Here's our Christmas newsyletter to all our friends + eagles flying into all 4 corners of the world!
The Schmidts are home this year for Christmas, returning after an almost 2 months' journey. It's taken a bit to catch up with things after so long an absence + the Schmidt family is having babies! Our next generation is growing + on Nov 24th, Ryan + Sophia had a baby boy, Aleksandre Ryan, a brother for Anastasia, our 1st grandson!
And soon Michael + Kelsey have more good news on the way for next year!
We are blessed!
Our family picture keeps changing. How’s yours?
Some depart, always missed, but leave an ongoing legacy for new arrivals who in turn take up the baton to run their lap in life’s race! Speaking of running... we’ve been doing a lot of that since our last Christmas letter... running all over the world:
2010 - May + June I was in Ghana, Nigeria + England;
September - in Bali, Indonesia;
November- in Saigon, Vietnam, teaching in an underground Bible School.
Between trips, we fought off a ‘demon-rat’ that attacked our house + chewed through our plastic water-pipes! Our downstairs walls + ceilings looked like a battleground: water pouring out, holes punched in, carpets pulled up -- a mess! But God sent angels disguised as Harry the plumber + James the renovator to fix it all up again! I am convinced it was a ‘demon’ rat: it didn’t take our gourmet bait - cheese, sausage or peanut butter! but then in the dark of night - 2:30am! I heard it chewing - right above our bed, right above my head! ... if I’d had a gun?!
But he finally took the poison… after $9,000 damage!
Even rats have vulnerabilities.
So with our house under restoration last Christmas, our family scattered around the globe: Ryan, Sophia + Anya to Brazil, Michael + Kelsey to Mexico, Amy, Erica + I
to Uganda. Definitely more fun munching papaya than shoveling snow!
It was a return-trip for us to Kampala where we had run a month-long Training Centre in January 2008. Some of our students had been from UJV (Uganda Jesus Village),
a home for over 60 orphans, victims of war (LRA - Lord’s Resistance Army atrocities) AIDS + famine. It was an extra-not-so-ordinary Christmas as God used us wonderfully to not only touch others’ hearts, but also refresh ours! We loaded up suitcases to ‘send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared’ and emptied them all!
When we came home at the end of January, our house was fixed, but winter was still happening: we thought we’d missed the cold, but our furnace had stopped working!
From Africa’s 30c to BC’s 0c in January + no heat! What is wrong with this picture?
We shivered through, got the furnace running in a few days + then kept running…
throughout the year: Prince George, Edmonton & Red Deer in May; we fled the Stanley Cup play-off riots for Iceland + England during June-July; and now we have just finished a return lap to Finland, Uganda & England from September to November -- almost 2 months!
‘Jesus, the Revelation of The Father's Heart, to a fatherless generation’ became our focus message throughout this last trip; not just in words, but in action. Unfulfilled commitments, empty words, every kind of confusion will come; but when you are secure in your true Identity as a son with a Heavenly Father who loves you, then you are free to run + fulfill your Destiny! Africa has more than ‘demon rats’ to combat: it pulls + pushes, attracts + draws you in, only to disillusion with its pot-holes, poverty, corruption + grief. But then, just when all seems lost, redemption + salvation appear! -- only as it can in Africa!
And that’s what we found at UJV! Years of insufficient funding + lack of workers have taken their toll on the mission’s resources + left it in an only ‘with God all things are possible’ state.
Some promised help, but then walked away; others, even worse.
The bottom line for us is: here are 61 'vulnerable/orphans’ who are not to blame, but candidates for James 1:27’s
‘pure + undefiled religion = Take care of orphans + widows in their trouble’
= the fatherless! Less talk + more walk is needed here!
Amy had returned to UJV in August & we joined her during October with a team of 4 others: our friends Marg, Larry, James & even Erica’s 82-year old Mom! helped do whatever was necessary. It was sad to see UJV in such disrepair. I felt much like Nehemiah must have when he viewed Jerusalem’s broken walls and after I’d seen the ‘demon’-rat’s rampage.
We found: a woodpile without a saw or sharpened axe to cut firewood; filthy showers & washrooms without running water; plugged sewage + drainage pipes that threatened the entire mission’s closure.
The questions: ‘What can we do when the need, obstacles + giants are so great?’
and ‘What is so little among so many?’ filled my mind.
But then I also heard God say, 'A LOT when I AM in it!’
+ remembered the 5 loaves + 2 fish!
With funds donors had entrusted us to apply towards the greatest + most pressing needs, we went to work. We found a tradesman who fixed the drainage problem (must have been trustworthy, his name was Henry!). We repainted the washrooms + showers (bright blue is a lot better than black!). Erica’s 9 suitcases (they were really overflowing treasure-chests!) poured out new underwear, pyjamas + shoes! We pooled resources + bought 20 colourful new mattresses to replace the old, stained, tattered + shredded remnants children had been sleeping on for the last five years. I wish you could have seen their faces when they got them!
Marg + Grandma taught pre-school; Larry + James preached on the streets; Erica + I shared in the Missions Conference & churches. Our message became clearer: Healed people heal people!
It’s time for sons + daughters of God to be whole + become fathers + mothers with a vision beyond ourselves! = clear demonstrations of The Father’s Heart in action
to heal this fatherless generation!
We returned home in mid-November doubly thankful: no demon-rat + our furnace worked! Neither of us had any jet lag; we slept right through the nights!
My own bed had never felt so good! ..almost as good as the UJV kids with their new mattresses!
Amy has just rejoined us at home for Christmas, but hopes to return to UJV in the New Year. So we're all back, resting...
‘The Schmidts are nestled, all snug in their beds,
With more than visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads.’
Please join me as I share more of these over the next year here on our blog:
-- archived DVDs of Revelation2Revolution are available: just click on Top Right button: 10-week Revelation StreamingLive
+ a just completed set of OT + NT Survey manuals is also ready:
just email me henryerica604@gmail.com
+ more to come, as we await the Lord’s leading on how to run further in this coming New Year!
Thank you ALL for ALL your continued love + friendship, Merry Christmas!
+ we pray ALL God’s best for you ALL in this coming New Year!
ALL our love in Jesus,
Henry & Erica
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
So Few Among So Many?
Here in Uganda so often so much looks like so little among so many. But Africa 'surprises' continue & you can never presume things are what they seem to be.
Father's Heart teaching went well, but Father's Heart in action went even better! Yesterday we bought & distributed 20 foam mattresses for UJV kids who needed them most. It would break your heart to see what some have been sleeping on: tattered, stained, mere fragments of stuffing. They were so excited + thankful!
I'm sure they had a better night's sleep!
What are so few among so many?
Step out & watch Jesus feed 5000 with your 5 loaves + 2 fish!
Father's Heart teaching went well, but Father's Heart in action went even better! Yesterday we bought & distributed 20 foam mattresses for UJV kids who needed them most. It would break your heart to see what some have been sleeping on: tattered, stained, mere fragments of stuffing. They were so excited + thankful!
I'm sure they had a better night's sleep!
What are so few among so many?
Step out & watch Jesus feed 5000 with your 5 loaves + 2 fish!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
COVENANT - THE BIG PICTURE 3
From its opening to closing chapters, The Bible charts the relationship between The Creator and His Creation through a 'covenant' lens. This is a Book of The Covenant, revealing God's Heart as not only Creator, but Father. The Old Testament portion, in particular, traces God's efforts and man's reactions from his Creation through his Fall and subsequent, tragic journey of unbelief and rebellion. This is God's account of how man, exiled from Eden, has aspired to find his way back to the garden without success.
