Understanding The Place Of The Gifts Of The Spirit

When we talk about the gifts of the Spirit in the Church most people can’t relate. We have become accustomed to honouring talent and abilities over the gifts of the Spirit. Let’s be honest, most of us wouldn’t know the difference. We live in a society that honours education degrees, skills and talents, and it is this that we have adopted in the Church as well.

The gifts of the Spirit are not reserved for the beautiful, the gifted, the talented, the educated:

“All these things are produced by the one and same Spirit who gives what he wants to each person.”

Because we don’t understand this we end up experiencing spiritual poverty because we are shutting out the people who were given to us to enrich our life in Christ. Most of these people are the unexceptable ; the wrong gender, the wrong colour, the wrong background, the wrong sins, the wrong education level, the wrong carisma, the wrong relationship skills. We forget that we don’t choose but he chooses us and that he chooses each of us for a different purpose with a different gift. From the heights of the halls of Harvard or the lows of an elementary education, no one is left on the outside looking in because he has designed it in a way that we need each other to grow into what he has designed us to be.

When he called me I was a messed up kid with no leadership skill. I had no great love for people but I had fallen in love with Jesus. I would have been very content to have been left alone, with just one good friend, a pile of books and some writing paper. It was not my idea or desire to enter into full-time ministry. I did not have the skill set, no natural ability for public speaking nor an ability to lead people. It was actually a bit of a nightmare for me to realize he was calling me to be a pastor.

Leadership is not natural to me. He did not place me in the body according to my comfort level or ability. It was only over a time of exploration that I discovered I had been given the gift of teaching. But that’s not even my dominate gift. The thing I have been given that has become as natural to me as breathing is the gift of encourager, but that took decades for me to realize because people wanted to emphasize other parts of me and ignore what the Lord was doing.

The difference between ability and gifts is that there is power in the gifts. Anyone can be an encourager but the gift of encouragement has the supernatural power to lift people up and fill them with a desire to press on and reach for greater heights. Anyone can teach given enough knowledge, but the gift of teaching has the power to bring understanding and paint with the vivid colours of the Spirit things that could not even be imagined. What about the gift of administration? That’s a weird one to me that I definitely do not possess, but it is a gift with power that cannot be had through any study in this world.

I could disqualify myself by simply assessing it according to the level of my ability. How many have lost out on the experience of their gift simply because they thought they did not have the ability? It’s not ability we should be looking for but the mark of the Spirit that can be seen through a humble, willing and surrendered attitude. These things can be lost on a Church that lifts up talent, ability, charisma as well as education. Those may be great but they do not come with the redeeming power of Jesus Christ. The gifts set us apart from all other religions and groups in the world, because they are Christ working through us, not us working toward Christ.

If we want to see Father’s glory shining out from the Church we have to leave off our pursuit of professionalism and seek out the gifts once again. This is not to say that we do not press into excellence but let’s check the root and make sure it is excellence in the Spirit and not excellence according to the world.

What Are We Suppose To Do In The End Times?

The world is changing. Or is the veil being pulled back? Is it possible that it is just continuing its downward spiral and we are nearing the end? Or, is this just simply our awareness and the worse is yet to come? Sounds pretty dismal and bleak. Are we just suppose to stand by and play the fiddle while Rome burns? That's what some misguided people would have you think.

Some people have gotten to the point that Jeremiah had reached. For so long he had prayed for his fellow citizens, praying that the Lord would stay his hand but the entire time he was praying for them they were abusing him. They shouted him down, beat him, threw him in jail until it got so bad that Jeremiah stopped praying for them and told the Lord, "Bring it on. The sooner the better".

I am hearing more and more this chorus going up "Come Lord come", knowing that this would bring on the judgement. We used to pray "Tary but a bit longer Lord" not because we did not want to go but because there were so many who did not yet know him. Why do you think the Lord has waited these two thousand years? He wants the banquet hall to be full.

Put away the fiddles because we have some real work to do. Apostle Paul outlined it to the Thessalonians. It is worth reading the entire fifth chapter because I am going to leave off some of the good bits just to focus on some very important instructions for us in these days.

Verse 14: "We appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, to instruct those who are not in their place of battle." Instead of cheering on the destruction of those who offend you, look around and see who is not in position. See who is in your sphere of influence who has not understood the instructions and help them by showing them. Of course, you better make sure that the Lord's new commandment of loving each other in the same manner he has loved us is your motivation.

It is important that if we are going to engage with these instructions that we are doing so because we love our brothers and sisters and not because we want to put them in their place. They are not in their place of battle because they do not know who they are, they do not know how to fight, they do not know the enemy is not people but the dark principality. Maybe they are discouraged. It is not just those who are not worshiping and praying but those who are fighting with wrong motivations. We are to come along, be their friend and influence them into position.

Verse 14: "Be skilled at gently encouraging those who feel themselves inadequate." I am sure you know plenty of Christians who feel inadequate, who feel they can't talk, teach, lead or even pray. I have heard so many say they can't understand the Bible and they could never talk to other people about Jesus. It's all a lie of the enemy because the adequacy does not come from us but by Spirit in us. We are all possessed by him so we are all equipped by him. The Body of Christ is in great need of encouragers.

Now take note of "be skilled at". This skill is more a skill of humility, understanding that we are not able to do anything outside of Jesus. The skill is the focus, the listening and the acting upon what you hear. The skill increases as you use it and we are to use it constantly. We say we are a people of faith and yet we struggle to trust that he enables us to do all this and more.

Verse 14: "Be faithful to stand your ground." Our Father loves faithfulness. He loves when we keep our word, our commitment. He loves when we are faithful to people. He loves when we are faithful to his instructions. This faithfulness is empowered by love. Stand your ground. Do what is right according to Father's heart. Stick it out with people. Be his voice in their lives. Don't be surprise by evil but stand your ground to overcome that evil by good. Be faithful to our Lord as he is faithful to us.

Verse 14: "Help the weak to stand again." People are use to friends coming and going. They are used to people being afraid of their "sins". They are used to people not sticking to the meaning of friendship. But we are called to be more than that. As the world gets darker and more confusing weaker Christians are going to need the faithful friendship of the stronger brothers and sisters.

Verse 14: "Be quick to demonstrate patience with everyone." Are you beginning to see how we might be falling short of the Lord's design for the Body of Christ? We are in this together, weak and strong. We are responsible for each other. We have a duty to each other. "No soldier is left behind." We have all heard it said that we are the only army that kills it's wounded. The thing is, we aren't even an army. We are more like a hospital and it is all hands on deck to see everyone healed and made whole again. This will require more patience than you can imagine. But remember, "Love is patient, love is kind ..."

Verse 15: "Resist revenge, and make sure that no one pays back evil in place of evil but always pursue doing what is beautiful to one another and to all the unbelievers." Yes, the Spirit inspired these words and Jesus demonstrated it. When his followers wanted to call down the fires of heaven Jesus rebuked them saying he had come to save lives not kill them. We would do well to remember this every time we feel our blood boiling and our hearty beat increasing as we read some of the garbage on social media. According to Proverbs there is a time when answering a fool is folly and other times when not answering a fool is folly. The trick is to be so intimate with the Spirit that you know the difference.

