Family...
Funny thing about being in a family... you have to participate as a member before you can understand what it is about.
I knew a kid who was adopted into a loving family and readily accepted by the siblings in the family. He never "felt like a part" of the family so he didn't ACT like a part of it. Consequently he never benefitted from the adoption.People are born into a family (usually), and some are adopted into one. The same is true in the Kingdom of God! We are born (again) into His Kingdom and then adopted into a family (Body) of believers. If we don't feel like a part of it, that is our problem! It has to do with truth, not feeling!
If we don't act like a part we cannot expect others to act like we are a part... To them it looks as though we don't want the relationship so others just accept us as "visitors" in the home.
This is a true story... Shellie and I knew a multi-millionaire whio lived in Tallahassee who was a great Christian man. His son was a rebel and only used his father's name to get out of trouble. One time the man told us his son had taken a job at the airport cleaning a hanger and washing planes. One day the father was in his private plane and was taking off on one of the runways and looked down and saw his son mopping the floor in another man's hanger and he began to weep and speak to his son even though he could not hear him. He was saying, "My son, if you would just come to me you could be flying with me instead of mopping that floor."His heart was broken for his son and the way he was neglecting his father's influence and his provision. He could have been soaring with him in the skies, laughing and talking and learning instead of mopping that floor and cleaning planes.
Now that was a honest living, but it is not what he was born into! We often do the same thing. We are born for higher things than the carnal, earth-bound things. We are born again to soar!We are then adopted into local "families" so that our Christianity can be effective in influencing others to come into your Father's family. It isn't easy to be a family member! there are others to consider when making decisions. We are not the issue, the "family" is. Now this is not like many of the cultish families, this is God's family and He is the only real Father we have. The existence of a father says there is a family. Paul said there were a few fathers around, so the terminology 'family" is perfectly legitimate. We are family and he is Father!
Deal with it!!! jack
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
All Things New!!
It's a great day to be alive isn't it? Troubles everywhere, wars, economic disaster looming, crime on the increase, anarchy in the streets, employment questionable (for the lucky ones, the others know there is nothing), homosexuality becoming the "norm", same sex marriages legalized (not moralized), criminals running our corporations, Dear God!!!
Why is it a great day to be alive?? Because the Kingdom of our Christ is the ONLY thing stable! His 'stuff' is being made manifest! The Jewish leaders of His day did not recognize him because they were looking for something else in a deliverer!!! The same is true today. Many 'Christians' are doubting now because He isn't rescuing our nation! America isn't immune to problems, we are just spoiled into thinking we are!
We aren't the "New Jerusalem", we are America! His kingdom is not seen with the eye any more than the wind is seen with the eye. We see the effects of the wind (especially in Fla.) by the debris flying around in the air. We can only see His Kingdom by the effect it has on the spiritual 'debris'. Good and bad stuff flying around. He said His fan was in His hand and He would thoroughly purge His threshing floor! Threshing fans blow chaff out!
His 'wind' does more than blow chaff and debris however. His wind has a sound like no other sound. I see bumper stickers that say, "Jet Noise.. the sound of freedom". I can appreciate that from a carnal point of view, but there is another sound of a mighty rushing wind from Heaven blowing into the hearts of God's people... and it is the very Breath of God! Jesus breathed that very same wind into the mouth of His followers and said to them, "Receive Holy Breath". God is calling His people to receive Holy Breath, and He is breathing it!
In the movie "The Passion", when Jesus had fallen under the load of His cross, and was beaten, weary without sleep, bleeding profusely, in pain we cannot understand because it satisfied the demands of a just God for removing all the sins of all man for all time! No pain has ever been felt like that before or since, nor will it ever! In that moment, John brought Mary to Jesus and as she knelt beside Him, weeping over her Son, a sword piercing her side just as had been prophesied, I fully expected Him to say something like: "It's alright Mother.." or "I love you mom..", I was awed by His statement which most people either missed completely or did not grasp the depth of it... He said, "See.. I make all things new"!
Naaman nearly missed his day of healing because the Scripture tells us that he said, "I thought..." He thought the king would heal him, and then he thought the prophet would come out himself instead of sending a servant, and then he thought that the muddy Jordan wasn't up to par, and then he yielded to the coaxing of a loving servant and was healed!