The key to The Bible is Covenant. God is Covenant-making + Covenant-keeping.
Man, however, is Covenant-breaking. This is the chief underlying factor in all that transpires throughout this historic chronicle. The Old Covenant records approximately 4000 years of man's futile attempts to make his own way, while simultaneously outlining God's singular path of true restoration. It not only exposes man's separation and inability to keep covenant, but reveals God's heart of faithful love to fulfill His part regardless of our failures and promises an unconditional New Covenant in His Messiah.
Man has instinctively perceived his separation as 2-fold: between himself + God and among men themselves. His search for reconciliation brought him to understand he could not effect this by himself and somehow blood was required to restore these severed relationships. Leviticus 17:11 reveals: 'the life is in the blood'. In Hebrew, 'bereeth' means 'to cut, compact, confederate; a league made by passing between pieces of flesh'. Something had to die to restore the life man had once possessed. Blood had to be shed to re-establish trust between God and men. As sin had turned Adam + Eve from life to death, so man instinctively understood he now required a life-substitute sacrifice to effectively turn his separation to restoration. His very life depended on right relationship: both with God + other men. 'Covenant' was essential in securing this confidence.
Adam broke God's original covenant and lost not only his relationship with God, but also his authority over all creation. When Adam fell, so all creation fell with him and the way was barred to The Tree of Life. Following generations manifested the evil fruit of their separation from God and reaped a Deluge with total destruction of all but 8 souls. But God spared Noah and his family and gave them a further covenant, signed with His rainbow, promising that He would never again destroy the earth in such manner.
Later, in the face of idolatry, God called Abram, himself a former idol-worshiper, to walk with Him. He promised him the land of Canaan, an heir and descendants from his own body, innumerable as the sand of the sea and stars of heaven. Abram 'believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.' (Gen 15:6)
God then 'cut covenant' with him, changed his name to Abraham (father of many nations) and made him a blessing to all the earth. Abraham was circumcised in his flesh together with Ishmael, his 1st-born, and all his house, but the covenant was spiritual through promise so when Isaac, the promised seed, was born, Ishmael was cast out. Natural flesh can neither satisfy God's heart nor inherit the kingdom. His choice is spiritual Seed.
Generations passed, and Abraham's seed migrated to Egypt with Jacob and Joseph. But God's promise stood and when it was time, approximately 400 years later, their covenant-keeping God raised up Moses to not only free a people from slavery, but birth Israel as a nation and destroy Egypt. Furthermore, he led Israel to Sinai to receive the Covenant, specifically 10 Commandments embodied in The Ark of The Covenant, housed in the Tabernacle's Holy of Holies, God's very dwelling in the centre of their camp. God desired fellowship with His people and gave them laws to teach them His ways so they might approach, worship and dwell with Him in holiness. But right from its inception, the law was unable to bridge this separation: even before Moses had come down from Sinai, Israel had already broken it! Consequently, Israel's history can be best understood in terms of their obedience or disobedience to this conditional covenant. Obedience brought blessing; disobedience yielded cursing and destruction. They were delivered from bondage, but unfortunately continually faltered through unbelief and never really enjoyed a sustained, free, covenant walk with God. Their first generation perished in the wilderness; Moses renewed the covenant with the next on the plains of Moab, but Deuteronomy's final song prophesied their eventual disobedience and destruction.
Joshua led them into the Promised Land, won many battles, and faithfully established them in God's ways, but Israel fell into a repeated cycle of blessing, sin, disobedience, idolatry, bondage, repentance and deliverance throughout the next 400 years of Judges. They cried for a leader: a king who would unite them and defeat their enemies so they might live in peace and prosperity. God and Samuel gave them their heart's desire. Saul, their first king, was unfaithful; but David was a man after God’s own heart and His Promised Seed narrowed from an entire nation to this man and his posterity.
God covenanted with David that he would not lack one to sit on the throne forever. His kingdom would be God's kingdom here on earth. Ultimately, the Messiah would come through David’s line to rule over not only Israel, but the entire world! David was not the Messiah; he was not even able to build the Temple, a permanent place for God's dwelling in Jerusalem. Nor was his natural son, Solomon. Nor any of his natural seed. The nation even divided into two. Israel proved themselves unwilling and unable to walk in God's covenant law. The covenant was broken and many times it appeared as if all hope was lost. But even at its darkest hour, as Jerusalem was besieged by Babylon, Jeremiah prophesied forgiveness: a New Covenant in the people's heart. (Jer 31:31-34)
Simultaneously, from among those already captive in Babylon, Ezekiel promised 'one heart and a new spirit within them, not a stony heart, but a heart of flesh.' (Ezek 11:19)
Then Daniel prophesied not only an end to exile, but God's supernatural kingdom to come in 70 Weeks (490 years) after 4 Gentile kingdoms – Babylon, Medes + Persians, Greece and Rome – had run their course. God never deviated from His Covenant and promised His Messiah would bring the long-awaited Covenant Kingdom into reality.
However, even with restoration to their land, city and temple, Israel again forsook their God! Freed from worshiping physical idols, they now re-fashioned His image with traditions and misinterpretations of God's Word. Malachi, the final Old Testament prophet, called them back to their God and His covenant, but then further promised,
'I will send you Elijah the prophet... he will turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.' (Mal 4:5-6)
The New Covenant reveals this promise fulfilled 400 years later when John the Baptist prepared the way for the Messiah, Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us: Jesus the Lamb + Son of God, the true King of Israel, Her Messiah! He alone was able to heal the past wrongs and wounds of both Israel and all mankind!
He alone is the Answer to the questions and cries from men's hearts over all the centuries. What the Law could never do, nor was ever meant to do, Jesus did!
The Law, our Old Testament and Covenant is also our schoolmaster to bring us: to Christ, the end of any trust in religious works and self-sufficiency; to Calvary's blood-soaked Cross, a new and living way; to Jesus, The Mediator of the new and better Covenant. (Heb 11:24)
IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS!
Isaiah writes, 'Your ways are not my ways,' and continuing with the jigsaw puzzle metaphor, God's approach to life is also amazingly different from our natural ways. Rather than begin by joining edge and corner pieces first, His revelation of the mystery in life and the Bible can only be solved by starting right at the center:
the 1st piece is JESUS!
He is the Alpha + Omega! Jesus doesn't just finally show up 4000 years into the story, in the New Testament. He is present throughout the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. It’s all about Him! He alone has the pre-eminence: the first place!
When He came to His own people, the Jews' spiritual leaders did not receive Him as their Messiah; they rather rejected Him. In effect they said, 'We have our doctrine of Messiah all figured out. Our box says the true Messiah would never heal on the Sabbath nor call God His Father. You do not fit our box and so you are not him!' Jesus' replied to these religious Pharisees: 'You search the Scriptures and in them you think you have life: but they testify of ME!' (Jn 5:39)
On Resurrection Day, Jesus joined two of His disciples on the Emmaus road. They were discouraged, walking in the wrong direction. When they should have been rejoicing, they were rather troubled and saddened by the day's events. Their misinterpretations (like ours today) led them to totally misunderstand the events, miss God’s way and arrive at negative conclusions. Jesus countered their doubts with the Old Testament Scripture:
'Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things? And then he expounded to
them in all the Law + Prophets the things concerning Himself.' (Luke 24:27,44)
It’s all about JESUS! He alone is our Beginning + Ending and challenges and changes everything in between! He is Genesis’ singular Tree of Life and Revelation’s forest on both sides of the river. He is all their Root, Fruit and Leaves for the healing of all nations! Revelation testifies Jesus is on the Throne and Ephesians teaches we are seated together with Him. When we truly walk 'looking unto Jesus, the Author + Finisher of Our Faith', life flows and the mystery becomes a revelation! What formerly didn’t fit, now finds its complement and fulfillment in Him, without our trying to force our way. It is finished! This is the New Beginning! Our lengthy struggle becomes a living Revelation of Jesus Christ: who He is and what He’s done, to us and through us, who we are and what we are called to be + do! He is our Content and we are his context for even greater works!
