Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Church in Kairos Time




He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches!

Every church is challenged to be an overcoming church.  It is a challenge to persevere, to allow ourselves to dream again, to believe that God wants to do amazing things.  He has truly been faithful in the past to us and we will reflect on His goodness today, but what about tomorrow.  My desire is to paint a picture of what could be, of what could happen if we truly become more aware of the time God has given us.  There are two greek words for time, chronos which literally denotes a space or time or succession of times and ‘kairos’ which is primarily due proportion, a signified or fixed period, an opportunity that presents itself for a specific moment or season.  In order for us to be passionate about following Jesus, we need to discover the ‘kairos’ events that He gives us and enter the learning circle.  Chronos is linear but kairos is circular. 

Most learning in Jesus’ day was based on oral tradition.  Literacy rates were low as written material was restricted to the elite.  People learned through storytelling and verbal teaching rather than reading texts.  Their minds were trained to store information and knowledge with accuracy.  When he commanded them to “teach everything I have commanded you,” it was expected that they could repeat it.

 
The fact of the matter is like it or not we are a visual culture.

I want to begin with Jesus words in Mark 1 because it has a great tie in to the calling on the churches to repent!

14After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

This morning we are going to focus on what it means that the time is come, how the kingdom of God is near and unpack what it means to repent and believe.

The time has come 

The word for time here is kairos.  Kairos happens when the circumstances of your life are brought together in the bottleneck of time.  Often there is a definite sense of pressure being created to experience something of this significance.

Kairos events can be positive or negative – Think about the birth of your first child, a special vacation, the death of a parent,  a sickness, the events of 9-11

Kairos moments can also be recognized by the impact they leave on you.  A performance review can produce positive emotions or negative ones depending on the way it goes for you.  It is often the negative events and emotions that produce the greatest opportunity for growth in our lives.

Kairos events signal opportunities to grow.  A new job opportunity arises and you are forced to move...take the opportunity to start afresh.  Heller Kellar said it best, life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.  The landswap, the development of a whole new neighbourhood around our church, a new business plaza…all signal great opportunities for growth for Southside.

Note this, that the churches referred to in chapter one and two are located in cities. 'The church is never to remove itself from society. It is never to hide out on a mountaintop, seeking to quarantine itself from the contamination of the world. The churches in Revelation are located in cities, and their influence is compared to a lamp stand, shedding light in the darkness around.
There is a clear pattern that John establishes with every church as he addresses them. 

He begins with an awesome address of authority – it has the character of OT prophets who would exclaim, This is what the Lord says” We can easily run past these words and yet miss the power to not take lightly what we hear…John wants to make sure that attention is given.  A vision is given of the one who hold the seven stars in his right hand.  We agree that we live in a visual culture.  Well, John knew that back then and he painted an incredible picture of the glory of Jesus for us.

Observe -  I know your deeds – it usually leads to a positive affirmation…it leads to something positive about the congregation, something that God has done through them as they have responded to Him.  It is distinctive in that God is actively present and watching what is happening in their church.  I know your deeds, I’m watching, I’ve been there.  He doesn’t forget the good things that are happening, He celebrates these moments and doesn’t discard them.

Reflect - there is a charge given -  I hold this against you and there is definitely a sense of holy fear coming across, but there is no guessing now, they now know exactly where they are at.  It would be likened to going to the doctor and waiting to hear his assessment.  You certainly want a clean bill of health, but if there is cancer, you want to know.  If your blood pressure is high, if your heart is susceptible to an attack, you want to know. 
The charge for the church in Ephesus is that there heart isn’t in it, its all duty and He doesn’t just want empty rituals, He wants passion. 

Discuss -  There is a question – who’s listening:  the implication – not everyone is, not everyone agrees.  We have the option, we have a free will, he is knocking and so what are we going to do about.

Plan  – when you turn around, when you make the 180 degree turn and repent, when you plan, account and act upon your faith, there is assurance, there is hope, there is the tree of life, hidden manna, a white stone with a new name written on it, authority over nations…

Account – Is your lampstand still lit?   Is Christ coming against you with His sword?

