wayne_has_words oldephebe test 030903 ... oldephebe Well, tonight I was feeling just abysmally low - and I came across this, it fed my spirit, the words of this man of God our like embers of living light to me - read this or don't it's cool either way "Chapter 1 - If Jesus Lived Today (He Probably Wouldn't Be a Christian) If Jesus lived today, He probably wouldn't be a Christian. Oh, He would be in His own eyes, but chances are not many churches would accept Him. The conservative evangelicals wouldn't want Him. You see, Jesus had a very bad reputation in His day. He was called, "a glutton and a wine-bibber" and "a friend of publicans and sinners." Did you know that Jesus' very first miracle was to make one hundred and eighty gallons of wine at a wedding party. Hardly the type of person you would want to found a religion upon! Not only that, but He made it when everybody was already drunk. As if this were not bad enough, He also had a traveling entourage of women who followed Him around. I can just see Jesus being severely rebuked by Christians today for not "abstaining from the appearances of evil." On top of this, Jesus had long hair, a beard, and no job. This sounds like the type of person most fundamentalists would write off as a "hopeless case." The charismatics and pentecostals wouldn't want Jesus either. They would dismiss Him right away because He didn't speak in tongues, which they claim is the evidence of being filled with the Spirit of God. They probably wouldn't be too thrilled with His dress code and friends either, like the prostitutes and the extortionists He seemed to be fond of hanging around with. Those who claim you need to be baptized in order to be saved wouldn't accept Jesus. He wasn't baptized until He had already been a believer for thirty years! The liberals wouldn't want Jesus. His insistence upon being born again and repenting of sins would be a little too far to the right for most of them. Jesus wasn't the type of person to get involved in political causes either. Once, when He was challenged about the poor, He simply responded by saying, "The poor you will have with you always." The social gospel did not seem to be foremost in Jesus' mind. It is true that He Himself was poor, but He just thought there were more pressing needs than poverty, such as the spiritual poverty all men are born with. Jesus would probably be considered a real fruitcake by the liberals because He actually believed in a literal interpretation of His miracles. He also went around healing people and casting out demons; not a very sanitary practice for our more refined denominations. The "name-it-and-claim it wealth-health-prosperity" Christians wouldn't want Jesus. He wouldn't be spiritual enough for them. Not only was He not wealthy, but He actually encouraged others to give up their riches to follow Him. He also told His disciples that they would have to suffer if they were committed to Him. He healed people who didn't seem to have any belief at all (John 5 as an example) and He didn't seem too interested in using the faith formulas that people claim you must confess in order to get God to do something for you. Yes, Jesus would have infuriated these people with His simple words that the whole Gospel could be summed up in the words, "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." If Jesus lived today He probably wouldn't be a Christian if Christianity were defined by today's beliefs and standards. He would probably look at what we have done with His simple words and shake His head in frustration that we could screw things up so much. The Church has been so busy throughout the centuries trying to get its doctrine straight that it has forgotten to be wholly consumed with loving God and loving man. Not loving God in the superficial "Sunday-go-to-meeting" sense, but having a true love affair with the Creator in which your entire being is bathed in His loving forgiveness. Not loving man in the conditional "I'll love you when you dean up your act and believe like I do" hypocrisy, but a real transparent unconditional "love-you-as-you-are" love. George Bernard Shaw once said, "There's nothing wrong with Christianity. It just hasn't been tried yet!" The point he was making was that if we would simply let God love us and let His love transform us, and then if we would love God and man in the same way God loves us, we would then be tapped into a force that would change the entire world. As a matter of fact, isn't that what happened in the first century? What would Jesus be like today if He walked the earth? Well, He never seemed to be too interested in labels so there would be no name we could tag on Him. He would probably be today the same as He was then; the Messiah from God who came, without fanfare, seeking out people who were hurting, lonely, sick and fed up with the religious system. He probably wouldn't care about people's opinions of Him. He would just go on with His loving business of "preaching the Gospel to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, setting free those who are downtrodden, and proclaiming the favorable year of the Lord." Maybe we would all do well to get to know this Jesus. Perhaps we, too, have formed opinions about God which aren't necessarily true. Maybe Jesus never intended to be fully defined and put into a theological box. Maybe He wants to be personally experienced and known at the gut level of everyday living. Maybe He's not the prudish uptight hard-lined judge, or the prissy meek and mild sourpuss, or the socialist communist, or the flag waving patriot, or the hundred other things everyone has said He is. Perhaps He just is who He is and maybe that's the way we should get to know Him. It might be at the personal level that we will at last find the true Jesus. Jesus may not be interested in joining your church or in supporting all of your doctrines and beliefs, but He is very much interested in you and will come to any heart that is truly open to Him. His word then is still His word today, "Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door; I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me." Isn't this Jesus worth knowing?" "Wayne Monbleau" an excerpt from his new book, "Grace the essence of things unseen" or something like that go to lovinggrace.org to read more excerpts from this great teacher if you're interested 030904 ... User24 that is one of the most sensible and informed approaches to Christ and Christianity I have ever read; it also mirrors my own beliefs about Jesus (though His name is tainted by centuries of mis-interpretation) thankyou for sharing. 030904 ... imposter Exactly In the distance, a faint *ping* as the hammer hits the nail on the head 030904 ... oldephebe yeah - he's pretty down to earth - it's pretty cool that you guys dug it wasn't trying to force my faith on anyone or anything - soo..Wayne is pretty cool, he doesn't bang the old guilt hammer over your head while he picks your pocket with the other hand like some preachers do.. ... 030904 ... x wayne has worlds 030904 ... oldephebe heh heh 030904 ... not worthy now if only i knew how to say "party time, Excellent!" in Aramaic 030904 ... oldephebe The following is an excerpt from Rev/counselor Wayne Monbleau's book "Grace" Chapter 2 - Is Doctrine Of The Devil? Throughout Church history nothing has divided Christians more than the subject of doctrine. Isn't it strange that Jesus said, "The truth shall set you free," and yet in our hands the truth has become the continuing source of schisms, disputes, and separations which many times have all but destroyed the testimony of Jesus Christ in our lives? Something is wrong. For instance, Jesus said He would send us the Holy Spirit so that, among other things, we might be made one. But what have we done? Instead of being made one, we argue about whether or not the Holy Spirit is a person or a force. We argue about whether or not the gifts of the Spirit are for today. We argue about whether or not a person receives the Spirit at the point of his new birth or in some subsequent experience of being filled with the Spirit. In other words, we do everything except that which God told us to do. We have elevated doctrine to the point that it has drowned out the simple and direct words of Jesus Christ.The truth shall make us free, but we are not experiencing any real freedom at all. It is not freedom to join some church where all the members agree on doctrine