Next Generation Ministry

It seems the longer I live, the more talk I hear of aliens. Do aliens exist? Did God create extraterrestrial beings on a planet we have yet to discover on a galaxy far far away? Will we ever have contact with aliens or if they do exist, will they contact us first?

My best guess is that aliens do not exist. However, I don’t think any of us can rule them out of the equation. If aliens do exist, I believe they would exist for the glory of God. God created all things and all things are to bring him glory and honor. Unfortunately, we men, as best I can tell, are the only creatures on planet earth that don’t do what we were created to do.

God made man to worship him however God also made man with the freedom to choose. We theologians like to call this capacity human responsibility and some like to call it human freewill. Dogs bark, cats meow, and plants transform carbon dioxide into oxygen. Yet man, with all his freedom to choose, chose to rebel against his Creator (sin).

Some are more concerned with aliens than others. Some people fear aliens coming to our world and taking us over (think Independence Day). I think we need to be more concerned about us destroying ourselves. Especially, with the God-given capacity for some human to hit a big red button, causing a cataclysmic event. However, either way, what is being referenced to is what we call an invasion.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, chaos ensued. Some fear something like that or worse would occur if aliens invaded planet earth. To stay on the alien theme, think of movies like Space Jam and Men in Black. The way aliens in these movies attack is not so much by weapon but rather by taking over a human body or by channeling a human spirit.

What we most desperately need in our day and hour is an invasion. But not an invasion by aliens or foreign countries bent on a global takeover. The invasion we need most of all is for the Lord Jesus Christ to invade body, soul, and spirit.

From there, we need the Holy Spirit to invade our families, our churches, our cities, our nation, and our world. In short, we need a revival and a spiritual awakening and short of an invasion like this, our country’s citizens are going to look more like zombies and our church folks are going to remain in a spiritual slumber.

We need the Holy Spirit to wake us up and to shake us up. Some say China is the world’s sleeping giant. That may be true but so is the Church. Will we wake up or will it be too late?

There’s a funny/not so funny account in Acts 20:9–12 whereby Paul is preaching. Like all preachers, Paul goes “on and on” while preaching. The text literally says that. The text also says a young man named Eutychus was sitting by a window and fell into a deep sleep at the same time. Besides preaching falling on deaf ears, what happened to the man?

In those days, the window was wide open (there was no glass in the window). So Eutychus fell from the third floor and died upon impact when he hit the ground. Preacher-man Paul then leaves the room and wraps his arms around the lad and says to the group, “Don’t be alarmed. He’s alive!” Paul then goes back upstairs, has communion with the church, and keeps preaching until daylight

I’m not sure which is more amazing: the fact that God used Paul to do this resurrection miracle or whether its Paul going back inside and having church, like nothing ever happened. The focus was never on the young man. The focus remained on God throughout: God was being worshipped at night before the young man fell out and died and God was being worshipped at light long after the young man had been brought back to life.

When God invades our lives, our churches, our regions, and beyond, the focus will remain on Him. Our lives will be renewed and the walking dead will start walking alive. God will be found at the center of it all and will get all of the glory. If you would like to see a revival like this in our day, Would you pray with me, “Lord, invade us.”

God has often started revivals and or movements with the young. If you lead youth at your church, pray with your group for God to invade it. We need a holy takeover. We need to get back to the Word and prayer. When a revival comes, it may not come in the form we anticipate. Perhaps it comes online. Let’s not limit God. Let’s pray for an invasion and see how he comes down!