"David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him." (1 Samuel 22:1-2)
I must admit to liking the way this chapter begins--with my name. That's right, I have the same name as the second king of Israel. That is about where the similarity ends. David had already become famous in Israel. As a youth he had slain Goliath and encouraged the Israelite army to rout the Philistines as a result. In his adult years he was so successful in battle that the nation sang of Saul slaying thousands and David tens of thousands. That did not make him the most popular fellow in Israel. Saul was the king and his ego would not let him be second to David. He tried to kill David in the palace with a spear. After David escaped that assasination attempt he ran away to the wilderness. Saul took his army and chased David and his men all over the wilderness for years. And we think we have bad days.
When we were prayerfully pondering leaving northern California, the Lord gave me a promise that I would grow in wisdom and knowledge and favor with God and man. Naturally I expected that to happen immediately. This is the age of instant communications in various media, one hour cleaners, and microwave popcorn after all. That was over twenty years ago.
I think some people like me. I think everyone should. I am a great guy. Just ask me. I am not perfect by any means. Please do not ask me to rate myself by any measure, on any scale. In comparison to the second king of Israel whose name I bear, I am a minus something. He sinned, I sin. Still, he was a man after God's own heart. I try. Thankfully, we are told in scripture that comparing ourselves one with another is not wise. (2 Corinthians 10:12)
David was in distress as recorded in the verses above. The king wanted him dead. His family gathered around him. Many who were discontented in one way or another gathered around him, four hundred of them. Some of them became David's mighty men. I got three so far. Really, three men who want to fight with me. They know who they are. There are probably more who just have not said so. My father is a little too old and he would not understand spiritual warfare anyway. I have brothers who understand and if push came to shove they would all be right there. And I have three men. They are kind of discontented with their lives. I used to be. I am not anymore. We are all going to battle this religious spirit together and we are going to win. Maybe some other people will join us. Maybe there will be 400 of us. It does not really matter how many there are. The victory is assured. Even now, in answer to our prayers, the Lord is stretching out His hand to banish the enemy.
Yesterday in church, during worship, the Holy Spirit told me to write a letter to three men and gave me the next four topics for this blog. This is the second one. I have already emailed the letter. When Jesus said His yoke is easy and his load is light (Matthew 11:29-30) He was not exaggerating. This is sweatless. God does the work. We follow His instructions. How could it be any easier? Oh, well, there is the whole thing about having to give up our own way to follow His. For the most part our way was not working out all that well anyway. Did I mention my three mighty men also got here the hard way. It did not take them quite as long as it took me, but hey, we are all walking the same way now. Thanks men. And thank all of you who have embraced this battle as if it were your own. Drop us a line sometime. We need you.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
More on Spirit vs. Soul
In The Church today we take for granted that if we are doing things that look spiritual they must be spiritual. Unfortunately soulical things look spiritual to the uninitiated, untrained or inexperienced. Those statements taken together may offend some. Should you be one who is offended by those simple facts, it is time for some introspection and perhaps some input from one who is farther along in spiritual life than you are. Just my thoughts on the matter. After all, that is the purpose of blogs in general. In this one, we answer to a higher authority. So while the thoughts may be ours, we hope they are directed by the Holy Spirit. Having said that, let us try and explain what we mean by the first two sentences.
Let us first examine our practice of worship. To give greater definition to that term, we are discussing the time during a church service when the primary activity is group singing, praise, and hopefully worship. Surely those are spiritual things? Wait a minute. Let us carefully consider our answer to that question.
We sing. People without Christ sing. Some of them sing very well. Are they performing a spiritual exercise when they sing? They cannot possibly be. Their spirits are yet dead in sin. Why then would we think our singing is a spiritual exercise when theirs is not? We would give you pause to think, but this format is not really conducive to that. You might want to consider the question before proceeding. The defining factor here is that when our singing comes out of our spirits, it is a spiritual activity. We cannot help you any more than that at this point.
Well then, what about praise? Surely praise is a spiritual activity? Let us answer that question with a question just for rhetorical effect. Have you ever given a compliment, or been complimented? That is the essence of praise. In praise we give glory, a compliment, to God for any of his various works that come to mind. The mind is part of the soul. We have likely all had people without Christ give us praise for something. They praise. We praise. One is not automatically a spiritual activity and the other not. Do not stop reading yet. It gets better--we hope.
Singing is not necessarily a spiritual activity and praise is not necessarily a spiritual activity. Worship, however, is always a spiritual activity. By definition, we can only worship in response to God calling forth worship from us, that is from our spirit. Our spirit links with God's Spirit and we communicate directly with Him. Sometimes this seems to be a random act of God, but we can learn to do it intentionally anytime we desire. A dear saint of God told me many years ago she was opposed to the idea that God was like a faucet we turn on when we want something. God is always on. We have to turn on our own spirit to commune with Him in worship.
The problem with saying that worship is always a spiritual exercise is that what passes for worship many times is really nothing more than us attempting, or wanting to worship. We never actually get past our soul into our spirit. Hence, we never actually worship. We do not accurately discern spiritual activities from soulical activities. We may think we are worshiping because someone has told us that what is going on is worship. We think we are doing what everyone else is doing so we must be worshipping. Most people do not understand that worship is one on one time with God, giving Him the glory due Him for being God. This can never be done corporately. We can sing and we can praise God together, but to move into real worship, we must come face to face with Almighty God and give voice to our spirit's yearning to worship. In worship we give glory to God for being God with all that incorporates. Of the items we are discussing, only worship incorporates spirit, soul, and body together in the same activity.
What we have been discussing so far is the vertical activity of worship. There is a horizontal, soulical activity we usually think of as being spiritual. We even often use the Greek word rather than the English word. Using the Greek word must make it spiritual. It is taken directly from the Bible after all. The word and the activity we are discussing is, of course, koinonia, the Greek word for fellowship. We have fellowship one with another. We do not really need to do the whole, people without Christ thing again do we?
