How It Should Be--Lessons From "Remeniscences"

1 Corinthians 14:26 reads, "How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification."  Apparently, there was no shortage of ministry going on when the Corinthian church met together. In fact, they were encouraged to be orderly in their services, but not discouraged from participating.

There are lots of verses of scripture that are overlooked, disregarded, or simply ignored throughout the Bible. Perhaps none has been more so in the North American church than this one. We have a class of professional clergy and those whom they have approved, that carry the public ministry during any kind of meeting. The stronger the influence of the religious spirit in a congregation, the more control will be exercised by the fewer people. (That hurt.) Trust me when I tell you, I know all the rationalizations for not letting the Holy Spirit direct church meetings. (That really hurt.) By the way, that also includes church-sponsored, small, group meetings where the powers that be in the church, assemble, approve, and assign the curriculum and the teachers. (That probably hurt too.)

Surely there is a place for the kind of meetings we call "church" that we have come to expect on any given Sunday morning or evening, Wednesday evening, perhaps Thursday or Saturday evening, or whenever. That particular model does facilitate a number of people hearing a sermon simultaneously, but does little to facilitate fellowship or individual ministry. We actually heard a local pastor state recently that fellowship does not occur during their "church" services. He was correct, of course. We applaud him for that understanding.

We attended a church for years that set aside time in virtually every service for people to meet and pray with those around them. As one might imagine, there were many criticisms of that practice over the years. Most of those criticisms came from people who wanted to hear the teaching of a world-renowned minister of the gospel, but did not want to interact with other people. I might have been one of them at one time, but I got over it around the time another couple prayed with us about a financial need and then handed us $150.00 in cash to meet that need as we were leaving the building at the end of the service.

Acts chapter 13 begins with these words, "Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away." (verses 1-3)

These verses seem to indicate some kind of small-group, men's, gathering that had a specific purpose. We realize many people do not recognize the office of the prophet in the church today. Too bad. You are missing out on an important ministry. Nonetheless, this explanation is probably not for you anyway. Their purpose for meeting seems to be to hear what God had to say to the group gathered there. Is that not what "church" is supposed to be about anyway? My recent experience is that "church" usually does little to foster fellowship and perhaps less to help us hear what God has to say. We really should be able do better with our corporate experiences in facilitating fellowship and hearing from God. Otherwise we are spending way to much money on facilities, creature comforts, and paid staff for the return we receive. Feeling good is really not what church is supposed to be about, but how many people consider that the primary reason for attending?

Folks, we are simply putting our emphasis on the wrong things in The Church today. We mistake our soulical pursuits of getting together, singing a few songs, and listening to a sermon, for true, spiritual worship and fellowship. Those last two, by the way, are the essence of our vertical and horizontal, spiritual relationships. Let this be an encouragement to you to find a group where you can be a part of those vital elements of the Christian life. Your life will change and so will the lives of the others who join with you. God bless you and guide you as you do.

What Normal Is

Last week, I caught up with a friend on Face Book. That in itself is not too out of the ordinary, and would not be top of the page news, since I do check for messages and updates there, usually more than once a day. It was what he said that seems to have stirred up something in the spirit.

This friend and his wife are dear, long-time friends who are leaving next week to return to the mission field in Brazil. In what I had thought to be a "random" thought process (I know, I know), I had been wondering about their finances. When I saw that he had his messenger on, I inquired about their finances and how the whole thing worked since they are part of a larger, sending organization. He assured me that 100% of the money received with their name on it goes into their personal account to keep them in the field. He invited me to send as much as I wanted to at anytime. (sic.) We have already been sending monthly support for their work, but I told him to let us know if they ever needed any extra. He said getting there is the most expensive part of the proposition and anything extra we could send would definitely be an answer to prayer. We have no problem being agents in answered prayer. I remarked that sometimes God has us run across each other, in what seem to be random instances, with larger plans in mind, than we even conceive. I am not sure what difference our gift will truly make in the overall scheme of things, but that is not the point. In fact the right time, right place scenario of our meeting on Face Book is not even the point.

The point really is what my friend said to me after I mentioned God had ordained our meeting. He said, "That is the way the ministry of the prophet works." I told him not to do that to me. I have no desire to be a prophet, at least not by office. Maybe I could prophesy here and there under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He went on to say that he has lived with a prophetess for over 40+ years, and he has. If you are not sure how I really feel about the implication I might be a prophet, go back on read, "Present Day, 5/25/09." My friend is a man of superlative, spiritual insight. I am not so sure about the other man who accused me. When he recognized himself while reading these pages, he objected to the choice of the word "accused." I assured him it was for rhetorical affect. Some people only hear what they want to hear and usually understand less than that.

The reason the time-stamp on this post is not something like 4:45 AM is that the power was out at that time and, of course, blogger does not work without an internet connection. I detest waking up at that time on Sunday morning. However, at least this time it was of benefit--I think. I was about half conscious when a picture appeared in my mind. I saw the hand of Jesus extended downward toward my hand which was open, palm up. It was a still picture, a snapshot. He had just placed a small seed (mustard seed?) on the palm of my hand. Although the picture was a snapshot, there was unspoken dialogue going on between us. He wanted to know if I were going to take His gift. I froze. I was sure I would take His gift, but I did not know what it was or what I was supposed to do with it. I hesitated to take something that I would not, could not use, but was also quite sure that He would not have given it to me without a purpose in mind. As the picture vanished, I had begun to close my hand around the seed.