The key to The Bible is Covenant. God is Covenant-making + Covenant-keeping.
Man, however, is Covenant-breaking. This is the chief underlying factor in all that transpires throughout this historic chronicle. The Old Covenant records approximately 4000 years of man's futile attempts to make his own way, while simultaneously outlining God's singular path of true restoration. It not only exposes man's separation and inability to keep covenant, but reveals God's heart of faithful love to fulfill His part regardless of our failures and promises an unconditional New Covenant in His Messiah.
Man has instinctively perceived his separation as 2-fold: between himself + God and among men themselves. His search for reconciliation brought him to understand he could not effect this by himself and somehow blood was required to restore these severed relationships. Leviticus 17:11 reveals: 'the life is in the blood'. In Hebrew, 'bereeth' means 'to cut, compact, confederate; a league made by passing between pieces of flesh'. Something had to die to restore the life man had once possessed. Blood had to be shed to re-establish trust between God and men. As sin had turned Adam + Eve from life to death, so man instinctively understood he now required a life-substitute sacrifice to effectively turn his separation to restoration. His very life depended on right relationship: both with God + other men. 'Covenant' was essential in securing this confidence.
Adam broke God's original covenant and lost not only his relationship with God, but also his authority over all creation. When Adam fell, so all creation fell with him and the way was barred to The Tree of Life. Following generations manifested the evil fruit of their separation from God and reaped a Deluge with total destruction of all but 8 souls. But God spared Noah and his family and gave them a further covenant, signed with His rainbow, promising that He would never again destroy the earth in such manner.
Later, in the face of idolatry, God called Abram, himself a former idol-worshiper, to walk with Him. He promised him the land of Canaan, an heir and descendants from his own body, innumerable as the sand of the sea and stars of heaven. Abram 'believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.' (Gen 15:6)
God then 'cut covenant' with him, changed his name to Abraham (father of many nations) and made him a blessing to all the earth. Abraham was circumcised in his flesh together with Ishmael, his 1st-born, and all his house, but the covenant was spiritual through promise so when Isaac, the promised seed, was born, Ishmael was cast out. Natural flesh can neither satisfy God's heart nor inherit the kingdom. His choice is spiritual Seed.
Generations passed, and Abraham's seed migrated to Egypt with Jacob and Joseph. But God's promise stood and when it was time, approximately 400 years later, their covenant-keeping God raised up Moses to not only free a people from slavery, but birth Israel as a nation and destroy Egypt. Furthermore, he led Israel to Sinai to receive the Covenant, specifically 10 Commandments embodied in The Ark of The Covenant, housed in the Tabernacle's Holy of Holies, God's very dwelling in the centre of their camp. God desired fellowship with His people and gave them laws to teach them His ways so they might approach, worship and dwell with Him in holiness. But right from its inception, the law was unable to bridge this separation: even before Moses had come down from Sinai, Israel had already broken it! Consequently, Israel's history can be best understood in terms of their obedience or disobedience to this conditional covenant. Obedience brought blessing; disobedience yielded cursing and destruction. They were delivered from bondage, but unfortunately continually faltered through unbelief and never really enjoyed a sustained, free, covenant walk with God. Their first generation perished in the wilderness; Moses renewed the covenant with the next on the plains of Moab, but Deuteronomy's final song prophesied their eventual disobedience and destruction.
Joshua led them into the Promised Land, won many battles, and faithfully established them in God's ways, but Israel fell into a repeated cycle of blessing, sin, disobedience, idolatry, bondage, repentance and deliverance throughout the next 400 years of Judges. They cried for a leader: a king who would unite them and defeat their enemies so they might live in peace and prosperity. God and Samuel gave them their heart's desire. Saul, their first king, was unfaithful; but David was a man after God’s own heart and His Promised Seed narrowed from an entire nation to this man and his posterity.
God covenanted with David that he would not lack one to sit on the throne forever. His kingdom would be God's kingdom here on earth. Ultimately, the Messiah would come through David’s line to rule over not only Israel, but the entire world! David was not the Messiah; he was not even able to build the Temple, a permanent place for God's dwelling in Jerusalem. Nor was his natural son, Solomon. Nor any of his natural seed. The nation even divided into two. Israel proved themselves unwilling and unable to walk in God's covenant law. The covenant was broken and many times it appeared as if all hope was lost. But even at its darkest hour, as Jerusalem was besieged by Babylon, Jeremiah prophesied forgiveness: a New Covenant in the people's heart. (Jer 31:31-34)
Simultaneously, from among those already captive in Babylon, Ezekiel promised 'one heart and a new spirit within them, not a stony heart, but a heart of flesh.' (Ezek 11:19)
Then Daniel prophesied not only an end to exile, but God's supernatural kingdom to come in 70 Weeks (490 years) after 4 Gentile kingdoms – Babylon, Medes + Persians, Greece and Rome – had run their course. God never deviated from His Covenant and promised His Messiah would bring the long-awaited Covenant Kingdom into reality.
However, even with restoration to their land, city and temple, Israel again forsook their God! Freed from worshiping physical idols, they now re-fashioned His image with traditions and misinterpretations of God's Word. Malachi, the final Old Testament prophet, called them back to their God and His covenant, but then further promised,
'I will send you Elijah the prophet... he will turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.' (Mal 4:5-6)
The New Covenant reveals this promise fulfilled 400 years later when John the Baptist prepared the way for the Messiah, Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us: Jesus the Lamb + Son of God, the true King of Israel, Her Messiah! He alone was able to heal the past wrongs and wounds of both Israel and all mankind!
He alone is the Answer to the questions and cries from men's hearts over all the centuries. What the Law could never do, nor was ever meant to do, Jesus did!
The Law, our Old Testament and Covenant is also our schoolmaster to bring us: to Christ, the end of any trust in religious works and self-sufficiency; to Calvary's blood-soaked Cross, a new and living way; to Jesus, The Mediator of the new and better Covenant. (Heb 11:24)
IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS!
Isaiah writes, 'Your ways are not my ways,' and continuing with the jigsaw puzzle metaphor, God's approach to life is also amazingly different from our natural ways. Rather than begin by joining edge and corner pieces first, His revelation of the mystery in life and the Bible can only be solved by starting right at the center:
the 1st piece is JESUS!
He is the Alpha + Omega! Jesus doesn't just finally show up 4000 years into the story, in the New Testament. He is present throughout the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. It’s all about Him! He alone has the pre-eminence: the first place!
