tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50120954244818403782024-02-20T03:07:32.409-08:00seymourlightDedicated to challenging the status quo of apostate christianity and a church that has made a god of tradition that says the scriptures are only relevant if they support what we do.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.comBlogger227125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-32298986273711662262012-02-22T16:15:00.000-08:002012-02-22T16:15:08.368-08:00THE QUESTION NO ONE WANTS TO ASKFor the last 10 years, I have been studying church history. Apart from my study of the New Testament, I must have read at least 60 books on the subject. My latest journey is the 8 volume “History of the Christian Church” by Philip Schaff.<br />
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I am rather pleased with this purchase as it normally sells for $200 and I paid $50. A big thanks to the Christian book trade in the USA. <br />
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One of my purchases was tapes called “Pastors in Crisis” which talks about all the sorts of problems that pastors in the USA experience. There were cases cited of pastors who gave up because of the success syndrome. They were employed to get results and when they didn’t they were sacked or resigned. <br />
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This does not surprise me as I went though a website that advertised Christian jobs. There were 263 adverts for pastors. Apart from three, the qualifications required were experience, a degree and the ability to make things happen. Only three mentioned they wanted someone who had a serious prayer life. <br />
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In one book, I read that on average, 1,600 USA pastors resign or are sacked each month. In my country there are over 10,000 ex pastors who gave up because of burnout or unrealistic expectations. <br />
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One other thing the tapes mentioned was the fact that these situations were sad because these men were called by God to do a special ministry.<br />
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I am not convinced however as I cannot see God approving of something contrary to his word. My own feeling is and it has been confirmed by other writers that probably at least 50% of the pastors out there should never be in ministry. <br />
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The reason they are is that they are fuelled by rejection so they need to be needed which means their so called “calling” is nothing more than to cover up a dysfunction without having to face it.<br />
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If you are in ministry because of rejection, everything is filtered through it so you are unable to see reality. A protective mechanism builds a wall to stop you being hurt so you cannot see the wood for the trees as they say. <br />
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Apart from the forgoing, I cannot find anywhere in the New Testament church where they hired a pastor from outside the church to run it. Leadership in the NTC was firstly apostles and prophets and later resident Elders who were chosen from within the fellowship. Not once does it say a pastor is in charge. <br />
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What this tells me is that when you ignore the obvious and impose a man made system on a spiritually devised and God given structure, you are asking for trouble because you are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. <br />
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I believe the reasons I have stated are the reasons why the current church leadership model is a killing ground for professional pastors. It doesn’t work because it was never intended to.<br />
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The question no one wants to ask is “why do we so blindly follow man’s design and ignore the scripture and what God intended for leadership of the church.”<br />
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There can only be one answer to this and that is that man has too much invested in their way of doing things and to do otherwise would mean a loss of authority, power and prestige because doing it God’s way would mean that he gets all the glory, not man. <br />
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Man’s sinful nature does not want that to happen.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-48651376224389756562011-11-17T21:02:00.000-08:002011-11-17T21:02:28.179-08:00MEETINGSPerhaps you have noticed that in most churches, if you want to be part of the life of the church, you have to go to meetings. Don't laugh, but in one church I attended, my application for formal membership was knocked back because I did not attend enough of the monthly communion services. <br />
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Back of heads fellowship meetings (Sunday morning), prayer meetings (maybe), Sunday school meetings, youth meetings, meetings for women, very occasionally meetings for men, bible study meetings, missionary meetings and so on. <br />
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A new ministry starts with another meeting after it has been decided to embark upon it after several committee meetings. (I was told that God so loved the world he didn’t send a committee). <br />
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Did the New Testament Church hold meetings? Well, yes they did but I get a distinct impression that they were nothing like the ones we have today in churches. <br />
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Today, what seems to be the most important thing about church meetings is the programme. We grace our “church” building with our presence and follow the meeting procedure set out by those who are in charge. We do things the same way as we have done for 500 years in many cases.<br />
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If you ask why we are doing things the same as we did 500 years ago, the usual reply is ‘because we have always done it this way.”<br />
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Why? Don’t know. <br />
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The New Testament Church, despite many vigorously stating they met in structures built for the purpose of meeting in, met in homes. If we are to believe archaeological history, that meant a maximum of 30 people for most homes.<br />
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The central feature of these “meetings” was a shared meal that all could partake of regardless of their social or financial standing in society. This was especially beneficial for widows and orphans who have meagre means of support. <br />
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Whilst eating they enjoyed each others fellowship. From my own experience, I do not know of a better way to relate to others than sharing a meal together.<br />
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As an aside, let me ask you how much fellowship you get with people during what is known as the eucharist/communion/Lord's table eating of a piece of bread or biscuit and drinking a thimbleful or sip of wine as most churches do today. If your experience is like mine, zero, zilch. <br />
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For that reason, I prefer the New Testament Church take on things than today’s religious ritual.<br />
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Add to the meal and fellowship, prayer and teaching and you have one well rounded and beneficial gathering. A meeting? Maybe, but I would say that it was more a meeting of mind and hearts rather than a meeting of traditions controlled by a programme. <br />
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The common factor in the New Testament Church was that they were all one in Christ Jesus. The common factor in the church today seems to be we are all one in meeting ritual. This is the way we do things and we are not going to change it for anyone…not even God.<br />
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I am very blessed inasmuch that I go to “meetings” where our main purpose is to meet with each other and with God. Any programme that we might have remains very flexible and fluid and is subject to change without notice if God shows up, which he often does. <br />
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We eat together (in armchairs), talk and share together; we sing a few songs of praise to God, not to make us feel warm and fuzzy, but to bring joy to the heart of God; we share the word of God with each other (forget sermons); and we definitely major in prayer. And it all takes place in a tin shed in someone’s back yard. <br />
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What does each others back of heads look like? We don’t know as we rarely see them. We connect with each other with our eyes, our bodies (lots of hugs) with our prayers and waiting on each other. Often we kneel in front of another as we pray for them. A kind of washing feet exercise. <br />
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When all is said and done and more is done than said, the overwhelming response is that we met God in the midst of our gathering. He came, and saw and blessed us beyond measure. <br />
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This happens more often than not because we are a small fellowship that is ready, willing and able to give God the right to do what he pleases, when he pleases, through whom he pleases and how he pleases. <br />
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We have enough confidence in God and each other to allow him to use whoever he wants to bring his blessing and presence into our gathering. <br />
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In comparison, going through the hymn prayer sandwich meeting week after week could not be more boring.<br />
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Going through the singing, communion, sermon meeting every week could not be more boring, especially when the whole atmosphere is fabricated by the type of music used to produce a warm fuzzy feeling.<br />
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If being alternate, strange, different, non religious, rebellious even means that we experience the God who is there on a regular basis, I raise my hand and plead guilty. Here I stand. I can do no other.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-28583112580681977592011-09-07T23:33:00.000-07:002011-09-07T23:33:38.986-07:00IN THE BEGINNING GOD....I remember about 25 years ago, speaking at a fledgling church one Sunday morning. My topic was "In the Beginning God." I don't remember much about what I said as I spoke without notes of any kind. I relied entirely on the Holy Spirit to give me the words that I was to speak. <br />
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I know that I said the whole of life hinged on these four words. Unless we believed that in the beginning God, we entered all sorts of speculation about life itself and more importantly, we fall prey to the fallacy of evolution.<br />
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Which is exactly what has happened for many Christians? As I peruse Christian forums on the Net, I am amazed how many so called Christians vigorously defend evolution. Many believe that God's creation and evolution can sit side by side. Many contend that the earth is billions of years old. Many contend that God started it all with the big bang. Many contend that six literal days is pure conjecture. Many contend that man from apes is logical. Many contend that man is just another one of the animal species. Many contend that evolution is an explanation for Genesis one. <br />
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It is becoming hard to find those who believe that creation happened as it said it did in Genesis one. Despite the fact that everything has to have a beginning, Christians are having a hard time accepting that God was the beginning who created the beginning of time and the universe. <br />
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Like so much of scripture we have become very adept at turning something that is simple into something complicated. Too often, sermons add to what is already there to the point that they add what is not there.<br />
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A simple story used to illustrate a simple principle of Christian living becomes an esoteric application of some doctrine which quite often ignores the purpose of the story in the first place. As a result, when all is said and done, more is said than done. The sermon just becomes a theological treatise with no real meaning and no call to action or requirement to be applied. <br />
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Bearing in mind that we only retain 20% of what we hear, most sermons are a waste of time. Yet we persist in such a failed method and think we are doing a great job because we pay someone to prepare and present what is in the end much ado about nothing. <br />
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Getting back to my original comment, I cannot imagine anything more stupid that trying to justify man made evolution in the light of the awesomeness of “in the beginning God...”<br />
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It is picturesque, poetic, awesome, majestic, life giving, breathtaking, brilliant, imaginative, creative, eye opening, infinite, indefinable, absorbing, and limitless, beyond comprehension and so on and so on.<br />
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For me, knowing that in the beginning God, is so reassuring and life giving. Without God as the maker of all things, we are left to the speculation of man's puny efforts to explain the universe and a lot of cases explain it away as something infinitely complex brought about by design. They would rather believe in big bangs, ponds, slime, things happening by chance, and mankind as the product of some primeval process that just makes us another animal species.<br />
