Yes Julia, there is a God

The new Australian PM, Julia Gillard, has just declared that she is an atheist. She grew up in ‘church’ and came to believe that there is no God.

Strange how, in the debate, people are equating belief in God with religion: saying that it is a religious issue. If they were the same thing, then, truly, there would be no God, for God would just be the product of man’s thoughts. Jesus’ resurrection is an historical fact. Not an ideology.

And if they were the same thing then that would mean that one has to become religious or join a religion in order to know God. Which is a lie.

There is no true religion to join. There is only the physical historical resurrection of Jesus Christ : the living Man, who is God. Either joined to Him or not.

Pray ...for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 1 Timothy 2:2

LORD have mercy on Australia, and may your people be strong and do exploits, in Jesus name.

You know things are on the skids

when you start being ‘normal’ : acting like anyone naturally does, who doesn’t know Jesus : being conformed to this world.

Oh for Christians who have understanding

Give therefore your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this your so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 1 Kings 3:9-10

1 Kings 4:29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore.

Psalm 119:130 The entrance of your words gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple.

Proverbs 4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither turn away from the words of my mouth.

Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding.

Proverbs 24:3 Through wisdom is a house built; and by understanding it is established:

I always knew them, but never took them seriously

An email i received the other day:

Brother Ian:
Thank you for the reminder of our Lord’s words forbidding titles. I always knew them, but never took them seriously. Tomorrow, when I get into the pulpit, I must tell my people not to call me ‘Pastor’ or ‘Reverend’.

And what honor could be greater than being called ‘Brother’ by the Son of the Living God?

May our Lord Jesus Christ bless you for your faithfulness to His message.

Your brother,
Nathan Waterman

LOVE your enemies

(Following on from previous)

You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you, and persecute you; That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them who love you, what reward have you? do not even the tax collectors the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you more than others? do not even the tax collectors so? Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Matt 5:43-48

But LORD, what if they are YOUR enemies? Should we love your enemies also?

Of course we are to love the enemies of Christ bcos they are the ones who hate us and persecute us.

How can we love false prophets and false teachers? Tell them the truth. But there must only be love for them. Jesus wasn’t kidding.

It’s not enough to simply know what’s wrong

with christendom if we don’t have the wisdom to deal with that which is wrong in a Godly way. Most have the former, few have the latter. And unless we live on the moon, yes, we will have to deal with it. We WILL brush up against false or deceived Christians and their movements, that is certain. Will we have Jesus’ response to them? What does Jesus have to say to them?

Growing Israeli interest in Yeshua (Jesus)

The Messianic ministry Revive Israel located just outside Jerusalem reports that its staff and partner ministries have experienced an upsurge in interest among secular and religious Israelis in the person and ministry of Yeshua (Jesus).

In their latest newsletter, Sahar S. writes that a group of 40 young Israeli college students recently visited the Revive Israel offices to ask questions regarding Jesus and the New Testament for a course on Israeli history and culture.

“They were surprised to discover that the promise of a new covenant is written in the Hebrew prophets (Jeremiah 31). The biggest news to them was that Yeshua loved the God of Israel and that His teachings were focused on a fulfillment of the moral law in the Ten Commandments (Matthew 5),” said Sahar. “A number of them came with pre-conceived ideas and even anger towards Messianic Jews. At the end of the meeting a young religious man came and admitted that his perspective had changed about who we are – Israeli Jews who believe in Yeshua.”

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=21327

When seeking His guidance

also seek His understanding (wisdom). We want guidance with knowledge. We don’t want to receive commands as a computer or a machine receives commands, or as a trained animal does. We want to hear as sons.

Answer to a bored Christian

…You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27

Do this and you’ll never be bored.

Prophetic dream of Gulf in 2005

given to our friend Lisa Scott:

I was standing on the beach facing the Gulf of Mexico. I knew I was in Texas, on the other side where Houston is at. Then I was taken under water and shown that a great disaster will happen in the Gulf Sea. I saw that the destruction will start at the bottom of the sea and bring great disaster to the land. When I saw that disaster was going to come upon this area I quickly ran fast and hard with much fear. Then I felt the Holy Spirit stop me and tell me not to fear and that He would lead me to safety. I felt God’s presence and stopped running, trusting the Lord.

http://preachingjesus.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/dream-of-disaster/

…He will show you things to come. John 16:13b

Not worthy of me

He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37-38

Not worthy of me…. This is nearly incomprehensible in these times. How many professing Christians have NOT taken up their cross and followed Jesus? If so, they are not worthy of Jesus, no matter what they claim to believe about the gospel or how much faith they claim to have.

Every thing in Christianity should be worthy of Jesus. That’s the litmus test.

Good advice: Plead guilty!

