Recently, I have found myself talking about "the kingdom" rather than "the church" or ven "being a Christian". In fact, I have had this growing irritation with most anything that hints of "denominations" or "old wine skin church work". It is amazing how many conversations with "church people" end up talking about the maintenance and administration of an organization rather than THE KINGDOM!
Oh....the Kingdom.....now there is a concept dear to the heart of any true believer in Jesus Christ. The time is way too short to spend it on things temporal such as the organization and administration of "church". I often tell people that most church members will give an average two hours a week to their church (ie. the Sunday morning service). Therefore, if someone gives me two hours of their time each week, how do I want to spend it? Do I want to talk about the church and aspects of denominations, etc. or do I want to tell them about the Kingdom!
Nine out of ten times when witnessing to a non-believer, church will be brought up. (It seems everyone at some point or another has had at least one bad experience with "the church", no matter where.) If I go down that path with them, then usually the evangelism conversation is over. The church almost always ends up being a "witness killer". However, if instead, I talk to them about the Kingdom and THE RELATIONSHIP then life begins to happen.
Jesus spoke very little about "church" but papered the Gospels with "the Kingdom". The Lord's Prayer ends with, "For Thine is the Kingdom....". Elsewhere it says, "The Kingdom of God is neither meat nor drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." We have all sung this before: "But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things shall be added unto you." THE KINGDOM.
In conclusion, it is all about the Kingdom. At Grace Church it is our goal that we always be about the Kingdom. The Kingdom breeds life. The Kingdom is where the heart of God is. The Kingdom is not about territorialism that so often follows church work. Instead, the most important thing is not where a person goes to church but are they a part of the Kingdom? A key question we might continually ask ourselves is, "Am I doing this for my church or for THE KINGDOM?!
Blessings,
Father Scott +
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Opening the Other Eye
Recently, the Lord gave one of our members a vision for me persnoally. In the vision, I was looking at a large automobile and dangling over the automobile's hood was a huge spider. However, in the vision I was looking at the scene with one eye closed. When I opened the other eye, the perspective changed and I saw that the spider was not huge at all, but was instead small (normal size) and I flicked it away without a thought.
When we close one of our eyes, the perspective changes. Small things looked out of proportion, sometimes looking larger or closer than they actually are. The interpretation had to do with how I (we) view life. Things that look huge and scary from the point of view of one eye come into their actual size when we see them with both.
So what are our two eyes? The first eye views life from the human perspective. It is how we see life as if there is no God and we are on our own. When we view life in this way (and yes, Christians view life this way more often than we would admit), circumstances look substantial and overwhelming. When we open our other eye, we view life from God's perspective. Once we open both eyes, large dangling spiders are seen as they actually are-- simply small, annoyances.
Look at Numbers 22:21-35 for example. Balaam's ass saw the Angel of the Lord poised with sword in hand in front of them and tried to veer away from it. (The ass had both eyes open, however, his human rider did not.) Because Balaam had only one eye open he became furious at his donkey and began to beat it and curse it. Numbers 22:31 is the key verse to this story: "Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes (see--the other eye opened), and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown."
2 Kings 6:8-23 is another "eye opening" story. Elisha's servant had gone out to get water from the well one morning and saw that the Assyrian army had surrounded the city. He cried to his master, "What shall we do?!" Then 2 Kings 6:17 says, "And Elisah prayed, 'O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."
The other eye opened in both these stories. Balaam and Elisha's servant both saw something very different when both their eyes were open verses versus when they only saw from a human perspective. Life will be very scary and terrible if we view it from only a human perspective. Large spiders, however, will become normal size when we open our other eye and view problems and difficulties from a God perspective. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your other eye today.
Blessings,Father Scott +
When we close one of our eyes, the perspective changes. Small things looked out of proportion, sometimes looking larger or closer than they actually are. The interpretation had to do with how I (we) view life. Things that look huge and scary from the point of view of one eye come into their actual size when we see them with both.
So what are our two eyes? The first eye views life from the human perspective. It is how we see life as if there is no God and we are on our own. When we view life in this way (and yes, Christians view life this way more often than we would admit), circumstances look substantial and overwhelming. When we open our other eye, we view life from God's perspective. Once we open both eyes, large dangling spiders are seen as they actually are-- simply small, annoyances.
Look at Numbers 22:21-35 for example. Balaam's ass saw the Angel of the Lord poised with sword in hand in front of them and tried to veer away from it. (The ass had both eyes open, however, his human rider did not.) Because Balaam had only one eye open he became furious at his donkey and began to beat it and curse it. Numbers 22:31 is the key verse to this story: "Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes (see--the other eye opened), and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown."
2 Kings 6:8-23 is another "eye opening" story. Elisha's servant had gone out to get water from the well one morning and saw that the Assyrian army had surrounded the city. He cried to his master, "What shall we do?!" Then 2 Kings 6:17 says, "And Elisah prayed, 'O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."
The other eye opened in both these stories. Balaam and Elisha's servant both saw something very different when both their eyes were open verses versus when they only saw from a human perspective. Life will be very scary and terrible if we view it from only a human perspective. Large spiders, however, will become normal size when we open our other eye and view problems and difficulties from a God perspective. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your other eye today.
Blessings,Father Scott +
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