Remember Ghostbusters? At the end, the demon/ghost couldn’t be overpowered. The end of the world was near. The answer was to “cross the streams” of the laser-powered ghost capturing things. It’d never been done before. It was dangerous. Deadly.
But also necessary given the certain death the crew were facing.
So it is with the church. God has raised up various movements. Some strong in worship. Some strong in the prophetic. Others strong in healing. Others evangelism. Others missions and church planting/apostolic vision.
Now as the times are getting harder, the world darker, the scenario all the more desperate, it is time to cross the streams. When we do the spiritual nuclear explosion is going to shock all of us, especially the world.
Isaiah 43:19
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
A couple of things were going through my mind, thinking about some of the difficulties we go through in this life, and how it is that God is using the trials that … let’s face it … are just part of life to teach us how to trust Him and to reveal and purify the motives of our hearts. In a way, I was thinking how I was glad to have gone through some of the things I have gone through, because now for the first time I think I’m starting to get real in my relationship with God. I thought about what I wrote in “The cord of three strands” about keeping it real, and this verse came to my mind.
1Peter 1:6,7
…now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine
For some reason I was thinking about the colour orange, and the song “Orange Crush” was going through my mind… I look across at the kitchen bench, and see an orange juice bottle. On it are the words Pure… 100%. Freshly squeezed. The brand is McCoy.
God is preparing our hearts, teaching us to keep it real, so that our faith may be proved genuine. As our genuine faith is revealed may it point the way to Jesus. That is coming. When others see our reality they will see Jesus.
Hebrews 12:7,8 and 12-14
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13″Make level paths for your feet,”[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
14Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Holiness here, I believe, speaks of purity and keeping it real.
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
A picture of an archaeological dig. It’s a field. The field is us. Jesus has purchased the field with His blood. He’s digging the field, poking, prodding, searching for artifacts, treasures. Breaking up the hard ground.
In the field is some sort of artifact. A bronze cylinder, beautifully inlaid with some sort of filigree pattern. It looks like a solid object. Looks are deceptive. Jesus is cleaning the object, then He begins to tap the object to remove encrusted dirt— it’s not even clear at first that it’s dirt, maybe it’s some sort of ceramic inlay, it looks like a part of the object. But no, it is dirt.
He firmly taps the object on the end. The dirt falls off like scales. It’s clear the object is a container— it has a mechanism for opening, a button, that was barely visable but can now be seen now the plaster/dirt is gone. He pushes the button. There is resistance. After being shut for so long, the object does not want to open. But Jesus is persistant. He pries open the container, just enough to let the oxygen into the container, the light in. As He does this, the resistance is less. The light and the oxygen is making the container come alive. There’s a restoration taking place inside.
Suddenly, an enormous explosion. Power. Not like normal explosion, that releases destruction. No, an explosion that releases life. An explosion that releases new life, the power to heal, the power to transform.
Matthew 13
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
As incredible as it seems, given the hardness of the ground, to all appearance, why are we of great value? Why does Jesus give everything He has just to get us… the hard, parched field in the middle of nowhere?
Because He knows what the field contains. He knows the potential that is in us. He knows the pearl that is hidden in the field, and He will find it. If we will let Him.
Let him. Let Jesus have His way. It will be worth it.
How, you ask? Through His own beloved Son, we are accepted. He reigns, and we reign in Him, and we are the righteousness of God by proxy. If you accept Him. If you believe in Him.
God so loved the world that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, shall not be left alone, shall not be left to themselves to die, shall not be forsaken, but shall have eternal, everlasting, timeless, permanent, unchanging, glorious life, redemption, salvation, hope, joy, peace, newness of being, rebirth, sanctification, revival.
In him and through him and to him are all things.
Where is there room for a lack of self-esteem, when God himself esteems you so highly that He would die for you?
In fact He did esteem you so highly that He did die for you.
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.”
Yet Jesus Christ died for you, because He esteemed you that much. Because He loved you that much,
He poured out every last drop of His precious blood, in order to make you accepted and acceptable to God.
In the light of that… where is there any room for self-doubt? Self-condemnation? Despair?
Jesus Christ died for you, He died for me.
Wake up O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will rise upon you.