and then look down upon the other churches that believe differently. That is not freedom. That is elitism which opposes, by its nature, the very character of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to people where they were and loved them as they were. Now that is truth and that does bring real freedom. It is this simple. Jesus said, "I am the truth." The Bible also says, "God is love." Put these two declarations together and you have the answer. The truth shall set you free when you are willing to see that truth is a person whose nature is love. Truth is not the doctrines we form around God. No, truth is in the person of God! If it is this simple, then why don't more people see it? The answer to this, too, is simple. Man's ego loves to be in control of everything, and his religious convictions are not exempt from ego's power games. So, instead of submitting to the simplicity and power of the Gospel of God's love, man would much rather be involved in figuring God out. This figuring out of God takes the form of endless doctrines which he hopes will completely explain everything about God. When man has come to the point where he has a doctrine for everything, then he rests safe in his own little security system. Now he doesn't have to entrust himself blindly to God's hands, because he has God all figured out. Instead of being drawn up to God's level, he has dragged God down to his level. If faced with a need in his life, he doesn't have to turn to God; he just turns to his doctrine and gets an easy answer. This way it is his mind which has become his own god, and the reality of Jesus Christ becomes exchanged for a religious ego trip. If anything is of the devil, then is is this warped type of thinking which saps all the power from the true Gospel and instead leaves man with a system of beliefs which can only divide the Church and confuse the world. Jesus never asked us to figure Him out. He never said we needed to put Him in a box, completely defined to our satisfaction. But He did say, "Learn of Me!" And Paul the apostle did say that we needed to "Learn Christ." You see, we don't need to know about God, we need to know God. Doctrine is pretty useless when faced with a starving baby, or grieving family member, or any other need in the world. But the love of God found in Jesus Christ always is the answer to every need. What do you know about the true nature of Jesus Christ? Do you know Him as He is, or is most of your knowledge of the doctrinal kind? Do you know the heart of God or just a bunch of teachings about the peripherals? Are you so busy learning how to get what you pray for that you have no time to learn of the One to whom you pray? Are you so inundated with your church's official study programs that you have no time, as an individual, to learn for yourself who God really is? Or are you so complacent in the fact that you were born into a particular denominational structure that you don't even think about knowing God as He truly is and having your life under His complete control? "Learn of Me." You know, it really doesn't matter what you are doing because if are ignoring these three little words of Jesus' then whatever you are doing will amount to nothing. Paul said, 'If I give all my possessions to feed the poor and have not love, it profits me nothing." It's not what you do. It's who you know. If you are truly dedicated to the quest of knowing the exact nature and person of God, then your actions, which spring out of this true knowledge, which does indeed make you free, will be the kind that truly do minister life and foster a oneness among all of God's children. In another place Paul also said that "knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. Now here is the real truth, pure and simple. Our doctrines puff us up and cause us to be narrow minded, judgmental, and intolerant of others. But God's love eradicates divisions, reaches out to all men as they are, and brings a true revelation of the fullness and glory of Christ in our fives. Jesus repeatedly advised us that in order for His words to have any meaning to us at all, we would have to become as little children. A little child has no mind to go and build a doctrinal sand castle. No. A child's mind grasps unquestioningly the simple truth and believes and accepts ft as perfectly so. That's what we need to do. We need to tear down the walls, undo the years of religious indoctrination, remove all prejudices and bigotry which our doctrines have fed, and dedicate ourselves to a real knowledge of Jesus Christ. Begin by asking God to reveal Himself to you. Then start reading the Gospels to discover who Jesus really is; not who we think He is, but who He says He is. Know the person of God, His true nature, and what He says He has already done for you. In this new frame of mind, real freedom to love all men and to unabashedly love God with your whole heart will be yours in truth and simplicity. The truth will make you free and will undo all of the damage that a doctrinal understanding of Christianity has produced. Learn of Jesus. He is the one who has the life and He is more than willing to fill you up with His fullness and light if you will just let Him. this really ministered to me, later, ... 030915 ... imposter I am going to try and buy this book. Thank you, oldephebe. This is some good stuff. Of course, the Gospel really is the best stuff there is. I am so glad I have finally, after so long in the desert, finally come to Him. Now, for my next trick, to figure out the rest of f-ed up self. . . heh heh 030915 ... oldephebe well if you've read any of my meladramatic melancholy broken skin banalities, you'll see I'm hardly qualified to instruct anyone oh how to get back to the land of the Big Happy - but nonetheless here's the thing - in stead of burdening yourself with trying to "figure out yourself" fall back into the yoke with Christ -learn Him and you will learn a new self - lifting your mind up and out of yourself, didn't He say I f I lifted up I will draw all men unto me. Right. So then if we lift Him up in our lives we won't be fixated on others or ourselves, we'll be so busy drinking in the glory and the sweet knowledge of Him..they looked unto Him and were radiant...yeah 'cause His countenance, His character His perfect love bathed their entire being in Him and they saw themselves as beautiful - the same way that God sees all of us.. He's done all the work at Calvary, all we need to do is realize that, slowly yeah, and by painful gradations..breaking ourselves out of the mode of thought we've been married to for so many years.. be well man, and i hope this helps you out.. later, ... 030916 ... DannyH Commonsense christianity. Kind of depressing seeing people trying to live an oxymoron. I don't want to piss on anyone's belief system but once you've abandoned the dogma of the organised church, why restrict yourself to Jesus? there's a world of entertaining guesses at the nature of God out there, why not be a gourmet? Read around then come up with a few wild stabs of your own. 030916 ... oldephebe Danny - you are free to peruse and presume and flit over the variegated tapestry, mosaic if you will of available faiths and belief systems..I've found my peace, my first love, my comfort in my relationship (albeit estranged as it is sometimes, God's never far from me, but boy do I make myself unavailable to Him)..once I felt the Living Light of pure Love wrapped around me I couldn't imagine seeking out another..but hey man walk the path you were shaped to walk..where ever truth and egoless love reside ..that's a good place to be ... later, 030917 ... imposter Oldephebe, I like you more every day. . . Taking the words straight from my mouth. 