Someone has defined koinonia as, "Any church gathering with food." That is a fanciful definition, but unfortunately not too far off the mark. Many churches consider any gathering outside the routine, scheduled services in the church building to be koinonia. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, our suspicion is that most believers have never experienced koinonia. Koinonia is one on one, face to face, spirit to spirit interaction with another believer. It gets interesting here because, unlike worship which is only one on one with the one God, we can have koinonia in groups. What passes for, and is usually called koinonia is often nothing more than friendly, soulical interaction. There is nothing wrong with friendly, soulical interaction. It just is not koinonia. When two or more people are gathered together in Jesus' name, He promised to be in their midst. (Matthew 18:20) When our spirits are tuned to Him, we are also linked to each other by the Holy Spirit. It is only at that point we have acheived koinonia.
Both worship and koinonia function as closed loops. The difference is that in worship the closed loop is God and each of us individually. In koinonia, the closed loop incorporates God and everyone else who is linked to him in the same place. The disciples in the upper room, waiting for the arrival on earth of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1) were said to be "in one accord". They were enjoying one another's fellowship in the presence of God. Think of the loop as coming from God, running through each of the believers in the room and returning to God. That is the essence of koinonia.
In summary, soulical activities often look like spiritual activities. We have given but two examples although those two incorporate our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with other people. In a sense, we might say those two activities include everything we can do. We need to be aware that simply because something may look spiritual does not necessarily mean it is. Of course we also need to learn to function in the spirit intentionally and often. The more our activities are spirit centered, the more abundant our life will be.
Let us first examine our practice of worship. To give greater definition to that term, we are discussing the time during a church service when the primary activity is group singing, praise, and hopefully worship. Surely those are spiritual things? Wait a minute. Let us carefully consider our answer to that question.
We sing. People without Christ sing. Some of them sing very well. Are they performing a spiritual exercise when they sing? They cannot possibly be. Their spirits are yet dead in sin. Why then would we think our singing is a spiritual exercise when theirs is not? We would give you pause to think, but this format is not really conducive to that. You might want to consider the question before proceeding. The defining factor here is that when our singing comes out of our spirits, it is a spiritual activity. We cannot help you any more than that at this point.
Well then, what about praise? Surely praise is a spiritual activity? Let us answer that question with a question just for rhetorical effect. Have you ever given a compliment, or been complimented? That is the essence of praise. In praise we give glory, a compliment, to God for any of his various works that come to mind. The mind is part of the soul. We have likely all had people without Christ give us praise for something. They praise. We praise. One is not automatically a spiritual activity and the other not. Do not stop reading yet. It gets better--we hope.
Singing is not necessarily a spiritual activity and praise is not necessarily a spiritual activity. Worship, however, is always a spiritual activity. By definition, we can only worship in response to God calling forth worship from us, that is from our spirit. Our spirit links with God's Spirit and we communicate directly with Him. Sometimes this seems to be a random act of God, but we can learn to do it intentionally anytime we desire. A dear saint of God told me many years ago she was opposed to the idea that God was like a faucet we turn on when we want something. God is always on. We have to turn on our own spirit to commune with Him in worship.
The problem with saying that worship is always a spiritual exercise is that what passes for worship many times is really nothing more than us attempting, or wanting to worship. We never actually get past our soul into our spirit. Hence, we never actually worship. We do not accurately discern spiritual activities from soulical activities. We may think we are worshiping because someone has told us that what is going on is worship. We think we are doing what everyone else is doing so we must be worshipping. Most people do not understand that worship is one on one time with God, giving Him the glory due Him for being God. This can never be done corporately. We can sing and we can praise God together, but to move into real worship, we must come face to face with Almighty God and give voice to our spirit's yearning to worship. In worship we give glory to God for being God with all that incorporates. Of the items we are discussing, only worship incorporates spirit, soul, and body together in the same activity.
What we have been discussing so far is the vertical activity of worship. There is a horizontal, soulical activity we usually think of as being spiritual. We even often use the Greek word rather than the English word. Using the Greek word must make it spiritual. It is taken directly from the Bible after all. The word and the activity we are discussing is, of course, koinonia, the Greek word for fellowship. We have fellowship one with another. We do not really need to do the whole, people without Christ thing again do we?
Someone has defined koinonia as, "Any church gathering with food." That is a fanciful definition, but unfortunately not too far off the mark. Many churches consider any gathering outside the routine, scheduled services in the church building to be koinonia. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, our suspicion is that most believers have never experienced koinonia. Koinonia is one on one, face to face, spirit to spirit interaction with another believer. It gets interesting here because, unlike worship which is only one on one with the one God, we can have koinonia in groups. What passes for, and is usually called koinonia is often nothing more than friendly, soulical interaction. There is nothing wrong with friendly, soulical interaction. It just is not koinonia. When two or more people are gathered together in Jesus' name, He promised to be in their midst. (Matthew 18:20) When our spirits are tuned to Him, we are also linked to each other by the Holy Spirit. It is only at that point we have acheived koinonia.
Both worship and koinonia function as closed loops. The difference is that in worship the closed loop is God and each of us individually. In koinonia, the closed loop incorporates God and everyone else who is linked to him in the same place. The disciples in the upper room, waiting for the arrival on earth of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1) were said to be "in one accord". They were enjoying one another's fellowship in the presence of God. Think of the loop as coming from God, running through each of the believers in the room and returning to God. That is the essence of koinonia.
In summary, soulical activities often look like spiritual activities. We have given but two examples although those two incorporate our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with other people. In a sense, we might say those two activities include everything we can do. We need to be aware that simply because something may look spiritual does not necessarily mean it is. Of course we also need to learn to function in the spirit intentionally and often. The more our activities are spirit centered, the more abundant our life will be.
