Francis Chan Q&A - What changes are needed in the church right now?

[Music] so francis i remember i don't know if it was 10 or 11 years ago where you were actually in Hong Kong when you really felt like the Lord was directing you to come back to the u.s. to help the church cast vision help like create some change and now it's so interesting you know all these years later the Lord's taking you to Hong Kong Wow huge change is happening in our world in almost it feels like some of the things the Lord was put it on your heart back then are almost like necessary now I guess maybe could you reflect on what some of those changes have been and I guess your perspective on it now in light of how the world's changing yeah that was a really weird time for me because I mean you've known me for a while and so I you know back in the day I never talked like hey God said something to me you know like that just wasn't in my vocabulary you know I might feel promptings by the Holy Spirit but I mean we were said we were here in Hong Kong and Lisa and I both felt like we heard the Lord and that I don't think his I don't know if it's ever happened at that point in our lives that he wanted us here but then I heard as clear as I ever had that God was saying go back to the u.s. first and show a different way of being the church and that I had kind of chickened out on some things I gave into criticism and this and that and I really needed to establish a new way of gathering and there's something for the future and preparing the church for the future and and in most of it as you guys know the the there were biblical convictions that were just there you saw that in the cornerstone days you were there we're just wrestling through with the elders like gosh biblically we're off like there's supposed to be a supernatural love amongst us and you know we could argue that maybe we're a little more unified it was a weak argument there wasn't a supernatural love in the church where people would be shocked by it and that would be the attraction there wasn't a sense in which there was this power in the church and people really looked way different because they were filled with the Holy Spirit compared to people who were not so there was a level of holiness and there was a spiritual giftedness in the people where I I just felt like man according to scripture I've got an army of super naturally gifted people I think it was someone in that preaching class you're in that was talking about like we're like superheroes like with these you know crazy powers that then we should walk around invincible and using these gifts and that's how the world should see us that these gifts were spiritual of the Holy Spirit and so it was these convictions that I just thought gosh if it's true that these thousands of people before me each have these insane gifts I've got to figure out a way to release that so that was that you know and obviously there's a bunch of other things you know I write about that in the book now I'm trying to sell the book right now but you know what I mean it's like there's so much to that that was biblical and I've always tried to be a guy if I see something in Scripture that doesn't match up in my life but I need to change it I think what was difficult was when I saw things in Scripture and the whole church didn't match up it's like okay then we need to change that and that was the idea of going back to the states learning some things that I saw here and especially in mainland China and the underground Church where I thought oh the American Church could learn so much from this and because there could come a day when we don't have the freedom to gather and so I don't know there were just practical things in the States also that I just thought this can't continue on a practical level because financially the church is so dependent on a certain level of income to survive and that just didn't I couldn't see that anywhere in Scripture I couldn't see the potential of a church folding because of financial pressure biblically I knew it happened all the time and then I thought about just where we're going as a with with the government and as a government gonna allow for churches whose morality contradicts that of Hollywood it doesn't seem like the government is - I don't know it just seems like in the future unless you agree with the majority on morality there'll be limitations on what you can say and so I just start thinking gosh the church isn't ready for that how do we prepare them for that and so that's the mindset back then currently I mean people go gosh it's like you saw this coming I'm like no I didn't see this coming at all and not least this way I saw yeah there's gonna come a day just logically where we just can't have these same freedoms you just see the flow of our country and you just go okay where we're coming into that time where people are getting more and more hostile towards what we believe and we can do what a lot of churches have done which is let's just not talk about those issues and try to be politically correct and not offensive and and so that we keep the people coming and yet it's just not the way his bride has ever been through history and we're gonna have to speak up and that means we'll lose some of our freedoms and maybe even her tax-exempt status or and we've got to be okay with that so it's building church that's resilient but you know something I want to say that doesn't make this a giant answer but you know is praying the other day about everything that's going on and people being concerned like what's gonna happen to the church what's gonna happen to me was and that's just that's very unbiblical if there's a anxiety or a fear and and in the picture that came to my mind is is what if I had a diamond right here and and I had this massive hammer and I just like for act that diamond with the hammer what would happen to that diamond you guys can answer it's not rhetorical wow yeah what's a little diamonds did you say we turn into little diamonds I love you rob know nothing would happen to the try a diamond it's indestructible it crack is many times with the hammer as you want it's okay you know that okay well I yeah well now teaching you you're my disciple okay but the whole point is you can smash a diamond with a hammer as much as you want it's not gonna but what if I smashed and it does turn into little diamonds then what that tells you is that diamond wasn't real hmm because the diamond is indestructible you know like a hammer can't break it and and so I that's the mindset that we have done is Jesus said I I'm gonna build my church and the kids a hell can't stand against it and so if it's a real Church we should be walking around with the confidence that nothing can destroy that you and I were invincible oh where where his body weren't with the resurrected Christ I mean and now he calls us the body of Christ you can tell me even destroy his body okay how do you destroy his body with a virus with government with with with a lockdown with with a loss of offering finances like you're talking about the body of Christ and and so we should be walking around now with this oh no I don't know what's gonna happen to my church well you know first of all it's not your church and when something with your church might be screwy but not the Church of Jesus Christ his body's not going down I'm not going down we're not what's what's gonna destroy this right here man you and me like nothing nothing what's gonna destroy my relationship he goes meant death life angels principalities things present things to come high death things nothing is gonna separate me from the love of Christ and the same way we should walk around with that attitude we can lift up our heads our redemption is near no one's gonna destroy the Church of Jesus Christ but it's actually an exciting time because not only is it not being destroyed but I believe that God is Peru in his church he's done he is the vine dresser he's totally fine with chopping off branches that don't bear fruit so that the tree could be more fruitful and so I think there was a period where I was a little concerned I know this church is dying or this church is dying it's like no churches don't die for the body of Christ now there are branches that are sucking a lot of energy that need to be cut off and thrown into the fire and that's up to the vine dresser to do and that's great and I believe as the church gets dwindled down for the true church that we're gonna see more power and fruitfulness and so you know I would just say let's let's not worry about it that's nothing to freak out about let's walk around with the confidence that Christ wants his body to show man that was so good thanks Francis that's really like getting into the next thing and I'm kind of torn right now should I ask the question now or wait till the next video but I think this is opening up like a whole other topic about how does the church thrive in this time right not just survive I think it seems like a lot of leaders might be thinking in terms of how do we get through this how do we survive this situation but really it's like so clear God wants us to thrive like God wants us to press forward God wants to see his church do such amazing things in this time so in our next video we're gonna press in more on that topic so be looking out for that you

Channel: Church Intensive by Crazy Love

Views: 12,878

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Id: 4dQAQXD7iL0

Length: 12min 47sec (767 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 27 2020