chew bubble gum and kick a**

Today's Readings: Acts 3:11-26
Psalm 8 or 114 or 118:19-24
Luke 24:36b-48 

My buddy ran a series this Lent showing how the Gospel Message is found in the most bizarre films...like Toy Story III. So it got me thinking where is the message of what to do now that we are living on this side of Easter. What should our lives look like in light of the empty tomb and the power of the Holy Spirit?

The 1988 film "They Live" nailed it. Directed by John Carpenter and starring (not yet Rowdy) Roddy Piper, a drifter discovers a pair of sunglasses that allow him to wake up to the fact that aliens have taken over Earth. He walks into a bank after his epiphany, and proclaims the message that is our call as well. "I have come to chew bubble gum and kick a**, and I am all out of bubble gum."

Luke says it this way:
"And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out"

We who live as follower of Christ on this side of the Resurrection have had our eyes opened and we are given the task of kicking butt on all the things that have been unleashed against God's people. Its scope is complete. Tim Keller writes:
"As agents of the kingdom, the church seeks to bring about substantial healing of the effects of sin, in all areas of life, including psychological, economic and physical." 


Do you have your glasses on? You can't sit back any longer. We can no longer chew bubble gum. It is time to kick a**.