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How dull, boring and totally implausible. When you look at the achievements of mankind and his ability to find clues to processes and produce life saving medicines to say that all this was a product of chance is to say the least, quite incredulous. <br />
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In the beginning God explains so many things to us right down to the incredible workings of the DNA and the fact that every human being has a different DNA to everyone else. Chance? I am sorry; I just don't have the faith to believe that. <br />
According to zoological experts, every Zebra has a different stripe pattern. Millions of them. Chance? I am sorry, but I don't have the faith to believe that.<br />
It would appear that every human being apart from having their own individual DNA, have their own set of individual fingerprints. Chance? I am sorry; I don't have enough faith to believe that. <br />
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What I do have enough faith for is that a great big benevolent God decided to be God and create a magnificent solar system for no other reason than he could, and in the midst of it all he decided to create a man in his image to enjoy the magnificence of his creation and out of his side he created "woman" to enjoy it with him and so they could procreate and populate his garden of Eden or what is commonly known as his utopia. <br />
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If sin had not interfered that is how it still would be. If Jesus had not died on the cross and rose again, there would be no hope of experiencing it once again. All we are left with is doom and gloom and death, eternal death. There is no doubt that the atheists and evolutionists have a death wish and what they wish for they are going to get.<br />
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The disciple of Jesus however, has eternal life to look forward to and experience. The sort that was there in the beginning.....God. Need I say anymore?marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-24101742281732661932011-05-23T03:48:00.000-07:002011-05-23T03:49:13.538-07:00BOOK REVIEW: THE SACRED MEAL by Nora GallagherThis book is an account of one woman’s journey through the tradition of the Anglican Communion, or as she calls it, Eucharist. It is the story of her feelings and thoughts that make the experience meaningful for her, most of which has no connection to scripture. More often than not, she uses mundane examples i.e. yoga (???), global capitalism, illegal aliens, provisions to an army etc. to explain what she is talking about. <br />
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If one wants to be informed on the biblical truth about this subject, this book is not for you as the scriptures are rarely mentioned and far from being a historical account, it is only an account of the Anglican communion experience which as we know did not begin until the Middle Ages. <br />
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The book is divided up into chapters where she investigates the qualities needed prior to taking communion, what was her experience in receiving communion and what she looked for as a result of taking communion. <br />
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She then tries to defend or deny the ideas of transubstantiation, magical thinking arising out of taking communion, myths and traditions associated with it and finally some history. <br />
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For me the history chapter was the best as I have already done extensive study on this subject, and it encompassed a wider brief in discussing the topic and she moves away from her own emotional responses to taking communion.<br />
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In the history chapter Nora the author points out that the New Testament church always conducted this ritual in the context of a communal meal, yet there is no questioning as to why this is not the case today. She just accepts that “things changed” when Constantine made Christianity the state religion but she does admit that the modern day communion may be quite different to the original intention of the New Testament church (which it is). <br />
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In the last chapter she admits to loving ritual and liturgy, performed weekly without deviation, which could mean that she is not an impartial observer which prevents her from being objective. <br />
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If you are an Anglican and have the idea that there is more to communion than eating a wafer and imbibing a sip of wine, you will probably enjoy the book as the experiences the author sets out which she believes makes it more meaningful or mystical (I am not sure where one ends and the other begins) may help you enjoy some of the things that you do when involved in this ritual, or as she calls it “practice.” <br />
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For others it will be a may or may not, depending on how you see the majesty and/or sacredness of the so called meal which Nora puts a lot of emphasis on and one cannot help get the feeling that there is some magical or supernatural outcome if one can only “tune in” to the force behind it.<br />
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All in all, definitely not a historical or biblical treatise of the subject, more an autobiography of the emotions and feelings of one person’s involvement in the Anglican Communion in an attempt to give it a life that ultimately might only be a figment of one’s very vivid imagination.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-74075470315420238022011-04-11T04:14:00.000-07:002011-04-11T04:14:35.234-07:00GOD AT WORK(Matthew 6:31) Therefore do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? Or, with what shall we be clothed?<br />
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(Matthew 6:33) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.<br />
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(Matthew 6:34) Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow shall be anxious for its own things. Sufficient to the day is the evil of it.<br />
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(Matthew 16:24) Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.<br />
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(John 16:33) I have spoken these things to you so that you might have peace in Me. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.<br />
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(Romans 5:3) And not only this, but we glory in afflictions also, knowing that afflictions work out patience,<br />
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(Romans 8:28) And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.<br />
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(Romans 8:31) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?<br />
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(Romans 12:12) rejoicing in hope, patient in affliction, steadfastly continuing in prayer,<br />
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(2 Corinthians 8:8) I do not speak according to command, but through the eagerness of others, and testing the trueness of your love.<br />
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(2 Corinthians 12:9) And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may overshadow me.<br />
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(Philippians 2:13) For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.<br />
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(Philippians 2:14) Do all things without murmurings and disputing,<br />
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(Philippians 2:15) so that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. Among these you shine as lights in the world,marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-42562262338567579042011-04-09T23:44:00.000-07:002011-12-20T16:31:01.453-08:00NEW WINESKINSI have been reading about new wine and new wine skins. Jesus said you don’t put new wine into old wineskins. Why is that? apparently wine skins that were made out of goat skins, when they had wine put into them, the wine fermented, meaning it became alcoholic. <br />
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Whilst this fermentation took place, gasses were produced which a new wineskin could cope with as it expanded. An old wineskin did not have this capacity so putting new wine into an old wine skin meant that you would probably lose the lot as the old skin would burst under the pressure of the gasses. <br />
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All sorts of interpretations have been put on this passage of scripture in Luke 5, even to the point of arguing that Christians should not drink alcohol. <br />
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When I read scripture, I like to have the proceeding word of God as well as the written word, so I tend to ask the Holy Spirit if there is anything that he wants me to know. <br />
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With this passage, I started thinking about the church, and God putting new wine into……..<br />
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I get the impression that we are very pleased to have the new wine but we want it put into old wineskins. In other words, we don’t want to change. God can give us the new wine but it will have to be in the context of a programme that never changes from week to week, so if that is not convenient to God, then we will have to give it a miss (and continue with our programme).<br />
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My experience has been over the years that when the new wine comes, the programme goes out the window, because the new wine of the Holy Spirit always challenges the status quo. <br />
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The programme says we are running the show. The new wine says God is in charge because anything can happen, including the supernatural. We tend to shy away from this as…we can’t control it and we see that as chaos.<br />
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Well it is chaos in a way as we don’t know what the Holy Spirit is going to do next. <br />
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I know of a church that has a prayer group that prays for God to show them people out in the community that need prayer. They actually see the person concerned that He wants them to pray for in a vision and then they go out into the community looking for that person.<br />
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A father and his young daughter got a vision of a lady with her arm in a cast. They went down the street and they met a lady with her arm in a cast. The little girl said to her “can we pray for your arm?” <br />
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When a sweet little girl says that to you how can you refuse. She and her father laid hands on the arm and prayed and she was healed of a medical condition that she’d had for years. <br />
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That is new wine at work, not a programme.<br />
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If you want to control everything, keep going with your programmes. If you want the Holy Spirit to be in control, get rid of the old wineskins so you can have a new filling of new wine.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-52390290538470234212011-04-02T21:59:00.000-07:002011-04-02T21:59:43.898-07:00THE FAMILY OF GODJust imagine being part of a family where two brothers have a disagreement with each other and as a result one of them refuses to talk to the other. They live in the same house but they eat in different rooms, watch TV in different rooms, and they talk to other members of the family that agree with them but not the brother or anyone who disagrees with them. <br />
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What would you think of a family that lived like that? Not much I bet as families are supposed to get on with each other, help each other, love each other despite mistakes and disagreements and be a haven from the cares and pressures of the world.<br />
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Do you know a family that lives like that? I do. It is called the church. In virtually every town and city, the members of the church of God won’t talk to each other unless you agree with them. They spend a lot of time criticizing each other and giving the impression that they are superior to everyone else because they believe this or that. They refuse to help each other because they believe different things and if problems arise, they ignore each other. <br />
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Some members of this family, if they have a disagreement they get up and leave the family and start their own, and cut themselves of from the rest of the family.<br />
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When you read about the church in the New Testament, it becomes obvious that there was only one church in each town. Paul writes his letters to the “church in Corinth”, the “church at Philippi”. Nowhere do we read about a letter being written to the “churches at Ephesus”. <br />
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There was only one church which met in various homes on a daily basis for fellowship and meals. There was only one church that cared for each other and met each others needs. There was only one church that didn’t spend its time shooting the wounded. There was only one church that was bound together on the basis of the redeeming work of Christ, not a long list of doctrinal beliefs or of do’s and don’ts.<br />