Act – Listen and overcome

Let me talk to you about the life circle – a new approach to learning, a new lifestyle of learning.  It happens in recognizing the opportunities that God presents to us, both good and bad, as opportunities for growth and going through the circle will help us process the events of our lives.
For the most part, we tend to be linear thinkers, 

Point A – Point B   - a straight line

Salvation – Heaven - a straight line

Wide Road – Narrow Road - a straight line...

But our relationship with God is more dynamic than that. 
When we walk down life’s path with purpose in mind and a kairos moment takes place, we have some choices to make-

We can choose to stop, choose to ignore it, choose to go backward or we can determine to enter circular thinking,  a redemptive circle.

The process for entering is found in the next part of the verse…. Repent and believe the good news.
Repent  - unfortunately not a popular word in sharing the gospel, but a very necessary word before belief can happen.

Repent is the greek word - metanoia – a change of mind that ultimately reveals itself in a change in lifestyle.  That change of mind has to go straight to the heart, the heart is in no way removed.  We have to feel differently, there has to be a change of heart for us to admit that we need to do a 180 degree turn.

There are three words involved in repentance in making that 180
We need to first observe – Why did I act the way that I did and feel the way that I feel  Certain events will trigger and bring certain emotions to the surface so we need to ask questions, questions that are honest – Why am I driven to this habit, or driven to want to fulfill a need in this way, what is really at the root of my issue.  This is the only way for real change to take place.

Discuss – we have to share it with someone else if repentance is to really take hold, someone who strong enough to handle confession and face us straight up.  That means we have to face our own failings, pain and failure.
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. 

Confessing sin to someone else may sound like getting root canal or getting your wisdom teeth pulled but it is necessary for healing, for true life change.   As we share our struggles and the ugliness of our ways with others, we open ourselves yes for others to see, but we also open it up for us to see.

A spiritual community consists of people who have the integrity to come clean. It is comprised of those who own their own shortcomings and failures because they hate them more than they hate the shortcomings and failures of others, who discover that a well of pure water flows beneath their most fetid corruption.
Just because we go through a kairos moment does not mean that we have learned something, if we just stop at repentance we only invite the experience to return

Repentance is just the first half of the circle.

We have to move to the second half of the circle and that takes us to believe.  Pistis - greek

Now faith, Hebrew says is the substance of things believed.  Faith is action

Just as there are three elements to repentance, there are three for belief or faith.

The first is to plan, a plan to lead to inner change.
 
In order to make our plan succeed, we need at least one person to hold us accountable.  Sharing our inner feeling with someone else may seem awkward and hard, but it is so necessary if we are to grow.  We can’t skip accountability and expect to really take strides in our faith.

To say that your faith is personal is really a self contradiction because faith in order to be real faith, has to be acted out.  If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord – sounds like going public to me

Let’s look at examples of the circle in each of the churches:

Ephesus
In Ephesus, they forgot to do what should ultimately sustain them.  They forgot their first love, they were serving God on empty and God could see burnout coming.  He could see that they were losing the fire.  It is passion that drives us!  The people in Ephesus had so dissected their lives in to all very good assignments, but they had cut the very heart out of why they did what they did.

Smyrna

The Bible does give us answers on the"why" of suffering, but in the long run we make attempts and there is a sense that it feels incomplete.  We ultimately have to submit to God because we cannot see as He sees.  God's final answer to Job was, in effect, "You must be satisfied with my love and authority because in your finiteness any explanation I give you will not satisfy you."
In reality persecution will touch you, but it can’t touch you.  As hard as it is to accept the fact that in reality we will go through painful circumstances, it can’t touch your relationship with God…and what is in store for those who suffer, the crown of life.  He has the victor’s wreath in mind that was awarded to those who won great competitions.
You are rich.  You have no idea how much you are worth and nothing that they say or do changes the way I see you.  Your reputation is safe with me, I see things as they really are.

Pergamum
They stood strong in the face of these external challenges to their faith, but inwardly truth was under decay as false teaching had crept in and had started to pollute their minds.

I know where you live.  God knows where you live.  He knows everything about you.  He knows how you have been treated, right or wrong.  He has felt your pain, your joy.  He knows your disappointment, your failure, your success.  He has been with you in the storm and in the calm.  He loves you and if you know Him as Abba Father, you are His child

Be strong and courageous.

