Historical perspective is essential in preparation and a luxury in debriefing, but almost useless in the theatre of battle. I think two of the biggest issues facing the modern church is a tendency to contemplate history and an inflation of ecumenical protocol. I understand the point of historical study on the part of some but I think that it is overwrought by many others.

My issue is not with history, rather the application of it. History is important, to be sure, but I have concerns about so many men and women of God bogged down in history and ecumenical affairs to the point that it draws our attention from more needful matters.

When you look out and see that folks are dying – literally – from gunshots, aids, cancer, traffic accidents and so forth, how is dedicated discussion of church history pertinent to that? Folks are dying without Jesus! We need sound preaching and teaching, not history lessons.

If we get mired in historical discussions, we will invariably head down the denomination path, and God only knows where that rabbit hole will lead.

No, we need to be ministering the Gospel of the Kingdom and the full counsel of God to this sick and dying world. We need to be about what Jesus said do – healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, and preaching the Gospel to the Poor. While we sit up in our ivory towers of learning discussing history, the world is going to hell in a hand basket.

No discussion on church fathers and church history is going to get anyone saved, healed, delivered or prospered. Again, not saying historical discussion is not meaningful, just that there are more important things to do.

© 2012 – Derrick Day (www.derrickday.com)

Dr. King understood something the Body of Christ misses today: that if you want to change the social fabric of a nation, you must first change the hearts and minds of that nation. He understood that what plagued America was a spiritual problem and that it required a spiritual solution.

There were other civil rights pioneers that proffered solutions to racial inequalities. Booker T. Washington believed that social change would follow addressing economic disparities. W.E.B. DuBois believed the path to change lie in education and political empowerment. Rosa Parks and Bayard Rustin thought that embracing socialism was the means to that end. All of these efforts were doomed to fail because they addressed symptoms without treating the root cause.

Dr. King studied the successful employment nonviolent resistance of Mahatma Gandhi in the liberation of India. Mr. Gandhi, in turn, derived his strategy by studying the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus, while a King in command of the heavenly army, withstood insults, beatings and, ultimately, crucifixion without resistance of any kind. As a result, Jesus changed the entire world!

Today, the country (indeed, the world) is plagued with all manner of social ills. In spite of Dr. King’s efforts, racial inequality is still an issue. There are violent political disagreements. Proposed changes to the social order (e.g., homosexual “marriage”) threaten the very fabric of our nation. Hunger, poverty, and physical illness still pose serious problems. But, like Dr. King, we must come to the realization that the root of the problems are spiritual and, likewise, the change must be spiritual.

The reason why the Civil Rights Movement was successful is that it had the Church as its power-base. It was only when the Church and its leadership stepped up and stepped in that the Movement gained traction.  Similarly, it is high time that the Church steps up and asserts itself to impact the world with the will, culture and intent of the Kingdom of God. Dr. King understood the Church was the world’s  spiritual trauma center and rehabilitation facility and sought to engage it to treat and correct social injustice.

Romans 8:19 declares that “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” In other words, the whole world is waiting for God’s people — the church — to stand up and speak out against the ailments of the world. Jesus, Himself, said it best:

For verily I say unto you , That whatsoever you shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that these things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. (Mark 11:23)

The problem today is that we — the Body of Christ — are reluctant to speak up. But it is when we speak God’s Word to the situations of the day — then standing in faith that we have what we speak — that we begin to see change!

Dr. King was a mighty drum major for justice but, first, he was a mighty man of God. He understood the power of speaking to the mountain. Today, we need to pick up where he left off — see the problem and then SPEAK GOD’S WORD  to the problem!

Good leaders equip and edify; poor leaders rob and tear down (John 10:10).

Having been a leader in both corporate America and in ministry, I submit the following:

Corporate America was at its zenith between 1935 and 1985. It was eminently successful because captains of industry were tested in the battlefields of WW1, WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. These folks understood the difference between leadership and management. Today, we have precious few leaders that have any combat-tested leaders in corporate boardrooms; just a bunch of B-school grads that fawn and swoon over numbers with no regard for human capital.

Likewise, in ministry, we are seeing the advent of pulpit managers instead of preaching leaders. In ministry, we’re seeing increased attention to monetary and material management without the manifestation of the power of God or the development and discipling of men. This is not an indictment of all ministerial leaders but it is an eerily growing trend.

