ADT Testimony

This is my 8 month Advanced Discipleship Training Testimony:

cwww.youtube.com/watch?v=FtMku5AggYc

Again...I haven't figured out how to put a thumbnail on it!

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Settle me, Lord.

Jesus, my Beloved.

Yesterday I got to do something I have desired for a VERY long time.  I got to sit down and talk for about an hour and a half with a young man who struggles greatly with something.  Something he cannot control.  It's a part of his brain function that just- is.  Out of that comes other disorders.  My heart breaks for him.  But he puts up a facade.  He is fake.  He has learned to be fake to cope with his disorder and- a family member who just wants him to be perfect.

I got to share with him how God created him.  Spirit, soul and body.  I told him the functions of his whole self.  We talked about how his disorder and his family made him feel.  His emotions are so calloused he hardly KNOWS how he feels.

We talked about flesh- coping mechanisms.  It astounds me how little the church as a whole knows about how God created man- why He created man- and how we deal with life apart from Him.  But I understand.  How can a pastor or teacher or just anyone preach/teach what they don't know?  No wonder they stick with the Old Testament.  No wonder they preach/teach with "do-do" glasses on.  They have not had the revelation of Jesus Christ.  They know Him as Savior, Master, Lord and maybe Friend but they do know know Him as Peace, Joy, Healer, Life, Truth, Resurrection, Creator of the new inner man.

The young man asked me, "What can I pray for myself?"

What a great question!

I simply said, "Ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you."

I don't think that is exactly what he wanted to hear but I can't tell him anything else BUT Jesus.  Jesus is the Way and every other way is NOT the way.  He is enough.  His riches are Himself- why would we want anything else?

Then my sister called me.  Just heart broken.  A young man she knows (I do not know him)- a "wonderful Christian boy"- who is actually in the ministry, just got his girlfriend pregnant.

Oh, the secrets we hide.  Oh, the facades we put on.  She told me this young man was "all godly" on the outside but on the inside- a mess.  But not many people knew it.

And you know what?  He may marry the girl.  But if he doesn't come to really KNOW this Jesus, if he doesn't let this Jesus do a mighty work in him (and it may hurt!), and if he doesn't allow this Jesus to heal him- then marrying the girl won't solve the problem.  Because the problem is not the problem.  It's just a symptom of something else going on in him.  It will manifest in many other ways in his life.

This kid is just eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil- both sides.  The self-righteous and the unrighteous.  He is just trying to get his needs met.  Love, Acceptance, Worth and Security.  By being a "good Christian boy" and by giving in to the 'lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life'.  It's all flesh.  And flesh always leads to death.  There is no life and peace apart from God, for He IS Life and Peace.  And God WILL NOT allow anything but Himself bring us Life and Peace.

But only God can meet the needs- Love Acceptance Worth Security Truth Significance- that He created BOTH these young men with!  Which one will come to the end of their self and allow Him to anoint them with Himself? Either one?  Both?

I pray they both will.

Exploding Head

Sometimes I think my head is going to explode.  There is SO much going through it- ALL THE TIME.  If I could log all the thoughts I have in 5 minutes this blog would go and go and go.

What would I do without a list?  I am not sure I could survive!  And we women, we get the brunt of things.  How many men think these thoughts?

We need new sheets.  I need to change the sheets.  I'll hang them on the line.  I need new clothes pins.  And dog food.  And a snack for the study Thursday night.  I need to make copies of that last page.  It's going to rain.  Well, we need it.  The pool needs water.  I am so glad summer is here.  I hate winter.   I can't wait until heaven, I know the weather will be perfect there!  Don't forget to spray for ants.  Ug, I still didn't get all the windows cleaned outside.  We are out of bread, put that on the list.  I really don't want to go to work today.  I have to move money from the one account to the other or there won't be any money for bread and dogfood!  Ireland is one month away.  What about Nick and his sickness?  How are we going to deal with that.  Oh Jesus, you know our need!  What am I going to do about White Pines?  Your desire, Lord?  Thank You for Connie and our conversation yesterday.  I hope the storms aren't bad.  Lord, help me not to be overwhelmed.  Trust.  You hold all things together.  My kids are all things, Nick is all things, my friends and family are all things, I am all things.  No, I don't need to take my vacuum today.  No, no cleaning supplies either.  I look up to the sky and say, "You're Beautiful!".  I miss my Dad.  I can't wait to go home this weekend!  I need to send Karen money for Mom's flowers and Dad's cellphone.  Wasn't that so special and kind of Justin to ask Nick and I to sit in as his parents at his wedding?  Time to load the washer, ride the bike and go to work.

Yes, that's how my mind works!

Well, amen!

Hierarchy in the Godhead?

I think subconsciously we believe there  is a 'hierarchy in the Godhead'.  Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  But there is not.  There is mutuality.

From Pagan Christianity:
"John 14:28 and 1 Corinthians 11:3 have the view of the Son's temporal relationship as a human being who voluntarily submitted Himself to His Father's will.  In the Godhead, the Son and Father experience communality and mutual submission.

