“Crawl Down Your Throat!”
For lack of a better phrase, this summer during the close of a message at the Michigan District Senior High Camp, I made the statement, “I want to crawl down your throat with the message!” Sure it was aggressive, but I was trying to reflect the intensity and even urgency that is reflected in Jesus’ pursuit of the lost in chapters 8-11 of Revelation.
For any who are familiar with the preachers in Cross Style Global Ministries, it is not surprising that we all teeter on the eccentric side of ministry. Pastor of Cross Style Church and professor at the Training Center, Dr. Stephen Manley regularly releases his “Jesus Pusher” blogs that express such tenacious ministry. Therefore it is true and unashamedly flaunted that we are not casual about proclaiming Truth. It is our call! It is our passion! And it is reflective of the day and hour in which we find ourselves.
There are probably several opinions as to why such aggressiveness is found within our group, but the reason behind our approach is not that difficult to explain. Collectively, our group consistently finds this same crawl down your throat, Jesus pusher mentality in the life and ministry of Jesus Himself.
I have been taken by Jesus’ approach to the world of Revelation 8-11. He is relentless in his pursuit of their salvation. Their consistent response to Jesus is one of rebellion, this is plain to see, but also present is their complete and utter blindness to being saved. In passages like that of chapter 11, when the witness are killed and the lost world rejoices, even sending gifts to one another, what is revealed is an attitude of disdain for salvation.
Yet it is profoundly staggering to see how Jesus disregards their resistance and utilizes every means, even the enemy himself, to persuade them to consider an alternative to hell. He quite literally stands between them and death, in a posture of violence, pleading with them to open their eyes. The conclusion to such an approach is obvious; any who find themselves in hell at the end of days, was not sent there by a sovereign God, but landed there after leaping from the arms of of One who did everything to save them.
Any who have spent time in church in resent years, have witnessed the need for such desperate ministry! It is true, the lost are not only those who are captured by this world and its policies, but also among those who sing with us in worship at our local churches on any given Sunday. Such radical times call for radical frankness. Jesus demonstrated this for us and we in Cross Style are being driven by that call.
A Jesus Pusher, who wants to crawl down your throat with the love of Jesus!
Jeremiah Bolich
President
Cross Style Global Ministries