Thyatira

This church would be quite impressive today.  They were not satisfied with yesterday’s success.  This was a place where there was probably a lot going on, a lot of good stuff, ministry was booming, people were giving of themselves freely, new people were coming, needs were being met, new ministry teams were springing up.  There was a steady incline in the number of people attending…but there was a problem, there was sin in the camp and it wasn’t being dealt with.
And herein lies the life lesson for us.  A church can be crowded, there can be a buzz in the air and ministry happening right, left and center and yet not becoming what God intended…. a people called out for His name.

Sardis

A dangerous disease had afflicted this church, they were lulled to sleep.  They started strong and had vibrancy, it was a place that other churches went to visit because there was spiritual life.  They also didn’t face much in the way of trying circumstances and they began to coast.  They began to rest on their laurels, their past accomplishments.
They started to be content with the status quo and really didn’t expect much more.

The call - 'Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.'"
Ephesians 5:14

Philadelphia

They’re a church with “little strength…”.  Perhaps it was a particularly small group of people, or maybe they were of generally lower class in Roman terms.
Either way, it seems the church was undergoing some sort of persecution or opposition, apparently from Jews who had rejected Christ.  These Jews had probably prevented this Christian church from worshipping in the Jewish synagogue.  This is why the letter states:  “Yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name…

We don’t know the extent of this opposition, but there was obviously pressure on them to deny Jesus.  And maybe worse…But in the midst of this opposition, Jesus says to them – I know your deeds.  I have seen what you have done and what you have been through. 

I am providing you with an open door.  It doesn’t tell us what the open door is, but the implication of these two uses of “door” imagery is this: Once we have walked through this first door (the door of salvation), we are called to walk through the second door (the door of service and evangelism) as well.

Laodicea

This is a love letter with a strong call to being committed to this relationship.  We observe how we become wretched in love and how Christ, our counselor calls us to open up our heart to him.  It is hard to admit you need counseling, for most people it is a sign of weakness, an inability to get your life together.  Jesus patiently waits for us to receive his counsel and he begins the kairos moment calling us to realize we are masters of self deception.  Thankfully,  He doesn’t leave us there, as he presents us a plan to keep our spiritual edge, our oneness and a passionate awareness.  He then shows us how to account for His presence and act on it in a very real and tangible way.

·         Nobody likes being called out on the carpet, nobody likes rebuke, it is not pleasant to be seen for what you really are without Jesus – wretched, poor, blind…remember we are not talking about non-Christians here, we are talking about believers, people who have crossed the line of faith.

A bona fide believer has got to come to the place where he is left bare and completely undone before he is of any use to Jesus.

The correct response is to repent and believe!  Why, because the kingdom of God is near, this is not just a space / time element.  It is the reality of faith as we recognize the times we are living in.

So, how do you take up your cross and follow Him and become a fully devoted follower.  Enter the process of change and embrace the fruit of the Spirit that He wants to grow in your life and do it with someone else, even better, do it in community, in a group with other believers in Jesus intent on doing the same.  When it gets hard and there is inner pressure and you want to get out, don’t turn back, make the decision, I have decided to follow Jesus.  The rewards are great for those who persevere like the man who found the pearl of great price and in turn sold everything to have it.

A letter to the church at Southside

As you read this letter, I want you to know that it comes with a great deal of prayer.  Since the beginning of this year, Sharon and I have sensed that this would be a significant one for us.  During the last few months God has really confirmed His leading through others, through journaling, through those who have spoke prophetically in our lives.  This does not come easy or lightly.


June 27th 2010

To the elders and my church family at Southside,

Over the past three years I have been heavily pursued by a ministry in London, ON but never felt the desire or leading to go there despite being asked repeatedly.  One day while reading the job description online for the ministry in London, I happened to come across another opportunity.  It caught my attention because I really felt that the position and the things they were looking for in a pastor described me completely. 
At that point I committed the process to God, asking Him to shut or open the door to this potential ministry I was considering.  We asked God to give us a real sense of His peace and we have had no doubts whatsoever that the Lord is starting a new chapter in our lives.  While it is incredibly difficult to leave we are excited for what the Lord has in store for us.  This has come with much prayer, discernment and is a very bittersweet moment for me.  I love you, Southside, and we will continue to pray for God’s leading in the ministry here.  God already knows the person who is coming
Thank you for believing in me for the past 9 years and for giving me the opportunity to transition into this role. 
I have accepted the position of Lead Pastor at Grace Community Church in Marden, Ontario effective August 30th 2010.  In doing so, I tender my resignation as the Lead Pastor of Southside Community Church effective August 29th 2010.
Love In Jesus,

Isaiah 50:10  Praying that He will reveal His way as He lights your path.