A Sense of Destiny
Is it just me or is there something afoot in the spiritual realm? For the past couple or three weeks it seems every time I have the chance to ponder what is going on, I have a sense of something going on behind the scenes that I cannot quite put my finger on. It is as though something is approaching that will make an impact on the way things are in our lives. We pray it is something good and not something God will have to turn for good. Whichever way that goes, we know it will be an exciting, growth experience. Were we to take a guess, God is about to put the next step in place for our victory over the religious spirit we are battling.
Eight days ago there were two minor earthquakes in California in the same day. We say they were minor because neither of them caused any apparent damage and were not even considered newsworthy events. They were each in the 4 point range on the Richter Scale, but were in less populated areas. The only reason we even know about them is the first one hit almost exactly 5:30 AM and shook our bed. We looked it up on the internet and sure enough, it was the first of two that hit that day.
Pastor Jack Hayford says that when there are things happening in the spritual realm, they are often accompanied by seisimic activity. It is as though the creation is in travail, groaning with birth pains. (Romans 8:22) For the time being, we are pondering the earthquakes and being attentive to what the Spirit is saying and doing. We all know spiritual insight is sometimes better than at other times. It seems like something is happening, but the what of that is still hidden. In the meantime, we must be about our Father's business as best we can.
It seems almost daily some kind of distraction comes along that seeks to change our direction. Some of those things are minor and some not so much so. Taking a day to attend meetings at headquarters is a minor, expected distraction, but a distraction nonetheless. I certainly did not do much blogging that day although I did get home with some new material as stated in the previous post. We also had two sets of out of town guests and two one-time functions to attend this week. Those are good things, the kinds of things that add the variety and spice to life. There was also the distraction of a friend being admitted to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation after some kind of episode in which she trashed her apartment in the middle of the night. That kind of thing is not expected nor enjoyable. We have also been solicited for three business opportunities in the past few weeks. These are things that may or may not lead anywhere, but would definitely require some investment of time. We were close to losing our focus in each case and pursuing something that might have been good at the possible risk of not continuing to do what the Lord has called us to do.
I really never have liked the idea of destiny. It just sounds too much like someone has already planned out our destination and there is nothing we can do to avoid it. Where is the free will in that? I think I am learning that having a destiny is similar to a football player taking a kick off and trying to run it into the opposite end zone for a score. The goal is set before us. All we are trying to do is get there the best way we know how. Thankfully as Christians we do not have to get there the best way we know how. We have a coach high up in the sky, as it were, with a view of every obstacle to our success. It is He who can and will guide us moment by moment and step by step to our destiny. We have trouble seeing the goal line because of the monsters between us and it. (Still sticking with our football analogy here.) We have already shared in previous posts about some of the times we have been knocked off course. That is why it has taken so long for us to get to this place, wherever we actually are. The good news is, we are still standing! At this time we have a sense that our destiny is in the process of manifesting itself for good or for better. The battle is about to be joined in full force. We have been assured in our spirits of ultimate victory. It simply does not matter what comes between now and then. We are already winners. All of us are already winners. The battle set and we already know the outcome.
Eight days ago there were two minor earthquakes in California in the same day. We say they were minor because neither of them caused any apparent damage and were not even considered newsworthy events. They were each in the 4 point range on the Richter Scale, but were in less populated areas. The only reason we even know about them is the first one hit almost exactly 5:30 AM and shook our bed. We looked it up on the internet and sure enough, it was the first of two that hit that day.
Pastor Jack Hayford says that when there are things happening in the spritual realm, they are often accompanied by seisimic activity. It is as though the creation is in travail, groaning with birth pains. (Romans 8:22) For the time being, we are pondering the earthquakes and being attentive to what the Spirit is saying and doing. We all know spiritual insight is sometimes better than at other times. It seems like something is happening, but the what of that is still hidden. In the meantime, we must be about our Father's business as best we can.
It seems almost daily some kind of distraction comes along that seeks to change our direction. Some of those things are minor and some not so much so. Taking a day to attend meetings at headquarters is a minor, expected distraction, but a distraction nonetheless. I certainly did not do much blogging that day although I did get home with some new material as stated in the previous post. We also had two sets of out of town guests and two one-time functions to attend this week. Those are good things, the kinds of things that add the variety and spice to life. There was also the distraction of a friend being admitted to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation after some kind of episode in which she trashed her apartment in the middle of the night. That kind of thing is not expected nor enjoyable. We have also been solicited for three business opportunities in the past few weeks. These are things that may or may not lead anywhere, but would definitely require some investment of time. We were close to losing our focus in each case and pursuing something that might have been good at the possible risk of not continuing to do what the Lord has called us to do.
I really never have liked the idea of destiny. It just sounds too much like someone has already planned out our destination and there is nothing we can do to avoid it. Where is the free will in that? I think I am learning that having a destiny is similar to a football player taking a kick off and trying to run it into the opposite end zone for a score. The goal is set before us. All we are trying to do is get there the best way we know how. Thankfully as Christians we do not have to get there the best way we know how. We have a coach high up in the sky, as it were, with a view of every obstacle to our success. It is He who can and will guide us moment by moment and step by step to our destiny. We have trouble seeing the goal line because of the monsters between us and it. (Still sticking with our football analogy here.) We have already shared in previous posts about some of the times we have been knocked off course. That is why it has taken so long for us to get to this place, wherever we actually are. The good news is, we are still standing! At this time we have a sense that our destiny is in the process of manifesting itself for good or for better. The battle is about to be joined in full force. We have been assured in our spirits of ultimate victory. It simply does not matter what comes between now and then. We are already winners. All of us are already winners. The battle set and we already know the outcome.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Ordering of Events
I spent the day travelling to and from the headquarters of the Rescue Mission Alliance. For those of you who do not know, they are the folks who write me a couple paychecks each month. I am very thankful for my job. I may be even more thankful for my wife's job since she makes more money than I do, but that is another story. Usually once a month I go down there--to Oxnard, CA, the headquarters, for some kind of meeting. Today there were two of them so I saw lots of my fellow employees. I also learned a thing or two. Imagine that.