030917 ... oldephebe The following is excerpted from Wayne Monbleau's book entitled Grace Chapter 3 -" Heretics: God's Kind Of People or Death To The Status Quo or Righteous RevolutionPoor God! Every time He sends a message, we get our hands on it and just as quick as we can, we take all the life out of it and instead start another denomination. God gives us an organism and we make it into an organization. This has been the history of God's communication with man. He speaks life but we are more concerned with getting all the questions answered and eliminating al of the gray areas. We love to systematize God. We want a tame God Who lives in a box, Who is completely understandable, Who won't pull any surprises on us, and Who, for goodness sakes, won't give as more than one answer to any problem we may put before Him. We want to say "God has spoken to us" but we don't want to be responsible to keep on hearing, so we take what God said and make a rule book out of it so that we can sit back, put our minds on cruise control, and get on with the business of making converts who won't ask questions. And when someone does question our dearly beloved doctrines, we run for the tranquilizers and prop up God before He falls off His throne. The quickest way to go from love to rejection is to follow the beat of a different drummer. "Just do what we tell you, and believe what we give you" is today's motto of holiness. Sameness is spiritual and non-conformity is tantamount to rebellion against God. But I think we need a good heretic every now and then to wake us up and make us question why we believe what we believe. Read the Bible and you will find that when God's warnings wouldn't work, when His words of love fell on deaf ears, and when tribulations couldn't get the attention of His people, He would sanctify an oddball and send him into the midst of His nation to twink the nose of the spiritual establishment. Most of these men were killed by the status quo only to be later venerated as prophets of God. In this way religion could have its cake and eat it too. What would YOU do if next Sunday John the Baptist strolled into church wearing camel's hair with wild honey dripping off his beard and his uncut hair dangling below his waist? You know as well as I do that he probably wouldn't even get in the door because of his "sacrilegious" attire. How about Ezekiel? What would you do if someone claimed to be God's mouthpiece and then promptly laid down on his side without getting up for the next 400 days or so? I know most people wouldn't even listen because they would be certain that if God were to speak today He would dress up His prophet in a three piece polyester suit with his hair above the collar and he would be polite and would, above all, not rock the boat. You see, this is why the religious establishment killed Jesus. He didn't fit in. He was a heretic. When challenged by the theological experts of the day about His peculiar practices and His apparently cavalier attitude towards their traditions, He would madden them even further by saying, "I can only do that which My Father tells Me." One thing Jesus wanted people to do was think. Think about God, think about what life is really for, think about your brother, your neighbor, and your enemy. Think about your own purpose in life. Think about why you were created. Unfortunately, the only way God could stir up people's minds and hearts was to challenge them by giving them paradoxes and contradictions. So Jesus come, loving freely and not interested in the least in playing the religious games. It seems that most people think Jesus came just so He could have a clubhouse or two in every town. Church is fine but it should be the place where we are encouraged and challenged to go out into the world with healing in our wings. Knowledge of God is useless unless it is translated into a life of serving. "The Son of Man came to serve." That's what Jesus said. I think we are ripe for a few heretics. We need to see people who are going to roll up their shirt sleeves and dive into humanity. You remember what humanity is, don't you? That's "the world" that most Christians are so eager to stay away from. Oh, we make our pretenses of being caring. We'll love someone if they'll come to church with us or if they will accept the Lord, but that's about the extent of our involvement. We need some people who are going to chuck the rulebook and live God's love in reality no matter what the hierarchy says. We need a barrel full of heretics. Do you know what the word heretic means? The dictionary definition is: "Anyone who does not conform with an established attitude, doctrine, or principle." You see, Jesus didn't come just so we could figure God out and arrive at a closed theological system. No, He came and lived among us, revealed His heart attitude towards man, died as the supreme revelation of the depth of His love for us, and granted forgiveness to all who would come auto Him so that we, in turn, might allow the Word to become flesh and dwell in us and through us to the world. If the Church today could truly get that vision of Christ in us, then there would be no room for division and no time for our petty doctrinal debates because everyone would be too busy taking Jesus' words seriously about laying down their fives for their fellow man.Yes, maybe a good strong dose of heresy will rattle our cages and wake us up to our true purpose in Life. I realize many of you won't like what I'm saying. Some may even call it heresy" Okay this is either from Grace or his book Friendship with God..I got from his website..lovinggrace.org..I wish i could get stright to the point the way this guy does.. ... 030925 ... DannyH Oldephebe, I acknowledge the value of your experience of the infinite and the importance of herecy and iconoclasm. My confusion is why an open minded person should associate themselves exclusively with the cult of Christ. I feel a sense of constant questing from your beautiful words. I find it hard to understand why you would limit yourself in this way. 030925 ... oleephebe well Danny..I gotta be me..and you gotta be you..thanx for the compliment..i dig your words as well..i know i have alot of words..not sure if they're beautiful or anything.. peace.. 030925 ... oldephebe The following was pasted from lovinggrace.orgs website Dear Wayne - How does one handle the rejection or unforgiving spirit of people within one’s circle? I can speculate about what has brought on this rejection, but I become obsessed with negative thoughts when I do. In the end, I let go and let God, remaining kind and friendly to all. But, inside, I am still hurting. Can you advise me on how to handle a situation like this? M.W., NJ Dear M.W., Jesus said, “In this world we will have tribulation” (John 16:33). Certainly one of the tribulations all of us deal with, at one time or another in this life, is the matter of handling another’s judgement or rejection of us. I’ll share with you what I’ve come to believe about this. When somebody treats us in a hurtful way, we have to make a decision, in our hearts, as to what we are going to look at. If we choose to look at the hurtful action, we actually magnify and intensify our own pain. That’s a choice we make and, for most of us, this is the way life has trained us to handle situations like this. However, if we will take the time to look at the whole picture, we will ask ourselves, “What has just happened? Somebody has treated me in a hurtful way, but why did they do this?” In other words, what has happened to them to make them treat us this way? The first step, as I see it, is for us to “Take the log out of our own eye” (Matt. 7:5). We need to see if we might have done or said something to provoke this action. If that is the case, we are then able to go back and bring healing to the situation, by our first asking for forgiveness. This, I believe, is the “lower seat” approach, an attitude Jesus Himself possessed and encouraged in the hearts of His followers. This perspective is in line with the verse from Proverbs that says, “A soft word turns away wrath” (15:1). Perhaps, as far as you can see, you’re not aware of anything you have said or done. Then it is time for you to consider that this hurt comes from a person who is also hurting. Generally speaking, I find that individuals who are at peace with God and at peace with themselves usually do not go around rejecting and hurting people. So, in other words, if somebody has hurt you, you can either look at your own hurt or you can look at the hurt of the other, which, as Paul said, is to “Esteem the other more highly than yourself” (Phil. 2:3). The more we dwell upon our own hurt, the more we intensify our own pain. But if we look at the hurt of the other we will be able to feel compassion, which will provide the healing we need for our wound and will also open up an avenue of healing for the other. In your letter you use the phrase, “let go and let God.” If this means you should let go of trying to be in control of a situation and instead trust God, then I think this is a good phrase. But, if you think “let go and let God” means “give up and do