DON'T MISS YOUR DAY NOR YOUR OPPORTUNITY!! He may not be what you expected, but He is exactly what the Father expected!
The Jews missed Him and even His cousin John sent to Him asking Him, "Are you the one, or do we wait for another??"
This is Him y'all! He is here and He cannot set up His "New Kingdom" without breaking down the old one. He simply doesn't refurbish... he makes NEW!!
jack
Why is it a great day to be alive?? Because the Kingdom of our Christ is the ONLY thing stable! His 'stuff' is being made manifest! The Jewish leaders of His day did not recognize him because they were looking for something else in a deliverer!!! The same is true today. Many 'Christians' are doubting now because He isn't rescuing our nation! America isn't immune to problems, we are just spoiled into thinking we are!
We aren't the "New Jerusalem", we are America! His kingdom is not seen with the eye any more than the wind is seen with the eye. We see the effects of the wind (especially in Fla.) by the debris flying around in the air. We can only see His Kingdom by the effect it has on the spiritual 'debris'. Good and bad stuff flying around. He said His fan was in His hand and He would thoroughly purge His threshing floor! Threshing fans blow chaff out!
His 'wind' does more than blow chaff and debris however. His wind has a sound like no other sound. I see bumper stickers that say, "Jet Noise.. the sound of freedom". I can appreciate that from a carnal point of view, but there is another sound of a mighty rushing wind from Heaven blowing into the hearts of God's people... and it is the very Breath of God! Jesus breathed that very same wind into the mouth of His followers and said to them, "Receive Holy Breath". God is calling His people to receive Holy Breath, and He is breathing it!
In the movie "The Passion", when Jesus had fallen under the load of His cross, and was beaten, weary without sleep, bleeding profusely, in pain we cannot understand because it satisfied the demands of a just God for removing all the sins of all man for all time! No pain has ever been felt like that before or since, nor will it ever! In that moment, John brought Mary to Jesus and as she knelt beside Him, weeping over her Son, a sword piercing her side just as had been prophesied, I fully expected Him to say something like: "It's alright Mother.." or "I love you mom..", I was awed by His statement which most people either missed completely or did not grasp the depth of it... He said, "See.. I make all things new"!
Naaman nearly missed his day of healing because the Scripture tells us that he said, "I thought..." He thought the king would heal him, and then he thought the prophet would come out himself instead of sending a servant, and then he thought that the muddy Jordan wasn't up to par, and then he yielded to the coaxing of a loving servant and was healed!
DON'T MISS YOUR DAY NOR YOUR OPPORTUNITY!! He may not be what you expected, but He is exactly what the Father expected!
The Jews missed Him and even His cousin John sent to Him asking Him, "Are you the one, or do we wait for another??"
This is Him y'all! He is here and He cannot set up His "New Kingdom" without breaking down the old one. He simply doesn't refurbish... he makes NEW!!
jack
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The New Year
2009... It is really here! I will soon add another decade to the 8 I have already used up!
We talk about a "new" year, but it is really just another juncture in our time-space journey with Christ. We need these identifiable spaces in this journey that give us opportunity to make adjustments to out speed or 'compass heading', or maybe to set our sails different because the winds of the Spirit have changed somewhat!
Sad words in the ears of leaders are words like, "We have always done it this way, why change now?" Or perhaps, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" that's a foolish statement when it comes to walking with the Lord. we are supposed to be going from glory to glory... that is change!! It didn't say we go from being broken to being fixed. this is a move in the middle of GLORY! We go from the best to the best! Glory to glory!
Back to the new year, we are in a time of great change. Our nation is about to seat it's first non-caucasian president ever. Our finances are in ruin and people in charge of our money and our large corporations and our government seem to be void of integrity! Thieves and liars! Self-serving egotists who are bent on padding and packing their own pockets while feathering their own nests, both at the expense of the people who trusted them! Burying your head in the sand does not make it go away. But you and I are powerless to do anything about it it seems... It is above our reach and our sphere of influence! They wouldn't even answer our phone calls to them if we knew their number, and we are paying their salary!!! Shame!!
