Hey all, just a word of encouragement to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the spirit (ICOR5:8)..that along with (IIPETER1:1-8) let us partake of that great grace that will always make a way for God’s glory to be revealed.
My good friend called about 1pm Saturday to say he was “a little stressed..” and was looking for a pledge of sorts for a helping hand..he went on to say that while he and his wife were at the grocery store, the two eldest (of six) children were babysitting and a fire had broken out and everyone was safe..but he wouldn’t know the extent of the damages until the fire dept said he was able to go back inside..
I thought I would share with everyone a very interesting little pamphlet that I inherited from my parents that was a part of their theology study materials. I don’t know a date for this article, (there is none on the pamphlet), but I’m going to guess that it is from sometime between 1950-1970. I haven’t been able to find much on the author from internet searches and I haven’t seen the pamphlet anywhere else at all. I think though, it fits perfectly with everything else here on KingdomReady. Here it is with all bolding and quotes presented just as in the original. Enjoy!
I regret I won’t be dedicating the time that this merits, but with help from the holy spirit, hopefully my normal bleating will be usable by Him.
I want to mention the phenomenon of looking to everyone else for God’s revelation to us..anyone else realize they do this?? I find that the hardest thing to do when I really need to, is to fall on my face before God and cry out for His Presence and power, or His Grace and Love..Even sometimes when I should be crying out to God and instead I pick up the psalms, I’m comforted, and blessed, but I haven’t actually dealt with my heart’s need for direct personal contact. I know I could probably word this much better, more comprehensively, but this is where God needs to help.
Here is the incredible story of a 92 year-old woman of faith who preached to her mugger in a Walmart parking lot. He had gotten into her car just before she started it to drive home and demanded that she give him all of her money. She told him no and instead preached to him.
If we were to think of God as our Father, like Jesus told the disciples to, (and God says in many passages)-would it help us any in our walk with him? After we have read the Bible front to back, and attended all the classes, and heard all the teachings, won’t we just realize that by His great love, he foreordained one, to rule, the Kingdom of creation, in perfect unity and purpose, the Glory of The One True Living God, and that by substitutional representational atonement, we are able to be grafted in through faith, into this realm of Glory, and that our identities are transformed by our direct contact with Him-in our Father’s love (as opposed to transformation through serving others- I learned the hard way that that is only profitable if you’re doing the fiirst first) I don’t think we can educate ourselves into this revelation..I would even stake a claim that from personal experience, you can be a pastor, and not be born again…you can serve you’re whole life, and not be transformed by faith into a child of God, but really, isn’t that the most important thing..I want to implore everyone who looks at these words to remember that unless we become as little children, we cannot see the kingdom, SIMPLIFY the message folks-you must be born again-am I?. that’s the beginning, and until you are blissully cognizant of the redemption, don’t move to do anything, lay hold of His tassles and beg if you must, without the joy of his salvation we are missing the boat. And if, maybe you just need to remember.. like the Apostle said, I can know all mysteries, but without love I am nothing. And it doesn’t just mean love for others..because if I don’t have love for God first- I can’t love at all. So, simplify the message for ourselves today, ask yourself, am I conscious of the Love of God? and is it being reciprocated by time alone with him? I confess I need more of it , let’s do it now.
Last weekend for Easter I was up visiting my Mother-in-Law and all of my wife’s family, and on Sunday we all went to church together where she attends (a local Baptist church). All in all it was a pleasant enough service though in my opinion a little too on the mundane side of things for the day we celebrate Jesus’s Resurrection from the dead - proving to all that he is indeed God’s Messiah. However at the end of the sermon and just before the dismissal prayer was done, the Pastor had the A/V guy in the back roll a short little video presentation (basically a slide-show of images set to music) entitled “This Hand”. I had never seen it before and I must say it was extremely powerful. Though I had figured out where things were going before the end, it still brought a tear to my eye and a big lump in my throat. Needless to say that it had the same effect on many in the congregation as there were a lot of sniffles during the final prayer. Though I must say that hearing the back ground music of “Amazing Grace” tends to have that effect on me quite often. I even remember being all teary-eyed many years ago when I was younger and hearing it played during the end of the movie “Star Trek II” (when Mr. Spock dies).
Just to let everyone know, last Tuesday (March 4th, 2008) we hit an all-time record for the day. Our old record was around 350 visits for one day, but last Tuesday we had 541 visitors to KingdomReady. The blog accounts for a good deal of this traffic, so thank you for visiting the site and compulsively hitting the refresh button to see if someone responded to your comment. Then again, someone may have left the site up and their cat may have taken a nap on the F5 key.
It’s curious that, when confronted with the universe’s mysteries, scientists tend to do what poets do: they reach for metaphor. What’s even more interesting, though, is the way the metaphor begins to shape the way we see and think. The metaphor doesn’t just describe reality; it becomes reality
The author, Nicholas Carr, that wrote that blurb is on a purely technology blog. Yet, theology is exactly that metaphor. Explaining the universe with a metaphoric truth. Of course these metaphors are deeply ingrained within the historical events during their conception. I believe where theology goes wrong is staticizing (is that a word?) these metaphors. They set the language in stone, and turn it into propositions.
In brief, I want to relay a conversation i recently had with a brother about “making people out to be more important than we ought”..it may seem that I’m trying to downplay our service as believers, not at all. Serving as an act of worship to God, however, rather than an attempt to please or gain favor from man, is my point- the difference of which is whether we have found right relationship with God or in idolatry (harsh,but arguable, even if not a conscious idolatry).
I spent my whole life serving, i was taught that that is what love is, was given the model of Messiah jesus to emulate, and that is right, and it always garnished me favor, even praise occassionally. Now that I am, well, older.. I realize that there exists a fundamental flaw in that paradigm. If the motivation isn’t clear..which it wasn’t - in my case.
One: it places the importance on me-and garnishing favor and
I borrow that title from an author who’s book’s title begins with “Dispensationalism-Rightly dividing the people of God?” In my search for truth I came upon the fact that i was raised a “dispensationalist” , Hmm, interesting, well this author was comparing and contrasting “reformed” theology with Dispensational theology, and his criticism brought me to a huge discovery- My whole theological training I’d been raised with believed God has one plan for Israel - and another for the church..it didn’t take long for me to say , wait a minute- the new covenant is THE NEW COVENANT-period..and so my search was vindicated further..and I became less moored to traditional “churchianity”, and more keenly aware of how interconnected the Faith is with your teachers and what they were taught..
Just to let everyone know, last Tuesday (March 4th, 2008) we hit an all-time record for the day. Our old record was around 350 visits for one day, but last Tuesday we had 541 visitors to