When He came to His own people, the Jews' spiritual leaders did not receive Him as their Messiah; they rather rejected Him. In effect they said, 'We have our doctrine of Messiah all figured out. Our box says the true Messiah would never heal on the Sabbath nor call God His Father. You do not fit our box and so you are not him!' Jesus' replied to these religious Pharisees: 'You search the Scriptures and in them you think you have life: but they testify of ME!' (Jn 5:39)
On Resurrection Day, Jesus joined two of His disciples on the Emmaus road. They were discouraged, walking in the wrong direction. When they should have been rejoicing, they were rather troubled and saddened by the day's events. Their misinterpretations (like ours today) led them to totally misunderstand the events, miss God’s way and arrive at negative conclusions. Jesus countered their doubts with the Old Testament Scripture:
'Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things? And then he expounded to
them in all the Law + Prophets the things concerning Himself.' (Luke 24:27,44)
It’s all about JESUS! He alone is our Beginning + Ending and challenges and changes everything in between! He is Genesis’ singular Tree of Life and Revelation’s forest on both sides of the river. He is all their Root, Fruit and Leaves for the healing of all nations! Revelation testifies Jesus is on the Throne and Ephesians teaches we are seated together with Him. When we truly walk 'looking unto Jesus, the Author + Finisher of Our Faith', life flows and the mystery becomes a revelation! What formerly didn’t fit, now finds its complement and fulfillment in Him, without our trying to force our way. It is finished! This is the New Beginning! Our lengthy struggle becomes a living Revelation of Jesus Christ: who He is and what He’s done, to us and through us, who we are and what we are called to be + do! He is our Content and we are his context for even greater works!
Friday, May 27, 2011
THE BIG PICTURE 2 - OVERVIEW OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY
The Bible presents the story of divine-human relationship throughout all time: a grand tapestry which humans often view only from the reverse perspective as a mere tangle of loose thread-ends. But... it is history woven from God's perspective: His-Story from Genesis' origins to Malachi's final promises, working all things together for good!
Its grand scope reveals God – eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent; relating with man – finite, remarkably ignorant at times, especially when professing wisdom, limited, and very weak when confronted with the truth of who he truly is. How can these two possibly dwell and walk together? The Bible presents this God-man story: Creator and Creation and both their efforts to restore their broken relationship.
However, man perceives this historical journey and its events very differently from God. Frightened, driven by fear, greed, lust and power, history reveals man has constantly fallen short of all God has offered him. He initiates, we react. He builds, we destroy. He loves, we retaliate. How such differences can be overcome for restoration to truly take place is His-Story. God has never been frustrated. He has always steadfastly stuck to Plan A and never reverted to Plan B, although He might well have been justified to abandon this pitiful dust that we are. Such is God’s Love that He never gives up on mankind, but continues always with His Original Plan, regardless of our failures.
Old Testament history in particular outlines His-Story from The Beginning to one of the darkest times in human history: the 400 years just before the dawn of His Messiah! Right from the moment Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, God's plan to save, reconcile and restore us to Himself was set in motion. However, man has not always understood God's ways and resisted His attempts to draw us close. We have been rebellious chicks, quite unwilling to be gathered under His wings! But His Genesis 3:15 Promise stood firm: the seed of woman would one day crush the head of the serpent’s seed and all the devil’s work would be undone!
First, mankind had to see his need for broken relationship to be restored with God. All man-made substitutes needed to be exposed as poor counterfeits indeed. Man cannot make God in his image; God made man in His! Nor could man advise God about how to fix this broken trust; that is God's part. Man fell from the inside when they ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The corrupt seed took root, defiled their heart and bore not only shame, guilt and fear in Adam and Eve's generation, but murder in the next: Cain slew his brother Abel. But Cain's further lineage reaped a fuller harvest of 'only evil continually'.
Until God intervened. The Flood destroyed the entire human race, except Noah and his family. However, even with this destruction, man continued in his own devices and built Babel to 'make a name for ourselves'. Again God intervened, broke their proud schemes and scattered them as 70 nations over all the earth.
Then the process of re-gathering by faith began. God chose Abram, a former idolator, called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and promised to bless him and make him a blessing to all nations. Abraham (father of many nations), became a pilgrim model of what it means to be a true worshiper and 'friend of God' here on earth. He
'went out, not knowing where he was going...
looking for a city which has foundations,
whose builder and maker is God.'
He walked with God, looking for life beyond himself. Then followed Isaac, the promised son, and after him, Jacob who became Israel (prince with God) and, through his 12 sons fathered 12 tribes. However, this dysfunctional family eventually ended up in bondage in Egypt, slaves for the next 400 years.
Seemingly forgotten, but not by God, Israel was persecuted in Egypt until God answered their cry for deliverance and raised up Moses to miraculously free His people. Israel now became a nation, birthed through a series of 10 Plagues that totally decimated Egypt, destroyed every one of its 1st-born males and ultimately drowned its armies in the Red Sea. The Law-Giver then led them to Sinai to receive the Old Covenant, specifically embodied in The 10 Commandments, to teach them how to approach, dwell with and worship their God.
From the Exodus, Israel's history chronicles the nation's inconsistent walk with their God. It is the oldest and most detailed record of any people's history. The Greeks and Egyptians have their mythologies. However, the Bible records Israel's history in often minute detail, outlining not only the nation's triumphs, but also its many failures. God does not spare even His heroes from the whole truth. In not always literal or chronologically-ordered themes, we find God patiently pouring out His heart to His people, seeking their heart repentance and reconciliation. But to no avail. Rather than believe God's good report and enter The Promised Land, they wandered 40 years in the wilderness. A generation passed. Joshua eventually finally led in a new generation, but their unbelief persisted. It was easier to get Israel out of Egypt than Egypt out of Israel.
Israel stumbled through the next 850 years in cycles of sin-addiction: sometimes walking in faith + blessing, then recurrent sin + idolatry, subsequent conquest + servitude, followed by repentance + restoration. But neither judges, prophets, priests nor kings were able to save Israel from themselves. A zenith of power under kings David and Solomon was short-lived and Israel fragmented in two.
10 tribes led by Ephraim separated to form the Northern Kingdom of Israel with its capital at Samaria, while 2 tribes remained with David's dynasty in the Kingdom of Judah, still centred in Jerusalem. The two kingdoms often warred against one another, sometimes allied against their neighbouring kingdoms of Syria, Moab or Edom, but rarely repented and served the God of their fathers with all their hearts. Both peoples eventually lost their focus on God and ultimately their kingdoms. God Himself put an end to their unfortunate cycle.
First, Israel: the Northern Kingdom, after 9 dynasties of ungodly kings, was defeated and its 10 tribes scattered among the nations by Assyria in 709BC. Just over a century later, in 586BC, Jerusalem and its temple were also destroyed and its people led captive to Babylon for 70 years. The land would finally have its Sabbaths.
Empires pass, but God’s Promise always stands faithful. In 539BC, the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon under Darius and shortly thereafter, Cyrus decreed the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its Temple! Beginning in 536BC, true to Jeremiah's prophecy of 70 Years' Captivity, 3 remnant waves of exiles returned to the land under Joshua + Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. Together with the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, they rallied the nation in rebuilding and revival, but the people soon became disheartened, discouraged and addicted to dead religious forms. Idolatry had been broken, but a more formal legalism now took its place. Malachi trumpeted a final prophetic message: hearts needed to turn back to the Father. God spoke again, but his people apparently had no ears to hear and 400 years of silence followed!
Its grand scope reveals God – eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent; relating with man – finite, remarkably ignorant at times, especially when professing wisdom, limited, and very weak when confronted with the truth of who he truly is. How can these two possibly dwell and walk together? The Bible presents this God-man story: Creator and Creation and both their efforts to restore their broken relationship.
However, man perceives this historical journey and its events very differently from God. Frightened, driven by fear, greed, lust and power, history reveals man has constantly fallen short of all God has offered him. He initiates, we react. He builds, we destroy. He loves, we retaliate. How such differences can be overcome for restoration to truly take place is His-Story. God has never been frustrated. He has always steadfastly stuck to Plan A and never reverted to Plan B, although He might well have been justified to abandon this pitiful dust that we are. Such is God’s Love that He never gives up on mankind, but continues always with His Original Plan, regardless of our failures.
