Ian & Jocelyn Barker

Here at IHOP-KC, we have been praying for the ending of abortion in America for 3-4 years. For the past two years, we have widened our focus to include the subject of sex trafficking of women and children. In the days ahead, I believe that the church will become a refuge for those who have suffered injustice in many different ways. We will be a people who discover James 1:27 and live it out with the heart of Jesus.

Jesus cares about every girl trapped in sex slavery. He cares about those who are starving around the world because of the economic oppression greed and corruption. He cares that unjust wars have been fought since the dawn of time. He really really does.

Yet what He considers to be the most unjust thing is not any of these things, or anything you may be thinking of. The most unjust thing is forsaking HIM- every other evil in the world is a result of that central injustice. As believers, messengers of reconciliation, bringing men into right-standing with God must remain our central activity, in many forms and ways. If we pursue justice without the gospel as our central concern, we would not be doing justly.

To save a girl from slavery; to fill an empty stomach; to clothe a naked one without telling them about the love and salvation of Jesus is unjust. It would be like placing a band aid on a corpse; meeting a temporal need without giving life. In all of our actions and activities, we must proclaim the hope of His glorious appearing and His invitation to live in the everlasting Kingdom of His well-being.

I also believe that those who pursue justice without the glory of Christ and the salvation of humanity as their central concern will become disillusioned and hardened towards injustice, bitter and angry at God, and/or will fall away from the faith.

So to sum it up, I believe that the church will not be able to understand justice nor act justly until:
1) We see that God cares about the injustice more than we do. He sees and feels it all.
2) We believe that the gospel is God’s answer to this injustice.

The Lord has both Jocelyn & I on a journey in understanding His heart and our own unbelief. I am writing this not to preach, or to give a theology of justice, but to put up “flag of remembrance”. As the Lord leads us into His purposes for our lives, I want to remember that justice is about the glory of Jesus.

I had a revelation a couple of weeks ago that made me understand myself more. I have lived with this sensation for all of my life, only being aware of it when I was able to become aware of things.

I realized that I am not in control of my life.

Sometimes I will sit and contemplate all the things that are happening in my surroundings that I have absolutely no control over. Like now for instance. I am typing on a computer that is just working. Nothing I am doing is making it work. All of the parts are working together and I have nothing to do with it. One day, it will not work because something will break and then my feeling of being out of control will be enhanced and exposed.

That’s just a silly example. But it gets really crazy if you start thinking like this too long. It may sound like an exercise that could lead to hysteria, but I feel edified by it because it leads me to consider greater things.

What really matters is to consider the leadership of God in your life. When I think about all the things that are out of my control, I realize that God is in control. A person who denies God will either deny that he is out of control or boast of man’s ability to control the life he is living. That is destructive because it is a folly that leads to death.

The leadership of God over my life is so beautiful and perfect that I cannot explain it or comprehend it. It does not mean that my life is free from trouble or pain, far from it. What it does mean is that He leads my heart into faith, hope and love time and time again. He leads me to encounter Him in surprising ways that make me worship and love Him.

When I choose to go a way that is destructive, He does not let me go too far. He always leads me back and shows me a different way that is much better.

I’m really thankful to Jesus today because He has chosen me and loved me. He is working in me that I might be conformed into His image on that day. I’m really thankful that I’m not in control because that would be horrible.

Jocelyn and I are traveling to Arroyo Grande, California (outside San Luis Obispo) tomorrow for a week. We are visiting my brother and his wife and 3 boys, whom we have not seen for almost 2 years! The last time we saw them was right after our FSM graduation.

They live in a sweet little surfing town just down the road from the beach. It’s not warm enough to go swimming, but it’s such a pretty area. It will be nice to spend time with family and enjoy our nephews.

I am in the Prayer Room this afternoon glued to 2 Peter 1. The whole chapter is about the hope we have in the resurrection and kingdom of Messiah at His coming, and the qualities we are to produce in preparation for that kingdom. Right when you think it cannot get any better, Peter throws out this little nugget:

“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty…So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:16, 19)

What is he referring to? The transfiguration. Peter is giving his firsthand understanding of Jesus’ transfiguration (Matt. 16:28-17:8). When Jesus said that some of His disciples would see “the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt. 16:28), He was not referring to the establishment of His kingdom. He was showing these three disciples that He was the promised Messiah who would one day come to establish the long promised kingdom.

As they were coming down from the mountain, He tells them how He would suffer. Yet they should not lose heart or faith in Him because He had shown them His ultimate and final calling. He was the promised Messiah, the seed who would crush the head of the serpant.

The coming of Messiah is no “cleverly devised tale.” It is the lamp we are to set our eyes on in the midst of a dark world. Our hope is to be set fully on the power of His coming because it is sure. When Jesus revealed Himself as the Messiah on that mountain, He was giving reason for the disciples to believe the prophetic word. So Peter says, “We have the prophetic word made more sure.”

No voice of doubt should dissuade us from this hope. No good idea or method should sway our focus off His coming. We are to live in preparation for His coming kingdom (1:11). We should not give up hope for “He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature” (1:4), that is, the resurrection.

