Open to the Prophetic

As people and churches we need not only an ongoing experience of the Spirit and the ministry of the Word we also need the prophetic – the now voice of the Spirit speaking expressly to us as God’s people.

Several times in Scripture we are exhorted to hear what the Spirit is saying – in Revelation it wasn’t the same message to every church.

When those words were written there was no completed Canon of Scripture so it can’t have been hearing what God has to say through scripture, though certainly there is a place for that.

The early disciples and church were very much led by the prophetic voice of the Spirit. As they worshipped the Spirit spoke and they responded. The result was a constantly developing and flexible movement that would impact the nations.

Today, as much as then, we as God’s people both personally and as churches need to be open to and willing to hear that voice, and when we hear it not quench it but respond in obedient faith.

It is the willingness to hear that voice that will save individuals and churches from religious formalism, stereo typing, inflexibility and stagnation.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is there is abundant life and glorious liberty.

Whoever has ears to hear let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Are you quenching the Spirit?

In the last post we looked at the baptism and fullness of the Spirit, in this one we are asking the question, are you quenching the Spirit?

A quick glance over the New Testament very quickly reveals the dynamic of a God who was present with his people, present in person and present in power. The writers describe his coming and activity in a a variety of ways – wind, fire, falling upon, different languages, prophecy… God wasn’t simply a creed, information in a Book, but One who was present to his people in a very real, personal, and powerful way in their lives, meetings and ministry.

I wonder when you read the story do you see it as something that simply belongs to the birth of the church, a bygone day, never to be repeated? If so you are quenching the Spirit. As Peter said the ‘promise is for you and your children, and to all who are far off, everyone who the Lord calls to himself’  (Acts 2:39). No cessation but a glorious promise for all God’s people through every generation and in every land.

Maybe you think you are not good enough and so ruling yourself out, if so you are quenching the Spirit. Peter said the promise was for all God’s people, and it was never about you being good enough – Jesus is our claim on the promise! Peter said, ‘repent and be baptised …. and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38). He is a gift, not a reward, and you need Him, now.

On the other hand maybe you have known something of the Spirit, yes you had a real encounter, knew what it was to move in the things of the Spirit, but today you are empty, dry….. Let me assure you God doesn’t want you to stay that way, the enemy does. Perhaps it was sin, if so Jesus has paid the price, seek his forgiveness and cleansing, and come and receive again.

On the other hand it might have been a bad experience in church that has caused hurt and disillusionment, and today you are quenching the Spirit. Whatever your circumstance (and I’ve been there) it’s the enemy who wants you to remain that way and thereby rob you of God’s presence and power in your life today. You will need to go to God and pray it out. You will need to forgive those who’ve offended you – the Holy Spirit who is already with you can help you in that. Invite his presence, seek his help, come and be released and be filled again.

Maybe you think the Spirit is for today, just not things like tongues, prophecy, manifestations…. if so you are quenching the Spirit. The promise was never divided up and apportioned differently to following generations. The Spirit is God present to his people in glorious fullness and as such he loves to distribute gifts that reveal to us the heart and purposes of God.

On the other hand maybe you are a ‘Word’ person, that’s where it’s at. You know the Word through and through, you are sound in doctrine, but you wouldn’t go near the things of the Spirit, if so you are quenching the Spirit.  Now I love the Word, I believe in sound doctrine, but with all respect Jesus didn’t promise a Book, but a Person – Holy Spirit (remember the early church didn’t have access to the Bibles we do for many years). As someone who loves the Word I know that it is something I can hide behind, and it can easily be all about my mind, whereas the Spirit is about a Person, a Presence, a relationship. We are called to be people of the Word and Spirit, to be filled with then both (Ephesians 5:18 and Colossians 3:16), and no they are not saying the same thing.

Maybe it’s your personality, you say it’s just not me, I’m quiet, reserved (so was I!) – then you are quenching the Spirit. They are arguments that relate to the flesh, the fallen world, but now we are new creations in Christ and the presence of his Spirit can not only transform our lives but personalities as well. Maybe God has given you a word, but your shyness, your fear, has held you back. Don’t allow it to, life in the Spirit involves stepping out in faith – trust God and step out allowing his Spirit to work through you and bring his word to others and a greater flow in your life.

Maybe you fear allowing him to work in your church, your meetings are not like those in the New Testament, everything is held tight,  everything is predictable, then you are quenching the Spirit. The church is meant to be the temple of the living God, the dwelling place of God by the Spirit, the place of his presence and activity and therefore full of his life, love and power.

The Spirit has been given, have you received him?

The Spirit has been given, will you allow him to work in and through you in his own wonderful ways?

Be encouraged, God is for you, and he wants you to know the fullness of His Spirit, the promise of His presence and power is for you. Don’t quench him any longer but come and be filled, and who knows what God will do in and through your life and church!!