Old Testament history in particular outlines His-Story from The Beginning to one of the darkest times in human history: the 400 years just before the dawn of His Messiah! Right from the moment Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, God's plan to save, reconcile and restore us to Himself was set in motion. However, man has not always understood God's ways and resisted His attempts to draw us close. We have been rebellious chicks, quite unwilling to be gathered under His wings! But His Genesis 3:15 Promise stood firm: the seed of woman would one day crush the head of the serpent’s seed and all the devil’s work would be undone!
First, mankind had to see his need for broken relationship to be restored with God. All man-made substitutes needed to be exposed as poor counterfeits indeed. Man cannot make God in his image; God made man in His! Nor could man advise God about how to fix this broken trust; that is God's part. Man fell from the inside when they ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The corrupt seed took root, defiled their heart and bore not only shame, guilt and fear in Adam and Eve's generation, but murder in the next: Cain slew his brother Abel. But Cain's further lineage reaped a fuller harvest of 'only evil continually'.
Until God intervened. The Flood destroyed the entire human race, except Noah and his family. However, even with this destruction, man continued in his own devices and built Babel to 'make a name for ourselves'. Again God intervened, broke their proud schemes and scattered them as 70 nations over all the earth.
Then the process of re-gathering by faith began. God chose Abram, a former idolator, called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and promised to bless him and make him a blessing to all nations. Abraham (father of many nations), became a pilgrim model of what it means to be a true worshiper and 'friend of God' here on earth. He
'went out, not knowing where he was going...
looking for a city which has foundations,
whose builder and maker is God.'
He walked with God, looking for life beyond himself. Then followed Isaac, the promised son, and after him, Jacob who became Israel (prince with God) and, through his 12 sons fathered 12 tribes. However, this dysfunctional family eventually ended up in bondage in Egypt, slaves for the next 400 years.
Seemingly forgotten, but not by God, Israel was persecuted in Egypt until God answered their cry for deliverance and raised up Moses to miraculously free His people. Israel now became a nation, birthed through a series of 10 Plagues that totally decimated Egypt, destroyed every one of its 1st-born males and ultimately drowned its armies in the Red Sea. The Law-Giver then led them to Sinai to receive the Old Covenant, specifically embodied in The 10 Commandments, to teach them how to approach, dwell with and worship their God.
From the Exodus, Israel's history chronicles the nation's inconsistent walk with their God. It is the oldest and most detailed record of any people's history. The Greeks and Egyptians have their mythologies. However, the Bible records Israel's history in often minute detail, outlining not only the nation's triumphs, but also its many failures. God does not spare even His heroes from the whole truth. In not always literal or chronologically-ordered themes, we find God patiently pouring out His heart to His people, seeking their heart repentance and reconciliation. But to no avail. Rather than believe God's good report and enter The Promised Land, they wandered 40 years in the wilderness. A generation passed. Joshua eventually finally led in a new generation, but their unbelief persisted. It was easier to get Israel out of Egypt than Egypt out of Israel.
Israel stumbled through the next 850 years in cycles of sin-addiction: sometimes walking in faith + blessing, then recurrent sin + idolatry, subsequent conquest + servitude, followed by repentance + restoration. But neither judges, prophets, priests nor kings were able to save Israel from themselves. A zenith of power under kings David and Solomon was short-lived and Israel fragmented in two.
10 tribes led by Ephraim separated to form the Northern Kingdom of Israel with its capital at Samaria, while 2 tribes remained with David's dynasty in the Kingdom of Judah, still centred in Jerusalem. The two kingdoms often warred against one another, sometimes allied against their neighbouring kingdoms of Syria, Moab or Edom, but rarely repented and served the God of their fathers with all their hearts. Both peoples eventually lost their focus on God and ultimately their kingdoms. God Himself put an end to their unfortunate cycle.
First, Israel: the Northern Kingdom, after 9 dynasties of ungodly kings, was defeated and its 10 tribes scattered among the nations by Assyria in 709BC. Just over a century later, in 586BC, Jerusalem and its temple were also destroyed and its people led captive to Babylon for 70 years. The land would finally have its Sabbaths.
Empires pass, but God’s Promise always stands faithful. In 539BC, the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon under Darius and shortly thereafter, Cyrus decreed the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its Temple! Beginning in 536BC, true to Jeremiah's prophecy of 70 Years' Captivity, 3 remnant waves of exiles returned to the land under Joshua + Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. Together with the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, they rallied the nation in rebuilding and revival, but the people soon became disheartened, discouraged and addicted to dead religious forms. Idolatry had been broken, but a more formal legalism now took its place. Malachi trumpeted a final prophetic message: hearts needed to turn back to the Father. God spoke again, but his people apparently had no ears to hear and 400 years of silence followed!
Friday, May 20, 2011
THE BIG PICTURE 1
I finally completed a two-year project: an Old Testament Survey manual of all 39 books!
It is finished!
You might ask, ‘So... Why’d you do that?’ There are lots of other Old Testament studies available.’
...Yes. But I’ve never done this before and I must confess it was first of all primarily for my own benefit: I needed to find out whether I really knew and understood what the OT truly said or was I merely believing and repeating what I thought others thought it said. Does that sound confusing or is that really where many of us are concerning God’s Word?
… and furthermore, I felt a simple, practical tool was needed to help hungry & thirsty hearts see all the Old Testament’s signs clearly pointing to Jesus. Truth- seekers just need a few basic helps to unearth Scripture’s treasures and reveal their fulfillment in Christ, the Father’s heart.
A few years ago, I completed a similar overview of the New Testament’s 27 books and used it in our Training Centre with the goal to help disciples discover and walk in God’s Will. He likens us to eagles, called to fill up, mount up and grow up in the revelation of His kingdom. But we need both wings: the Word + the Spirit. A merely intellectual, academically top-heavy Word-wing only leads to a dry, bumpy, unbalanced flight, while a similarly lop-sided ‘winging it in the spirit’ over-emphasis on experience fares no better. Both extremes share the same fate: if they do get off the ground, they merely fly around in circles, create a lot of hyper-activity and havoc, but inevitably crash-land in heaps of vanity and confusion. As Shakespeare said, “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing!’ Flopping around with one wing may seem exciting for a brief time, but ultimately ends up being remembered only for its foolishness.
I believe God deserves better. The Word confirms the Spirit’s work and the Spirit empowers the Word’s truth. We need both and this manual’s purpose is to help us develop both wings. May it stir hearts to rediscover their Bible for what it is: Our Father’s love letters powerfully revealing the ‘simplicity of Christ’. No longer a mystery, but ‘in Christ’ now a revelation! Jesus didn’t just show up in the New Testament. He is present throughout the whole Bible: both Old + New! He is the Word of God!
Personally, I gained a deeper awareness of 2 uniquely new wings during this project: Content + Context. If we can hear and see these letters’ original message to their original recipients in their original setting, then we can better interpret their message, understand how it relates to our day and apply it more effectively. That is: Context clarifies Content. This requires teachable disciples who desire to become mature and trained followers of Jesus, hungry and thirsty for the undiluted Will of God to obey it! However, many believers barely subsist on a watered-down diet of speculation, doctrine and tradition, far removed from the strong meat of the Word + Spirit. We have church-attenders, but not many workers; spectators but few participants; perhaps 10,000 teachers, but not many fathers; milk but not meat. Milk is anything you receive from someone else, like infants who breast-feed from their mothers. We also have become too dependent on others for what we believe: preachers, teachers, televangelists and even ‘Christian fiction’, and have often settled for Scripture wrenched out of context rather than searching out the Word for ourselves.