I have met a lot of great people since taking this position. And of course I never realized just how boring my life really was until I started working with people in recovery. I just want to say thank you. I am able to write this blog because they write me a couple checks each month. Thank you RMA!
The previous paragraph was something more than simple reminicenses. God always orders our lives according to His purposes. In fact, the Bible tells us, "...we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) Sometimes we feel that our lives are a series of random events. However, it is clear from scripture that God not only knows what the events of our lives are, but He has prepared the works He wants us to do in advance. In that regard, He does what a football coach does in drawing up plays. He draws x's and o's on the board then draws the lines and directions to show what each of us is supposed to do as the play unfolds. For that reason, we must understand the things that come to us or against us, whether good or bad, all happen under the watchful eye of our loving Heavenly Father. If we can get that concept into our minds and from there to our spirits, we would live our lives entirely differently than we do. We would be free to do whatever God has for us to do at anytime without concerns about His care, guidance, protection, and provision. We would know in our spirits those things are already givens in the Kingdom of God. In fact it seems I have read something somewhere like not worrying about tomorrow because today has enough of its own problems.
Since, then, the course of our lives are ordered by God, it seems things should be going simply wonderfully all the time. Many of you know I am a classic introvert. People bug me sometimes. Yes, seriously. Sometimes I imagine how nice the commute would be to work if all y'all would just stay off the freeway. And if I stop to get a beverage at the local mini market will you please just pay with cash. Use exact change if you can. Oh, and you guys at the mission, (yes, staff too) sometimes I just need a little space and there really are a few things I cannot change anyway. I think I manage to deal with most people pretty well most of the time. In fact, most of you know I have made a concerted effort within the past few months to walk in love toward everybody. That does not mean I am going to quit being me. I can only please a few people a day. Maybe this is not your day.
Yes, I am making a point here. I am afraid it's another kind of an ugly one. I would apologize, but one of the things I learned today at the first meeting is that sometimes it is easier to be nice than to be honest. (So many things going through my head as I write that.) Along with the love walk, I have recently seen the importance of being honest. That story is too long to fit in this space, but somehow I know it is going to come up in the future, and probably sooner rather than later.
This blog and the spiritual warfare that initiated it are an unfolding revelation. Please, never make the mistake of thinking any of us have it all figured out. Heck, most of the time I'm surprised when I see the words come up on my monitor. Trust me, I am not that smart. If you see anything impressive in these pages, thank the Holy Spirit whom we hope is the real writer.
Ok so the point is, bad things are going to happen to good people. Often we bring them on ourselves through ignorance, stupidity, or rebellion. Sometimes they come by way of other men. (Deep breath, here is where it gets ugly.) Occasionally, those bad things come into our lives as a result of other people doing the wrong things toward us, or simply not doing the right things. Jesus said, "Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!" (Matthew 18:7) In other words, people are going to do the wrong things toward us sometimes. That is going to be between them and God. Those times give us the opportunity to work on our own love walk. Admittedly, it would have been better had they been walking love toward us, but for some reason they were not. That is going to be between them and God. Our responsibility is to continue to walk in love toward them. We have no doubt everyone reading this post has someone to forgive for something and, conversely, we all have things for which we need to ask forgiveness. God is gracious. In fact if you have been born again, He has already put those things under the blood of Jesus and will not bring them up again. We still need to deal with them by airing them out with the other party.
We would be remiss if we did not close this post with an invitation. Perhaps there are those of you out there who feel you have been offended, snubbed, insulted, or otherwise injured by something we have done--or did not do. We ask that you would make that known to us so that we can do whatever is possible to make it right. Maybe in reading some of this material you have come to realize we did not mean to do evil against you and have already found it in your heart to forgive us for it. Thank you. It would be very encouraging for us to hear about those things too.
I have met a lot of great people since taking this position. And of course I never realized just how boring my life really was until I started working with people in recovery. I just want to say thank you. I am able to write this blog because they write me a couple checks each month. Thank you RMA!
The previous paragraph was something more than simple reminicenses. God always orders our lives according to His purposes. In fact, the Bible tells us, "...we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) Sometimes we feel that our lives are a series of random events. However, it is clear from scripture that God not only knows what the events of our lives are, but He has prepared the works He wants us to do in advance. In that regard, He does what a football coach does in drawing up plays. He draws x's and o's on the board then draws the lines and directions to show what each of us is supposed to do as the play unfolds. For that reason, we must understand the things that come to us or against us, whether good or bad, all happen under the watchful eye of our loving Heavenly Father. If we can get that concept into our minds and from there to our spirits, we would live our lives entirely differently than we do. We would be free to do whatever God has for us to do at anytime without concerns about His care, guidance, protection, and provision. We would know in our spirits those things are already givens in the Kingdom of God. In fact it seems I have read something somewhere like not worrying about tomorrow because today has enough of its own problems.
Since, then, the course of our lives are ordered by God, it seems things should be going simply wonderfully all the time. Many of you know I am a classic introvert. People bug me sometimes. Yes, seriously. Sometimes I imagine how nice the commute would be to work if all y'all would just stay off the freeway. And if I stop to get a beverage at the local mini market will you please just pay with cash. Use exact change if you can. Oh, and you guys at the mission, (yes, staff too) sometimes I just need a little space and there really are a few things I cannot change anyway. I think I manage to deal with most people pretty well most of the time. In fact, most of you know I have made a concerted effort within the past few months to walk in love toward everybody. That does not mean I am going to quit being me. I can only please a few people a day. Maybe this is not your day.
