The Person of Peace

The Person of Peace

Hello Friends

We have had several conversations recently about finding a person of peace in western culture. The context of Luke 10 is clearly eastern where three generations and families of several siblings plus servants could make up a household. To live among them and teach the person of peace to become the pastor/elder of their family and friends and to see that multiply through family patterns is what is happening right now through many third world cultures and these patterns are fueling rapidly multiplying church planting movements.

What does this look like in the western world where individualism is the norm and extended family relationships are not? Does the teaching of Jesus in Luke 10 extend across all cultural boundaries? Of course it does. This is Jesus we are talking about! In the west our families tend to be various sorts of interest groups. The problem is not with the harvest. Waiting for the harvest to come to you? Jesus never said they would! He commanded his disciples to pray for laborers who would go and then sent them out as the answer to their own prayers. Some contemporary western examples....

The team leader of a multifaceted ministry in England joined the local cricket club and got involved in all aspects of the club. The result? Several club members baptized as followers of Jesus.

A friend in Germany heard clear instruction to go to her local pub. "Lord, I have never gone alone to a pub in my life and now?" She went and joined a table of several ladies who were esoteric spiritualists gathered for their weekly talk. They accepted her into their conversation. After a few weeks of listening and softly answering a few questions they invited her to take a whole evening and share about her relationship with Jesus. She did so just last Thursday night. Interesting house of peace!

Another German friend began to hang out in a local park with the homeless, punks and other people on the edges. The result? Several baptized followers of Jesus and a community of Jesus in the park. One man has a story of horrific childhood abuse and had been living on the street for 15 years.

Want to be a pastor? Why not become the pastor (well, coach/trainer) of your son's sport team? A close friend did that and met a dad that he felt drawn towards. At a certain point that dad stopped showing up at his son's practices and games. My friend kept calling but the dad never picked up until Christmas Eve. He picked up and began to talk about being in total despair and on his way to commit suicide. That was the first of many talks and now this dad has become a follower of Jesus.

What about your work? Live your life, do your job, meet needs, share simply and see what God will do. Dutch friends did that as personal trainers at sports club. One lady began asking questions and on a trip to her home, my friends noticed a bible on the table. "Why do you have a bible on your table?" "We are trying to understand it but we need someone to help us." That couple will be baptized this Sunday and renew their marriage vows as well.

We have had a great time with friends in Western Europe. July 2 through 10 we will be in Central Asia sharing with our team there. Your prayers and financial support are deeply appreciated.