Instead of trying to think of ways you can prove someone wrong we are instructed to pursue beautiful things to do for each other. That requires our hearts to be full of love, full of mercy, full of grace. And that only comes when your roots are found in the multi-dimensional love of Christ. So, the most important thing is to be occupying yourself with him and then everything else happens from the overflow.

This is what the end times are suppose to look like to us. It is not a time to celebrate the destruction of our enemies but the encouraging of one another. It is not seeking revenge on our enemies but pursuing ways that we can do beautiful things for them. This is the Body of Christ, occupied with the mission to rescue as many as we can while supporting each other in the mission. May our Lord find us faithful to the tasks assigned when he returns.

The Number One Need Of Every Human Being : Connection

I noticed something very interesting as I do my daily walk around my neighbourhood. Every time I am passed by someone else out exercising there is either a nod of the head or a smile that is exchanged. This is true whether it is someone walking, running, or cycling. It seems to be an acknowledgement that we are sharing in something together, that we have something in common. Perhaps it is something that you have noted between bikers, truckers, bus drivers or any group of people that share something in common.

The most common basic need that is shared among us humans is the need for connection. We have this deep seeded need to belong to something that is greater than ourselves, to feel part of something. This is not a need that everyone has found met in their lives and is a real challenge for any community, to ensure that everyone feels like they belong and are valued.

I heard recently that unity does not mean uniformity. In fact, real unity requires diversity in order to be strong. The example I gave of my connection with other exercisers is a good illustration of diversity. I walk and cycle but I spend more time walking. Yet this doesn't seem to make a difference to the jogger who nods his head to acknowledge our unity. The cyclist who passes by does not look down on me as a lesser being but smiles broadly in celebration that he is not alone in his effort.

The community in which my family and I live is large and is beautifully diverse. Each neighbourhood is unique in character, charm and architecture. Where one lives does not make you any more or less part of the community. Neither does the colour of your skin, your place of origin, or your opinion on various matters. Our geography and the challenges within that territory are things we all have in common. The laws apply to everyone in the same way no matter the diversity of thinking concerning them.

If this is true for the things of this world how much more when considering the unity of the Body of Christ. It doesn't matter where we live, what we do, the language we speak, the colour of our skin or even our diversity of thought. What matters is the territory that we belong to, the Kingdom of God, and the one we belong to, our Lord Jesus Christ. We share in the same Spirit and the same love. We come from the same Father.

Unfortunately too many of us see no difference between unity and uniformity. There are believers who think there is no way for unity to exist without uniformity.  Yet, Paul described a beautifully diverse Body in 1 Corinthians 12. The unity was found in what we had in common which is the headship of Jesus and the unifying relationship of the Spirit. I heard it said that unity is not something we make but something that exists wherever the Spirit has influence.

Paul recognized the challenge of people understanding diversity within unity so he said he would show us how it was possible. Then he gave us the great chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13. So again, unity is not our work but is the work that Jesus completed. We only need to learn surrender in relationship and then to walk in the Spirit. He produces unity where he has influence. It is possible to disagree with someone and still stand united with them when that person is more important to us than the disagreement. It's all about the people.

Perhaps I should focus that by saying what is important is the connection with people, that everyone knows they belong and are valued. If this is not the culture that exists within our various tribes then we are not following the Biblical expression of the Body of Christ. No one should feel undervalued by any believer in Christ because the relationship with Christ by itself defines our value.

The real power of our witness will not be seen until the world can see unity empowered by love in the Body of Christ.

The Church Aught To be The Safest Place In This World

Our tongue is a terrible weapon when it is not voluntarily bridled by the Spirit of God. From this same mouth comes praises for my Lord and curses for my fellow believers. Are you kidding me? What a terrible disconnect there can be when we are not constantly conscience of being directed by the Spirit.

The Church aught to be the safest place in this world. It is filled with connected followers of Jesus Christ who are each walking in the Spirit and desiring to grow into the fullness of Jesus. But faith is a process of growth which means each of us are at different levels of understanding and relationship. We have those who are strong and those who are weak; those who are mature and others who are immature. This is the reason that love is the foundation of the Kingdom because we cannot exist as the Church without it.

Love is something that should be a constant thought, something we measure all our actions and words against, desiring to increase in it's application. Our measuring rod is Jesus. He empowered us and set the example. He gave us the standard when he told us, his followers:

"This is my commandment : love each other just as I have loved you." (John 15:12)

Not one of us is perfect in this but we must at least begin with the understanding that this is not a suggestion from Jesus; love is a must. When we fail in it we must own up to it, repent and open ourselves up to correction and increase. Paul the apostle made it clear that this is a foundational matter that everything else rests on:

"If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don't have love, I'm a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don't have love, I'm nothing. If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I've done but I don't have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

Paul is saying that no matter what he has and what he does, if love is not the foundation he has nothing and he is nothing. That should be a sobering thought for us. How often do we coast through our day with no thought about the impact of our actions and our words on the people in our day?

Jesus made it clear that we can't just say that we love him, that love must be conveyed in our obedience. Love is a thing of action: "If you love me you will obey my commandments" Jesus says to us his followers.

The two commandments he gave us are simply put: love God with your entire being, with all that you have, with all your passion and love others. John the apostle told us that if we do not love our brothers and sisters we do not love Jesus. So we can't obey one commandment and ignore the other; they go hand in hand.

Now we turn back to my opening statement that the Church aught to be the safest place in this world. No matter our maturity level, we all start with the same foundation, love. Because love is the root of everything we do, we support and encourage each other. When one of us fails, we are all there to help them back to their feet. Paul put it to the Church this way:

"We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don't have power, and not please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbours for their good in order to build them up." (Romans 15:1-2)

You should read all of Romans 15. In fact, if we go back a bit we find this in Romans 14:

"Who are you to judge someone else's servants? They stand or fall before their own Lord (and they will stand, because the Lord has the power to make them stand)." (v. 4)

This is the reality we aught to be living in the Church. Now a days it seems everyone is on a witch hunt to discover some fault in every leader in the Body of Christ. The Word of God does not give us that authority, and in fact comes against it. It is eating away at the foundation of love. Jesus does not need our help in correcting leadership; he is quite capable of dealing with them himself. Instead, we should be concentrating on growing in love and power so that Jesus may be glorified in us.

The Church aught to be the safest place in this world.

I Need You

I need you. I am praying for you today because I need you. I need you to be everything Jesus has intended for you to be in him. That is how he designed things to be, that I would need you and you would need me. We call it the Church. Scriptures refer to it as a Body and it is a spiritual thing. We are members and as members we are dependent on each other to be everything we need to be for the glory of Jesus. I need you.

Most of us have a lousy understanding of the Body. Some market it as a commodity to a people they see as customers. Their desire is growth that they manage through various tools of manipulation. That is not Jesus' design and it leads to a distortion that prevents you from understanding how much I need you.