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Most churches today bear no resemblance to the church in the New Testament. They are more like businesses or social organizations with a set of rules and membership conditions and are run by a CEO and a few paid executives.<br />
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The New Testament church was a family. Paul said as much and was often referring to the members as “brothers”. The sad thing is that we excuse the fact by saying that we don’t have to have a literal interpretation of the bible, we can interpret it and take into consideration cultural issues or we justify the apostate church of today by reinterpreting passages that will support our theories of how church should be.<br />
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One example is the verse that says the labourer is worthy of his hire so that is justification for having professional paid pastors to run the church even though it is quite clear that the New Testament church was run by unpaid elders. <br />
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Another is the idea that you can’t lead a church unless you have theological degrees. We don’t seem to realize that we are emptying the church by degrees as we impose man made ideas as to how the church should be. <br />
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Very few churches in the western world are growing with new birth growth. The few that are growing are doing so by transfer growth from other churches which are losing membership to those churches that have a belief system that is three miles wide and three inches deep. <br />
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In other words, the church is attracting people with a wishy washy bless me message that says you can have it all and God will bless you if you give to the church.<br />
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What is really sad is that we are happy to allow this God forsaken status quo to go unchallenged. What is really, really sad is that we are being robbed blind by an organizational structure that denies the very nature and purpose of the family of God.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-13384286581145957932011-02-24T02:21:00.000-08:002011-02-24T02:21:02.506-08:00HOLY SPIRIT WHERE ARE YOU?If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference. A.W. Tozer<br />
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Tozer is considered one of the leading statesmen of the faith. He was around when commitment and faith were standard fare in the church. However, he still had to countenance problems that we have today only we have them in more depth. <br />
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I would suggest that we should not worry about the Holy Spirit being withdrawn from the church as it seems that he was never invited in anyway. Sometime in the past, I do not know if anyone can pinpoint the exact time, the Holy Spirit was replaced by human knowledge and wisdom.<br />
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As long as the church could produce something, all was right with the world. The fact that it was totally devoid of any spiritual power did not seem to matter. <br />
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I constantly get told these days that just because we have a programme Sunday morning that is planned down to the last minute doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit is not in charge. They insist that the Holy Spirit is in the planning.<br />
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What seems to escape these people is that all their planning denies the scripture that when you come together every one has….a hymn, an exhortation, a revelation and so on and so forth. <br />
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How can a person say that the Holy Spirit is in the planning when no one is allowed to do anything unless it is part of the programme? My experience in that the Holy Spirit does not operate according to our dictates. He decides when he will do whatever he wants to do and he decides who he will do it through and nowhere in scripture does it say only those who are paid to be Christians are qualified to be the vehicle through which the Holy Spirit works. <br />
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The fact that anyone says that the Holy Spirit is operating through the programme shows how far away we have got from understanding what the Holy Spirit does and how he does it. In essence, we no longer recognise what is spiritual and what is natural.<br />
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The people of God are in many cases wanting a visitation of the Spirit but the nearest they are allowed to get to one is the warm fuzzy feeling that loud and soulish music gives when singing a few songs. <br />
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As far as the programme goes, I have been in meetings that have one of these programmes and the Holy Spirit has been able to break through. What happens then? He is kindly dismissed as we move onto the next part of the programme. <br />
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For those of us who are prepared to face reality, 99% of the time a programme keeps the Holy Spirit at bay, in case he does something that doesn’t fit in with our…programme. After all, we can’t allow that because we have to do things “decently and in order” and for that to happen you need a programme. If you allow things to happen spontaneously, then it is not “decently and in order”. <br />
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I asked a Pentecostal pastor once “if you are a Pentecostal church, why are you so devoid of the supernatural.” Answer. “I don’t know.” if they don’t know, how can anyone else come to a suitable conclusion.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-91020233673342223412011-02-24T01:50:00.000-08:002011-02-24T01:50:11.717-08:00RULER v SERVANT"But we must realise that all of the ministry gifts are grace gifts. They are given by grace and not earned. You either have it or you don't. Paul recognised that he was not worthy to be called an apostle, and was such only by the grace of God."<br />
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JOHN ECKHARDT The Ministry Annointing of the Apostle<br />
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No doubt there are exceptions to the rule as there always are, but from my experience, I have found that most church leadership rules over the congregation. Some examples of this are that only the “credentialed” leadership preaches; only ministries that the leadership approves can be embarked upon; all decisions of the church have to be approved by the leadership; the pattern for the Sunday meetings are set by the leadership; if one gets a revelation from God it is not accepted unless the leadership gets it as well or approves of it; if a person gets a word from God for the meeting it cannot be given unless the leadership approves it; all doctrine is incorrect unless it is what the leadership or denomination believes; the only programme that is approved is the one set out by the leadership; if one feels that a person displays an anointing for a particular ministry, it cannot happen unless the leadership approves of God’s choice. In other words, only the leadership hears from God. The laity may hear from God but not until the pastor says he or she does. <br />
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When we read Matthew chapter 21 we see the opposite. James and John’s mother wanted special positions for her sons in the coming kingdom. The other ten disciples got indignant about this request so Jesus put them all straight on the subject of position and power. <br />
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He referred them to the rulers of the Gentiles that lord it over the people, and their high officials who exercised authority over them. The word “lord” means to “control and subjugate”. The word “authority” means “full privilege over”. <br />
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What was Jesus response to this? NOT SO YOU. Instead, he told them if you want to be great the answer is simple. You MUST become a servant. Not “you can become a servant if you feel in the mood”. The word “servant” is the Greek word “dee-ak-on-os” which means to run errands, be an attendant or a waiter. In other words, a leader in the church is someone who takes orders, not gives them. <br />
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He goes on to say that if you want to be first, you must be a slave. This word means subjection or subserviency. In other words, you are there to be told what to do not tell others what to do. <br />
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He puts the boot in by telling them that he was the example as he came to serve, not to be served which means that he came to wait on people, not be waited upon. He was the waiter not the customer. <br />
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The question I want to ask you is, how many in church leadership have you seen that functions that way? The nearest I can get to it is when they say that they are serving the people by preaching or running the church. If that is the case, ask them when was the last time they served as a waiter at a church dinner? From my observation, they usually sit at the top table with the important people. <br />
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Even if they insist that being a paid pastor is in scripture, the way that they carry out the role is far from the standard that Jesus set for all those who are in leadership.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-42044675513617261322011-02-13T16:08:00.000-08:002011-02-13T16:08:44.307-08:0095 THESES FOR TODAYI believe many need to hear these truths and they are shared in the humility of my weakness and lack in my own Christian Life. May all of these lead people to experience the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and His indwelling Power to live the Christian life. Anything else will produce self-effort, striving and fleshly obedience to God’s commands and Scripture. I recommend all who read these Theses to also read these books also for “balance” for their Christian walk: “Classic Christianity by Bob George, “The Calvary Road by Roy Hession” and “The Spiritual Secret by Hudson Taylor“. May God in His mercy come and revive, reform and renew North American [and Australian] Christianity for His glory alone. “May the Lamb of God receive the reward of His sufferings in our lives today!” - Greg Gordon (founder of SermonIndex.net)<br />
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1. The “church” at large has forgotten that the chief end of man is to glorify God. (Rom 16:27; 1Cor 6:20; Mt 6:9; 1Cor 10:31)<br />
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2. Christians ignore most of the methods, practices, and principles found in the book of Acts. (Acts 2:42,44; Acts 2:46; Acts 2:38)<br />
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3. Many treat “church” like any other social club or sports event that they might attend. (Acts 2:46; Heb 10:25; Acts 1:14)<br />
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4. We’ve made Christianity about the individual rather than the community of believers. (Rom 12:5; 1Cor 12:12; 2Tim 4:16)<br />
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5. In most “churches” the priesthood of all believers isn’t acknowledged and the role of pastor is abused. (1Pt 2:9; 1Cor 12:12; Eph 4:11-13)<br />
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6. The “church” as a whole has lost the concept of their being grafted into the promises given to Israel. (Rom 11:15, 17-18, 20, 25)<br />
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7. There needs to be a recovery of teaching the whole counsel of God, especially in expository form. (Acts 20:27; 1Tim 4:6, 2Tim 2:15)<br />
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8. We take it too lightly that we have the blessing and honor of having God’s Scriptures in our possession. (Ps 119:16; Acts 13:44; Neh 8:9)<br />
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9. There has never been more access to the Word of God, yet so little reading of it. (1Tim 4:13; Neh 8:1-3; Ps 119:59)<br />
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10. Some read the Scriptures to attain knowledge, but do not practice what they read. (Jam 1:22; Mt 7:21; 3Jn 4)<br />
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11. Worship has become an idol in many “churches.” The music often resembles that of the world. (Amos 5:23; Phil 4:8; 1Jn 5:21)<br />
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12. The world is shaping the views of the “church” more than the “church” shaping the world. (Rom 12:2; Mt 5:13; 1Cor 1:22-23)<br />
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13. The “church” spends more money on dog food than on missions. (2Cor 9:6; Lk 21:2; Acts 4:34-35)<br />
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14. We take lightly the cost of discipleship laid out by Jesus Christ and do not deny our lives. (Lk 14:33; Lk 14:26-27; Mt 8:19-20)<br />
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15. There is a lack of true discipleship and making others to be obedient disciples. (Mt 28:20; 2Tim 2:2; 2Tim 2:14)<br />
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16. Many subscribe to the error that parts of life are to be spiritual while others are to be secular. (1Pt 4:2; Col 3:3; 1Jn 2:6)<br />
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17. Modern Christians often find Jesus’ command to sacrifice and serve abhorrent. (Phil 2:21; Jam 3:16; Rom 12:1-2)<br />
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18. Self disciplines in the Christian life such as fasting and praying are considered legalistic. (2Tim 2:21; 2Tim 1:8; Mt 6:17)<br />
