A dying evangelist

Isn’t that the heart of a true evangelist? A man who knows he will soon leave this earth, and implores others to also BE READY to leave this earth and this world, and to meet at Jesus’ feet in Glory – Those who are READY are the only ones who can truly LIVE right now – if you’re ready to go, you’re ready to live – To truly LIVE in Christ, rather than be spiritually DEAD while we live :

...she that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives (1Tim 5:6).

…I know your works, that you have a name that you live, and are dead (Rev 3:1b).

A true evangelist is one who is ready for his departure, and he stands in the “departure lounge” imploring the lost to enter in.

In relation to this present world, we are all dying men : crucified to the world, and the world crucified to us. This is THE LIFE in Christ – alive to Christ and dead to the world, self and sin.

If all Christians had such an understanding, and all were occupied in preaching the gospel, Churches would be more like they were in the beginning.

So being affectionately desirous of you

we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear unto us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be a burden unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and just and unblamable was our behavior among you that believe…………….

1 Thessalonians 2:8-10

Affectionately desirous of you… Willing to impart even our souls to you… You were dear unto us….

I love these little snippets of reality, of real Christianity. My spirit gets refreshed just to read it! Encourages us to do the same, while there is time left.

Do we have even a portion in our lives of what Paul is describing here? If not, let’s be committed to having, in at least a measure, the type of Christian life that Paul and his co-workers had.

These are character issues. Nothing to do with being an Apostle.

How holy and just and unblamable was our behavior among you…

For those with a deficiency in fabulousness

no need to worry, Jesus has it all together. There never really ever was any competition with Him, nor could there ever be, eh. But the world and christendom doesn’t realize this.

For those who are in Christ and are unfabulous people, relax and rejoice in Him.

From here

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell…

Here is Corrie Ten Boom being interviewed by Kathryn Kuhlman:

“Oh love of God how deep and great, far deeper than man’s deepest hate.”

“There is nothing too great for His power and nothing too small for His love.”

Faithful to Jesus

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 1 Corinthians 4:2

What is the full dimension of the stewardship we have received from Jesus, of which we are required to be found faithful in?

Faithfulness to Jesus means to be faithful to Him in everything concerning our life and ministry, in every aspect, in every detail, in every part – in the hidden, private things, and in public – that in ANY aspect of our life, the Father looks down and declares, Faithful! :

To be in no part unfaithful to Him.

Any issue you can think of, in the Christian life, or in the Church, or in doctrine, in character, boils down to the issue of faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit opens the eyes of our heart

to see Jesus, in all His power and glory, seated at the right hand of the Father.

The Spirit, Himself, is our eyes and ears, now. We have nothing of ourselves, now, in Christ Jesus.

This sudden cure of our spiritual myopia can happen at any time, for who can predict or control where the wind of the Spirit will blow next?

But when He does give a revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (and it can happen daily) then we think, Are we missing the point? Have we been sidetracked? Are we missing the glory of God? If only i could express what i see, and communicate Him to others! If only there could be a corporate revelation of the LORD Jesus, we would have a revival and a restoration on our hands.

A true revival is a revelation of Christ. A false revival is anything else.

When you DO see and hear, then prophesy what you’ve seen and heard, in obedience and submission to the Spirit of God, and others may also see Him, whom you see, as He really is – as the crucified and risen, all conquering LORD of Glory, who alone is worthy of all the praise and glory.

Celebrity Christians, Popularity, Criticism, Handling Criticism…. by Phil Johnson

Grab a coffee and have a listen to what Phil has to say:

…You can’t be committed to the truth, if you’re afraid of controversy…

As we see Jesus

as He really is, then we see ourselves as we really are, as God sees us.

The more we learn of Jesus, the more, in turn, we discover about ourselves. His perfection reveals our weakness, and His light, any darkness or shadows in us. Even after many years we come to learn that we really didn’t know ourselves as well as we thought we did.

But then, as we look upon Him, we are changed:

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18

We are changed into the same image as the One we look upon. Amazing? We look, He changes us.

When we see Jesus we see Holy perfection : the perfection of beauty.

