s the truth. It’s the truth. And we have this ability here which is why I love where God has put me, because we have this ability here to be different. Because we don’t have to be worried about not offending the 99 point something Christians, so that we can keep the seats full, so that we can pay the million dollar mortgage payment. It’s a blessing. You are being recognized as a zero-point-something Christian. And you should be blessed and proud in a good way.
So here is the first lesson. Don’t be happy, don’t be satisfied listening to someone tell you what the Bible says. Don’t be satisfied listening to some church tell you what to believe about the Bible. You know that 99 point something percent of Christians believe what the Church says. They go to church, whatever church they happen to go to, someone says whatever it is they say, and then the people say that’s what I believe. Why do you believe that? Well because my church says it. Never, never, never, never, never, never take what the church says over what the Word of God says. NEVER!
99-point-something percent of all Christians just believe what the Church says. But the Church wasn’t divinely inspired and written supernaturally and miraculously preserved. The Church isn’t the living Word of God, the double edged sword that pierces between bone and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Church is run by sinful men and women who have adopted traditions over the years that when you go to Israel and study you say, “Hey, wait a minute. That’s really paganism, right?” “Yeah, it’s paganism.” “Yeah, but it’s in the church.” “Yeah, I know, but people like it.”
Please, please hear me. I am trying to tell you what makes a zero-point-something Christian. Don’t believe what the Church says. Believe what the Word of God says. And if you don’t understand the Word of God, first of all, get an NLT so you can understand it. Second of all, get some discipleship. Get some discipleship. Get someone who is not telling you, “Well, here’s what we believe.” (So what.) “Well, here’s what the church believes.” (So what.) Just ask if there is anyone else who can tell you what the Bible says. Get that person and then believe what the Bible says.
I’m not saying we don’t need teachers. I’m not saying we don’t. We need disciplers. We need teachers. Why? Because we need to learn what the Bible says. But if the teacher is telling you this is how the church does it, or this is what the church says, or this is church history, or this is church tradition – run. Just run! It’s the same thing here. Just run and find somebody who is teaching the Bible.
To be a zero-point-something Christian you truly believe what this verse says.
Psalm 119:105 (NLT)
105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
Not my “church.” It doesn’t say my church is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. It says God’s living Word.
In Jerusalem, here is what we see. We see all these churches warring. Literally warring. I mean at one site that you would know if I told you, a big, big site; there were actually police barricades stacked up ready to be used. Not because the Muslims or because someone is going to attack the Christians, it’s because Christians attack each other there. Because the site is run by six major religious groups that they all call Christian that are constantly at war with each other, they have to call the police in. Don’t let that happen to you. God’s Word is the only true lamp to guide your feet and a lamp for your path.
2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NLT)
16 All Scripture (not church dogma) is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
All scripture, not church dogma, not church tradition, not church history. And listen, the word doctrine, I have to be careful, because there is doctrine in the Bible. Genuine, legit Bible only doctrine. But it’s not church doctrine. It’s Bible doctrine. And none of that church dogma, teachings, traditions, history, none of that is inspired by God. What is inspired by God? All scripture is inspired by God.
And so here’s what happens when we talk to people. We see it in Israel. We see it and say “Where are the people that just want to love Jesus?” Oh, they are zero-point-something of all Christians.”
All Scripture is inspired by God. The problem is, it takes work to say God I need to know what your Word says. I need your pure, unadulterated Word. I need to find someone to disciple me. To teach me how to find what your word really says. It’s way easier to walk into a church and have someone in a church say “This is the way it is.” And you say, “Okay, well, this must be the way it is because this is the way the church says.”
Stop it. Stop it. You have to be actually and actively using God’s Word for it to lead and guide you. Don’t ever exchange it for the teaching of church.
We do everything we can to avoid what we call the “High Church” sites. These are sites that have been purchased by the High Church. And again, if you don’t understand the High Church, it’s the original and those that came from the original church and the early years. We avoid them.
A small group of us went into one this year for the first time. It was a big one. And it hurt me. I was a mess; honestly, I was a mess when I came out. I was a wreck. Here’s why. If you don’t know this yet, it’s time to come to grips with it. Pagan practices easily infiltrated the church in the early years. Full on, full scale paganism. Idolatry. These pagan rituals and pagan approaches where the deity is the big bad deity and you’re really small and you must do what the spokesman for the deity says or else. And this all comes from historical paganism.
Well, in the early 300’s, I’ve told you this before, but it is a good time to remind you, Constantine the emperor of Rome made Christianity the official Roman religion. And everyone thinks “Yay!” But it wasn’t “Yay!” Here’s what he did. He had the Roman Legions take over every pagan temple and shrine in the known world and the world that Rome controlled around 320 A.D. And then Constantine said, “Listen, we can’t really afford a huge uprising.” (This is history. This is easy to find.) He says, “Listen we don’t want really a big uprising so leave all their idols and leave all their pagan practices in the shrines but change the names to the early Christian names – we would say Biblical names. Just change the names but allow them to continue the same approach to their practices.”
