WHAT’S THE POINT?
By age thirty, Ken felt slightly disillusioned by his religion. He had prayed to obtain Christ when he was twelve, knew the Bible fairly nicely, attended Christian colleges and school, and was fortunately married with two youngsters. He had little doubt about his salvation. “However what was the remainder of my life for?” he questioned. “I typically puzzled what the purpose was. The purpose of dying to self, giving to the poor, standing for justice – even when it prices me,” he says.
These ideas got here to a head in 1997, when Ken was on a jet ski and collided with a WaveRunner. “The affect threw me a number of yards from the jet ski I used to be on, breaking a lot of the ribs on my proper facet and rupturing some organs. By way of the fog in my mind, I used to be nonetheless in a position to course of that if I handed out within the water, even with a life vest on, I’d drown. Someway I climbed across the lip of the jet ski and waited to go out.”
When his pals received him to the closest ER, Ken was instructed that he had ruptured his liver and if it was greater than a 40% rupture, he had simply 5 hours to reside. Whereas docs waited on a scan to find out the extent of the harm, Ken lay on a gurney, questioning if his liver was poisoning itself, unable to filter out toxins. “Principally, although, a thought struck me deep and onerous. What would I say to Jesus once I was standing in entrance of Him? Questioning that in principle is one factor; questioning it when it could be 4 hours away is one other. I used to be thirty years outdated and had no reply. I used to be a great man. I by no means cheated on my spouse. I used to be a police officer. That rang hole.”
After an hour, a younger physician returned and instructed Ken he had ruptured his kidney (and lung), however solely lacerated his liver – which meant he was going to reside. Then these ideas crammed his thoughts: “I wasn’t considering of the instructing of Dr. So-and-So, or Pastor What’s His-Identify. God’s Spirit was making it clear: ‘You’re going to get one other likelihood. Don’t miss it. I instructed you all the things I needed you to know in My Phrase, and it clearly says that you’ll be judged for what you probably did with the reward of life and salvation I gave you.’”
WHAT MEN SEEK
“Hope and identification,” Ken solutions with out hesitation. Then he explains that these are discovered solely in a lifetime of searching for Christ above all else. He factors to Ephesians 2:10 to indicate us the place hope and identification could be discovered:
“For we’re His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God ready forward of time in order that we must always stroll in them.”
There may be rather more to the Christian stroll of religion than our salvation, Ken believes. “Why have been we created? For good works. Not good works that result in our salvation, however good works after our salvation.” Not everyone seems to be keen to satisfy the great works ordained for them, he says. “Most individuals won’t ever uncover God’s plan for themselves as a result of they won’t take the slender highway of onerous work and struggling, that are the necessities of doing so. They received’t threat the criticism of their household and pals. They received’t deny themselves the pleasures of this world that get in the best way of a relentless pursuit of God’s will.”
Ken says that’s cowardly, and we have to have daring religion, for which we are going to obtain nice everlasting reward. “However the message isn’t so that you can do extra – it’s so that you can fall in love with Jesus. Then the issues that now seem to be unimaginable chores will turn into issues of nice delight.” He continues. “The issue of dwelling the life God referred to as us to is in direct proportion to how a lot we love Him.
CALLED TO MORE THAN SALVATION
Ken has noticed that persons are leaving church buildings in droves. Every kind of church buildings. “If life is pointless as soon as an individual has prayed the magic prayer, why wouldn’t they?” he asks. “If the one cause to go to church, assist the poor, give generously, sacrifice our rights for others, and search holiness is as a result of Jesus would like us to, then we’ll get what has been rising inside the church for many years now – individuals making an attempt to do good issues in their very own energy with out full give up to God’s Spirit. We’ve taught a weak and feckless Jesus who runs a weak and feckless faith.”
Our nice enemy, the satan, Ken reminds us, would love nothing greater than to render us unable to perform the great works to which we’ve been referred to as. “You probably have given your life to Christ, you might be misplaced to Devil. The very best he can do now’s to persuade you to not be efficient in constructing God’s kingdom.”
Good works are usually not a foregone conclusion for the believer, Ken explains, however depend upon his or her searching for God’s grace, power, and route. “The Spirit won’t develop since you select selfishness, pleasure, and sin, and also you received’t accomplish the duties He predestined for you. Make no mistake about it, we shall be rewarded for finishing the duties God gave us at the start of creation, and we are going to endure loss for these we didn’t.” To encourage us, Ken factors us again to God’s Phrase and fellowship with different believers. “Subsequently, we have to be diligent each second of daily to protect our souls and to assemble usually with godly brothers and sisters who will sharpen us and maintain us accountable.”
Get Ken Harrison’s newest guide: A Daring Religion in a Cowardly World and for extra data relating to Ken Harrison’s ministries please go to Promise Keepers and Waterstone.
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