God is for Us!

God is for us!

Staggering thought isn’t it? But know this the devil absolutely hates it, and is always seeking to undermine the truth, knowledge and experience of it – he comes to rob, kill and destroy.

In some circles you’d think God was against the world he created, but that is not the way the Bible portrays it.

From the beginning we find that God was still seeking out Adam and Eve for fellowship in the garden even though they had messed up. How many preacher’s have thundered ‘where are you?’ as if God were really angry with them, when in actual fact it was a loving appeal ‘Where are you? Why aren’t you here? What’s happened that you don’t want to come near?’

It was their sin that kept them away, the devil had lied, fooled them, and something had happened deep within, something that now caused them to hide from their loving Creator. Yes from there on in there is a deep alienation that causes them to know shame and pain – the consequences were unimaginable, having repercussions not only on them but every succeeding generation. Nevertheless as we journey through the story we find God on a mission, a mission to save, heal and restore humanity to that wonderful circle of Trinitarian fellowship for which they had originally been created.

The story wends it’s way through some amazing and frequently flawed characters, Noah, Abraham, a family, Moses, Joshua, a nation, as God pursues his dream, and the enemy though he constantly tries to undermine it through the character flaws and weaknesses of fallen humanity will not succeed.

Everything would ultimately lead to God himself taking on flesh in the coming of Jesus, weak, frail flesh – it’s impossible for us to dwell with God as we are, but not impossible for God to come and dwell with us.

John says the Word – Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us. He lived in this stuff, real stuff. He lived a life in communion with the Father in the Spirit as we were intended to do. He went out and proclaimed the Good News of the Kingdom (reign and presence) of God, and notably in the Sermon on the Mount he opened wide the door of the Kingdom of God to the spiritually bankrupt, downtrodden, rejected, etc. and invited them in – all of them, much to the horror of the religious leaders of the day! He even ate and drank with them; even forgave people their sins. He healed the sick, delivered the bound, taught them all.

In everything he demonstrates God’s great heart for those whom he gives life to – an act of grace in itself; and ultimately as Paul the apostle says, God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners – self-willed rebels, misaligned, twisted, broken, no-hopers – Christ died for us.

Yes God is for us, and all along he has been intent on restoring what was lost.

This God being for us involves more than saving us and getting us to heaven when we die, but knowing his presence and power in our daily lives, in such a way as to save, heal, deliver, restore, guide, provide, reconcile, renew, etc..

This is not about religion, smells and bells, meetings, etc.. This is about the dynamic of this Tri-personal God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, sharing ‘themselves’ with us without reservation. To that end the incarnation and the cross were absolutely necessary.

And now…. Now the Holy Spirit sheds his love abundantly in our hearts, the same love the Father has for the Son and the Spirit, the same love the Son has for the Father and the Spirit, the same love the Spirit has for the Father and Son, a love that gave us life in the first place and is declared and demonstrated to us in Jesus, and now through believing in Him is poured into our lives by the Spirit, a love more abundant than we could ever imagine, because God is 100% for us, for you, in Jesus! And that will never change!

Do you believe it? Do you know it?

Revelation 1 A Brief Look

A BRIEF LOOK AT CHAPTER 1.
What do you know about Jesus? How do you see him? To some he’s just a teacher or healer, or good man, to many just a very nice man, but the Bible says a whole lot more.

“The Revelation of…” It’s a Revelation, an unfolding. It is meant to be understood.

“Of Jesus Christ” – it’s about Jesus. John knew him, but now he gets another powerful revelation, a revelation that Jesus has won! This is where some end times theology falls down as it proclaims a yet cosmic battle in the future, and undermines the cross.

“About what must quickly take place” or as Wuest translates it in his Expanded Translation of the New Testament which seeks to bring out the full meaning of the Greek, “must necessarily come to pass in their entirety shortly” ….. “the time is near,” or “the things which in it have been written and are on record, for the strategic, epochal season is imminent.” This idea of imminence is repeated v. 10, in chapter 2 and 3, and at the end.

“Made it known” (ESV) or more literally “Signified it” (HCSB) that is it was in signs, sign-i-fied. It was meant to be seen, it’s cinematic, and it’s not all that it appears to be! The stars are the angels, the lamps are the churches, the seven heads of the beast are ‘seven mountains’ and ‘seven kings,’ the Lion is the Lamb who is the Son of God, the new Jerusalem is not bricks and mortar but the people of God. This means we cannot take it literally, but must take John’s pictures/symbols as symbolic of something or someone.

Our problem is reading backwards into the text, from a modern day, global, high tech world. The fact is it was for them and they were meant to understand it! The first place to look is Scripture itself which is filled with such images – Revelation has more references to the OT than any other New Testament book. As Dennis Johnson puts it, “Revelation only makes sense in the light of the Old Testament.” At the same time God does not simply cut and paste, so care needs to be exercised.

