Dr. Rick Mandl - August 14, 2020
Riots To Revival
Riots To Revival
Friday, August 14, 2020
Hey church family, last week I shared with you the sad story of the riots that were taking place in Portland, Oregon. Many of you have seen the images on the news of rioters destroying buildings, and setting fire to flags and to Bibles. The reason you’ve seen those images is because the news media typically does a very good job of covering events like that, because they realize that those are the things that provoke deep emotional reactions within us. There’s a saying within the news business, as it relates to the way that they select stories to report, and even the order in which they’ll feature those stories within a news broadcast, and the saying is “If it bleeds, it leads.” The more violent and offensive the story, the more likely it is that that story is the one that will be at the top of their broadcast. And sure, sometimes the newscaster might preface the story with begin with a disclaimer, telling you “Warning, this story contains some graphic images that some viewers might find offensive” but more often than not that warning is just included to keep you glued to your screen
Well today I want to share with you another story. It’s a story that you’re not likely to see reported, because, well… it doesn’t bleed, so it won’t lead. And the story is an illustration of the 50/20 principle. I’ve talked to you about that before. The 50/20 principle coming from Genesis 50/20. It’s the story of how Joseph, who had risen to the position of the one who was in charge of the distribution of the food supply in Egypt, stood before his brothers who were starving and had come to him begging for food. They hadn’t recognized Joseph as their brother, and when they realized that he was the one that they had abandoned and sold into slavery, they were expecting him to want to seek revenge. But he encouraged them that “they meant for evil, God had used for good.” The 50/20 principle – “You meant it for evil, but God used it for good.”
Well something like that had been happening over the past week in Portland, Oregon as well as in other cities across our country. This past weekend in response to the violence in Portland, a group of Christians in Portland organized an event called “Riots To Revival.” And they’ve done this because they believe that the church has the ability to change the narrative. They know that all of America has seen the images of the buildings burning and they’ve seen the destruction and the violence. This is what makes news, and this is what the mainstream media seems to be infatuated with.
But, there is another story of what God is doing in these cities as the church is rising up.” Christians in Portland organized an outdoor worship event that was held last weekend, and they had somewhere between 4,000 and 7,000 people turn out for that event, but you won’t see that on the news. And this isn’t just happening in Portland. There are many more outdoor worship events planned for the rest of the summer in cities all across the country, including Chicago, New York, Milwaukee, Boston, Colorado Springs, Tampa and Orlando.
The organizers of these events have noted that restrictions have been placed on churches with specific guidelines as to how many can attend, and the need to practice physical distancing... While protest gatherings are drawing large crowds of people are these are permitted with no such restrictions. They feel like this is “A double standard. And that at it’s best, it’s hypocrisy. And at worst, it’s bigotry,” They feel as though there is a target on churches.
Whether or not you agree with that, I hope you’ll be encouraged by the fact that God can often does bring something good, out of something bad. The 50/20 principle. Would you join me today in praying that God would bring something good out of the bad things that we so often see reported across our country. By the way the organizers of these “Riots To Revival” rallies are planning another event called “Let Us Worship” on September 6th on the steps of our California State Capital, and they’ve invited Governor Newsom to attend. Maybe you’d want to join me in praying that he accepts that invitation.
And speaking of invitations, I want to invite you to mark your calendar right now, for an outdoor worship event that we’ll be holding here in our parking lot on Sunday evening September 27th at 6:00PM. We’ll be telling you more about that in the days to come, but I hope you can join with us. And in between now and then I hope you’ll be looking for ways you can see that 50/20 principle – the idea that what others mean for evil, God uses for good, being worked out all around you. And as you see that happening, don’t keep it yourself, share it with us, share it with others, so they can be encouraged.
God can bring something very good out of something very bad. He did at the cross. And he continues to do it today in many other ways. God bless you church family.
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