Pastor Jack



The Takeaway

He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the church

Questions For Discussion
1.       What is the significance of the expression, ‘they left their first love’?
2.      What does Revelation 2:8-11 teach us regarding the nature of God
3.      Why is Christ revealed as the one who has the sharp sword with two edges?
4.      Are we willing to see what the Laodicean church saw?  The ability to take responsibility for our sin, taking a stand, counting the cost and following through.
5.      What does it mean to you to be an overcomer?





The Unforced Rhythms of Grace!



Psalm 127

1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

I grew up in a home with a strong work ethic. My father worked as a machinist for Union Carbide. He faithfully woke up every weekday morning at 6am, he would put on the oatmeal porridge, God bless him, make our lunches and all too often would rest the banana on the sandwich. Hey, I’m not complaining, but he took his work seriously

My dad was all over Proverbs 6:10,11

A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-
11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.
So, what do we do with that?

How do we really relax and not feel guilty?

BUT how do we balance that with this?

Matthew 11:28-30
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

It is my desire that we learn the unforced rhythms of grace as it relates to balance between work and rest. We are going right back to Genesis 1 to discover how to live life according to how we have been created, to live our day according to the way He designed our week and to live our moments in God sized consciousness.
Genesis 1:24 – Genesis 2:2

1. Living Life According To How I Am Created

Let’s get back to basics

v28 You are blessed.

We are blessed when we fear the Lord as we find great delight in His commands. Psalm 112:1 -9

But all too often we can’t receive from the Lord because we are holding on to what we have worked for. You can’t receive until you let go of what is in your hands right now.
v28be fruitful and increase in number– certainly there was a call here to have children,
Now, the broader picture is that he designed us to do wonderful things, to be fruitful speaks of producing all that is good. There is authority as well to be good stewards, we have been given the job of taking care of God’s creation

v29,30 Eat well – I give you…Seed bearing plants, trees that have fruit and every green plant for food.
God wants us to live healthy lives. It begins by eating right, eating healthy. I said we are getting back to basics and we are going to talk about what we eat. Now, you might say, Jack what do my eating habits really have to do with my spiritual life? I would say quite a lot. Our eating habits will determine whether we are sluggish or feel energetic. Too much sugar laden or processed foods and we become vulnerable to all kinds of bad stuff!
Our bodies need greens. God has provided vegetables and fruits that are rich in vitamins or if you want the technical terms, rich in antioxidants. Why do people in Papua not have issues with cancer? It is a healthy and steady diet of sweet potatoes!

2. Living My Days The Way God Designed My Week

Now, what day did God create Adam and Eve? the 6th day… What happened on the 7th day. They rested. There is something that Adam and Eve learned right away and that is this. On their first full day, it was a holy day, a day to rest. They rested. The thing we can learn is this:

Resting in God’s abiding presence is the only way that we can be successful in what he has called us to do.

It is like a pendulum swinging in a natural rhythm.


Look at Jesus in Mark 1:32-35 Jesus understood the great need for rest and spiritual revitalization in his own life. Here we find Him coming off an evening of intense ministry only to be found early the next morning in a place of quiet solitude with His Father.

When the pendulum is in the middle, it isn’t moving. It is static. The same is true in our Christian lives we are either moving forward or losing ground. There is no place for the status quo.

If you want to discover real fire and passion in your spiritual life, then you need to understand real rest and come away for greater rest.
The same is true of fruitfulness and growing as the pendulum swings.

Greater abiding = greater fruitfulness.
More pruning = more growing.

The greater the rest, the greater the passion, the greater the time is spent in abiding, the more fruit that will be evident.

Not only do we need to eat well, we need to sleep well.

From the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
Sleeping problems are quite common and one in four Canadians are impacted by sleep deprivation. Not getting enough sleep or not sleeping well can significantly affect your health, daily performance, alertness and productivity.