The Body is an amazing living spiritual thing that provides a setting for gifted followers of Jesus Christ to serve as they have been called to serve. I say "gifted" but not in the manner in which you may understand. Gifted, as in possessing a gift or gifts from the Spirit to enable us to serve in the calling we have received. Each of our callings fit together with other believers. No one serves in isolation but our calling and gifts fit together with others to enable us to serve in an overwhelming spiritual manner that brings all glory to Jesus. Read 1 Corinthians 12 for yourself.

The thing is, Jesus also put in place trainers within this body. These are men and women who have been set aside as servants to the members of the Body. The Body does not revolve around these trainers but each member grows up into the head, which is Jesus. Trainers are only there to help people understand their purpose, calling, gifts and to help us understand that we work together, in unity, because we have been designed to need each other. If they take the focus off of Jesus then they have failed in their responsibilities. If they cause disunity and fail to train us to need each other then they have failed. Read this:

He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. (Ephesians 4:11)

He, being Jesus, called these people to be trainers. They are not special, only chosen to be set aside. In order to fulfill their responsibility they must be fully possessed by the Spirit, focused on Jesus to be equipped for this work. And their purpose:

His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. (v. 12-13)

His purpose in setting aside these people was to use them for the equipping of his people, for the work of serving, building up, to the point of obtaining unity of faith and knowledge in Jesus. Amazing, isn't it? And what is Yahweh's goal?

God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ. (v. 13b)

Maturity. That is Yahweh's goal for us, what all of us are suppose to be moving into. The whole chapter is well worth further study to put this in context but the important thing to understand is that we need these trainers who help us understand that we need each other. They aren't suppose to be our focus, more like the trainers in a gym, there to help us improve. They know stuff we have yet to learn. They are the least, the servants, those who lay down their lives to serve us, and for this we honour them, because it costs them everything. Or it should if they understand who they are in the Body. Not everyone in the position has been called but if you look close enough I think you will find the authentic trainers.

Bottom line: I need you. I am designed to fit with you, so our gifts work together, and in the process we grow together, maturing and reaching the fullness of Jesus. So be well my friend, seek the Lord with all your heart, be dependent on him and allow the Spirit to possess you fully. Be strong in the Lord, because I need you.

United By The Blood

The beauty of the Church is that it is not homogeneous. It can't be. You and I are now family, no matter where we live, what we have done, what we look like. In the same worship center we will find police officers and ex-criminals, politicians and voters, the wealthy and the poor, the elderly and students. In many churches you will find people who speak all kinds of different languages, different skin colours, different origins. But regardless of our differences we have one thing in common: The grace offered through Jesus.

When we live in the Spirit the Church is a thing of great beauty; when we live by the flesh our differences make it an ugly place. It is vital that we understand that the Church cannot exist according to the flesh. It is not a club, a thing of business, something of this world. The Church is not a thing to be managed by a board of elders. It is a living thing that has life through the Spirit. Without the Spirit there is no life and it is an institution like any other institution of man.

As members of this living Body we are united by the Spirit under the headship of Jesus and this one thing must be remembered:

All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23-24)

That is something else we have in common: We have all been found wanting by Yahweh. We have all fallen short of his standards. None of us can get there because we have all been in rebellion to him; we have all sinned. It doesn't matter about any of our differences, no one is better than anyone else because all sin is in rebellion to Yahweh. However, Jesus changed all that.

Jesus gave us something better to have in common with each other. Jesus paid the price so grace could be applied to all of us and in this grace all of us are treated as righteous, regardless of our past, regardless of our sin. In the Church there is no one better than another, no one great, no one small, no one more privileged than another. There is no male or female. There is no rich and poor. There is no colour. There is only us and our relationship with Jesus. This is the Church, the Body of Christ.

To anyone without Jesus, the Church is a bizarre place, filled with a collage of people. It is not homogeneous in the flesh but it is in what cannot been seen by the eye. In Jesus we are all the same, we are all children of Father and we are all covered by the blood of the Lamb. What was impossible for man was possible for Yahweh. We are family.

A Holy Nation - For What Purpose?

They say  that if we do not study history we are doomed to repeat it. That gives us a very good reason to study the Old Testament. I once had someone tell me that there are no perfect people in the Bible except one, and that the LORD had filled his Word with ordinary people so we could discover how extraordinary he is by his mercy and grace. As we study the Hebrew Scriptures we do indeed find a God of mercy and grace who often covered the sins of his people.

What a wonderful LORD we serve who called us by his mercy and grace for his purpose. But in order for us to understand our purpose we need to study history to understand the purpose of Israel. What was so special about them? Why did the LORD choose them to reveal his glory to the world? He seemed to have nothing but problems with them.

First, it was more than a choosing. The LORD grew this nation. He chose a man (Abraham) and then he gave this man a son with a promise that he was the seed of a great nation. From this seed he developed a large family that was blessed with fertility. The Egyptians tried to control the population but could not because God's blessing was upon them. By the time they left Egypt we know there were over 600,000 fighting men so if we add the women and children and the older folk, the population could very well have been over 2 million people. That's in just over 300 years.

The LORD had grown this nation for a specific reason. It wasn't because Abraham was a superstar and the LORD wanted to honour him. It was because our LORD had chosen a period in time to reveal his glory to the world. He said to this nation:

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ (Exodus 19:5-6)

He had set this nation aside, giving them a set of laws to follow, and called them holy because he is holy. He poured blessings into them, prospered them, drove out nations from them, created a land for them, watched over and defended them, all so he could show himself to the world.

Now Israel, instead of understanding their purpose and place, became like spoiled and disobedient children. They were a source of heartache for the LORD, yet he gave them opportunity after opportunity to get it right. He had warned them what disobedience would bring. He warned them that there were consequences for rejecting his holiness and their purpose, but Israel still made it about them and the LORD had to bring in severe correction.

Why is this important to us as the Church? Because this is what the LORD has said of the Church, the Body of Christ:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

I believe at times the Church has forgotten her purpose; that we, as a nation, act as spoiled children, doing whatever we want with the excuse of grace. But the LORD has raised us up with the same purpose as Israel was raised up: to be his people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. For ourselves? Don't you believe it. He has done this so that we will magnify the name of Jesus in words and deeds, so the whole world will see his glory.

But I am afraid we are making the same mistake. I believe we are destroying ourselves and our witness. I believe we are setting aside our purpose for selfish gain. I think we are trying to gain the whole world at the risk of our souls. I think we have to repent. I think we need to turn away from the direction in which we are headed. I think the LORD must become our LORD once more and we his holy nation, set aside for his purpose so that the whole world may see his glory, believe and be saved. It's not about us.






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The Misuse Of God's Gifts

If you are a member of the Body of Christ, you are called, equipped and anointed for the function you have been given. No one can exist in Jesus outside of the Body. Many try due to their lack of maturity. They are too busy looking at the imperfections of other people to understand the grace that has been applied to their own. They use others as an excuse to separate instead of a reason to serve. We are the Body and God has appointed us to our place in it. Verify the truth of the matter in 1 Corinthians 12.