nothing,” then I don’t agree with this saying at all. The point is, we’ve got to do something. To do nothing is to stay stuck where we are. We can choose to react to a situation, harden our hearts, become bitter and unforgiving, and be the worse off spiritually. Or, we can choose to act in the situation and change our perspective. If we continue looking at our hurt, who is the one really causing the hurt at this point? It’s us. We’re the one digging it up fresh everyday. By changing our perspective, we realize we only hurt ourselves by holding onto our hurts. Jesus said, “If your eye be single, your whole body will be full of light” (Matthew 6:22). A single eye means to look in one direction, to see one thing and to be determined to have this one thing before your eyes at all times. For myself, God’s love is the one thing I choose to look at. I see His love for me and the gift of salvation He has given me. Seeing that, I am able to love Him and see myself as loved, forgiven and cleansed. In that love I can see others with the love God has loved me with, enabling me to look upon people with compassion. This, I believe, is true forgiveness: God’s forgiveness for us, our forgiveness of ourselves, and our forgiveness of others. If you really think about it, don’t you wish everyone would look at life this way? If people were filled with the knowledge of God’s love like this, wouldn’t they be more happy, more healthy, more whole, and less hurtful? If you do believe this, then I encourage you to start looking at all of life this way right now. I’ll close with a word from the Book of Genesis. At the tender age of 12, Joseph was torn from his family and sold to passing slave traders by his own brothers. Subsequent to that, he became a servant in the home of Potiphar, was falsely accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife, and was thrown into prison, where he spent the next few years of his life. If ever a person had just cause to hold onto bitterness it would have been Joseph. But he didn’t look at life that way. He had a different perspective. He saw something better. Reunited with his brothers years later, he said to them, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). I encourage you to practice looking at life this way. Make a decision to stop looking at the evil others do against you and choose, instead, to look at their hurts and their need for compassion and healing. In the final analysis, whether somebody means evil against you or not is not even the issue. The only issue - the single eye perspective - is that God means it all for good. Look for that good in all things and you’ll spare yourself needless pain and you’ll be able to look upon life from a position of strength, healing, and wholeness. 031107 ... oldephebe The Goal The Goal Of Our Instruction Is Love by Rev. Wayne Monbleau In a race, a runner aims for the finish line. That’s the goal. In a tournament, an archer aims for the bull’s eye. That’s the goal. In the Christian life, a believer aims for love. That’s the goal. Can you imagine what would happen if a runner did not realize, in order to win the race, that there was a finish line needing to be crossed before the other runners? How about if an archer shot an arrow and had no knowledge that there was a bull’s eye to shoot for? What about a Christian who does not realize love is the goal of all that we say and do? In his first letter to Timothy the apostle Paul wrote, "The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions" (Ch 1:5-7). According to this section of Scripture, if we forget love is the goal, then we will get caught up in "fruitless discussion." I would define fruitless discussion as spiritual sounding talk having no real value of life in it because the goal of love has been ignored. Paul says people who get involved in this misdirected sort of talk "do not understand...what they are saying." Why is this? It is because if we discount God’s love then we have already erred. We have already made a decision that whatever we are choosing to discuss is more important. And we don’t even know what we’re talking about. I’ve been reading the Bible from cover to cover for nearly three decades and love has always been the goal I have aimed for. It is deeply saddening for me to realize, at the start of this new millennium, that the Christian Church has seemingly, for the most part, lost its way on this all important issue of love. Even though Paul said "the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13) and even though Jesus said the greatest commandment is love (Mark 12:30) and even though John wrote "God is love" (1 John 4:8) we now have an entire generation of Christians who apparently would rather believe in things, issues and experiences instead of aiming, as obedient children, for the love of God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. How can such a terrible climate of spiritual sickness be healed? If each of us would simply remind ourselves it is because "God so loved the world" (John 3:16) that we are even Christians in the first place, and if we would humble our hearts, cleanse ourselves of all our so-called "spiritual knowledge" and step into the yoke of our humble Savior (Matt. 11:29) so we might learn of the One Who is love, then we would be well on our way to reestablishing Jesus Christ as the true and actual Lord of our Christian life. Remember, Paul also wrote, "Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies" (1 Cor. 8:1). How can this world turn to Jesus Christ if we are not lifting Him up high above all else, celebrating His love and proclaiming this "Good news of a great joy...for all the people" (Luke 2:10)? How can the body of Jesus Christ ever have any true meaningful oneness if we have left our first love (Rev. 2:4)? How can we, as individual believers, ever hope to fully realize the "abundant life" (John 10:10) within ourselves if we have let go of the essence of our Savior in order to dutifully pursue teachings, issues and experiences because others expect it of us or because we never really gave God a chance to grow us up in the knowledge of Himself, Who is love? The answer, I believe is straightforward. We cannot accomplish the goal of love unless we steadfastly aim for the goal of love. If love is our goal, then we will joyfully give up all other discussions, realizing they are all ultimately fruitless and can only lead to a spiritual blindness of arrogance. We don’t need a new experience. Instead we need to gratefully acknowledge and fully embrace the true life-changing experience of receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior, our Way, our Truth, and our Life (John 14:6). Let us affirm this day, anew and afresh, that God is our all in all. He is everything to us. He is the Light this world needs to see. He is the healing the body of Christ needs to receive. And He is the goal we need to aim for. If we will follow this simple and profound act of contrition before our Lord Jesus Christ, then we will focus on the prize of the upward call (Phil. 3:14) and at the end of our lives we will have reached our goal, crossing the finish line of love with purpose, joy and ultimate fulfillment in God. "And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ." (Col. 1:28). Okay this is oldephebe ruminating again - here goes - yeah and that wisdom does not presuppose a superiority or or authority upon the hearer..neither does one sharing their fatih constitute the not asked for street side sermonettes or the manic exectorations and entreaties of "on fire for God" types. Sometimes just by our lives we can make a much more powerful impact that stirring the cauldron of brimstone, firerock and liquid magna and using conversion or using that image as some kind of damaclesion device. Out of the humble heart the spirit speaks, and not all the time in words. And if one were to ask for our elucidation on our faith..what tone will we use? How patient will we be? Will we allow the other to express his/her doubt, ambivalence? Will we let the seed take root? Or will we pressure the person and guilt them into making up his/her mind for their lives at that very moment. The Spirit will move in all of our hearts according to whether or not the person is ready to recieve the fellowship of faith. All thing in their own ggod time. 031120 ... oldephebe the not asked for manic expectorations..i really need to learn how to spell. 