Praise God! For real.

For the past few months, I have been growing uneasiness with the way that Christians, me especially, are far too friendly and cozy with our nation and our culture. I look at the book of Acts and see a group of believers who were confronting the world and unbelievers to expose sin and darkness.

I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say that, in general, there is little practical difference between the Church and the rest of America. We have been swept along with the wickedness of our culture so that we are participants in it, not prophets exposing it. Instead of being messengers calling the lost from our culture, we have become a part of it.

I feel that in the days ahead the Church in America will directly confront the wickedness of the American government, the American culture, and the American dream. We will be forced to take a stand against our nation or be swept away in the wickedness and delusion. I fear that persecution against Christians in this nation is not too far away because we will not be tolerated because we will not tolerate wickedness.

In light of this, the Lord is calling His people to awaken and stand for truth. Where delusion has swept in like a flood, He will pour out a Spirit of revelation. Where we are poor in wisdom, He will cause us to abound in love in true discernment. We will be a people who boldly proclaim His coming and His will to turn hearts to Jesus. We will do it in love and we will be hated for it.

He is calling us to be a nation set apart. Pilgrims waiting for our King to come.

P.S. My intent is not to be negative, but to call us to sobriety, and encourage us to lay hold of a vision for wholeheartedness and separation.

For the past couple of months, I have been thinking about the kingdom of God. I have never seriously thought about the subject, always leaning on the popular phrase, “already, not yet,” when being confronted with the subject. Yet a couple of my favorite teachers, and a post-election theological think tank have led me straight into the subject.

I’m still trying to get my feet wet, but I’m creeping towards the conclusion that the kingdom of God is entirely future. That above mentioned phrase just does not cut it for me as I feel it lacks sufficient understanding of the kingdom of God.

The first reason I say this is that, in God’s purpose, the kingdom was always a physical kingdom that would be established by a God-appointed king, Jesus the Messiah. The earth was always the place where God intended to dwell with humanity. Even after the fall, His intention was that His government would be on the earth – a physical kingdom. So to say that the kingdom is “already,” is to say that the kingdom of God is not a physical kingdom, but a “spiritual” one. This is against the promise of the Old Testament and the expectation of the apostles.

The second reason ties in with the first because it has to do with the idea of hope. The primary expectation and hope of the apostles was the coming of the Lord. The reason for this is because they were looking for Him to return to resurrect the dead, judge the wicked, and establish His kingdom in Jerusalem where He would reign with His saints as their reward. They were not running around believing that they were somehow establishing the kingdom. They were preaching about the kingdom and suffering for the kingdom because they had hope that Jesus was the Messiah who would soon establish the kingdom.

I am seeing that hope is one of the most precious things that I possess. I cannot and should not give out my hope lightly. My hope must be placed completely on Jesus the Messiah and His coming kingdom. We do not hope in the next revival. We do not hope in Church buildings or programs. We do not hope in a president. We do not hope in a promotion or a fulfillment of our calling. We hope in our Messiah who will soon split the sky to resurrect the dead, slay the wicked, and set up His kingdom. This is our hope because that is the only thing that is sure.

“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” (Romans 8:24-25)

Belated Merry Christmas to you! Jocelyn and I spent the past week in Connecticut with Jocelyn’s family and had a great time. The highlight for us was being able to meet Sova Grace Turner. She is the Indian girl who was adopted by Mike & Jill, Jocelyn’s sister and brother-in-law, at the end of August. You can see pictures of her with us at Jill’s blog. She is so cute and has picked up the English language so well! She refers to herself in the third-person, which is cute, and wants me to shave my beard, which is…still cute.

This Christmas I was struck with the need to have reality in my life. I want to know Jesus as being more real than those things which I can touch and smell. I want to have a firmer confidence in Jesus’ return than I do in the fact that I will wake up in the morning. I feel that I have more hope in things for this life, than I do for things that are to come upon Jesus’ return. This should not be the case.

I was watching “The Nativity Story” movie a few nights ago and was struck with the insanity of Jesus being born into this world 2,000 years ago. Just the fact that He exists should blow my mind on a daily basis and cause me to forget all earthly pleasures and ambitions. Contrary to what some might think, this isn’t a rejection of the physical, or escapism. When I see that Jesus took on real flesh, walked on real ground, and transformed real people, it makes life so much more meaningful and beautiful.

Rather than placing my hope in things whose source is from the world, I can place my hope in the Man who is sitting on a throne in heaven and will one day split the skies to set-up His Kingdom on earth. I will have entrance into this Kingdom by having faith today, and will have a reward in this Kingdom by walking in obedience today.

My attitude in the face of difficulties should not be one of grumbling or selfishness, but joy and endurance. Through difficulties, yea, afflictions, my reward in the resurrection age will become more glorious if I respond in trust and joy.

Of course, this is how things should be, yet I still grope around in the dark having to convince myself that this is not a fairy-tale. This is reality. The Man who is sitting at the right hand of God in the heavens is more real than the gifts I received for Christmas. The hope of His coming to eradicate the earth of wickedness and the wicked is more sure than any earthly success I might attain.