And so they had idols all over the churches. Big idols, little idols, skinny idols, fat idols, every idol. And every idol was for a different thing. And so they just changed them and said, “This is the idol of this, this is the idol of that. This is the idol of this, this is the idol of this and then eventually someone says “Let’s call them saints.” But you pray to the idol and if the idol hears you, if you have sacrificed enough or given enough to those who speak for the idol then the idol may help you find your car keys, or whatever it is you’re asking the idol to do. Guys, this is history. That paganism has never left the High Church . I’m not talking about just the big church, but all the offsprings that make up that High Church world.
1700 years of paganism in the church. And when you go to Israel, guess what they are still doing? Still they are doing the same thing. If I just kiss this rock. If I make this sign. If I put my prayer on this particular stone. If I pay my penance or my offering at this particular place then the God of this will do this for me. It’s all superstition. And it is rampant. And they call those people Christians. And, it’s hard to be there in that. So that’s one thing I learned.
Here’s the second thing. When Dani stood up here last week and prayed, she prayed about the power of the name of Jesus. And she prayed for the power of the name of Jesus and part of that is because she knew we were there and she experienced the need for the power of the name of Jesus in Israel with us last year as she helped lead the group with me last year. Because what really is missing in Christianity in Israel is Jesus. That hurts, doesn’t it? That hurts. Listen the devil doesn’t care if you go to church. But there is one thing he wants really bad to keep the world away from, and that is Jesus. The power of the name of Jesus. The power of the relationship. The power of Jesus Christ being in you and you being in him. And you living in that power. That is what the enemy is working to keep out of the Holy Land.
And that is what the enemy is working to keep out of the big church, the overall church, which is what is missed by honestly 99 point something percent of all Christians who are going to church, doing what they say, checking off the box and going home. We need Jesus. We need the personal, powerful relationship with Jesus Christ. We need to have a desire to truly experience his power and a desire to truly know him. To know him personally and to know him intimately.
And honestly, I’ve been a little hard on the other groups; we did see some groups who really were seeking Jesus there. We really did. And I was blessed so much to see them. We spent time seeking Jesus there. We spent time with a wonderful Messianic ministry in Tel Aviv and it was so powerful, that is seeking Christ on behalf of the people of Israel and taking the power of the name of Jesus Christ to the Jewish people.
But the masses. The 99 point something. Both there and here, are happy to be tourists. Listen, it matters. They are happy to be tourists. They are happy to hear a story about the Bible and then get a photo op. Right? In Israel it is like, “Okay, here is the scene. Tell me a little story, oh yeah that’s nice. Give me a photo op.”
What do they do at home? Come into church, “Let me hear a little story, not too bad. Okay good. Give me a photo op, I’ve been to church, we are good to go.”
I mean, that is some hard core cynicism right there. But it is a perfect illustration of too much of the church. Here’s why. It’s because to press in, to fully commit, to fully surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord in every area of your life, it’s hard. It’s hard. It takes time. It requires sacrifice. So the 99-point-something percent of the church is happy to hear a story and get a photo op and then go back to their own lives. It’s not so for the zero-point-something Christian. That’s us. That is who we want to be. The zero-point-something Christian. “I’m not happy hearing a story about the Bible. I want the Word of God to speak to me! I’m not happy knowing I just went to church. I want to experience Jesus Christ in my life. I want to know him. I want to know his power. I want to know the fellowship of his suffering; I want to be moved by him. I want a no turning back, all in commitment to follow Christ no matter what.”
That is a small percentage of what the world calls the Christian church. We have accepted that following Jesus takes time, effort and sacrifice. Real sacrifice. And we are completely confident that it is so worth. It is so, so worth it, both for this life and eternally.
Here’s the battle cry. We believe this is the only way to live for Christ.
Philippians 3:8–10 (NLT)
8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him . . .
10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death
11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
Paul says “I want to know Christ!” That’s it! I want to know him, everything else is worthless compared to knowing him, to walking in the power of his resurrection and experiencing the fellowship of his suffering no matter what the path, no matter what goes on, no matter what the trial, it’s all worth it. And when I attain to the resurrection of the dead I will find out that Romans 8:18 is true, for these present sufferings cannot be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us. Following Jesus is about eternity. It’s not about today. And this commitment to know him is what makes us a zero-point-something Christian. To know Jesus at this level.