For Harvest
Steve & Marilyn Hill

Good For Us

Good For Us
by Chip Brogden
“…Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles…” (Luke 9:33ff).
The Greek word for “church” is “ekklesia”, which means “called out ones” and came to mean the assembly (or local expression) of those who had been called out and set apart. This assembling together is not something we do on our own. It is the work of the Lord. We are not the Church because we gather ourselves together into a meeting or a group. Anyone can organize themselves into a meeting for whatever purpose they wish. But we are being assembled by the Lord Himself into a spiritual temple, a House of Living Stones. Jesus is building His Church, and Jesus is assembling His people. Our meetings are external and visible, but this assembly of Living Stones is internal, invisible, spiritual and eternal. I pray that God will deliver us from “meetings” and show us His Son. Then we will see that we have already been assembled together into the Church that He is building upon the revelation of Himself.
We cannot build the Church, for Jesus is building it. Similarly, we cannot assemble ourselves together; the Lord has to do that as well. I am not saying we cannot have a meeting, but I am saying that a meeting is not what makes us the Church. There are many such meetings we can host or attend, but that does not make us the Church. People frequently ask me if I know where they can go to find fellowship. After examining them at length I determine that what they are really looking for is a meeting. Well, meetings are everywhere. You do not need me for that. I am afraid that I cannot recommend “meetings”, I can only recommend brothers and sisters who love the Lord.
Now the Lord wants to assemble us together into a spiritual Temple, but if we look around it is clear that we are divided over several issues. We could go down the list and name them all. We could take time to talk about denominations, organizations, doctrines, beliefs, customs, and the like. We could draw up a list of one hundred or one thousand divisions, but the heart of the matter is this: have we seen the Lord? If we have seen the Lord then we do not need to see anything else: this revelation of Him is sufficient. And, if we have not seen the Lord, it is a waste of time to try and discuss anything else along the lines of doctrine or teaching.
So the question is: have you seen the Lord? I do not mean in a dream or a vision, but I mean have you seen the Lord because the Father has revealed Him in you? It is possible to pray a prayer, but not see the Lord. It is possible to perform good works, but not see the Lord. It is possible (and quite common) to attend church meetings all your life, but not see the Lord. Two men who claimed to know Jesus walked with Him on the road to Emmaus, but they did not know Who He was until their eyes were opened. Many people are in the same situation. We cannot see Him until the eyes of our heart are opened, and when we are thus illuminated from within, we will see Him, we will know Him.
If you have read the Scriptures you know that many who say, “Lord, Lord” and do mighty things in the name of the Lord are, in fact, not known by Him at all, and will have no part in the Kingdom of God. This ought to bring us to our knees. This ought to cause us to search our hearts. Do we really know the Lord? Have we really seen Him? Has God revealed His Son to us?
When we look at the history of God’s dealings with man we see a pattern emerging, and this pattern is illustrated for us in the Mountain of Transfiguration, an event recorded in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Here is the pattern. First, the Lord sovereignly reveals His glory to us. Then, we try to grasp the Lord with fleshly hands. Finally, the Lord moves on, and we must either move with Him or stay where we are. Let us look at each point more particularly.
HE WAS TRANSFIGURED BEFORE THEM
We are saying that the revelation of Christ is sufficient; that is, if we have seen the Lord Jesus, then nothing else matters, and in time, everything else will take care of itself. But if we do not have the revelation of Christ, if we only have our idea of Who He is, or if our knowledge of Him comes to us from somewhere or someone other than the Father Himself, then it does not matter how much we may read the Bible, attend meetings, or hear people preach. We will be “ever learning, but never coming to the full-knowledge of Truth”. This explains how it is possible for someone to perform many works in the Name of Jesus, and yet the Lord Himself says, “I never knew you.”
The Lord reveals Himself to us in a variety of ways, and every testimony is different. Peter received the revelation of Christ while fishing. But Thomas received the revelation of Christ only after the Lord appeared to Him and showed him His wounds. Paul received the revelation of Christ on the road to Damascus, as he was on his way to kill Christians. One man says Christ was revealed to him as he stood watching a tree in the dead of winter. Christ was revealed to me as I sat in my backyard, arguing with the Lord over the Bible.
What do these experiences have in common? They are spontaneous unveilings of Jesus Christ. Without warning the Lord simply reveals Himself, and whereas we were blind before, today we see. It is like walking out of one room and into another room, closing the door behind us. We are the man born blind in John 9. It is not that he can improve himself, or gradually come to the place where he can see something. He is BORN blind, and he can see nothing but darkness until the Lord, the Light of the world, makes him see. So many blind people hope to improve their seeing through sermons, meetings, and more teachings. But one moment of seeing is worth ten thousand years of learning. It is better to sit at the feet of an ignorant man who has seen the Lord than it is to be instructed by the most educated Bible teacher who is blind to the things of God.
Frequently when I speak along these lines I am asked, “What do I have to do to get this revelation of Christ?” And the answer is there is nothing TO do, and nothing you CAN do. But we are confident in saying that it is the nature of the Father to reveal Himself. The Father longs to reveal the Son to us. The only condition is that we likewise long to see Him, to know Him, as He is. The revelation of Christ is like a single ray of sunlight, without warning, breaking through the thick clouds of this world and knocking you to the ground - inwardly speaking. It may or it may not be an outward thing, and it may or may not be something dramatic. But when we have seen Him, something “clicks” on the inside. We know we have been changed.
It can be likened to the Mountain of Transfiguration. The Lord Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him high onto the mountain to pray. Presumably they were in the habit of doing this, as the Scriptures record several instances of the Lord at prayer. But on this occasion, His appearance was changed, and His glory was revealed to them. It was a sovereign act, an unveiling. There was no warning, no special preparation. Peter, James and John had nothing to do with it. In fact, they were sleeping when it happened. I hope that will reassure those of us who think there is something we have to do in order to get the revelation of Christ. No, it is all of grace. In fact, until we rest from our works and our words, we are unlikely to see the Lord.