In that article it mentioned meditation can help you relax and take your mind off these stressors! We just take it one step further….Joshua 1:8,9

So, why am I talking to you about your sleeping patterns because your lack of it will cause you to argue with people more, do subpar work, be less loving and more irritable with our spouses, children, friends. Let’s just say you are no fun to be around!

The same is true if you are the disciplined one who wakes up every morning at the crack of dawn to do your ‘devotions’ and yet you are cranky with your kids and fall asleep at the dinner table…

God is more interested in your devotion that your devotions…check out Psalm 63

People who lead spiritual retreats state that the number 1 issue for people is fatigue when it comes to spending time in prayer.

What happened to the disciples in Gethsemane when Jesus wanted them to pray?

Brother Lawrence, a man who practiced the presence of God, wrote. Those who have the wind of the Holy Spirit in the sails glide ahead even while asleep.

Look at the end of each day of creation. The order is the same. And there was evening and there was morning…the first day…second. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?? Each day in creation begins in the evening to teach us the lesson that everything doesn’t depend on me. I go to sleep, God goes to work.

In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves. Psalm 127:3

Dr. Mark Smutny shares on understanding the Hebrew day,

In order to understand the Hebrew day, we have to take an imaginative leap. In the Hebrew consciousness, a day is the basic unit of God's creative work. Evening is the beginning of that day. In the evening, God speaks light, stars, earth, vegetation, animals, man and woman into being. It is also a time when we quit our activity and then go to sleep. We drift into unconsciousness for the next six to eight to ten hours in which we are totally unproductive and have zero cash value.

We then jump out of bed and rush out the door to get things started only to discover that everything was started hours ago. All the important things were already underway while we were asleep. The sun is already rising without me. The operation is half over already. The plan is already basically established. The lights are on, the assignments given, God's creative plan is already unfolding. We wake into a world we didn't make. We live by salvation, we didn't earn.

Morning comes. God invites to enjoy and share and develop the work that God already has initiated. We work. We engage in creative endeavor. We pour our own souls into it because grace has already been provided. We do not need to hold up the skies for the skies are already there. We only need to look at them and appreciate their beauty and their wonder.

Who’s fooling who. We know that if we ‘burn the candle at both ends’ as my dad always said to me, we will pay for it sooner or later. We can’t keep living like that and not expect things to start falling apart.

It was Howard Hendricks that said 75% of our spirituality is a good night of rest!

We have talked about eating well and sleeping well and now we are ready to live well as God has created us.

3. Living My Moments In God Sized Consciousness - back to verse 27

It is not so much that we learn to embrace our moments, but that we learn to embrace God in the everyday moments of our lives.

What about God-sized consciousness or awareness to divine appointments…

Spending the day with God doesn’t mean that are whole day will change, but we will change the way that way that we do things. We will do them with God!

v27God created man in his image. What is image – It is more than a picture.

A better word here in Genesis 1;26,27 would be imprint or impression. It is the picture of God leaving his handprint on us when He fashioned us from clay. The impression that God puts on you can never fade away. We are a representation of God, mind, body and spirit. Have you discovered the unique fingerprints that God has left on you?

It can be as easy as starting the morning when you wash your face. I can pray a prayer of God’s cleansing of my thoughts, my attitudes. As I go down to breakfast, I can follow through on His command to ‘eat my toast with joy….yes its bread in Ecclessiastes!

I have also read that even the ancient Hebrews considered the other end of the digestive process as a gift from God as well. They had a prayer to be said after going to the bathroom that went like this, “Blessed art Thou, O God, who hast made the openings in my body!”

I don’t know if you want to go that far but…

Take your everyday moments and live them with God sized consciousness instead of absent minded, program oriented, robotic like tendencies!

Do you ask the HS to guide you as you prepare your budget?
Do you ask God if He has a word for the guy who you see at the convenience store?...the guy who you see when you pay for your gas? Or is just simply paypass…pass on the opportunity. I’m preaching to myself as well.

Finally,

Can you identify how God has had his hand on your everyday life or how He can be involved in your everyday life?


The Takeaway


We were not designed to rest from our work, but work from our rest!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Spiritual Fathers!