You have been given certain gifts by the Spirit in order to function within the Body. These are not natural to us but are supernatural, given to us supernaturally. We cannot serve God in a way that pleases him in our natural, but he equips us to serve him in the supernatural. The question is, will we use these gifts to faithfully serve his will, or will we use them selfishly for our own gain? Solomon is a good illustration.

King Solomon knew enough to know he was over his head. What he had been called and anointed to do was beyond his own natural ability, and he was wise enough to realize it. So when God asked him what he could give Solomon, this young, wet behind the ears, newly appointed king asked for two things: wisdom and knowledge. But take note of why he wanted these gifts from God:

Lord God, you were always loyal to my father David, and now you have made me king of Israel. I am supposed to rule these people, but there are as many of them as there are specks of dust on the ground. So keep the promise you made to my father and make me wise. Give me the knowledge I’ll need to be the king of this great nation of yours. (2 Chronicles 1:8-10)

Solomon did not ask for his own benefit but so that he could fulfill his calling, the task for which he was anointed, which is why we receive gifts from the Spirit. God was pleased with this and because he asked with this motivation he also provided Solomon with everything else. But Solomon did not stay so pure in his motivation.

Solomon allowed his eyes to turn inward. He indulged in the privilege of his position. Instead of serving God by serving God's great nation, Solomon started serving his own selfish desires. How easy it is to turn what God gives us to serve him into something for selfish gain.

As great as Solomon was he could have become more. He seeded things into his children which caused the split in the kingdom. Instead of being a united people for the glory of God, they became spoiled and selfish, requiring the great correction God visited on them. We are not too far from this ourselves, even in the early days of the Church.

When apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, guiding him in the strengthening of the Church in Ephesus, he said something that we need to take note of today:

You needed to warn them to stop wasting their time on senseless stories and endless lists of ancestors. Such things only cause arguments. They don’t help anyone to do God’s work that can only be done by faith. (1 Timothy 1:4)

We can never forget the purpose of our calling and the focus we have been given. There should never be anything that we are involved in that does not help us to do God's work. That is the entire focus of our life, to do God's work. It is not a part-time thing. It is not a weekend thing. It is something that we are occupied with every moment of our day, and it is the reason we have been equipped by the Spirit.

It is possible for us to waste the gifts of the Spirit, to use them for ourselves instead of for Jesus in the context of the Body. It is possible but it will prove to be our ruin as it ruined Solomon. We will never reach the heights that God has intended for us and we will seed things that will prove to be the undoing of other people as well. For this we will have to give an account. Don't forget the parable of the talents.

Perhaps it is time to allow the Spirit to take an inventory of where we are with the gifts we have been given, and permit him to remove what is not a help in doing God's work by faith.

Letting Them See Jesus

The other day one of our regular customers came into the store. It was a Sunday and the church was meeting in the dinning area for worship service. I had stepped out of the service to get something and saw the customer at the counter speaking with my son, so I went over to greet him. He shook my hand briskly and promptly told me that he knew I was a real man of God. He then went on to explain that every time he sees me he sees an aura around me and it makes him glad. He then expressed his affection to my son and me for our ongoing kindness to him and he promptly left.

I am not under some illusion that I walk around with an aura but I understood what this man was trying to express. He sensed the presence of God and he described it in the only manner he knew how. I share this with you, not with the intention of "hey look at me", but as an example of what some people are able to see in us. Everyone can see it but many choose not too because if they acknowledged it they would also have to acknowledge the conviction of the Spirit, and that would provoke a decision.

I remind you today that your time on this earth is not about you seeking the blessings of a comfortable life. You are a vessel of the Holy Spirit, the only presence of God that some people will ever experience. Wherever you go, Jesus is right there with you, not just for your benefit but for the sake of a dying world. But, are our behaviour, words and actions putting up a screen so that others cannot see Jesus, only our unkindness?

Words matter. So do actions. So does attitude; as does love, forgiveness, mercy and grace. All the things that God has done for us, we are to do for others. That's what Jesus said. "Freely you have received; freely give." Jesus also told us something incredible in his prayer for us as he spoke to the Father on our behalf:

I am one with them, and you are one with me, so that they may become completely one. Then this world’s people will know that you sent me. They will know that you love my followers as much as you love me. (John 17:23, CEV)

It is the "aura" that people see, our oneness with Jesus and each other. They see him in our unity and compassion for people. They see him in our words and actions. They don't see the kindness and love of people. They can find that in any good, well meaning organization. I am talking about the actual presence of God, the anointing that comes through our being possessed by the Holy Spirit.

Anyone can perform acts of kindness, but when that kindness is offered in the authority of Jesus Christ, his presence is also felt, and there is power behind that action. We can do nothing apart from Jesus. That is what he told us. He told us we have to stay connected to the vine, and he is that vine, or we would dry up and be thrown into the fire. Acts of kindness amount to nothing if they are done apart from Jesus. We are not here to perform acts of kindness but to carry the presence of Jesus, so that others will see him in us; the kindness will be provoked in us by the Spirit of God in us. They need to see the "aura", the anointing, the power, the thing that sets us apart from this world. They need to see Jesus.

My friends, it is not about a written code or meeting certain expectations. It is not about being well thought of or accepted as a kind person in this world. It is about total surrender to the Spirit, walking in obedience, getting out of the way and allowing people to see Jesus. It is about Jesus being lifted up in us, being one with him so that only he is seen in us. May they see the "aura" in you today.

Usurping God's Authority

It is hard not to think with the world's mindset when we have been raised, educated and operate in it every day. We do it without thinking about it and that's probably the greatest problem: we don't think. Too often we put our mind in neutral and go with the flow. As Christians we mistakenly think that our first impulse will be for God, that it is second nature to us. But it isn't. We have to make a concerted effort to think with the mind of Christ. We have to make a conscience decision to walk with the Spirit, taking actions that would please God instead of our flesh.

God's ways are far from what we want. His desire is hard for us to fathom over our own. We think because something is a good idea and it is doable that we should just go ahead and do it. We think that just because something looks like it would honour God we have the authority to do it. When will we learn?

Too often we put all the emphasis on ability. Just because I am able to do something does not mean I should. Just because I have better qualities to be a leader does not mean I am God's choice to lead. The reverse also applies; just because I don't have the best leadership qualifications doesn't mean I am not called to lead. Come on people, we have the Bible. When are we going to start seeing God's heart in it?

There were those who thought they could do a better job of leading Israel than Moses. Even Moses' own family came against him at one point, jealous over his authority. Who knows, maybe there were those with better ability than Moses but it didn't matter. God had chosen Moses and the only ability Moses needed was obedience and faithfulness to God who instructed him. Maybe that's the real problem. Maybe we don't realize that leadership in the Church is not about how well a person can lead but instead how obedient a person is to God instructions and directions. Jesus is the head of the Church, not man.