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19. Little thought and contemplation is put towards the lostness of men, the seriousness of the Gospel. (Phil 3:8; Gal 2:20; Heb 10:34)<br />
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20. We are living with an epidemic of cheap grace with flippant confession and shallow consecration. (Lk 14:28-30; Lk 14:26; Jam 4:8)<br />
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21. Since the inception of the Church, the Gospel had the requirements of repentance and discipleship. (Acts 2:38; Lk 14:26; Jn 8:31)<br />
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22. Now forgiveness is offered without repentance, discipleship without obedience, salvation without sanctity. (Heb 10:29; 4:11; Lk 13:24)<br />
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23. Introspection, counting the cost, godly sorrow over sin, are all foreign to many in the “church.”(Acts 2:37; Ps 119:9; Heb 6:1-2)<br />
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24. The modern church loves itself more than its neighbor. (1Cor 3:3; Gal 5:13; Phil 2:3)<br />
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25. The church must repent of its idolization of personality, and of business principles. (2Cor 2:17; 1Cor 3:5; 1Cor 12:23)<br />
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26. Many elders and pastors of the “church” sadly are fleecing the flock to supply their own wants. (Jn 10:12-13; 1Pt 5:2-3; Rev 2:15)<br />
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27. The qualities most in demand in today’s pastorate are frequently foreign to the Scriptures. (1Tim 3:2-3; 1Tim 3:5; 1Tim 1:5-7)<br />
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28. The professionalization of the pastorate is a sin and needs to be repented of. (2Cor 11:13; Gal 3:1; Gal 2:6)<br />
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29. There must be repentance for the ambitious desire and idolization of the celebrity pastorate. (3Jn 9; Jer 17:5; 1Cor 12:22)<br />
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30. Pastors must trust the Spirit, not statistics. (2Sam 24:1; 1Cor 1:25; Rom 8:14)<br />
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31. Modern day prophets are being stoned by criticism and neglect. (2Tim 4:3-4; Gal 1:10; Jer 1:7-8)<br />
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32. God’s prophets are ill-treated and shunned by most “Christians” who consider them too extreme. (Jer 6:10; Isa 6:9-10; Gal 4:16)<br />
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33. The prophets prophesy falsely, priests rule by their own power; and my people love to have it so. (Mt 24:4, 11-12; 1Cor 1:19, Jude 8)<br />
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34. There are many false gospels being preached from pulpits in our day. (2Cor 11:4; Gal 1:8-9; Jude 16)<br />
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35. There is an epidemic of a “mock” salvation message. It is correct in doctrine, but false in reality. (2Cor 3:6; 1Jn 5:11-12; Rom 8:9)<br />
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36. A salvation that does not make men holy is trusted in by a deceived multitude. (Jude 4; Rom 8:1; Rom 6:17-18)<br />
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37. There is a needed perseverance in the truths of the Gospel without unbelief. (Eph 1:1; Heb 6:11-12; Heb 10:26-27)<br />
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38. A great need is to see “Christians” become saints in actual experience. (1Jn 2:29; Col 3:5-8; Tit 3:8)<br />
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39. Many professors of religion are forbidding people to be a part of the holy body of Christ. (Mt 23:13; Ps 119:1-2; 2Pt 1:3-4)<br />
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40. Preaching has become all about the happiness of man and not the glory of God. (Jn 6:26; Rom 4:20; 1Pt 4:11)<br />
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41. Preachers give smooth words to entice men, yet very few give any words of correction or rebuke. (Jer 6:14; Pro 1:23; 1Tim 5:20)<br />
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42. Run from gospels that focus on our success and prosperity in the name of Jesus Christ. (Jn 2:16; Acts 20:33; Jer 6:13)<br />
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43. Run from gospels that focus on self-improvement. (1Tim 6:5; Heb 12:14; Jam 4:14)<br />
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44. Run from churches where men, and not Christ, are glorified. (Col 1:18; Jude 25; Jn 16:14)<br />
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45. Run from churches where there is no Bible, no cross, no mention of the blood of Christ. (1Pt 1:18-19; Eph 3:13; Rev 1:5)<br />
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46. Run from churches where the worship leaves you cold, where there’s no sense of God’s presence. (1Cor 5:4; Ps 80:14-15; Jer 12:11)<br />
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47. Run from churches where you’re comfortable in your sin. (1Cor 14:25; Heb 10:30-31; Heb 4:13)<br />
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48. Run from churches that use the pulpit of God for a personal agenda. (Jude 10-11,19; 3Jn 9)<br />
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49. Run from those who preach division between races and cultures. (Jam 2:4, Gal 3:28, Rev 5:9)<br />
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50. Run from ungodly, spasmodic movements and endless empty prophesying. (Jer 5:13; 1Cor 14:33, 1Jn 2:16)<br />
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51. Run from preachers who tell mostly stories and jokes. (Eph 5:4; Tit 1:8; 2:12)<br />
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52. Run from those that are only after money, who use one gimmick after another to get your money. (2Pt 2:3; 2Cor 12:14; 1Cor 9:18)<br />
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53. The phrase “accept Jesus as your personal Saviour” is not found in the Scriptures. (Rom 10:9-10; Col 1:13; Acts 26:20)<br />
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54. Evidence of true conversion does not seem important to modern day Christians. (1Jn 2:6; 1Jn 4:17; Mt 7:20)<br />
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55. Thousands of sinners think of God as having only one attribute: Love! But they continue in sin. (Rom 1:18; Acts 5:11; Ps 2:12)<br />
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56. “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!” has hindered true evangelism. (Rom 3:19; Acts 26:18; Phil 3:18-21)<br />
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57. A Gospel of love and grace only, without the law of God being preached. This is a doctrine of Satan. (2Tim 4:3-4; Rom 2:4-5; 3:19)<br />
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58. There has clearly arisen a careless mixture of 20th century reasoning with God’s revelation. (Col 2:8; Rom 1:25; Gal 1:6)<br />
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59. Making decisions and the “sinner’s prayer” has been a major cause of false conversions in the “church.” (2Pt 2:1-2; Eph 2:4-5; 2Cor 5:17-18)<br />
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60. Many will be surprised to hear Jesus say, “I never knew you, depart from me.” (Mt 7:22-23; 1Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:19-21)<br />
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61. Men have taken the place of the Holy Spirit in confirming men in their supposed salvation. (1Jn 2:3-5; 2Ths 1:8; Gal 6:12-15)<br />
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62. The doctrine of hell and eternal suffering is something little grasped by most professing “Christians.” (Mt 13:42; Jam 5:1; Ps 9:17)<br />
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63. The judgment seat of Christ is perhaps one of the most neglected topics in the modern pulpit. (2Cor 5:10; Rom 14:10; 1Cor 3:13)<br />
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64. The second coming of Christ needs to be re-instated as the church’s general thrust and burden. (1Jn 3:2-3; Col 3:4-6; 1Ths 4:14-17)<br />
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65. The church has lost the fear of God and has over emphasized the love of God. (Heb 12:28-29; Luke 12:5; Heb 10:31)<br />
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66. The church has left evangelism to a few trained professionals. (Acts 8:1,4; Acts 4:29; Rom 10:14)<br />
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67. Repentance is considered a one-time act in modern evangelism rather than a way of life. (Rev 3:19; Heb 12:17; 2Pt 3:9)<br />
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68. The Lordship of Jesus Christ is something that is not taught in many pulpits. (Acts 2:36; 1Cor 12:3; Rom 6:18)<br />
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69. Many in “churches” are not open to correction, church discipline or rebuke. (1Cor 5:5; 1Cor 11:31-32; Heb 12:7-9)<br />
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70. Some preach salvation as a theory instead of persuading men to come to Christ. (Jn 5:40; Col 1:28; 2Cor 4:5)<br />
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71. There has been a loss of the fullness and majesty of the gospel. (1Tim 1:11; Jude 25; Rom 15:29)<br />
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72. There is little mention of sin or the depravity of man from “church” pulpits. (Jn 3:20; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 5:5)<br />
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73. Covetousness, consumerism, and coddling of the world’s goods does not appear wrong. (Jer 22:17; 1Jn 2:15-16; 1Tim 3:3)<br />
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74. Little is made of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in churches or in evangelism. (1Cor 15:14-15; Acts 4:10, 33)<br />
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75. The “church” has relied more on technology than God. (Zech 4:6; 1Cor 1:21; 2:4)<br />
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76. The prayer meeting is considered one of the least important meetings in the “church.” (1Tim 2:1; Acts 4:31; Phil 4:6)<br />
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77. Pastors have never prayed less than they do in the “church” today. (Jer 10:21; Phil 2:21; Eph 6:18-19)<br />
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78. Very few are waiting on God for His direction and purpose for His Church. (Eph 1:11; Ps 37:7; Isa 40:31)<br />
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79. The “church” has many organizers, but few agonizers. (Phil 3:18-19; Rom 9:1-3; Jer 9:1)<br />
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80. We need to have the gifts of the Spirit restored again to the “church.” (2Tim 4:2; 1Cor 14:39; 1Cor 12:31)<br />
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81. A serious, sober, self-controlled Christianity is very seldom found or preached. (2Pt 3:11; 1Pt 4:7; Jude 3)<br />
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82. The “church” at large has forgotten how to pray. (1Jn 3:22; Acts 6:4; 1Ths 5:17)<br />
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83. Many “churches” are more dependent on tradition than the leading of the Holy Spirit. (Mk 7:13; Acts 16:6; Acts 13:2)<br />
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84. Multitudes of professors preach and teach: that you cannot be freed from sin. (Rom 16:18; Rom 6:1-2; 2Pt 2:1)<br />
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85. The Apostles and Christ always preached the possibility to walk free from the bondage of sin. (Tit 2:11-12; 1Pt 1:14-16; Rom 6:19)<br />
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86. Sinners are not saved to sin, but rather, saved to holiness and good works. (Rom 6:13; Eph 2:10; 2Pt 3:14)<br />
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87. Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. (2Tim 2:19; 1Pt 4:17-18; 2Tim 3:12)<br />
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88. A baptism of holiness, a demonstration of godly living, is the crying need of our day. (1Tim 6:3; 2Ths 3:6; 2Ths 2:13)<br />
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89. Many are confused about obedience and the good works that are readily mentioned in the Scriptures. (Tit 3:8; Jn 10:32; Rev 3:15)<br />
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90. Little emphasis is put on the plan of God to make us like Jesus Christ in “churches.” (1Pt 1:14-16; 1Jn 2:6; 1Pt 4:1)<br />
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91. Christ did not die on the cross to obtain a worldly “church” but for a “glorious Church.” (Eph 5:27; Tit 2:14; Col 4:12)<br />
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92. Christ does not come into an unregenerate and impure heart as many contemporary theologians say. (2Cor 5:17; Mt 5:8; Eze 18:31)<br />
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93. A holy Church is God’s blessing to the world; an unholy “church” is God’s judgment upon the world. (Mt 5:14,16; Eph 4:1; 1Ths 2:12)<br />
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94. If Christianity is to make any headway in the present time, it must be proved to be more than a theory. (2Ths 3:6-7; 1Ths 4:1,11-12)<br />
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95. Unbelief has gagged and bound us as risen Lazarus! We need release in this final hour! (Heb 3:12-14; 1Cor 3:21-23; Heb 11:6)marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-66298982617433940312011-02-07T20:50:00.000-08:002011-02-13T16:26:37.911-08:00THE MARK OF A CHRISTIAN - SLIGHTLY IMPERFECTWhilst I was searching a book site on the internet I came across this one. “The Mark of a Christian.” That was the title of the book, but in the details it said the book was slightly imperfect. <br />
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Put the two together and you have the answer to a much discussed question. “What is the mark of a Christian”…slightly imperfect. <br />
