“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23

“They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.” Isaiah 44:18

How well can you see? Not literally, but spiritually. Are you overwhelmed by “spiritual cataracts” that cloud your vision and your perspective on life and faith? Is your view of others distorted? Do you glimpse only a small glimmer of what faith is (and can be)? In Matthew 6:22-23, the Greek word for “body” meant more than one’s physical anatomy. It meant what we today might call one’s total personality. Keeping this in mind, we could paraphrase Jesus’ words as follows: “The eye is the lamp of your total personality; or in other words, it is the way you see things, the way you look at things, basically your whole perspective on life and faith, even in how you look at others.” The parallels between physical and spiritual cataracts are important to discover in order to avoid any distortion of our vision of Jesus! (2 Corinthians 11:1-5)

Many physical cataracts begin as small spots or specks on the lens of the eye. These spots interfere with light rays that pass through the lens to be focused as an image on the retina in the back of the eye. The greater the number of specks the more obscure the image, resulting in a clouding over of the lens of the eye which causes distorted vision. These specks can become so dense that the entire lens becomes milky white, and the light rays can’t pass through the lens, resulting in blindness. It is interesting to note that the light is still there; it just can’t pass through the lens of the eye. There is no pain; the loss of vision is gradual: it sneaks up on you. Cataracts, if left uncorrected, will eventually result in complete blindness.

Spiritually, little specks of sin can begin to cloud our vision of the light of Jesus. (John 8:12) These spiritual “specks of sawdust” may seem inconsequential at frst, but can grow into “planks” that totally obscure our spiritual vision. (Luke 6:41) Two popular spiritual “specks” that can cloud our vision of Jesus are insensitivity to sin and false doctrine. Recently, I have seen first-hand the impact of these “spiritual specks” at one of the most prestigious college campuses in America, the University of the California – Los Angeles, commonly known as UCLA. The opportunity to lead a campus ministry in Los Angeles is an incredible honor, as well as an enormous challenge. There are over 700,000 campus students in the Los Angeles area, with thousands of new students entering every year. Sadly, many of these students leave the protection of a sheltered family environment and proceed to engage in countless acts of sexual immorality, debauchery, and drunkenness. While becoming intellectually “wealthy”, they are becoming morally bankrupt.

Hilton Hotel – Universal Studios

EXODUS is the inspirational theme for our 2010 World Missions Jubilee, for it was out of Egypt – out of slavery – that our God brought His people to the Promised Land! It was also out of Egypt that God brought His son to save the nations! (Matthew 2:15) All of the titles of our speeches and classes will be taken from the Pentateuch. These first five books of the Bible record Moses and the Israelites seeing the very glory of God through historically unique events such as the ten plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the fire on Mount Sinai, as well as daily, when they collected the manna and viewed the cloud above the Tabernacle through which the Lord would tell the Israelites to remain at that camp or continue their journey to the Promised Land. Today God’s glory is returning to His people! Amazingly in less than four years, the Spirit has grown the Sold-Out Discipling Movement to almost 40 congregations in 19 nations! Our family of churches’ motivating vision is the evangelization of the nations in this generation. Lord willing, in continuing The Crown Of Thorns Project, we will witness the sending out of the London Mission Team! Paul wrote to the disciples, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of Scripture we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4) So come and join our worship as your faith will surely be strengthened by “the mighty power of the Lord” and the “awesome deeds” of His people, as we revisit the principles of the EXODUS and go to all nations! (Deuteronomy 34:10-12)

The fifth biannual World Missions Jubilee will be held at the beautiful Hilton Hotel in Universal City – Los Angeles! There will be a Global Leadership Conference on Wednesday August 4th; registration will be $20. Thursday evening, August 5th will be the opening session of the Jubilee. The seminar will conclude at 1PM on Sunday August 8th. The registration cost for both students and adults is $90 ($95 at the door). Registration will begin on March 1st. You may register through the mail (2010 WMJ, 536 Sheldon Street, El Segundo, CA. 90245) or online at www.CAICC.net. The rooms at the Hilton Hotel are only $129/night for the first 100 rooms. After the first 100, the price will be $169/night. Conveniently, once at the hotel, no transportation is necessary as all Jubilee events are at the Hilton. This incredible facility is located adjacent to both “City Walk,” with about 40 restaurants, as well as the Universal Studios Theme Park. Saturday, the Jubilee schedule will conclude at noon to allow all participates to enjoy a time of fun and fellowship at Universal Studios Theme Park. If you have any questions contact the Jubilee Directors: Andrew Smellie at 315-415-3213 or Rob Onekea at 213-300-3190. Come and bring your whole family to this historic occasion! And to God be the glory!

Kip McKean