Demonstrations

The Holy Spirit has been visiting the International House of Prayer in Kansas City during the past week (you can watch for free at www.ihop.org/watch).

Mike Bickle & Lou Engle demonstrate the right and wrong way to catch people who fall under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

The right way.

 

 

 

 

 

The wrong way.

 

 

 

 

 

The results.

The Playfulness of God

This is a four-part series by Allen Hood called The Playfulness of God.  Enjoy.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Thoughts from Revelation

As I continue through Revelation with a group of friends, I’d like to share a few more thoughts about what we’re learning, as well as some of my own meditations.  This week, we looked at the letters that Jesus dictated to the seven churches of Asia minor.  They occupy chapters 2 and 3 in the book of Revelation.  One phrase in particular has always struck me, as well as many others who have studied this book.  First, allow me to do a bit of set-up before I introduce my main topic.

Jesus has just finished congratulating the Ephesian church (the same one Paul had written to a several decades earlier) because of their diligence in the work of ministry.  He says, “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.  An you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary” (Rev. 2:2-3).

That’s quite a resume!  They have been hard at work to spread the Gospel, building up their congregation, discerning and dismissing false leaders, and, in all this, they’re as fresh as when they began.

But it’s not enough.  Jesus continues in verse 4, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (emphasis mine).  Pow!  Zing!

It’s not enough to work hard, not give up, seek truth, demand accountability in others, share the Gospel, etc.  Leaving your first love is a big deal to God—big enough to receive a “nevertheless.”  When someone says “nevertheless,” they’re saying, “I’ve added up everything you’ve mentioned and I’ve put it on a scale.  On the other side I’ve placed what I believe you’ve left out, and my side is heavier.  My side is more important than all your stuff put together.”

If we’re really honest, some of us are thinking, Nevertheless?  Really, Jesus?  That seems kind of rough.  I mean, look at all they’re doing!  It’s hard for me to get off my couch sometimes, and You’re complaining about them not loving You enough?  Didn’t James say faith without works is dead?  Didn’t John say that we have to love our brothers to show our love for you?  Doesn’t this count?  If it doesn’t, I’m hopeless!

No where does Jesus say that anything they’re doing is bad, or that it doesn’t measure up to a high standard of accomplishment.  He is affirming them, even as He’s about to correct them.  Seemingly, the first love that the Ephesians put in a lesser place of priority permeates everything else in their lives.  They can work diligently doing great things for God, yet fall short because of this prioritization.

Jesus actually taught this during His time on the earth.  In Matthew 22, an expert in the law came to Him and asked “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” (v. 36)  It seems like the sort of question that has a consideration of priority behind it.  This lawyer seems to be asking, “Just to make sure I’m hitting the big one, which is it?  If I was going to just do one of the laws, which one should it be?  If You could sum it up in a nutshell, what would it be?”  Jesus responds by saying, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (vv. 37-40).

Jesus certainly connected the need to love other people with loving God.  But He put it in its proper place. If you put more effort into loving people than you do loving God, it’s a tragic mistake of misorder.

When He says “You’ve love your first love”, Jesus is effectively saying, “You don’t love Me as much as you used to.”  I hope that you’re able to sit with that for just a moment to feel the impact of His words.  I hope you’re able to catch just a little of Jesus’ heart, because it’s a heart of desire, not condemnation.  It’s a passionate cry from a lovesick Bridegroom for us to enter deeper into the fullness of His love.

So let us work diligently to enter into this fullness.  We must remember our first love.

Thoughts from Revelation

The scene is set in heaven, where God Almighty sits on His throne in complete control of the course of history. John (many believe the Apostle John) is invited to witness something astounding. It’s something that no one has ever been privy to (that we know of) in all of humanity’s existence.

God offers a scroll securely sealed to anyone worthy to take it from His hand and open its contents.

The angelic order draws back, as they grasp the offer, as well as how far they fall short. These are creatures that have never sinned and transgressed God laws, yet they perceive the recipient is not among their ranks.

Suddenly, a man appears before the throne of God. Surely, no man has on the claim. For we know that the human race went wayward long ago. Only a third of the angelic host rebelled against God, but 100% of humanity has preferred their way to God’s.

Except One.

There has only been One who preferred His Father’s way to His, and so fully submitted Himself that He became the sacrifice that reunited the Father with anyone who so desires. This sacrificial Lamb now stands and boldly takes another installment of what He purchased: The title deed to planet Earth. Leadership over all the nations has belonged to Him from the Beginning, but now it’s time  again to act. Now it’s time to enact the plan so that His Kingdom will have it’s fullest impact and expression.

He is coming.