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So is being slightly imperfect the mark of a Christian? The word of God gives us an answer. It says that “All have sinned and come short of God’s glory.” (Romans 3:23). That verse alone would suggest that we are more than slightly imperfect.<br />
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Then it goes on to say that there is not one who is righteous (Romans 3:10) so it is no use claiming some sort of holier than thou or I have done good deeds that merits some consideration.<br />
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Interestingly you get paid to sin. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23). Inflation has no effect on these wages. <br />
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Romans 8:2, tells us that the “Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Even though we are no way perfect, there is an antidote, the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ.<br />
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People do not realise that they live under a law of some kind, voluntary or involuntary. To live under the law of sin and death which every unbeliever does, is a choice that you make when you reject the salvation God offers through Jesus Christ. <br />
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To live under the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus enables you not to be captive to the law of sin and death. Many people have this strange idea that to accept the teachings of the Christian life is to obey a lot of do’s and don’ts. <br />
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It can be that if you never get beyond religious observance and ritual. But if you have a full measure of the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, it is totally liberating. This law is what it says it is…LIFE!!! <br />
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As the bible teaches death no longer has any sting and no longer has any victory or hold over you. (1 Corinthians 15:55). What that means is that death for the believer is not the end; it is the beginning of something extraordinary. An eternal salvation for a perfect person.<br />
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But aren’t we at least slightly imperfect? Well you might ask. The old unregenerate man not only is not slightly imperfect, it is a complete waste of space, but, and this is important, as a regenerated being we are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). Not nearly complete or one day complete, but complete now. <br />
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However, it does tells us that we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)<br />
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So the answer is a dead man or woman cannot be slightly imperfect or perfect when push comes to shove. All we can be is dead…as a dodo and let the perfection of Christ live through us. <br />
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Therefore the mark of a Christian is nothing more than the fact that he or she is…dead. <br />
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That should make you “dead keen” as a Christian.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-71243948022223333492011-02-05T01:51:00.000-08:002011-02-05T01:51:50.352-08:00I'M GUNNA BE A PASTOR!!!It seems to me that being a pastor is seen as the pinnacle of Christian ministry. If you are a pastor, you have reached the top of the profession. With the job comes a lot of power and a lot of telling others what they can or can’t do.<br />
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No one seems to say I want to be a pastor because I have this longing to be a servant which is what Jesus said you must be if you want to be great in the Kingdom of God. <br />
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I don’t know what picture is being painted by people of this ministry, but I will give you a couple of examples. A young man from a Para church ministry told us by way of introduction that he wanted to be a pastor. The reason? Wait for it. So that he could preach every Sunday. Ouch! <br />
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The second one is another young person who was going into training to be a pastor. This person had signed up for Bible College and would take on a church when graduated. Just one small problem. This person had numerable personal problems. Walked out on her parents; called Social Services saying that her parents had abused her all her life; never been able to hold down a job; when at home all she did was eat and watch TV all day. Not to worry come graduation all that would be put to one side and she would be a successful pastor.<br />
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Fortunately for us, neither became a pastor. The first ended up working with young people in a para church situation and it was obvious he was more attuned to that than being someone who wanted to preach every Sunday. The second? Faded away into the background fortunately. Just another job that seemed a good idea at the time. <br />
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Here are a couple of statistics for your consideration. In Australia, there 10,000 ex pastors who have left the ministry through burnout or unreasonable expectations. <br />
In the USA, approximately 1,600 pastors are either fired or resign every month. <br />
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Something has to be wrong don’t you think?marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-84812619915164168332011-02-05T01:28:00.000-08:002011-02-05T01:28:11.866-08:00BOOKS AND WRITING 2I have over a thousand books in my personal library as I usually buy 10 to 20 a year. As I have perused book lists on line I have noticed books appearing asking why there is such a dearth of knowledge of the word of God in the western church.<br />
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This is not the case in places like Africa and Asia. There they seem to read the word and go out and do likewise. Like praying for the dead to come back to life. In one book I read it said it happens all the time because they read and believe. <br />
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The western church generally speaking by comparison is not a doing church. In fact some do all they can to disprove that the supernatural has anything to do with Christianity today. This type of church is content to listen to sermons that for the most part have very little relevance to everyday life. <br />
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People then go home and forget all about what has been said and nothing changes. That’s if they remember any of it. Research shows that 80% of sermons go in one ear and out the other. Despite that fact the church persist in such a useless method of teaching.<br />
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In comparison to my younger days as a Christian the bible doesn’t seem to excite western Christians anymore. I was taught to read and study the bible every day and never went to a meeting without it. Today it seems, people just sit there and listen to someone else read it. <br />
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Mind you, in the old days you needed your bible because the preacher would constantly refer to it or teach from a whole passage. Today, it is often a case of “My text today is verse 27 of chapter 4 of the book of Acts and then we are told how that verse teaches us God wants to prosper. Not exactly a bible study you need a bible for.<br />
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At Bible College, we were taught that a sermon had to have an introduction, the body of a message and a conclusion. Or as we used to say, tell them what you are going to say, say it and then tell them what you have said. In other words, ram it home to make sure the listeners understand and digest.<br />
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Today it seems that we have an introduction, a verse of some kind (if you are lucky), then a monologue where the preacher hangs his pet subject on that verse and then a delusion that we have studied the word of God.<br />
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In the Real Estate business they say there are three essentials in any transaction. Location, location, location. <br />
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In the church there are three essentials for us to grow. The Word, the Word, the Word. And why is that? Because if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. That truth has been set out in God’s word to his church, the Bible.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-16548541957604310712011-01-28T22:44:00.000-08:002011-01-28T22:44:31.236-08:00WE ARE NOT TOO KEEN ON GOD DOING THINGS HIS WAYArthur Schopenhauer said, “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident”.<br />
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I found this quote the other day and realised how true it is, especially where the church is concerned. Down through the ages, the Roman Catholic Church has just about opposed anything they do not agree with. Most notable was the Protestant Reformation<br />
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The Puritan fathers, who colonized the USA, were escaping a State church that did not want to cede any power to another expression of Christianity.<br />
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The Evangelical church opposed the beginnings of Pentecostalism at the turn of the 20th century. <br />
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The charismatic renewal was opposed by the historical denominations in so many cases, although many did embrace it eventually.<br />
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The charismatic renewal opposed the “Third Wave” of John Wimber and the “Toronto Blessing” of John Arnott. <br />
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And finally and the most disturbing of all, denominations in general do not want to have anything to do with other denominations, even if they are across the road. <br />
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There is a new wave of the Spirit happening today which of course is being opposed by nearly everyone, because it challenges the status quo. I am talking about Christians who are leaving the man made church in droves and meetings in homes without priest, pastor, programme, pulpit, preacher, or protocol.<br />
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These people are going back to the roots of Christianity, the sort you find in the New Testament and which provided a vitality that the church does not have today. Most of what I have read has denigrated the house church movement, citing a lack of doctrinal statements, lack of accountability structures, lack of organized programmes, and lack of leadership and so on. <br />
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Like all the other moves of God, it will become the status quo of the church and everyone will be wondering what all the fuss was about. My hope and prayer is that it doesn’t get comfortable and stagnate like every other denomination has, but continues to grow, challenge the world and most importantly, replaces that which is of man.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-7218958226548072722011-01-28T22:20:00.000-08:002011-01-28T22:20:41.217-08:00BOOKS & WRITING 1I don’t think I could survive without books and writing. I am not by nature an academic type despite having four degrees, but there is something about having a printed book in your hands for reading pleasure.<br />
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Reading was something I took to from a young age and before they had Local Council libraries, I used to go to the privately owned Double U library every Saturday and loan a book from their collection. This created in me a love for reading.<br />
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One thing I treasured was the book prize I received each year for Sunday school attendance. Most of the time they were stories of the great missionary pioneers like Hudson Taylor or Adoniram Judson. <br />
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Still today I read books of saints who have achieved great things for God in challenging and difficult circumstances. An example would be Brother Andrew from Open Doors who I have met on several occasions.<br />
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Of late, I have spent two years studying the New Testament Church. I started exclusively with the Bible, recording its birth, its growth and its life. I then read over 40 books written from various perspectives on the subject to find out primarily what others had gleamed from scripture on the subject.<br />
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For me to read the book, all it needed was the word “church” in the title. In other words I wasn’t looking for books that followed a particular line.<br />
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Almost without exception, what I had learnt from the bible about the church, these writers concurred with my findings. Perhaps more accurately, because they wrote first, my findings concurred with theirs. <br />