We seem to have lost respect for the anointed and maybe it's because we have left the anointing aside when it comes to us choosing our king, oops, I mean leaders, pastors. David was one who understood the anointing. He was chosen as king long before he became king. He understood that it was not given to him to remove Saul, but instead to replace him when God had removed him. It took time. It took time because David refused to usurp God's authority. God had put Saul in place and God would remove him. I'm not saying that it is a model for today but simply pointing out that David understood what was going on and how leadership worked from God's perspective.

I am concerned for the Church and have been for many years. Our emphasis is all wrong when it comes to leadership. Our expectations are wrong. The mindset of the leaders is wrong. The Church is being run and directed by a bunch of highly educated executives who act more like business people needing to report to their board of directors and must always please the stockholders.  No wonder there is lack of God's power in the Church; we've left God out.

Why can't we set aside all the garbage, all our best practices, all our church growth, emerging church ideas and seek again the will of our God? Why can't we allow him to shake up the whole Church so that the anointing will fall back into place and we can be a real people who desire nothing more than God's will? Why can't we put the emphasis back on walking in the Spirit instead of our own intellect? Oh yeah, we are stuck in the world's mindset. Oh God, send your cleansing, correcting purifying fire today, that the Bride may rise up in the full glory of the Groom.

The Spiritual Danger Of The Clique Mentality

If you have ever been a high school student you know the effects of a clique. This is a small group of people who exclude everyone else. Often they are very destructive, tearing down others to build themselves up. They are not always destructive but there are always exclusive; excluding anyone who does not fit in with them. Often they have some common denominator, whether it be an attitude, dress code, activity or belief. High School is not the only place you find cliques.

Churches often have them. I am sure they don't mean to develop but they do and sometimes they are destructive. In saying this, sometimes the entire Church is a clique and outside people find it very difficult to fit in. This is especially the danger of smaller churches where everyone either knows or is related to everyone else. Churches don't mean to be exclusive, but they can be. The Word of God clearly states:

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. (Colossians 3:5)

The Spirit showed Apostle Paul how exclusive the Church could be, even at the beginning. Jesus did not practice exclusivity. He went out of his way to make sure that his disciples came from a varying background, and even then he only spent time alone with them to teach them the foundations. Other than that Jesus was always amongst the crowds of people who came from every background. Even though he had come specifically to deal with Israel, he still included the gentiles when they came to him. Jesus told us whoever believes will be saved.

The Church is not like the nation of Israel. That nation was given a territory and was told to be different from neighbouring nations. Israel was intended to be used by God to display his glory, to reveal himself to the world. Right from the beginning the Church was founded differently. We were not given a territory. In fact the first command given to the Church was to "go". And Jesus was serious about that. When the Church disobeyed the command and decided to stay in Jerusalem, Jesus allowed a persecution to scattered them throughout the earth.

The Church is not about physical territory but spiritual. The Church is about the heart condition of people. The Church is still the instrument to reveal God's glory to the world but it is done in the workplace, in the home, in schools, hospitals, nursing homes, marketplace, wherever Christians go so goes God's glory and power. This is why we cannot afford to become a clique like Israel was. We can't afford to have any thoughts of being exclusive. We are only special in that we accepted the blood of Jesus that has and is transforming us.

Sometimes it is hard to avoid the clique mentality when we have something in common with one group of people and not another but God did it. God is self-sufficient. He does not need anyone else. He has nothing in common with us. We have nothing to contribute to the Godhead. The Father, Son and Spirit don't need us. Yet, our Father reached out to us. Jesus left his place in that group to come and get us; to bring us into the group; to include us. Then he told us to go and do like-wise. 

So, now we are to make the most out of every opportunity. We are to be wise toward those who are not part of the Body of Christ. They are the reason we are still here and Jesus told us to go to them. Avoid the clique mentality and reach out to someone today. 

What Does Maturity In Jesus Look Like?

All kids want to grow up. They dream of what they will become; firemen, doctors, nurses, astronauts. When they are teens the main desire to be an adult is the perceived freedom for which they long. They do not understand the responsibility that comes with that freedom as they can only see the ability to make their own decisions. Regardless of the motivation, it is natural to desire to grow up, to be more than what we are right now. So should it not be just as natural to want to grow up spiritually? Should we not long to be more than what we are right at this present moment? Do any of us really feel like we have arrived?

It is sheer laziness that keeps us in this place where we lack the maturity to be everything that we have been designed to be. I am not saying that we can become mature by our own emotional and intellectual efforts but it does take an effort of the will, to submit ourselves to the transformation the Spirit is doing in us. It takes an effort of the will to say no to temptation and choose Jesus every single time. It takes an effort of the will to open ourselves to the Spirit and to act on the words of Jesus. It takes an effort of the will to choose love over self. It takes our will to submit but Jesus' power to transform.

What does spiritual maturity look like? In the last blog I spoke about what it isn't:

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. (Ephesians 4:14)

But today let us consider what it is:

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head,that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)

Maturity involves truth and love, not opinion and emotions. Truth is found in the Word of God and is written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We know it even if we choose to change it to suit our own selfish desires. If we base our perception of truth on anything else then it is not God's truth and we cannot hope to become spiritually mature. We may have the appearance of spirituality but spirituality on its own is not spiritual truth. There is only one truth and it is found in Jesus. No excuses.

Love is not an emotion as we have changed it into. Love is a decision based on the truth of God. Love chooses good over evil. Love chooses right over wrong. Love chooses others over self. Love does what is best for others even when it is not best for us. Love is constant and is not dependent on any circumstances of life because love is dependent on God's truth, which never changes. Love is what compels us to live for the glory of Jesus and not for our own. Love does not hate, cannot hate, will not hate.

If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:20-21)

This is what maturity looks like.

It also loots like this:

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:16)

Maturity in the Body of Christ understands its place in the Body. Maturity does not stand outside of the Body criticizing and throwing rocks. Maturity does not separate itself and decide to go it alone. Maturity understands that we are all growing into the head, who is Jesus, and we are one part of a fantastic thing called the Church. Maturity knows that we need grace as much as the next person. Maturity understands the huge need for forgiveness and that we offend others as much as they offend us. But maturity says that none of that matters because we are all growing together in maturity for the glory of Jesus.

So perhaps the greatest part of maturity is maturing in our understanding of love. Not our weak, frail, fickle concept of some vague abstract notion of love but of God's very real, concrete character of love. You see, we have no hope of maturity if we do not at least understand the structure of which we are part. We must come to the realization that we are joined and held together by every supporting ligament. We must have that revelation that we are growing and building ourselves up in love. We must have our eyes wide open to the fact that we have a part to play in this Body. That is where real maturity comes in and where it takes us and it requires mature love.

This is what maturity looks like and it should be our desire to get there.

Church - We Need A Greater Revelation

It's frustrating. The church you know is not the Church that is suppose to be. Our attitude toward leadership sucks. Sorry for the lack of vocabulary but I can't think of a more appropriate word. We have criticized the Roman Catholic church with it's system of priests but then turned around and set up our own. Oh, I know we call them pastors but we treat them like priests.

And why are there only pastors? The Word of God tells me there is a whole team of trainers that are suppose to be at work in the Body of Christ.