But we are not powerless! Our problem is that we are idolatrous! We are worried more about our money and our jobs and our cozy lives than we are about the Kingdom of God. I have it on the best of sources that if we would, right now, in the middle of this mess, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all our needs will be added to us!" We, in God's Kingdom, are more powerful than the government! We can touch Heaven where God dwells and he will hear us just as he did His people in Egypt! He will come down and deliver us. We MUST ask in faith!
Our prayers in faith will avail much! The enemy, using the economy, is setting the world up for a phony "savior"! One who will "deliver" us. Pulpits and TV ministers who cause us to love prosperity and position will be exposed as cohorts with the enemy. Our true Savior isn't going to 'save' our finances primarily, He is going to remove us from the problem area!! Now I don't want to rob anyone of their faith to receive, I just want their worship to be concerning what God has done in Jesus Christ in restoring us to His favor rather than what He will give them. Then He can trust them with prosperity.
In the first chapter of Job he says: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." HE HAD JUST LOST HIS FAMILY!!
Don't let ignorance, idolatry, foolishness, nor greed steal your finances. But keep Him and His work in Christ at the front of your worship! You can tell what you 'worship' by watching what your attention is primarily on and what you run to in time of trouble! "Some men count gain as godliness, but godliness with contentment is great gain"! Many people I know personally are watching the stock market more than they are reading their bibles!!!
Protect what is yours but remember, "..except the Lord protect the house the watchman waketh in vain! (Ps 127:1b)
jack
We talk about a "new" year, but it is really just another juncture in our time-space journey with Christ. We need these identifiable spaces in this journey that give us opportunity to make adjustments to out speed or 'compass heading', or maybe to set our sails different because the winds of the Spirit have changed somewhat!
Sad words in the ears of leaders are words like, "We have always done it this way, why change now?" Or perhaps, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" that's a foolish statement when it comes to walking with the Lord. we are supposed to be going from glory to glory... that is change!! It didn't say we go from being broken to being fixed. this is a move in the middle of GLORY! We go from the best to the best! Glory to glory!
Back to the new year, we are in a time of great change. Our nation is about to seat it's first non-caucasian president ever. Our finances are in ruin and people in charge of our money and our large corporations and our government seem to be void of integrity! Thieves and liars! Self-serving egotists who are bent on padding and packing their own pockets while feathering their own nests, both at the expense of the people who trusted them! Burying your head in the sand does not make it go away. But you and I are powerless to do anything about it it seems... It is above our reach and our sphere of influence! They wouldn't even answer our phone calls to them if we knew their number, and we are paying their salary!!! Shame!!
But we are not powerless! Our problem is that we are idolatrous! We are worried more about our money and our jobs and our cozy lives than we are about the Kingdom of God. I have it on the best of sources that if we would, right now, in the middle of this mess, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all our needs will be added to us!" We, in God's Kingdom, are more powerful than the government! We can touch Heaven where God dwells and he will hear us just as he did His people in Egypt! He will come down and deliver us. We MUST ask in faith!
Our prayers in faith will avail much! The enemy, using the economy, is setting the world up for a phony "savior"! One who will "deliver" us. Pulpits and TV ministers who cause us to love prosperity and position will be exposed as cohorts with the enemy. Our true Savior isn't going to 'save' our finances primarily, He is going to remove us from the problem area!! Now I don't want to rob anyone of their faith to receive, I just want their worship to be concerning what God has done in Jesus Christ in restoring us to His favor rather than what He will give them. Then He can trust them with prosperity.
In the first chapter of Job he says: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." HE HAD JUST LOST HIS FAMILY!!
Don't let ignorance, idolatry, foolishness, nor greed steal your finances. But keep Him and His work in Christ at the front of your worship! You can tell what you 'worship' by watching what your attention is primarily on and what you run to in time of trouble! "Some men count gain as godliness, but godliness with contentment is great gain"! Many people I know personally are watching the stock market more than they are reading their bibles!!!
Protect what is yours but remember, "..except the Lord protect the house the watchman waketh in vain! (Ps 127:1b)
jack
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