In Colossians 4, Paul asks them to pray "that God may open to us a door..." (Col 4:2b ESV) God has responded to a similar prayer made by me and others for which I am very grateful. In the last week I have had the opportunity to meet with my brother Sanford for prayer and fellowship, my brother Andre for a blessed time of mentoring, prayer, and beginning 1 Timothy, gathering with a group of believers in western MA to pray for the perishing, meeting with Steve and three other brothers in NH to promote a vision of relational unity, a young couple who are growing in the Lord and asking important questions, and today with brothers from our fellowship to pray and provide support for one another, talking with another brother about acknowledging him as a deacon, and finally, this afternoon with yet another brother to get into Romans 13, discussion and prayer. The Lord Jesus has blessed me in all of these encounters. It is my privilege and joy to give anything of what He has given to me.
Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this coming week I am scheduled to get together with three different groups of brothers for various purposes. In coming times I hope to go to New Brunswick, and Montreal, Canada, as well as southern and northern California. God is faithful. Thank you, Jesus, for ordering my life in such a way as to set me free to do these things.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Fields
"For you are God's field." ( 1 Corinthians 3:9 NKJV) Saturday evening the Lord gave me the privilege of meeting with a home group in Mansfield, CT. These are seasoned believers who have been meeting together for many years. They live in a rural area; our host runs a feed store. We celebrated the Lord's Supper together, worshipped and prayed for one another before examining a passage in Ephesians 4 dealing with bitterness. I urged them to consider visiting other groups ( cross-pollination). One is only half an hour up the road. Their hospitality was warm.
Today i visited a very different group composed of people in their twenties, some still in college, and others that have entered the work force, that began only a few months ago. Awhile ago I had made an appeal to representatives of a number of group to set aside at least once a month to pray for those who don't know Christ at a time other than when they normally meet. This group in Westfield, MA responded, set aside a time, and asked me to visit the group as a number of us had not met previously. They offered me an opportunity to share a little of my testimony, and about the ministry that the Lord has given to me. I am very thankful to Mike & Nic for the invitation, felt completely comfortable, and was encouraged by the receptivity of the people.
Today i visited a very different group composed of people in their twenties, some still in college, and others that have entered the work force, that began only a few months ago. Awhile ago I had made an appeal to representatives of a number of group to set aside at least once a month to pray for those who don't know Christ at a time other than when they normally meet. This group in Westfield, MA responded, set aside a time, and asked me to visit the group as a number of us had not met previously. They offered me an opportunity to share a little of my testimony, and about the ministry that the Lord has given to me. I am very thankful to Mike & Nic for the invitation, felt completely comfortable, and was encouraged by the receptivity of the people.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Networking
Monday evening I received a call from a man named Bill who said he was from Canada, involved with home churches, and eager to discover what God was doing in my area. He asked whether we could get together. We met Tuesday evening for dinner, joined by his partner Patty. They are professors of psychology at a Canadian college, who have started a business providing ways in which employers can treat their employees better, producing workplace harmony. Both had extensive traditional church experience but had been led about a year and a half ago into a more organic approach to the Christian life. Now they are relationally connected to fifty groups in eastern Canada. I was both fascinated and amazed at how the Holy Spirit is working.
We each gave parts of our stories along with discussion of identity in Christ, boundaries to itinerant ministry, the crucial importance of encouragement, cross pollinating various parts of the Body, and a number of other topics. I found them down to earth, relational, willing to listen, and excited about using the opportunities that the Lord has given them to connect with other networks of believers. For the last six years the Lord has had me working on forming relationships between different groups and leaders in New England. Now He is transitioning me to work with whole networks. Last year it was a Brazilian network. This year I hope it is a Canadian one. May God get the glory!
We each gave parts of our stories along with discussion of identity in Christ, boundaries to itinerant ministry, the crucial importance of encouragement, cross pollinating various parts of the Body, and a number of other topics. I found them down to earth, relational, willing to listen, and excited about using the opportunities that the Lord has given them to connect with other networks of believers. For the last six years the Lord has had me working on forming relationships between different groups and leaders in New England. Now He is transitioning me to work with whole networks. Last year it was a Brazilian network. This year I hope it is a Canadian one. May God get the glory!
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Victory
Last Saturday morning our church came to a notable victory. For almost a year and a half we had been wrestling with the question of how we make decisions as a group. We have prayed, counseled together, searched the Scriptures, and finally come to consensus with elder guided consensus. We have written out a short set of guidelines. While the process took a long time, the resultant trust, peace and depth of relationship is worth it. We are under the Lordship of Christ, with plurality of eldership, and participation of anyone else who wishes to do so. ( This probably can only work with small groups) We believe that all believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and can hear from God. We are aiming for complete consensus but have the fallback position that if we can't come to that over time, then the elders can make the decision. We did not attempt to cover every possible contingency in our guidelines but are relying on the Holy Spirit, and the trust that He has developed among us to work things out in love. Time will tell how practical this is; we believe we are within Biblical boundaries.
Sunday at our celebration gathering God blessed us with a wonderful blend of people from different parts of the Body of Christ. Our brother Steve from Maine shared on the theme of leadership, and many have testified of the impact on their lives already. We are thankful to God for this opportunity to serve and give as a group.
Sunday at our celebration gathering God blessed us with a wonderful blend of people from different parts of the Body of Christ. Our brother Steve from Maine shared on the theme of leadership, and many have testified of the impact on their lives already. We are thankful to God for this opportunity to serve and give as a group.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Victims
Today i am employing a single English word "victims" to post about two distinct categories of people; those who have no interest in becoming victims, and those who do. The first group are paraded constantly on the TV or Internet or radio news. They are those who have died through accidents or fires or the like, or have been murdered or otherwise died unwillingly. Single deaths, unless it is a person considered important, fill local news. Multiple or spectacular deaths are the staple of national or international reporting. This strikes me as a primary characteristic of a pagan society. As one reads the pages of the Old Testament, you can't help being struck by the child or other human sacrifices practiced by those who do not believe in the one true God. Likewise today. Why is the incessant slaughter news? Why must we know about it? To satisfy the "god of this world." (2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV) "who has blinded the minds of the unbelievers."
