What Can I Do?
The Kingdom of God
There have been and continue to be a lot of voices speaking about the ruthless murder/assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah this past Wednesday. As tends to be the case in our culture, news channels and social media feeds immediately began to explode with in your face coverage and opinions from every person with a cell phone, keyboard, or microphone. Many people spoke out of anger, some spoke out of a sick sense of joy, others with tears and sadness. I think many people were just trying to process their thoughts live on the air. Most of us just sat back quietly asking God, “Why?” Different people process their emotions in many different ways. The question we all must ask and answer though is, “What is God doing to accomplish His will and continue moving us towards the coming kingdom?”
In our EQUIP the Church class this week, we are studying the Kingdom of God, simply defined as, “God establishing His kingdom through His presence with His people in His place as they live out His purposes.” I didn’t follow Charlie Kirk that closely, but like most of you, I’ve certainly seen His debates on social media. Based upon his words and his defense of the Bible, I believe he was used by God to proclaim and defend the good news of the Gospel of Jesus to our world in a very special way. Not many people have the ability and the platform to do what Charlie did. I agree that he was martyred for his faith. I believe that any time a faithful man or woman of God rises up to proclaim the gospel, there will be evil opposition that arises to defeat or distract, in an attempt to keep that voice from being heard. Here’s the thing though… while his voice may have been silenced, the message Charlie Kirk proclaimed of Christ and Him crucified and resurrected for you and I to have life cannot be silenced. I know that many people knew of Charlie Kirk because of his involvement in politics, but he should be remembered for his proclamation of the gospel.
So, what do we do? What do you do? Having intentionally taken a few days to soak everything in and hear what people are saying, I believe that most Christians are wondering, “What can I do to make sure the message Charlie proclaimed doesn’t die?” Well, the answer is found in the Great Commission, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.”
And you are probably saying to yourself, “Yeah. I get that, but what does that look like specifically in my life? I’m not Charlie Kirk, I can’t stand up and defend the gospel like he did. I don’t have the platform he had, where would I even do that if I could?”
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church answering these very same kinds of questions. In 1 Corinthians 7:17–20, Paul wrote:
“Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in all the churches. Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised. Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters. Let each of you remain in the situation in which he was called.”
Everywhere you are, keep His commands. Live your life in the situation you were in when He saved you. You don’t have to be on a church staff to proclaim the gospel in every area of your life. If you don’t know what God has commanded us, learn. If you can’t tell someone what you know, practice. I think we make it more complicated than it actually is… or perhaps we’re just making excuses. Here’s what I have observed over my five years in vocational ministry. There are a whole lot of folks out there who are sitting on the sidelines. They get riled up when things like this happen, but many, if not most of them, never take any action to do anything. I believe that in this moment, there are a whole lot of Christians that have been sitting on the sidelines, who are asking right now, “What can I do?” If all those folks wait on someone else to hold their hand and begin doing what God has already commanded us to do, in just a few short weeks, they’ll be sitting back comfortably on the sidelines waiting on the next thing to rile them up. What will it be for you?
The good news of the Gospel of Jesus is the power for salvation… it is the power to transform your life to be more like Jesus… it is the power to change the world for the better. The big question is, do you truly believe that? If so, then do what you need to do to get in the game. God is with you, present in His people. Wherever you are, in His place. He is accomplishing His purposes through His people in His place, and He is with you always even until the end of this age.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bo
There have been and continue to be a lot of voices speaking about the ruthless murder/assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah this past Wednesday. As tends to be the case in our culture, news channels and social media feeds immediately began to explode with in your face coverage and opinions from every person with a cell phone, keyboard, or microphone. Many people spoke out of anger, some spoke out of a sick sense of joy, others with tears and sadness. I think many people were just trying to process their thoughts live on the air. Most of us just sat back quietly asking God, “Why?” Different people process their emotions in many different ways. The question we all must ask and answer though is, “What is God doing to accomplish His will and continue moving us towards the coming kingdom?”
In our EQUIP the Church class this week, we are studying the Kingdom of God, simply defined as, “God establishing His kingdom through His presence with His people in His place as they live out His purposes.” I didn’t follow Charlie Kirk that closely, but like most of you, I’ve certainly seen His debates on social media. Based upon his words and his defense of the Bible, I believe he was used by God to proclaim and defend the good news of the Gospel of Jesus to our world in a very special way. Not many people have the ability and the platform to do what Charlie did. I agree that he was martyred for his faith. I believe that any time a faithful man or woman of God rises up to proclaim the gospel, there will be evil opposition that arises to defeat or distract, in an attempt to keep that voice from being heard. Here’s the thing though… while his voice may have been silenced, the message Charlie Kirk proclaimed of Christ and Him crucified and resurrected for you and I to have life cannot be silenced. I know that many people knew of Charlie Kirk because of his involvement in politics, but he should be remembered for his proclamation of the gospel.
So, what do we do? What do you do? Having intentionally taken a few days to soak everything in and hear what people are saying, I believe that most Christians are wondering, “What can I do to make sure the message Charlie proclaimed doesn’t die?” Well, the answer is found in the Great Commission, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.”
And you are probably saying to yourself, “Yeah. I get that, but what does that look like specifically in my life? I’m not Charlie Kirk, I can’t stand up and defend the gospel like he did. I don’t have the platform he had, where would I even do that if I could?”
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church answering these very same kinds of questions. In 1 Corinthians 7:17–20, Paul wrote:
“Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in all the churches. Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised. Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters. Let each of you remain in the situation in which he was called.”
Everywhere you are, keep His commands. Live your life in the situation you were in when He saved you. You don’t have to be on a church staff to proclaim the gospel in every area of your life. If you don’t know what God has commanded us, learn. If you can’t tell someone what you know, practice. I think we make it more complicated than it actually is… or perhaps we’re just making excuses. Here’s what I have observed over my five years in vocational ministry. There are a whole lot of folks out there who are sitting on the sidelines. They get riled up when things like this happen, but many, if not most of them, never take any action to do anything. I believe that in this moment, there are a whole lot of Christians that have been sitting on the sidelines, who are asking right now, “What can I do?” If all those folks wait on someone else to hold their hand and begin doing what God has already commanded us to do, in just a few short weeks, they’ll be sitting back comfortably on the sidelines waiting on the next thing to rile them up. What will it be for you?
The good news of the Gospel of Jesus is the power for salvation… it is the power to transform your life to be more like Jesus… it is the power to change the world for the better. The big question is, do you truly believe that? If so, then do what you need to do to get in the game. God is with you, present in His people. Wherever you are, in His place. He is accomplishing His purposes through His people in His place, and He is with you always even until the end of this age.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bo
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