{"id":35,"date":"2006-11-22T11:54:35","date_gmt":"2006-11-22T17:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamanoffering.com\/blog\/?p=35"},"modified":"2011-03-10T21:25:22","modified_gmt":"2011-03-11T03:25:22","slug":"breaking-cultural-barriers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamanoffering.com\/blog\/breaking-cultural-barriers\/","title":{"rendered":"How to be an Offering – Breaking Cultural Barriers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Image<\/a><\/p>\n

Jesus was revolutionary.\u00a0 Jesus was bold.\u00a0 Jesus was willing to take some risks in order to have everyone know His power, and that He is the only one with the power to save<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He took a very bold risk in talking to the Samaritan woman at the well (found in John 4).\u00a0 While every other Jew would have gone completely around Samaria to avoid that culture (they were a ‘mixed-breed,’ according to the pure Jews), Jesus made a point to go straight through.\u00a0 Not only did he go through Samaria and actually talk to a Samaritan, he talked to a Samaritan woman<\/strong>, which, in a culture dominated by male influence, was revolutionary.<\/p>\n

I had an experience this past week that was revolutionary, and that really changed my perspective.\u00a0 I had read an article in the recent Worship Leader<\/a> magazine called, “The Real Blended Worship.”\u00a0 This title immediately caught my eye, but the author wasn’t talking about what you might think he would talk about.\u00a0 He was talking about the blending of cultures.\u00a0 He was talking about the fact that Jesus redeemed every people group, and that someday, we will all worship together.\u00a0 He said in the article, “It is one thing to help a church overcome worship wars waged over diverse musical styles, but quite another to help a world overcome a history of international enmity<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

This article’s thoughts were on my heart when it happened.\u00a0 I work with a guy who has spent some time in Mexico with Youth With a Mission<\/a>, and I knew he could speak Spanish fluently, but that knowledge didn’t really strike me until he brought a lady from his church into the office we share.\u00a0 They greeted each other (in Spanish), the talked for a bit (in Spanish), and then (from the little tiny bit of Spanish I can remember) I concluded that she asked him to pray.<\/p>\n

What happened next was amazing.\u00a0 This young guy (caucasian, youth leader, American) prayed for the meeting they were going to have in Spanish.\u00a0 It was one of the most beautiful things I had heard in a long time; a Christian being revolutionary and reaching out beyond his culture to show the love of Jesus to this woman<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Revelation 7:9-10 says:<\/p>\n

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language<\/strong>, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10<\/span>And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (emphasis added)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What an amazing picture of what God has done for us on the Cross!\u00a0 How are you helping to break cultural barriers?<\/strong> I hear you saying, “Well, I don’t speak a foreign language, so I can’t.”<\/p>\n