5 POINTS of REVOLUTION - Darren Smith

After much prayer, I have decided to release these points of revolution. I pray that you will pray over them and let God show you what to do. Time is short, we must act now. 1. We must return to the pure faith that Christ ordained for us to follow. Man has complicated faith to the point it is hard to find true faith on this earth. We have far too many man-made doctrines that lead us away from true simple faith. We have sought after knowledge to the point that knowledge has taken place above Christ. From this, the simple relational Gospel has been lost and replaced by systems of religion that are only designed to build themselves. More people are concerned with their doctrine than carrying out the work of Christ on this earth. We have very educated people who have a great head knowledge of Christ but lack the heart knowledge that fruits of the Spirit flow from. These doctors of Theology put on a show week after week, letting their preaching skills dazzle the people, but their fruit never shines forth. Let's get real. How many of these men would preach if their salary was taken away? From these halls of religion, men echo a self-centered gospel that really is no gospel at all, it brings forth no fruit. Today's church has become a business simply put, putting out products to enrich itself. It has become a Babylonian institution that only a revolution can change. We must stop feeding the monster. Pure simple faith is Loving God and Loving our neighbor. Do we love God if we don't obey His commands? Jesus said that we don't. If we are not doing the things Christ said, we are not in obedience. Jesus taught us to live a life of simplicity building relationships and making disciples, not building lavish buildings and a comfortable life for our self. Are we loving our neighbor when we overlook his needs? Would God rather us use our money to build temples and ministry payrolls or to feed the hungry and take care of widows and orphans? Would HE rather us buy the system's books and tapes or spend our money spreading the Gospel to the lost? Shouldn't our resources go to the work of the ministry? This will anger those that are changing money in the name of the Lord and making ministry a business. But it must be said, not only said but shouted. 2. We must examine our life by the Light of the Word. We cannot examine ourselves by the doctrine of religion - only the Word of God. Men build doctrines that are to be more accepted by the world. Take for instance the prosperity message plaguing the body today. It's designed to make you feel better about yourself and the life you live. The people who are in leadership prosper by design, those that follow pay the bill, but worse a false sense of hope is sent out to people who simply can only be helped by the simple truth. If you examine yourself by this doctrine or any other manmade doctrine you cannot get a clear picture of where you need to be or what you should be doing. Look at this simple principle in 2 Cor 13:5 - "Test yourself to see if you are in the faith." See if Christ is in you. That's a simple test so why not so it? Do I love God? Am I keeping His commands? Do I love my neighbor? If so, how do I show it through my actions? Am I taking care of widows and orphans, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked? If not, am I obeying Christ? Am I forgiving? Without forgiving you cannot be forgiven. Why is this not taught today? Am I kind, patient? Or am I full of envy and pride? In 1Cor 13:4-8 you can give yourself a simple test. Take out the word "love" and place your name there and see if it fits. If Christ is in you, you have the ability through Him to be all these things. Doctrines of man give us excuses not to go deeper into relationship with Christ. They teach us how to put up a facade of holiness, like how we look or act on the outside, or rituals that we find comfort in - like church attendance and tithing to the church. Christ asks for childlike faith, simplicity in loving Him and our neighbor - a daily relationship. You can't get this from religion, only from relationship. If you're not passing the test, ask the Lord what you must do to pass and HE will guide you. Religion will give you a list of things to do and a list not to do. Christ will give you life and peace. 3. You must become temporary residents or travelers in this world. We have put our roots down in a world that we are only passing through, to the point that the culture has overtaken faith. 1 Peter 2:11. Peter tells us to be aliens to this world and to abstain from fleshly desires that war against us. What are these things that war against us? The very culture of self that we live in today - from sexual perversion to self-centered greed, to the attitude that we deserve anything we want. This culture has brought down basic values and destroyed the family in this nation. Just like Lot in Sodom, we have grown so comfortable with the life it provides us we don't even care about the sin around us. We have adjusted our religion to fit the culture. We are at a point where nothing shocks us anymore, but as long as we can keep our comforts it's OK. We love this world and the things it affords us so much, we have missed the narrow path and are trying to turn a deaf ear to the warnings of God for us to repent. As much as I know this will make a lot of people mad, I must add this point. Our national pride as Americans has helped us down this road as well. We feel we are God's own nation even as we have become more and more against God. Blinded by rhetoric and blind patriotism we have let this country sink to an all-time low. From abortion to gay marriage, we flaunt our rebellion before God and then claim to be God's nation. If anyone dare say anything about it, you are attacked for being anti-American and an extremist. Well, I have news for you, Jesus himself was an extremist and views on religion and government put Him on trial and the cross. Can you make the point realistically that we are a Godly nation? I think not. We must be willing to become aliens to this world and its ways. The American dream is not from God. God wants us to be citizens of the Kingdom of God and live accordingly. This means that we are going to have to make some hard choices about what to do in this world, some that will have very tough consequences to our flesh. We must come out of Babylon and every one of her systems. This means letting go of life as we know it and embracing the cross of Christ. This will cause you to take stands that will be totally counter-culture and revolutionary and most people in your life will not understand. Don't forget that Jesus said that he would cause division. As you pull away from this world, most will question your actions and critics will tear at your every idea. If you are a traveler here, it really doesn't matter. 