Monday, 27 April 2009
Saturday, 25 April 2009
From The Mystery of Sin to the Mystery of Syn II - Diversity
(Click Diversity Pic to View Britain's Got talent exerpt)Because of the way things work we must expect lots of new things which mirror what is going on in the spirit. Some say"First in the Natural, so in the Spirit realm." Others like Morris Cerullo say "All truth is parallel". By that he means that the advancements in the natural realm are mirrored if not more gloriously in the Spirit. It really is no accident that this very year they hope to get the repaired Hadron Collider in Geneva to break down atoms into some of their constituent parts...if only for fractional amounts of time, to help explain the fabric of our universe, and thus how things work on the absolutely huge frame of the known Universe.
And if this be so, it really is no accident that the findings of Norman Grubb and Page Prewitt as to how we work as humans- tripartite beings- body soul spirit- and the consequences of the Fall in genesis 3...it really is no accident that these things are now coming out of the closet, to be discovered by Christians in all the world...affecting how we do life, how we do relationships, how we do church, how we move deep in the Power of the Spirit...and how we kick the devil off the face of God's Earth.
So right in the middle of this series of posts, I am watching TV with Ben. "Britain's Got Talent" which he loves and I secretly like quite a lot...but Christine hates. On come this odd street dance troupe. 3 groups of brothers and various friends. They are called Diversity. All ages. All types of lifestyle...school, college ,work. One in I.T. The main choreography by someone studying Physics at Uni. Apart from their love of dance, they all have nothing in common. Some are tiny. Some really tall.
And I'm thinking Body of Christ. In all the Earth. Absolutely nothing in common apart from a mad love for our Saviour. All being galvanised into an amazing creative troupe to baffle , dazzle,surprise,shock and stun the world.
Three years ago I got this at one of our Conferences in Havant. And it fits in with the synergy message of this series as well as the acceleration theme of the Air Flight Picture of 1978 as well as the 2 winds prophecy which Peter read again in the Lift Up Your Heads O ye Gates message.
The Harlem Globetrotters 19th March 2006-03-19
From now on the Kingdom will be built more in the style of the Harlem Globetrotters.
This simple concept has the most extreme ramifications. Here’s how it works.
The Harlem Globetrotters would break into amazing routines (basketball) several times during a normal match. They would baffle the other team ,baffle the audience and to an extent even themselves , passing the ball at stunning speed, trickshots …even giving the ball to the other side which was so shocking and disturbing that the other team would lose the plot, lose the ball again while the Globetrotters snatch another basket.
God trusts His Son in us by the Holy Spirit, but outside of that He trusts us not one iota. He knows the devil too. He is not building the Church by an overall schedule.
He is building the Church simultaneously, in all continents at once, by that which each one in the Holy Spirit supplies. You may only know one tiny bit, but put your Holy Spirit led quirky, oddball act of obedience alongside millions of others, and you can see the speed and awesome baffling character of the Church.
The Devil has no idea what to do about it. Secular man hardly realises it is happening.
Leadership can facilitate this…but that’s about all. I don’t know what God’s going to do next, neither do you …whether leader, helper, teacher, carer, young or old spiritually, young or old naturally. The spotlight (or the ball) will suddenly be on you.
You will do something amazing. You of yourself can’t do it. But you hear it in your Spirit, act, and then stop and the ball is somewhere else, it’s someone else’s turn.
This morning we heard about the grace or redemptive gifts of Romans 12. And yes we
may predominate to one or other type….but as a slight corrective to that, I felt God say, even that may not mean so much any more. Any one of us may be called momentarily to practically anything. So the most baffled may be ourselves.
For example Moses had many sheep skills, but not too many piling up water in a heap skills….but what he had was meekness…ie God says I think I’ll have this and we’re just dumb enough to say “ OK “ and speak out “ We’re going to have this!!!” and suddenly we find we have water piling skills.
Related to this is the Acceleration Vision of 1978
Acceleration Vision August 1978
The background to this is probably too long…but concerns a testimony of a first ministry trip in France. It didn’t begin that way but the moment I arrived it turned into one. On the first morning my host’s wife was healed of epilepsy and it sort of went on from there.
Because of all we’d been involved with I was too late to go by train to the Dales Bible week, so we had to believe for a flight from Normandy. At the last moment someone cancelled and managed to get a flight. The vision/ experience/ inundation was in this context.
We were on the runway in this small 20 seater plane. And it was like this. The plane was sat there. Nothing appeared to be going on . Then the pilot checked all the dials, all the systems. It was an age. Then the engine props roared. Still nothing. We just sat there. Then……………the pilot releases the brakes……..and well you know the rest
we flew. Many know all about this. Except the Holy Spirit then spoke. With full force. The Church is about to go into a new level. Well since then I’ve learned about the third Level but more of that another time.
The Church would spend a long time appearing to do nothing. But every system would be checked. (Obviously this has to be understood spiritually. It does not mean manmade stuff). We are about to move at great speed. It is vital that things are in order, tight and shipshape. Then there would be a lot of energy, spiritual noise, then suddenly the brakes would be released .
This is ofcourse very similar to the 2 wind prophecy given through Derek Prince in the late eighties.
And if this be so, it really is no accident that the findings of Norman Grubb and Page Prewitt as to how we work as humans- tripartite beings- body soul spirit- and the consequences of the Fall in genesis 3...it really is no accident that these things are now coming out of the closet, to be discovered by Christians in all the world...affecting how we do life, how we do relationships, how we do church, how we move deep in the Power of the Spirit...and how we kick the devil off the face of God's Earth.
So right in the middle of this series of posts, I am watching TV with Ben. "Britain's Got Talent" which he loves and I secretly like quite a lot...but Christine hates. On come this odd street dance troupe. 3 groups of brothers and various friends. They are called Diversity. All ages. All types of lifestyle...school, college ,work. One in I.T. The main choreography by someone studying Physics at Uni. Apart from their love of dance, they all have nothing in common. Some are tiny. Some really tall.
And I'm thinking Body of Christ. In all the Earth. Absolutely nothing in common apart from a mad love for our Saviour. All being galvanised into an amazing creative troupe to baffle , dazzle,surprise,shock and stun the world.
Three years ago I got this at one of our Conferences in Havant. And it fits in with the synergy message of this series as well as the acceleration theme of the Air Flight Picture of 1978 as well as the 2 winds prophecy which Peter read again in the Lift Up Your Heads O ye Gates message.
The Harlem Globetrotters 19th March 2006-03-19
From now on the Kingdom will be built more in the style of the Harlem Globetrotters.
This simple concept has the most extreme ramifications. Here’s how it works.
The Harlem Globetrotters would break into amazing routines (basketball) several times during a normal match. They would baffle the other team ,baffle the audience and to an extent even themselves , passing the ball at stunning speed, trickshots …even giving the ball to the other side which was so shocking and disturbing that the other team would lose the plot, lose the ball again while the Globetrotters snatch another basket.
God trusts His Son in us by the Holy Spirit, but outside of that He trusts us not one iota. He knows the devil too. He is not building the Church by an overall schedule.
He is building the Church simultaneously, in all continents at once, by that which each one in the Holy Spirit supplies. You may only know one tiny bit, but put your Holy Spirit led quirky, oddball act of obedience alongside millions of others, and you can see the speed and awesome baffling character of the Church.
The Devil has no idea what to do about it. Secular man hardly realises it is happening.
Leadership can facilitate this…but that’s about all. I don’t know what God’s going to do next, neither do you …whether leader, helper, teacher, carer, young or old spiritually, young or old naturally. The spotlight (or the ball) will suddenly be on you.
You will do something amazing. You of yourself can’t do it. But you hear it in your Spirit, act, and then stop and the ball is somewhere else, it’s someone else’s turn.
This morning we heard about the grace or redemptive gifts of Romans 12. And yes we
may predominate to one or other type….but as a slight corrective to that, I felt God say, even that may not mean so much any more. Any one of us may be called momentarily to practically anything. So the most baffled may be ourselves.
For example Moses had many sheep skills, but not too many piling up water in a heap skills….but what he had was meekness…ie God says I think I’ll have this and we’re just dumb enough to say “ OK “ and speak out “ We’re going to have this!!!” and suddenly we find we have water piling skills.
Related to this is the Acceleration Vision of 1978
Acceleration Vision August 1978
The background to this is probably too long…but concerns a testimony of a first ministry trip in France. It didn’t begin that way but the moment I arrived it turned into one. On the first morning my host’s wife was healed of epilepsy and it sort of went on from there.
Because of all we’d been involved with I was too late to go by train to the Dales Bible week, so we had to believe for a flight from Normandy. At the last moment someone cancelled and managed to get a flight. The vision/ experience/ inundation was in this context.
We were on the runway in this small 20 seater plane. And it was like this. The plane was sat there. Nothing appeared to be going on . Then the pilot checked all the dials, all the systems. It was an age. Then the engine props roared. Still nothing. We just sat there. Then……………the pilot releases the brakes……..and well you know the rest
we flew. Many know all about this. Except the Holy Spirit then spoke. With full force. The Church is about to go into a new level. Well since then I’ve learned about the third Level but more of that another time.
The Church would spend a long time appearing to do nothing. But every system would be checked. (Obviously this has to be understood spiritually. It does not mean manmade stuff). We are about to move at great speed. It is vital that things are in order, tight and shipshape. Then there would be a lot of energy, spiritual noise, then suddenly the brakes would be released .
This is ofcourse very similar to the 2 wind prophecy given through Derek Prince in the late eighties.
Friday, 24 April 2009
From the Mystery of Sin to the Mystery of Syn
Romans 12
Living Sacrifices
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b]faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Love
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[d]says the Lord. 20On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
****************************
Psalm of Ascents - Ps122 verse3: Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together . KJV.
Fifteen Steps Out by Bob Mumford -1969
The new Jerusalem is being built now.And of what is it being built? Living Stones. You and me. A pile of stones does not make a building.A minister asked me to come and see his church.He had 1200 members,he said. So I went.But I didn't see a church.I saw 1200 stones. I said,"Beautiful stones, when are you going to start building?"
He said,"What do you mean?" I said,"The stones have to be chipped,fitted and builded."
He said," You should meet Sister Smith, she is very spiritual." I said, "She is? Who is she spiritual with?"
***************************
Paul Noble referred recently in Prophetic Voice to God telling him that this was a year when there would be a synergy in teachings and revelation across the Body of Christ.
I referred last year to how the Body of Christ is built by each person supplying. That the whole Holy Spirit realm once we enter the Holy place is built by the Holy Spirit working through each believer's gift. Ern Baxter describes the 1 Corinthians pattern as "everyone hatha"...so everyone hath a gift for the upbuilding one of another. And by some miraculous means God weaves these contributions together week by week in a meeting into a glorious whole. So each week we practice ....totteringly...to walk the 3rd level walk...of Christ as Me...initially in meetings...then as we grow stronger and more confident...we export this walk to the highways and byways of daily living.
So far so good.
The Fall left us corporately in tatters. We took on the nature of our father the devil...who is pretty disjointed and dysfunctional himself. We only related to others in as far as they could scratch our back. The nature of the devil's family is disjointed, split into schisms...Paul calls it "party spirit"....and in our early Christian life we import that into the church. So we say "I am of Apollos, I am of Paul. I am of Rob Rufus. I am of Benny Hinn." Paul says when we are mature we know all the people are there for all of us!!!! But by then our spirit has expanded to be able to take "some" of Mark Driscoll, with loads of Rob Rufus. With a topping of gazillions of historic saints too.
The Devil, like the Family that bears his resemblance, the Mafia, rules by fear. And rules from the top of a pyramid. Which ofcourse is where he likes to refer to himself as No.1.
While young in the Lord, and without the severe breakings which smash this out of our system, we import the same pyramids into the churches we are in. Who me? But I am so nice. Yes Me.
The third level is all about the Mystery of Syn. God's life miraculously synchronises all of us into a seamless whole. Somehow he takes all our backgrounds , cultures and nationalities and ages, and works us into a Body, a Temple prepared out in the quarries...then without a sound, fitted together first in meetings, then in our localities....then as the pattern catches on...the glory will link up like loads of rain puddles finding each other and joining into one mass of water. But that's for another post on the subject of piano tuning and harmonisation. (A Little clue there!)
After the last post, you would have thought I'd got all the stuff out of my system! But no, as I was tuning, I really sensed I should press home on this.
I was saying that many super anointed ministries, who have served God faithfully for years...are kind of operating in a 2nd level pattern. A talking heads operation!. God Channel is filled with it.
Morris Cerullo tries to bring in diversity by getting 10-20 of the most anointed current speakers to help bring teaching in a short sharp intense training session called "School of Ministry".
The issue is this! It's artificial! It's not organic. And the world can smell a rat!
Local churches are organic. They are real! Real life lived out for the better or worse!!
Trouble is...they haven't a clue about the 3rd level. So doing stuff as churches usually resorts to puppet shows. Singing choruses in the streets. Whipping together a few girls who like contemporary dance....oh we know all the tricks don't we!!!
So that doesn't work either...well not in a proper New testament sense.
Ministries of God at the moment, apart from Jerry Savelle, Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, hardly ever relate together. They can be super anointed on a platform together. But they don't actually like each other. Not for every day purposes.
Believe me I am talking out of reality. Few of you have lived 24/7 for 6 years in a Christian Community....and 10 or more years in a less committed structural lifestyle. So right now, you can just shutup and say ...on this matter at least...yes Chris!
So franchising out 2nd level ministries that haven't the first clue about
living together extensively
of praying each other free
of bearing with one another as the yuk surfaces, the hurts hurt,
and seeing each other through
hmmm... do you see why I take a lot of what is out there with a big pinch of salt!
Especially "warehouse churches".
Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, I just pray that that precious church in Hong Kong does not become just another "warehouse church". Lord she is so precious in your eyes. if there is anything in Rob of the Pyramid builder still left in him...deal with that man...so the precious, precious truths on grace lead to more Holy Spirit power in the whole church...and to a life lived that means Hong Kong never have to smell a rat! But are saved in glorious "knit together quantities!" Amen.
Living Sacrifices
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b]faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Love
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[d]says the Lord. 20On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
****************************
Psalm of Ascents - Ps122 verse3: Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together . KJV.
Fifteen Steps Out by Bob Mumford -1969
The new Jerusalem is being built now.And of what is it being built? Living Stones. You and me. A pile of stones does not make a building.A minister asked me to come and see his church.He had 1200 members,he said. So I went.But I didn't see a church.I saw 1200 stones. I said,"Beautiful stones, when are you going to start building?"
He said,"What do you mean?" I said,"The stones have to be chipped,fitted and builded."
He said," You should meet Sister Smith, she is very spiritual." I said, "She is? Who is she spiritual with?"
***************************
Paul Noble referred recently in Prophetic Voice to God telling him that this was a year when there would be a synergy in teachings and revelation across the Body of Christ.
I referred last year to how the Body of Christ is built by each person supplying. That the whole Holy Spirit realm once we enter the Holy place is built by the Holy Spirit working through each believer's gift. Ern Baxter describes the 1 Corinthians pattern as "everyone hatha"...so everyone hath a gift for the upbuilding one of another. And by some miraculous means God weaves these contributions together week by week in a meeting into a glorious whole. So each week we practice ....totteringly...to walk the 3rd level walk...of Christ as Me...initially in meetings...then as we grow stronger and more confident...we export this walk to the highways and byways of daily living.
So far so good.
The Fall left us corporately in tatters. We took on the nature of our father the devil...who is pretty disjointed and dysfunctional himself. We only related to others in as far as they could scratch our back. The nature of the devil's family is disjointed, split into schisms...Paul calls it "party spirit"....and in our early Christian life we import that into the church. So we say "I am of Apollos, I am of Paul. I am of Rob Rufus. I am of Benny Hinn." Paul says when we are mature we know all the people are there for all of us!!!! But by then our spirit has expanded to be able to take "some" of Mark Driscoll, with loads of Rob Rufus. With a topping of gazillions of historic saints too.
The Devil, like the Family that bears his resemblance, the Mafia, rules by fear. And rules from the top of a pyramid. Which ofcourse is where he likes to refer to himself as No.1.
While young in the Lord, and without the severe breakings which smash this out of our system, we import the same pyramids into the churches we are in. Who me? But I am so nice. Yes Me.
The third level is all about the Mystery of Syn. God's life miraculously synchronises all of us into a seamless whole. Somehow he takes all our backgrounds , cultures and nationalities and ages, and works us into a Body, a Temple prepared out in the quarries...then without a sound, fitted together first in meetings, then in our localities....then as the pattern catches on...the glory will link up like loads of rain puddles finding each other and joining into one mass of water. But that's for another post on the subject of piano tuning and harmonisation. (A Little clue there!)
After the last post, you would have thought I'd got all the stuff out of my system! But no, as I was tuning, I really sensed I should press home on this.
I was saying that many super anointed ministries, who have served God faithfully for years...are kind of operating in a 2nd level pattern. A talking heads operation!. God Channel is filled with it.
Morris Cerullo tries to bring in diversity by getting 10-20 of the most anointed current speakers to help bring teaching in a short sharp intense training session called "School of Ministry".
The issue is this! It's artificial! It's not organic. And the world can smell a rat!
Local churches are organic. They are real! Real life lived out for the better or worse!!
Trouble is...they haven't a clue about the 3rd level. So doing stuff as churches usually resorts to puppet shows. Singing choruses in the streets. Whipping together a few girls who like contemporary dance....oh we know all the tricks don't we!!!
So that doesn't work either...well not in a proper New testament sense.
Ministries of God at the moment, apart from Jerry Savelle, Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, hardly ever relate together. They can be super anointed on a platform together. But they don't actually like each other. Not for every day purposes.
Believe me I am talking out of reality. Few of you have lived 24/7 for 6 years in a Christian Community....and 10 or more years in a less committed structural lifestyle. So right now, you can just shutup and say ...on this matter at least...yes Chris!
So franchising out 2nd level ministries that haven't the first clue about
living together extensively
of praying each other free
of bearing with one another as the yuk surfaces, the hurts hurt,
and seeing each other through
hmmm... do you see why I take a lot of what is out there with a big pinch of salt!
Especially "warehouse churches".
Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, I just pray that that precious church in Hong Kong does not become just another "warehouse church". Lord she is so precious in your eyes. if there is anything in Rob of the Pyramid builder still left in him...deal with that man...so the precious, precious truths on grace lead to more Holy Spirit power in the whole church...and to a life lived that means Hong Kong never have to smell a rat! But are saved in glorious "knit together quantities!" Amen.
Monday, 20 April 2009
A Third-Level Approach to Ministry IV - Frank Viola's Blog - and my take on "America The Beautiful Franchise Corp."
Frank Viola not only writes good books, but here is his blog and in the present post he talks about The Divine Commodity.
"I always enjoy meeting the people who write the books I read. It adds a certain texture to the experience.
Last month, I was in a two-day meeting in Chicago that drew various Christian leaders from around the country. Skye Jethani was present at this meeting, and it was the first time we met in person.
Skye attended with some other folks on the Christianity Today staff, Marshall Shelley and Kevin Miller. I’ve been reading Shelley and Miller for years, as I’ve been a devoted reader of CT since I was in my early 20s (I, of course, am only 29 now, but that’s beside the point).
Meeting these men in person was a neat experience. Shelley and Miller were delightful, and as can be imagined, they were both incredibly sharp and insightful.
I was also impressed by Skye. And I’m not *only* speaking of his fantastic hair cut — which is striking in its own right (may his tribe increase!). But what he brought to the table in our meetings resonated very strongly with my own heart.
On the last day of the event, Skye handed me his new book, The Divine Commodity.
Two things stood out immediately. First, the cover - it’s absolutely gorgeous. Hardback with a killer design imprinted instead of on a paper sleeve (I never liked those sleeves).
Second, the endorsements. When influential authors like Greg Boyd, Alan Hirsch, and Brian McLaren all endorse the same book, you’d be very wise to take notice of it. And you’d be wiser to secure a copy and read it.
I began reading the book on the plane on my way back home.
Before I plunge in here, people who know me can testify to the following. 1) I’m not easily impressed. In fact, I’m the guy who airs on the side of being monumentally UNimpressed by most things in the Christian world today. 2) I’m not inclined to be complimentary unless I feel it’s deserved. You won’t find me pouring butter all over anyone (the exception being Mr. Lobster).
I’ll leave it to the other bloggers to write a blow-by-blow review of the book. Instead, I’d like to make a few observations on how the terrain looks from my hill, a few personal reactions, and then my question to Skye.
OBSERVATIONS
1. The writing style. It’s excellent. Skye’s book scores well above average here. It’s well written, clear, and holds the attention of the reader. That latter part is not easy to do with someone like me. I’ll shamelessly admit that I move into ADHD mode whenever a book is in my hands. It takes A LOT for a book to grab me … and even more for it to keep me.
2. The subject. Hugely important and so little talked about. I’ve been saying it for years: The church of Jesus Christ is dying for a lack of creativity and imagination. We Christians, as a whole, are the most unimaginative people on the planet. The creativity and imagination of Divinity is resident within us, but it’s rarely expressed as a whole. I believe there’s a hidden obvious reason for this (which I’ll discuss in a minute), but in short, it’s a problem of huge proportions. Especially since our God is the most creative Person in the universe.
3. The point. Skye does a great job unfolding the problem and identifying some of the nuances surrounding it. He makes great use of quotations by other authors, and uses van Gogh as a template for each chapter. You will learn a lot of things you didn’t know before reading this book, and it will provoke you to think.
4. The rating. I give it 5 stars, and I hope that both of my blog readers will go out and purchase a copy of the book. You can get it from any Christian bookstore or from Amazon.com. I suspect that Amazon has the best prices (click on the book cover).
PERSONAL REACTIONS
Beyond enjoying the book, I want to state what I believe to be one of the greatest obstacles and hindrances to unleashing the creativity and imagination resident in the Body of Christ today.
It’s the perfunctory way that most of us do church. The 500-year old Sunday morning Protestant order of worship has been set in concrete for the last five decades and most Protestant and evangelical churches simply will not change it.
To my mind, this is one of the most uncreative and unimaginative things that’s been invented by the minds of mortal men. I realize that some pastors may think they’ve broken with it by substituting pews with chairs, having the worship team sing 5 songs instead of 10, trimming down the sermon from 50 minutes to 20 minutes, having coffee before the service starts, not using bulletins, etc. etc.
But let’s be honest. These are minor tweaks. The fact is, this ritual renders most of God’s people passive for the entire event. (And God’s people call it “going to church.”) The ritual is more akin to a spectator sport than anything else. Yes, you can worship God and sing songs in your pew or chair, but beyond that, there’s little to no participation. The creativity of the Body is quite limited as a result.
I live in a world where God’s people gather for church meetings that have endless variety in them. Open participation is present in these gatherings. It’s the norm, not the exception. And the kinds of meetings to express Jesus Christ are endless. There’s no static ritual that the churches are stuck in. The variety is as vast as the unsearchable riches of our Lord Himself. Further, the creativity of God’s people is constantly encouraged and watered. And the results are exciting, dramatic, and often unpredictable.
I’ve discovered that to the average church going Christian, what I’ve just said above has no points of contact with their experience. They can’t even imagine meetings like this. (That’s the confession of many whom I’ve talked with by the way.)
The reason: They’ve been given only one experience of “church,” and it’s the only grid through which to understand the meetings of God’s people. That, or a Bible study or prayer meeting. And those are fairly typical as well.
Of course, there’s a price to pay for having the kind of rich, open-participatory church meetings I’ve described. It requires that every member put their hands to the plow and prepare spiritually for their gatherings and take responsibility to express their portion of Christ in them.
Attending a typical church service with the 500-year old order of worship in place is far easier and much more convenient. Nothing is required except showing up. The show will go on nonetheless.
I realize that many people enjoy the Sunday order of worship. And that’s fine. But we’re talking about *hindrances* to the creativity and imagination of the church of Jesus Christ. And we shouldn’t be afraid to face this one question head on:
“Is it POSSIBLE that the way we typically do church has hindered the creativity of God’s people to think outside the box?” Is that possible?
Last month, I was speaking at George Fox Seminary and I made the following statement: “I think we should take the Sunday morning order of worship out behind the barn and shoot it.”
To my surprise, the audience began to applaud.
Point: There’s restlessness in the Body of Christ today. There’s a certain boredom that a significant number of Christians are experiencing with the typical way church is done today. And lack of imagination and creativity = boredom. And there’s nothing boring about Jesus Christ when He’s being expressed in His fullness by His people. He’s anything but boring.
That said, I believe Skye’s book will help to show us the problems in our lack of creativity, and it will help us to begin to explore new and fresh ways to be church in this generation. And hopefully, to take the risks of thinking outside the box and doing church differently than it’s been done over the last 500 years.
Not to put too fine a point on it: The church of Jesus Christ is the most glorious woman on the planet. Right or wrong, I see her in the main today hiding her glory under a bushel. Her spiritual instincts, which includes her creativity, have been largely deadened. As a result, she has been veiled to most of us.
If we can entertain the possibility that there just may be a better way to unleash the native creativity in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ today, then I believe the Lord will be able to gain more for Himself and His eternal purpose. And He will be able to express His glory through His much loved Bride in multi-splendid ways. Or to quote Paul, “that the multi-splendored wisdom of God (which is Christ Himself) might be made known through the church …”
Note those last three words … “through the church.” "
Last month, I was in a two-day meeting in Chicago that drew various Christian leaders from around the country. Skye Jethani was present at this meeting, and it was the first time we met in person.
Skye attended with some other folks on the Christianity Today staff, Marshall Shelley and Kevin Miller. I’ve been reading Shelley and Miller for years, as I’ve been a devoted reader of CT since I was in my early 20s (I, of course, am only 29 now, but that’s beside the point).
Meeting these men in person was a neat experience. Shelley and Miller were delightful, and as can be imagined, they were both incredibly sharp and insightful.
I was also impressed by Skye. And I’m not *only* speaking of his fantastic hair cut — which is striking in its own right (may his tribe increase!). But what he brought to the table in our meetings resonated very strongly with my own heart.
On the last day of the event, Skye handed me his new book, The Divine Commodity.
Two things stood out immediately. First, the cover - it’s absolutely gorgeous. Hardback with a killer design imprinted instead of on a paper sleeve (I never liked those sleeves).
Second, the endorsements. When influential authors like Greg Boyd, Alan Hirsch, and Brian McLaren all endorse the same book, you’d be very wise to take notice of it. And you’d be wiser to secure a copy and read it.
I began reading the book on the plane on my way back home.
Before I plunge in here, people who know me can testify to the following. 1) I’m not easily impressed. In fact, I’m the guy who airs on the side of being monumentally UNimpressed by most things in the Christian world today. 2) I’m not inclined to be complimentary unless I feel it’s deserved. You won’t find me pouring butter all over anyone (the exception being Mr. Lobster).
I’ll leave it to the other bloggers to write a blow-by-blow review of the book. Instead, I’d like to make a few observations on how the terrain looks from my hill, a few personal reactions, and then my question to Skye.
OBSERVATIONS
1. The writing style. It’s excellent. Skye’s book scores well above average here. It’s well written, clear, and holds the attention of the reader. That latter part is not easy to do with someone like me. I’ll shamelessly admit that I move into ADHD mode whenever a book is in my hands. It takes A LOT for a book to grab me … and even more for it to keep me.
2. The subject. Hugely important and so little talked about. I’ve been saying it for years: The church of Jesus Christ is dying for a lack of creativity and imagination. We Christians, as a whole, are the most unimaginative people on the planet. The creativity and imagination of Divinity is resident within us, but it’s rarely expressed as a whole. I believe there’s a hidden obvious reason for this (which I’ll discuss in a minute), but in short, it’s a problem of huge proportions. Especially since our God is the most creative Person in the universe.
3. The point. Skye does a great job unfolding the problem and identifying some of the nuances surrounding it. He makes great use of quotations by other authors, and uses van Gogh as a template for each chapter. You will learn a lot of things you didn’t know before reading this book, and it will provoke you to think.
4. The rating. I give it 5 stars, and I hope that both of my blog readers will go out and purchase a copy of the book. You can get it from any Christian bookstore or from Amazon.com. I suspect that Amazon has the best prices (click on the book cover).
PERSONAL REACTIONS
Beyond enjoying the book, I want to state what I believe to be one of the greatest obstacles and hindrances to unleashing the creativity and imagination resident in the Body of Christ today.
It’s the perfunctory way that most of us do church. The 500-year old Sunday morning Protestant order of worship has been set in concrete for the last five decades and most Protestant and evangelical churches simply will not change it.
To my mind, this is one of the most uncreative and unimaginative things that’s been invented by the minds of mortal men. I realize that some pastors may think they’ve broken with it by substituting pews with chairs, having the worship team sing 5 songs instead of 10, trimming down the sermon from 50 minutes to 20 minutes, having coffee before the service starts, not using bulletins, etc. etc.
But let’s be honest. These are minor tweaks. The fact is, this ritual renders most of God’s people passive for the entire event. (And God’s people call it “going to church.”) The ritual is more akin to a spectator sport than anything else. Yes, you can worship God and sing songs in your pew or chair, but beyond that, there’s little to no participation. The creativity of the Body is quite limited as a result.
I live in a world where God’s people gather for church meetings that have endless variety in them. Open participation is present in these gatherings. It’s the norm, not the exception. And the kinds of meetings to express Jesus Christ are endless. There’s no static ritual that the churches are stuck in. The variety is as vast as the unsearchable riches of our Lord Himself. Further, the creativity of God’s people is constantly encouraged and watered. And the results are exciting, dramatic, and often unpredictable.
I’ve discovered that to the average church going Christian, what I’ve just said above has no points of contact with their experience. They can’t even imagine meetings like this. (That’s the confession of many whom I’ve talked with by the way.)
The reason: They’ve been given only one experience of “church,” and it’s the only grid through which to understand the meetings of God’s people. That, or a Bible study or prayer meeting. And those are fairly typical as well.
Of course, there’s a price to pay for having the kind of rich, open-participatory church meetings I’ve described. It requires that every member put their hands to the plow and prepare spiritually for their gatherings and take responsibility to express their portion of Christ in them.
Attending a typical church service with the 500-year old order of worship in place is far easier and much more convenient. Nothing is required except showing up. The show will go on nonetheless.
I realize that many people enjoy the Sunday order of worship. And that’s fine. But we’re talking about *hindrances* to the creativity and imagination of the church of Jesus Christ. And we shouldn’t be afraid to face this one question head on:
“Is it POSSIBLE that the way we typically do church has hindered the creativity of God’s people to think outside the box?” Is that possible?
Last month, I was speaking at George Fox Seminary and I made the following statement: “I think we should take the Sunday morning order of worship out behind the barn and shoot it.”
To my surprise, the audience began to applaud.
Point: There’s restlessness in the Body of Christ today. There’s a certain boredom that a significant number of Christians are experiencing with the typical way church is done today. And lack of imagination and creativity = boredom. And there’s nothing boring about Jesus Christ when He’s being expressed in His fullness by His people. He’s anything but boring.
That said, I believe Skye’s book will help to show us the problems in our lack of creativity, and it will help us to begin to explore new and fresh ways to be church in this generation. And hopefully, to take the risks of thinking outside the box and doing church differently than it’s been done over the last 500 years.
Not to put too fine a point on it: The church of Jesus Christ is the most glorious woman on the planet. Right or wrong, I see her in the main today hiding her glory under a bushel. Her spiritual instincts, which includes her creativity, have been largely deadened. As a result, she has been veiled to most of us.
If we can entertain the possibility that there just may be a better way to unleash the native creativity in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ today, then I believe the Lord will be able to gain more for Himself and His eternal purpose. And He will be able to express His glory through His much loved Bride in multi-splendid ways. Or to quote Paul, “that the multi-splendored wisdom of God (which is Christ Himself) might be made known through the church …”
Note those last three words … “through the church.” "
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Or to quote Paul"that the multi-splendored wisdom of God(which is Christ Himself)might be made known through the Church..."
My note to all this.
I'd be interested in reading this book. I just get slightly scared of Americans having great big-scale vision , then using Henry Ford production plant techniques to roll it out into the whole world. Give an American a great idea and he will franchise it- even while you are still working on the blueprint. "But we're not finished yet- we're only at the 2nd level" "That don't matter pardner, we'll pick up the pieces later!!When we roll out the next edition." This in a nutshell is my take on Morris Cerullo and Rheinhardt Bonnke, though ofcourse Rheinhardt is German!
What Americans have largely failed to realise....but hey they got 100 billion miles further than anything in England!!!....is that the third level is its own roll out mass production technique...containing its own built-in creativity and integrity....it's called Fatherhood replica reproduction...and one man at this level...St Paul ..... seemed to roll out hundreds of churches or subchurches in less time than it took for Henry Ford to develop his product fully. (I'm not by this, recommending one man ministry again- but rather my focus is that we co-work with God to see teams of 3rd levellers raised up.But this last sentence shows what can happen when just one third leveller like Paul shows up)
Now as the Catholic Church will seek to impress on you, as if they had anything to do with it....(they kind of claim sole legal right to owning anything before they invented their setup).... anyhow they will talk of the Desert Fathers: Third level men of great wisdom, power and spiritual stature in the early church.
Is it not an affront to the name of Christ that we see American ministries striding the Earth solo and under their own banners.
Are we saying by this that a.) we are only into Kenneth Copeland. Morris Cerullo. Benny Hinn. Rheinhardt Bonnke........and dare I say it.....the transitional ministry Rob Rufus......Or are we building the Body of Christ? And I know saints, that all of the above will freely point out that they are all building the Kingdom of God. Morris always but always says
"this is not the work of a man, but the work of the Holy Spirit..."
And I know and believe all these men. But what happens when however much you point to God...your ministry pattern is basically 2nd level. You are a talking head in a symbiotic relationship with an idolising crowd- there to do wonders like a performing poodle. The whole pattern creaks under the strain these days.
Are we also saying by this b). By accepting these ministries as status quo...that Jesus is not powerful enough to build His own Body thankyou very much. We are saying, while John Wimber was good, encouraging the saints to minister namelessly....the real power is in the "power ministry names of the few"!!!
Well I do not believe this. I really believe that once people have walked with the principles in this blog, such that they each become third levellers....we can BEGIN TO see teams...not only of the pattern in the Philippines with Mel Tari....yoked together in the gospel, ministering in power...namelessly....
but, because that was short-lived and a kind of first fruits thing.....now a whole bunch of us who
understand what went wrong in Genesis 3
who minister as teams
who each in our own right is a "Father " ministry as laid out in 1 John 2
who as individuals , but incredibly more so in teams, move in the Power of God.
See, right now.....Rob Rufus could take a whole load of City Church into the mainland of China(visas permitting) and there is enough anointing collectively for them to see great signs and wonders.
But they are not 3rd levellers yet. Rob's on the way...but he hasn't really seen the "independence thing" full on at the core of his being yet. His people are just at the beginning stages of taking the reckoning verses of Romans 6 on board. The full holocaust has not hit them yet....after which the church, if it stands it, will move from being a 2nd level "Rob and his flock" type thing to being a full orbiting 3rd level affair. But maybe that's not his vision. perhaps he just wants to be a Morris Cerullo type of huge mega church where he is doing bigger and bigger miracles in the centre.
Well .That's not my vision. I want St Paul size miracles but in a "Propulsion unit type ringburner setting."
I actually believe Rob wants this too.
Further background reading on:
A cuckoo leaves its eggs...
in other bird's nests and lets them grow.
Which is my way of saying that this is a kind of non-post, and that instead of cutting and pasting as per usual I actually want you to visit the pages that I have been laying eggs in.
Firstly, I wanted to try and encourage Ursula along the line of my recent posts, trying to explain what a hard job "visual" people have in our left-brain culture.
This is a link to her superb walk-in experience in heaven and my comment. It is a key to understanding Ursula, the revelation of grace, and to how tomorrow's church is a bit different to today's.
This is a link to a comment I dared to place on "the Dave and Dale Garratt site"
but I want you to read the entire post because it is so in line with some of the stuff I've been writing and the reference to Madame Guyon lately. This also needs to be read in the context of Ursula's latest blog on her reply to Jesus asking her how much she wanted....
Which is my way of saying that this is a kind of non-post, and that instead of cutting and pasting as per usual I actually want you to visit the pages that I have been laying eggs in.
Firstly, I wanted to try and encourage Ursula along the line of my recent posts, trying to explain what a hard job "visual" people have in our left-brain culture.
This is a link to her superb walk-in experience in heaven and my comment. It is a key to understanding Ursula, the revelation of grace, and to how tomorrow's church is a bit different to today's.
This is a link to a comment I dared to place on "the Dave and Dale Garratt site"
but I want you to read the entire post because it is so in line with some of the stuff I've been writing and the reference to Madame Guyon lately. This also needs to be read in the context of Ursula's latest blog on her reply to Jesus asking her how much she wanted....
Thursday, 16 April 2009
THE BIG CHURCH DAY OUT
WELCOME
There's a reason for the name; TheBigChurchDayOut doesn't just describe the host of passionate worship leaders, excellent bands
and the fun all will be having on May 24th this Spring. It also does a pretty good job of describing the make-up of all those people who are going to be turning up too. Young and old, urban and rural,and every other branch of the family besides... we'll all be there; the Church celebrating together the faith that's bigger than any one of us.
So the TheBigChurchDayOut will be something special. Sure it will be a great festival alternative; with one of the last ever UK appearances from Delirious as well as Michael W Smith, Israel Houghton
There's a reason for the name; TheBigChurchDayOut doesn't just describe the host of passionate worship leaders, excellent bands
and the fun all will be having on May 24th this Spring. It also does a pretty good job of describing the make-up of all those people who are going to be turning up too. Young and old, urban and rural,and every other branch of the family besides... we'll all be there; the Church celebrating together the faith that's bigger than any one of us.
So the TheBigChurchDayOut will be something special. Sure it will be a great festival alternative; with one of the last ever UK appearances from Delirious as well as Michael W Smith, Israel Houghton
and New Breed, Graham Kendrick, YFriday, Lou Fellingham,
Cathy Burton, and The Kings Chamber Orchestra. And the location - the beautiful country home of Wiston House in West Sussex - the perfect backdrop for a perfect family day out.
Cathy Burton, and The Kings Chamber Orchestra. And the location - the beautiful country home of Wiston House in West Sussex - the perfect backdrop for a perfect family day out.
Xara Xtreme
I want to let you into a secret. Xara Xtreme.
Many of you bloggers and personal webpage authors run busy families. Or are just simply not in the market for professional software prices. Adobe Photoshop is the current standard, and I know Adobe have produced "Elements" to fill the gap in this market.
Well, over the years of perusing computer mags, I became aware of Xara.http://www.xara.com/uk/products/xtreme
Their programmes grew and grew in power and now they not only have one of the most user friendly photo and drawing packages "Xtreme" but do a web authoring package "Web Designer", which is also just about everything you'd ever need....but at a fraction of the cost. The best way to get to know their stuff is to watch their demo movies.
I use Xtreme for messing around with photos here, creating designs, trying to illustrate 3rd level stuff....when as you know it's interior stuff...so you can't hand it to someone and say here's a packet of Jesus Christ, just plant it here in your stomach and it'll grow and you'll raise all the dead in your neighbourhood by Tuesday!. (Well why not I just thought?!)
I've used Xtreme for preparing the cover and words booklet to "Early Harvest". I've not really had too much success with the animation part of Xtreme...but I have not given enough time to it. It's not particularly complicated.
On their site you will find THE MOST inspiring pieces of artwork and illustrations from intricate watches and microscopes to the most incredible portraits.All done in Xtreme.
Their original speciality was rotating word graphics and logos for webpages.
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
The Third Level is about Union
The first two levels although distinct from each other...compared to the third level are but a foyer, a vestibule,or reception hall. They are where you take your hat and coat off. You are greeted respectfully and in a welcoming way. The conversation is shallow. Because this area is not for staying in. It's sole purpose is to receive you, then usher you through to the main area.
I wrote to Julie on Facebook about Kelanie Gloeckler and what an inspiration her CD "Bending to Hear" has been. (Jamie sent me a copy for Christmas)Then I was pretty forthright about the 80s Hosanna Series as a comparison. I've been thinking about that all day. Did I mean what I said? And I've come to the conclusion I did.
Many of the 80s songs still live on today. They were inspired. But what happened was we loved the songs...singing the songs...more than connecting with our Jesus. This can be compared to self-gratification instead of love-making. The object of our love is to be Jesus. The Living One. Praise is to connect us to this Living One. No matter what He may want to say or do with us or through us. Praise that stays in the foyer....enjoying praise because it feels good....ultimately leads nowhere.
When we go through into the chamber where Jesus is. When we hear Him. Then when we act by faith and obedience on His words....we grow. To be more precise we grow into Him.
The third Level is all about Union. This is the bit that gets tough for those who think Christianity is not about union. Who try and make out the first two levels are all there is...or worse still that the first two levels are the same as the third level.
Jesus did not spring it on His disciples in the Upper Room. Bill Johnson reminded us here in the UK at Maidenhead that Jesus first presented this when He said the words
Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood then you will not have life within yourselves. And a ton left that day saying "This is a hard saying".
Then in the Upper Room John records in Chapters 13-17 a discourse made up more or less totally of 3rd level material. About Union. Union between the Father,the Son,the Holy Spirit, and you...and me. Of moving us from disciples...and servants....to friends.
Whether we all call it the 3rd level or not.....some call it maturity...some other expressions. But I am going to give you 3 examples of how ministries are changing. I am saying 3rd level ministries are proliferating. They are everywhere. These are people God Himself is raising up.
(The Bride,The Church)....is Christ in another form, for she was taken out of Him...Frank Viola From Eternity To Here Chapter 5, A Close-Up of the Second Eve.
I did not come to camp outside and view you through a haze,I've got to look into Your eyes in the Holy Place.....I did not come to bow down and give in to fear of man.....the blaze in Your gaze is drawing me into You, I'm being chased by the very One that I pursue.
Your searching eyes are desiring those who dare to move closer.Relationship,"Come up here...."We'll wrestle You 'til You bless us,We are not letting go now,The broken ones move in power...
I wanna worship until You are satisfied. Selected passages from many of the songs on Kelanie Gloeckler's CD "Bending To Hear"
Jesus speaking to Mack ..."Seriously, my life was not meant to be an example for you to copy. Being My follower is not "trying to be like Jesus" it means for your independence to be killed.I came to give you life,real life,My life.We will come and live our life inside of you, so that you may begin to see with our eyes, and hear with our ears,and touch with our hands and think like we do.But we will never force that union on you. If you want to do your thing,have at it. Time is on our side." from Chapter 10 Wade in the Water - in The Shack by William P Young.
In a later post I may go into this "Going Up In Secret "theme. People are deluded by the fact that the 3rd Level is not "thrust upon them"....and everything else in life bar marriage...just about...is. School. Manners.Life skills. Social skills. Taxes.
But the 3rd level seems to operate by stealth. Until suddenly, the curtain is pulled back and people gasp..."Where did Corrie ten Boom come from? i thought she was one of those pitiable concentration camp victims." "Where did Mother Theresa come from? I thought she was a feeble nun in a Romanian convent!" " Where did that Nazareth carpenter learn all those things...and those signs and wonders!!"
The first commandment is a commandment...but have you noticed God is not standing over you with a hammer to make you fulfil
loving Him with all your heart and mind and soul and will and strength...
Yet if you happen to...He leads you into a wonderful 3rd level world
where the things you speak happen
where the dreams in your heart spring into being
where all your friends are amazed or angered....
but the thing is...you went up in secret.....they did not even know it was possible to do so...they had their eyes fixed only on what somebody was forcing them to learn, think, act......You heard Your beloved's voice say,"Come Up".
I wrote to Julie on Facebook about Kelanie Gloeckler and what an inspiration her CD "Bending to Hear" has been. (Jamie sent me a copy for Christmas)Then I was pretty forthright about the 80s Hosanna Series as a comparison. I've been thinking about that all day. Did I mean what I said? And I've come to the conclusion I did.
Many of the 80s songs still live on today. They were inspired. But what happened was we loved the songs...singing the songs...more than connecting with our Jesus. This can be compared to self-gratification instead of love-making. The object of our love is to be Jesus. The Living One. Praise is to connect us to this Living One. No matter what He may want to say or do with us or through us. Praise that stays in the foyer....enjoying praise because it feels good....ultimately leads nowhere.
When we go through into the chamber where Jesus is. When we hear Him. Then when we act by faith and obedience on His words....we grow. To be more precise we grow into Him.
The third Level is all about Union. This is the bit that gets tough for those who think Christianity is not about union. Who try and make out the first two levels are all there is...or worse still that the first two levels are the same as the third level.
Jesus did not spring it on His disciples in the Upper Room. Bill Johnson reminded us here in the UK at Maidenhead that Jesus first presented this when He said the words
Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood then you will not have life within yourselves. And a ton left that day saying "This is a hard saying".
Then in the Upper Room John records in Chapters 13-17 a discourse made up more or less totally of 3rd level material. About Union. Union between the Father,the Son,the Holy Spirit, and you...and me. Of moving us from disciples...and servants....to friends.
Whether we all call it the 3rd level or not.....some call it maturity...some other expressions. But I am going to give you 3 examples of how ministries are changing. I am saying 3rd level ministries are proliferating. They are everywhere. These are people God Himself is raising up.
(The Bride,The Church)....is Christ in another form, for she was taken out of Him...Frank Viola From Eternity To Here Chapter 5, A Close-Up of the Second Eve.
I did not come to camp outside and view you through a haze,I've got to look into Your eyes in the Holy Place.....I did not come to bow down and give in to fear of man.....the blaze in Your gaze is drawing me into You, I'm being chased by the very One that I pursue.
Your searching eyes are desiring those who dare to move closer.Relationship,"Come up here...."We'll wrestle You 'til You bless us,We are not letting go now,The broken ones move in power...
I wanna worship until You are satisfied. Selected passages from many of the songs on Kelanie Gloeckler's CD "Bending To Hear"
Jesus speaking to Mack ..."Seriously, my life was not meant to be an example for you to copy. Being My follower is not "trying to be like Jesus" it means for your independence to be killed.I came to give you life,real life,My life.We will come and live our life inside of you, so that you may begin to see with our eyes, and hear with our ears,and touch with our hands and think like we do.But we will never force that union on you. If you want to do your thing,have at it. Time is on our side." from Chapter 10 Wade in the Water - in The Shack by William P Young.
In a later post I may go into this "Going Up In Secret "theme. People are deluded by the fact that the 3rd Level is not "thrust upon them"....and everything else in life bar marriage...just about...is. School. Manners.Life skills. Social skills. Taxes.
But the 3rd level seems to operate by stealth. Until suddenly, the curtain is pulled back and people gasp..."Where did Corrie ten Boom come from? i thought she was one of those pitiable concentration camp victims." "Where did Mother Theresa come from? I thought she was a feeble nun in a Romanian convent!" " Where did that Nazareth carpenter learn all those things...and those signs and wonders!!"
The first commandment is a commandment...but have you noticed God is not standing over you with a hammer to make you fulfil
loving Him with all your heart and mind and soul and will and strength...
Yet if you happen to...He leads you into a wonderful 3rd level world
where the things you speak happen
where the dreams in your heart spring into being
where all your friends are amazed or angered....
but the thing is...you went up in secret.....they did not even know it was possible to do so...they had their eyes fixed only on what somebody was forcing them to learn, think, act......You heard Your beloved's voice say,"Come Up".
Thursday, 9 April 2009
From Eternity To Here - A Marriage Made in Heaven
The title refers not only to Frank Viola's new book "From Eternity To Here" but also to a piece of music which I called "The Door".
In 1988, long before Delirious....actually Martin Smith came over to spy us out in Emsworth that year....long before Wembley Stadium, long beforeToronto...I got this instrumental fragment. I used to play it at the end of meetings...and people just stared at me quizzically.I was wondering what to do with it. Soaking had not been invented....well, rediscovered as a form...I mean David in the Bible did a lot of soaking with his harp.
In the end I felt to put it on Early Harvest CD2 roughly at the point of moving from the 2nd level to the third level. Yes, Early Harvest is this blog in liquid form! On 2 CDs. Some people prefer their tablets, some their liquid capsules. But generally, if you like the blog, you'll probably get on with the Cds.
Interestingly "The Door" was played live together in the studio with Mike Thom on the other keyboards.I think we had the chords to one cycle but nothing else.I know the central bit was winging it and we recorded it all in one take.
This week I started reading "From Eternity to Here" and I was so taken with Chapter 1 :The Hidden Romance of The Bible -that I could practically hear "the Door" in the background. I was going to ask Mariette Stott if I could do this in our meeting...but it wasn't flowing...but this is what I suggest. Chapter 1 of Frank's book is written in text form...but I'm going to break it up into poem form. Read this to yourselves while listening to the music. Then take your laptop to church and do the same with them. Enjoy!
The Door - Extract from Early Harvest CD2 by A.Christopher Welch copyright AC Welch 1990 administered by No Name Ltd. Compressed sound for internet use.
Frank Viola From Eternity To Here -
Chapter 1
THE HIDDEN ROMANCE OF THE BIBLE
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know.
—Ephesians 1:18 NASB
Before the beginning, she was there.She is the most elegant woman in the universe. She is as ancient as God. She existed before angels. Her origins reach further back than antiquity itself. Yet she is forever young.
The word stunning fails to adequately describe her.
She is as beautiful as the face of God. She is beyond captivating. She is hypnotic and magnetic.
Most of us have never imagined the glory that she carries. Just a glimpse of her matchless beauty could win your heart and possess your being. She is incurably attractive.
This woman defines liberty; she embodies freedom. And she was made for love.
She stands at the very heartbeat of God's eternal purpose.
She is His highest passion. His holy obsession, even.
She is thepurpose of the very creation wherein you and I stand. And your Lord is out-of-His-head in love with her.
Yet despite her beauty, she has been utterly neglected. She has been forgotten. And with rare exception, she has been veiled to most of us. Herein lies my motive in writing the first section of this book: to give her center stage.
God's Ultimate Passion
From the beginning, God has had a secret.
Before time, the Almighty shrouded His high and holy purpose in a mystery.
And He hid it in His Son.
For ages, no one knew what that purpose was. It was deeply hidden in God. It was a secret—the secret of the ages (Rom. 16:25; Col. 1:26; Eph. 3:4-5, 9).
Abraham was the friend of God, yet he didn't know the mystery.
Moses was the prophet of God, yet he didn't know the mystery.
Neither did David, Isaiah, nor Jeremiah.
The mystery was not only veiled to mortals, it was hidden from angels as well. Gabriel and Michael didn't know it. Neither did Lucifer, nor his demonic hosts (1 Cor. 2:7-8; Eph. 3:9-10).
****************************
Why did God keep His purpose a secret for so long? Presumably because He didn't want His purpose to be thwarted prematurely.
God's purpose embodies His dream,
His passion,
His very heartbeat.
So He kept it veiled until the time became full.
Old Testament authors first proclaimed the sacred mystery in stories, types, pictures, and shadows. But although kings, prophets, and sages proclaimed it,they did not understand it.Then one day it happened.God pulled back the curtain and
revealed the secret.
He chose a man named Paul of Tarsus to unveil it to the world (Col. 1:25-29; Eph. 3:1-11). In Paul's letters, especially Ephesians and Colossians, the apostle speaks of this mystery with great fervor. He virtually exhausts human language to convey its incomparable depths and unfathomable heights. Paul, along with other apostles and prophets of Century One, were "stewards of the divine mystery" (1 Cor. 4:1; Col. 1:25-26; Eph. 3:2-9).
On the day that God lifted the curtain and let the secret out, His enemy froze with terror.
Satan never saw, dreamed, nor thought that such a thing could be possible.
Although God revealed His mystery in the first century, it remains a secret to many Christians today. The Holy Spirit must open the eyes of His people in every generation for them to grasp it.
In this way, the great prayer of Paul in Ephesians 1:17-23 is still being answered.
The divine mystery has everything to do with the woman I spoke of earlier.
This amazing lady fills the pages of Holy Scripture.
She shows up
at the very beginning of the Bible;
she appears all throughout the middle;
and she's there at the very end.
The Scriptures give us in exalted view of this woman along with her immaculate Husband.
Each book of the Bible pulsates with her fragrance.
The Eternal Drama
In Genesis 1 and 2, the Bible opens up with a woman and a man.
(Chris Welch/Mark Stibbe insert)Jesus ministry began in a wedding
In Revelation 21 and 22, the Bible closes with a woman and a man.
The Bible opens up with a wedding, and it ends with a wedding.
It opens with a marriage, and it ends with a marriage.
It opens with a boy and a girl and it ends with a boy and a girl.
Your Bible is essentially a love story
In fact it is the greatest love story of all time.
It is the classic romantic tale. Those who know me well can tell you that I'm a huge fan of love stories. My favorite movies are romantic films. These films have the power to evoke strong emotion, even pulling tears from the eyes of their viewers. Yet the most powerful love story that any human has ever crafted pales in comparison to the epic romance that runs throughout your Bible.
Please pay attention to this next sentence:
Every love story that the minds of mortal men and women construct, every love story that has made its appearance in the pages of human history—whether fiction or nonfiction—is
but a reflection,
a pale image,
a faint portrait,
a scrambled version of the sacred romance of the ages.
You and I were born into such a romance, the romance of the ages.
The heavenly romance that I've been speaking about begins in Genesis 2. Let us now revisit day seven of God's creation and watch the drama unfold.............
Folks...this is just the first chapter:From Eternity to Here by Frank Viola published by David C Cook at http://www.davidccook.com/ ISBN 978-1-4347-6870-4. Now available.
It is 3 stories in one"The first is the story of a God who is an ageless romantic,driven by one consuming pursuit.The second is about a God who has sought since eternity to have a resting place,a habitation,a home. And the third reveals a God from another realm who visits planet earth to establish a heavenly colony that will give Him visible expression." Frank Viola-Introduction-From Eternity To Here.
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Rob Rufus- Inside the perimeter fence Prophecy
This is straight off Dan's site via Lydia.I remember being struck by it when I first heard the podcast from City Church International Hong Kong...but it means much much more now as it describes the flavour of the meetings we are having more and more here.
"Never conform to those who connive and contrive in cunning craftiness in counterfeit religious authority to produce the result to which their selfish agendas aspire, for this is a form of witchcraft that will confuse and tire my people with false fire and enslave them to the liar. But seek My face, position your hearts in humility and let my true nature of goodness, righteousness, purity, the integrity of my holiness and my perfect love capture your hearts. Let my motives motivate you, My desires desire you and show kindness to you, to heal you of all pain, to soothe away all rejection by My absolute acceptance.
Come surrender and yield all of yourself to me for you cannnot make your hearts pure and holy, but you can open your hearts and present your hearts to me, you can expose your hearts to the radiance of my glory, you can find in Me depths of pure kindness and you can position youself toward My Presence and I will make your hearts pure and holy. Do not take matters into your own hands, do not defend yourself or fight for your vindication. I am your council for defense. I am your perfect High Priest. I am your justifier and defender and no evil can successfully stand against you. Trust me, come further into My glory, further than you have ever been before, there are realms and realities of revelation that I am about to open to you and am opening to you. I have allowed you to come through the periphereal fence that the cherubims guarded and protected my people from going into the glory before their time, before they were ready through the New Covenant.
But in June 2007, I lifted that fence and My cherubims allowed you to come into that glory. You came in just but a few millimeters of a measure and now in this time since then I've allowed you to progress in the measure of a few feet or a few meters, but now suddenly I am advancing you in the measure of millimeters or feet but of miles and kilometers, a step at a time into My greater glory, into My presence. My Presence will be so strong that it will soften your hearts and take out of you all forms of doubt and bitterness. I will cause you to desire My way beyond human recognition and the praises of men. I am in these days giving My people such opportunity to have pure hearts and those who prioritize My manifest presence as precious beyond all else, I will drop down upon them mantles - I do not say mantle, but I say mantles, mantles of My glory - of My miraculous, of my enabling - for I can trust the stewardship of these unprecendented mantles of My glory only to those who are pure in heart, who are willing to suffer persecution without becoming bitter or cynical, because they find their safety and their hiding place and their protection and their identity in My manifest presence alone."
