More On John...

Over the last few months we have been studying the 4 main reasons we exist as a house of worship and intercession here in Winnipeg. Each week we have considered the following areas and looked at what the Bible has to offer in fleshing out these ideas. They are simple and yet profound, as always.

We exist:

1. As a response to the call for a solemn assembly as detailed in Joel 2
2. To change the spiritual atmosphere in our city through joyful agreement with Him and His ways
3. To raise up and release prophetic intercessors, singers and messengers
4. To aid all in cultivating our own life of devotion to Jesus

Last night we were continuing on in our study of the forerunner calling (Point #3 on the prophetic messengers) and looking at the life of John the Baptist as a picture for us.

The interesting thing about John is he really knew who he was. That in itself should raise a challenge to most of us. If we were completely honest I am not sure most of us could say with confidence before God and man that we REALLY know who we are and why we are here. John knew. He lived a life that was intense, focused on a mission that was entirely unlike any in his day and destined to end tragically (from the viewpoint of this world anyway...I suspect it looked different in heaven).

As well, John was the first to declare "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near" (Matt 3:1). Usually we attribute this phrase entirely to Jesus and pass over the fact that it was John the Baptist who was declaring it before the baptism of Jesus. Why is that significant? Well, because the role he played in "preparing the way for the Lord" was directly connected to the message of the coming rule of God on earth. He wasn't just a weird guy who said "Look...Jesus is coming". He was an intense guy driven by his calling who said in fact "Look...God in the flesh is coming with all the force of His rulership....change your ways quickly before He arrives". It was a stunning call to a people who were not prepared to accept He who was about to walk among them. The people were steeped in sin. They needed to turn and get right with God before He looked them in the eyes.

And how much more so today? The King is coming once again to the earth, this time to the whole earth. It will not be a regional visit. The same call that was on John is visiting the church right now and the message is a familiar one: turn your hearts to Him and change your ways...He is coming and you will stand before Him. And this time, His kingdom will be fully realized and He will govern the earth as He sees fit. He will take it over. That is what we are praying for, if you think it through, when we ask "let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven".

John said profoundly in John 3 that "the bride belongs to the bridegroom". He knew his call was to prepare the way and then, at the right moment, to get out of the way. It was his pure joy to do so.

Father, let this same understanding burn within the hearts of all who will prepare the way, in what is said and in how it is lived out in this hour!


Brian Creary
Ministry Director

Shane Says...

...that we are in a time like no other and we need to embrace the changes

...that God is raising up people, "forerunners" he calls them, that know the times and seasons we live in and are bold in declaring it to everyone.

...that, like many others in Scripture, they are called to prepare the way for a significant event in God's timeline...the King is returning to the Earth!

...they call the people to turn from their ways and make the paths straight for the coming of the Lord

...like John the Baptist and others, they are called to declare BEFORE the arrival of the One.

...they will move in power but live in humility and meekness

...they are nobody special

...they are you and me if we will hear what He is saying in this hour

...they get nothing of honour or reward in this life, other than misunderstanding and rejection by those who do not want to hear it.

...their reward is Jesus and Him alone

...they live out Psalm 27:4 for real

...their eyes are on eternity

...from houses of prayer like this one, forerunners will emerge that will see it, declare it and live it out, for the glory of God and the benefit of others.


Shane is a smart man! I'm glad I had him speak last night.


Brian Creary
Ministry Director

Divine Entertainment

Its funny to me how the trend in the last decade or so has been toward preaching delivered through entertainment. Speakers have moved their style far, far away away from the old image of the "fire and brimstone" preacher, severe in look and delivery. There was nothing funny about that era at all. In contrast, today's sermons are overwhelmingly entertaining, designed to relate to the lives of the listeners, and adapting humour as a means of holding the attention of the audience.

The trouble with it, of course, is if it is all (or even mostly) about the humour and pleasing delivery then it is worthless for growth in God. I am not against entertaining speakers if it can be tempered and used to hit the mark and thrust us forward in God. I am pretty sure God is ok with humour...He created us to enjoy it. Now if the preacher is using humour because he thinks he is funny and enjoys the laughs it brings, then I would suggest that he is sharing the spotlight with the King of Heaven at that point. That sounds like a bad idea to me.

Sermons that entertain also run the risk of being satisfying in and of themselves. There is a feeling of comfort that I have experienced at times, having sat through a fun and humour-filled message about...something...I can't quite recall the specific point I was going to take from it, though. There is a danger in all of these kinds of things that causes us to settle for less than we are called to in our journey with God.

Having said that, I believe that the ultimate entertainment to be experienced is actually found in God Himself and growing in the knowledge of who He is and what He is like. Consider Revelation 4, the Throne Room. The four living creatures encircled He who sat on the Throne and found themselves saying day and night "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come". It would be silly to think for even a second that they were required to do this as some sort of service to their master and were risking punishment if they failed to carry out their duty. These creatures were allowed to be this near to the creator and sustainer of all of creation. As they themselves declared, He is holy!

Some misunderstand the fullness of the term "holy", limiting it to mean "pure and sinless". That is entirely accurate, but only part of the meaning. To understand God is to understand that "holy" really means "set apart from". Well, set apart from what, you ask? From everything! He is beyond us. He is beyond understanding. He is beyond our grasp...unless He chooses not to be (and thankfully He does choose to be found by us!). He is transcendent.

Back to the living creatures, then. They encircled the One on the throne at close range. They survived being this close to the One who is perfect and just. They are not insignificant beings. And yet, they were free to experience this nearness. What is obvious in light of this is that their response must be pure. They are not grumbling under their breath about being forced to say this same phrase over and over in frustration. It is spontaneous and filled with honesty. They are seeing and they are proclaiming. He is Holy! There is no one like Him. It must be said over and over. How can we not declare it?!?!

Now that is divine entertainment. Who can watch TV after that?

The call to the pulpit in this age is to proclaim Him as He is. None of us do it very well because none of us can see very clearly. But, there is more...so much more. We pray Ephesians 1:17 almost every intercession meeting as it is the best biblical prayer I can find to answer the longing to see and know more. May He show us, all of us, more of Himself and may we be changed in heart and mind and behaviour because of it.

Brian Creary
Ministry Director