Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Encountering the Magnificence of Jesus
I. JESUS, OUR MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
A. A magnificent obsession is an oxymoron (a contradiction of terms). Almost every obsession the human heart has is destructive. However, there is one obsession that liberates us and brings us into our destiny, fills us with spiritual pleasure, and crowns us with God’s glory (Heb. 2:7).
B. My basic premise is that there is no aspect of God’s grace that more powerfully transforms our emotions or satisfies our heart than when God, the Holy Spirit, reveals God to the human spirit. The most transforming, exhilarating, motivating reality in the kingdom is Jesus Himself!
C. Christianity is actively pursuing a Person and actively resisting sin, sickness, and Satan. It is more than escaping from hell, obeying a code of conduct and fulfilling a ministry assignment. Many live a “defensive Christianity;” they focus on sincerely resisting darkness, but do not aggressively pursue Jesus. This approach is weak and ineffective and does not change our heart.
D. Many in the Church think of Jesus mostly in terms of One who forgives them and “stamps their passport” so they can go to heaven. They only see One who heals, provides, directs, and blesses circumstances. He is much more. The best-kept secret in the Church is Jesus’ magnificence.
E. Paul gladly gave up everything as he saw the magnificence, the excellence, of Jesus! If we can see what Paul saw about Jesus then we can live like he lived. Paul gladly gave up everything to see more of Jesus’ magnificence, to feel the power of it and to be lost in wonder at who Jesus is. When we see who Jesus is it awakens love and drives out the spirit of weariness and depression.
8I count all things loss for the excellence [magnificence] of the knowledge of Christ Jesus… (Phil. 3:8)
F. The Spirit longs to be our escort into the treasure of the deep things of God’s heart. The Spirit is the only One able to escort us into the deep things of God, and He will only lead us on His terms.
10The Spirit searches…the deep things of God…12We have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. (1 Cor. 2:10-12)
G. The Spirit came to glorify Jesus in our hearts by revealing as much of Jesus as we are hungry for. He gives based on our hunger. He will not force-feed us.
13The Spirit of truth…will guide [escort] you into all truth…14He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. (Jn. 16:13-14)
H. My goal for this series is to convince people that the knowledge of God is:
1. The most powerful and pleasurable reality anyone can experience.
2. The most costly treasure to pursue, but the most valuable and lasting one.
3. The most neglected issue in the kingdom (zeal for Jesus will seem like an error to many).
4. The most emphasized truth of the Holy Spirit in the generation in which the Lord returns.
II. THE FOUNDATION OF THE VICTORIOUS CHURCH: THE MAJESTY OF JESUS
A. Jesus’ first teaching and prophecy about the Church’s foundation, function, and sure victory (Mt. 16:13-19) was centered on the question of how the leaders viewed Him (Mt. 16:15). The Spirit is asking the leaders of the Church the same question today. No question is more important.
13Jesus…asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah…” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter…said, “You are the Christ [the Messiah], the Son of the living God.” 17Jesus answered…“Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father…18On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom…whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Mt. 16:13-19)
B. The people had many different views of Jesus just like the Church does today (v. 14).
1. John the Baptist: A holiness preacher with great dedication who fearlessly spoke the truth
2. Elijah: A prophet who confronted the powers of darkness with supernatural power
3. Jeremiah: The weeping prophet of compassion who tenderly cared for the people (Jn. 8)
C. A Church built on truth about Jesus (v. 15): To operate in power (v. 19) and victory (v. 18), the Church must be built on the “rock of truth” about Jesus (v. 18). The primary battlefront in the kingdom is the truth about Jesus. We must proclaim the Jesus of the Bible, not the counterfeit Jesus of American culture. Christ means “the anointed one,” “the messiah.” There are many implications associated with the Christ, the Messiah, as described in Old Testament prophecies.
D. A victorious Church (v. 18): Prevails over the gates, or authority, of hell on this earth. This includes victory over the darkness in the heart and body, and in every sphere of society. A powerful Church (v. 19): Releases God’s power to “bind” (stop) demonic influence and to “loose” (release) God’s blessing in prayer.
E. The most important question in your life is: what do you think of Jesus? (v. 15). Not, do you like Him? But, who do you imagine Him to be when you are quiet and alone? Our thoughts of Him are too few and too low. A low view of Jesus keeps believers in bondage with a dull spirit and trapped in spiritual boredom. The power of our Christian experience is found in interacting with the person Christ Jesus. Jesus is a glorious person, yet so many do not enjoy relating to Him.
F. We are to introduce people to the glory of Jesus and the adventure of discovering His splendor. The only way to keep from losing ground in our spiritual life is to gain new ground in our understanding and experience.
G. My youth leaders told me I could not be a mature Christian without growing in the knowledge of God. They told me to read The Knowledge of the Holy (by Tozer). Tozer taught that what we think about God is the most important thing about us. The most revealing thing about the Church is found in her ideas of Jesus. Her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid. A hundred lesser evils are caused by this one great lack of the knowledge of God.
III. BEHOLDING THE GLORY OF JESUS
A. The “beholding and becoming” principle teaches us that whatever emotions we behold (by study and meditation) about God’s heart for us are imparted to our heart for God. When God wants to empower us to love Him, He reveals Himself as the One who loves us.
18Beholding…the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image… (2 Cor. 3:18)
B. God is raising up ministries to bring the Church to the knowledge of the deep things of Jesus. We must focus on the person of Jesus in our ministries. The most neglected subject in the kingdom of God is God Himself. Instead, we talk about relationship skills, leadership principles, economic principles, ministry skills, and how to be happy and to make life easier, etc.
8To me…grace was given that I should preach…the unsearchable riches of Christ… (Eph. 3:8)
IV. FIVE CONDITIONS FOR CULTIVATING THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD (PROV. 2:1-5)
A. In my early ministry, I was in anguish over my inability to grow in the knowledge of God. I determined not to be content to know a person who knew God, but to know God myself. I decided that I wanted to go deep in God, not just read biographies about others who did. As I pursued this new vision, I was confronted by the lack of the knowledge of God in my life.
B. While on a college ski trip on Jan. 2, 1975, a new believer asked me how to have a quiet time.
1If you receive My words, and treasure My commands within you, 2so that you incline your ear to wisdom…3If you cry out for discernment…4If you seek her as silver and…hidden treasures; 5then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. (Prov. 2:1-5)
C. Condition #1: We set our heart to walk in full obedience (if you will receive My words v. 1a). To receive His words means to obey them instead of refusing or neglecting them.
1If you will receive My words... (Prov. 2:1a)
D. Loving Jesus must be on His terms, including a spirit of obedience (Jn. 14:15). The Spirit is the only One who can reveal Jesus to us. If He is quenched, we will not grow in revelation of Jesus (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thes. 5:19). Prayer and fasting are not a substitute for obedience.