4. Repentance and transparency are a must. We must get real with ourselves and with others around us. Every time we cover up sin and shortcomings we give our enemy weapons to use against us. This is why true relationship in the body of Christ is so important. We need to be able to minister out of our heart, and if we are not clean, we become poison instead of healing. Some of the most unforgiving and meanest people I have ever met I met in church. I know men who stand and teach God's Word before others, that are full of hate and unforgiveness. True relationship exposes these issues and gives a chance for repentance to take place. I know men that claim to love God but are racist and because of the facade the modern church has built, they teach Sunday after Sunday with this hate in their heart. How can anyone help you if they are not open about their own struggles? How can a man preach against adultery and have that very thing in his own heart? We must get clean and open in the Body to see the fullness of Christ in His Body. It is from our weakness He is able to use us and we all have our own areas that we have failed, and only through His love and grace are we able to gain victory. I believe in being transparent and sometimes I am told that I am too open about my life and struggles, but I know if it is hidden, that the enemy will use it to destroy me. I have preached meetings that when I asked everyone to raise their hand if they have hidden sin such as porn and adultery in their life that every man in the place raised their hand. At this I asked them to come forward and repent and confess before God and man - so they could be set free. Hidden sin kills your spirit and robs you of your God-given destiny. It must be dealt with. We must plant New Testament Fellowships that teach these truths and put them into action so people can be free. This level of openness is not comfortable, for we will all have to admit that we have faults and problems. This will cause us to have to deal with marital problems instead of running to divorce court. We will have to be accountable for our actions and live life without any excuses. 5. Absolute commitment to the cause of Christ. We must be willing to lay down our life for Christ. This is easy to say but hard to put in practice. Most believers say that they are willing to die for Christ, but live a life that says just the opposite. Most will not put off their self in even the simplest things in life such as giving from their abundance to further the cause, much less taking time from their life to serve. Many ask me how we left a comfortable home in the country to live and serve in the inner city among the addicts and prostitutes and homeless. I tell them God sent me here, I had no choice in the matter. I'm not special, I just simply told the Lord, I give you my life! Many sing these words over and over in songs, but in reality they don't give Him anything that costs them time or money. Think about how silly it is to say you would die for Christ but you're not willing to give up anything of your own for Him. There are very few people committed to the cause of Christ to the point of giving their life, even though this is what He requires. If you can't be faithful in giving in your daily life, you will not give your life. If you can rest on the excuses of not having time or enough money to help, you can rest on the excuse that you're not called to this level. Let's go even deeper. If you can rest with the condition of this nation and the church, then you are not a revolutionary and there is no need for you to read any more of this letter. But, if you can't rest in the excuses or in the condition of this land, it is time for you to take action even at risk to your life. In closing, I would like to share a few thoughts with you about revolutions and revolutionaries. Many people are fascinated with people who will risk it all for their cause and because of this they will stay just close enough to watch and take credit for being a part if anything they think is good happens. But as soon as the battle gets too hot, they turn and run and deny they had any part. For the most part it is a lonely road that the revolutionary walks. Most of the time there is nothing to show that they are winning, the isolation takes a toll on them and at times they question if the fight is worth it at all. In our case, the fight is worth it because it is the Lord's. Many times, the change that is brought about is long after the revolutionary has given his life in obscurity on a forgotten battlefield. Then someone will stumble onto the cause and the passion that he held for it and stories from his time will inspire the next revolutionary to pick up the cause and lose his life for it's sake. Many times then, the man who gave it all and died in a forgotten battle will become known and many who are not willing to pay the price will sit around and tell stories of this great man who gave his life. But it is the one that is inspired to take action that carries the battle forth without any regard to his own life. We must be willing to die on our own forgotten battlefield in this revolution for it is not ours, it is the Lord's. The battle lines are clearly drawn, it's time to choose our side and commit our life. Are you ready?