‘For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.' (Hebrew 5:12-14)
God is calling sons and daughters to rise up and grow up, to become strong men and women of God in both Word + Spirit, mature not just in knowledge, but in wisdom, discerning + walking in His Will. We need to hunger for meat and not settle for mere bones.
And so I offer this manual to whoever is hungry + thirsty for God. May it help/aid/guide your heart and mind to search out God’s Word for yourself, experience the Holy Spirit’s leading into all truth and release your Identity into Destiny! This is not the meat. It’s simply: a tool to help you ‘rightly divide the word of truth’ to eat the meat; a spade to help you dig, discover and value its priceless gems; a key to unlock what was once mysteriously hidden, but is now gloriously revealed in Jesus Christ!
May it help challenge, encourage and incite you to probe greater depths than you’ve known and also stir, equip and lift you into the boundless heights of His faith and love!
Life is a journey. Take time to stop along the way: rest and drink beside peaceful waters, enjoy the fullness of His healing and restoration, and let Him release fresh vision and strength to continue! It is written that we might read and run that race set before us, our very lives proclaiming His Good News!
The following excerpts are from the Introduction-Overview of the manual. If you are interested in either of the complete Old or New Testament editions, please contact me at: henryerica604@gmail.com
I. INTRODUCTION:
The Bible is THE BOOK of God + humanity, presenting the grand story of human origins, history and purpose as well as reaching beyond to future hopes and destiny. Its view is all-encompassing and beyond human comprehension. The Bible is a revelation of not only our existence, but also the meaning of things, people, events, struggle and ultimately, God. It purports to be the Creator’s Handbook to His Creation on 'How to Live this Precious Gift of Life', outlining its God-given covenant warranty with provisions for healing, recovery and renewal even when things break down.
It offers such a grand scope and scale of the picture of the Divine-human story that we often run the risk of losing its full and proper perspective: God’s macro-cosmic panorama compared with our own micro-myopic, self-centred portion. We need to see both the forest and the trees; not merely our own personal part in the drama, but the overview, the entire script, the BIG picture: the whole of the human landscape from God’s perspective.
Just like piecing a jigsaw puzzle together, so we need to approach this mystery called life. We must first see the picture on the box before we randomly jam pieces together. The Bible gives us the BIG picture for those seemingly disconnected pieces in life's box. Without this primary revelation, all will remain a confusing mystery and we will frustrate ourselves, trying to force pieces together that seem to have no meaningful relationship.
People tackle puzzles in different ways. Some just dive in. Others are more methodical: they first turn all the pieces picture-side up, separate various colour-groups from one another and then connect the corner and edge pieces. They prefer defined parameters and marked limitations to measure and order their task. Some approach life and the Bible in the same way, but these defy such simplistic methods.
The Bible's pieces do not often fit our ways of thinking. God's life cannot be forced into a box mentality! He will always break out of whatever box we might try to force Him into! They tried to do that to Jesus once and He broke out! It's called The Resurrection! Genesis to Revelation chronicles the God-man story from both divine and human perspectives, revealing God's faithfulness and man's inability. It is life, filled with all its struggle + loss, triumph + defeat, passion + betrayal, disappointment + courage, fear + faith. The Bible asks and explores the Eternal Questions of Life, unlocks mysteries and reveals its one focus, key and purpose in this journey of faith: Jesus Christ.
The New Testament does not accomplish this alone, but finds its full revelation together with the Old Testament. The 2 are 1! In at least 3 relational aspects:
1) literary: the New quotes the Old over 500 times! Its language and style are birthed and shaped by the Old.
2) both affirm the same basic truths: the New assumes the Old's historical foundation: eg creation, origin of sin, central role of covenant in redemption, atonement.
3) inter-dependence: the New claims Old Testament types, shadows, and future hopes are now present realities, fulfilled in Jesus. The Old is the theological centerpiece of the New while the New describes the climactic fulfillment of Old Testament themes.
You cannot comprehend the New without the Old nor the Old without the New for
The New is in the Old Concealed
The Old is in the New Revealed!
It is finished!
You might ask, ‘So... Why’d you do that?’ There are lots of other Old Testament studies available.’
...Yes. But I’ve never done this before and I must confess it was first of all primarily for my own benefit: I needed to find out whether I really knew and understood what the OT truly said or was I merely believing and repeating what I thought others thought it said. Does that sound confusing or is that really where many of us are concerning God’s Word?
… and furthermore, I felt a simple, practical tool was needed to help hungry & thirsty hearts see all the Old Testament’s signs clearly pointing to Jesus. Truth- seekers just need a few basic helps to unearth Scripture’s treasures and reveal their fulfillment in Christ, the Father’s heart.
A few years ago, I completed a similar overview of the New Testament’s 27 books and used it in our Training Centre with the goal to help disciples discover and walk in God’s Will. He likens us to eagles, called to fill up, mount up and grow up in the revelation of His kingdom. But we need both wings: the Word + the Spirit. A merely intellectual, academically top-heavy Word-wing only leads to a dry, bumpy, unbalanced flight, while a similarly lop-sided ‘winging it in the spirit’ over-emphasis on experience fares no better. Both extremes share the same fate: if they do get off the ground, they merely fly around in circles, create a lot of hyper-activity and havoc, but inevitably crash-land in heaps of vanity and confusion. As Shakespeare said, “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing!’ Flopping around with one wing may seem exciting for a brief time, but ultimately ends up being remembered only for its foolishness.
I believe God deserves better. The Word confirms the Spirit’s work and the Spirit empowers the Word’s truth. We need both and this manual’s purpose is to help us develop both wings. May it stir hearts to rediscover their Bible for what it is: Our Father’s love letters powerfully revealing the ‘simplicity of Christ’. No longer a mystery, but ‘in Christ’ now a revelation! Jesus didn’t just show up in the New Testament. He is present throughout the whole Bible: both Old + New! He is the Word of God!
Personally, I gained a deeper awareness of 2 uniquely new wings during this project: Content + Context. If we can hear and see these letters’ original message to their original recipients in their original setting, then we can better interpret their message, understand how it relates to our day and apply it more effectively. That is: Context clarifies Content. This requires teachable disciples who desire to become mature and trained followers of Jesus, hungry and thirsty for the undiluted Will of God to obey it! However, many believers barely subsist on a watered-down diet of speculation, doctrine and tradition, far removed from the strong meat of the Word + Spirit. We have church-attenders, but not many workers; spectators but few participants; perhaps 10,000 teachers, but not many fathers; milk but not meat. Milk is anything you receive from someone else, like infants who breast-feed from their mothers. We also have become too dependent on others for what we believe: preachers, teachers, televangelists and even ‘Christian fiction’, and have often settled for Scripture wrenched out of context rather than searching out the Word for ourselves.
‘For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.' (Hebrew 5:12-14)
God is calling sons and daughters to rise up and grow up, to become strong men and women of God in both Word + Spirit, mature not just in knowledge, but in wisdom, discerning + walking in His Will. We need to hunger for meat and not settle for mere bones.
And so I offer this manual to whoever is hungry + thirsty for God. May it help/aid/guide your heart and mind to search out God’s Word for yourself, experience the Holy Spirit’s leading into all truth and release your Identity into Destiny! This is not the meat. It’s simply: a tool to help you ‘rightly divide the word of truth’ to eat the meat; a spade to help you dig, discover and value its priceless gems; a key to unlock what was once mysteriously hidden, but is now gloriously revealed in Jesus Christ!
May it help challenge, encourage and incite you to probe greater depths than you’ve known and also stir, equip and lift you into the boundless heights of His faith and love!