15If you love Me, keep My commandments. (Jn. 14:15)
E. Condition #2: We meditate on His Word (if you will treasure My commands, v. 1b). In the Old Testament, commands, statutes, and precepts are often other ways of referring to God’s Word. We treasure God’s commands by filling our mind with His Word.
1If you will...treasure My commands [Word] within you... (Prov. 2:1b)
F. We dialogue with Jesus as a person—we have conversation with Him—as we meditate on the Scriptures. It is not enough to study the Word—we must give our heart to God and receive from Him as we read it. Scripture gives us the “conversational material” for our prayer life.
G. Condition #3: We must have a teachable spirit and an open heart (if you incline your ear to wisdom, v. 2). This speaks of humbling our heart to learn from the Word instead of resisting its meaning or limiting it to one small facet of our understanding of the Word. The Lord can bring those who are humble into more truth about Him. Many who are zealous for God lack a teachable, humble spirit. We easily pick up biases from those we grow up with.
2If you…incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding... (Prov. 2:2)
H. Condition #4: We ask for more revelation of God (if you cry out for understanding, v. 3). We must actually pray for revelation of God (Mt. 7:7-8; Eph. 1:17).
3Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding... (Prov. 2:3)
7Ask, and it will be given…seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened… (Mt. 7:7)
17That the…Father of glory may give…revelation in the knowledge of Him… (Eph. 1:17)
I. Condition #5: We are to be diligent in our pursuit of God (search for her as treasures, v. 4) and to pay any price in seeking for more of God. We must spend long hours in our search for God. There is a deep correlation between the amount of time we spend with Jesus and the measure of encounter that we have with Him.
4If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures... (Prov. 2:4)
J. Jesus is our greatest treasure, but is “hidden” until we seek for more of Him
with all our heart. The Spirit will escort us into the divine treasury of the magnificence and beauty of Jesus. Our life is to be a treasure hunt into the knowledge of God, which becomes our very gold.
2Attaining to all the riches of…of Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures… (Col. 2:2-3)
24You will lay your gold in the dust…25Yes, the Almighty will be your gold… (Job 22:24-25)
18I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire… (Rev. 3:18)
K. A kingly spirit searches diligently and refuses to be denied. God draws out our love and hunger for Him by hiding. Searching for God includes prayerful study of the Word with fasting.
2It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. (Prov. 25:2)
L. God’s promise: We will understand the fear of God and the knowledge of God (v. 5).
5Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. (Prov. 2:5)
Note: I recommend Corey Russell’s book Pursuit of the Holy which focuses on Proverbs 2:1-5
notes by Mike Bickle
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Trust and Obey
In a business meeting, the leader is the one who directs the flow of how it should be run and in what order. So, when the Body of Christ gathers together doesn't it make sense to let the Head lead the meeting and direct it?
It would be wrong and weird if the boss walks into the meeting and it has already started; the employees are the running the meeting without him and then start telling him what to do. If this continued, they would be out of work because they aren't giving the boss the honour, respect and obedience that is rightly his.
In the same way, when we as a Church gather, we seem to like to plan how the meeting is run ourselves without waitng for the head (through the Spirit) to lead us. We take this even further and plan whole outreach projects by ourselves and then ask Him to bless it.
Thankfully, God is merciful, patient and faithful. However, there are consequences to our disobidience! One of them being a lot of work but little fruit. We sow much but harvest little!
When we do God's work God's way in God's time on God's conditions, we will receive God's blessing, God's power and God-sent results. When the disciples listened to Jesus despite their previous failures and weariness and threw their net on the other side of the boat, they had such a great catch of fish they couldn't handle it themselves. When we fish for men where we want, when we want and how we want, we will find very little success. Simply trust and obey, there is no other way!
It would be wrong and weird if the boss walks into the meeting and it has already started; the employees are the running the meeting without him and then start telling him what to do. If this continued, they would be out of work because they aren't giving the boss the honour, respect and obedience that is rightly his.
In the same way, when we as a Church gather, we seem to like to plan how the meeting is run ourselves without waitng for the head (through the Spirit) to lead us. We take this even further and plan whole outreach projects by ourselves and then ask Him to bless it.
Thankfully, God is merciful, patient and faithful. However, there are consequences to our disobidience! One of them being a lot of work but little fruit. We sow much but harvest little!
When we do God's work God's way in God's time on God's conditions, we will receive God's blessing, God's power and God-sent results. When the disciples listened to Jesus despite their previous failures and weariness and threw their net on the other side of the boat, they had such a great catch of fish they couldn't handle it themselves. When we fish for men where we want, when we want and how we want, we will find very little success. Simply trust and obey, there is no other way!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
The Preacher
So just something that the HS brought to my mind as I was sitting eating and pondering.... on the preacher's job in the body. (My church has been looking for a pastor)
The preacher’s job is not only to preach a sermon that is theologically sound and understandable to the congregation. If his message succeeds in communicating truth to the people, but fails to move them to conformity and obedience to that truth, he has only done a small portion of his job. The preacher must have the power of God’s Spirit on him to such an extent that his preaching fans the flame of God inside the congregants’ hearts with increasing might and stirs them in their innermost being to zealous action. In short the congregation must be EDIFIED! The job of the preacher is to build up! If he fails in doing so he has not done his job (Eph 4:11)
This, dear brothers and sisters, the true test for a successful sermon is not that people understand the message or feel that it is an important truth to apply to their lives, nor that their flesh was entertained for an hour and they had a good laugh—but that they are brought deeper into the very life of Christ Himself! That the dry bones are refreshed, renewed and jolted back to life every time they attend service and don’t go back to being a heap on the floor! That the sanctuary breaks out into whole hearted praise to the Creator and King by the encouragement and exhortation of the preacher!
At preaching of Haggai the prophet, the people were stirred into action to rebuild the temple of God. The Word of the Lord comes to Haggai the Prophet to tell the people to stop living comfortably while the temple of God is in ruins!
“Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke by the commission of the LORD to the people saying, “‘I am with you,’ declares the LORD.” So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God” (Hag 1:13-14).
God used the prophesying of Haggai to stir the people from a place of gross indifference and apathy to the things of God into zealous obedience! O, and what apathy they had! The people walked past the ruins of the temple day after day going about their own business without even giving so much as a thought to it! It was literally right in front of their eyes! But, is it not the same now as it was back then? God has so little room in the lives of His people. He is left out amidst all the business of religious life. Sure, people may extend an invitation to Him here and there but it is mostly just a formality and after they have paid their respects He is soon left out again.
If only we had a preacher who could stir God’s people into action to rebuild God’s spiritual temple that is now in ruins! To move people away from all the activities, programs and man-made schemes to push religious agendas and into lives of personal devotion, consecration and holiness unto the Lord!
