 |
| Mother Earth |
"So what are we as Christians supposed to do? How can we live in such a way that we transform the world instead of simply conforming to it?
"First, we can’t forget our history. The early church didn’t have individual liberty in the first through third centuries, and the Romans certainly weren’t bastions of family values. Yet faithful believers flipped the entire Roman world right-side up in 300 years – and they didn’t even have Facebook, Instagram, mega buildings, book deals or cell phones!
"So how did they do it? Well, it wasn’t what they did but who they were that brought the world to Jesus and ultimately birthed an era of freedom that we enjoy today.
"Christians in the early church were called followers of the “Way.” It was the way they lived and went about their daily lives that marked them as distinct and separate from all others. It wasn’t conferences or concerts but a community of believers living in a way that literally blew peoples’ minds and created an appetite in them for the Savior.
"But the Roman Empire tried to stomp them out of existence. Christians refused to worship the emperor because they bowed to another King, whose name was Jesus. Nero, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius and other rulers used force against the faithful, but nothing they did could stop the advancement of the church.
"The same is true today. Before He returns, Jesus will build His church, the devil will make war on the church, and yet the gates of hell will not prevail against the church (Matthew 16:18)." . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment