Looking Through A Knothole

Two people approach the massive stadium. Both can hear the crowd as they cheer and prepare for the game. Both can smell the popcorn and roasting hotdogs. As the first pitch is tossed to the batter both are looking at the game, but they see it in very different ways.

One of these men had a ticket and has now found his place in section C, row 15, seat 9. The other,...he is a boy without a ticket who is attempting to see the game through a knothole in the wooden fence down the first base line. One will see every pitch, every stolen base and will see the full flight of a home-run that will clear the centerfield fence. The other fellow, will only get small glimpses of a play or two here and there. He can only see the batter for twenty five feet as he runs between second and third. From the knothole, he can buy no popcorn and will miss so much of the dynamics of the game...but he will go home and tell his friends he went to the game.

Now lets talk about religion in a similar context. God has a bigger game going on than most people know. He is doing a mighty work in the world, reaching nations with the gospel of salvation. But traditional religion is the knothole that is preventing many good people from getting into the game.

I used to see the work of God through a knothole of denominationalism. I really thought I was seeing the 'whole' game. It was exciting to think that our little group had all of the truth...would be the only ones in heaven....and had the corner on the market concerning ministry. I mean, if the preachers who preached on TV weren't exactly of my branch of believers, they were just wasting their time.

Then one day the Lord allowed me to get a ticket to the 'ballpark'. Once I got inside, I realized the doubts I had were real and valid. Did you ever think that if your denomination is the only one saved, then heaven is going to have a lot of extra room if it is 1500 miles square? Maybe you are like the Jehovah's Witness who believe there will only be a select 144,000 saved! Boy, talk about a lot of room in heaven.

Perhaps you took a look at sincere people who love God more than you do....who have spent their entire lives studying the Word....have sacrificed more than you for the Kingdom....and you can still cluck your tongue and think..."How sad that they do not know the 'truth'." Knotholes limit the view my friend! Religion does that. When you are taught it one way long enough, you are prone to think your knothole is the whole picture. It is quite an awakening when I realized there are other missionaries in the world...other evangelists...other devout followers of Jesus. I met a man who is over more than 400 pastors in Bulgaria. He has miraculous stories of God's power! Oh yes...and he is an independent missionary!

Last night I went to a church service with approx 5000 people in attendance. Mind you that is more than twice the number of people that came to a 'statewide' campmeeting when I was seeing through the knothole. In that one service I saw more than 250 people saved. Yes...saved! Not according to my former knothole view...but saved according to the Bible, to God's Word, in accordance with the understanding of the greater body of Christ's understanding of salvation, and in accordance with history. I studied Acts afresh and discovered that Peter preached more than the Acts 2 sermon. His other sermons are just as important and valid. Further, Acts 2 aligns with the body of evidence. You can't build a doctrine on one verse. That is knothole religion. Ignore all of this if you want to, but God wants to do some great things. He wants you to see a picture of the Kingdom in a bigger way than you have previously known.

My dreams and vision has been enlarged since I have been inside the ballpark. I really believe the possibility of growing a great church and influencing my part of the globe for Jesus Christ is possible. I believe it because I got a view from a place larger than a knothole. You can too!