Life is a journey. Take time to stop along the way: rest and drink beside peaceful waters, enjoy the fullness of His healing and restoration, and let Him release fresh vision and strength to continue! It is written that we might read and run that race set before us, our very lives proclaiming His Good News!
The following excerpts are from the Introduction-Overview of the manual. If you are interested in either of the complete Old or New Testament editions, please contact me at: henryerica604@gmail.com
I. INTRODUCTION:
The Bible is THE BOOK of God + humanity, presenting the grand story of human origins, history and purpose as well as reaching beyond to future hopes and destiny. Its view is all-encompassing and beyond human comprehension. The Bible is a revelation of not only our existence, but also the meaning of things, people, events, struggle and ultimately, God. It purports to be the Creator’s Handbook to His Creation on 'How to Live this Precious Gift of Life', outlining its God-given covenant warranty with provisions for healing, recovery and renewal even when things break down.
It offers such a grand scope and scale of the picture of the Divine-human story that we often run the risk of losing its full and proper perspective: God’s macro-cosmic panorama compared with our own micro-myopic, self-centred portion. We need to see both the forest and the trees; not merely our own personal part in the drama, but the overview, the entire script, the BIG picture: the whole of the human landscape from God’s perspective.
Just like piecing a jigsaw puzzle together, so we need to approach this mystery called life. We must first see the picture on the box before we randomly jam pieces together. The Bible gives us the BIG picture for those seemingly disconnected pieces in life's box. Without this primary revelation, all will remain a confusing mystery and we will frustrate ourselves, trying to force pieces together that seem to have no meaningful relationship.
People tackle puzzles in different ways. Some just dive in. Others are more methodical: they first turn all the pieces picture-side up, separate various colour-groups from one another and then connect the corner and edge pieces. They prefer defined parameters and marked limitations to measure and order their task. Some approach life and the Bible in the same way, but these defy such simplistic methods.
The Bible's pieces do not often fit our ways of thinking. God's life cannot be forced into a box mentality! He will always break out of whatever box we might try to force Him into! They tried to do that to Jesus once and He broke out! It's called The Resurrection! Genesis to Revelation chronicles the God-man story from both divine and human perspectives, revealing God's faithfulness and man's inability. It is life, filled with all its struggle + loss, triumph + defeat, passion + betrayal, disappointment + courage, fear + faith. The Bible asks and explores the Eternal Questions of Life, unlocks mysteries and reveals its one focus, key and purpose in this journey of faith: Jesus Christ.
The New Testament does not accomplish this alone, but finds its full revelation together with the Old Testament. The 2 are 1! In at least 3 relational aspects:
1) literary: the New quotes the Old over 500 times! Its language and style are birthed and shaped by the Old.
2) both affirm the same basic truths: the New assumes the Old's historical foundation: eg creation, origin of sin, central role of covenant in redemption, atonement.
3) inter-dependence: the New claims Old Testament types, shadows, and future hopes are now present realities, fulfilled in Jesus. The Old is the theological centerpiece of the New while the New describes the climactic fulfillment of Old Testament themes.
You cannot comprehend the New without the Old nor the Old without the New for
The New is in the Old Concealed
The Old is in the New Revealed!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The 8th Letter of Revelation
'And to the angel of the Church in _______(fill in the name of your city) write…'
What if Jesus added an eighth letter to His 7 Letters to the Churches of Revelation and sent it to the Church of your city today?
What would He talk about? What would be its highlights? Affirmations? Corrections? Warnings?
To whom would it be addressed? Who would receive it?
Would we receive it?
It’s recorded in history that the church of Laodicea did not receive its letter. They could not accept that its contents described their church’s actual situation. They instead insisted that things were just fine.
The letter was wrong; they weren’t. 'It’s addressed to the wrong church. That’s not us!'
The letter asserted they were self-sufficient, in need of nothing, not even God. Their refusal to accept God’s view of themselves ironically testified against them that God had indeed witnessed correctly.
A few years ago my wife and I visited Turkey and some of what are left of the 7 Churches of Revelation. Nothing remains of Laodicea today: neither the city nor the church. Its waters were neither cold not hot, but lukewarm. True to Christ’s Word, it has been spewed out, vomited, left desolate and in ruins. It is an amazing testimony to how we need to hear and receive God’s prophetic message for us in our day or suffer the consequences.
In fact, the only church still functioning is in Smyrna (now called Izmir): the Suffering, Persecuted Church. Of the 7, Smyrna (together with Philadelphia) received no rebuke and is the only one which still has a present-day congregation of worshipers.
'Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.' (Rev 2:10)
I believe one of the things Jesus would highlight in His letter to the church in our city is:‘keep the unity of the Spirit.' (Eph 4:3) He does not say 'strive to attain', but 'keep', which affirms we must already possess this unity through Christ. You cannot 'keep' what you don't already have. We are one body. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free, Baptist nor Charismatic in Christ's eyes. Various moves of the Spirit have impacted the body of Christ throughout history, but their full effect, value and legacy are ultimately realized in how they relate to building the kingdom of God and not their own little kingdoms. The church is one and we need to acknowledge this truth, value our unity and act out who we integrally are in Christ.
Jesus prayed, 'That they may be one just as We are one.' (John 17:22)
After the fall of the Soviet Union, I was privileged to teach in the first Bible school opened in Ulyanovsk, a city with over a million people about 400 kilometres from Moscow, best known as the birthplace of the father of Russian communism, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, aka Lenin. God has a sense of humour: our Bible school classes were held right in The Communist Hotel! Every morning on my way to class, I would pass by one of Lenin’s few still-standing statues in Russia in the city's main square and sarcastically greet him,
“Good morning, Comrade Lenin. My, but you don’t look very well. Are you sick? Losing your balance? You seem to be tilting a little more each day?!”
Towards the end of my two weeks there, I was invited to join one of the first unity meetings of a group of pastors in Ulyanovsk. My interpreter kept me informed on what was transpiring, but the pastors’ body language needed no interpretation and even my limited Russian understood a clear enough message. They were enjoying their new freedoms, but old suspicions, rivalries and prejudices still surfaced as the different denominations struggled to find common ground together. They were trying to decide on holding their first public meeting together to celebrate Christmas, but… they couldn’t even decide on the date!
Should it be the Western December 25th or the Eastern Orthodox January 6th?
Who should speak? Some felt the Orthodox priest should, but the Lutheran pastor said that if the priest spoke, many of his parishioners would not attend and he wasn’t sure he would either.
The Pentecostal pastor objected; then still another objected more to the Methodist pastor's involvement: she was a woman.
It was starting to get uncomfortably hot in the room.
I watched and prayed and felt a Holy Spirit tug on my heart.
I asked my interpreter if I might share something with the group.
They agreed and so I spoke:
'I understand from the Bible that God views His church quite differently from how we see ourselves and one another. When He addresses His church, He writes to either His universal body, a specific ‘church in your house’ or a city church in a geographical area, that is, 'in Ephesus', 'in Philippi', or 'in Corinth'.
As long as you continue to see yourselves divided by different walls and denominations, you will remain fragmented and ineffective.
You need to see yourself the way God sees you, as His one church in the city of Ulyanovsk.
You will not be able to do what He has called you to do until you see yourselves as you truly are, the way God sees you… as one body and one church in this city.'
There was silence in the room and I nervously wondered if I had given the message clearly enough. Had they at least understood what I was trying to say, let alone accepted it?
However, the silence ended, the contention seemed to break, and they began relating and sharing in more positive, inclusive ways. They even started serving tea and enjoying one another’s company!