031120 ... at a loss wow 031120 ... oldephebe The following is an excerpt from Lovinggrace.org Rev. Wayne Monbleau "The Goal The Goal Of Our Instruction Is Love by Rev. Wayne Monbleau In a race, a runner aims for the finish line. That’s the goal. In a tournament, an archer aims for the bull’s eye. That’s the goal. In the Christian life, a believer aims for love. That’s the goal. Can you imagine what would happen if a runner did not realize, in order to win the race, that there was a finish line needing to be crossed before the other runners? How about if an archer shot an arrow and had no knowledge that there was a bull’s eye to shoot for? What about a Christian who does not realize love is the goal of all that we say and do? In his first letter to Timothy the apostle Paul wrote, "The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions" (Ch 1:5-7). According to this section of Scripture, if we forget love is the goal, then we will get caught up in "fruitless discussion." I would define fruitless discussion as spiritual sounding talk having no real value of life in it because the goal of love has been ignored. Paul says people who get involved in this misdirected sort of talk "do not understand...what they are saying." Why is this? It is because if we discount God’s love then we have already erred. We have already made a decision that whatever we are choosing to discuss is more important. And we don’t even know what we’re talking about. I’ve been reading the Bible from cover to cover for nearly three decades and love has always been the goal I have aimed for. It is deeply saddening for me to realize, at the start of this new millennium, that the Christian Church has seemingly, for the most part, lost its way on this all important issue of love. Even though Paul said "the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13) and even though Jesus said the greatest commandment is love (Mark 12:30) and even though John wrote "God is love" (1 John 4:8) we now have an entire generation of Christians who apparently would rather believe in things, issues and experiences instead of aiming, as obedient children, for the love of God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. How can such a terrible climate of spiritual sickness be healed? If each of us would simply remind ourselves it is because "God so loved the world" (John 3:16) that we are even Christians in the first place, and if we would humble our hearts, cleanse ourselves of all our so-called "spiritual knowledge" and step into the yoke of our humble Savior (Matt. 11:29) so we might learn of the One Who is love, then we would be well on our way to reestablishing Jesus Christ as the true and actual Lord of our Christian life. Remember, Paul also wrote, "Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies" (1 Cor. 8:1). How can this world turn to Jesus Christ if we are not lifting Him up high above all else, celebrating His love and proclaiming this "Good news of a great joy...for all the people" (Luke 2:10)? How can the body of Jesus Christ ever have any true meaningful oneness if we have left our first love (Rev. 2:4)? How can we, as individual believers, ever hope to fully realize the "abundant life" (John 10:10) within ourselves if we have let go of the essence of our Savior in order to dutifully pursue teachings, issues and experiences because others expect it of us or because we never really gave God a chance to grow us up in the knowledge of Himself, Who is love? The answer, I believe is straightforward. We cannot accomplish the goal of love unless we steadfastly aim for the goal of love. If love is our goal, then we will joyfully give up all other discussions, realizing they are all ultimately fruitless and can only lead to a spiritual blindness of arrogance. We don’t need a new experience. Instead we need to gratefully acknowledge and fully embrace the true life-changing experience of receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior, our Way, our Truth, and our Life (John 14:6). Let us affirm this day, anew and afresh, that God is our all in all. He is everything to us. He is the Light this world needs to see. He is the healing the body of Christ needs to receive. And He is the goal we need to aim for. If we will follow this simple and profound act of contrition before our Lord Jesus Christ, then we will focus on the prize of the upward call (Phil. 3:14) and at the end of our lives we will have reached our goal, crossing the finish line of love with purpose, joy and ultimate fulfillment in God. "And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ." (Col. 1:28)." Okay..this is oldephebe - There's nothing really that I can add to this. I might stop back by later this evening after I come in from the cold. Artic conditions and all along the northeastern corridor peace.. 031206 ... . . 041125 ... missionary Amen! The_Church is The_Most_advanced_living_organism_on_the_planet ! I too have experienced God in such a tangible way that any denial of Him would be a total Lie to myself. God_is_So_Good !! He is Faithful! He has changed my life from such a sad, sad state into something that I am so thankful for. All I did was listen to Him! The Bible is filled_with_promises. I truly enjoy searching out those promises, researching what is required of me to recieve the results, and then applying them to my life. By seeking first - or making God's Kingdom - my Highest Priority, not only will I recieve God's attention and favor, but all the things that the "world" seeks after will be "added" to me as well... That, my friends, is an unbeatable offer! In my opinion, no other "religion" offers anything close to that! It doesn't EVER bother me that people make fun of my beliefs either. Because I know that they simply lack the understanding that is derived from experience. I realize that if they even gave it one chance they would be just as convinced as I am. 041203 ... missionary If Jesus were alive today... Jesus IS alive today! His Body, His Bride and His Spirit currently inhabit the earth. He is coming back to a bride who is "beautifully dressed" and "without spot or wrinkle". The Bible refers to The Church as The_Bride_of_Christ. Well, His bride has had a rough childhood. As She begins to finally mature, she finds Herself staring at Her disheveled, grungy image in a mirror. She wipes clean a streak across her face, revealing soft, supple contrast to the layers of grime that have marred Her face for so long. And that's how it starts! Now She knows the rest of her appearance needs to be attended to if She is ever going to be ready for Her Fiance! There is new movement in The Body. It's twitching. God is restoring His Church. Is your local church a restoration church? If not, find one! Life changes. It's amazing how even the simplest demonstrations of God's Power are enough to erase years of self-righteous intellectual skepticism! Sure, the Church has a rocky past, and there is much more work to do... I am still excited though. As the world keeps getting worse and worse... The Church just keeps getting better and better! 041203 ... too lazy to explain how off you are whoosh that, on the other hand, is the sound of the hammer coming nowhere near the nail's head. maybe cuz satan makes me lazy 041203 ... oldephebe Well, missionary I gotta just say Amen. Jesus Is Alive. Yes He is. I was blessed just by reading your comments this morning. I've been dealing with poeple who are NOT saved, who aren't even nice poeple (at least towards me) it's getting pretty hot in this kitchen but my Redeemer lives in me and reading your words inspired me to claim that restoration, to take a simple quiet moment and search through the scriptures to find.."what else can I do but proclaim Christ. Your words just might persuade someone else to place a living faith in a Living God" Wayne Monbleau LTAJ Radio Show 12/4/04 so missionary your words will help me to make contact with the lover of my soul. It's easy to forget when you're embroiled in an unpleasant conflict. Thankx for sharing some of your wisdom with me this morning.... latuh ... 