Tingling Ears

    I have always been intrigued by the word tingle found in scripture. It means to sting. My daughter got bite by the smallest little bee while camping but did it ever pack a punch. Her leg was bruised and swollen for a few days. As I was reading this morning I read the message God had given to Samuel concerning Eli the priest and his family. Eli had already had a prophet bring this same message to him. You can read the prophecy and results in 1 Samuel 2:27-36; 3,4. God called Samuel and said, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.” (1 Samuel 3:11) The prophecy takes place and this family of priests is no more and the ark of the Lord is captured. I would say this would make your ears tingle. Scripture also tells us in 2 Kings 21:12 “Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle” and Jeremiah 19:3 “Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.” This all happened because Israel was not serving the Lord the way they should.
    Now to North America; neither are we and we also have this problem occurring, which is closely related to the ears – (2 Timothy 4:3) “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” Right now we have many doing their own thing, making their own plans and most of it is ideas and formulations from their own minds. Sadly, pretty much anything goes these days. Someone has an idea, writes a book and people follow blindly (baaah!) There is always something new around the corner that people desperately want to follow.  They are always looking for a plan other than scripture. The church is slowly falling apart because of this. One example of this is like one pastor wrote about how summer vacation (from church -my own) is now from May 24 to Thanksgiving weekend. I would say the church is now paying for the permission given to shut down during the summer. Pretty soon summer and winter are going to collide and people will be on a continual holiday from church. One of the popular new catch phrases being used is “Missional”. First of all how can we be missional (making disciples) to people around us if we ourselves are so uncommitted (lukewarm) to the church in the first place.  This term “Missional” is not new. Jesus said, Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” That is the true sense of the word “missional”. Sadly most people in the church are not obeying wholeheartedly in the first place so how can we make disciples if we ourselves are not true disciples. Here is an example. In the Missional terminology, one of the big ideas is to find your Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth based on the verse in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” They have developed this cute little scenario about reaching people who are closest to you and like you to people not close and not like you. This all sounds good but is missing one very important ingredient that is not talked about- power. It actually brings a new meaning to the word “miss”-ional. The interesting part is that most churches leave out the power part of this verse and proceed without waiting and without power to the ends of the earth. There were told to wait and receive power and then go. In North America the word wait is a four-letter word. Sadly most of the “missional” works being done are man-made ideas done without the anointing power of the Holy Spirit. It is amazing what man can accomplish in their own power.  I am not against the idea of being “missional” as it is scriptural but what I am against is another plan /program with fancy titles to sell books, pamphlets and seminars etc. to sheep desperately looking to be lead. We need to stop attempting things for God in our own strength and power and then asking God to bless it and turn back to the true plan found in the word of God.  Sadly in many cases it looks like these ideas are working but are there eternal results? We need to spend time waiting on God for that power to come upon us so that we can do the things God has planned for us. Are we willing to wait on God is the big question? I am wondering what the church will look like when people’s ears begin to tingle? Is God going to do something among us that will make the ears of those who hear it tingle and will our work stand through it? We need to wait upon the Lord for His power so that we can rise up under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and be true disciples and then go to the ends of the earth and see the immeasurable that God will do through us. Just remember tingling ears is never a good thing.