May the beauty of the LORD be upon us! (Psalm 90:17)

Testing the troubled waters

U.S. aircraft carrier enters Gulf without incident

And…

But why would Netanyahu cancel the joint military exercises with the US?

He must have discovered something that has proved to be a very serious threat to the existence of Israel in the coming days. Maybe, just maybe, he has taken another look at the advanced radar system the US has placed in Israel with the stipulation that it must only be operated by US personal (military) and that Israelis cannot be in control of that radar system at any time?

The “Great Deceiver” (Obama) said that the radar system was there to protect Israel against incoming missiles. That certainly sounded like something that all Israelis would appreciate very much. But suddenly – maybe, just maybe, Netanyahu looked at the other side of that coin. With that US advanced Radar System in place in Israel, under the control of the US, it has now become impossible for Israel to launch an attack on Iran or anyone else without the co-operation of the US military who control that radar system.

http://www.thegoldenreport.com/reports/373-maybe-just-maybe

Spiritual Worship

God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24

Simply, our life of worship happens in our spirit, and our new, regenerated spirit rejoices in the truth.

We walk by faith and not by sight – not by the five physical senses.

Therefore, worship in spirit and truth is also by faith and not by sight – not by the physical senses. God doesn’t measure or judge your worship of Him in physical terms, like how much, or how sweetly, or how loudly you sang, etc..

When our spirit worships God, then we will love and obey the truth, by the indwelling Spirit of Truth, and our physical body will simply obey our spirit, our heart. If your spirit rejoices, then sing a song of praise!

Worship in spirit and truth is always from the spirit of man. As God is a Spirit, therefore only a spirit can fellowship with Him and worship Him. God, the Spirit, therefore, looks deep into the heart of a man, into our spirit, to receive our worship.

Physical worship is only a byproduct of worshipping in spirit and truth. It’s not the outward, physical forms of worship which “impress” God, it is whether we worship Him in spirit and in truth. (Not that we can impress God)

Notice how much stock He places on truth, that He includes our love of His truth, and our obedience to His truth, in the innermost parts of our being, as being worship to Him? Which is why it is incongruous to see people, who don’t love or obey the truth, singing praises to God.

That they all may be one

as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me. John 17:21-23

Our LORD repeats three times here, That we may be one!

Start small. Start local. Pray that this desire of our LORD will be fulfilled among the few whom you are in fellowship with, that you will be one, according to the Word of the LORD.

With the few with whom we can fellowship together in the Word, how do we be one? It starts with carrying each other in prayer, that you care just as much about them as you do about your own needs.

Then, this true love (which begins in prayer) overflows practically, so then we relate to our friends as one, as equals.

To be one means an equality of love and respect, and that results in every need being met. It checks pride and also false humility or being closed and withdrawn. Being one means there is no longer competition, grandstanding or boasting, and egos are put to death as enemies of this unity in Christ.

Being one means there is freedom to be whom God made you to be, and to express the gifts He has given you, as the Holy Spirit leads (To suppress the gifts is to suppress the unity of Christ).

If we are to be one, we need to get used to the idea of being together, but together for His purpose and His Gospel, and for His glory, and not for the glory or purpose of any man or organization.

John 17 is supposed to be a love that people can see lived out as church, as church was in the beginning – Lived out, not religious ceremonies.

Our LORD is very clearly spelling out that the effectiveness of our gospel witness of Him hinges much upon whether we are fellowshipping together as one, in our locality.

There is no separation

in the sight of God, between doctrinal beliefs and actions/life.

We never have to choose between believing the truth and obeying the truth. One never gets in the way of the other, they are one.

The doctrines of the NT never get in the way of us living as Jesus and the Apostles lived, but people can specialize in doctrine at the expense of obedience and the application of the truth, which would demonstrate they don’t understand, or don’t believe the doctrine to begin with.

There is not one doctrine of the Bible which is superfluous, or window dressing, that does not have a vital application in transforming the life of a man or woman.

But just say someone claims to be a Bible expert, and they are a jerk or a hypocrite in real life : That doesn’t mean there is any fault with the Bible, or that guy became a hypocrite cos he read the Bible too much…..

If people claim to know the truth, but don’t obey it, then that doesn’t put the truth on trial. It doesn’t make the truth, or doctrine the problem.