But I ask you, was it a onetime deal? Was the preaching of the sermon just once enough to keep the people obedient? No! Haggai had to preach to the people regularly to renew their zeal and fervour for the Lord!
“And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying* of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia” (Ezra 6:14). [*Note: some translations use preaching instead of prophesying.]
The key word here is prospered! The people were not only able to successfully complete their task but they prospered; they were blessed; there was an increase in their life! And this is true of preaching: it causes the hearers to prosper spiritually and to walk more and more into the fullness of God in the victorious Christian life. So, a church under a preacher who can truly preach will be built up into a living temple of God (1 Pet 2:5)! In fact, in the Bible, it is the way God has ordained it, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:11-12).
This is seen beginning even in Ancient Israel during the time of Moses. God ordained that there would be two silver trumpets for summoning the congregation, breaking camp, going to war and rejoicing in worship. God even said that they needed to sound the silver trumpets so that when they went to war and when they worshipped him they “may be remembered before the Lord” (Num 10:9-10). The ones who blew the trumpets were the “sons of Aaron” who, besides the High Priest himself, were the closest to God’s holy place and could handle the holy things (Num 10:8). These silver trumpets were blown by people who ministered and heard from God himself!
And the fact that these trumpets were made of silver is significant because in Proverbs 10:20 it says, “The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver”. The trumpets of silver were a shadow of better things to come: the voices of the righteous that are called to summon the congregation and lead them in the direction they should go. So, the preacher is the trumpet that moves the people into action!
And think of how foolish the preacher is! He is like a trumpet that makes a lot of noise and rouses people (often annoying them), but God has indeed chosen to use the foolishness of preaching for His glory (1 Cor 1:21). He uses it to turn the hardened heart of a sinner into the humble heart of newly born again infant. He uses it to call back the wayward sheep who have wandered miles and miles away from the path, back into the green pastures and still waters!
Think about it: a wild man in the wilderness dressed in camel hide, eating locusts with long hair, preaching at the top of his lungs a message of repentance in order to prepare a generation for the coming of Christ! That man is John the Baptist the last of the Old Covenant prophets! If John the Baptist had a ministry of preaching repentance under the Old Covenant that came with so much power and conviction, how much more should the preacher today under the New Covenant? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! (2 Cor 3:9) for He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6)
God’s people should not be easily satisfied with servants who can preach a sound message; they must desire servants whose prayer life can lead them straight into either the blazing glory of God’s Throne or the tender heart of Christ each and every time. This is the only way for a church to thrive spiritually.
Many preachers can move the emotion of men and can reason with the intelligence of men but few can move the hearts of men unto obedience to God! For it takes a man with the burning heart of Christ to move a sinner toward repentance. It takes a man with the humble gentle heart of Christ to lead sheep father along the narrow path. These characteristics cannot be gained with much study or with masterful oratory skill, but can only be formed by being with the Master Himself in the secret place of prayer! How much is learned of His character and how much His character changes you the longer you are with Him. As one opens themselves to His chastisements and corrections of Him and does not shrink away in prayer.
How many preachers are willing to do that? How many preachers are willing to give up their time, give up their other religious responsibilities to sit at the feet of Christ? To do what He does so that he will be able to lead His congregation to Christ and not astray? It is the best thing to do! If only we could learn from Mary and Martha! As a pastor named Leonard Ravenhill has said “If the preacher isn’t praying the congregation is straying” If the sheep at the head of the flock stops following the Sheppard and turns aside, all the others behind him follow! O what a glorious and fearsome responsibility the preacher has! It should not be taken lightly!
Sadly, the standard has gone down and the majority of people are content with lukewarm, lifeless preaching and do not wish for things to change. But, perhaps even more alarmingly, they do not think that there is a problem. Thus, the truth we find in Scripture is true: in the last days men will always find someone to tell them what their itching ears desire (2 Tim 4:3). So the problem is not with just the preacher but with the people who desire to hear what the preacher says. The people do not desire to be moved into a deeper life with Christ but are satisfied with a lukewarm spiritual life.
The first thing people do is run away from the preacher who preaches truth without compromise and with conviction! They lock him away and don’t let him preach for fear of his fanatical ideas spreading. They wish to stay comfortable in their religious lives and institutions.
A dead preacher will produce dead preaching.
A lukewarm preacher will produce lukewarm preaching.
A religious preacher will produce religious preaching.
A Spirit-filled preacher produces life-giving preaching.
“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart” (Luke 6:45).
A dead congregation will be satisfied with dead preaching.
A lukewarm congregation will be satisfied with lukewarm preaching.
A religious congregation will be satisfied with religious preaching.
A living congregation can only be sustained by life giving preaching!
This same principle can be applied to a preacher who preaches truth but lacks the power to move people into action. Here the people desire truth and religiously pride themselves in this over Christ. They hold to the very doctrine of Christ but lack His heart. So: a powerless preacher will produce powerless preaching and powerless people.
All the above is the spiritual reality that we face today.
The book of Revelation sheds light into this. Many may think that Revelation was only written for the specific seven churches, however these seven churches actually point to the diverse church of the last days. Each church reveals a different spiritual condition. For instance, the Church in Sardis had a reputation of being alive even though they were actually dead while the Church of Smyrna were encouraged to not fear but by faithful unto death during their tribulations (Rev 2-3).
So then the question of the time is this: What do you desire? Do you desire the truth of God's Word? or something lesser? In these days that we live there are so many different teachings and roads that seem right, that it is truly a test. God will only be found by those who truly seek Him with all their hearts (jer 29:13) who love truth and nothing else. These people are the ones who will find God or rather be found by Him.
When a congregation wants God and wants revival, then they will seek a godly preacher to lead them. What kind of congregation do we want to be? One that is dead? One that is lukewarm? One that lacks power? Or a congregation that can contend with the forces of hell? A preacher can only bring the congregation as far as he himself has gone.
With so much being said on the preacher, I don’t want you to think that the congregation is exempt from responsibility. The pastor’s well being is in the hands of the congregation. The relationship is one of interdependency.
It is easy to talk about these things and just look at preachers without looking at ourselves. In a paraphrase of Watchman Nee, God’s power is like an unstoppable train, but it must run on the rails of prayer. In the same way, preachers can be used mightily by the Spirit for God’s work, but the congregation must pray. Apostle Paul himself, though he never ceased to pray, knew that he needed the combined efforts of the whole body for God’s power to be released in his ministry. He wrote, “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should” (Eph 6:19). And again, “Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints” (Romans 15:30-31). Paul knew that he needed the prayers of his brethren in order that his work may be acceptable to the living saints who needed living messages! For the whole to work, each body part must play its role. The congregation’s prayers need to be as fervent—“strive with me…”—as the preacher’s in hunger for the power of God to move in each meeting.