I do apologize for keeping you in suspense, but I cannot tell you what that seed is at this time. When I can I will. I do mean "can." I do not know what the seed is, only that Jesus has given it to me. Many of you do not know this, but God has been multiplying my financial seed in tremendous ways lately. (I hesitate to use "miraculous" in this case, but some might see it as such. Is 60% in one week miraculous or just tremendous?) God gave me that seed and is multiplying it. Now I have another seed. As soon as I know what it is and what to do with it, I will let you know. In fact, depending on who you are and where you are you may be the first one to know. If that is the case, tell me so I can be the second, okay?

Where Are Those Who Weep Over Santa Maria

As promised, another title in the form of a question. It is also the last one of the titles I heard during worship last Sunday. That could be a good thing since it is already Saturday evening and who knows what might come up tomorrow. Of course the Lord does speak at other times than during the worship time on Sunday mornings, but that is a good time to hear Him if you are listening. We would suggest that if you are having difficulty at that time, you might try reading some scripture before you go to church. At those times when I have had the most difficulty hearing from God, I have found that reading even a few verses before church seems to open me up just a bit more to whatever the Lord has for me there. It seems to even work better to read a few verses just before bed Saturday night then a few more Sunday morning before church.

"Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will...surround you and close you in on every side...because you did not know the time of your visitation.'" (Luke 19:41-44)

Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. He was not just weeping over a city though. Jerusalem was the capital of a nation, the nation of Israel. Depending on who you think is right, He was either the first or second person to fill the office of prophet in the New Testament. Some think John the Baptist was the first New Testament prophet. Others would argue that he ended the line of Old Testament prophets. (There is no extra charge here for that information.) Our position is that it really does not matter. John came as a prophet to prepare the way for Jesus. Jesus came as prophet, priest, and king. As such, He changed all the rules of spiritual life between God and man.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem and Luke is very specific as to why He did that. He was weeping because they had no spiritual insight. They did not recognize the Messiah, the promised One. Throughout the Bible, beginning with the protevangelium in Genesis 3:15, God had promised to provide a Savior for the sins of mankind. The leaders in Israel had failed to recognize Jesus even though they knew the scriptures from the inside out, forward and backward.

The nation of Israel was in distress. They were under the iron fist of the Roman Empire. They were free to exercise their religion only as long as the Romans allowed it. The Romans recognized Herod as the legitimate head of Israel. That is another teaching all together. The Jewish ruling body, the Sanhedrin, was the group that ran the Jewish religion. They were the ones who decided Jesus should die for the good of the nation. We have discussed their reasons for that in a previous post. With the possible exception of Herod, all Israel was awaiting the revelation of the Messiah on earth. They expected a king to come and throw off the yoke of Roman bondage. When Jesus came, humbly, riding on a donkey (Matthew 21:5) He did not fit the picture they had. God was building a spiritual kingdom from the ground up as He had from the time He called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees. The Jews were looking for a physical kingdom to come on earth. They missed God, missed what He was doing in their midst because they erred in their theology. Let us not make the same mistake.

Where are the people who are weeping over the Santa Maria valley as Jesus wept over Jerusalem? Where are you? We know a few of you. God is seeing your tears and hearing your prayers. It took us over twenty years to get to this place. No doubt some of you have been praying a good portion of the time, possibly even prior to that. We know God called us to this city and to this valley for such a time as this. Although it took twenty years to figure out exactly why He issued that call, at least we can now say we know. These are exciting times in Santa Maria. Let us not miss what God is doing. He is at work in ways we do not yet see to demolish the strongholds of the enemy wherever they exist. We will tell you the first place to look for those strongholds in the next post.

Present Day

The purpose, then, of this blog is to bring the reader up to date on the events from late 1987 to the present (not to worry, we are not going to give you minutia). We feel it is important that you, the reader, understand how we came to be in the place we are, doing what we are doing today.

Many people over the years have commented that I seem to have greater spiritual insight than the "average Christian" (whoever that is). I believe that to be true and the best way to explain why that might be so is by way of scripture. Jesus Himself said, "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward..." (Matthew 10:41) (Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations in this blog are taken from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible.) It is our considered belief that the prophet's reward spoken of in the above verse is the ability of the prophet to see into the spiritual realm with greater frequency and accuracy than is considered the norm. Does this mean we will always be right in the present day? One would hope that is true, but it seems unlikely. New Testament prophecy comes to give, "...edification and exhortation and comfort to men." (1 Corinthians 14:3) New Testament prophecy can be a foretelling of future events, but it is much more often simply God speaking to someone through another person to answer a question or need in that person's life.

Having said all that, the prophet I relate most closely with is Amos. Amos came to Israel at a time when the nation was not living according to the Word of God. Shortly after he began to call Israel into account for their transgressions, he was told by the king to run away and not to prophesy any longer. His response was that he was not a prophet or a prophet's son, but God had told him to prophesy. I teach. That is what I do. But occasionally God does give me a message for someone else and I would be loath to contain it. In those times, my sole responsibility is to make God's present word, his rhema, known. It is the responsibility of the person to whom that word is given to decide how to respond to it.