"Never conform to those who connive and contrive in cunning craftiness in counterfeit religious authority to produce the result to which their selfish agendas aspire, for this is a form of witchcraft that will confuse and tire my people with false fire and enslave them to the liar. But seek My face, position your hearts in humility and let my true nature of goodness, righteousness, purity, the integrity of my holiness and my perfect love capture your hearts. Let my motives motivate you, My desires desire you and show kindness to you, to heal you of all pain, to soothe away all rejection by My absolute acceptance.
Come surrender and yield all of yourself to me for you cannnot make your hearts pure and holy, but you can open your hearts and present your hearts to me, you can expose your hearts to the radiance of my glory, you can find in Me depths of pure kindness and you can position youself toward My Presence and I will make your hearts pure and holy. Do not take matters into your own hands, do not defend yourself or fight for your vindication. I am your council for defense. I am your perfect High Priest. I am your justifier and defender and no evil can successfully stand against you. Trust me, come further into My glory, further than you have ever been before, there are realms and realities of revelation that I am about to open to you and am opening to you. I have allowed you to come through the periphereal fence that the cherubims guarded and protected my people from going into the glory before their time, before they were ready through the New Covenant.
But in June 2007, I lifted that fence and My cherubims allowed you to come into that glory. You came in just but a few millimeters of a measure and now in this time since then I've allowed you to progress in the measure of a few feet or a few meters, but now suddenly I am advancing you in the measure of millimeters or feet but of miles and kilometers, a step at a time into My greater glory, into My presence. My Presence will be so strong that it will soften your hearts and take out of you all forms of doubt and bitterness. I will cause you to desire My way beyond human recognition and the praises of men. I am in these days giving My people such opportunity to have pure hearts and those who prioritize My manifest presence as precious beyond all else, I will drop down upon them mantles - I do not say mantle, but I say mantles, mantles of My glory - of My miraculous, of my enabling - for I can trust the stewardship of these unprecendented mantles of My glory only to those who are pure in heart, who are willing to suffer persecution without becoming bitter or cynical, because they find their safety and their hiding place and their protection and their identity in My manifest presence alone."
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Covenant Love on my mind!
I want you to read this excerpt. It wasn't written by John Noble or Gerald Coates or Maurice Smith in a Fulness magazine in the mid 70s and illustrated by crazy drawings or plasticine models at the side by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen. But it is virtually identical. It is written by Jamie Weeks here. And it is very similar to the blogpost Lydia did on reflections of Hong Kong.
They describe what I call Covenant Love meals. You know the sort Jesus had just before His death...and then subsequently on the road to Emmaus at which the two disciples experienced that glowing warmness ...no burning feeling they had...and they knew it just had to be Jesus!!
These and the times we now experience, are mini fulfilments of the Feast of Tabernacles/the Feast of Booths. It's the reality of the Body of Christ lived!!!
I am believing that all our Sunday meetings are going to become more and more like this. Again, how can I be so confident? Because that is what is happening in Havant. Christine said the Key of David meeting was awesome. It was Jesus Himself coming with a fresh revelation of His Grace.
In the afternoon Peter and Helen were describing some of the practical mechanics behind running these meetings. The history is that they felt to explore as a worship group and a few others, how you ascend the hill of the Lord. They wanted a safe place to learn and to make mistakes, away from the main congregation. It was here they learned about pressing in through the second level of principalities and powers, until a breakthrough occurs and they know something of a manifestation of the glory of God. Its like the 3rd heaven breaking through into earth realm.
These became monthly meetings open for outsiders to come. But then Florida happened and ever since, our Sunday meetings have been becoming more and more like the Key of David meetings. Not quite on the same level...but today , which I actually got to, was very precious.
We have to be free to learn these things...without resorting back to the familiar...the comfort zone...the tried and tested...the boring.Peter and Mariette are exporting our findings usually with teams from our church into Spain and USA and wherever they feel God calling.
Back to Jamie's excerpt.If you've not seen it read this!
But here is what I want to somehow attempt to express: We heard marvelous truths taught during the conference. We knew God was choreographing events because many of the subjects our small group discussed privately would be touched on later by either Steve or Paul. Incredible! And Steve and Paul pushed into the deeper truths of what it means to have Christ formed in you. This was no milk for babies or for the easily offended. This was meat for those who know that CHRIST IN US should eventually be CHRIST AS US! YES!!!!But still...it wasn't those moments of confirmation that were the miracle of our week-end.Nope, as gooood as they were.It was sitting at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Sitting in the bar or standing around waiting to start. Just talking. Just sharing our hearts. Just being the Church.And questioning everything we've ever been taught about what we, the ekklesia, should look like.Questioning manmade structures be they buildings or set programs. Questioning giving and being missional. Questioning and challenging and trusting the Christ in each one of us to show us truth.And that was the miracle. Seeing and being Christ to each other! Being the Body of Christ.Without a pastor, a building, a sermon, an offering, a structured agenda, or any hierarchy. Just the Body trusting the Head to keep us and grow us. We ministered to each other!! THAT IS A BIG GOD THING!!What if the reason the modern church is in crisis is because the modern church is too afraid to trust God and just step out in relational fellowship??? What if we REALLY CAN trust Christ to be our Head and the Holy Spirit to lead us into all Truth through each other???What if??I for one was forever changed. And I'm not going back.
They describe what I call Covenant Love meals. You know the sort Jesus had just before His death...and then subsequently on the road to Emmaus at which the two disciples experienced that glowing warmness ...no burning feeling they had...and they knew it just had to be Jesus!!
These and the times we now experience, are mini fulfilments of the Feast of Tabernacles/the Feast of Booths. It's the reality of the Body of Christ lived!!!
I am believing that all our Sunday meetings are going to become more and more like this. Again, how can I be so confident? Because that is what is happening in Havant. Christine said the Key of David meeting was awesome. It was Jesus Himself coming with a fresh revelation of His Grace.
In the afternoon Peter and Helen were describing some of the practical mechanics behind running these meetings. The history is that they felt to explore as a worship group and a few others, how you ascend the hill of the Lord. They wanted a safe place to learn and to make mistakes, away from the main congregation. It was here they learned about pressing in through the second level of principalities and powers, until a breakthrough occurs and they know something of a manifestation of the glory of God. Its like the 3rd heaven breaking through into earth realm.
These became monthly meetings open for outsiders to come. But then Florida happened and ever since, our Sunday meetings have been becoming more and more like the Key of David meetings. Not quite on the same level...but today , which I actually got to, was very precious.
We have to be free to learn these things...without resorting back to the familiar...the comfort zone...the tried and tested...the boring.Peter and Mariette are exporting our findings usually with teams from our church into Spain and USA and wherever they feel God calling.
Back to Jamie's excerpt.If you've not seen it read this!
But here is what I want to somehow attempt to express: We heard marvelous truths taught during the conference. We knew God was choreographing events because many of the subjects our small group discussed privately would be touched on later by either Steve or Paul. Incredible! And Steve and Paul pushed into the deeper truths of what it means to have Christ formed in you. This was no milk for babies or for the easily offended. This was meat for those who know that CHRIST IN US should eventually be CHRIST AS US! YES!!!!But still...it wasn't those moments of confirmation that were the miracle of our week-end.Nope, as gooood as they were.It was sitting at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Sitting in the bar or standing around waiting to start. Just talking. Just sharing our hearts. Just being the Church.And questioning everything we've ever been taught about what we, the ekklesia, should look like.Questioning manmade structures be they buildings or set programs. Questioning giving and being missional. Questioning and challenging and trusting the Christ in each one of us to show us truth.And that was the miracle. Seeing and being Christ to each other! Being the Body of Christ.Without a pastor, a building, a sermon, an offering, a structured agenda, or any hierarchy. Just the Body trusting the Head to keep us and grow us. We ministered to each other!! THAT IS A BIG GOD THING!!What if the reason the modern church is in crisis is because the modern church is too afraid to trust God and just step out in relational fellowship??? What if we REALLY CAN trust Christ to be our Head and the Holy Spirit to lead us into all Truth through each other???What if??I for one was forever changed. And I'm not going back.
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