“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” (Heb 13:17)
So then we must all hold each other accountable in this task! Christian you must first ask yourself what is it you desire? A pastor who can lead you Christ, as pastor that will lead you astray or a pastor that can only lead you half way?Be wise in who you decided to follow!
If you are in a church and you sense that there something wanting in the preaching of your pastor. Do you pray for Him fervently for him to receive what he is lacking? Or do you disrespect him and oppose him thinking you can do a better job? Should be not Care for, respect and love him as a brother
But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other (1 Thess 5:12)
Will you not humble yourself, love this brother and wash his feet for his sake, your and the congregation? Love builds up! Knowledge only puffs up! (1 Cor 8:1)
Pastor, are you depending on the power of Christ to lead the congregation or on your own strength, talent, knowledge, theology?
Do you labour in prayer for them or are they half hearted and of secondary importance?
We must keep in mind that unless we remain in Him we can NOTHING of eternal significance! (John 15:5)
Though it may seem that you are doing quite fine without Him or with so little of Him, on that our work will be shown for what it really is, be it gold, silver, precious stone, wood , hay or straw, things that will last through the fire or burn away to ash.
I pray that you have been blessed by this!
In Christ
Evangel
The preacher’s job is not only to preach a sermon that is theologically sound and understandable to the congregation. If his message succeeds in communicating truth to the people, but fails to move them to conformity and obedience to that truth, he has only done a small portion of his job. The preacher must have the power of God’s Spirit on him to such an extent that his preaching fans the flame of God inside the congregants’ hearts with increasing might and stirs them in their innermost being to zealous action. In short the congregation must be EDIFIED! The job of the preacher is to build up! If he fails in doing so he has not done his job (Eph 4:11)
This, dear brothers and sisters, the true test for a successful sermon is not that people understand the message or feel that it is an important truth to apply to their lives, nor that their flesh was entertained for an hour and they had a good laugh—but that they are brought deeper into the very life of Christ Himself! That the dry bones are refreshed, renewed and jolted back to life every time they attend service and don’t go back to being a heap on the floor! That the sanctuary breaks out into whole hearted praise to the Creator and King by the encouragement and exhortation of the preacher!
At preaching of Haggai the prophet, the people were stirred into action to rebuild the temple of God. The Word of the Lord comes to Haggai the Prophet to tell the people to stop living comfortably while the temple of God is in ruins!
“Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke by the commission of the LORD to the people saying, “‘I am with you,’ declares the LORD.” So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God” (Hag 1:13-14).
God used the prophesying of Haggai to stir the people from a place of gross indifference and apathy to the things of God into zealous obedience! O, and what apathy they had! The people walked past the ruins of the temple day after day going about their own business without even giving so much as a thought to it! It was literally right in front of their eyes! But, is it not the same now as it was back then? God has so little room in the lives of His people. He is left out amidst all the business of religious life. Sure, people may extend an invitation to Him here and there but it is mostly just a formality and after they have paid their respects He is soon left out again.
If only we had a preacher who could stir God’s people into action to rebuild God’s spiritual temple that is now in ruins! To move people away from all the activities, programs and man-made schemes to push religious agendas and into lives of personal devotion, consecration and holiness unto the Lord!
But I ask you, was it a onetime deal? Was the preaching of the sermon just once enough to keep the people obedient? No! Haggai had to preach to the people regularly to renew their zeal and fervour for the Lord!
“And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying* of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia” (Ezra 6:14). [*Note: some translations use preaching instead of prophesying.]
The key word here is prospered! The people were not only able to successfully complete their task but they prospered; they were blessed; there was an increase in their life! And this is true of preaching: it causes the hearers to prosper spiritually and to walk more and more into the fullness of God in the victorious Christian life. So, a church under a preacher who can truly preach will be built up into a living temple of God (1 Pet 2:5)! In fact, in the Bible, it is the way God has ordained it, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:11-12).
This is seen beginning even in Ancient Israel during the time of Moses. God ordained that there would be two silver trumpets for summoning the congregation, breaking camp, going to war and rejoicing in worship. God even said that they needed to sound the silver trumpets so that when they went to war and when they worshipped him they “may be remembered before the Lord” (Num 10:9-10). The ones who blew the trumpets were the “sons of Aaron” who, besides the High Priest himself, were the closest to God’s holy place and could handle the holy things (Num 10:8). These silver trumpets were blown by people who ministered and heard from God himself!
And the fact that these trumpets were made of silver is significant because in Proverbs 10:20 it says, “The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver”. The trumpets of silver were a shadow of better things to come: the voices of the righteous that are called to summon the congregation and lead them in the direction they should go. So, the preacher is the trumpet that moves the people into action!
And think of how foolish the preacher is! He is like a trumpet that makes a lot of noise and rouses people (often annoying them), but God has indeed chosen to use the foolishness of preaching for His glory (1 Cor 1:21). He uses it to turn the hardened heart of a sinner into the humble heart of newly born again infant. He uses it to call back the wayward sheep who have wandered miles and miles away from the path, back into the green pastures and still waters!
Think about it: a wild man in the wilderness dressed in camel hide, eating locusts with long hair, preaching at the top of his lungs a message of repentance in order to prepare a generation for the coming of Christ! That man is John the Baptist the last of the Old Covenant prophets! If John the Baptist had a ministry of preaching repentance under the Old Covenant that came with so much power and conviction, how much more should the preacher today under the New Covenant? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! (2 Cor 3:9) for He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6)
God’s people should not be easily satisfied with servants who can preach a sound message; they must desire servants whose prayer life can lead them straight into either the blazing glory of God’s Throne or the tender heart of Christ each and every time. This is the only way for a church to thrive spiritually.
Many preachers can move the emotion of men and can reason with the intelligence of men but few can move the hearts of men unto obedience to God! For it takes a man with the burning heart of Christ to move a sinner toward repentance. It takes a man with the humble gentle heart of Christ to lead sheep father along the narrow path. These characteristics cannot be gained with much study or with masterful oratory skill, but can only be formed by being with the Master Himself in the secret place of prayer! How much is learned of His character and how much His character changes you the longer you are with Him. As one opens themselves to His chastisements and corrections of Him and does not shrink away in prayer.
How many preachers are willing to do that? How many preachers are willing to give up their time, give up their other religious responsibilities to sit at the feet of Christ? To do what He does so that he will be able to lead His congregation to Christ and not astray? It is the best thing to do! If only we could learn from Mary and Martha! As a pastor named Leonard Ravenhill has said “If the preacher isn’t praying the congregation is straying” If the sheep at the head of the flock stops following the Sheppard and turns aside, all the others behind him follow! O what a glorious and fearsome responsibility the preacher has! It should not be taken lightly!