Yes, I called them trainers because that is what is suppose to be in place, not a priesthood. We are the royal priesthood, everyone of us according to the Word of God. We need trainers not priests. Look at this:

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service. (Ephesians 4:11-12)

Some people refer to this group as the five-fold ministers. To me they are the trainers and they are more than pastors. People say that the age of the apostles is over and that there are no such things as prophets any more. These are either people who don't know the word, or want to shape the Church into their own idea, or just follow the crowd.. Nowhere in the Word does it say there is an end to the age of the apostles. There are apostles who are referred to in the Word who never met Jesus in the flesh. Apostles are not a group that met a certain criteria; they are chosen and appointed by the grace of God, just like the rest of us. We need to stop shaping the Church by man's design and allow the Spirit the freedom to teach and lead us.

These trainers are given to the Body to prepare God's people for works of service. This is training us how to operate in the Spirit, in the gifts of the Spirit, so we can grow and mature in our service. Look how it continues:

^... to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (v. 12-13)

The trainers act as catalyst if you would. As they train us something begins to happen, like a chain reaction:

1. prepare in works of service
2. so the Body may be built up
3. until we reach unity in faith and in knowledge of Jesus
4. we become mature
5. attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ

There is so much more to our Christian walk than we allow ourselves to believe. And we will not discover those things until we allow ourselves to become what our Father has re-birthed us to be. We have to learn how to operate in the Spirit of God so that the Body may be built up, so there can be unity in our faith and knowledge of Jesus, so we can become mature and in becoming mature, attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. I know I am repeating myself but I want this to sink in.

We need more than pastors. We need the complete five-fold ministers. We need to do more than worship. We need to serve. We need to do more than give a cup of cold water. We need to learn to operate in the Spirit. We need to learn how to use the gifts of the Spirit. We need go beyond our flesh and operate in the supernatural. We need the whole measure of the fullness of Christ and it starts with submitting ourselves to the training of the five-fold.

Read the Word. Really read the Word and not just the stuff that fits into a humanistic agenda. It is more than just feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. That is part of it, but we need the whole thing. We need to operate in all the gifts of the Spirit. We need to see the power of God flowing through the Body of Christ again.

High-Jacked By Teachers

A couple of Sundays ago my pastor, who is the apostle to the church I pastor, brought a word about grace. It wasn't the grace that you and I talk about all the time, the grace that makes it possible for our sins to be forgiven. He spoke on the grace that we operate in, that allows us to be what God has called us to be. It is a grace that is portioned out according to Jesus' purpose for us:

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. (Ephesians 4:7)

Taking your place in the Body of Christ is not like choosing a career. In choosing a career you either pick what you enjoy doing or what will give you the biggest return for your investment. If you decide to become a doctor you are guaranteed work but it is a huge investment. In the Body of Christ you don't get to choose your place because it is God who decides. Whatever you become is not by your choice or your investment, it is not even according to your natural ability, it is only by the calling of God:

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers. (Ephesians 4:11)

This is a verse much of the Church ignores or dismisses in this age of self-choice. It is Jesus who sets aside, sanctifies for his purpose. It is Jesus who chose the trainers for the Body and he anointed them with what they need to do the job. He called, he equipped and he established, by his grace. Those called to such responsibility do so by God's grace not their ability.

Today we require the "leadership" to be well educated. They are chosen by a selection board. Their calling is either verified or denied by people. They have to have letters behind their name instead of clear signs of the anointing of Jesus. Their ability to balance the financial books outweigh any need for the evidence of the Spirit operating in them. Gone is the need for the grace of God, replaced by the career minded.

Somewhere along the line teachers have high-jacked the Body of Christ. Perhaps it was in a bid for more respect from the world. But it is wrong. Jesus did not choose the scholars of his day, he chose by the grace that was being apportioned. He chose those who were teachable, those with little value, the fishermen and tax collectors. He gave them great value and they learned, being reshaped, becoming men of awesome power and strength. They had more than letters after their name, they had Jesus written over their name.

Of course it is not just the trainers that Paul writes of. Read 1 Corinthians 12 to understand the structure and real beauty of the Church. He wrote that this grace has been given to each of us, as Jesus has apportioned it. To each of us. There are no spectator seats in the Body of Christ. Each part has an important place and role, and their function, your function, is vital to the purpose of the Body.

Not according to your ability, desire or even intelligence. It doesn't matter if you have no education or you have 12 doctorates. Your education or lack thereof is not what matters. Jesus is not looking for scholars but for those who are teachable and are willing to be shaped into what Jesus desires. He is calling those who are willing to accept and operate in the grace he has given, never questioning, just obeying. It's not by your choice but by God's grace and all he is looking for is a love response from you, a response of obedience. Do you know what grace has been apportioned to you? Have you taken your place in the Body of Christ? Are you operating in the anointing of the Spirit?

Have You Thought Much About Israel?

I don't often remark on specific countries because I believe there are no borders for those of us who follow Jesus. Our pledge of allegiance is not to a single flag but to our King. We are not citizens of a piece of territory defined by a line on a map because we are citizens of a Kingdom that is far above the definition of man. However, I do want to point out why Canada appears to be a nation blessed above other nations in recent days.

Where the world has suffered terrible financial hardships, Canada has breezed along relatively unscathed. There have been some natural consequences to a financially struggling world but, despite the nay sayers, Canada is doing excellent. Many don't understand why, citing that perhaps it is because of our strong banking system. There is another reason but most people don't want to consider it: Canada has stood by Israel, defending and supporting her when most of the world turned their back on her.

It is clear that Israel remains important to God and the Word of God speaks truth: Those who bless Israel are blessed and those who curse her are cursed. As Christians there are even more important reasons for us to stand with Israel.

We may not agree with what is going on there and it is true that much of that nation has turned its back on God, but that is for God to deal with. The reason we need to stand with Israel is because the word is clear that they will turn to Jesus. They are part of us and we are part of them:

In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-6)

Even though this is a revealed mystery it seems it is still a mystery to most Christians. Some actually think that we have replaced Israel, that we have replaced the Jews. But God has said that he has brought the two together and has created a new thing, so now we are all the Church, the Body of Christ.

Some blame Israel for the Middle East Crisis but Israel is not to blame for bringing beauty to a wasteland. Israel is not to blame for protecting herself. It was the world who came into agreement to give Israel back part of the land that was taken from her many years ago. It was God's judgement to take away the land those many years ago just as giving Israel back is part of the end time prophecies fulfilment. We need to be watching Israel because the signs of Jesus' return is seen there.

I know this may seem uninteresting to you but it is important for us as fellow members of the Body of Christ to realize. Seek the blessing of Israel and stop with the cursing. Don't be indifferent to her plight but support her in prayer. Don't ignore what is going on there but instead diligently watch and look for the signs of our King's return. Israel remains an important place for all of us.