Now we have primarily discussed the revealing of Christ to us personally, but there is also a corporate revelation as well. What we receive of the Lord personally ought to be received on behalf of the Body, and not merely for our own personal benefit. Even so, there is an unveiling of the Lord that occasionally occurs when we are gathered together in the Name of the Lord. After all, He says that “where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there I am in the midst of them.” This is the simplest expression of the Church - the called-out assembly. Not two or three thousand, not two or three hundred, not two or three dozen - just two or three, and the Lord is there. We are so concerned for numbers. The real issue is not how many are gathered, but is the Lord with the ones so gathered? I would rather be with two people and have the Lord with us than to be in a crowd of religious people with whom the Lord is not present.
It is in this corporate revelation of Christ that we find a danger, and Peter expresses it nicely when the first words out of his mouth are…
“IT IS GOOD FOR US”
Here is a point that needs to be made. When the Father is pleased to reveal His Son to us, it is for His glory, not ours. So often we seek spiritual things because we desire a name, or power, or glory for ourselves. This is not permitted in the Kingdom where Christ is All in All. What we see of the Lord is for His glory, and not our own.
But just observe how quickly the Self comes into the picture. “Master, it is good for us to be here!” Good for us. Good for us. Good for us. We hear this sentiment all the time. “Isn’t it good to be in the house of God today?” “I really enjoyed the message.” “I loved the music.” “What a lovely service.” “I’m so happy I found this little group.” Or, “I didn’t get anything out of that message.” “The music was awful.” “They don’t have anything for my kids.” I, I, I. Me, me, me. Good for us, or not good for us. The music, the preaching, the service, everything is for us, for our needs.
This is why we continually stress that the reason we do not attend or sponsor meetings with any regularity is simply because the Lord’s Need is often not met in these meetings. Self permeates so much of what we do (or do not do), even in spiritual matters where Self is supposed to be denied. Peter is a man full of himself. So his reaction to the glory of the Lord is, “It is good for us! Let us build for You…” This is how many works, denominations and ministries are begun. The Lord sovereignly reveals something of His glory to a handful of people, and they begin to build something - a church, a movement, a denomination - in order to contain that glory. Or, the Lord visits His people in a particular meeting or setting. It is good for us: so we decide to meet again the next week in hopes that we can experience more of the same. And so on. We believe if only we can find the right combination of music, or teaching, or worship, or people, then it will be “good for us” every time we meet. Soon, however, the Life is gone and the glory is departed, but the meetings continue!
“I will build My Church,” Jesus says. That is Life. “Let us build for You,” Peter says. That is Death. To see if a thing is living or dead we need only trace its source. Not only is “let us build” wrong, but “let us build FOR YOU” is equally wrong. Each is motivated by the same thing: “It is good for us.”
What Peter did not realize, and what we, too, fail to perceive, is that the glory is in Christ, and not in a method, a meeting, or a movement: and it is for Him, and not for us. How quickly “It is good for us…” turns into “Let us build for You…” How subtle our flesh is! How often in the name of “fellowship” have we have built something “for” the Lord Jesus that really serves our own agenda?
“LISTEN TO HIM”
Scripture records that Peter did not know what he was saying, even while he was offering to build something for Jesus. Jesus gave him no reply. Instead, a cloud enveloped them, and a voice spoke: “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him!”
The Father is continually pointing us to the Son as All in All. He is working all things together towards the fulfillment of His Purpose, which is for Christ to have the preeminence in all things. So it is at this point that the Lord Jesus begins to descend into the valley, and the disciples must decide if they will stay on the mountain or follow Him down. The mountain is full of light, power, and glory. But the valley is full of darkness and demons. “It is good for US to be HERE, Lord! Let us build something for You!”
How many tabernacles on the mountaintop have been made in the Name of Jesus - when Jesus has long ago descended into the valley? How many people and places claim the presence and glory of God, when the glory has long ago departed? I can think of several instances in which the Lord genuinely moved in a group, church, or meeting long ago, and now that group, church, or meeting has built an entire movement around the experience. What began in the Spirit is now perpetuated by the flesh, and “it is good for us”. It is a shame that some people cannot realize that there is no presence, or glory, or power, or anything apart from the Lord Jesus. We can claim to have the presence, the glory, and the power, but if we do not have the Lord Himself, then these things are only spiritual counterfeits.
Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fish, and the crowd thought, “It is good for us to be here!” But Jesus left during the night and crossed the lake. The people woke up the next morning to find Him gone, and crossed the lake in a desperate attempt to locate Him. But when they found Jesus, He said, in essence, “You are only following Me because I filled your stomachs with food.” It is important to make this distinction, because I am afraid that if something is deemed “good for us” then we will begin to follow IT and miss the Lord. John records this episode in order to signify that the real miracle is not that the Lord gave them bread to eat, but that the Lord gives Himself to us as Living Bread. Which would you rather have, a full stomach, or eternal life? The presence of God, or God Himself? The glory of God, or God Himself? Do we want salvation, or a Savior? Do we want a healing, or a Great Physician? Do we want what the Lord can give us, or Who the Lord is?
Christians seek many spiritual things: anointing, power, gifts, blessing, fruit, wisdom, prosperity. I pray the Lord will make us thoroughly and completely dissatisfied with THINGS, even the things He gives us, and make us hungry and thirsty for Himself. May we judge things not by whether they are “good for us”, but whether they are good for the Lord, whether His Will is done in them, whether His Need is met by them, whether His Purpose is fulfilled in them, whether His Son is seen through them. He is the Only One, the Beloved Son of God. May the Lord be transfigured before us! Amen.

Shifting from Religion to the Kingdom of God

Shifting from Religion to the Kingdom of God
By Timothy Johns www.rocktribe.org


Facilitating a Paradigm Shift from Religion to the Kingdom of God

Helping God's people transition from the Christian religion to a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ - advancing His kingdom 24/7 as a lifestyle in every area of life.

Helping people change the way they view and experience reality is no easy task. Some call it a "paradigm shift". Thousands of stories describe just how difficult it is to get a large segment of the population to see and do things differently. One story concerns the Swiss watch industry. Not long ago, the Swiss led the world in making the finest watches. These watches were powered by springs, which drove moving gears. Watches were built like this for hundreds of years, and no one expected or desired a change. Thousands of companies and millions of workers had a vested interest in the traditional watch paradigm. Any change was a perceived threat to the old paradigm watchmakers which, in turn, supported its work force. Along came a creative Swiss engineer who designed a completely different kind of watch. It was digital, powered by a small battery with no moving parts. He took his new paradigm watch to the largest Swiss watch companies, and every one of them scoffed at his idea. Finally he decided to attend an international trade show and make his patent available to all bidders. Texas Instruments and Seiko paid relatively small sums for the idea and the rest is history. Because the Swiss refused to see and apply the new paradigm, they lost approximately 80 percent of their market share. Once dominant, they became almost irrelevant.

How about those Wright brothers and their flying machine? Most people thought that no object that heavy could ever fly. The so-called scientific experts were convinced that even if they could make an airplane fly, it would serve no practical purpose. The new paradigm of transporting millions of people by jet-powered airplanes over great distances was inconceivable to 99.999% of the population less than a hundred years ago. And think of wireless phones and internet, two more staggering examples of a paradigm shift in communication.

An even more dramatic paradigm shift is occurring worldwide, one that will cause global transformation. It is the change from the Christian religion into the reality of Christ and His kingdom. Christianity as a religion is declining everywhere, including in the United States. However the Kingdom of God is an ever-expanding reality that will ultimately be the ONLY reality on earth. (see Psalm 2 and Revelation 19-22)

One version of Christianity is a religion invented by people. It is much different from the Kingdom of God, led by Christ the King. Religion is an attempt to reach God and improve our lives now and for eternity by obtaining some state of heaven through human ideas, efforts, and strategies. Religions are designed so that we can remain in power while attempting to get God and others to do what we want, in the way we want it. Religion is a clever enterprise to stay in control, so we can function as our own god. At the same time we try to manipulate the One True God into serving us by using religious language, rituals and sacrifices. But the Kingdom of God is initiated by God, for God's own glory, and involves His will, done His way, by His Spirit, all the time, and in every area of life. He is a living King, who rules another dominion or realm of reality. He has every intention of fully bringing His rule and realm onto Planet Earth through His sons and daughters by His Holy Spirit.

Christianity as a religion is nearly dead in Europe, where only 1-3% of the population identifies themselves as Christian. However the Christian religion is being replaced by another more aggressive religion called Islam. What does Europe, America, and the rest of the world need? Do we need more religion, even if it's the Christian religion? Absolutely not! The earth needs the Lordship of Christ, His powerful, compassionate kingly rule over all of life... a paradigm shift from religion into the Kingdom of God. We need the Reclaiming Of Christ's Kingdom all over the world. That is why we named our international spiritual family, "The R.O.C.K.". It reminds us of the centrality and supremacy of Christ, and our only mandate - to advance Christ's kingdom in every area of life.