It is for the reason that biblical orthodoxy rejects the eternal subordination of the Son of God.  It instead accepts the temporal subordination of the Son in His incarnation.

As theologian Kevin Giles say, "Historic orthodoxy has never accepted hierarchical ordering in the Trinity."  To paraphrase the Athanasian Creed, the Son is only inferior to the Father in relation to His manhood; He is equal with the Father in relation to the Godhead."

Pagan Christianity

Well, I am finishing up this book that has really made me think. It's also answered some questions.

Why aren't God's people more discerning?  That's my question. I've sensed many things were "off" but how could the "church" be off?  

I really really like this book. But I do not believe many people will accept it. I'm sorry, I just don't. Why?  Because then they may have to make some real changes in their life and many people are not willing to change even if its not the Lord's way but man's. 

We get comfortable. It would be too much work, too much sacrifice, and just plain, too much change. 

So we keep doing the same ole over and over.  But hey, it's comfortable. 

And honestly- and I am being truly honest- the ones that this would be hardest on is "full-time clergy". It would be a huge, life-altering change. Much security would be gone.  Most will read this book and instantly disagree. 

I cannot imagine a man leaving a position he was 'called' to, has been in his whole adult life and provides for his family financially- to get a secular job (to provide for his family) and be 'just' a functioning member of the body. 

Well, amen.

But I have to say, I long for this.   I long for "face-to-face community, every-member functioning, open-participatory meetings, non-hierarchical leadership, and the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ as the functional leader and head of the group."  I long for "the fellowship of the triune God brought to earth and experienced by human beings."

I long for:
"-the building together of sisters and brothers into a close knit, Christ-centered community
-the transformation of character in the lives of the members
-meetings that express and reveal Jesus Christ and in which every member functions and shares
-community life that is vibrant, thriving, authentic, and where the members grow to love one another more and more
-a community of believers who are magnificently obsessed with their Lord and who are neither legalistic nor libertine in their lifestyle"

I am sorry this is blurry but I suggest you buy the book.  But, it may rock your world.  So...be ready!

Gregg's Rest Stop by my dear friend, Gregg Gibbons

From Law to Grace in a Person

This past Thursday evening, I had the humble privilege of teaching our Law & Grace lecture to our five advanced discipleship students.  This Rest Stop presents a part of this teaching.

We can already see from our key verse above that the law was something given but grace was Someone who came. 

Grace is a Person and His name is Jesus. 

We can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through grace, but we can never have a relationship with Him through the law.  The law leads us to have a love relationship with Him, not a legal relationship with Him.

LAW

The law system that pervades the minds of each person born into our fallen world originated with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  I also refer to this tree as the Tree of the Knowledge of right and wrong. 

With any law system, a person seeks what is right so as to then do it, and to know what is wrong so as then to not do it...all on their own, independently of God.  Therefore, a law system is an achieving system.

The ultimate law system is God's Ten Commandments, the heart of the Old Covenant (Testament).  This is the ultimate achieving system.

The LORD God said,

"If you obey My commands I will bless you;

if you disobey my commands I will curse you."

 (Deuteronomy 28:2, 15)

We all are born disobedient to God's holy commands, totally incapable of achieving any one of these commands. 

However, Jesus came from glory to be born under the law with us so that He could became a curse on the cross for those of us who receive by faith His salvation.

When the fullness of time has come,

God sent forth His Son,

born of a woman,

born under the law.

(Galatians 4:4) 

Christ has redeemed us

from the curse of the law,

having become a curse for us.

(Galatians 3:13) 

Jesus came to rescue us from being under the law and to raise us to be under grace!

For sin shall not have dominion over you,

for you are not under law

but under grace.

Romans 6:14) 

GRACE

Grace did what the law could not do, provide us forgiveness of our sins.

For what the Law could not do,

weak as it was through the flesh,

God did by sending His own Son

in the likeness of sinful flesh

and as a offering for sin.

(Romans 8:3) 

Salvation includes forgiveness, but also includes a miraculous heart transformation!  Through your union with Christ on the cross, you died to the Law so that you could be married to Christ!  This is the intimate relationship you can only have by grace!

You were made to die to the Law

through the body of Christ,

so that you could be joined to another,

to Him who was raised from the dead.

(Romans 7:4)

CLOSING

Because of the profound law-mentality we are all born with, it is a challenge to teach law and grace.  Some people initially hear that I am throwing out God's holy law when I say We are no longer under law but under grace (Romans 6:14).

God's Word says that our striving to live under a external law system has been transformed through the cross of Christ to be an internal "law system" of grace, whereby God's holy law, His character, is now written on our hearts.

We no longer need to strive to live up to external laws.  We are now free to live out of the law of love inside our hearts in the Person of grace -- the indwelling Jesus Christ.

Where the law is an achieving system that has done is job to lead us into grace, a miraculous receiving system...receiving all the resources of Christ through our marriage union with Him!

    

New Testament

I have often wondered why the NT wasnt put together chronologically. It's confusing to try and figure out how it should be!

from Pagan Chrisianity by Frank Viola and George Barna