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This was a valuable lesson to me that when you don’t let the traditions of men get in the way, it is amazing, but not surprising, how much God can speak to you from his word.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-5268730082647349842011-01-07T22:27:00.000-08:002011-01-07T22:29:40.590-08:00GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOINGGod knows what he is doing. Mankind are the idiots. Why do I say this? Simple really and I am sure you will agree with me when I explain what is happening.<br /><br />I am reading Michael Green’s book “Adventure of Faith” and in his chapter on modern day society, he was saying that post modernism has produced a me, myself and I mentality and a total distrust for authority and institutions.<br /><br />You could be forgiven for thinking that the church, one of the institutions that are being shunned, has chosen to ignore this fact and gone on its own merry way, reorganizing the deck chairs on the Titanic.<br /><br />Or, its message is we are what we are so you have to deal with us on our terms, which of course people won’t do anymore.<br /><br />Enter God. If people think that they can do without the church, that is if it is the church and not a religious organization, all God has to do is remove their objections. <br /><br />So what does he do? He brings about a church that is not a church. In reality it is the church, not the religion which post modern man is so opposed to. He removes the need for paid clergy and expensive buildings. He removes religious ritual and man’s control. He removes meetings and replaces them with meetings of mind and spirit. <br /><br />What makes it different or unique? It is known by many names but I will use one to embrace them all. It is the church in the home. You know just like they had in the New Testament. The one that changed the world.<br /><br />With the church in the home, you no longer have to invite people to come to a “meeting”. You invite them to join a few friends for a meal. You are invited to meet real people with real personalities, who experience the same joys and suffering as you do. In other words, down to earth living, the sort that you don’t address in “meetings.”<br /><br />You are not told that you have to attend certain meetings to be a member. You are not told that you have to believe this or believe that to be accepted. You are not told that the man at the top is the one who calls the shots.<br /><br />The overwhelming message is “all one in Christ Jesus.” We are all in this together and come rain or shine we will always be there for you. <br /><br />Special buildings…gone. Authority structures…gone. Authority figures…gone. Ministry by the select few…gone. Pew warmers…gone. Constant appeals for money…gone. Never ending activity…gone. <br /><br />In essence what we are talking about here is the perfect environment for the post modern man (and woman). It means that we don’t have to make apologies for religion, because we are not involved in it. <br /><br />And before you start on the “but no one is perfect theme”, we agree with you totally. Mistakes will happen. People will get hurt. Some will say it is not for them. Theology may not be all nicely packaged and uniform. Relationships may demand what we don’t want to give. <br /><br />None of this detracts from the fact it is God who is doing it and it is marvelous in our eyes. After all, it was his original plan in the first place.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-91112951695212005042011-01-07T22:20:00.000-08:002011-01-07T22:26:15.613-08:00I AM SORRY JESUS BUT YOU ARE NOT WANTEDI think that this little story shows us where the church is at. I received an expensive looking brochure from a denomination that I have no connection with, outlining their needs for people to go overseas to work with other cultures. You could go for two weeks, for two years or permanently. Here are some examples.<br /><br />If you are a school leaver or university student you can do your Gap year overseas with them. The only qualification is that you are in good standing with one of their churches.<br /><br />That immediately rules Jesus out because in his local church he was despised by the leaders.<br /><br />Then there are short term opportunities. All you need is to be a member of one of their churches, have received a probationary minister’s credential and have a lifetime call to missions.<br /><br />This one rules Jesus out even though he definitely would qualify as a short term worker, say three years. As for getting a probationary ministers credentials, forget it. The only credentials he was interested in was those which his father dished out.<br /><br />Then there is the Lifetime Career Workers. For this you need to be an ordained minister of the church, two or more years of relevant ministry experience, Bible College degree, and Lifetime call.<br /><br />Jesus was ordained by his father but the local synagogue wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole. By the time he was ready to die he had three years experience, but he wasn’t going to hang around to qualify so that is a dead end street. What about a Bible College degree? It has been said that we are emptying the church by degrees. Unfortunately for this church, Jesus was more interested in Holy Sprit power than degrees. <br /><br />You can just imagine Jesus interviewing for these ministries can’t you.<br /><br />Interviewer: What are you academic qualifications Jesus?<br /><br />Jesus: Being filled with the spirit and performing miracles.<br /><br />Int: So you don’t have a college degree of some kind?<br /><br />Jesus: No, I prefer to do things that work and mean something to people.<br /><br />Int: What church are you a member of?<br /><br />Jesus: Mine<br /><br />Int: So you are not a member of the local synagogue then?<br />Jesus: No. They are not too keen on me because I tell them the truth.<br /><br />Int: This church of yours. How many members does it have?<br /><br />Jesus: Not sure. Numbers do not mean much to me. There might be a few or a few thousand.<br /><br />Int: So you don’t have a formal membership process then?<br /><br />Jesus: We tell people all they have to do is repent and be baptized.<br /><br />Int: is that all?<br /><br />Jesus: Yes, and to die daily so that you don’t get in the way of what the Father wants to do. <br /><br />Int: What meetings do you have?<br /><br />Jesus: Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, bingo, you have a meeting. Could be in a home, by the river bank (that’s where we keep the money), walking home from work, having a meal together, in prison together, shopping with someone else etc. You get the idea.<br /><br />Int: So you don’t have a Sunday morning meeting with songs and a preacher which are organized for the occasion?<br /><br />Jesus: I never thought of that. Probably because we don’t have any preachers, we just share about our lives with one another. Oh yes we do have preachers. They are the ones who go out and share the good news of the gospel with those outside the kingdom of God. Trouble is, we work on Sunday so it would be very difficult to meet then. We could do it on Saturday because that is a day of rest for everyone. <br /><br />Int: What do you do for money?<br /><br />Jesus: Money for what?<br /><br />Int: To pay pastors and other staff and building costs?<br /><br />Jesus: We don’t pay anyone anyone to do anything. We get everyone involved so there is nothing to do that is not done. And we meet in homes so we don’t need to worry about the upkeep of buildings. We use our money to take care of people so that everyone has what they need. If we had buildings and had to pay people to do things we wouldn’t be able to help those in need. <br /><br />Int: So you are not a member of a recognized church. You have no bible college degrees. You are not a credentialed minister and you don’t run a traditional church. So what can you offer us.<br /><br />Jesus: Not a lot. The best I can do is be full of the holy spirit, only do what my father God tells me to do, heal the sick and disabled, give sight to the blind, change water into wine, raise the dead, feed 5,000 with virtually nothing and making time for a lot of prayer. Whilst I am doing all this, I am training other people to do it as well. All that keeps me so busy, I don’t have time to go to Bible College or get credentialed.<br /><br />Int: Thank you Jesus for coming in. We will let you know the outcome of your application.<br /><br />Jesus: Thank you. Whilst I am waiting to hear from you I will go and perform a few miracles to keep me busy. <br /><br />Interviewer to Candidates Committee: I don’t think he is the right material for us. I know that he performs miracles and spends a lot of time in prayer. He has followers who he trains to do what he does and it seems he is very popular with the people, but what worries me is that he has no standing with a recognized church, he does not have any degrees and he is not credentialed to minister. <br /><br />Rules are rules gentlemen. We can’t break them just because he gets results so I am sure you will agree with me that we will have to refuse his application. All those who say aye, raised your hand……….marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-39035861204437447932010-10-24T21:31:00.000-07:002010-10-24T21:37:35.404-07:00HOW MANY?How many people attend your church, 50, 100, 1,000, 5,000? <br /><br />How many people make up God's church or what is known as the kingdom of God? 1 billion, 2 billion, 3 billion? <br /><br />How many people make up the Kingdom of God (his church) in your town? Your 50 or 500 or everyone in all the churches? <br /><br />Going by the actions and attitudes of most churches, only the people in their particular expression of the church. The rest are..well Christians maybe but not quite to the standard we are. <br /><br />You don't hold to these sentiments? Then why is it you never talk to the other Christians outside the four walls of your building. Why have you formed a separate congregation? Is it because of a burning desire to bring the good news to that part of town or is it because you want to keep yourself pure and unstained from Christians who0 don't think like you or believe what you believe? <br /><br />If all the churches in any given town dropped their exclusion zone and asked their members to join together to evangelise and pray for the street they live in by using their homes as a base for their evangelism which woould mean that the Baptists, Anglicans, Pentecostalessies etc etc. would work together for the salvation of all the unbelievers in the street, would that be too much of a challenge to you as you may have to show grace for your brother who thinks a bit differently to you? <br /><br />It is illogical and unacceptable to say we are members of the body of Christ and then not talk to 90% of the other members. <br /><br />It is illogical and unacceptable to say we are doing God's will as a church when we shun nearly everyone who is part of it. <br /><br />It is illogical and unacceptable to expect God to bless us when we actively divide the body of Christ. <br /><br />It is illogical and unacceptable to say we follow God's word when we make doctrine more important than loving one another. <br /><br />When Jesus brought into being his church it was one body with one Lord. What right do we have to usurp his authority and divide it into many bodies with many lords, with most of them promoting division and personal power.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-80632263192125080672010-08-09T01:01:00.000-07:002010-08-09T01:02:32.055-07:00GOING FULL CIRCLEIt seems to me that the church is going full circle. You remember in the New Testament Church they met daily in the temple and from house to house for food, fellowship, prayer and teaching. It seems to me as I study church history, when the church stops listening out comes a new wave of the Holy Spirit and a new expression of the church.<br /><br />After the New Testament Church was hijacked by the Roman Catholic Church and went into utter darkness and at times was worse than the world, God in his grace gave us the reformation which began the break from the RCC. This was followed by a few mores breaks that brought about the evangelical church. <br /><br />When they stopped listening to God, he showered us with the Pentecostal reformation at the turn of the 20th century. Instead of letting this movement become fossilised, God introduced the “charismatic to the mainline churches in the 60s. What was known as the third wave followed this with a new emphasis on the supernatural.<br /><br />Now it seems as though the church has stopped listening again, as it would rather repeat what it knows as opposed to reaching out in faith to what it doesn’t know and becoming dependant on God for everything. <br /><br />The majority of the churches in the western world have become a monument to the past and refuses to address the present and the future. There seems to be a mentality of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”<br /><br />The problem is, the modern day church is well and truly broke. It has become irrelevant to most people. It attracts about 10% of the population in any one town at the most. Even serious and mature believers have ditched it as irrelevant. In most churches Sunday morning has become a spectator sport with a few professionals performing for the rest of the spectators. <br /><br />Despite all this, we are seeing churches ignore the facts and insisting on their fantasies that we are doing all right. Is God pleased? I doubt it as has started a new wave which is generally bypassing the man made church (happens every time). <br /><br />I went to a conference recently and found out that all over the world “church in the home” is growing at a rate of knots. With what has happened and is happening we are talking about a million of them operating. More are being added daily. <br /><br />From where I am standing, the most successful church of all time was the New Testament Church. They started with over 3,000 new converts on day one and in approximately 25 years, has evangelised the known world with the good news of the gospel. You can’t get much better than that. <br /><br />I would hazard at a guess that as Jesus said he would build his church (he did not ask us to do it) he is going to do it as he has done it…in the New Testament and that means from house to house, not cathedral to cathedral. <br /><br />There is no doubt that Satan has a stranglehold on society. The church has allowed him free reign, if for no other reason we have abandoned society and retreated into our spiritual caves with the main purpose of keeping everyone happy. Meeting in homes is the most logical thing to do as it means we are moving out into satan’s territory. With prayer and commitment we can and we will take back the streets for God. But only if that is where we do our spiritual warfare against principalities and powers. <br /><br />This new move of God back into the homes may be the last if it reflects his church of the New Testament, his teaching from the New Testament and his way of life shown in the New Testament. If that is the case I say “bring it on.” Who wants second best when God can and will give us the best, as long as we do things his way, not our way.