Understanding The Existence Of Two Churches Is Vital

It is a shame that our society and culture has such a strong pull on us, but it is nothing new. For centuries the Church has been pushed, pulled, and shaped by society. Certainly the Church was a major influence on society for centuries but we have to consider who was leading the Church and what was influencing them. For centuries the Church was used and abused by people who saw her as an opportunity to have power over people. It is a wonder that she has arrived to this day with still a notion to her own identity. But then again, she was not born of man's thinking but of the Spirit of God. No matter what man might try to do with her, the Spirit will always preserve the Church.

From the very beginning the Church was different from man's society and culture. She was not born out of any ideas of the age and she was never meant to be shaped by a changing philosophies or a shifting societal value system. The Church has always meant to be a beacon of light in a darkened world. She has not been there to try to control people but to influence the "sick and dying" of this age to turn to Jesus for "healing". We are not the movers and makers of man's politics but the voice calling out of the wilderness, that Jesus is the answer for everything. The message of God remains the same, it does not change as society changes. Hell does not suddenly disappear because it is out of favour. Jesus does not suddenly become one way out of many because of a multi-cultural society. Accept it or reject it, Jesus is the only way to the Father. That is at the heart of the message of the Church.

Some people might be surprised to hear, after all these years of fighting for equal rights, that the Church held out equal rights to everyone from the very beginning. Remember I am talking about the Spirit led Church, not the abomination that some called the Church. Read the Word of God and understand the relationship within the Body of Christ:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

There it is. We need no other argument nor any other plea. You and I are one in Jesus Christ. Neither our age, gender, height, size, colour of skin, level of education or anything else matters. The only thing that matters is our faith and because of that faith you and I are on equal footing, cherished and loved by our Father.

Now if we examine the history of the Church we will discover all kinds of things that happened that came against this very simple truth found in the Word of God. But remember, there is the Church that is shaped by the thinking of man, by the practices of our society, and then there is the true Church, led and controlled by the Holy Spirit, whose members live by every word found in the Word of God. These are those who refuse to be swayed by society and who hold out these truths as divine. I think many people would be shocked to discover the real truth if they could just get past the marketed version of the Church of this age. Many think they are living by the Word but in reality they are living by man's opinion of that truth. People need to read and study the Word for themselves.

Many of us are victims of the influence our society has on the Church and of our own selfishness. The Word says no but our society says yes. We find some arguments of why the Word doesn't really mean what it says so we can do what we want to do. I have done it. I have made major decisions, wrong decisions based on what society finds acceptable but the Word of God guides against. Most of us have. We have to stop and get back to the Word and study it for ourselves. We have to stop excusing it away and make the hard decisions. We have to stop watering down what the Church is, what she represents and the cost of being a stone in her walls. We are the Church, born of the Spirit, based on the Word, saved by our Lord and loved by our Father. Society has nothing on us as we give our hearts and minds entirely to Jesus. Be influenced by the Spirit and Word and refuse the pull of our dying society.

She Is Radiant And I Will Defend Her To My Death

I have never kept secret my thoughts on the modern Church but I am also one of her greatest supporters. I think we have been messing around with God's design to make it more acceptable and understandable to society. We have recently been basing everything on a business design, including the way we market the Church. We are less demanding of people, watering down some of the gospel, removing hell and other things so we become more attractive. We have set up our own system of governing congregations, different from what Paul describes. We have allowed the Church to evolve into a charity, a place of good works and government subsidies. In some situations we have turned her into a harlot as she dances to the tune of those who provide her funding.

God designed the Church, the Body of Christ, to be a power house of righteousness, a place where mercy, grace and love are administered. She is a hospital, caring for the broken and battered. She is a house of prayer as her members release the power of God to effect change in people and the world. She is a house of warriors and a training ground for those who are new and old to the fight against the darkness. She is a place of the "all consuming flame" of God, where people learn what it means to be born again. She is a place of worship, celebration and support. She is family, where we encourage brothers and sisters to continue on, to press on, to go to the end of the matter. It is never about stars, spotlights, showcasing and always about moving forward in our fight against the enemy who just wants to destroy everything God loves. She is a place of redemption and infilling.

There is plenty of graffti that we have written all over this wonderful Bride of Christ but I believe the Holy Spirit can wash all of that away. I believe that as we seek God's face and call out for the Spirit to renew the Church, all the chains and shackles we have attached to this radiant Bride will be cast aside and she will rise up in the power Jesus has adorned her with. I am not of those who get disgusted with what they see and walk away. It is impossible to have life outside of the Bride. We have been joined to her, are members of her Body, responsible for her beauty and her care, receiving our sustenance through her. It's as is described in Paul's letter to Timothy:

If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)

How can anyone walk away from God's household, the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth? The Church is not an option that you can disassociate with just because you do not agree with something. The Church is not a lose association of like minded people who get together once a month to discuss a vague agenda. The Church is not a country club, a curling club, golf club or any other sort of club that you can just transfer your membership. The Church is the Body of Christ, which you automatically become part of when you accept Jesus Christ and are renewed in him. No options, it is automatic. If you are not part of the Church you are not part of him. That is God's design.

So those people who decide the Church is too full of unrighteous people and they no longer want to be part of it are too immature to know fact from fiction. Only the spiritually immature believe it is possible to have fellowship and growth in Jesus without the Body of Christ. They are self-delusional to think they do not need the "pillar and foundation of truth".

My eyes are wide open, I know there are problems and non-biblical practices. I know that I am also part of the problem and so are you. Our duplicitous lives, our corrupted thoughts, our selfish nature, our prideful thinking all contribute to the graffiti we paint on this beautiful Bride. But I also believe in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. I believe that God brings in correction. I believe the Church is the Bride of Jesus and the Groom is not going to allow his Bride to be tainted. I believe there will be a wave of holiness that will sweep through, a wave of correction that will spur on growth in righteousness. I believe it and I want to be part of it. It occupies my prayers and my actions. It is the desire of my heart that Jesus will once again be glorified to the nations through us, the Bride of Jesus. I trust it is so because that is what the Word of God says to me.

Are You Hoping To Become A Leader?

This may seem like it has nothing to do with you but leadership in the Church is something we should all be concerned about, especially because we seem to be doing it wrong. Sometimes we act in the Church as if leadership is a dictatorship, not meaning that it is run by tyrants but instead that people feel they have no choice. When it comes to leaders and followers there is always a choice. No one is ever forced to follow anyone; it's a choice if we submit to that leadership or not. But even then I think we are using the wrong vocabulary in the Body of Christ.

I don't even like using the word "leader" in connection to the Church because we only have one Leader who is Christ, who directs us through the Holy Spirit in us. The pastor is not a leader in the sense that we have leaders in the world. He is not the head of the church, Christ is. It's not even "our" church; it belongs to Jesus. Maybe we may own the building but the "Church" is his Bride. The pastor and elders are there as trainers, teachers, guides, helpers. They are responsible for making sure we understand the Word and do not head off on some strangely twisted teaching. They are there to help us understand how to mature in Jesus, to train us in spiritual works so that we become productive members of the Body. Do we see that happening?