041204 ... missionary Glory_To_God! Thanks Oldephebe! You are BLESSED! I am glad you were encouraged! We need edification! I know how you're feeling. Remember, God designed you to draw on His Strength from time to time! Its not always easy deal with the lost, but I sometimes find renewed ability when I realize that each person, behind their hardened, cold exterior shells, is really just as eager as you and I to find a loving connection with another human being. We all need each other and we all long for God's Love whether we admit or not. Some people will NEVER admit it... But nevertheless we KNOW everyone has a "God_Shaped_Hole" in their hearts that He is patiently waiting to fill with his Beautiful_Grace, Mercy and Love! Oldephebe, I am fired up! God is SO AWESOME!! He has blessed me so much in just the last couple of weeks alone that I can't hardly believe it! WOW! If I get time, I'll write out my_testimony so others can see how AWESOME God is! He seems to make me use an abundance of exclamation points! 041204 ... oldephebe Yeah well, the whole overt exclamation points are great if their coming after positive statements then personal attacks so. So! Declare! and Proclaim!..alright sorry...I was reminded of that Sienfeld episode where Elaine before she turned into this totally uber yuppie management type broke up with a writer because he didn't think her friends having a baby warranted an exclamation point. Here's the thing. If he knew the friend then fine he's going to express strong emotions hence the exclamation point. But why should he fake it just to appease someone else's perverse punctuation dictates? Okay so that's not entirely spiritual. But uh...i think God knows my heart by now. Yeah you're right we all have this nument yearning in us, we just don't know what to call it sometimes. I'll try to remember your words. I have a meeting at 3:00pm today to try and work this thing out. I could sure use your prayers man. elaine was a fledgling editor with mr. litman of pendant publishing at the time ... 041204 ... RIC The word is unmet..we all have this unmet yearning 041204 ... oldephebe Can we go yet?” This must have been the fifteenth time Jesse had asked me that morning. We were staying in Bar Harbor, Maine, at an oceanfront hotel; my son, who was eight at the time, was dying to go “tide pooling.” The only problem was that the tide was high at that moment, so there were no tide pools to explore. I tried my best to convince Jesse that when the tide is at its lowest, that’s the best time to go searching. But he only looked the more disappointed that we weren’t going right then and there. I promised him that if we were patient we would be rewarded, but I don’t think he believed me. Jesse wanted to explore tide-pools, and he couldn’t understand why we had to wait. Morning finally gave way to afternoon, and still we hadn’t gone. Jesse moped around, and when I suggested we do something else while we waited for low tide, he stated in a flat monotone, “I’m not interested.” At that particular moment, my son’s one burning desire, indeed his reason to live, had become to search tide-pools. At three in the afternoon, when the tide was at its lowest, I said, “It’s time.” By this point Jesse was in such a black mood that he almost did not want to go anymore; but I prevailed and brought him, sourpuss and all, to the rocky shore. And what a time we had! We found rock crabs, green crabs, hermit crabs, a sea urchin colony, sea cucumbers, and many other fascinating creatures of the sea. Jesse was so excited that he could hardly contain himself. I was happy too, seeing my son’s joy and delight in the discovery of nature. This is what my son had really been after. He just hadn’t wanted to wait for it. I knew that Jesse wanted to go tide-pool searching for the adventure and excitement of discovering living things. If we had gone earlier, when he had wanted, we wouldn’t have found anything. Jesse, disappointed, would have concluded that tide-pool searching is “boring.” When I had explained to him earlier in the day that if we went then, we wouldn’t find anything, he had responded, “I don’t care. I just want to go now.” As we walked back through Albert Meadow to our car, aglow with the thrill of our wonderous tide-pool adventure, Jesse took my hand, and looking up at me, he said, “Dad, I’m glad we waited, because this has been the best.” Have you ever thought about how much of our lives are spent in the act of waiting? From something as small as waiting in line at the grocery store to something as large as waiting for a tribulation to end, we spend a significant part of our lives waiting. I’ve come to believe that, to a large degree, our happiness and peace in life depends upon how well we have learned to wait. Life isn’t only a matter of what we do; it’s also our attitude about what we do. Many people never gain a healthy respect for the work of time in their lives. But I have found that the people who are the happiest and most peaceful are the ones who have accepted and understood the wisdom of waiting. The wait itself is an important instrument of growth in our lives, if we allow it to be. As we enter a new year - why not ask God to allow you to “learn to love the wait.” You’ll see that your degree of trust and contentment in God will increase, and His answers will be all the more joyful when they occur. Then you, too, can declare to your Heavenly Abba Father, “Dad, I’m glad we waited because this has been the best.” May God richly bless you in 2005. ---------------------------------------- Loving Grace Ministries PO Box 500 Lafayette NJ 07848 For All Inquiries, Gifts & Orders Call Toll Free 1-800-480-1638 24 Hour Prayer & Encouragement Line 1-800-939-5825 ... 050113 ... oldephene Jesus and Nathanael by Rev. Wayne Monbleau Part 1 - "How Do You Know Me?" “Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.’ Nathanael said to Him, ‘How do you know me?’” John 1:47-48 Here is one of the hardest truths for us to get into our spirits. Jesus knows us. Our response may be like Nathanael’s: “How do you know me?” It seems to be so hard for us to believe that God actually sees and cares for us as an individual. We tend to think of the cosmic bigness of God and we forget that He sees the sparrow fall to the ground. We think surely God doesn’t have time to consider our petty trials and concerns when the fact is that even the hairs on our heads are numbered by Him. Perhaps the real question is not “How do You know me” but rather “WHY do You know me?” We quote the well known verse “God so loved the world” but we don’t make the connection that we are the one that God has loved. The simple answer to all of this is that God knows us so intimately because He loves us so intimately. Rather than stand in awe and disbelief at this declaration, we would all do well to simply and gratefully receive this life changing truth. Marvel not that Jesus should know and love you so well. I encourage you to accept this reality and start enjoying the implications of it. Stop seeing yourself as the unworthy sinner and begin seeing yourself as the object of God’s great love. The more you let Him love you, the more you will see yourself as lovable. Jesus knows you.... Jesus loves you.... Jesus desires to walk in intimate fellowship with you all the days of your life. Doubt not that He knows you. Instead, rejoice that the Creator of the universe has created you to know Him.... the One Who knows and loves you so well. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.” 1 John 3:1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 2 - Jesus and Nathanael "You Shall See Grater Things Than These." “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ Nathanael answered Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.’” John 1:48-50 Nathanael thought He had seen a great thing. Jesus had seen and known him as he sat under a fig tree. This was a marvelous miracle to Nathanael, but to Jesus it was a small thing. Jesus said to Nathanael “You shall see greater things than these.” Jesus had to say this in order for Nathanael to be alert as to what else he may behold. Suppose Nathanael chose to gaze in wonderment only at this one event for the rest of his life. If Nathanael were convinced this was the greatest God could do, and the only thing God would do, then Nathanael’s testimony may have been reduced to merely telling people about how Jesus once saw him under a fig tree. When Jesus said “You shall see greater things than these,” this implied that Jesus wanted Nathanael to stay with Him, and fellowship with Him, and see the wonder of witnessing all the other mighty miracles Jesus would perform right before his eyes. The healings and other miracles might have gone unnoticed by Nathanael if his attention were only upon this one miracle of his being seen under the fig tree. Let us remind ourselves of this. Perhaps God has done great and mighty things in our past and perhaps some enormous obstacle blocks our present path. Now is not the time to look longingly upon yesterday’s miracle. Let us instead fix our vision upon Jesus. Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus Who said, “You shall see greater things than these.” One universal principle of our faith is this: no matter how big God has been to us - He is still bigger! As we live this life of faith, and as we are continuously being transformed into His image “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18), let us gratefully acknowledge and remember that no matter how good God has already been to us, He still desires for us to lift up our eyes to Him, now, so we may “see greater things than these.” May God quicken these words to your spirit in Jesus’ name. “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3 From Lovinggrace.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope someone finds something they can use here. I hope it speaks to your heart. God knows us and the Dark Night of The Soul that we endure. Since He knows us so well He can feel our pain on a level that surpasses the deepest kind of intimacy ever known amongst humans. Never think that God will never understand. He not only understands but He loved you before the trial, He loved you before the mistake--He loved you before the sin and He loves you in your current state and He will love you when you allow Him to helpt guide you through it. some things cannot be taken away. In order for us to give God the Victory we must broken and empty and upon our knees in an attitude of perfect supplication and surrender. There are HARD things to learn in this life and God sometimes I've had to learn them over and over again before I began to realize that my emotionally immature outlook was destroying me. ... 050924 ... oldephebe is what i meant to say. 050925 ... oldephebe is what i meant to say. 050925 ... oldephebe yeah..my recent contributions to this site have been really waaay over the top, waaay too personal and thank god the lord has shown me that we need to worship the lord in the right spirit as brothers and sisters in christ in union iwth gods perfect will under the authority of church leadership and with humility and let all things be governed with and or by the wisdom of christ - i was and continue to be determined to not be the straw that a thousand hands reach for pressing thier whieght upon its back with the anguish, with the wildnerness flame coaxed by wind pressing against the slender lattice of thier lovely throats. i didn't want to fall and niether would i be a part in someone else's fall, the risk was waaaay to great for anyone to seek comfort in the shade of a withering lie, or at least to seek comfort in the withering shade of a tree bend at its waste and bent towards the doomscrack, bent towards the suns wrath reaching for him and calling him towards this armegeddon etude, this fuge and to be frozen in ice and shadow forever is not a thing i would wish upon any holy woman of god and man. so. you see. i am made of verse, i am made of dying of sweetly dying pyres and so if i am to fall let it be said that i fall within myself. period. Salvation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- December 2005/January 2006 Lead Article Ministering Unto The Lord The Privilege Of Our Priesthood - Part 1 by Rev. Wayne Monbleau "He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father" (Revelation 1:6). I call ministering unto the Lord the best kept secret of the Christian faith. Scripture says we've been made a kingdom of priests, yet we hustle and bustle and go right by it, so sure God must be saying to do other things. As Christians, we know we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16) and have the very presence of God within us. As believers, we would readily agree that we need to minister the Gospel to humanity. Well, if we have the presence of God within and we're ministering the Gospel to humanity, then, many may think, what else could we possibly need? Did you know that there was no greater privilege God would give to people under the Old Covenant than to allow them to be a minister to Him in the Inner Court? And what was granted to a very select group of individuals in the Old Covenant, has been granted freely to every single New Covenant believer in our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. You and I were made priests unto God, new creations in Jesus' name, at the very same moment we became born again Christians! In my own life, God has shown me that, more than anything else, my ministry to Him personally, in worship, in time spent in stillness before Him, in quality time with and for my Savior alone, comes first. There's a very clear line of demarcation between that which ministers to man, and that which ministers to God. And there is something that happens to us when we regularly, purely minister unto God. It's part of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. I believe our highest, purest, most crystallized form of being a believer is our priesthood to the Lord! We submit to God's will and heart's desire when we set aside time to regularly minister to Him. This ties directly into our honestly beholding Him; into our being able to perceive what He's doing in our lives; into our hearing His voice. Ministering purely unto God, solely unto God, is the richest thing God can bless His children with, and the richest thing we, as His children, can bless God with. I pray that through this study of some of my favorite New Testament scriptures, the Lord will inspire you to see that ministering unto the Lord is our eternal identity, our testimony to this world, and our authentic call to service. May He bless us to understand the pre-eminent value and awesome privilege of our priesthood unto Him. Our Eternal Identity In the book of Revelation, chapter 1, beginning partway through verse 4, the opening blessing reveals God's opinion on the subject of our priesthood. "Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His Blood, and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen." Your priesthood is part of your salvation! It's as much a part of your salvation as your having been made a child of God. It was birthed in you at the moment of your new birth. In the same way that He loves us and released us from our sins by His Blood, He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father. It's all part of the same work of God. Is it important for us as Christians to know we belong to God? Is it good for us to know and relate to our new selves in Christ? Do we understand that the more we grow in the awareness of these things the more sure-footed we will be as believers? Of course, the answer to each of these questions is a resounding "yes." Well, in the very same breath, it's just as equally important as believers for us to realize and relate to the fact that we have been made ministers to the Lord. This is God's heart's desire. "Well, Wayne, how do I minister unto the Lord?" First and foremost, it really is a matter of being. It is who you are. You have been made into somebody special. There's an anointing. There's an office. There's a mantle. There's a robe. There's a vision. There's a place for you as a priest unto God that's been waiting for you all of your Christian life. You will experience your priesthood in eternity. The book of Revelation shows us that. But it would be so much better for each of us, and for the body of Christ, to experience this now. We will see this as we continue on in this study. But, first, in Revelation, we see that our priesthood is a matter of our identity. Revelation chapter 5 is very similar to what I shared with you from chapter one, yet this time in a different context. This is of the Lamb of God. Revelation 5:8 says, "The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are You to take the book and break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God.'" "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God." Again, this is a matter of identity. One day in eternity we'll be functioning in our full glory as a kingdom of priests. Ever since God began humanity, He has looked to walk in fellowship with humanity. And the goal seems to be not only to know Him, but to be part of this