“Is blessed…” There are seven blessings pronounced throughout the book – what kind of blessing would it have been if these words were totally unrelated to them, for some distant generation?

“Prophecy” is not just about prediction but more frequently as it is the Old Testament a sense of Divine diagnosis, and the needed response/cure.

“To the seven churches in Asia.” This also helps to set the time and the place/context. (also v.10). Seven particular churches, in a particular place, at a particular time in history. Asia Minor was divided into seven postal districts and each of these places was the main town in the district from which information was distributed.

“Grace and peace.” This is a common apostolic greeting emphasizing that our new life is, and was, and always will be, by and dependent on God’s amazing grace, and the need to receive and be living in his ‘peace’ no matter what the circumstances.

“From the One…. and the seven spirits/sevenfold Spirit and Jesus Christ…” reminds us that the God of the Bible is a Trinitarian God – a holy, happy, blessed fellowship of co-equal persons from all eternity to all eternity, One in Three and Three in One, and that having been made in his image is the basis for all our relationships.

“To Him who loves us….” Here we a have a reminder that the gospel is central, as John gets caught up in praise to God for the good news of Jesus Christ – washed, freed, kings and priests!

“Look! …..” draws immediate attention – what is said here has an imminent and a later context, and echoes the word of Jesus in Matthew 24.

“Coming with the clouds” is an O.T. reference to God coming in judgment, and had a present as well as a future reference. It can also be read as, “Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the land will mourn over him. This is certain. Amen.” This doesn’t have to mean that literally every eye will see him, but can simply mean it will not be done in a corner, but will be a very public event.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega….” An alphabet speaks of the letters we use to convey knowledge. He is the fount of all knowledge, the beginning and end – it is he who will have the last word.

“Partner in tribulation, kingdom and endurance….” John is suffering, even as they are, but it’s for the sake of the kingdom and requires endurance. Acts 14:22.

“In the Spirit..” a particular and conscious awareness of the Spirit – do we have such experiences? How do we identify them?

“Seven gold lampstands, and seven stars…” the seven churches and their angel or messenger, perhaps leader.

“Among them…” Here were seven suffering churches, and John sees Jesus standing among them. What reassuring words.

“One like the Son of Man…” This harks back to Daniel 7:13,14, “I saw one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before Him. He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will now be destroyed.”

Many empires, emperors, kings, rulers have come and gone, but his one will not, he is greater than Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander and any Caesar, or for that matter Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Saddam Hussein or Colonel Gaddaffi! John saw him even as Daniel did, and stunned he falls down before him.

John, the Christians and the churches lived in a world where Caesar was lord or king of all the known earth. Look at what he says: “Don’t be afraid! I AM ….”

Notice that HE holds the keys of death and Hades, because he has defeated them. He is the resurrection and the life, and the gates of hell will not prevail! Whatever Rome or the Jewish persecutors, or the devil, would throw at the church He has the last word, because he has already won! And because he has won we may have every confidence in him.

John has an increasing revelation of Jesus Christ, from his first encounter in the Gospels to this one in Revelation. Has your knowledge and experience of Christ grown? Are you open to fresh encounters?

The Ordinary

A New Experience
One of the big issues we face today is living with the ordinary (by that I don't mean boring - that's an attitude of mind - or unenjoyable for that matter). Life it seems has to be constantly filled with events and excitement. Advertising continually pushes us in the direction of a new experience - as if the one we've got is past its sell by date, and the church is not immune from it - new worship, new and more exciting conferences, new ways of 'doing' church, the latest etc. ...

Another Drug
It's not that new things, events and excitement are in and of themselves wrong, it's the motivation. It's when we are dependent on them to keep life going, to keep it interesting, we have a problem - they are in danger of just becoming another form of drug, and when that drug no longer works we need a stronger one.

Nothing New
We only have to look at Israel in the Old Testment who had some tremendous encounters with God and saw miraculous provision and victories. Think about it, the Manna and the Quail in the wilderness became ordinary, shoes that didn't wear out became ordinary! And dare I say it even God became 'ordinary.'

We point the finger at them and wonder how they could think like that, yet we are just as guilty. Todays miracle can easily become tomorrows ordinary, yet everyday is a miracle.

It's not that events and excitement are wrong, it's that we were never made to live on a perpetual high. It cannot be sustained.

Are you taking life and the 'ordinary' blessings of it for granted? The people around you?
Are you failing to see life's little miracles because you have relegated them to the 'ordinary'?
Do you see church as a ordinary?
Are you always looking for God in extraordinary ways and fail to see and encounter him in the ordinary? (it's walking with God in the ordinary that leads to extraordinary encounters, not the other way round).