As a young boy, he had the opportunity to travel to some pretty exotic places as his father was a captain in the army.  However, that would all change during WW2 when his father was gone and he and his family were thrown into a concentration camp as Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies at that time.  He was all by himself with boys around his own age of 10.  It was there that he was put under forced labour and had to fight for his very life and the little bowls of rice that they would get.  Close to the end of the occupation, he would almost die of malayria; however thankfully he would survive and be returned to his family.  At that point they moved back to the Netherlands and he would later go to college and complete a college degree in agriculture.  It was shortly after that when he married his beautiful bride and took the opportunity to start a new life in Canada as it was FREE to take a ship at that time in 1955.  They would try to make a go of it on a farm near the Holland marsh...where else and would end up living in Stroud and then eventually move to Bramalea where he would find consistent work.  Although he never fully realized his dream of owning his own farm and while he couldn't teach his sons too much about sports if he tried...at a father/son baseball game he managed to get a great hit only to run to 3rd base instead of 1st!!

However what he did teach his five sons was worth its weight in gold.  He taught his boys to live life passionately, to live it as a great adventure, to love and be faithful to your wife and to just get out of the house when you're steamed!  He also knew that romance starts long before the bedroom and wouldn't hesitate to chase his wife around the kitchen giving her the odd pinch!!  He also taught his boys how to love God passionately and his youngest son remembers many times passing by his bedroom and seeing him on his knees praying to the God He loved.  He would write in their Bibles and always be there for them, consistently at their sports games and always ready to give a ride home if necessary.

BUT,  just make sure you ate everything on your plate because he couldn't tolerate wasted food!

Howeverv, for some the thoughts of fathers can bring back painful memories, missed opportunities and for others it can bring a great deal of joy.  I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for men and for fathers to be engaged in the call to mentor, to encourage, to train and to inspire. 

For those of you who have not had that experience, I want to say that God longs to be the father to the fatherless, to the widows and orphans.  This is the only time that religion is painted in a positive light in the NT.  It is found in James 1:27

We need men to be present in our homes and it is just not a physical presence, but an emotional and spiritual one as well.  The statistics of those who haven’t had that father figure is staggering.

(granted these are American stats, but we are not too far off)

·         90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes

·         85% of children who exhibit behavioral disorders…

·         71% of dropouts

·         75% of patients in drug abuse centres

It was that very reason that God laid on my heart the verse in Malachi 4:6 where it says He  will ‘turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers’ 

I know I have had more of a father in 21 years than most people do in a lifetime and for that I am very grateful.

 I also want to speak to the reality of the need for spiritual fathers in our midst.  One such man in my life was Bob Gage.  Bob passed away last week and this is in part a tribute to him.

Bob was an amazing mentor, encourager and friend in my life and inspired me to lead as a young man who was part of CSB Battalion Unit 1235 in Georgetown, ON from ’81 –’85.  It was Bob who would take us on a survivorman weeklong canoe trips on the Madawaska River.  We would learn to take risks as we navigated through some pretty incredible rapids and I can remember as clear as day how he taught us to be not hearers only, but doers of the Word.  He also taught me so much about conversational prayer with the Lord and encouraged me to pursue my Herald of Christ as well.  He would pray prayers like 'may we have a wild and spoofy time and God may the guys learn to put their faith in you when the capsize their canoes!...and we did much to his delight.  I know he is a big part of who I have become today and it is because of him that I have such a passion to see the Church be intentional in our ministry to boys and men.
 
The fact is God called us to lead the way, but to do it under His leadership!

The father of a righteous man has great joy.  Proverbs 23:24

So, we resonate with it, but how do we go about living the way God intended for us, the way that brings joy through our lives to others.  Pray with me for godly men to take up the high calling of spiritual fatherhood.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

The End is Just The Beginning



A Series on Revelation

I want you to know that I did a test drive on this message with a wonderful small group of ladies at Martindale Gardens this week and they even spoke into this message!

There are a lot of mistakes that have been made in tackling the book of Revelation...

• An ‘over the top’ identification of all the people, places and political entities.
• An inability to handle the use of imagery
• An illusion that the historical settings are insignificant
• A decision to ignore it all together

What are some of the common features of apocalyptic literature?

• Strange visions
• Dramatized symbolic imagery
• The abundance of the use of metaphor
• The abundance of cataclysmic events
• The leading into final judgment and the ushering in of a new world.

There are a lot of extra biblical influences that have played into a fascination with end times, both well meaning Christian and non Christian.


