gregstier.org

During the three year stint of Jesus as the spiritual DJ of the first part of the first Century AD, Jesus ticked off the religious and riled the righteous with offensive statements like:

"Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees you can’t go to heaven."

"Be perfect then as your Father in heaven is perfect."

"I am the way, the truth, the life, no one comes to the Father except through me."

"Broad is the way that leads to destruction and narrow is the path that leads to eternal life."

"I and the Father are one."

"Before Abraham was born, I AM!"

And on and on and on the list goes. While some of these statements may not seem so controversial to you, in the first century Israel they were fighting words. Jesus told the fickle crowds that followed him that to get to heaven they had to be more righteous than the most righteous religious leaders of their day. These were the same guys that wouldn’t walk across the grass on the Sabbath for fear that they would cause a blade of grass to sprout and thereby be working on God’s day.

He made it clear that He was the only way to God, that most people were on the highway to hell, that he and the Father were one God and that He was the great "I AM" before Abraham ever walked the planet (which was thousands of years before Jesus was born!)

How did the rule roaring religious receive Jesus and his radical road show? They tried to cram the microphone down his throat and throw him out of the building (O.K. it was over a cliff, but you get the idea.) At one point they picked up stones to try to crush him on the spot. Finally, they conspired to have him crucified.

At last his radical statements were stopped. The plug was pulled and the show was over. When the corpse of Christ was taken off the cross, bundled in some sheets and locked behind a guarded tomb, the uptight religious rulers must have been giving each other high fives. But three days later something happened…the DJ was back!

For forty days Jesus Christ toured the country to appear before his fan base and reassured them that his broadcast was far from over. As a matter of fact, right before he ascended into the airwaves, he commissioned them all as shock jocks for Jesus. He told them in essence that he wanted them to spread across the planet and deliver his outrageous sayings to every man, woman, boy and girl.

This mission microphone has been handed from generation to generation over the last 2,000 years. And guess what? The microphone is in your hands right now. You are to be the shock jock at your school, job, work and neighborhood. You are to deliver the radical statements of Jesus to your friends in a loving and compelling way. But be careful…the audience is tuned in, so flip your ‘on air’ switch and start broadcasting!*Recycled from a "Stier Straight" I wrote two years ago. In the aftermath of Don Imus’ firing several weeks ago it seemed like it was time to pull this one from the mothballs and unleash it’s message one more time.