Luke 19:40

⁴But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, ⁵he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3, ESV)

When I surrendered to full time ministry, it was under the conviction that a media ministry is no longer just using I-Mag so that people can slip in late and sit in the back row. A true media ministry should transcend the sanctuary.

In addition to all the outreach possibilities, I believe that if we use media correctly, it could be an extremely effective tool to combat the pollution of this world in the lives of Christians. I'll expand on this idea and hopefully by the end, you will understand exactly what I mean.

To understand where I am going, we must first be in agreement on one thing. We are physically corrupt. We cannot attain righteousness in our current physical state. It is only when we receive our resurrection bodies that the corrupt nature of our flesh will be gone having been redeemed.

²³And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8, ESV)

Because of this corrupt nature, we cannot pursue righteousness in our flesh. If we depend on our actions to move us towards righteousness, we will continually fail. We must change our focus from our actions and follow the directives of scripture.

²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12, ESV)

We all have thoughts, ideas, opinions and prejudices that have have been firmly established in our minds. How were these formed?  It is our constant exposure to things that are not of God. I contend to you that these have remained a constant throughout history in various forms. They are greed, lust, power, etc.

There is a difference though, and this I believe is the key to my calling. Never in history have we allowed these influences to so permeate our homes and indeed our entire lives as we have today. We know this, yet we as a church have failed to minister to the whole person. Yes, we offer programs for spiritual development, we offer worship services where people can freely worship God, we teach messages that are designed to help them grow to spiritual maturity, and then we hope that these things follow them into their homes. We hope.

Television, radio, and the web have become the primary polluters of our minds. This is an area where the church can provide viable alternatives to what the world offers. We can move beyond hope to a point of intentionally reaching out beyond the sanctuary and into the homes.

Let's take a look at what was commanded of the Jews in Deuteronomy.

⁴“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ⁸You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 5, ESV)

First of all Moses didn't say that all of this was to be done at the synagogue. Rather, Moses was talking about their homes and every area of their lives. Second, the purpose was so that they would be surrounded by the law of God so that they would remember to keep it.

That is where a media ministry can be most effective.

 “Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”