Here are a few of the changes that will occur in order to produce this kingdom "paradigm shift":

1. From a secular humanistic people-centered worldview, to a God-centered biblical Kingdom worldview.

2. From emphasizing the clergy or priest as the primary minister, to the priesthood of all believers.

3. From religious activities in a church building, to practicing faith everywhere.

4. From practicing religion in church services, meetings, programs and events, to constantly exchanging the life of Christ to everyone, all the time, anywhere.

5. From restricting our spiritual lives, to a certain day and time to "being and doing" church all the time.

6. From a religious institution, to a spiritual family that connects deeply with one another.

7. From unifying around doctrine and church policy, to unity around the Person of Christ, core values, kingdom vision, and covenant relationships.

8. From a transactional leadership model, to a transformational leadership model.

9. From an institutional model - organizing based on political power, position and pay, to organic relational servant leadership - everyone submits to Christ in one another.

10. From compartmentalizing faith so that it affects only certain areas of life, to integrating Christ's will and ways into every dimension of life - body, soul, spirit, finances, sexuality, relationships, time, work, play, etc.

11. From emphasizing church work as the main way to serve God, to advancing Christ's kingdom everywhere, all the time, in all arenas of life. This includes marriage, family, community, friendships, work, media, arts, education, social services, and civil government.

Janet and I have committed our lives to training and modeling this paradigm shift from Christianity as a religion, to Christ and the Kingdom. It has been a long and hard journey for us personally. We have had our own religious baggage to deal with, let alone helping others to change. However we are enjoying sweet victories. A viable Kingdom family has been forming in the inner city of Kansas City, which has impacted the neighborhood, even helping to reduce crime. We practice being and doing the church as a lifestyle. From small ways (like raising chickens and planting gardens together), to more dramatic ways (like planting small covenant families - house churches), we are trying to be part of this global Kingdom revolution. Our international family is growing in size and depth as we help others move out of religion, and into Christ and His kingdom.

THE QUESTION that CHANGED MY LIFE

THE QUESTION that CHANGED MY LIFE
-by David Ryser.

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school
of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly
searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with
Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across
a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short
version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this:

Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece
and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution;
it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and
became an enterprise. Some of the students were only 18 or 19
years old--barely out of diapers--and I wanted them to understand
and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding,
"An enterprise. That's a business." After a few moments Martha,
the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not
imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was
self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless,
I acknowledged Martha's raised hand, "Yes, Martha." She asked
such a simple question, "A business? But isn't it supposed to be
a body?" I could not envision where this line of questioning was going,
and the only response I could think of was, "Yes." She continued,
"But when a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?"

The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or
spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the
presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were
on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was,
"Wow, I wish I'd thought of that." I didn't dare express that thought
aloud. God had taken over the class.

Martha's question changed my life. For six months, I thought about
her question at least once every day. "When a body becomes a
business, isn't that a prostitute?" There is only one answer to her
question. The answer is "Yes." The American Church, tragically,
is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we
love Him? We don't even know Him; and I mean really know Him.

... I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not
know God--much less love Him. The root of this condition originates
in how we came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what
we were told He would do for us. We were promised that He would
bless us in life and take us to heaven after death. We married Him
for His money, and we don't care if He lives or dies as long as we
can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of God into a business,
merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are commanded
to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ--that's pretty
intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love
someone we don't even know? And even if we do know someone,
is that a guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or
prostitutes?

I was pondering Martha's question again one day, and considered
the question, "What's the difference between a lover and a prostitute?" 
I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does
what she does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but
only as long as you pay. Then I asked the question, "What would
happen if God stopped paying me?"

For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover
my motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of
God? What would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He
never did another thing for me? Would I still love Him? Please
understand, I believe in the promises and blessings of God. The
issue here is not whether God blesses His children; the issue is
the condition of my heart. Why do I serve Him? Are His blessings
in my life the gifts of a loving Father, or are they a wage that I have
earned or a bribe/payment to love Him? Do I love God without any
conditions? It took several months to work through these questions.
Even now I wonder if my desire to love God is always matched by
my attitude and behavior. I still catch myself being disappointed
with God and angry that He has not met some perceived need in
my life. I suspect this is something which is never fully resolved,
but I want more than anything else to be a true lover of God.