In the land where Jesus lived and where he died, it’s zero-point-something of the people that are following him at this level. Odd? That’s the same as it is anywhere else. You would think it would be otherwise. Here’s why. In the land, in Israel, if you follow Jesus at this level, it costs you everything. If you are Jewish and follow Jesus at this level, now not only do the Muslims hate you, but even the Jews aren’t happy with you. If you are a Muslim and you follow Jesus at this level the Jews still feel the same and now the Muslims will try to kill you. So now, everyone is after you. When you follow Jesus in the land of Israel, it costs you something.
Listen. Isn’t that what Jesus said? Didn’t he say that it would cost us? We stood on the shore where Jesus called his first disciples and we were challenged, each and every one of us to respond to the same call that Jesus put out to Peter and Andrew and James and John. When ultimately the third time he met them he said, “Come, follow me.” And they left everything to follow him. He called them to a complete re-ordering of their lives. He called them to turn their backs on everything that was common and comfortable. On everything that they thought was this life. And he called them to abandon it all, at least emotionally, and step into the unknown with him. To follow him where he would take them at all costs. And each one of them said “Yes, Lord. I’ll follow.” And each one of them paid dearly, ultimately with their lives. It costs them everything to follow Jesus.
We stood on the spot where Jesus asked Peter, “But who do you say that I am?” in Caesarea, Philippi, and Peter says “You are the Christ! The Son of the Living God!” Good job Peter, but right after that in Matthew 16:21-25 we read,
Matthew 16:21–26 (ESV)
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
(Peter wanted the CROWN – Without the CROSS. Peter wanted Jesus to be king of Israel without having to die. He wanted something different than what Jesus was coming to bring.)
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? . . .
There is a great cost to following Jesus. Pay it! Pay it! PAY IT! Because whatever you are saying no to Jesus for is about to vaporize. It’s about to slip through your fingers and you’re going to lose it. And then you’re going to be found without Jesus and you’re going to say “Where’s that stuff I turned to Jesus for so I can have it?”
Follow Jesus. The true call to follow Jesus is in the abandonment of self. It is an abandonment of the way that the world thinks, the things of man. It’s a call to know Jesus personally and intimately. It’s a call to know the power of his resurrection and it’s a call to know the fellowship of his suffering. It’s a call to find your life by losing it. It’s a call to gain heaven by rejecting the things of this world. It’s a clear call, and it costs.
It’s a radical call. We see it in his own land and we see it here. And it is the zero-point-something Christian who responds to the call. It’s the same all over the world.
The good news is I believe there is a zero-point-something movement growing. I really do. I sense it. I see it. You’ve just got to look in the right place. There is a zero-point-something movement that is growing. There are zero-point-something Christians all over the world. And they will never compete with the numbers of the High Church because the zero-point-something Christian area actually laying their lives down to follow Christ.
But more and more people are hearing the call of Jesus to abandon the things of the world in order to gain a true relationship with him. More and more zero-point-something believers refuse to be tourists in the things of God. Refuse to stop by, hear a story, take a snapshot and go back to living. More and more zero-point-something Christians are rising up among us realizing that in abandoning everything for Christ is actually gaining everything. It is gaining a true fulfillment now and in eternity. It’s gaining true peace now and in eternity. It’s gaining true power now and in eternity. And it is gaining a purpose that is worth living for. More and more people are finding out.
The zero-point-something gate is narrow. Jesus said so. Matthew 7:13-14.
Matthew 7:13–14 (ESV)
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
It’s hard. It’s hard. And if no one has told you it is hard they are lying to you.
So, here’s my heart after being in Israel for a month. Here’s my word to you. Be a zero-point-something Christian. Be one of the few who actually say, “You know what, I’m kind of tired of the tourist thing. I want to really follow Jesus. I want to know him. I want to experience his power, I want his word to come alive and transform my life.
Here’s how.
1) Learn to read your Bible. Learn to read your Bible. Find someone to help you – that’s called discipleship. Learn how to find what you need in your Bible and then read it to understand it and then do it. That will make you a zero-point-something Christian.
2) Be committed to a genuine life transforming relationship with Christ. And if Jesus Christ isn’t transforming your life, then you don’t have a life transforming relationship with him. I’m being hard on you but it is for your good. Listen, if your life is being transformed by Christ it’s because you have a life transforming relationship with him. And if you’re saying, “Oh, no, no. I have a relationship with Jesus Christ it’s just that I don’t need any transforming.” It’s not true, don’t fool yourself.
Be a zero-point-something Christian, guys. And you will find a life that is supernaturally powerful, that is spiritually abundant, and that is confidently eternal. It’s the only life worth living. And then God will use you, send you out to make others zero-point-something Christians.
That’s my commitment coming back from watching it in the land, that is my prayer for this church. How about you?