I think corporate America would benefit from conscripted military service; indeed, there would be a fallout-benefit to the country at large. Likewise, the church needs to start reaching out to young people, engaging them in stewardship and service; thus equipping them to be leaders. Kingdom leadership begins with service and continues with stewardship.

In both cases, the leadership paradigm should be based on Jesus, who led and taught by example and, ultimately, laid down His life for those in His charge.

That’s my $.02…

© 2012 – Derrick Day (www.derrickday.com)

Here’s what Jesus has to say about “holiness:” NOTHING!

I have this – dare I say – revelation on teaching the Word of God:  the Gospels are the FOUNDATION for ALL teaching, followed by the remainder of the NT (which only ILLUMINATES the person and Word of Jesus, followed by Genesis (which is God’s MISSION STATEMENT), followed by the books of poetry (which are types and shadows of the LOVE and WISDOM of God), then the Prophets (who POINT TO Jesus and His Kingdom)’ followed by the law (what we’ve been DELIVERED FROM 
because Jesus FULFILLED IT).

That said, the Bible says “be ye holy for I (God) am oly. Here’s the bad news: YOU CAN’T BE HOLY AS GOD, NOT EVEN CLOSE. Your best efforts will frustrate you at best, and brand you as a hypocrite at worst! 

To get to the crux of this, we need to have a knowledge of what makes God, “GOD;” at least one we can wrap our peanut brains around.

Here’s one thing that we can wrap our finite minds around: one of the key attributes of God is that He and his Word are one, inseparable! 

Because the Entire universe is suspended by the Word of His Power, the moment He violates His Word, He ceases to be “GOD” and He ceases to be Holy!

So the ONLY way we can even emulate His Holiness is to emulate how He keeps His Word. We can NEVER be as good, pure, or clean as God, but we CAN be men and women of INTEGRITY; that is we say what we’ll do and do what we say IN ALIGNMENT WITH GOD.’S WORD!

Holiness does not equal righteousness. Righteousness is right standing with God made possible ONLY by the Blood of Jesus. Holiness is our conversation or LIFESTYLE. but to that end, we will never be as good as God and attempts to do so start us on a slippery slope to works, effectively nullifying grace.

Tis vain attempt to accomplish holiness trough works has resulted in the kind of religious schizophrenia that makes people run from “Christians” instead ofe running to Christ.

Y’all, this is how we BE holy. Trying to DO holy apart from this is doomed to fail.

© 2011 – Derrick Day (www.derrickday.com)

We are approaching another New Year. Soon, 2011 will be but a memory and 2012 will unfold with promise. The question is, what will you be in this New Year?

The Apostle Paul, in the aforementioned scripture, reveals something that – if caught – will change your life. When we are in Christ, we are something entirely new – a species that, heretofore, did not exist. That means your old nature, along with your old spirit, died with and was reborn with Jesus!

You are no longer a creature of sin, rather, now you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). As a new creature, we obtain a new consciousness – Righteousness Consciousness – and shed our old sin-consciousness!

What does that mean? Whatever a man is actively conscious of, that is what he does. For example, a carpenter spends most of his waking moments thinking of working with wood. An electrician spends his time thinking of wire and switches. A sinner thinks about sinning. But, when you become righteousness-conscious, you are immediately convicted and prompted to repent; that is, to change your mind, not confess your sin!

Which brings me to another mind-renewing point: if you are in Christ, you are no longer a sinner, you are a saint. Change your speech along with your mind!

So, as you go into this New Year, do not set your mind on carnal resolutions that you cannot keep.  Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing (a constant process, not a one-time thing, by the way) of your mind! Set your mind on righteousness and you will assume a posture of righteousness. And this righteousness is not of our own doing, it is part of the finished work of Jesus Christ that is imparted to us in the New Birth!

Receive and appropriate what Jesus has done for you, saint! When you allow this to manifest in your spirit, it will change your life!

© 2011 – Derrick Day (www.derrickday.com)

I’m going somewhere with this…

Joseph went to Bethlehem to be counted in a census and TO PAY HIS TAXES; y’all hear me, you don’t pay taxes on nothing! The situation was not that there was no money for Mary and Joseph’s lodging, rather ALL THE HOTELS WERE BOOKED!

I’m gonna get there, y’all stay with me…

God told Joseph to take his wife and son into Egypt to hide from Herod (Matthew 2:12-13). Now, recalling from the Exodus, Egypt was about 8 days walk from Canaan – you need provision for the journey…and that costs MONEY.