Walk in the light as He is in the light!! …if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
All sin, all unrighteousness, everything that is not right… made right
everything that is not whole… made whole
darkness… made light
Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Peter = “a rock or a stone”
1. one of the twelve disciples of Jesus
Rock = Petra
Definition
1. a rock, cliff or ledge
1. a projecting rock, crag, rocky ground
2. a rock, a large stone
3. metaph. a man like a rock, by reason of his firmness and strength of soul
In the days that are coming, the church is undergoing the same transformation that Peter himself underwent. Peter’s very name means “a rock” but not (at least initially) the “rock” upon which Jesus would build his church, and not the rock against which the gates of hell would not prevail. The rock that Peter’s name referred to was a small stone. An insignificant pebble, an outcast. For that is the very thing that Peter was at the time when he was called. Not an influential pillar of society but a mere fisherman.
Likewise, God is calling those who are insignificant, overlooked, “pebbles”, small stones whose purpose may be little more than to cause irritation inside the boots of others. But God, who calls the things that are not as though they were, God who knows the end from the beginning, God who calls us to the faith of Abraham, will cause us to change into the rock against which the gates of hell will not prevail, as we learn to trust in him.
We have nothing to fear in the days that are coming, and much to be excited about, for these are the very days when the promises of God about the church, about us, about our lives and most importantly about the true gospel, about Jesus, about the power of God, these promises are about to come to fruition, as we learn to trust. As we are transformed from a very small pebble into a rock—”a man like a rock, by reason of his firmness and strength of soul”
And let us not forget it was a very small pebble that slayed Goliath.
God says the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. That implies a proactive response from the church. We will stop being reactive, analyzing everything from a merely human perspective, and start being proactive, seeing the power of God so much greater than the power of he who is in the world, and so becoming conquerors and a kingdom of priests in the coming age.
Conquerors and Kings both now and in the age to come, as we are transformed from glory to glory. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Thoughts from the past (I’ve been a Christian a while). I remember Kent Henry announcing during a worship session “The surrender is upon us”. Yup back in the nineties.
Well, the surrender is upon us.
God’s people are leaving the outer court, ‘cos God is wooing them, and he is showing them who he is and what he has done. The price that he paid through his blood, through dying on the cross, is so great, so complete, so perfect. Nothing can stop us coming boldly before him, into the holy of holies.
Two awesome videos to help us do this (thanks Hillsong ):
Once there, he is giving us such a pure and holy love for him that living surrendered lives in obedience to him become inevitable.
Let him do that holy work in us. Let us press on (and press in) to apprehend that for which Jesus Christ apprehended us.
I was listening today to Joyce Meyer interview Dr R.T. Kendall today, talking about the difference between pseudo guilt and true guilt.
Pseudo guilt we give to ourselves, with the help of the accusations of the evil one, and true guilt brings us to repentence.
The trouble with fake guilt is that it’s so darned hard to see; these mock expectations we put on ourselves that have the veneer of spirituality.
“I’m doing this for God”, we tell ourselves, when in fact we’re like Lord Farquod on shrek. We’re just compensating for something.
This morning God woke me up at 5:30 because I asked him to, and I was having this discussion with him that I’d rather sleep because I was still tired.
Then we had this little half-awake discussion, where I was thanking him for the day and praying for his hand on my life, and he showed me how much of what I assumed was him over the years was just performance-oriented guilt-motivation. The hangover from years of control from my childhood, where things were imposed on me and I had to do it, like it or lump it.
God says. “I’m giving you a choice today”
“Choose this day whom you will serve”
His yoke is not burdensome, His commands are not too much for us. We have a choice. As we choose to serve him, free from condemnation and the endless demands for more, just as we are and where we’re at, we start serving him.
Like Theodore Roosevelt said “Do what you are where you are with what you have”
Not what you can’t (but are expected to), and not in some fantasy place, and not living beyond your means.
Free from fake guilt. Free from false expectations.
God says “he who chases fantasies will have his share of poverty”
We don’t have to have poverty, we can have the riches of God in Christ. And I’m not talking about money (although it’s not mutually exclusive). But only if we do it his way.
In Hebrews the writer talks about the people of God, stubborn and stiff-necked, so God swore in anger “They will never enter my rest”.
We don’t have to be like that. Listen to the voice of reason. Listen to what God requires. His will begins and ends with him, and our walk begins and ends in love. Not in condemnation, not in false guilt.
In the day when I cried out, You answered me,
And made me bold with strength in my soul.
No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, that promise is true for us today. It’s true for those of us who find ourselves in “constraining circumstances”. Sometimes these circumstances are obvious and external, sometimes they are less obvious and internal, but no less real.