Sadly, the standard has gone down and the majority of people are content with lukewarm, lifeless preaching and do not wish for things to change. But, perhaps even more alarmingly, they do not think that there is a problem. Thus, the truth we find in Scripture is true: in the last days men will always find someone to tell them what their itching ears desire (2 Tim 4:3). So the problem is not with just the preacher but with the people who desire to hear what the preacher says. The people do not desire to be moved into a deeper life with Christ but are satisfied with a lukewarm spiritual life.
The first thing people do is run away from the preacher who preaches truth without compromise and with conviction! They lock him away and don’t let him preach for fear of his fanatical ideas spreading. They wish to stay comfortable in their religious lives and institutions.
A dead preacher will produce dead preaching.
A lukewarm preacher will produce lukewarm preaching.
A religious preacher will produce religious preaching.
A Spirit-filled preacher produces life-giving preaching.
“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart” (Luke 6:45).
A dead congregation will be satisfied with dead preaching.
A lukewarm congregation will be satisfied with lukewarm preaching.
A religious congregation will be satisfied with religious preaching.
A living congregation can only be sustained by life giving preaching!
This same principle can be applied to a preacher who preaches truth but lacks the power to move people into action. Here the people desire truth and religiously pride themselves in this over Christ. They hold to the very doctrine of Christ but lack His heart. So: a powerless preacher will produce powerless preaching and powerless people.
All the above is the spiritual reality that we face today.
The book of Revelation sheds light into this. Many may think that Revelation was only written for the specific seven churches, however these seven churches actually point to the diverse church of the last days. Each church reveals a different spiritual condition. For instance, the Church in Sardis had a reputation of being alive even though they were actually dead while the Church of Smyrna were encouraged to not fear but by faithful unto death during their tribulations (Rev 2-3).
So then the question of the time is this: What do you desire? Do you desire the truth of God's Word? or something lesser? In these days that we live there are so many different teachings and roads that seem right, that it is truly a test. God will only be found by those who truly seek Him with all their hearts (jer 29:13) who love truth and nothing else. These people are the ones who will find God or rather be found by Him.
When a congregation wants God and wants revival, then they will seek a godly preacher to lead them. What kind of congregation do we want to be? One that is dead? One that is lukewarm? One that lacks power? Or a congregation that can contend with the forces of hell? A preacher can only bring the congregation as far as he himself has gone.
With so much being said on the preacher, I don’t want you to think that the congregation is exempt from responsibility. The pastor’s well being is in the hands of the congregation. The relationship is one of interdependency.
It is easy to talk about these things and just look at preachers without looking at ourselves. In a paraphrase of Watchman Nee, God’s power is like an unstoppable train, but it must run on the rails of prayer. In the same way, preachers can be used mightily by the Spirit for God’s work, but the congregation must pray. Apostle Paul himself, though he never ceased to pray, knew that he needed the combined efforts of the whole body for God’s power to be released in his ministry. He wrote, “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should” (Eph 6:19). And again, “Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints” (Romans 15:30-31). Paul knew that he needed the prayers of his brethren in order that his work may be acceptable to the living saints who needed living messages! For the whole to work, each body part must play its role. The congregation’s prayers need to be as fervent—“strive with me…”—as the preacher’s in hunger for the power of God to move in each meeting.
“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” (Heb 13:17)
So then we must all hold each other accountable in this task! Christian you must first ask yourself what is it you desire? A pastor who can lead you Christ, as pastor that will lead you astray or a pastor that can only lead you half way?Be wise in who you decided to follow!
If you are in a church and you sense that there something wanting in the preaching of your pastor. Do you pray for Him fervently for him to receive what he is lacking? Or do you disrespect him and oppose him thinking you can do a better job? Should be not Care for, respect and love him as a brother
But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other (1 Thess 5:12)
Will you not humble yourself, love this brother and wash his feet for his sake, your and the congregation? Love builds up! Knowledge only puffs up! (1 Cor 8:1)
Pastor, are you depending on the power of Christ to lead the congregation or on your own strength, talent, knowledge, theology?
Do you labour in prayer for them or are they half hearted and of secondary importance?
We must keep in mind that unless we remain in Him we can NOTHING of eternal significance! (John 15:5)
Though it may seem that you are doing quite fine without Him or with so little of Him, on that our work will be shown for what it really is, be it gold, silver, precious stone, wood , hay or straw, things that will last through the fire or burn away to ash.
I pray that you have been blessed by this!
In Christ
Evangel
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Calvinism and Armenianism
I definitely agree with what you’re saying: the Scriptures and doctrine are both critical to the faith and it is one of the ways that we can know false teachers from real ones; another way being by looking at their fruit (Matt 7:16). I am encouraged by your zeal for the truth of the scriptures and doctrine, it is needed in the age of Christianity that we live in and is something we are commanded to do! As Paul writes to Titus, “But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.” (Tit 2:1)
I think there is a misunderstanding on what I was trying to say so allow me to clarify; I wasn’t saying that doctrine isn’t important. I was trying to point out that correct doctrine in itself is not sufficient but that the truth of the doctrine must go past merely head knowledge and into the heart of the Christian so much so that changes his very character and person, and becomes his reality – not just ideas and concepts. I think perhaps the point where we are differing is that I believe at the very core of it, it is not about knowing scripture and having correct doctrine. Though those things are essential, it is not be all end all of what makes a godly Christian or minister. There is something deeper that transcends the written words themselves, and that is knowing the very Person of God. Again I don’t disagree with what you are saying; I am in full agreement with it, I just want to expand on it as I think it is important to the original Calvin/Armenian discussion, please bear with me as I communicate my conviction on this as it does relate.
It is not the Bible itself which allows someone to know God but the Living Spirit behind it through whom it was written (2 Pet 1:21 1 Tim 4:1). The Word is Alive and active (Heb 4:12) it speaks, it moves, it is the very thing that sustains us right now (Heb 1:3)! However God uses the written word (the Bible) as a medium to reveal Himself. We can see this in examples in the Bible, the most well known being the Pharisees who memorized the written word but crucified the Living Word Himself (Christ). Another example would be with the secular study of Scriptures! How can we have scholars reading the Bible, spending hours pouring over the Scriptures and then coming to the conclusion that God is a homicidal maniac and then teaching some very skewed heretical version of the Bible and God? It is because they did not have the Spirit (the Person), who wrote the Words, teach them! It is the Spirit that guides us into all truth (John 16:13) and we are all taught by God Himself! (John 6:45)
I would say that there are people in countries where it is illegal to have a copy of the Bible that know God better than we do here in the west. They may have only read a few excerpts here and there that have been scratched down of the actual Scriptures and they may not be as theologically knowledgeable but they have such a heart-reality of God in their lives and such child-like faith not based on what they know but just on Him, that God hears and moves mightily in those places! There is a difference between knowing a person and knowing about a person. If I came up to you and said “Hey I know Obama” and then you said awesome take me to meet him and I went to the front gate of the White House saying “I’m here to see Obama, I know him” Obama comes out and says I don’t know this guys he’s a maniac and I said “What do you mean, Mr. Obama, I know that you were born in 1961 and that you’re the 44th president!” Would they let me in? No, because I don’t really know him I just know a lot about him. This is the same with God! It would be scary if someone spends their whole life studying and debating doctrine and at judgement day Christ says, “I never knew you” and the guy starts to splurge out all his theology that he learned through his whole life…But to no avail.