The second group of victims are those who relish the role of victim, believing that it frees them of all responsibility for their actions. Someone- whether parents, society, institutions etc. is responsible for their situation. Someone is always out to get them, is prejudiced against them, is preventing them from getting what they should receive. Yet Romans 14:12 teaches that everyone will give an account of himself to God. 1 Peter 4:5 says the same. "They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." (NKJV)
The second group of victims are those who relish the role of victim, believing that it frees them of all responsibility for their actions. Someone- whether parents, society, institutions etc. is responsible for their situation. Someone is always out to get them, is prejudiced against them, is preventing them from getting what they should receive. Yet Romans 14:12 teaches that everyone will give an account of himself to God. 1 Peter 4:5 says the same. "They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." (NKJV)
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Rejection
Most people have experienced rejection, usually many times in their lives. Someone said we were stupid, or kids did not want to play with us, or we did not make the team or get the part in the play that we wanted. Perhaps someone else got the job we wanted or into the school that we applied too. Sometimes a potential spouse said no way to our hope of marriage. Sometimes an actual spouse said no more.
What has our response been to rejection? Anger? Unforgiveness? Isolating ourselves? Developing a hard outer persona? While praying last night with some brothers the Holy Spirit illuminated something for me in a far clearer and deeper way than ever before. God was and is being rejected every day. He created us in His image, unlike any other part of His creation. A completely self-sufficient Being created us in order to love us and adopt us into His family and the vast majority of people live their whole lives rejecting Him. Not in a passive way either. We are hostile to God and His ways and reject those who try to show His love and truth to us.
Jesus experienced this during His time on earth. His precious Name is used as a curse. Yet what was his response? 1 Peter 2:21b says "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps: (v. 23) who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, (v.24) who, when he was reviled did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; (v.24) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree..." (NKJV) The next time we feel rejected, let us remember that God was rejected too, and He continues to extend grace to a rebellious world.
What has our response been to rejection? Anger? Unforgiveness? Isolating ourselves? Developing a hard outer persona? While praying last night with some brothers the Holy Spirit illuminated something for me in a far clearer and deeper way than ever before. God was and is being rejected every day. He created us in His image, unlike any other part of His creation. A completely self-sufficient Being created us in order to love us and adopt us into His family and the vast majority of people live their whole lives rejecting Him. Not in a passive way either. We are hostile to God and His ways and reject those who try to show His love and truth to us.
Jesus experienced this during His time on earth. His precious Name is used as a curse. Yet what was his response? 1 Peter 2:21b says "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps: (v. 23) who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, (v.24) who, when he was reviled did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; (v.24) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree..." (NKJV) The next time we feel rejected, let us remember that God was rejected too, and He continues to extend grace to a rebellious world.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
9-9-9
Sorry, this post is not about Herman Cain's tax plan, but rather refers to Ezra chapter 9, Nehemiah 9 & Daniel 9, all chapters with long recorded prayers. Supposedly the Bible records about six hundred prayers in all. Intercession, or praying for one another, has formed the primary topic of discussion in our group the past two Sundays. We are attempting to equip the saints ( Ephesians 4:12)for the work of ministry as we transition to a monthly outreach gathering. Last week Matt and I tag teamed with me explaining what intercession is, and how we add our prayers to those of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit who intercede for us before the throne of God, and Matt showing examples of compassion in the life of Jesus as a key element of intercession.
This week we looked at actual examples of prayer. God gave me 1 Chronicles 29: 10-19. We saw a pattern in which David first acknowledged who God is to Him and to those people listening to his prayer before switching to thankfulness (verse 13) and expressing humility (verses 14-17). Finally in verses 18 & 19 he prays first for Israel and then for his son Solomon. We tend to focus on what we want and neglect the rest. The Lord gave Matt Acts 4, where the actual prayer begins in verse 24. Again we saw the saints acknowledged God, this time as the Creator, then praying Scripture from the second psalm, and finally in verse 29 asking for boldness.
Prayer for boldness in speaking about Jesus would not seem to be something that Paul the apostle would need as we look at his ministry as recorded in Acts and the rest of the NT yet we see him asking the Ephesians ( 6:19) to pray for this very thing. If he needed it how much more do we.
We were very blessed with visitors today including our brother Jim from Milwaukee, a young woman from Brazil, and Shaw & Julie, parents of one of the sisters. May God give us many more.
This week we looked at actual examples of prayer. God gave me 1 Chronicles 29: 10-19. We saw a pattern in which David first acknowledged who God is to Him and to those people listening to his prayer before switching to thankfulness (verse 13) and expressing humility (verses 14-17). Finally in verses 18 & 19 he prays first for Israel and then for his son Solomon. We tend to focus on what we want and neglect the rest. The Lord gave Matt Acts 4, where the actual prayer begins in verse 24. Again we saw the saints acknowledged God, this time as the Creator, then praying Scripture from the second psalm, and finally in verse 29 asking for boldness.
Prayer for boldness in speaking about Jesus would not seem to be something that Paul the apostle would need as we look at his ministry as recorded in Acts and the rest of the NT yet we see him asking the Ephesians ( 6:19) to pray for this very thing. If he needed it how much more do we.
We were very blessed with visitors today including our brother Jim from Milwaukee, a young woman from Brazil, and Shaw & Julie, parents of one of the sisters. May God give us many more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