So what is it going to be? Which are we, lover or prostitute?
There are no prostitutes in heaven, or in the Kingdom of God for
that matter, but there are plenty of former prostitutes in both
places. Take it from a recovering prostitute when I say there is no
substitute or unconditional, intimate relationship with God. And I
mean there is no palatable substitute available to us (take another
look at Matthew 7:21-23 sometime). We must choose.

-Dr. David Ryser.

Taking Responsbility

Hi all,
This is a bit early and I'll not be sending an email next week due to ministry travels, back 6/20.

Over the course of 4 days I received emails from several ministries, some saying God is judging America, others saying God is not judging America, he is judging the church.

Frankly I think Presidents and Congressional leaders going years back from both parties are to blame, but my point today is that no matter what comes our way, as disciples of Jesus, we are to use everything to grow in the Lord and trust Him through it all.

The blame game
While the devil can certainly be a harassment and add insult to injury, most every situation I've seen is very easily explained by someone's actions, Congress or otherwise, not the devil. When people are under an authority structure; national, state, local, work, military, church, family- decisions good and bad made by those in authority affect those under that authority. That's just life.

When God is working on us to trust him through changes, human nature is to dig in the heels and gripe, or blame others. No matter, we still have to make the decision to trust Him.

Some don't seriously ask the Lord how they should be looking at their situation and what he wants them to learn, oh they may lightly ask, but they won't linger to hear the answer because it's a hard lesson. It's more comfortable and safer not to change, because growing is launching into unknown waters and therefore a scary, humbling and very new experience.

One of the dangers of the victim culture in this country is that no one wants to take responsibility for their actions; it's either the devil did it, or the spouse, or the bank, or the boss, or the government...or, or...

Most everyone reading this has been flipped off at some point in their driving experience by somebody who broke half a dozen laws before they cut in front of you, but they flip you off for inconveniencing them!

A Bible student blamed first the devil and then the bank when they received over $100 in bounced check charges after trying unsuccessfully to 'float' some checks until payday.

I heard on the news today that a lady in a drive through lane was told that they were out of the diet cola she wanted, so she threw her french fries at the attendant, and then sprayed his face with pepper spray!

Now, if I was a recent certificate carrying graduate of the 'Learn how the devil is the source of all your problems' conference, would that have been a spirit named 'McFry' that caused her to act like that, or a 'Diet spirit'?

Maybe, just maybe, if she was a believer, the Lord might have wanted to use that lack of diet cola in her life as a growth tool for patience instead of blaming the guy at the window - ya think?!

I rebuke you...is that you Lord?
A lady came to me one day after church, convinced a 'spirit of condemnation' was telling her to apologize to another lady in the church. Her exact question was: Will the devil direct you to do something that seems scriptural even though you don't want to do it?

Turns out she had said something to hurt the other lady's feelings and knew she did wrong, but was convinced because 'there is therefore now condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus' (Rom 8:1) it was the devil giving her those feelings of 'condemnation' and urging her to make it right with the lady.

She had been rebuking that 'spirit of condemnation' all through church. When I told her she had been rebuking the Spirit of God who was convicting her of doing wrong, she wasn't too excited because she didn't want to do the hard thing and apologize (but she did).

What amazed me is that she manipulated scripture because she couldn't imagine God asking her to humble herself and do a difficult thing. Her theology was that God was her servant ever present to make her more comfortable in this life!

To her, growing more Christ-like each day meant more joy, more peace, more goose bumps found on the cutting edge - she wanted to know the power of his resurrection but not the fellowship of his sufferings. (Philippians 3:10)

I wonder how many Christians rebuke the Lord in a store when He urges them NOT to put things on their Visa and stick to a budget, after all, God wants you to always have abundant life, so God wouldn't be telling me not to charge it! Worse yet, are some blaming the devil for the card payments, like the devil was the one that had to have those shoes or weed eater or new 42" plasma TV?

Back to center
The Lord will always ask us to turn the finger we have pointing at others back around towards us. What is OUR part of the equation? He will always ask us to stop the blame game and look at our own heart.