I think my main point is that at the end of the day we are not following doctrine but a LIVING RESURRECTED PERSON who leads us by His Holy Spirit! When I said “not to get caught up in doctrine” I am saying that we can focus so much on it and miss the Person who wrote them which is what eternal life is: KNOWING GOD AS A PERSON (John 17:3)! However, as I said before, don’t misinterpret what I am saying, because these things (doctrine) are important! They serve as guidelines to knowing God.
Truth is a Person not a set of doctrines (John 14:6). When we see Truth as doctrine, as either one thing or the other, black or white, Calvinism or Armenianism, it will never fit together completely and end up causing division. But if we see Truth and pursue Truth not as doctrine but a Person, then we will start to understand these deep mysteries of God a little more and be united in true fellowship instead of divided over doctrine!
This is why having sound teaching in a service does not necessarily equate to church fellowship. The truth of God can very much be preached while the congregation is as dead as zombies. Instead, I would say sound teaching with the Spirit of God working in the hearts of people into conviction, worship, corporate prayer, repentance and reconciliation = fellowship!
When you’re evangelizing to someone you’re NOT indoctrinating them to believe a set of statements but you are trying to get to them to know a Person! It is impossible introduce someone to a person you don’t actually know, they will be able to tell right off the bat if you know them by the way you talk about them! In fact, if I knew someone as a close friend and you knew about them and we start talking one day about this person I would quickly be able to tell if you actually know this person or not!
Bringing this all together: yes, we can identify false teachers by doctrine and Scripture but more importantly, if we know Him, we will be able to tell if another knows Him or not. This can be found in John 10:
The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them … (14) “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
The sheep (that’s us) KNOW his voice and does NOT recognize a stranger’s voice! This is very comforting!
1 John 4:1 says to test the spirits to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone into the world! What’s interesting here is that it says to test the spirits and not the doctrine! I believe this is because behind every false teaching there is a false spirit! Though we can point out how false teachers are false through scripture (and this is beneficially) we cannot win by arguing with doctrine alone! This is because battle not of flesh and blood but against real principalities of darkness (Eph 6:12)
Taking this back to Calvinism and Armenianism. I don’t think it is as simple as “God is sovereign” or “Man is sovereign” in salvation. Like I said before, it’s both and it works about perfectly as God is perfect – but again, it’s a mystery (the sermon from the first post covers this really well I don’t have time to explain as it would be too long). Right now we are not able to fully understand as it says in 1 Corinthians 13:9-11, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears...Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." But perhaps one day we will.....
For myself, I will focus on understanding and knowing God in the way that He created and wants me to know Him right now, and not concern myself with matters to great for me.
I read this passage in Psalms 131 the other day:
My heart is not proud, O Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
I think the whole Calvinism and Armenianism topic may be one of those things that we should not spend so much time on, but rather trust God like children, trust that His ways are perfect, and just obey what He says in scripture without having to understand how it all works!
I think many times we are like children who when our parents ask us to do everything we just keep asking, “WHY, WHY, WHY?” and we never get anything done because we’re so caught up in the “why”. In fact, we may go and asking our siblings, “Why?” and they have an answer that is different than ours so we end up arguing about it instead of just doing it! Meanwhile, our parents just want us to stop complaining and arguing and just do it because it’s what is best for us and the world – to just trust and obey! Which was the point of the very first post (LOL).
If there are any questions or concerns on what I said just post lol
In Christ
Evangel
I think there is a misunderstanding on what I was trying to say so allow me to clarify; I wasn’t saying that doctrine isn’t important. I was trying to point out that correct doctrine in itself is not sufficient but that the truth of the doctrine must go past merely head knowledge and into the heart of the Christian so much so that changes his very character and person, and becomes his reality – not just ideas and concepts. I think perhaps the point where we are differing is that I believe at the very core of it, it is not about knowing scripture and having correct doctrine. Though those things are essential, it is not be all end all of what makes a godly Christian or minister. There is something deeper that transcends the written words themselves, and that is knowing the very Person of God. Again I don’t disagree with what you are saying; I am in full agreement with it, I just want to expand on it as I think it is important to the original Calvin/Armenian discussion, please bear with me as I communicate my conviction on this as it does relate.
It is not the Bible itself which allows someone to know God but the Living Spirit behind it through whom it was written (2 Pet 1:21 1 Tim 4:1). The Word is Alive and active (Heb 4:12) it speaks, it moves, it is the very thing that sustains us right now (Heb 1:3)! However God uses the written word (the Bible) as a medium to reveal Himself. We can see this in examples in the Bible, the most well known being the Pharisees who memorized the written word but crucified the Living Word Himself (Christ). Another example would be with the secular study of Scriptures! How can we have scholars reading the Bible, spending hours pouring over the Scriptures and then coming to the conclusion that God is a homicidal maniac and then teaching some very skewed heretical version of the Bible and God? It is because they did not have the Spirit (the Person), who wrote the Words, teach them! It is the Spirit that guides us into all truth (John 16:13) and we are all taught by God Himself! (John 6:45)
I would say that there are people in countries where it is illegal to have a copy of the Bible that know God better than we do here in the west. They may have only read a few excerpts here and there that have been scratched down of the actual Scriptures and they may not be as theologically knowledgeable but they have such a heart-reality of God in their lives and such child-like faith not based on what they know but just on Him, that God hears and moves mightily in those places! There is a difference between knowing a person and knowing about a person. If I came up to you and said “Hey I know Obama” and then you said awesome take me to meet him and I went to the front gate of the White House saying “I’m here to see Obama, I know him” Obama comes out and says I don’t know this guys he’s a maniac and I said “What do you mean, Mr. Obama, I know that you were born in 1961 and that you’re the 44th president!” Would they let me in? No, because I don’t really know him I just know a lot about him. This is the same with God! It would be scary if someone spends their whole life studying and debating doctrine and at judgement day Christ says, “I never knew you” and the guy starts to splurge out all his theology that he learned through his whole life…But to no avail.
