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Haven’t others tried this all before?

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It just threw me into convulsions ten years ago when I read book after book on church history.

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They were written from every conceivable bent or standpoint,

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by everyone from total atheists, to very religious men representing denominations, to men supposedly representing nothing but historical, religious accuracy.

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I remember late one night taking one of those books and just heaving it against the wall!

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I went out walking in the street in the pouring rain, sat down under a tree in the mud, and just cried.

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 And my argument with God was, “Why bother, God? I mean all of religious history has just been one seemingly good thing turning into heresy after another.”

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All of church history seems to be a twisted bunch of nonsense. So I felt like, “Well, God, why bother? Why not just bag it?

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Why not just slump down into a pew and go along with the same-old same-old and not question anything?

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Why not just play the game by the existing set of rules whether it seems to be what God wants or not? Why bother if it’s just going to end up messy anyway?”

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I came away from that experience totally convinced and convicted of something deep in my heart:

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He really didn’t ask us to prove anything or accomplish anything. He just asked us to obey.

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And I felt like I could do that! I could look towards tomorrow saying, “I will obey.”

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If something else comes into my view that I’m not obeying, I will obey.

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And if there's a culmination of that obedience--if you put it all together and it looks like something has happened as a result--

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--that’s God’s business, not mine or yours or ours.

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He just called us to be douloi, bond servants, slaves.

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We’re to have our ear pierced with an awl, and then to love Him and serve Him night and day.

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And when we’ve done all, we’re still unprofitable servants.

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Whatever history may have shown, I want to learn from others’ mistakes, but I don’t need to despair that I have to fall into those mistakes…

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or that my mistakes can’t be redeemed or corrected.

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I just want to keep going forward, obeying one day at a time, and whatever happens as a result, happens. It’s not my concern.

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Jesus said, “I will build my church the gates of hell cannot prevail against.” He didn’t say, “You will build My church.” He said, “I will.”

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And I trust Him for that.

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Jesus’ prophetic promises throughout the centuries are that He is going to present to Himself a Bride who has made herself ready,

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and I trust that it will be so, whenever that may be.

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I heard a man say once that people were asking him regularly, “Is this the last generation?” And his answer to them was, “Well, for you it is.”

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I think that’s a pretty good motto for us. Who knows what the future is going to hold?

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Again, back to Hebrews 11, those men died having never seen the fulfillment of what they had hoped for, the city whose builder and maker was God.

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But they didn’t shrink back or turn back to the old city, the old country. They went forward.

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And so if obedience to God in my daily life and my family relationships and in serving others,

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if having the character of Christ in every circumstance is what God is calling me to--I can do that.

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Perhaps He’ll use that obedience in our lives together somehow.

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Are others serving and obeying God in other places? Certainly they are, and we don’t claim to be exclusive in any way.

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In fact, we’re totally convinced that God’s desire is for every true-hearted believer in this whole city be working together, not separately.

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No elitism, comparisons, or anything like that, but everyone contributing one to another.

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 And we need to work towards that end, not just assume that it’s just going to happen.

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We need to take care of the disobedience in our own hearts that would cause the problems.

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As for history, it’s really not my problem. I’m aware of it. I'm probably far more aware of it than most people are.

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I’ve gone to some lengths to try to understand what has proceeded us historically. We’ve wanted to do our best not to remake certain mistakes.

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 But on the other hand, I could just close that all off in my mind and say, “Look. I’ve got today.

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I know what Jesus is calling me to be from a character standpoint and I know the opportunities He is calling me to walk forward in. I’m just going to do it.

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The rest is His.”

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I’m sure that’s got to be our attitude no matter where we live or what we do.

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