Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that is as shameless as it pretends to be.
Everyone once in a while, I’ll muster up enough courage to look at my Facebook feed. I put my hands over my face and peek through two fingers, arming myself to see what Christians today – most of whom I don’t know — are saying.
(Okay, I’m exaggerating . . . a little.)
While this is often unnerving, it’s one way to get my finger on the pulse of current Christendom. And that sometimes leads to a new article.
Like this one.
Several months ago, someone (who I don’t know) asked this question on his Facebook wall:
“What was the central message of Jesus?”
I was intrigued – as well as nervous — to see the responses, so at the risk of going into a bout of depression, I followed the thread.
Here are samples of the dominating response:
“Oh that’s easy,” said Dolores, “the main message of Jesus was love one another.”
“Yea,” said Otis, “love was his central message.”
“It was love,” said Evelyn.
No one challenged this.
(As a rule, I personally stay away from viper pits like Facebook conversations, but I have a notion that most of the silent people who saw the thread agreed that “love” was the correct answer.)
The truth is, “all you need is love” was NOT Jesus’ central message. (That belongs to another person whose first name begins with a “J”.)
The concept that Jesus came to teach humans on Planet Earth to be nicer, kinder, and more loving toward each other sounds good to twenty-first century ears, but it makes Jesus out to be someone He was not.
The central message of Jesus Christ was the blistering, high-voltage, deeply-subversive, earth-shaking GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM.
That gospel included a radical call to forsake the present world system – its values, its ways, its philosophy, its language and style of speech, its pleasures – and even one’s own life.
And to surrender that life to Jesus of Nazareth, this world’s true Lord. Then to live out this kingdom life with others who have embraced the gospel of the kingdom.
All of the above is what I call “the Insurgence.”
Jesus’ teaching about love was given to those who already submitted to His absolute lordship and who became part of His kingdom.
Love – the way Jesus defined it (which isn’t the same way the world understands it) is how the kingdom of God operates.
Love always requires losing your life, laying it down, denying self.
However, a person cannot love in the biblical sense unless they first forsake all (repent), entrust their lives to Jesus (faith), and receive His own divine life into their beings (the new birth).
Why?
Because the nature of divine life is love, and one cannot receive this kind of divine love outside of receiving Christ and having His Spirit indwell them.
Sure, they can be nice, kind, pleasant, and even giving. But they are incapable of the divine love (agape) that the New Testament talks so much about.
My Facebook “friend’s” post and the reactions to it underscore the great need for the Insurgence to be broadcast far and wide in the Christian world.
Even after being laser focused on proclaiming it for the last four years in every form I can think of, the Insurgence is still relatively unknown to the Christian masses.
This despite the fact that the following resources are accessible to anyone in any country.
They exist for you to consume and share.
Seven Resources for Spreading the Insurgence
The Gospel of the Kingdom (blog series)
The Insurgence (podcast)
Insurgence: Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom (the book: print, audio, and digital versions)
Everlasting Domain: Restoring the Kingdom Message (Master Class)
Kingdom of God (YouTube playlist)
The Gospel of the Kingdom (website)
The Insurgence (website)
Also, some of you have asked what it would take to have me speak to your church. My speaking schedule for 2022 is opening up for conferences, churches, Bible colleges, seminaries, etc.
If interested in booking, go to my Events page and follow the instructions.
In short, we have a long way to go in getting the message out.
Lord, stir up your people to advance Your kingdom message far and wide.
Until next Thursday,
fv
P.S. If someone wanted to change your life and zealously forced this blog post on you, you can appease them and subscribe here. It’s gratis and comes with a dozen Super Fire Hot Wings … the kind you can only eat after you sign a set of release forms. (No lemon suckers please. They won’t understand the humor.)
A Ten-Year Commitment
Hi Frank. First I love your humor! Please don’t stop that. Second I would have never understood this post or many of your others if I didn’t read your book “Insurgence.” I have friends who I shared this post with and they don’t understand it. Some of them are getting the book though because they can tell you’re speaking truth even if they don’t get it.
I would assume all of your subscribers have read the book, or am I misassuming?
Thanks Aaron. You are merely confirming how badly the gospel of the kingdom needs to be broadcast.
The Christian world has replaced that gospel with other “gospels,” so it’s a foreign language to many Christians even though it’s pretty obvious throughout the entire Bible. If someone points the thread out to us.
But you nailed it. Without reading the book INSURGENCE where I lay out the case in detail in six different (but complimentary) parts, I can see how a person won’t understand this post.
Regarding your assumption, unfortunately, no, I have some long-time subscribers who haven’t read that book (or many of my others). Not many, but there are a number.
Personally I don’t understand this.
I only subscribe to people’s newsletters whose books I’ve read and/or am reading. Especially their landmark work. Which INSURGENCE is for me.
Another good article/response, Frank. Appreciate your work in the Kingdom. We pray for your spiritual health and continued contribution to those of us who enjoy your writings…we benefit from them as they challenge us to press on into the Lord Jesus, examining our lives and continually conforming to his image.
brotherly,
Bud……..
Thank you. The prayers are desired and appreciated.
Frank, this was a great article. I’m loving Insurgence. It’s your best book in my opinion. I also really appreciate how you respond to people who disagree with you. Strong but gracious, tender but tough. It’s a model for me.
Thanks for this article, it’s so true. I would have disagreed before I read your book “Insurgence.” I would have sided with all the other people who said “love.” Sure, Jesus taught love, but that was mainly to his disciples as you said. A person who doesn’t have his life inside cannot love, not the kind described in the new testament.