I think my main point is that at the end of the day we are not following doctrine but a LIVING RESURRECTED PERSON who leads us by His Holy Spirit! When I said “not to get caught up in doctrine” I am saying that we can focus so much on it and miss the Person who wrote them which is what eternal life is: KNOWING GOD AS A PERSON (John 17:3)! However, as I said before, don’t misinterpret what I am saying, because these things (doctrine) are important! They serve as guidelines to knowing God.
Truth is a Person not a set of doctrines (John 14:6). When we see Truth as doctrine, as either one thing or the other, black or white, Calvinism or Armenianism, it will never fit together completely and end up causing division. But if we see Truth and pursue Truth not as doctrine but a Person, then we will start to understand these deep mysteries of God a little more and be united in true fellowship instead of divided over doctrine!
This is why having sound teaching in a service does not necessarily equate to church fellowship. The truth of God can very much be preached while the congregation is as dead as zombies. Instead, I would say sound teaching with the Spirit of God working in the hearts of people into conviction, worship, corporate prayer, repentance and reconciliation = fellowship!
When you’re evangelizing to someone you’re NOT indoctrinating them to believe a set of statements but you are trying to get to them to know a Person! It is impossible introduce someone to a person you don’t actually know, they will be able to tell right off the bat if you know them by the way you talk about them! In fact, if I knew someone as a close friend and you knew about them and we start talking one day about this person I would quickly be able to tell if you actually know this person or not!
Bringing this all together: yes, we can identify false teachers by doctrine and Scripture but more importantly, if we know Him, we will be able to tell if another knows Him or not. This can be found in John 10:
The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them … (14) “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
The sheep (that’s us) KNOW his voice and does NOT recognize a stranger’s voice! This is very comforting!
1 John 4:1 says to test the spirits to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone into the world! What’s interesting here is that it says to test the spirits and not the doctrine! I believe this is because behind every false teaching there is a false spirit! Though we can point out how false teachers are false through scripture (and this is beneficially) we cannot win by arguing with doctrine alone! This is because battle not of flesh and blood but against real principalities of darkness (Eph 6:12)
Taking this back to Calvinism and Armenianism. I don’t think it is as simple as “God is sovereign” or “Man is sovereign” in salvation. Like I said before, it’s both and it works about perfectly as God is perfect – but again, it’s a mystery (the sermon from the first post covers this really well I don’t have time to explain as it would be too long). Right now we are not able to fully understand as it says in 1 Corinthians 13:9-11, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears...Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." But perhaps one day we will.....
For myself, I will focus on understanding and knowing God in the way that He created and wants me to know Him right now, and not concern myself with matters to great for me.
I read this passage in Psalms 131 the other day:
My heart is not proud, O Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
I think the whole Calvinism and Armenianism topic may be one of those things that we should not spend so much time on, but rather trust God like children, trust that His ways are perfect, and just obey what He says in scripture without having to understand how it all works!
I think many times we are like children who when our parents ask us to do everything we just keep asking, “WHY, WHY, WHY?” and we never get anything done because we’re so caught up in the “why”. In fact, we may go and asking our siblings, “Why?” and they have an answer that is different than ours so we end up arguing about it instead of just doing it! Meanwhile, our parents just want us to stop complaining and arguing and just do it because it’s what is best for us and the world – to just trust and obey! Which was the point of the very first post (LOL).
If there are any questions or concerns on what I said just post lol
In Christ
Evangel
Monday, September 26, 2011
Israel
Israel and Endtime Prophecy? - Thoughts, Comments, Concerns...
At the York House of Prayer something that we pray for on a regular basis is the nation Israel and the Jewish people. This is something that I have believed we needed to be praying for as I knew that they need to see Jesus! However I think God has been showing me recently that its a lot more than just that there are many endtime prophecies concerning Israel both in the New and Old testament pointing to the lastdays. I am a little new to this as I have not been led to this until recently. I would like your input into all of this and your beliefs.... I am going to post a few things from the Word that I believe has yet to be fullfilled:
Romans 11 I will post a few key verses here feel free to look it over yourself
1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”[a]? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[b] 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way[e] all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
So basically from what I understand a part of the endtime prohecy in the bible is that once "the full number of gentiles has come in" or turns to Christ they will intern reachout to the Jews who will repent and beleve in Jesus and become a literal nation on earth ruled by God.
Deuteronomy 30:1-10
1When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, 2and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, 3then the Lord your God will restore your fortunesa and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. 4Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. 5He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. 7The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. 8You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands I am giving you today. 9Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, 10if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
So in the book of Deuteronomy there are a set of curses for rebelling against God and blessings/promises for repetence that leads obdience for Israel.
Throughout the OT the above was fullfilled to the letter ex. eatting own childrens flesh (cf. Deut.28:53, Lam 4:10).
We see a pattern of rebellion-->discipline/judement of God -> repentence --> forgiveness, restoration and blessing on the land once again...
The last Nation wide "Revival" or repentence of the Jewish Nation is recorded I believe in the book of Haggai, Ezra and Nehemiah. From that time one there were a few prophets and then nothing to the point where Israel once again fell into rebellion in the time of John the Baptist and Christ. Some people did repent but the nation as a whole did not soooo my conclusion is that the curse from all the way in the book of Deuteronomy is still in effect for Israel because they are still in rebellion to God. However I believe the promise for restoration still applies so that Israel will once again be a strong ruling nation under God and more specifically under the Kingship of Jesus Christ.
These are just a few verses and passages that have to do with Israel and endtimes so yeah if you have anything else please share
At the York House of Prayer something that we pray for on a regular basis is the nation Israel and the Jewish people. This is something that I have believed we needed to be praying for as I knew that they need to see Jesus! However I think God has been showing me recently that its a lot more than just that there are many endtime prophecies concerning Israel both in the New and Old testament pointing to the lastdays. I am a little new to this as I have not been led to this until recently. I would like your input into all of this and your beliefs.... I am going to post a few things from the Word that I believe has yet to be fullfilled:
Romans 11 I will post a few key verses here feel free to look it over yourself
1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”[a]? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[b] 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way[e] all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
So basically from what I understand a part of the endtime prohecy in the bible is that once "the full number of gentiles has come in" or turns to Christ they will intern reachout to the Jews who will repent and beleve in Jesus and become a literal nation on earth ruled by God.
Deuteronomy 30:1-10
1When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, 2and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, 3then the Lord your God will restore your fortunesa and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. 4Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. 5He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. 7The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. 8You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands I am giving you today. 9Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, 10if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
So in the book of Deuteronomy there are a set of curses for rebelling against God and blessings/promises for repetence that leads obdience for Israel.
Throughout the OT the above was fullfilled to the letter ex. eatting own childrens flesh (cf. Deut.28:53, Lam 4:10).