I believe that God has a message today for those that are hurting, those who have been “burned”. Jesus said that the enemy comes only to kill, steal and destroy, but that he has come in order that we may have life, and that more abundantly.
Many in the church today are suffering from burns, received in the heat of battle, for which they were woefully unprepared at the time. They’ve been burned: burned by discouragement, burned by disappointed, burned by betrayal, burned by those who were supposed to help and left wondering who to turn to.
Just like natural burns have differing degrees, so do the burns of disappointment, discouragement, abandonment, failure (etc.). First degree burns are superficial, easily healed. Second degree burns reach the dermis, and cause blistering that can be painful for weeks, but take longer to heal and leave a scar. Third degree burns require hospitalization and/or divine intervention if the recipient is to survive, let alone be healed.
Third degree burns are disappointment, discouragement and difficulty that is of such a magnitude that it reaches deep within us and causes us to “despair of life itself”, such as Paul spoke of:
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
This kind of pressure and difficulty has a very high cost for us, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Yet God says, today, I give you life, and life more abundantly.
I am here to provide healing for third degree burns. I am here to bring restoration where you thought it was impossible. God says, just because no-one else sees your pain, doesn’t mean I don’t.
Though the LORD is on high,
Yet He regards the lowly;
The promise of God for you, from Psalm 138, is this:
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch out Your hand
Against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
The LORD will perfect that which concerns me;
Though you walk in the midst of trouble, the Lord will save you. Though you walk in trouble and difficulty, the Lord will perfect that which concerns you.
Perfect… make right, restore, recompense…
I’m reminded of words spoken many years ago by Kent Henry, a worship leader:
“You’ve been hurt, disappointed, and discouraged…”
“That’s ok, it just means you’re in David’s band…”
He talks about the three “P’s”: Proclamation, Prayer and the
Prophetic.
Today, proclaim over your life:
The Lord will perfect that which concerns me
There is a prayer:
O, Lord, according to your word, perfect that which concerns me.
There is a prophetic word for you:
The Lord will perfect that which concerns your life.
your life, in the brokenness, and the difficulties, and the impossible circumstances. God speaks to these and promises: I will perfect that which concerns your life.
“make level paths for your feet so that what is lame… may not be, but rather healed”
All the promises of God are “yes” and “amen”. In Christ, we are the righteousness of God.
What does that mean? I heard Joyce Meyer talk about God replacing our “wrong-ness” with his “rightness”. I agree.
Romans 3:22
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
Romans 5:17
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God‘s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:30
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Galatians 2:21
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Philippians 1:11
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 3:9
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
But we have to make a decision. It is up to us to allow the healing to begin by ourselves making the right choice.
“The eyes of all look to him, and he gives us food at the proper time.”
There is a promise of wholeness and healing, and it will come to pass. It is guaranteed. But in order to make it happen we have to look to him. How it happens, and the timing becomes immaterial.
We only know that our full redemption: healing, wholeness , meaning, eternity, is found in Him.
“You are my portion” says the psalmist, and we learn to agree with him.
As we make level paths for our feet, a highway in the desert for our God the healing has begun, not only of us but of the nations.
“The leaves of the tree (of life) are for the healing of the nations”
We the church, grounded in him, are the tree of life that brings healing to the nations, as we ourselves, in our brokenness are healed. As we look to him.
God is working a miracle in his church, as we turn our eyes to him and declare “You reign”, as we declare the Lordship and the Kingship of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, God is proving his word true in our lives. The truth is the promise of God. Not only does He reign, we also reign with him. Not alone, not in inglorious isolation. No. We reign, in him, together with all the saints.
Paul prays, that “together with all the saints” you may have wisdom, to comprehend the surpassing greatness of his power. Not alone….together, with all the saints. In his own person, his glorious sovereignty and also in the sovereignty that He endows upon his church.
The anointed King is anointing us as His representatives here on earth. How?
Individually. No. Corporately as we come together as the church and declare that He reigns, God is pouring upon us the anointing, and with the anointing comes His authority in the unity of the saints.
As we come together, not because we agree on everything, or even anything in particular, but as we come together to life our voice together in worship, the King is doing a great work among us. He is anointing us as his servants and he is also bringing unity upon his bride.
It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion
For there the LORD commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.
When there is unity… which is not of ourselves so much as the miracle that God is bringing in our midst, as we call upon His name and declare “You reign”, God commands the blessing.
Thankyou God for your promise of unity, thank you Lord for the promise of your blessing, eternally in Christ,
amen
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