The Prophet’s Cosmic View
November 19, 2008
Bryan Purtle wrote an excellent article on the Prophet’s Cosmic view. We desperately need this kind of understanding so that we might have a more complete picture of the prophet and what God desires. Take a few minutes and read it. It’s worth the time to let God speak to your heart on a issue that is vital in our day and time. We desperately need to recover and demonstrate this reality.
http://pilgrimagetozion.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/the-prophets-cosmic-view/
The End of the Bull
September 30, 2008
In a prayer meeting recently, a parable came to me. Let me be clear that this is not a prophecy, but merely a parable. Recently, I was considering the golden calf that Israelites worshiped in the desert. This calf provides a picture that could be very significant to us in our day. To best understand what follows, before you proceed you must read Exodus 32.
To begin with, let’s make a few observations about the worship of the calf. First note that Moses was in the place of prayer and fasting upon the hill in the wilderness when the itching for the calf began. Note also that Moses was receiving the Law, or the requirements of God when the people became restless and demanded an idol. Note also that this calf was setup by the priesthood. A foreign priesthood did not come in, but rather it was Aaron who led the construction of this calf when the mood of the people called for a false god. Note that once Aaron setup the calf, he did not lead the people away to another god, but rather declared the calf to be the god that lead them out of Egypt. In other words, he did not replace God, he merely redefined Him. Note also that worship to the calf included many of Israel’s religious practices such as burnt offerings and peace offerings, but that the worship focused on sensual pleasures and frivolity. Let’s take a look here because I believe these events form a parallel and a parable for what is taking place in the nation at this moment. Continue Reading The End of the Bull »
Are you Jealous?
September 5, 2008
I have been deeply moved the last few days over the issue of Jealousy for the Lord and for His name. Are we truly jealous for the name “Jesus” and the demonstration that are attributed to His name? As the world continues to use that precious name as nothing more than an expletive and ministers use it for their own purposes, I wonder if we are truly jealous for His name or if we have slowly become desensitized to it all. Recently I have watched some videos of various ministers and ministries that have simply made my heart sick. The antics on stage, if not blasphemy, were probably as close as you can get and yet the crowd loved it. In all of this I wondered, where are those that are jealous for the Lord and for His name? As I noticed the crowd laughing and taking it all in, I wondered where are those jealous for the bride? I mean this is Jesus’ wife we are talking about and these men are making a spectacle of the Lord before His own bride and she is drinking it all in. In a dream I had recently there was both a deep anger and a deep weeping over things.
Something within is burning and asking the deep question, are we not jealous for Him? I understand there are differences in ministry styles, personalities, and giftings and we have to give grace to different members of the body, but I was observing things that were clearly demeaning to the Lord and His people and they were being opening attributed to the Lord and His Spirit. They were allowing the Lord, His name, and His Spirit to be demeaned and mocked by men claiming to be ministers. Where are those who will stand and separate the holy from the profance? Where is the holy jealousy that caused Jesus to overturn money tables?
As I considered this issue of jealousy, I began considering what a pure and holy jealousy really is. After all, many are “jealous for the Lord,” but what they often mean is that they are jealous for their ministries, or their own perception of how things should be. Often “jealousy for the Lord” is really the desire to criticise and tear down those you do not agree with. Seeing then as jealousy for the Lord is an urgent need in our time and, at the same time, there is much jealousy that is not truly jealousy for the Lord, how are we to discern the difference? Continue Reading Are you Jealous? »
Two Excellent Articles
August 12, 2008
I have a few things I need to post that I have not gotten down yet. In the meantime, I wanted to pass along two excellent articles. These are from “The Burn 24-7″ which is a prayer and worship ministry that is also focused on missions. I had the chance to hear their founder when I was at the last Luke 18 Project Leadership summit and was very impressed.
The first article is on Urgency and Legacy, two things that are sadly lacking among us.
http://theburn247.com/blog/2008/06/13/urgency-and-legacy/
The second article highlights the fact that we tend to focus on ministries and techniques, while the whole end of it all must be God Himself.
http://theburn247.com/blog/2008/06/13/he-wants-this-more-than-we-do/
Sent
November 21, 2007
But how are people to call upon Him Whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of Whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men [be expected to] preach unless they are sent? – Romans 10:14-15b AMP
I was recently reading a section in Apostolic Foundations when the verses above simply jumped off the page. I believe the key to the whole passage is found in the last sentence that begins verse 15. The critical word here is sent. Now, this sort of passage is most typically used to support missions and other administration issues that revolve around the practical issues of sending men to preach the gospel. I certainly have no problem with this as there are financial and logistic tasks involved in the sending of men to preach the gospel, but I do not believe this is the heart of what God is trying to convey here.
The issue of sending and of being sent is critical if we are to recover the life that pulsated through the New Testament church. The word sent that is used here in verse 15 is the word “apostello” and it is from this word that we get the word apostle or “sent one.” If we are going to recover the reality and power of the first century church, we have to recover an accurate understanding of the word apostello and just what it means for men to be sent to preach the gospel. We desperately need to understand just who is doing the sending and how men are to be sent. To recover the reality and power of these words we need look no farther than the church at Antioch. Continue Reading Sent »
The Underground Church in America
November 4, 2007
An underground church is forming in America. It is not forming around the issue of physical persecution but rather around the issue of devotion to Jesus. It is a group of believers who are asking the question, “Is Jesus really worth everything?” If He is, it means that He must affect every area of our lives. Over on in earnest expectation, I caught the preview of this video that chronicles this movement in America. This underground church cannot be defined by any one ministry or under any one label, but this looks to be a great film chronicle of at least part of the movement.
More info on the video can be found at www.underthethreshold.com.