Jesus, the Morning Star

Darrell Johnson, formerly the Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Regent College, is currently the Senior Minister at First Baptist in Vancouver, BC Canada. In this short video clip, he talks about Jesus as the image of the Morning Star in the book of Revelation. In many ways, his voice is a prophetic one to the American Church to return to Her first love, Jesus. From my perspective (and I know I'm not alone in this), the American Church has gotten away from actively submitting to Jesus' Headship over His Church. As Darrell Johnson puts it, "having Jesus in the middle of the Church." Now, I know that every pastor will agree that Jesus is the Head of the Church. But, I wonder sometimes how many pastors actively practice submitting to Jesus' Headship?

Please hear me on this, my desire is to see Jesus exalted to His rightful place because He alone is worthy of all worship. His sacrifice on the Cross earned Him that place of honor where every knee will be bent to Him. My intent is not to criticize the Church, after all She is my Savior's Bride. My passion is to see Jesus' Kingdom break forth in greater measure and power in this world with His pure and spotless Bride leading the way. But, in order for that to happen, the Church needs to be actively submitting to Jesus' Headship where it becomes more about listening to what the Spirit has to say to the Church, rather than programs and schedules. These have there place, but sometimes it seems like programming and scheduling can very easily remove the need for faith.

The Church today needs to allow Jesus to break forth as the Morning Star by trusting in His Headship and allowing Him to invade earth with His Kingdom. We are living in some pretty dark and perilous times. All the more reason for the Body of Christ to be actively listening for direction and guidance from Jesus, who is the Head. He has never stopped His mission of bringing glory to the Father by seeking and saving that which was lost, us. So, let's actively partner with Jesus on His mission and put Him in the middle of not only our lives, but also the Church.