Yes, I am making a point here. I am afraid it's another kind of an ugly one. I would apologize, but one of the things I learned today at the first meeting is that sometimes it is easier to be nice than to be honest. (So many things going through my head as I write that.) Along with the love walk, I have recently seen the importance of being honest. That story is too long to fit in this space, but somehow I know it is going to come up in the future, and probably sooner rather than later.
This blog and the spiritual warfare that initiated it are an unfolding revelation. Please, never make the mistake of thinking any of us have it all figured out. Heck, most of the time I'm surprised when I see the words come up on my monitor. Trust me, I am not that smart. If you see anything impressive in these pages, thank the Holy Spirit whom we hope is the real writer.
Ok so the point is, bad things are going to happen to good people. Often we bring them on ourselves through ignorance, stupidity, or rebellion. Sometimes they come by way of other men. (Deep breath, here is where it gets ugly.) Occasionally, those bad things come into our lives as a result of other people doing the wrong things toward us, or simply not doing the right things. Jesus said, "Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!" (Matthew 18:7) In other words, people are going to do the wrong things toward us sometimes. That is going to be between them and God. Those times give us the opportunity to work on our own love walk. Admittedly, it would have been better had they been walking love toward us, but for some reason they were not. That is going to be between them and God. Our responsibility is to continue to walk in love toward them. We have no doubt everyone reading this post has someone to forgive for something and, conversely, we all have things for which we need to ask forgiveness. God is gracious. In fact if you have been born again, He has already put those things under the blood of Jesus and will not bring them up again. We still need to deal with them by airing them out with the other party.
We would be remiss if we did not close this post with an invitation. Perhaps there are those of you out there who feel you have been offended, snubbed, insulted, or otherwise injured by something we have done--or did not do. We ask that you would make that known to us so that we can do whatever is possible to make it right. Maybe in reading some of this material you have come to realize we did not mean to do evil against you and have already found it in your heart to forgive us for it. Thank you. It would be very encouraging for us to hear about those things too.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Where We Were is Where We Still Are
I had not really planned on writing this particular post at this time, but you know how that goes. Maybe you do not so without a lot of fanfare, just let me say the topics and the timing are, we hope, God given and Holy Spirit driven. By the way, we know more of you are reading the blog than have signed up as followers and we are very appreciative of your support. If you would like to make a comment, but not have it posted, you may do so any time. Simply add to your comment that you would like to have it not posted. We are counting on you to keep us balanced and toward the center as we continue this adventure into spiritual warfare. It is a new experience, but not a totally new one. As we said in an earlier post, the deception of being deceived is that we never know we are until we are freed from it. Should you see any deception, or think you do, please call it to our attention immediately and start praying about it so it can be removed.
September 14, 15, and 16, 2001 a group of us had set aside the weekend to have Mario Murillo come and minister to all who would come together in a united effort to proclaim the Gospel to the Santa Maria valley. We were attending the church that was spearheading the effort. Actually that church was the leading church due largely to the fact that two of the men in that congregation were the prime movers behind the event. That church had probably 110 people in regular attendance at the time making it certainly not the smallest church in the area, but nowhere near the largest. These two men and the volunteer corps they put together had invested countless hours and thousands of dollars to make the meetings happen.
For those of you unfamiliar with the ministry of Mario Murillo, he is a dynamic servant of God who ministers according to Pentecostal doctrine. He is Nicaraguan by ancestry. You can find out about him at http://www.mariomurillo.com/. He is, by our witness, spirit led in his life and ministry. However, like anyone who has a heart to do great things for God, he has been a victim of all sorts of malfeasance over the years. He as been attacked mostly from within the church at large. That leads us toward what happened when he came to Santa Maria.
In the pre-planning for the event, there were the typical fundraising, prayer meetings, and volunteer sign ups. Notably, there were very few churches represented in any of those efforts. It is not surprising that non-Pentecostal churches would not be thrilled to have a dynamic, Pentecostal minister hold a citywide meeting. Of special note, however, were that members of the two largest Pentecostal churches in town staying away by the hundreds.
It is not our purpose or our intent to criticize churches or their pastors. Our purpose is simply to expose the lack of unity and more of the workings of the religious spirit that rules here. One has to wonder why Mario could not get the support of the local churches who would, or should have, agreed with pretty much everything he preached those days. Or would they? I read something recently about not knowing one is deceived until we are freed from it. Now see, this is getting ugly again because we really have limited options as to why fellow laborers for Jesus would not welcome a man of Mario's stature, ministry ability and spiritual insight. Should we go on to point them out, we could be construed to be casting stones and of not walking in love toward them as perhaps they were not toward Mario. I am pretty sure one of the manifestations of a religious spirit is that those in authority will do anything to retain their power. Case in point, John 11:48 where the High Priest says, "If we leave him (Jesus) alone...the Romans will come and take away...our place..." (parentheses mine).
Mario was disappointed by the small turnout for his meeting and stayed just two of the three days he had planned. I remarked to the men who planned and funded the event that at least we had learned where we were at that time. Sitting here today, I have little confidence that anything has changed in that regard. I would love to be wrong about that, but the Holy Spirit is telling me that, were we to try something like that again now, the result would be very similar.
Some of us are sensing in our spirits that a very faint breeze is beginning to blow. Did you know we felt two earthquakes this past weekend? The Bible says the whole creation is groaning and laboring, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. (Romans 8:18-22) There are other, more localized things happening too. We are pondering them and how we should respond. Please pray for wisdom. We have been in training for this time entirely too long to lose our focus now. There has lately been a huge temptation to do the good things rather than the right things. It seems as though one thing after another comes along to try and throw us off course. So far so good, but challenges loom that we have not even identified. We really do solicit your prayers. Thank you for your support.