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-31888971097912316582010-08-05T22:42:00.000-07:002010-08-05T22:43:09.062-07:00ALTERNATIVE CHURCHOf late I have been discovering “alternative churches.” You know, those churches that are an alternative to the churches that we all know about. They don’t necessarily meet on Sunday morning; they don’t necessarily sing copious songs; they don’t necessarily have “communion”; they don’t necessarily have a sermon; they don’t usually meet in public buildings; they don’t have hierarchical leadership; often no one is ordained because they operate on the basis that everyone is an able minister of the New Covenant; they don’t have offerings for the church to pay for buildings and salaries; they often don’t have set liturgies or programmes.<br /><br />In fact, they seem to be more like the New Testament Church than the “other” church is. The overall thrust of these “alternative” churches seems to be love and relationships (and eating together). I have heard that they are off the track because they don’t have a specified doctrine or vision statement and they are not under someone’s “covering.” <br /><br />I think Jesus said something about this. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another.” Wow!!! Not “by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have sound doctrine.?”<br /><br />Nope. Not once. <br /><br />That begs the question then, which one is the alternative church. If you can find most of what the “alternative” church does in scripture, perhaps the “alternative” church is the one that is not seen as the “alternative church.?” You know the one that pays very little attention to what is in the scriptures, preferring to operate according to the dictates of man in the denominational tradition that they belong to. <br /><br />I am led to believe that the “alternative” church (that is not really alternative) is growing at a rate of knots. Probably over 1 million of them worldwide. Apart from serious believers who are leaving the non alternative church by the millions, the “alternative” church is bringing new converts into the Kingdom of God in droves. No sitting on the premises for them. They prefer to stand on the promises. <br /><br />If this is God’s latest move to bring his church into line with his word (not ours), we would be foolish not to investigate it for ourselves. A word of warning however. It is no use investigating on the basis we are right and they are wrong. You will have to go with an open mind (not too open or your brain might fall out), but sufficiently teachable to be able to see what God is doing as opposed to what we think he should do or what man is doing. <br /><br />Enjoy.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-55274471466857146152010-07-27T03:24:00.000-07:002010-07-27T03:28:39.795-07:00JESUS WAS NOT A CHRISTIANYes that’s right, Jesus was not a Christian nor was he baptised into the Christian faith. He was baptised with a Jewish baptism by John for remission of sins even though he had not sinned. <br /><br />First and foremost he was the son of God who came in the form of human flesh to show us the Father God. Then he was a Jew who observed the requirements of the Jewish faith. Bearing in mind that he was without sin, he kept the law perfectly. <br /><br />When he left earth to go back to his father, he did not launch the Christian faith. He instructed his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptise them and teach them to observe everything that he had commanded them.<br /><br />He said that he was not doing away with the law it was going to be fulfilled in and through him as the final sacrifice for sin. <br /><br />The church is only mentioned twice by Jesus and it uses the word that denotes the called out ones into his kingdom. Not called out into a church. The church in the New Testament was the called out ones that is why they could not meet in a church. That is why they met in homes and not in purpose built buildings. <br /><br />In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said he would build his called out ones on revelation, not degrees or a religious structure. <br /><br />Jesus started the “calling out” when he chose the 12 disciples. Later on at the day of Pentecost thousands more were “called out” by the power of the Holy Spirit. <br /><br />It was common place for Jews to meet in homes and usually to eat a meal together. The New Testament called out ones did this because they were the called out ones. Meeting together in homes and sharing meals together was a natural outcome of being called out ones. <br /><br />On the day of Pentecost, they did not become Christians. They were still Jews who were members of “The Way’ as they were known as. It wasn’t until Antioch that they were called Christians (Christ ones), not by themselves but by others as a term of ridicule.<br /><br />The concept of ecclesia which is what called out ones were known as and meeting together was not exclusive to the new faith as any group that were called out for any purpose were known as an ecclesia so its roots were in Judaism, not Christianity. <br /><br />The other aspect of “calling out” is the fact that we are not called out to be an individual believer. We are called out to be part of the worldwide church of God to establish God’s kingdom on earth. <br /><br />The church was evident when the called out ones met together. Only two or three were needed for a visit from Jesus himself. This in itself signifies that large numbers are not important; that homes are quite adequate for the called out ones to meet; that ritual and religion has no part in the called out church.<br /><br />That means most of what we do is a waste of time.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-38064950253612539112010-07-23T01:51:00.000-07:002010-07-23T01:56:16.589-07:00RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLEThese last few months, I have become aware of discontentment rising at a rapid rate in the church. People are letting their feelings known instead of just accepting everything that happens and is said.<br /><br />One major issue is the word of God. Judging by the comments, there are a lot of people out there that feel their church doesn’t pay much attention to it. They are quite jaundiced by the determination to maintain the status quo, no matter how out of line it is with scripture. <br /><br />Others are saying we don’t get taught the scripture. We get taught the bits that fit our ideology and in many cases it is quite contrary to scripture such as God wants you to be rich (financially). If some one says that we need to heed the word of God as opposed to denomination tradition, they are seen as the enemy of the church and the leadership. <br /><br />Another aspect that comes up quite regularly is the leadership of the church that has morphed into worldly CEOs and will not broke any challenge to their ungodly authority. As a result many have hit the dust very publicly. <br /><br />In days gone by, you could rely on the leadership to set an example and insist on the teaching of the word of God and holiness of life. That is why they could preach about such topics. Today, instead of being an example of godly living, some of the church leadership is getting into bed with the world with such things as ordaining people who openly live lives contrary to scripture and assume roles that have no authority in scripture.<br /><br />Bill McCartney, in his book “Blind Spots” says that 20% of pastors in the USA have a child addicted to alcohol or drugs; 40% admit to accessing Internet pornography and 90% admit to be being discouraged.<br /><br />In addition the church itself is riddled with all sorts of problems that are going unsolved. It appears that only 4% of our church teens are Christians and 54% of Christian marriages end in divorce.<br /><br />The world has truly melded itself with the organised church.<br /><br />I have been reading material written or spoken by the godly men who led the church a long time ago. The sorts of words that they spoke are never heard today as most of the time it focused on obedience and holiness. Preaching was all about learning the word and ways of God and what he had to say to us as individuals and the church. As many of you know that is no longer the case as we seem to look for feel good messages that keep the saints happy. <br /><br />This does not bode well for the church and yet it does. As we know the wheat and the tares will grow together. Much of what happens in the church today is tares purely and simply. When the harvesting takes place, the tares are discarded and Jesus will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”<br /><br />That means that the wheat is there all over the world and is growing as well. I have a distinct feeling that the wheat is gradually getting fed up with being smothered by the tares and are overcoming them by making themselves stronger growing in good ground…outside of the official church. <br /><br />It is obvious that is where it is all going to happen as it is being attacked from within the church with ferocity. A sure sign that God is doing a new thing that man cannot control. If there is one thing that the ‘wheat’ church can learn from the ‘tare’ church is that if man wants to control things God is not going to stop them, but they need not think that he is going to put his imprimatur on it.<br /><br />God want humble and contrite hearts and people that are prepared to give place to him in everything. When that happens anything can happen. I well remember the Welsh revival of 1904. Meetings never stopped. They went day and night because the Holy Spirit had total control and people were so aware of their sin all they could do was prostrate themselves on the floor in the presence of a holy God and ask for mercy. This is an unknown concept today because we have been fed with the idea that life is all about being happy, contented, rich and trouble free. <br /><br />We are just at the beginning of a new move of God and even those who are called by God will still have to do a lot of soul searching as to where their loyalties are. We will have to ask ourselves are we focused on the good life or the God life. If it is the second one there will be a price to pay.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-54323747722625546212010-05-02T21:07:00.000-07:002010-05-02T21:08:34.745-07:00NEW TESTAMENT CHURCHI spent two years studying the New Testament to see what it had to say about the New Testament Church. A lot of my study was informed by the original Greek so as to avoid modern English impositions in the meaning of words. I wanted a complete picture so I looked at everything. <br /><br />When I had completed my study and realised that the church today had missed the plot, that is what I started talking about, not from the perspective of this is what you have to do but more a case of this is what the word teaches. <br /><br />Here are some of the subjects I covered and my conclusions. Space does not allow me to post everything.<br /><br />FOUNDATIONS<br />The church was birthed on the day of Pentecost with three things. One, unity. They were together, together. Two, prayer. They stayed in the upper room to await the coming of the Holy Spirit and to pray. Three, the power of the Holy Spirit. They were all filled with the spirit and spoke in other tongues. I believe we need all three to be an effective church. In most churches prayer is the least supported activity and most of them are prayers for God to help us or bless us. In other words we are in it for what we can get out of it.