And there are things here that we must deal with.  Being prepared not only corresponds to knowing what Scripture says about His Second Coming, but our heart must be equipped to deal with the questions that accompany it.

Specifically, Why must Jesus do things this way?  Why, when the seals are opened, is there so much calamity upon the Earth?  Why does Jesus do it this way?  Does a loving God really allow such things to come to pass.  Does a loving God actually initiate these things?

We must do this if only to satisfy the questions in our own heart.

If we don’t know this side of Jesus, do we really know Him?  If we refused to know certain aspects of our friends, are they really our friends?

I would enjoy hearing any feedback you may have.

Josh

A Request

Tomorrow night we begin the first of what will be twelve sessions in an overview of the book of Revelation.  I’m excited to do this study for a number of reasons, one of which is to simply brush up myself on all things End Times.  But I do have one request as our group delves into eschatalogical scenarios.

We are listening/watching a series by Mike Bickle from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri.  We have all been influenced by the teaching and worship that has come from there, and for that I’m grateful.  But during this times, I’m hoping that we’ll cling to something deeper than an affiliation with a ministry, no matter how good they’ve been to exemplify Christ to us, as well as bring us closer to Him.  What I want is truth, no matter the cost.  I want us to challenge each other with a Berean spirit–searching the Scriptures to see if what they say is true.  We don’t want affinity to a ministry, we want to cling the the truth, the Word of God.

So as we endeavor together, let’s commit to each other that we’ll be discerning and thoughtful, as well as kind and gracious.  The whole point isn’t to put a few more pointer in our bag so that we can win arguments, but instead to find truth at any cost.  And to fall more in love with the Lover of our souls.

So for the two of you who check my blog with any regularity (and I’m married to one of them–thanks, babe!), could you help me to pass on my request.  I surely do appreciate it.

Josh

Food for Thought

“If the believer would enter into a better, deeper, fuller knowledge of God he must prayerfully study the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in the scriptures! Let this be made our chief business, our great delight, to reverently scrutinize and meditate upon the excellencies of our Divine Savior as they are displayed upon the pages of Holy writ. Then, and only then, shall we ‘increase in the knowledge of God’. The ‘light of the knowledge of the glory of God’ is seen only ‘in the face of Jesus Christ.’”

A.W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, p 23-4.

New Bible Study

Thanks to everyone who was a part of our recent Life of David Bible study. I hope you got as much out of it as I did.

As we discussed, we’ll be starting our next study, Overview of Revelation, next week on a new night, Wednesday. I know that Revelation is a controversial book, but, hey, when has that every stopped us? I’m looking forward to some good discussions (and good coffee–thanks Kelley!).

See you next week.

Josh

Escort to Love

I found this quote from an article John Piper wrote dealing with eschatology:

The longer you meditate on the writings of the apostle Paul, the more clearly you see that genuine, deep spiritual experience depends on genuine, deep biblical knowledge. I mean things like faith and love and peace and joy—these precious subjective experiences of the heart—depend on the mind’s apprehension of objective biblical truth. From a biblical standpoint, studying and thinking and knowing are never ends in themselves; they always stand in the service of feeling and willing and doing. The mind is the servant of the heart. Knowledge exists for the sake of love. And all theology worth its salt produces doxology. (Emphasis mine)

I think we need to especially keep this in mind when discussing the end times.  Most of us–myself included–get really focused on getting our doctrine locked down air-tight so that we can win arguments, and we forget that the whole point is love.  If we leave that out, we’re just a clanging symbol.

Josh

Don’t Be Like Mike

In light of our Bible study on the life of David, I came across this great post by Voddie Baucham contrasting the acceptance speeches from Michael Jordan and David Robinson during their induction to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Enjoy.

Josh

Holiness Remix

Over at Justin Taylor’s blog you’ll find a short blurb from an interview with a church leader who is talking about sanctification (there’s also a link to the entire interview).  He highlights this section:

Sanctification here at The Village begins by answering two questions. What stirs your affections for Jesus Christ? And what robs you of those affections? Many of the things that stifle growth are morally neutral. They’re not bad things. Facebook is not bad. Television and movies are not bad. I enjoy TV, but it doesn’t take long for me to begin to find humorous on TV what the Lord finds heartbreaking.

The same goes for following sports. It’s not wrong, but if I start watching sports, I begin to care too much. I get stupid. If 19-year-old boys are ruining your day because of what they do with a ball, that’s a problem. These things rob my affections for Christ. I want to fill my life with things that stir my affections for him. . . .

We want our people to think beyond simply what’s right and wrong. We want them to fill their lives with things that stir their affections for Jesus Christ and, as best as they can, to walk away from things that rob those affections—even when they’re not immoral.

I thought it was so good I had to quote it here myself.