A few months later, I heard that they had indeed held their unity service and God had blessed their coming together. The Orthodox priest spoke, but I don't know if the Lutheran pastor overcame his stumbling block.
I thought of my own city.
Our City of ___________needs the Church of ____________
(fill in the blanks with your city's name)
to see itself the way Our God sees us and respond accordingly.
We need to be, stand and walk together in a kingdom mindset, in His unity, freedom, love and purpose.
We need to take our unity to heart and demonstrate it in prayer, faith and action.
We need to put away our petty, divisive distinctions and embrace the fullness of who we are in Christ… together, for Christ’s sake.
The alternative is clear: you can't find Laodicea today.
What if Jesus added an eighth letter to His 7 Letters to the Churches of Revelation and sent it to the Church of your city today?
What would He talk about? What would be its highlights? Affirmations? Corrections? Warnings?
To whom would it be addressed? Who would receive it?
Would we receive it?
It’s recorded in history that the church of Laodicea did not receive its letter. They could not accept that its contents described their church’s actual situation. They instead insisted that things were just fine.
The letter was wrong; they weren’t. 'It’s addressed to the wrong church. That’s not us!'
The letter asserted they were self-sufficient, in need of nothing, not even God. Their refusal to accept God’s view of themselves ironically testified against them that God had indeed witnessed correctly.
A few years ago my wife and I visited Turkey and some of what are left of the 7 Churches of Revelation. Nothing remains of Laodicea today: neither the city nor the church. Its waters were neither cold not hot, but lukewarm. True to Christ’s Word, it has been spewed out, vomited, left desolate and in ruins. It is an amazing testimony to how we need to hear and receive God’s prophetic message for us in our day or suffer the consequences.
In fact, the only church still functioning is in Smyrna (now called Izmir): the Suffering, Persecuted Church. Of the 7, Smyrna (together with Philadelphia) received no rebuke and is the only one which still has a present-day congregation of worshipers.
'Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.' (Rev 2:10)
I believe one of the things Jesus would highlight in His letter to the church in our city is:‘keep the unity of the Spirit.' (Eph 4:3) He does not say 'strive to attain', but 'keep', which affirms we must already possess this unity through Christ. You cannot 'keep' what you don't already have. We are one body. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free, Baptist nor Charismatic in Christ's eyes. Various moves of the Spirit have impacted the body of Christ throughout history, but their full effect, value and legacy are ultimately realized in how they relate to building the kingdom of God and not their own little kingdoms. The church is one and we need to acknowledge this truth, value our unity and act out who we integrally are in Christ.
Jesus prayed, 'That they may be one just as We are one.' (John 17:22)
After the fall of the Soviet Union, I was privileged to teach in the first Bible school opened in Ulyanovsk, a city with over a million people about 400 kilometres from Moscow, best known as the birthplace of the father of Russian communism, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, aka Lenin. God has a sense of humour: our Bible school classes were held right in The Communist Hotel! Every morning on my way to class, I would pass by one of Lenin’s few still-standing statues in Russia in the city's main square and sarcastically greet him,
“Good morning, Comrade Lenin. My, but you don’t look very well. Are you sick? Losing your balance? You seem to be tilting a little more each day?!”
Towards the end of my two weeks there, I was invited to join one of the first unity meetings of a group of pastors in Ulyanovsk. My interpreter kept me informed on what was transpiring, but the pastors’ body language needed no interpretation and even my limited Russian understood a clear enough message. They were enjoying their new freedoms, but old suspicions, rivalries and prejudices still surfaced as the different denominations struggled to find common ground together. They were trying to decide on holding their first public meeting together to celebrate Christmas, but… they couldn’t even decide on the date!
Should it be the Western December 25th or the Eastern Orthodox January 6th?
Who should speak? Some felt the Orthodox priest should, but the Lutheran pastor said that if the priest spoke, many of his parishioners would not attend and he wasn’t sure he would either.
The Pentecostal pastor objected; then still another objected more to the Methodist pastor's involvement: she was a woman.
It was starting to get uncomfortably hot in the room.
I watched and prayed and felt a Holy Spirit tug on my heart.
I asked my interpreter if I might share something with the group.
They agreed and so I spoke:
'I understand from the Bible that God views His church quite differently from how we see ourselves and one another. When He addresses His church, He writes to either His universal body, a specific ‘church in your house’ or a city church in a geographical area, that is, 'in Ephesus', 'in Philippi', or 'in Corinth'.
As long as you continue to see yourselves divided by different walls and denominations, you will remain fragmented and ineffective.
You need to see yourself the way God sees you, as His one church in the city of Ulyanovsk.
You will not be able to do what He has called you to do until you see yourselves as you truly are, the way God sees you… as one body and one church in this city.'
There was silence in the room and I nervously wondered if I had given the message clearly enough. Had they at least understood what I was trying to say, let alone accepted it?
However, the silence ended, the contention seemed to break, and they began relating and sharing in more positive, inclusive ways. They even started serving tea and enjoying one another’s company!
A few months later, I heard that they had indeed held their unity service and God had blessed their coming together. The Orthodox priest spoke, but I don't know if the Lutheran pastor overcame his stumbling block.
I thought of my own city.
Our City of ___________needs the Church of ____________
(fill in the blanks with your city's name)
to see itself the way Our God sees us and respond accordingly.
We need to be, stand and walk together in a kingdom mindset, in His unity, freedom, love and purpose.
We need to take our unity to heart and demonstrate it in prayer, faith and action.
We need to put away our petty, divisive distinctions and embrace the fullness of who we are in Christ… together, for Christ’s sake.
The alternative is clear: you can't find Laodicea today.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Revelation: It's ALL About JESUS!
Hi Readers!
I apologize that it's been more than a few months since I last blogged, but so much has been happening, so very quickly, and I have often been quite removed from consistent Internet access since then that I have not had time to write it all down. It's like the Lord has put His foot down hard on our accelerator and we've been running FAST: Bali, Indonesia; Kitimat, Vietnam, Finland, Uganda, England. However, I am now glad to be home... for a while.
Our present focus is an addition to the written blogs: you can now join me for an overview of Revelation in 10 1-hour sessions on Tuesday evenings 7:30pm PST - Streaming Alive. You can access by just clicking on the '10 Weeks' Streaming Live button at the Top Right + you are then linked to our website: RevelationMysterySolved. If you can't join us Live, then sessions are Archived and available anytime. Please feel free to just click on whichever session you want to view. Also, accompanying Notes for each session can be downloaded.
Enjoy and be challenged by The Revelation of Jesus Christ!
Put on your Son-glasses & let the Holy Spirit reveal Jesus more fully in, to + through you for ALL He is!
I apologize that it's been more than a few months since I last blogged, but so much has been happening, so very quickly, and I have often been quite removed from consistent Internet access since then that I have not had time to write it all down. It's like the Lord has put His foot down hard on our accelerator and we've been running FAST: Bali, Indonesia; Kitimat, Vietnam, Finland, Uganda, England. However, I am now glad to be home... for a while.
Our present focus is an addition to the written blogs: you can now join me for an overview of Revelation in 10 1-hour sessions on Tuesday evenings 7:30pm PST - Streaming Alive. You can access by just clicking on the '10 Weeks' Streaming Live button at the Top Right + you are then linked to our website: RevelationMysterySolved. If you can't join us Live, then sessions are Archived and available anytime. Please feel free to just click on whichever session you want to view. Also, accompanying Notes for each session can be downloaded.
Enjoy and be challenged by The Revelation of Jesus Christ!
Put on your Son-glasses & let the Holy Spirit reveal Jesus more fully in, to + through you for ALL He is!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