If only I could live like all of this is real…

I’ve been taking a weekly class at through the Apostolic Mission School at IHOP this semester called “Biblical Theology of Mission”, which is taught by John Harrigan. The purpose of the class is to set out what the mission of the Church is, and to do that, we go through what existence was at the beginning to determine where we are going and what our part is as Christians. The class is immense in its scope, but it is really mind-blowing.

Yesterday, my friend Brandon and I were going over session one, “Earth’s Global Flood”. It is based on a scientific theory called the “hydroplate theory,” which basically shows how the flood happened scientifically and how it explains so much about our earth today. The man who has come up with the theory is a man named Dr. Walt Brown who has written a book called “In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood”. It would be worth your time to watch a short video that explains the theory.

Anyway, as Brandon and I were listening to John’s teaching as he went over Walt’s theory, I was blown away by the reality that the flood actually happened on this earth around 5,000 years ago (or so). It’s easy to read the biblical flood account and miss the fact that it actually happened on our physical earth. In the matter of days, creation was changed in a dramatic and radical way.

Learning the potential science of the flood actually makes it real not just as history, but as our future. When speaking of the end of the age, Jesus referenced the days of the flood as a model of what we could expect (Matt. 24:37-39). Wickedness will be rampant on the earth as in those days, and God will cleanse the earth of wickedness in the same manner as the flood (Gen. 6:5). Peter emphasizes the second point more emphaticly and shows that the future cleansing will not be with water, but with fire (2 Pet. 3:4-7).

Furthermore, Peter shows that a failure to recognize the historicity and authenticity of the biblical flood, has led men to mock any idea or notion that their will be a future cleansing of the earth with fire. This has happened with the theory of evolution which has indoctrinated a generation with the idea that it is scientifically impossible for the flood to have occurred because God is not involved with the affairs of men. Consequently, we believe that He will not cleanse the earth of wickedness.

I urge you to consider the reality of the flood so that you can be confident to know that He will come to cleanse the earth of wickedness again. A great, cleansing fire will come upon this earth to purge it of wickedness and the saints will live with the Father, the Son and the Spirit on earth forever (2 Pet. 3:11-13).

In case you didn’t hear, our next president will be Barack Obama. There has been a lot written by Christians and non-Christians about him, so I don’t really need to write much. Yet I have a few random thoughts about him.

1. I’m really proud that our nation did choose an African-American man as their next President. After he won, I watched as African-Americans were reduced to tears because of what Obama’s victory symbolized for them as a people. It was quite touching, but it took me a couple of days before I could more fully appreciate what it means for this nation and for those of different ethnicities.
2. I’m not as fearful about his presidency as I was before the elections. Maybe I’m being naively optimistic, but I’m still believing that the praying Church has authority to release light and truth into this nation that will push back darkness that will try to prevail. Yet wicked men will still do wicked things, and God continue to shake all that can be shaken.
3. I’m curious as to what will happen in these next 4 years. It will be interesting to see how the church responds. It will be interesting to see what happens politically. How will the world’s opinion of America change? What will happen when the seas don’t recede and our planet does not begin to heal? What will the public opinion of Obama be 4 years from now?
4. I think it’s a time for the Church to rethink how we are to be involved in politics. I, for one, have been wrestling throughout these elections with how the Church is to relate to the state. What influence are we to have? What is to be the nature of that influence? I have been grieved over my own propensity to elevate social justice issues higher than the glory of Christ; to care more about politics than about the beauty of Jesus. I feel the Lord calling me to stare at Him and preach the message of a coming King and a coming Kingdom. That is to be our message of hope and change.
5. Though I applaud America for choosing an African-American as their next president, I mourn over the depth of compromise that has come into the Church regarding the plight of the unborn. I fear that we as the people of Christ have rallied around an unholy cry for “change” and neglected the cries of the unborn. This disturbs me because the shedding of innocent blood will not go unanswered.
6. Prayer is still the answer. God’s answer to wickedness rising up across the earth is the praying Church. No one can release light and truth into the human spirit or a nation except for the praying Church. Our words govern the earth. As those who stand for life, our cries are still to be, “Jesus, I plead your Blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America.” As Christians living in America, we are to pray for President Obama and his wife, Michelle (see my wife’s dream.)
7. We win in the end. Jesus is returning very soon and He is coming for a bride who will be made ready. I am confident that God is calling for His people into greater depths of love, truth, righteousness, and light. Righteousness will prevail in our nation and Jesus will establish His Kingdom. This is our great hope and it is our great calling to proclaim this in whatever way we can. For this, I am thankful.

Today is the day. Finally, the elections are here and will we know who our next President will be by tomorrow. I say “tomorrow” because the media will want us to believe that Obama has won it tonight in a race to be the first to report it. But don’t listen to them. It’s not over until it is over.

Go and vote no matter what the media says! McCain still has a shot at this because it is close in key states.

As you vote, hear the cries of the unborn.