Doctrine simply means teaching. The teachings of God and His Son are called The Truth, and the Son is called The Truth. The Bible is the sum of the teachings that God wants to teach us, and that which He requires us to understand and obey.

He has a great zeal for you

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him witness, that he has a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea and them in Hierapolis. Colossians 4:12-13

Whom do you know who has a great zeal for you, so much so that they pray intensely for you?

How many people do you carry in prayer, every day?

Are there any of the children of God, whom you know, of whom you could say that you have a great zeal for them?

Are we always laboring fervently in prayer that our brothers and sisters …may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God ?

Ishmael and Isaac Ministries

Ishmael was a work of the flesh. God did not prevent Abraham from successfully fathering a work of the flesh.

It’s a scary thought, that if someone really wants to build an Ishmael Church or an Ishmael Ministry, then God may allow them to have the desire of their flesh, and their Ishmael may become great and powerful, even as God “blessed” Ishmael and made him a great nation.

To not follow the example of the Apostles, and the NT pattern God gave thru them, is to have an Ishmael, a ministry of the flesh – using carnal things to build a church or ministry – begging for money, manipulation, control, false authority, merchandizing, teaching that appeals to the flesh……..

Yet, there is also hope for an Isaac Church or Ministry to be born out of the ashes of an Ishmael, regardless of how many Ishmaels we may have produced in the past.

Isaac is the fulfillment of the promise of God. We should know what Jesus has promised for His Church – that is, what kind of Church HE has promised to build.

Sunrise, Sunset

Last evening i observed a brilliant sunset, then, this morning, a brilliant sunrise, here on the plains of central India. Then it occured to me that the sun is in the same place this morning as it was yesterday evening, it hasn’t moved, but it appears to have moved, from setting in the west to rising in the east.

It’s a funny thing, eh, from our perspective, that overnight the sun has moved from the west to the east, when it hasn’t moved at all, we have.

Yet people tend to think that God changes, when, in reality, it is they who have shifted.

JOURNEY THRU LIFE

Your life is a journey, and you are a traveller. You are travelling on a journey from the day you were born, till the day you die : from somewhere to somewhere.

We are all presently somewhere along that route – somewhere between those two points.

As we journey thru this life, between the start and the finish, we should come to realize that it is by this JOURNEY THRU LIFE that God fashions us into the person He wants us to become.

Passing thru this life changes us. Life changes us, IF we embrace Jesus and live this life by faith in Him. (With many, life hardens them)

He uses this journey thru life to teach us, for He’s travelling with us. We are walking with Him.

At the end of our journey we should hear these words from Him, Well done! Good and faithful servant!

Therefore, take every opportunity to appreciate the journey and thank Him for being your Companion and Friend, and walking along the road with you, and for making the journey worthwhile.

The very least Christian, even, has Jesus as their Companion.

GLENN BECK PREACHES AT JOHN HAGEE’S CHURCH

Contemplative Prayer

is like a toxic sulphuric cloud belching out of the bowels of hell. But it is a sweet aroma to those in Babylon the Great.

The thing about wearing fig leaves is that they tend to fall off after some time.

Continued in Comments

How much is God involved

in your life?

Never a man spoke like this Man

The officers answered, Never a man spoke like this Man. John 7:46

They didn’t come back and report that this guy is a crazy street preacher.

Even though they were unbelievers, they acknowledged that Jesus is different to everyone else in the way He speaks or preaches.

As His followers, if He is speaking thru us, then there should be a similar acknowledgment, at least in some small measure. People may still not accept our message, but at the very least they won’t all think that we’re crazy, and people would be more apt to think about our message if they don’t think we’re crazy.

Many street preachers give people the impression that they’re crazy, manic, obsessive, driven, condemning and unloving.

Most people who heard Jesus preach did not think He was crazy. Most were astounded that a man could speak such words, and with such authority.

If such people knew their authority better, and the authority of the Gospel better, they wouldn’t come across so abrasive. They would know that the Message has it’s own intrinsic authority, which no ranting or raving can improve on.

And Jesus didn’t have to speak in a fake, sentimental actor’s voice for people to know that He loved them. He really loved those He spoke to.

Let us prayerfully try and do likewise, and believe that He will speak thru us.