The Late Great Planet Earth – Hal Lindsay
Left Behind – Tim LaHaye

‘End of the world’ apocalyptic movies that have all warned us that the end is coming....

• I Am Legend
• Armageddon
• The Day After Tomorrow
• War of the Worlds

and of course as we just watched a trailer from 2012, that the world will end on December 21st 2012 predicted by one of the earliest civilizations, the Mayans.

Have you ever read or seen a book that are out there that are always trying to predict the latest gadget, the latest and greatest business venture?

How about books about the end of the world... Orson Wells...For me, 88 reasons why Christ is coming back in ’88 and then it’s follow up, ’89 reasons why Christ is coming back in ’89. The JWs were always trying to predict this too.

Moving on to the serious nature of this book!

This genre of literature is about ‘unveiling’ – it is a pulling back of the curtain...in both revelation and prophecy. As one biblical scholar wrote, ‘all the prophets make the rendez-vous in Revelation’ and with over 300 references to the OT , we better make sure we get our bearings there!

Apocalyptic literature often is transtemporal in that it has a double sense of meaning, applying to more than one period or time in history. There is a sense of fulfillment that has already taken place in history and one that is still to come.

This literature is also temporal and spatial. You recognize it by the fact that it speaks to the final culmination of things to come. It takes you to another world, the day of ultimate and eternal salvation.

Depending on our upbringing it may be very hard for us not to come to ‘end times’ Scriptures without our own preconceived ideas of what we have been taught.

In this series, it is my desire to show this wonderful book’s complete ‘connectiveness’ to the rest of Scripture and show how rich the symbolism is. We will also look at our vantage point on history and the recapitulation of themes.

In terms of history, the prophets like Zechariah, Daniel and John wrote with an elevated view of history. They got to fly above the world at 30 000 feet and see what was beyond their time. God allowed them to glace across heaven’s threshold and see things at the end of human history.

Let’s look at some structure and sequence to this book and reoccurring themes.

The book is literally structured around a series of SEVENS!

Tell me what is significant about the number 7?
Creation; Jesus teaching Peter on forgiveness 70x7
In chapter 1, we are introduced to seven spirits or a (sevenfold spirit), seven stars and seven golden lampstands which represent the seven churches in chapter 2,3. In chapter 5 -8:5, we have the unfolding of the seven seals of the scroll. They turn and give way to the crashing sound of seven trumpets in 8:1 -11:19 After these judgments take place, we then have seven visions in 12:1 -15:4 and following that, the seven bowls of God’s judgment in 15:5-18:21

The outline of Revelation is seen in Revelation 1:4,8 -who is, who was and who is to come
Revelation 1 is all about Jesus – the things you have seen

The things that are – to be the church, in ch 2,3
The things that shall be – Rev 4 -22

Tom Holladay breaks it out this way:

Ch 4 – The throne of God ( It all begins with a worship experience)
Ch 5-8:5 The Final Conflict – you see sickness, destruction, earthquakes – you see the seals being opened up
Ch 8:6-11:19 The Final Destruction –
Ch 11:15-19 A New Sense of Worship
Ch 12 - 15:4 Historic Visions
Ch 15,16 Final Wrath
Ch 17-20 Final Judgement. We want to stand bathed in the love of Christ.
Ch 21, 22 The Final and Eternal Celebration. The new heaven and the new earth

The book was recorded by John, its message in a vision, a revelation ,that was given to him by God.
The message is forward looking in its nature. It is presented in apocalyptic –picture language with over 300 symbols and pictures for us to see.

Now when the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, you seek no ‘other sense’!!
For example in Revelation 12:9, the red dragon is Satan.

The message is symbolic and it is seen in the perfect cube like dimensions of the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21. If we take 12 000 stadia literally that would be about 2200km long and wide and the same in height. However if we look at the OT, we will see the dimensions are a perfect cube and mirror the look of the tabernacle. The holy of Holies was the place designed for God to meet with His people and that is exactly what the heavenly city will be, a place where God dwells with His people for eternity. So the tabernacle becomes a picture representation for us of heaven.

Revelation was written in picture language to protect the book from those who sought to destroy the message of the manuscripts at the time of the early church. The book has a sense of timelessness that it speaks to all and it has tremendous emotional power...to bring us to a new confidence and hope!

