It is a good thing to desire good doctrine. Truth is both valuable and powerful in many ways. Jesus is the Truth. He is also the Way and the Life. When you learn truth, it is easy to settle into a mode of amassing knowledge. Even if the knowledge is about Jesus, if it is only information, it might be truth, but it is not life. He is the Life […]
Monthly Archives: December 2018
Kingdom Ins and Outs
If you rebel against the the King of Heaven by refusing the assignment the King has given you in life, you are rebelling against your own value, your own identity, your own purpose. If you rebel against your true identity and purpose in life, you are rebelling against the King of Heaven. (Romans 6:17-23) It doesn’t matter whether you are rebelling knowledgeably, as Jonah did, or ignorantly, as Saul did […]
Rowing Nowhere
I have become convinced that when Jesus looks at His body, He sees its shape and systems and alignments very differently than our congregation-based, your-name-is-on-our-roll-or-you’re-not-a-member-of-the-church view. I am impressed by the prophetic view Paul revealed in a word to the believers in Ephesus (chapter 4) of a mature ekklesia who is no longer suffering from a lack of unity regarding faith, teaching, or works. Like he did in other writings, […]
Dealing With Adversaries
How do we decide how to deal with adversaries? In the facebook culture, the two options seem to be public accusation of evil identity and deeds, and unfriending them. What about the culture which should be ours? The culture of the church is frequently not discernible from facebook or the dog fights Jerry Springer enjoyed displaying on TV. The culture of the Kingdom of Heaven, though, by definition is influenced […]
Who’s First
When we gather with others, how do we decide whose voice is heard first? It usually doesn’t matter whether we have good news or bad, we want to be the first to share when we meet with someone. One of our guiding principles, though, is that the person who loses her/his life for the sake of the Kingdom, finds his/her life. Knowing that the person or people with whom we […]
A Familiar Thief
Self-pity is a thief. It steals emotional energy. It steals purposeful work. It steals opportunities to manifest the Lord of the Cross in the earth. It steals revelation by distracting us from both asking for and being able to hear answers from the Lord of Wisdom. It cannot be converted to better behavior. Like the rationale from the wild west in earlier US history, a horse thief has no conscience, […]
Worthy of Praise
Learn to worship when you are doing whatever you do that looks like what David was doing when he was out in the fields watching sheep do whatever they were doing. Talk to Jesus about how awesome He is, and what you like about Him. Tell Him some ways you want to be just like Him. Praise Him to the people who are in the fields near you. Don’t be […]
Answering Sanballat
When the servant of a pagan king was called to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he faced much accusation and attack from jealous enemies of Yahweh. The stereotypical adversaries Sanballat and Tobiah constantly worked to discourage Nehemiah and the Israeli builders who helped him in the wall project. Their false accusations, physical attacks, and traps were wasted on Nehemiah. He knew what his calling was, and could stand in his […]
Losing the Anointing
One concept Yahweh taught Israel when He made them His nation was that unclean things touching clean things make the clean become unclean. When Jesus touched something unclean, He made it clean. He cleansed leprous people. He cleansed whores and traitors and religious and sick people of their sins and their demons. There is a teaching among Pentecostals and Charismatics that a person can “lose the anointing” by touching certain […]
Bible Knowledge Test
To whom was Jesus talking when He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.”? (Luke 17) (Some translations render the statement, “among you.”) Clearly, then, the Kingdom and the Church are not the same thing.