He was in the beginning with God. John 1:2
“Before the beginning began You where there with the plan, You knew what You were going to do before You did it.”
When the earth was formless and void, You were there. When darkness covered the deep, You were there. When the Spirit brooded over the waters, You were there. There is not a time when You were not. And the voice of the Lord thundered out of the darkness, “Let there be….” You were there; The Word of God. In the beginning, the beginning, You were there. You were, and You currently are, and You will forever be. There will never be a time when You are not. You are already in my tomorrow and You are still in my yesterday and today You make Yourself known to me. Before I was You are. After I am You are. Your thoughts are ever on me, what am I that You would look at me? What am I that You became like me that I might become like You? O great and incomprehensible God, glorious and true, full of beauty and wonder, power and dominion is Yours. Speak kindly to me lest I be consumed by Your fire, for my frail frame cannot contain a glimpse of Your glory, yet You love to reveal Yourself to me.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Things Pertaining To The Kingdom
The book of Acts begins by telling us about a resurrected Jesus appearing to the apostles and speaking about things pertaining to the Kingdom of God for forty days. I would love to have heard these messages, what were they like? What would Jesus have spoken about? He would not have spent the entire forty days convincing them of His resurrection, which was taken care of quickly. What might these “things” be? Matthew 28 has the “great commission” which we have interpreted as getting people saved, but it appears that we have a “great omission”. We find that in making disciples of all nations, and baptizing them, that we ignore the teaching aspect of this commissioning. Jesus said to teach them to observe all things He commanded them.
On the road to Emmaus we know He expounded about Himself and how it was that He must suffer and rise again starting in Moses and going through all the prophets. The hearts of the disciples burned within them while He spoke.
He restored Peter on the shore of Galilee, calling him too feed the sheep, and to Mary, Thomas and the others He simply showed Himself alive.
His commandment just prior to His suffering was to love one another and believe that He was sent by God. His command after rising from the dead was to wait for the Holy Spirit and then be witnesses of His resurrection.
The message of the Kingdom is the King that was killed is now alive! The message of the Kingdom is that this King is in heaven right now, and is returning to take over the earth. It is the signs of power that accompany the message that prove the message.
Repentance is the automatic response of someone that believes. If you do not repent then you do not believe.
We have reduced the entire message of the Kingdom of God to the forgiveness of sins while eking out a pitiful existence. Repentance and forgiveness of sins is only the entranceway, the foyer so to speak. Hebrews tells us to not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. It says we should leave the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ and move on to perfection. Yet we live as if these things are all there is, constantly living in the cycle of sin having dominion over us.
When He returns to the earth I wonder if we will have a clue as to who He is and how He does things or if we will be shocked and offended by what we see. Now is the season to learn of Him, who He is and what He is like so He can enjoy us and we can enjoy Him both now and in the ages to come.
Jesus is still alive, He is still speaking about the Kingdom, He is still returning. Give us ears to hear.
On the road to Emmaus we know He expounded about Himself and how it was that He must suffer and rise again starting in Moses and going through all the prophets. The hearts of the disciples burned within them while He spoke.
He restored Peter on the shore of Galilee, calling him too feed the sheep, and to Mary, Thomas and the others He simply showed Himself alive.
His commandment just prior to His suffering was to love one another and believe that He was sent by God. His command after rising from the dead was to wait for the Holy Spirit and then be witnesses of His resurrection.
The message of the Kingdom is the King that was killed is now alive! The message of the Kingdom is that this King is in heaven right now, and is returning to take over the earth. It is the signs of power that accompany the message that prove the message.
Repentance is the automatic response of someone that believes. If you do not repent then you do not believe.
We have reduced the entire message of the Kingdom of God to the forgiveness of sins while eking out a pitiful existence. Repentance and forgiveness of sins is only the entranceway, the foyer so to speak. Hebrews tells us to not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. It says we should leave the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ and move on to perfection. Yet we live as if these things are all there is, constantly living in the cycle of sin having dominion over us.
When He returns to the earth I wonder if we will have a clue as to who He is and how He does things or if we will be shocked and offended by what we see. Now is the season to learn of Him, who He is and what He is like so He can enjoy us and we can enjoy Him both now and in the ages to come.
Jesus is still alive, He is still speaking about the Kingdom, He is still returning. Give us ears to hear.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sunday EGS
This morning we had a great EGS(Encounter God Service) at IHOP-Macon!! Bryan Holder and his wife Racheal led us in worship. These two are amazing, they've been married a little over a year with their first child on the way and together they really brought the right atmosphere to encounter God. Rachael is a talented keyboardest while Bryan has a real knack for expressing the heart of God with spontanious choruses that penetrate the soul.
I had the great privelage of delivering the message. The Lord was gracious to open up some things about asking and receiving that really ministered to some. I am hoping to be able to link the messages to my blog soon. I am not a computer guy so bear with me in the wait.
Some of the highlights from the message:
-Everything you have or have experienced with Jesus is a result of your asking. How many of us became believers without first asking God? We are taught to “ask Jesus into our heart”, and even though that particular phrase is not evident in the Scripture the principle of handing over the governing authority of our life to another is. Jesus, I have completely messed my life up, I am not who you made me to be, so I ask you to take over. So if it began with asking, why doesn’t it continue by asking?
-It is as if we “ask” Jesus to take over and then at some point we say “I’ve got this one Lord” and He will let us have the reigns. We leave Jesus on the sidelines while we go and try to be the star of the game.
-So in thinking we perfectly understand God we begin to ask for others; friends, family, children, spouses, co-workers etc. We ask God to change this or that in these people so that they could know Jesus like we do, because of course God does not want any to perish. Really what we are doing is asking God to conform them into our image. We try to get God to change others so we wont be bothered by them instead of asking God to change us so that we can be a blessing to them.
I had the great privelage of delivering the message. The Lord was gracious to open up some things about asking and receiving that really ministered to some. I am hoping to be able to link the messages to my blog soon. I am not a computer guy so bear with me in the wait.
Some of the highlights from the message:
-Everything you have or have experienced with Jesus is a result of your asking. How many of us became believers without first asking God? We are taught to “ask Jesus into our heart”, and even though that particular phrase is not evident in the Scripture the principle of handing over the governing authority of our life to another is. Jesus, I have completely messed my life up, I am not who you made me to be, so I ask you to take over. So if it began with asking, why doesn’t it continue by asking?
-It is as if we “ask” Jesus to take over and then at some point we say “I’ve got this one Lord” and He will let us have the reigns. We leave Jesus on the sidelines while we go and try to be the star of the game.
-So in thinking we perfectly understand God we begin to ask for others; friends, family, children, spouses, co-workers etc. We ask God to change this or that in these people so that they could know Jesus like we do, because of course God does not want any to perish. Really what we are doing is asking God to conform them into our image. We try to get God to change others so we wont be bothered by them instead of asking God to change us so that we can be a blessing to them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)