priesthood unto Him. But, how can we know this is important for now? How does our priesthood relate to our service to God now? Our Testimony 1 Peter 2:4 explains it this way. "Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones," meaning us as individual believers, "are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood." This is what church is supposed to be: a spiritual house to develop a holy priesthood. But do we understand what the implication of our priesthood is? It's something specific. Let's go on with what Peter says. "You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture." Now, Peter goes into the Old Testament. "Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed." This speaks of Christ, our precious corner stone. He is the corner stone of our faith. "This precious value, then, is for you who believe." Then Peter returns to our priesthood, saying, "But you are," and then again, quoting from the Old Testament, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession." And this Peter declares, is why: "So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (vs 4-10). You see, our Christian testimony in the world is not our opinion about things. What makes us truly different and separate from the world is our reflection of the presence of God. According to The Holy Spirit's wisdom, Peter wrote that we are to be built up as a spiritual house for our holy priesthood because what specifically happens in that is we are then able to proclaim the excellencies of Him. As we minister unto the Lord as His holy priesthood, worshipping and pouring out our hearts and love to God, purely for Who He is and what He has done, we can actually see the excellencies of Him. This is what we behold. We behold His excellencies. The more that we behold God's excellencies, the more we are transformed by God's excellencies, and the more we will proclaim God's excellencies to this world. This is the will of God. This is part and parcel of preaching the Good News. It's seeing and proclaiming the excellencies of Him "who has called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light." Jesus once said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). In other words, we become what we behold, which means the way we share the Lord may have more to do with what we're actually seeing than, perhaps, even the essential truth of God. Many believers behold this world more than they behold the Presence of God and so the message is slanted more in that direction. God desires a people that will minister to Him because, in doing so, you will see the excellencies of Him, and proclaim the excellencies of Him to this fallen world. So, as the book of Revelation shares, our priesthood unto the Lord is our eternal identity, part and parcel of our salvation. Peter indicates that our priesthood is part and parcel of our testimony. We need to be lit up with God to be the salt of the earth; the light of the world. Amen? Ministering unto the Lord is how this happens. And what could be better? I can't think of anything that could be better for a believer than spending quality and adoring time with God, and then going forth declaring His excellencies. Our Authentic Call To Service Here's another significant passage of scripture relating to the value of our ministering to the Lord. This was quite a pivotal moment in the history of the early church, recorded in the 13th chapter of Acts, involving the apostle Paul and Barnabas being called to their first missionary journey into Galatia. This is really what kicked off the section of Paul's life of his spreading the Gospel to different countries and seeing churches built. No small feat. This also was the onset of a significant portion of the New Testament, through Paul's letters. And how did it start? Well, before Paul was Paul, Paul was Saul and a persecutor of the church. Saul was gloriously saved (Acts 9), began preaching the Gospel in Damascus and created quite a turmoil. His life became threatened and his disciples had to secretly get him out of the city in a basket. Shortly thereafter, Saul suddenly drops out of the scene, at least in the New Testament picture, for a quite a long time. Interestingly, this section of scripture was the first recorded portion of Paul's ministry and, you know something? You never hear of the church at Damascus again. The only time Damascus is ever mentioned again in the New Testament is when Paul is recounting when he became born again. Saul definitely had zeal and energy at that time for the Lord, but a lasting work was not established, because Paul had to learn the revelation of his priesthood. Here's where ministering unto the Lord comes in once again. Years later, Saul reappears. Barnabas went and found Saul and brought him to the church at Antioch. Saul was a changed man now. Here's what made the difference. In Acts, chapter 13:1, scripture says, "Now they were at Antioch in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul." Verse 2 says, "And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' "While they were ministering unto the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said..." In the book of Revelation, we see that ministering unto the Lord is our identity. It's part of our salvation. In 1st Peter, we see that the practice of our priesthood is the light of the church that we might proclaim Christ. And in Acts, we see that ministering unto the Lord provides the authentic call for service. So, what part of our walk with Christ has not been touched by ministering unto the Lord at this point? It's our identity. It's the light of God in the church. And it's our call to service. Take that time to minister to the Lord. Have absolutely serious time. Not a microwave relationship with God, where you pop the Bible open and expect to be a fully formed believer in two minutes. Enter into your identity as a priest unto God, which is just as much for you as your salvation is in Jesus Christ. Then you will see what a highlight this is meant to be for the church. What a change ministering unto the Lord made in Paul's life. Rather than simply declare, "I'm going to go preach the Gospel now," what did Paul do first, which changed everything? He ministered to the Lord... and "The Holy Spirit said." Can you think of another significant person in the New Testament Who would minister to the Lord, or spend quiet time with God first before ministering to people? Our Savior of course. This was the way Jesus lived His life. Ministering unto the Lord is absolutely consistent with the life of Christ. You can study the Bible and see all the times Jesus was spending alone with God. In Luke 5, people were looking for Jesus to minister, and the Bible says, "But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray" (Luke 5:16). In Mark 2, Peter's mother-in-law had been healed by Jesus which then opened up a big, day-long healing service. The next day Jesus left early in the morning. What did He do? He went to be alone with God. Jesus said, "I can only do that which I see My Father doing" (John 5:19). Ministering unto the Lord is authentic Christianity, and it is so often removed from Christianity. Christianity is the poorer for this loss of our identity as God's holy priesthood. What could substitute for responding to God's invitation to draw near to Him to minister to Him? I can't think of a single thing. There are plenty of things out there that would absorb our time and attention, but nothing will draw us closer to our true identity in Christ than ministering unto the Lord. Nothing brings the light of Christ truer and purer into the church and our testimony to the world than ministering unto the Lord. And there is nothing that could be a higher and holier way to be called into ministry than through ministering unto the Lord. May the Lord quicken these words to our hearts. In part 2 of "Ministering Unto The Lord - The Privilege of Our Priesthood," I'll share some of my favorite portions from the Old Testament about our priesthood to God. Next time in the Journal. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- thank god for that brothers ministry yeah put your ear to THAT stream. lovinggrace.org - you can listen to podcasts and mp3's of his radio broadcasts that have coaxed through divinely inspired consel and spiritual insight many minds many people from the ledge and from the edge again and again. ... 051229 what's it to you? who go blather from