September 14, 15, and 16, 2001 a group of us had set aside the weekend to have Mario Murillo come and minister to all who would come together in a united effort to proclaim the Gospel to the Santa Maria valley. We were attending the church that was spearheading the effort. Actually that church was the leading church due largely to the fact that two of the men in that congregation were the prime movers behind the event. That church had probably 110 people in regular attendance at the time making it certainly not the smallest church in the area, but nowhere near the largest. These two men and the volunteer corps they put together had invested countless hours and thousands of dollars to make the meetings happen.
For those of you unfamiliar with the ministry of Mario Murillo, he is a dynamic servant of God who ministers according to Pentecostal doctrine. He is Nicaraguan by ancestry. You can find out about him at http://www.mariomurillo.com/. He is, by our witness, spirit led in his life and ministry. However, like anyone who has a heart to do great things for God, he has been a victim of all sorts of malfeasance over the years. He as been attacked mostly from within the church at large. That leads us toward what happened when he came to Santa Maria.
In the pre-planning for the event, there were the typical fundraising, prayer meetings, and volunteer sign ups. Notably, there were very few churches represented in any of those efforts. It is not surprising that non-Pentecostal churches would not be thrilled to have a dynamic, Pentecostal minister hold a citywide meeting. Of special note, however, were that members of the two largest Pentecostal churches in town staying away by the hundreds.
It is not our purpose or our intent to criticize churches or their pastors. Our purpose is simply to expose the lack of unity and more of the workings of the religious spirit that rules here. One has to wonder why Mario could not get the support of the local churches who would, or should have, agreed with pretty much everything he preached those days. Or would they? I read something recently about not knowing one is deceived until we are freed from it. Now see, this is getting ugly again because we really have limited options as to why fellow laborers for Jesus would not welcome a man of Mario's stature, ministry ability and spiritual insight. Should we go on to point them out, we could be construed to be casting stones and of not walking in love toward them as perhaps they were not toward Mario. I am pretty sure one of the manifestations of a religious spirit is that those in authority will do anything to retain their power. Case in point, John 11:48 where the High Priest says, "If we leave him (Jesus) alone...the Romans will come and take away...our place..." (parentheses mine).
Mario was disappointed by the small turnout for his meeting and stayed just two of the three days he had planned. I remarked to the men who planned and funded the event that at least we had learned where we were at that time. Sitting here today, I have little confidence that anything has changed in that regard. I would love to be wrong about that, but the Holy Spirit is telling me that, were we to try something like that again now, the result would be very similar.
Some of us are sensing in our spirits that a very faint breeze is beginning to blow. Did you know we felt two earthquakes this past weekend? The Bible says the whole creation is groaning and laboring, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. (Romans 8:18-22) There are other, more localized things happening too. We are pondering them and how we should respond. Please pray for wisdom. We have been in training for this time entirely too long to lose our focus now. There has lately been a huge temptation to do the good things rather than the right things. It seems as though one thing after another comes along to try and throw us off course. So far so good, but challenges loom that we have not even identified. We really do solicit your prayers. Thank you for your support.
Friday, June 19, 2009
The Pillar and Ground of the Truth
...I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)
The phrase we are interested in from this instruction of Paul to Timothy is "the pillar and ground of the truth". Before we deal with that however, let us take a few moments to be clear about what Paul is saying here. He is using the term house of God here not in terms of a physical building, but rather as Peter used it in his letter (1 Peter 2:5) to indicate the building made up of living stones, which are those people who have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This group of people is what he calls by three different phrases in this one verse. He calls us variously, the house of God, the church of the living God, and the pillar and ground of the truth.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the origin of the word from which we get church, it comes from a compound Greek word that means called out. It indicates a group of people who are called out from among a larger group of people to become a people in their own right. They govern and take care of themselves so the group is seen to be different than the larger group from which it came. It is unfortunate that in today's society it is difficult to tell the Christians from the non-Christians Monday through Saturday. The sexual mores of society are fairly commonly accepted by those who call themselves Christians. The divorce rate among Christian couples is within a percentage point or two of their non-Christian counterparts when last we heard. Modern society has made serious inroads into the pulling down of Biblical morality amongst church attendees. The main reason behind these unfortunate statistics is that the church is not always careful to be the house of God, The Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
When I was studying social science in college those many years ago, there were endless discussions as to whether truth is relative or absolute. Those of us who have been born of the Spirit know that truth comes from God alone. Therefore, truth is absolute. One person's truth is by definition every other person's truth or it is not truth at all. There are no more exceptions to this than there are to any of the various scientific laws. God put all those laws into effect and they are not going to change.
Scripture tells us that The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Pillars hold things up. Things rest on the ground. What Paul is saying here is that The Church holds up the truth. The truth rests on and is resident in The Church. Incidentally, the word translated ground in this verse is translated foundation in other Bible translations. The reason for his discussion is that since The Church holds up and upholds the truth, it is the purview and responsibility of The Church to stand for the truth. Herein lies the problem, we cannot even decide amongst ourselves what is truth. Each individual church group thinks they have the truth. The truth is that none of them does. It is The Church, get it, The WHOLE Church that is the pillar and ground of the truth. It is everyone who has made Jesus Christ Lord of his or her life that comprises The Church. This truth is denied in practice by all churches everywhere. (Did I say that out loud?) Yes, all churches everywhere deny the truth that they are nothing more than a part of the whole by their very practices.