Was just reading a headline about a man who is pleading guilty for his crime in court. Got to thinking, how would it be if the whole world would plead guilty, now, before the judgment throne of God? I mean, in true remorse. The Judge would commend the guilty and condemned to the Sin Bearer and Advocate: His Son, Jesus Christ. Let Him take up their case. He hasn’t lost a case yet.

But He only takes on clients who plead guilty. That’s the ‘catch’. He won’t touch a not-guilty plea.

Without a guilty plea there is only judgment without mercy.

There is a new malignant strain of ‘gospel’ which totally avoids mans guilt, and just covers it over with makeup, instead of removing it. They don’t believe man is guilty.

Revealed

Following on from the last post ( i don’t know why comments have been blocked for it, naughty WP).

Yesterday (Sunday) when we gathered together i felt to read those verses out to remind us how we should be functioning together as a living part of the Body of Christ. He is going to reveal things to some present. They then should simply share what has been revealed to them. I spoke these points and then said, OK, what has He revealed to you? Then 2 brothers shared what the LORD had revealed to them. Simple. We had church. And we prayed for the brethren we know whom the Spirit quickened us to pray for.

We need to be reminded of these Scriptures: how the Head of the Church wants His Church to function.

If anything be revealed

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge. If anything be revealed ( apokalupto ) to another that sits by, let the first hold his peace. For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. 1 Cor 14:29-31

Let the prophets speak…. Don’t stop them. We need to have church that is open to 2 or 3 prophets speaking in a meeting, as the LORD leads.

Prophecy is to have something from God revealed (apokalupto) to you and you share it with the church. This revealing can’t be orchestrated by men. Men have to be submitted to God rather than submitted to following a programmed “order of service”. (If you doubt this, then please read the verses again)

The result is that all may learn and all may be comforted. There is real learning thru prophecy; that is: the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

For you may all prophesy one by one… Potentially, any believer can prophesy. Lord-willing, it’s possible.

Live from the womb : 4D Ultrasound

Why the early church didn’t build ‘churches’

There is little or no evidence of purpose-built church buildings for the first 3 centuries of the church, and that’s as long as there has been an America.

And, the advent of church buildings, and apostasy, seemed to be in tandem.

Why take 2-300 years to get around to building ‘a church’? Its bcos the Apostles had a reason NOT to do it. Not bcos they couldn’t afford it or that persecution stopped it.

There’s a fundamental reason why they are problematic: The true church is a set of relationships in Christ. Building a church building changes that, and a certain group of people “own” “the church” : see the subtle shift? “The church” is now centered around who owns, or controls, the building, so the building itself, and the committee which controls the use of the building, becomes “the church”.

(Ironically similar to Marxist theory: who owns the capital controls the people)

“The committee” or registered society which is formed to legally manage the building then becomes subject to the civil authorities ….. ??? See the problem?

And, “the committee” becomes a political entity, and not under Christ’s headship at all. (either a committee, or a dictatorship: one man business)

If they had registered themselves with the Roman Empire as just another religion (in a polytheistic society) and come under their authority then the persecution would have stopped. How do i know that Christians would have been allowed to “worship” in their own buildings if they had bowed the knee to Rome? Bcos the Romans allowed the Jews to do exactly that, and gave them complete freedom of worship, just so long as they submitted to Rome.

Under the Apostles tenure this couldn’t have happened.

There’s many more reasons why they didn’t build church buildings, but i think this is the foundational reason.

All sects and names shall be swallowed up

It is at that day proud and luxurious Christians shall learn that God is no respecter of persons; that all sects and names shall be swallowed up in these two kinds, sheep and goats, just and unjust…

William Penn

The Righteous

I searched “The Righteous” and found there are 143 references in the Bible, and to “Righteous Man”, 16 references.

Here’s a beauty:

Mat 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Close to God!

When believers have a revelation of the fact that God lives in their body, and their spirit is joined to Him, then they never again think in terms of distance : like times of being close to, or far from God.

There are times we become more aware of His presence, and He gives that awareness to encourage us, and it can be Him indicating His good pleasure in us and in what we’re doing, but it’s only an awareness of the reality that He is always with us. It doesn’t mean He was gone and then came back.

I sense His satisfaction, joy and approval, often; particularly in our meetings. I wouldn’t say, anymore, that i sense His presence, but rather sense His approval and joy.

God coming and going, come Holy Spirit, not close to God today.…….. this is all unbelief, IF Christ lives in you.

Vigorous self-promotion : the key!

I was thinking about this yesterday:

Show me one famous preacher/pastor today who got where they are without vigorously promoting themselves and without tirelessly pursuing their own ambition.

We’re talking different paradigms of church and christianity than the NT paradigm.

The LORD must build His house. We must be placed by Him where He wants us to be.