<br /><br />DAILY LIVING<br />The met daily in the temple (they were Jews) and from house to house for fellowship, apostles teaching, prayer and meals together. When you do this it is hard to not like someone and not to care for someone. And be aware of their needs. Generally Sunday morning meetings are a barrier to this happening. <br /><br />Their learning was the dialogue method in home groups, not the monologue method as we have today. Every one could share what they wanted without fear of censure. <br /><br />THEIR AUTHORITY<br />They had two. Jesus himself whom they preached and his word. They had no traditions to draw on and no denomination headquarters. Although the Jerusalem church were Jews and went the synagogue as well, it did not determine their way of life under the leadership of Christ. There was no New Testament so instruction was verbal or through the gifts of the Spirit. Learning was by example and the Holy Spirit’s proceeding word. <br /><br />LEADERSHIP<br />The New Testament is conclusive that leadership was by a plurality of Elders who were selected from within the congregation they were part of. Not once do you read of “pastor” leading the church and certainly not one that is brought in from outside the assembly. The word “pastor’ in fact does not appear in the Greek, it is shepherd. The word “pastor” is Latin and was introduced later the same as the Greek for “bishop“ is ‘pappa’ and was later changed to pope. <br /><br />There is no evidence that the Elders were paid and there is evidence that they were not. <br /><br />MONEY<br />Tithing was an unknown concept for the New Testament Church. They gave as the Lord prospered them and they gave when there were needs. The three main ones were widows and orphans, those experiencing famine and the financing of apostles whilst they were travelling and could not work. Once they settled they supported themselves. <br /><br />No one was paid a salary and no money was spent on putting up buildings. <br /><br />EVANGELISM<br />Three methods were used. The Lord added daily so it was supernaturally in response to the way they lived and cared for each other. The second was by the leading of the Holy Spirit telling them where to go and to whom. So that was supernatural. The third was preaching with signs following so that was supernatural as well. Today evangelism is about 25 on the agenda, which is probably why the church is not growing. <br /><br />MINISTRY<br />This was by anointing not appointing. Either Christ gave you a ministry or you didn’t have one. (Ephesians 4v11). Most ministry today is by appointing from head office and devoid of anointing. <br /><br />These five ministries are ministries not positions. Your authority was in the context of your ministry. For example, Paul was an apostle which means “sent one”. When he was sent by the church to preach the gospel and form a new assembly, he had full authority and anointing to do so. When he wasn’t doing this he was just apart of the fellowship, as he said I come AMONG YOU, not over you. <br /><br />The ministry group was specific to carry out their ministry and the Elders were a specific group to oversee the local assembly. The ministry group was not superior to the Elders as they had different roles. Not once in the whole of the New Testament does it mention “a pastor” as leader of the assembly and as I have talked to people about this they have always fallen back on denominational “tradition” to support such a concept and they usually twist scripture and circumstances to support their unbiblical concept. <br /><br />THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS<br />Many churches talk about this and say they do it but in most cases it is minimal assent. In the New Testament Church, everyone was a capable minister of the new covenant, probably because they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. At the same time it says that we are ordained to bring forth fruit. The word “ordination” in scripture has nothing to do with ministry,. It is to do with character and humility. In the New Testament, there are no words used to describe clergy or the clergy/laity divide. It was an unknown concept. <br /><br />In Corinthians Paul says that when you come together, everyone has, not just a select few. What they had was the gifts of the spirit, not man inspired lectures and programmes. I was in a church in England for 10 years that had no pastor, no platform, no pulpit, no preacher and no programme. <br /><br />We all arrived and sat until the Holy Spirit began the meeting, using one and another to contribute in various ways. One meeting lasted six hours. Frank Viola says that the appointment of paid leaders sounded the death knell of the priesthood of all believers as in most cases the chosen few perform up front and the rest are the cheer squad. As a result, most of the congregation never grow because they are not giving according to their ministry. <br /><br />CHURCH<br />In the New Testament there was only one church in each town. The church at Corinth; the church at Philippi; the church at Laodicea etc. Paul castigated the Corinthian church for their division (denominations). The times that I have heard that denominations are of God are totally incredulous. Jesus prayed that we would be one. Denominations divide, not unite. <br /><br />Jesus said he would build his church. That being the case we need to know how. Most of the time church leadership is building their church and the gates of hell are prevailing against it as a result. Until we confess our sin of ignoring Jesus and the Holy Spirit and submit ourselves to his will and purpose, nothing will change. <br /><br />I hasten to add that churches in third world countries are submitting and they are the churches that are making an impact with converts being added daily. It is only westernised, self sufficient, smug churches that are losing the plot. <br /><br />COMMITMENT<br />The New Testament Church was totally committed to their cause. They gave freely without consideration for their own needs and they accepted that dying daily was the routine. For some that even meant martyrdom. <br /><br />The New Testament talks about sacrifice and death, being shunned and even killed. It does not talk about prosperity of finances. It talks about prosperity of commitment and sacrifice. They consider themselves to be their brother’s keeper. We usually leave that to the government to take care of. <br /><br />They were very happy to take up their cross daily if it meant that Jesus was exalted and the good news was passed on to others. Being a believer in Jesus meant that it was a full time ministry for everyone, not just a select few who had been to Bible College. <br /><br />These are a few of my favourite themes (apologies to Mary Poppins). In all there are many, many more which will appear on my website once I have developed one.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-60961601243469673112010-05-01T00:05:00.000-07:002010-05-01T00:07:54.289-07:00IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU LORD!!Please forgive me again as I have discovered another article, the author of which is unknown to me. let me know if it is you and I will do the right thing by you. <br /><br />The church today is weak, anemic, sick and in bondage. We are just like the unsaved when it comes to sickness, divorce and other areas of bondage. I believe the reason is that the message of freedom from demonic powers isn’t being preached.<br /><br />God’s people are sick. They are in spiritual bondage. I believe God is looking for deliverers, for those who will stand unashamed in the power and authority of the Lord Jesus and speak to set His people free!<br /><br />The church worldwide is facing a leadership crisis. Not only does it have too few leaders, but many of those leaders have weak spiritual lives. Media headlines in recent years attest to the compromise, worldliness, moral failure, human ambition and error in the church.<br /><br />During His earthly ministry, Jesus lived in continuous union with His Father. This inward, spiritual fellowship was the source of everything in His life and ministry (see John 5:19). From this inward union came wisdom, discernment, power and miraculous works. As a result, Jesus perfectly revealed the Father: "If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. ... Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:7-9, NIV).<br /><br />Biblical Christian leadership is not vision-based, competency-based, success-based or even values- or character-based; it is Christ-based. Everything must come from an inward union with Him. This is not merely semantics for the sake of influencing behaviour. It is truth that goes to the very heart of how we understand Christian life and Christian leadership.<br /><br />Making this distinction doesn't undermine the importance of vision, competency or character. In fact, it establishes that true vision, competency and character come from the indwelling life of Christ and not from human effort or capacity. "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; [for] apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5, NIV).<br /><br />Jesus isn't just describing the "best" way to true Christian leadership; He is showing us the only way. He is revealing that everything else is mere human works. He is pre-eminent (see Col. 1:18), and is the only true foundation for our lives and ministries (see 1 Cor. 3:11). Like a body without a head, true leadership isn't possible without Christ being first—not merely as a doctrine we agree with or a set of values we hold, but as a living, inward experience in our personal leadership.marksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5012095424481840378.post-89753757043468807642010-04-25T22:23:00.001-07:002010-04-25T22:55:46.200-07:00PRAYER IS A VERBCOMMENT: I found this in a file on my computer. I do not know who the author is so I cannot acknowledge the fact. The way things are going today, the church that does not make prayer more important than anything else is going to be in big trouble. I do hope that reading this will inspire you to pray or pray more.<br /><br />OK, yes I know: prayer is also a noun. But the point is, it is one of those terms that should involve us in actual doing, not just knowing. Indeed, it is somewhat strange to be writing about prayer, when in fact the real thing is to just do it.<br /><br />We should be praying, not just thinking about it, or writing about it, or reading about it. Nonetheless, there is a place to discuss the issue. Indeed, in many Bible colleges and seminaries one can take a whole semester (or more) in studying prayer.<br /><br />Hopefully such courses do not remain merely theoretical in nature, but are in fact hands-on courses. It is one of those topics where actual doing must be a component of the course, or the whole point of the topic has been missed.<br /><br />Needless to say, the Bible speaks much to the topic of prayer. It is a vital component of being in God’s family. And sure, there are all sorts of theological and other sorts of questions that can arise, such as:<br /><br />-Does God always answer prayer?<br /><br />-What is the relationship between faith and prayer?<br /><br />-If God knows all things, why pray?<br /><br />-If God is sovereign, do our prayers make any difference?<br /><br />These are all good questions, and worth exploring. But the simple truth is this: the Bible over and over again commands us to pray. So even though we may not understand all the dynamics of prayer, we are obliged to pray nonetheless. And the greatest indicator of why we should pray is the fact that Jesus himself prayed, and prayed a lot.<br /><br />And Jesus was closer to God than anyone else! Indeed, he is God. So if one member of the Godhead found it necessary while on earth to pray to another, then surely we are without excuse when it comes to prayer. We should just do it.<br /><br />Now much has been written about prayer over the centuries. Indeed, tens of thousands of books have dealt with the topic. And of course the best of these books are those which have been written by real prayer warriors. Those who pray and pray much are the ones best qualified to speak on this vital subject.<br /><br />Thus I make no claims to expertise here, because I nowhere near pray as much as I should. But I want to grow in this spiritual discipline, so I am writing this article as much for myself as for anyone else. We all need to be encouraged to press on further into this most important of activities.<br /><br />And of course it is not so much just an activity we occasionally engage in, but it should in fact become a way of life, a continuous state of being. All the great saints who majored in prayer spoke in these terms. For prayer is really communion with God, spending time with the one you love.<br /><br />Indeed, it is to these prayer warriors that I turn for inspiration. What they say on the subject is far deeper and more meaningful than anything I can say. I am greatly inspired as I read their remarks, and observe their lives of prayer. There are many places where one can gleam from these riches. Below is a link to one such site.<br /><br />So I here offer a few gems from some of these great saints, as a means to encourage myself, and you, into seeking to become those who see prayer as one of the most important activities we can be engaged in. Read and be blessed as you discover the untapped riches of the life of prayer:<br /><br />I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.—John Wesley<br /><br />I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go. — Abraham Lincoln<br /><br />One can believe intellectually in the efficacy of prayer and never do any praying. –Catherine Marshall<br /><br />Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?– Corrie Ten Boom<br /><br />Of all the duties enjoined by Christianity none is more essential and yet more neglected than prayer. –François Fénelon<br /><br />When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy. –Corrie Ten Boom<br /><br />When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don’t pray, they don’t. –William Temple<br /><br />Pray, and let God worry. — Martin Luther<br /><br />Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your task. –Phillips Brooks<br /><br />We waste most of our time trying to get God to do something He has already done—or praying for God to do something He told us to do. –Jacquelyn K. Heasley<br /><br />The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men…Men of prayer.” –E. M. Bounds<br /><br />The Church has not yet touched the fringe of the possibilities of intercessory prayer. Her largest victories will be witnessed when individual Christians everywhere come to recognize their priesthood unto God and day by day give themselves unto prayer. –John R. Mott<br /><br />I must secure more time for private devotions. I have been living far too public for me. The shortening of devotions starves the soul, it grows lean and faint. I have been keeping too late hours. –William Wilberforce<br /><br />If you are sick, fast and pray; if the language is hard to learn, fast and pray; if the people will not hear you, fast and pray, if you have nothing to eat, fast and pray. – Frederick Franson<br /><br />Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons; but they are helpless against our prayers. –J. Sidlow Baxter<br /><br />There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him. –William Law<br /><br />Prayer does not fit us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work. –Oswald Chambers<br /><br />“I would rather train twenty men to pray, than a thousand to preach; a minister’s highest mission ought to be to teach his people to pray.” -H. MacGregormarksmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15261549985057247482noreply@blogger.com0