And while Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were in Egypt, they needed sustenance until Joseph could get a job!

I submit to you, the cash value of the gifts of the Magi would have provided ample means to make all this possible. Remember, God does not give vision without sending provision!

Thanks for staying with me – we’ve hit our destination: Jesus wasn’t poor!

Jesus’ poverty was this: he came from Heaven and it’s infinite resources to finite earth. In that context, even if he came to earth as a billionaire, he’d have still became poor for our sakes (2 Corinthians 8-9)! Contrary to popular belief, Jesus was not a poor, vagabond, itinerant minister. He was acknowledged as a Rabbi or Teacher, and his garments were costly enough that Roman soldiers cast lots for them (Matthew 27:35).

Now don’t misunderstand me, We are here to minister (serve) as Jesus did. That’s so clear a blind man could see it! The point is that folks try to say Jesus was poor to equate poverty with piety – and that is absolute rubbish. Likewise wealth does not equate to sin. We need to change our traditional paradigms to line up with Scripture!

Bonus information: Joseph, Mary, and Jesus went into Egypt to hide from Herod. Herod sent soldiers into Egypt looking for the Christ child. In order to successfully hide, perhaps they had to look like the natives.

Give that a minute to sink in!

Merry CHRISTmas, y’all!

© 2011 – Derrick Day (www.derrickday.com)

Beside salvation, Kingdom provision includes deliverance, healing, and material blessing. Do you actually believe God wants you to be in lack in your earthly life? If so, then I’ll pray fervently for you…and for all whom you teach!

Yes, we are not to look to the world for our supply or heap up treasure here, but we can have the earnest expectation of divine provision and earthly abundance that we may FLOW THROUGH to our brothers and sisters in need.

If you decide to opt out on any Kingdom benefit, that is your decision. However I will RELENTLESSLY teach that God has abundance for you, NOW, not just in heaven.

© 2011 – Derrick Day (www.derrickday.com)

Emmanuel – God With Us. Isaiah 7:14 describes Him thusly:

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

God With Us. Give that a minute to sink in! God was with man at creation but sin separated the two. For many generations, God was apart from man. Imagine the sorrow of a loving Father separated from His children! This was God’s great sorrow; He is a Holy God and cannot abide in the presence of sin. Therefore, God had to be separated from that which He loved the most so that His holiness would not be compelled to destroy His crowning creation.

God wrapped Himself in human flesh…but why? One reason was that Jesus needed to be the perfect sacrifice; He had to be conceived of seed that was not tainted by sin. An imperfect man could neither be the sacrifice nor a spirit being. The sacrifice had to be fully man – because man had (Genesis 1:26-28) and lost (Genesis 3) dominion – and fully God, for the perfection of the seed and the perfection of the saints.

But wait – as they say in infomercials – there’s more! For parents reading this, rewind to when your children were toddlers. You often gave instruction from a seated or standing posture, but when you really wanted them to understand your will – or for you to understand their perspective, you would kneel down to their level.

Jesus was God, Himself, kneeling down to our level! Through the Person of Jesus, God was tempted as we are, to know joy and sorrow as we do, and, most of all, to taste death as humans do. Like a loving Father, He stooped down to our level to instruct us and to gain our perspective!

What Love!

So in this Holiday season, remember that Jesus is, indeed, the reason for the season. But know that your Heavenly Father ordained the birth of His most precious gift to be given as a sacrifice so that mankind could be reconciled to Himself. It is through the chastisement of our peace (Isaiah 53:5) that peace on earth and goodwill toward men is possible because the conflict between sinful man and Holy God was reconciled once and for all in the Person of Jesus Christ

© 2011 – Derrick Day (www.derrickday.com)

Religion has distorted Scripture to the point where prosperity is viewed as profane. In Mark, chapter 10, the Lord was not establishing a doctrine in telling the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions, he was speaking contextually to what the young man was yoked to; that is, his wealth. There is no instruction to take a vow of poverty or that wealth, in and of itself, is sinful.

Now, I’m not one of these pastors looking to fleece his flock; rather I’m blessed with a wonderful standard of living that is a blessing from God (I grew up poor – raised by a single mother with two siblings). And the Kingdom principles that God’s Word has imparted to me, I share with others, and EVERY one who has applied them ha seen an increase in their standard of living.

Bottom line, Poverty IS NOT God’s will for His children.

© 2011 – Derrick Day (www.derrickday.com)