We live in the sense that the future is imminent
The book is about God’s eternal plan – It is a book about endings and a new beginning. We are either going to be at the sea of glass or the Great White Throne judgement.

An Invitation To Blessing v1-3

We live within the realization of the imminent return. We are being called into a spiritual, living, dynamic relationship with God and with Jesus who is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

When we immerse ourselves into the full impact of this book, we are promised to be blessed. It will change our outlook, our perspective on life. It is meant for us to read, to wrestle with and to understand the ramifications of its teachings. We are called to obey what we hear. It is the only book in the Bible that God promises a blessing to those who commit to read it, but it goes beyond that to the application and living out the truth of God`s Word. We need to see what Christ will do in our hearts and lives.

The INVITATION is important because

1. It promises joy in the midst of difficult trials
2. Knowing about the end should inspire me to holy living
3. It gives me facts about what happens after my life on this earth is over, beyond human explanation
4. It gives proof of the reliability of Scripture
5. It draws our heart to worship God

Jesus In All His Glory v4-7

These verses picture the whole trinity for us.
A sevenfold Spirit – 7 stands for perfection. It is simply the perfection of God`s Spirit.
In the end, Jesus is the commander of the whole world, the commander of all of us.

What does that mean to us?

• We have been forgiven.

We have been freed from our sins by His blood. The gift of forgiveness is open to all of us. Apart from these gifts we could never stand in the presence of God, but now we do and we do not only for ourselves, but for all those we bring to the throne of grace.

• We are part of Christ’s Glory.

Jesus prayed it in John 17:10 – Glory has come to me through them!
Christ’s magnificent glory includes us!! We are a kingdom of Priests. When God reigns in our hearts, we are priests. We are a bridge between man and God

1 Peter 2:9

When Jesus speaks, Listen! v8

The eternality of Christ is seen in the words who was, and is and is to come.

We need to know what Jesus is saying in this powerful statement v8

There is an end to all of this.

God is the beginning and end in all of this. God wants to bring us to a place of perfection. The suffering will end, the pain will end.

A day of mourning will happen for all those who miss out on the truth of God`s love.

Alpha and Omega – Jesus is all of it, from A – Z, from Genesis from the day you were born, before the day you were born to the day you die, to the day after you die, Jesus is all in your life and hope and joy should flood into our lives because of that.

Revelation closes with an invitation... I am coming soon...and our prayer is, ‘Come quickly Lord Jesus’
We are going to look at this book in an attitude of worship. It is a hope that trumps your circumstances, your failures, your disappointments, the temptations and trials in your life!

The Takeaway

He (Jesus) will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:8

I had the opportunity to pray for Margaret at Martindale as the tears welled up in her eyes. She spoke about all the natural disasters and said, “I hope I am ready.” It was a joy to pray with her and reaffirm her faith in the one who keeps us strong to the end.

Questions For Discussion

1. In what ways is Revelation basically a revelation of Jesus Christ?
2. Why is it important for us to read and wrestle though the teaching of Revelation?
3. What do we learn about what Christ has done for us in v5-8?
4. What does it mean to you to be a priest in the kingdom of God?
5. Have you seen the significance of the 7’s in Revelation before? What does this mean to you?

Monday, June 7, 2010

Jesus Manifesto



I am very excited to begin reading the 'Jesus Manifesto' which I was chosen to read an 'advanced copy'.  The book is written by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola and the theme is restoring the supremacy and sovereignty of Christ.


The back cover reads:

Christians have made the gospel about so many things—things other than Christ. Religious concepts, ideas, doctrines, strategies, methods, techniques, programs, and formulas have all eclipsed the beauty, the glory, and the reality of the Lord Jesus Himself. On the whole, the Christian family today is starved for a real experience of the living Christ. We know a lot about our Lord, but we don't know Him very well. We know a lot about trying to be like Jesus, but very little about living by His indwelling life. "Jesus Manifesto" presents a fresh unveiling of Jesus as not only Savior and Lord, but as so much more. It is a prophetic call to restore the supremacy and sovereignty of Christ in a world—and a church—that has lost sight of Him. Read this book and see your Lord like you've never seen Him before. 


Since its release on June 1st, Jesus Manifesto made Amazon's top 10 bestseller list

Impressive!