I so appreciate Insurgence and the podcast that goes with it.
Will definitely spread the resource links!
Thx. Yea, it really confirmed a lot for me. The message of the Insurgence is more needed today than I realized. So glad to hear you’re spreading the resource links. That’s precisely why I posted them all in one spot. The message needs to advance, fo sho.
Wonderful article! Thanks for being so consistent and shamelessly sharing the truths of the kingdom with us.
Frankie V. this is soooo good! Wonderful. Insurgence was a game changer in my life.
Looking forward to episode 100 of the podcast!
Hi Frank and all, You must sometimes feel like a voice crying in the wilderness. What amazes me, and if I allow it discourages or aggravates me, is how different, unique, mixed up and messed up we all are. Whether on Facebook or even the few comments right here on this blog…demonstrate how people/Christians see things SO differently, or mis-see and mis-understand things.
Even with the Indwelling of Christ/Holy Spirit (which few understand and perhaps fewer experience) “Christian (not to mention human) history” displays such outrageous diversity and differences. I appreciate your long-suffering attempts to try to re-present and bring clarity and focus to the Jesus/Kingdom Story…to make it practical and, especially, actual.
Surely Jesus saw all this coming, and where it is all heading. Is he happy with things or discouraged? Does he have the mentality of defeat or victory, in spite of it all? Do we have the “mind of Christ” in all this?
Thx. for your thoughtful reply. My email list is very large and I have people on it who haven’t consumed any of the resources listed at the end of the article. Consequently, there’s no context for the article. It’s instead filtered through one’s own understanding and experiences (I talked about “filters” in a recent article).
I remember N.T. Wright saying that a person cannot understand anything he writes unless they’ve read at least half 1/3 of what he’s written.
This is one the obstacles that all authors face, if they are breaking new ground.
This blog (which is sent to email subscribers every Thursday) is both a supplement and an introduction to the books and the podcasts, which give the context.
I’m grateful that many who find the blog go on to get the books and listen to the podcasts.
In answer to your question at the end, some have the mind of Christ. Others do not. “We” can never be used to represent the entire camp of Christians. They are too divided.
I plan to create a podcast episode soon on the Christ is All podcast entitled “What is the Deeper Journey?”
Stay tuned for that.
Appreciate your comment.
How true how true.
Frank, one of my buddies sent me your podcast and this blog and I’m floored by it, devouring as much as I can. I’m probably the oddball in that all of this is new to me. For newbies, what order do you recommend I go through the resources you listed at the end? Thank you.
Welcome Tyler. I’m glad someone shared those resources with you. Please thank them for me.
Here’s how I’d recommend you go through the material:
1. Read the book INSURGENCE (or listen to the audio version).
2. Go through the Insurgence Podcast at the same time you’re reading the book. There are nearly 100 episodes so far.
3. Go through the Kingdom Message blog series.
4. If you want more, get the Master Class (Everlasting Domain) – you’ll get access to all of the Master Classes also.
5. Check out the YouTube channel and the blog series – those are easily shared. The websites can be shared as well.
I see that we are in different universes, but I’ll take a swing at it anyway;
The question/premise is wrong.
Jesus didn’t come to spread a message, He came to complete a mission – to save mankind.
Repentance simple means a change of mind; I didn’t trust Jesus as my Savior, now I do.
My guess is that the focus on the message is also a focus on being a ‘follower’, ie. what would Jesus do?
The goal is not tying to live like Jesus, but allowing Jesus to live through us.
The difference is huge.
Blessings..
Your comment is strange. You must be new to Frank’s ministry because what you wrote is really mixed.
Jesus did bring a message (the gospel of the kingdom) and a mission with it. It wasn’t to save the world either (see Frank’s book “From Eternity to Here” which is about the eternal purpose). Our brother also emphasizes letting Christ live through us and not trying to imitate Him. His book “Insurgence” is phenomenal and addresses all of this.
Frank, thanks for being steady in bringing the message so clearly. The 7 resources are great. I’m sharing them. You didn’t mention The Deeper Journey podcast. Was that intentional? I loved that one too.
Thx. Drew. Yes, I did forget to include The Deeper Journey podcast. That podcast was a series of 12 episodes (all about 3-minutes long) then it stopped where the other two – Christ is All and The Insurgence Podcast – continue with seasonal breaks now and then. Appreciate you mentioning it. It’s a good introduction to the gospel of the kingdom.
Amen!!!
Another great article! I’ll be sharing the resources with my friends for sure. Thanks for making it so easy. The gospel of the kingdom needs to get out. My friends and I love your podcasts. Keep them coming!
Love your humor and wit. This article is amazing! Sharing it.
Excellent and so very clear. I’ll be sharing the links with my friends on social media. Thank you for serving us like this.
You are an excellent communicator, Frank. I enjoyed and agree with much of what you have said and written. But in all your comments about the central message of Jesus regarding the gospel of the kingdom -especially when it comes to the importance of entrusting your life to Jesus as Lord first, by faith, and receiving the gift of eternal life- I notice you never seem to address the issue of personal sin. You talk about repentance as “forsaking all” in order to enter the kingdom, but that is where it ends. What about repentance from sin? Isn’t that essential to accepting Jesus as Savior? Isn’t that part of “forsake all”?
Thomas, this is a short blog article, not a book.
I have addressed sin and the flesh and the world in detail in some of the resources listed below, particularly the book, the Master Class, and the podcast.
“Repentance from sin” is also addressed in my other works.
I’d encourage you to carefully read “Insurgence” from cover to cover. It will bring you up to speed.
Thank you, sir. I will look into it.