Advance The Kingdom With A Bigger Message

The biggest idea in the world is the gospel of Jesus Christ, but it’s often shared as if it’s easy for anyone to understand. It is simple, but that isn’t necessarily the same thing as easy. Since the time you answered the Holy Spirit’s invitation, has your message gotten bigger or smaller?

When you share Christ, do you share small messages about small changes or a huge message about the greatest change possible?

For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. — 1 Corinthians 2:11-12

The gospel is huge! And your voice is increasingly important in the battle between Light and darkness.

Great Thinkers Think Big

Great thinkers think about big things and big places. There are few Great Thinkers in this post-Christian era because modern (worldly) thinkers think in tiny places about tiny things. Thinking is limited by personal ideology, social acceptability, and personal experience. In 2000, the attention span of western people was 12 seconds. In 2013 it plummeted to 8 seconds, one second less than a goldfish. 

“Sharing content … has never been easier or quicker, but interest fades fast. Seconds later there is a different viral meme, or news story vying for our attention. Global attention spans are narrowing and trends don’t last as long.” 

Length of a global Twitter trend:

• 2013 — 17.5 hours
• 2016 — 11.9 hours
• 2020 — 11 MINUTES

—from Changing Attention Spans

How many Christians today are content to think for a moment, dismissing any thought taking more than a few blinks of the eye to process? Shouldn’t the greatest thinking be among kingdom leaders?

Meditating on God’s word is the work of thinkers thinking about big things that directly impact their own quality of life as well as that of the people they live with or meet. God’s word packs eternal consequence and you can’t get much bigger than that.

Post-Christian Thinking

Societies historically based in Christian ideas and values become post-Christian when they endorse many virtues rooted in Christianity but reject the basis that makes those values possible.

Post-Christian thinkers believe that the little glass snow globe in which they live is all there is because that’s what they’ve been taught and conditioned to believe. Opening a portal to something greater requires tapping into the power and wisdom of the Spirit. 

Great thinking, or even right thinking, means getting alone with God without crutches or labels. How often do you hear that the only way to find right relationship with God is to come empty-handed, rejecting the idolatry of self-importance? Who today would tolerate, much less welcome a Master? Who wants to give up their me-first status so many insist they deserve?

That message is often dismissed as outdated, but truth doesn’t change.  But dissing God’s word is a popular exercise today because Jesus is the competition of every major cultural change playing out in homes, churches, schools, and communities in the western world. 

Only the Holy Spirit can guide your vision, perspective, awareness, and spirit into something more, and then into much more. 

Consider These Questions About Great Thinking

1. Am I meditating on God’s words regularly to allow the Holy Spirit to turn it into great thoughts to share with others?
2. Do I expect the Holy Spirit to lead me into more, and then much more?
3. Do I ask questions or speak up when someone says something about God’s word that doesn’t feel right to me?

I’m excited to share good news about your fellow warriors. I’m witnessing powerful thinking from folks who surprise even  themselves with the big thoughts they’re sharing about Jesus Christ. Also, know that there is a new generation of kingdom leaders rising up, putting on the full armor of God, and committing themselves to the battle.

I recently spent four days at the Christian Filmmakers Content 2021 conference. The number and quality of Christian media platforms for entertainment, teaching, and journalism are blossoming. It’s amazing what’s already there! Do not despair. The army is bigger than you may think.

What I loved most about the experience was seeing a new generation taking action and speaking boldly about the gospel  with knowledge and passion. These young men and women are on fire, taking a big message into the world, and they’re about to throw a wrench into the Enemy’s plans.

Great Thinkers Transform The Complex Into Simple Terms

The greatest thinkers are those who take the loftiest and seemingly most difficult questions of life and restate them simply.

“If you can’t explain it simply you don’t know it well enough.” – attributed to Albert Einstein

“Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge.” – Winston Churchill

“Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it” (Mark 10:15).

Complexity is a purposeful strategy of the Enemy. Great thinkers in earlier times weren’t distracted by cell phones, email, texts, their market portfolios, or 24/7 coverage of events across the globe. Great thinkers only thought great things because they didn’t focus on themselves to the exclusion of all else.

Distraction is the Enemy’s primary weapon against great prayer and great thinking — against Unhackable Vision.

I’m the poster child for distraction during prayer. My mind wanders almost as much as it plays keep-away with words I know that I know but can’t come up with. Yes, I know the remedy for distraction. No, I don’t practice it faithfully. 

Big thinking — right thinking — is about building habit and character. That’s a big thought right there.

Advancing the Kingdom With Bold Speech

Advancing the kingdom requires big thoughts and bold speech. Great thinkers realize that having too much breaks people as much as having nothing at all. The reason people are broken is because they don’t place value where it belongs, in the person of Jesus Christ.

A soul without spiritual support from outside of itself collapses upon itself.

Great thinkers know how easy it is to speak boldly when you have everything or have nothing left to lose. Security based on wealth is unreliable. And the government less so.

Security based on the promises of the King of Kings empowered the apostles to boldly proclaim the gospel to all who would listen. Most went peacefully to martyrdom because they knew that the only thing of true value can never be lost — eternity with Jesus Christ.

Serving The Kingdom As A Great Thinker

Maybe you’ve been called to think great thoughts and then share them in simple terms with a nation desperate for real hope.

We need more Great Thinkers to make rough places plain and prepare themselves and others for what comes next. The Return of the King.

You also have the opportunity to advance the kingdom by  encouraging the young people in your faith community. 

There is a battle and there is a real enemy. Don’t be a lukewarm Laodicean, stand up or sit down, but please — think bigger! God has called you for purpose. Maybe even to share about the biggest idea there is — salvation through Jesus Christ.

“Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world” (1 Corinthians 1:20)?