Suppose Jesus were to walk into a church service where you attend on any given Sunday morning or whenever your main service is. Now wait, that's not fair because He probably is not going to do that. He could, but that is not His usual modus operandi. So then let us suppose the Holy Spirit sends someone into that church during a service. We are talking about a legitimate God sent minister. God sent him. Perhaps he is a prophet or just has a prophetic word. Perhaps he has been sent with something the church needs. It could be anything. Most churches would not receive that person and allow him to speak publicly or approach the platform. Of course we know that could be dangerous in so very many ways. Besides, God is a God of order and does not operate that way. Surely he would call the pastor to let him know he is sending someone. Wouldn't He? What real excuse could we possibly have for not receiving a prophet? Jesus said if we receive a prophet because he is a prophet or a righteous man because he is a righteous man, we will share in his reward. (Matthew 10:41)
The problem with bottling up truth in any particular church or denomination, other than the fact that it cannot be done anyway, is that it excludes everyone else. Besides all the other churches, there are so many disenfranchised Christians around nowadays. Many of them have been unwelcomed (That is artistic license for someone who was once welcomed and is no longer.) by the churches they were a part of for any number of supposed wrongs. Need I say, this is simply another working of the religious spirit? I am being charitable when I say that. The only other option is that these people have been unwelcomed because they challenged or otherwise irritated the pastor and he was unable to walk in love toward them so he told them they were no longer welcome. Oh gee that hurts! We could give you a list of people who have been victims of that exact situation. We have talked to some of them who have said they probably will never attend a church, any church, again.
The essence of this message simply put is, The Church is the sum of all its parts. Many, perhaps most, of those parts attend local gatherings on something of a regular basis. However, there are lots of other parts in onesies and twosies out there who are disenfranchised and therefore never get to be part of the truth dialogue. They have something to say, but more than that, when they are not heard we all miss out on what it is God has given them to contribute.
The phrase we are interested in from this instruction of Paul to Timothy is "the pillar and ground of the truth". Before we deal with that however, let us take a few moments to be clear about what Paul is saying here. He is using the term house of God here not in terms of a physical building, but rather as Peter used it in his letter (1 Peter 2:5) to indicate the building made up of living stones, which are those people who have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This group of people is what he calls by three different phrases in this one verse. He calls us variously, the house of God, the church of the living God, and the pillar and ground of the truth.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the origin of the word from which we get church, it comes from a compound Greek word that means called out. It indicates a group of people who are called out from among a larger group of people to become a people in their own right. They govern and take care of themselves so the group is seen to be different than the larger group from which it came. It is unfortunate that in today's society it is difficult to tell the Christians from the non-Christians Monday through Saturday. The sexual mores of society are fairly commonly accepted by those who call themselves Christians. The divorce rate among Christian couples is within a percentage point or two of their non-Christian counterparts when last we heard. Modern society has made serious inroads into the pulling down of Biblical morality amongst church attendees. The main reason behind these unfortunate statistics is that the church is not always careful to be the house of God, The Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
When I was studying social science in college those many years ago, there were endless discussions as to whether truth is relative or absolute. Those of us who have been born of the Spirit know that truth comes from God alone. Therefore, truth is absolute. One person's truth is by definition every other person's truth or it is not truth at all. There are no more exceptions to this than there are to any of the various scientific laws. God put all those laws into effect and they are not going to change.
Scripture tells us that The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Pillars hold things up. Things rest on the ground. What Paul is saying here is that The Church holds up the truth. The truth rests on and is resident in The Church. Incidentally, the word translated ground in this verse is translated foundation in other Bible translations. The reason for his discussion is that since The Church holds up and upholds the truth, it is the purview and responsibility of The Church to stand for the truth. Herein lies the problem, we cannot even decide amongst ourselves what is truth. Each individual church group thinks they have the truth. The truth is that none of them does. It is The Church, get it, The WHOLE Church that is the pillar and ground of the truth. It is everyone who has made Jesus Christ Lord of his or her life that comprises The Church. This truth is denied in practice by all churches everywhere. (Did I say that out loud?) Yes, all churches everywhere deny the truth that they are nothing more than a part of the whole by their very practices.
Suppose Jesus were to walk into a church service where you attend on any given Sunday morning or whenever your main service is. Now wait, that's not fair because He probably is not going to do that. He could, but that is not His usual modus operandi. So then let us suppose the Holy Spirit sends someone into that church during a service. We are talking about a legitimate God sent minister. God sent him. Perhaps he is a prophet or just has a prophetic word. Perhaps he has been sent with something the church needs. It could be anything. Most churches would not receive that person and allow him to speak publicly or approach the platform. Of course we know that could be dangerous in so very many ways. Besides, God is a God of order and does not operate that way. Surely he would call the pastor to let him know he is sending someone. Wouldn't He? What real excuse could we possibly have for not receiving a prophet? Jesus said if we receive a prophet because he is a prophet or a righteous man because he is a righteous man, we will share in his reward. (Matthew 10:41)
The problem with bottling up truth in any particular church or denomination, other than the fact that it cannot be done anyway, is that it excludes everyone else. Besides all the other churches, there are so many disenfranchised Christians around nowadays. Many of them have been unwelcomed (That is artistic license for someone who was once welcomed and is no longer.) by the churches they were a part of for any number of supposed wrongs. Need I say, this is simply another working of the religious spirit? I am being charitable when I say that. The only other option is that these people have been unwelcomed because they challenged or otherwise irritated the pastor and he was unable to walk in love toward them so he told them they were no longer welcome. Oh gee that hurts! We could give you a list of people who have been victims of that exact situation. We have talked to some of them who have said they probably will never attend a church, any church, again.