The most difficult task for the pastor and elders is to bring in correction because it has to be done right. It has to be done in a way that encourages the believer to make right choices for the Lord. It should never be a thing of punishment and vengeance. The pastor and elders should be of such incredible spiritual maturity that they are able to handle such matters in the Spirit without killing any of the sheep. I became a pastor at the age of 28 and I feel I was not mature at all. I know of pastors who started much younger and had even less spiritual maturity. Praise God for his grace.

Perhaps this is the reason Paul found it necessary to give Timothy some guidelines in the selection of elders. I don't like that some people use this as a law, eliminating grace from God's plan in his calling of under-shepherds for his children. If this was a law that was put in place then Paul was disqualified from being the servant-leader he was. He tells Timothy:

Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. (1 Timothy 3:2-3)

Can we say here that he must be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, a born again believer? You would think that this would be a given but basically what Paul is telling Timothy is an elder must have spiritual maturity to take up this responsibility. I know a lot of Christians, Jesus lovers to the core, who still have struggles they are working out. This is a daily submitting to the Spirit that they are learning but have not quite grasped yet. They are still young and needing to mature, but they are getting there. They do not qualify as an elder simply because they have not matured to that point yet.

Then Paul strikes on something that has caused a few of us to give pause and wonder if we are now disqualified as elders in the Body of Christ:

He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) (vv. 4-5)

Does this mean that every pastor, every elder has the perfect family; that all his children are well behaved and walk around in shirt and tie? Hardly. That would remove the sin nature from children. Children will be children, always pushing the limits of the boundaries set by their parents. Only Jesus can cut off the root of that nature but salvation always remains a personal choice. No one can force salvation on someone, not even on children. Now, depending on personalities this pushing will either be a private thing or a very public. So what does Paul mean by manage? We have responsibility as parents to train and correct our children. If we allow them to run wild without correction, if we fail to instruct them in the Word and in the love of Jesus, if we are so busy with our own lives that we don't have time for our family, then we have not been good managers.

There are those who look at a pastor who has a rebellious teenage son and say that he is disqualified as an elder and must resign. I vehemently disagree and call those people immature in the Word and in the Spirit of God. If this is what disqualifies a "man of God" then should God not have to resign as God? Did he not lose "control" of Adam and Eve, and did this rebellion not plunge the entire human race into a state of rebellion? Ridiculous! God has done everything he can to love and correct this entire race. All we can ask of pastors and elders is that they do the same. What they are willing to do for their family speaks well of what they will be willing to do for the church. When you want to understand what Paul is talking about think of the priest Eli and his two sons.

Now Paul really hits the nail on the head:

He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. (v. 6)

The type of leadership Jesus called elders to requires maturity, a great deal of spiritual maturity. A guy may make a great and wise business man but that does not make him spiritually mature. Someone could be a great musician but that does not mean he is spiritually mature. Someone could be flowing in the gifts of the Spirit, but it does not make him spiritually mature. Spiritual maturity is found in those who have discovered that love has no limits, that grace is abounding in Jesus, that they are the least and everyone else is of greater importance. Maturity is found in a servant heart and that is what is required for pastors and elders. If you think you have it you probably don't.

I have been a pastor for 20 years now and I am still sorting through some of these things. I am only now grasping the heart of the matter of servant leadership in the Body of Christ. After all this time I am only now beginning to see the real leaders among us and they are not always the ones standing behind the pulpit. I am seeing a lot more clearly what we have done to God's plan for the Church, what we have done with our "leadership" training, and the business practices of the Church. I am now only falling to me knees in repentance, seeking the forgiveness of the Lord and asking for the grace to move forward in his design. Twenty years to get to this point. I just hope I am a faster learner over the next 40 years so I can get more than two more lessons in.

What's Up With Paul Telling Women To Be Quiet In The Church?

There are a few things in the Word of God that are hard for us to understand or accept in this "modern" age. One of those things is the attitude toward women. For a long time there has been a quiet debate in the Body as to the place of women. It may sound like a silly thing to discuss in an age when equal rights was dealt with a long time ago and we have moved on to other matters. However, it is still there in the Bible. What are we to do with this?

First of all, let us understand where we all are in our relationship with Jesus:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

There are your equal rights long before such a phrase was ever uttered. This is a wonderful passage, beautiful in it's writing and application. The context needs to be read:

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

Many people would like to leave it there and walk away but there are several passages that need to be dealt with that may make some people uncomfortable. Although our relationship with God puts us all on the same footing, God has set up a certain order for things in the Body of Christ in this world.

We may have messed things up with our own ideas but there is a type of authority God has put in place. Not authority as we understand authority but instead an authority of service. In order for people to receive from this authority there has to be a volunteer submission to it. For instance, within the context of the Body God has called a select number of people to act as servant authorities. They are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. These are the training servants to the Church, who have the responsibility to train believers in works of service. Look it up for yourself in Ephesians 4.

In this same way God has placed the husband in this servant authority to his wife. Paul commands the husband:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:25-33)

I apologize that I shared so much here but it is a beautiful passage that must be read in its entirety. When a husband takes his proper place and is mature in the Lord he sees his role as fulfilling, completing and increasing his wife. His greatest joy is to offer himself to her to see her blessed, multiplied, and again I use the word, increased. But in order to receive this blessing the wife must do the same thing the Church must do with Jesus:

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:22-24)

It is unfortunate that we have allowed the world to taint our understanding of authority and submission because God's definition is a beautiful relationship that is not based on power but on love. Jesus does not force himself on anyone nor should he be forced on anyone. The relationship only works when, out of love, we gladly surrender ourselves to him and he in turn lavishes us with his love. This is marriage.

So now, when we read Paul's statement to Timothy we can better understand what Paul is promoting here:

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. (1 Timothy 2:11)

"Woman" here is also translated as wife. Who is the wife suppose to be in submission to? Her husband, who is her covering, who has a relationship with her to see her increase. This is also in context to worship. The passage continues:

I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. (1 Timothy 2:12)

Understand again here that "woman" and "man" also translate as wife and husband. It is out of sync with God's order that a husband should have to be taught by his wife. The roles are reversed. Unfortunately we have a lot of that in our current age but it is seldom the woman's fault. Men do not act like real men. They shirk their responsibilities. They are lazy and do not want to take the place of authority servant. They are selfish and just want to pursue their own interests. They allow their wife to go off to church and take their place while they go golfing or watch their sports. The reason women make up so much of the leadership in churches now is because men have failed to take their place.

Not much has changed. Adam would have saved us all a lot of trouble if he had just been the man who should have been. God placed everything under his authority but he couldn't even say no to his wife when she faced temptation. He wasn't there to protect her, defend her, cover her. Oh, he was there physically but he wasn't spiritually and he allowed her to lead him instead of him leading her.

Think what you want about God's order but his Word never changes. In the context of two people filled by the Spirit of God, this is a beautiful thing. It only gets messed up when we allow selfishness, sin and the world's wisdom to enter in. Men, take your place. Love your wife in the same way Jesus loves his Bride. Give yourself fully to her and desire her increase. Women, respect you husband which is the highest form of love. Submit to him in the same manner as the Church submits to Jesus so that you may receive the blessings God will pour into you through him. Let this be done according to God's wisdom and will, not man's.