We see a pattern of rebellion-->discipline/judement of God -> repentence --> forgiveness, restoration and blessing on the land once again...
The last Nation wide "Revival" or repentence of the Jewish Nation is recorded I believe in the book of Haggai, Ezra and Nehemiah. From that time one there were a few prophets and then nothing to the point where Israel once again fell into rebellion in the time of John the Baptist and Christ. Some people did repent but the nation as a whole did not soooo my conclusion is that the curse from all the way in the book of Deuteronomy is still in effect for Israel because they are still in rebellion to God. However I believe the promise for restoration still applies so that Israel will once again be a strong ruling nation under God and more specifically under the Kingship of Jesus Christ.
These are just a few verses and passages that have to do with Israel and endtimes so yeah if you have anything else please share
Achan
So I was listening to the book of Joshua and the Holy Spirit gave me this really awesome insight/ revelation. I hope this edifies you guys....
God is HOLY!
25And Joshua said, "Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today." And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. Joshua 7:25
So imagine that at your church things are going amazing people are coming in and hearing the Word repenting and growing in faith, when you guys worship the presence of God is there and the whole congregation is edified. God is blessing your evangelism efforts, every time your church goes out to evangelize people get saved, healed, baptized and go bring all their other friends and family to hear the gospel. No one in the church is in need of anything because everyone is caring for on another. The fellowship you share with your brothers and sisters is sweet and rich. You look forward to regular meetings with the saints.
One day all that just stops. The pastor isn't getting any insights from scripture, the worship is dead and monotonous, people are apathetic to the gospel and feel sorry that your a Christian, discouragement and fear come over the whole church, people stop going to regular meetings, the church starts to enter in debt...
And you guys pray God help us and He answers THERE IS SIN IN THE CONGREGATION.
You guys quickly start to find out who it is.....and you find out that its your best friend. He was secretly stealing money from the church.....
God says He must die stone him and his family and then burn him and all his possessions...
You guys all take him outside the church along with his family and you VIOLENTLY STONE HIM. You are crying and mourning. THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING YOUR KILLING YOUR BEST FRIEND or even your own BROTHER OR SON......
But deep inside this you know this is right. There is a cry inside you that screams: this is good, this is just, this must be done. God is Holy and the sin must be purged from among us......
So the above is a little bit of a stretch I admit and its not a good representation of what the Israelites were really going through during that time as a whole. The point of it was to try to help us understand the reality of the situation in the passage.
The closest parallel I could come up with to Achan's sin is stealing money from the church because if you read the passage before all the things were to be devoted to destruction (Joshua 6:21) So as an act of worship.
This story does give us an idea of the HOLINESS OF GOD and how that was a very REAL thing to God's people during that time and STILL is.
We are God's people today and we need to have the same attitude towards God's holiness, however we also have something greater: The revelation of GOD's LOVE through Jesus and how His mercy triumphs over judgement.
God's grace is poured out on us abundantly on us because of Christ so that We (personally) do not need to kill someone in our congregation who sins, however what does happen is that God's blessings can be withheld because of sin both corporate and personal.
I believe that one of the main reasons why we don't see God working the way we read about in the bible is because we are not fully obedient to Him as the church and harbor many other idols above Him.
Just like the Israelites failed in defeating their enemies so we are failing in winning people to Christ and many people are apathetic to God. In fact many sit in the pews week after week without even being moved a little by the love of God or their own sin.
With that in mind let us also remember that when God was moving in the early church in the book of Acts, there was also a case where people in the church were killed for their sin Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1) There have been cases recorded during powerful workings of God that people were also struck down for pretending to be filled with the Holy Spirit when they were not.
God is HOLY!
25And Joshua said, "Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today." And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. Joshua 7:25
So imagine that at your church things are going amazing people are coming in and hearing the Word repenting and growing in faith, when you guys worship the presence of God is there and the whole congregation is edified. God is blessing your evangelism efforts, every time your church goes out to evangelize people get saved, healed, baptized and go bring all their other friends and family to hear the gospel. No one in the church is in need of anything because everyone is caring for on another. The fellowship you share with your brothers and sisters is sweet and rich. You look forward to regular meetings with the saints.
One day all that just stops. The pastor isn't getting any insights from scripture, the worship is dead and monotonous, people are apathetic to the gospel and feel sorry that your a Christian, discouragement and fear come over the whole church, people stop going to regular meetings, the church starts to enter in debt...
And you guys pray God help us and He answers THERE IS SIN IN THE CONGREGATION.
You guys quickly start to find out who it is.....and you find out that its your best friend. He was secretly stealing money from the church.....
God says He must die stone him and his family and then burn him and all his possessions...
You guys all take him outside the church along with his family and you VIOLENTLY STONE HIM. You are crying and mourning. THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING YOUR KILLING YOUR BEST FRIEND or even your own BROTHER OR SON......
But deep inside this you know this is right. There is a cry inside you that screams: this is good, this is just, this must be done. God is Holy and the sin must be purged from among us......
So the above is a little bit of a stretch I admit and its not a good representation of what the Israelites were really going through during that time as a whole. The point of it was to try to help us understand the reality of the situation in the passage.
The closest parallel I could come up with to Achan's sin is stealing money from the church because if you read the passage before all the things were to be devoted to destruction (Joshua 6:21) So as an act of worship.
This story does give us an idea of the HOLINESS OF GOD and how that was a very REAL thing to God's people during that time and STILL is.
We are God's people today and we need to have the same attitude towards God's holiness, however we also have something greater: The revelation of GOD's LOVE through Jesus and how His mercy triumphs over judgement.
God's grace is poured out on us abundantly on us because of Christ so that We (personally) do not need to kill someone in our congregation who sins, however what does happen is that God's blessings can be withheld because of sin both corporate and personal.
I believe that one of the main reasons why we don't see God working the way we read about in the bible is because we are not fully obedient to Him as the church and harbor many other idols above Him.
Just like the Israelites failed in defeating their enemies so we are failing in winning people to Christ and many people are apathetic to God. In fact many sit in the pews week after week without even being moved a little by the love of God or their own sin.
With that in mind let us also remember that when God was moving in the early church in the book of Acts, there was also a case where people in the church were killed for their sin Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1) There have been cases recorded during powerful workings of God that people were also struck down for pretending to be filled with the Holy Spirit when they were not.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Service vs Relationship
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:17...-20
Dont place your hope, expectation, joy and identity on what you do for God or even what He has done through you, but rather rejoice and find your identity in your relationship with Him, in knowing Him for that is what eternal life is
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3
Dont place your hope, expectation, joy and identity on what you do for God or even what He has done through you, but rather rejoice and find your identity in your relationship with Him, in knowing Him for that is what eternal life is
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3
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