The essence of this message simply put is, The Church is the sum of all its parts. Many, perhaps most, of those parts attend local gatherings on something of a regular basis. However, there are lots of other parts in onesies and twosies out there who are disenfranchised and therefore never get to be part of the truth dialogue. They have something to say, but more than that, when they are not heard we all miss out on what it is God has given them to contribute.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thank You
Often times when I am a guest speaker at a church or other kind of meeting where I am teaching, I begin by saying, "The opinions expressed by this speaker are not necessarly those of the staff or management of this church." As noted in an earlier post, I can be a smart aleck in virtually any situation. However, I do not really say that to be a smark aleck. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know I do not teach the same things the same way a lot of other people do. That may even be why you are still reading.
We know there are people who will attempt to make this whole exercise sound like some sort of vendetta or grudge session saying it is sardonic, sarcastic, or insincere. We do expect a lot of what is written here to rankle some people, but that is not the reason we are writing it. In fact it took all those experiences to bring us to the place of understanding where the real battle in the Santa Maria valley lies. This is really a thank you to all those people. There is not a perfect person among us, but God manages to use us all in spite of that--or maybe because of it. We will feel free to cast stones when we have arrived at perfection ourselves. At this point we do not even see any reason to begin to limber up our arms.
Every once in awhile it is nice to remember people who do nice or kind things to help us along our way. Above and beyond that, it is a good thing to have what has often been called "an attitude of gratitude" for what we have. From a Biblical perspective, regardless of what things come into our lives, they have all come through the hand of God. He weighs and measures the things that come into each of our lives so we never have to deal with anything beyond our ability. We actually came to believe that through the constant teaching of a former pastor. That seemed to be one area we were never quite able to come to grips with--why do things sometimes seem to work against us when we think we are doing the best we can. We now realize those trials only come to show us there is still room for some improvement in our lives. God is still taking care of everything that concerns us. However, when we do things we should not, or do not do things we should, we give the devil legal authority to do whatever he wants in our lives--and that is never in our best interests. He only comes to "...steal, kill, and destroy." (John 10:10)
We have been very careful not to mention people by name for the most part whether what they have done could be considered to be positive or negative. This is intentional and the basic reason for that deserves a little explanation with regard to our topic of thanks. Because nothing comes into our lives without God's permission, nothing that has come should be considered bad per se. Obviously, each of us can point to things in our lives we wish had worked out differently than they did. Most often those things seem to be results of our own bad actions or decisions--try as we might to make them someone else's fault. There have been times in our lives when other people could have done something to help us and did not. There have been other times when some people doing nothing would have worked out better for us. Yet, regardless of what anyone else did or did not do, God had our back as is said in the current vernacular. That is the modern term for what God promised through Isaiah, "...For the Lord will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your rear guard." (Isaiah 52:12) God has your back. God has had our back throughout the course of our years and so to those who sought to do us evil or simply did not do the good you could have, thank you. Your actions have made us what we are and have brought us to the place we are now. Never before have we felt so confident were are exactly where we should be in our lives, doing exactly what we should be doing.
There is a large and growing group of people out there who are cheering our efforts here. Some of you have become followers of the blog, some have made comments on the blog, via email, on the phone or in person. To each and everyone of you a great big THANK YOU! Of course we have no real idea of who all might be reading the blog, but please consider this a thank you to you as well for your interest in what we are doing. God bless.
We know there are people who will attempt to make this whole exercise sound like some sort of vendetta or grudge session saying it is sardonic, sarcastic, or insincere. We do expect a lot of what is written here to rankle some people, but that is not the reason we are writing it. In fact it took all those experiences to bring us to the place of understanding where the real battle in the Santa Maria valley lies. This is really a thank you to all those people. There is not a perfect person among us, but God manages to use us all in spite of that--or maybe because of it. We will feel free to cast stones when we have arrived at perfection ourselves. At this point we do not even see any reason to begin to limber up our arms.
Every once in awhile it is nice to remember people who do nice or kind things to help us along our way. Above and beyond that, it is a good thing to have what has often been called "an attitude of gratitude" for what we have. From a Biblical perspective, regardless of what things come into our lives, they have all come through the hand of God. He weighs and measures the things that come into each of our lives so we never have to deal with anything beyond our ability. We actually came to believe that through the constant teaching of a former pastor. That seemed to be one area we were never quite able to come to grips with--why do things sometimes seem to work against us when we think we are doing the best we can. We now realize those trials only come to show us there is still room for some improvement in our lives. God is still taking care of everything that concerns us. However, when we do things we should not, or do not do things we should, we give the devil legal authority to do whatever he wants in our lives--and that is never in our best interests. He only comes to "...steal, kill, and destroy." (John 10:10)
We have been very careful not to mention people by name for the most part whether what they have done could be considered to be positive or negative. This is intentional and the basic reason for that deserves a little explanation with regard to our topic of thanks. Because nothing comes into our lives without God's permission, nothing that has come should be considered bad per se. Obviously, each of us can point to things in our lives we wish had worked out differently than they did. Most often those things seem to be results of our own bad actions or decisions--try as we might to make them someone else's fault. There have been times in our lives when other people could have done something to help us and did not. There have been other times when some people doing nothing would have worked out better for us. Yet, regardless of what anyone else did or did not do, God had our back as is said in the current vernacular. That is the modern term for what God promised through Isaiah, "...For the Lord will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your rear guard." (Isaiah 52:12) God has your back. God has had our back throughout the course of our years and so to those who sought to do us evil or simply did not do the good you could have, thank you. Your actions have made us what we are and have brought us to the place we are now. Never before have we felt so confident were are exactly where we should be in our lives, doing exactly what we should be doing.
There is a large and growing group of people out there who are cheering our efforts here. Some of you have become followers of the blog, some have made comments on the blog, via email, on the phone or in person. To each and everyone of you a great big THANK YOU! Of course we have no real idea of who all might be reading the blog, but please consider this a thank you to you as well for your interest in what we are doing. God bless.
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