Have you ever wanted to tell that person driving aggressively and flipping off drivers to relax? What if they took responsibility for their actions and stopped being a danger to themselves and others?

I got the Bible school student with the bounced check situation to acknowledge their wrong doing, and they received mercy at the bank.

And the lady in the drive through? Well, that was a McFry spirit I'm sure.

But the reality is that our first responsibility is to ask the Father what if anything we did wrong, how did we open the door, and to know ourselves well enough to know why we did what we did, and then repent if needed and learn of it. If things are happening beyond our control, then we have to ask what we can do to make the impact less, and how we can grow and trust the Lord through the changes.

Because the Lord builds us from the inside out away from the gaze of others, it affords the opportunity to be honest just between him and us, in very private moments of admission. Those private moments between us are when a person's life turns around. That's the point the momentum changes - when we take responsibility for our actions and determine to use whatever confronts us to grow more Christ-like.

On one level, I really don't care if God is judging America or the body of Christ. I watch with interest, don't get me wrong. But I know that He and I are at peace, walking closer than ever, and in my spirit I have peace.

You see, God is judging me every day; every time I say something in a wrong attitude or tone to my wife, I get convicted, which is judged, and I repent. Every time my mind wanders to things I shouldn't be thinking on, I get convicted which is judged, and he brings me back to center. Every time we weigh to do right or wrong, and choose right, we have judged ourselves.

Every time we are convicted of doing wrong and we confess our sin as I John 1:9 says, we are responding to judgement by judging ourselves and receiving the benefits of a humble heart.

So I'm not afraid for the future, because I know the Father and I are at peace, in fellowship, and he will always lead me through the valley to the other side.

If we do these things, we won't try to blame someone else for what is happening to us, or blame a McFry spirit as the source of our problems, we'll walk in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit!

Some thoughts this day,
Blessings,
John Fenn
www.iFaithhome.org

LK10 Update: THE ALBUQUERQUE PROJECT Saturday, 6 June, 2009 5:50 AM

LK10 Friends,

It was one of those mornings when it seemed like the Lord was speaking from the moment I awoke. "Invite them into an experiment".

It was the last day of a simple church conference I was leading in Albuquerque, NM just a week ago. The audience had been very responsive as we explored the idea of church as family. We had talked about and practiced SASHET (a way of listening to our own heart and the hearts of others in your church) and VIRKLER (a way of hearing God's heart). We had seen that the LK 10:2b PRAYER was central to reaching a city or region. And, now, it seemed that the Lord wanted to take all of this from theory to practice.

When we met together later that morning, I laid out for them what I thought the Lord was inviting them to as a three month experiment (June 1 to September 1). In essence, there were three simple practices which formed a sort of Kingdom "virus". The hypothesis was that these practices were a pathway to two objectives:

1. deep Kingdom transformation of individuals, marriages and families.
2. rapid viral Kingdom multiplication

Here are the three practices...

1. Daily. As close to daily as possible, connect with your prayer partner in person or by phone. Check in with each other using SASHET, share what God is saying to you that day (VIRKLER) and pray with each other. We call this "pair power" and we understand that this is the first and most foundational expression of church. We might call these pairs "embryonic churches" or "churches of two" (CO2).

2. Weekly. At least once each week, share a meal with those in your simple church. Check in with each other using SASHET. Do VIRKER together. Let "church and mission" emerge out of listening.

3. Monthly. At least once a month, meet with others in the ALBUQUERQUE PROJECT to share what you are learning. And, tell others as the Lord leads you to.

The people at the Conference responded with great enthusiasm to this invitation and we commissioned nine embryonic churches over the next couple of hours. We also agreed that we would report on this experiment in the Discussion Forum in LK10. So, if you are interested in learning more about the ALBUQUERQUE PROJECT and in following our progress over the summer, go to the link below. If you post a word of encouragement or comment in this thread, all subsequent posts will show up in your email box.

Link to THE ALBUQUERQUE PROJECT Conversation: http://lk10.com/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,31/func,view/catid,26&id=/id,2333/catid,26/

If the Lord tells you to start a similar experiment in your city or region, let me know.

*Forgot your User Name or Password for LK10? Just hit "Reply", tell me your name and I'll send you that information.


Your brother,

John

John White
Simple Church Coach
LK10: A Community of Practice for Church Planters
http://lk10.com

Appleseed Ministries Video

http://vimeo.com/4949243