Something I read today....

[Lafon]

Originally Posted by mizpeh

My friend I mentioned earlier, Rick Joyner, regularly takes a survey of the audiences where he speaks. He asks them if they know their calling in the body of Christ. He tells me about ten percent of the audiences claim to know their calling. Then he asks the ten percent if they're walking in their calling. And only ten percent of that group generally claims that they are. If this were an accurate survey of the whole church, it would mean only one percent of the church is actually functioning within the role Jesus has assigned to them.

From Surprised by the Voice of God by Jack Deere, page 188-189.

Were any reasons given which indicated WHY only one percent of the church is actually functioning within the role Jesus has assigned to them? (Sorry, I didn't read everything you've posted, so you might have already addressed this question.)

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Lafon

Were any reasons given which indicated WHY only one percent of the church is actually functioning within the role Jesus has assigned to them? (Sorry, I didn't read everything you've posted, so you might have already addressed this question.)

The author didn't give reasons why a large majority of those who claim to be the church of the living God are not functioning within the role Jesus has called them to in the body of Christ.

What do you think the reasons for this might be?

[mizpeh]

" There is one basic reason why Bible-believing Christians do not believe in the miraculous gifts of the Spirit today. It is simply this: they have not seen them. Their tradition, of course, supports their lack of belief, but their tradition would have no chance of success if it were not coupled with their lack of experience of the miraculous. Let me repeat: Christians do not disbelieve in the miraculous gifts of the Spirit because the Scriptures teach that these gifts have passed away. Rather they disbelieve in the miraculous gifts of the Spirit because they have not experienced them.
No cessationist writer that I am aware of tries to make his case on Scripture alone. All of these writers appeal both to Scripture and to either present or past history to support their case. It often goes unnoticed that this to history, either past or present, is actually an argument from experience, or better, an argument from the lack of experience.

I was once arguing with a well-known theologian over the subject of the gifts of the Spirit. I made the comment that there was not a shred of evidence in the Bible that the gifts of the Spirit had passed away. He said," I wouldn't go that far, but I know that you cannot prove the cessation of the gifts by Scripture. However,we do not clearly see them in the later history of the church, and they are not part of our own theological tradition."This man taught at a seminary that was dogmatically cessationist in its approach to miraculous gifts, but in private conversation he freely admitted that this doctrine could not be proved by Scripture.He actually mentioned the second most important reason why people disbelieve in the gifts of the Spirit, namely, they cannot find New Testament-quality miracles in the history of the church. The third most common reason for disbelieving in the gifts of the Spirit is the revulsion caused by the misuse, or the perceived misuse, of the gifts in contemporary churches and healing movements.

None of these reasons are ultimately founded on Scripture. They are based on personal experience. Actually, in the case of the first two reasons, they are based on a lack of personal experience.
It is common for charismatics to be accuse of building their theology on experience. However, all cessationists ultimately build their theology of the miraculous gifts on their lack of experience.Even the appeal to contemporary abuse is an argument based on negative experience with the gifts.
What I am saying, therefore, is that the real reasons for disbelieving in the gifts of the Spirit today are not at all based on Scripture; they are based on experience. In the chapters that follow, I want to look at these three reasons in more detail." From Surprised by the Power of the Spirit by Jack Deere pages 55-56.

[mizpeh]

Three reflections on Job 42:

(a) Job's response to the Lord (42:1-6) is not, " Now I get it. Now I understand," but hearty repentance. He even summarizes God's argument back to him: " You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?'" (42:3). Without a trace of self-justification, Job responds, "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know" (42:3). Job is now certain that in the last analysis none of God's plans can be thwarted (42:2). In fact, God's massive self-disclosure in words to Job has revealed so much more of God that Job contrasts his present seeing of God with what he had only heard about him in the past---which of course reminds us that very often in Scripture God enables us to "see" him by disclosing himself in words, "Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes" (42:6). This is not saying the the three friends were right after all. Job is not now admitting to large swaths of hidden guilt that ostensibly brought on his suffering, but to the guilt of demanding that God provide him with a thorough explanation.

(b) The three friends are now forgiven for all the false things they said about God only because of Job's intercession (42:7-9). This eminently suits the crime: they have been condemning Job, but only Job's prayers will suffice for their own forgiveness. What they have said that is not right about God (42: 7,8) can only be their simplistic tit-for-tat merit theology. They have allowed no mystery and grandeur; implicitly, they have allowed no grace.

(c)The drama ends with a massive vindication of Job. His wealth is restored (and doubled), he is given a new family, and all of the old honor in which he was held is restored and increased. Many a contemporary critic finds this fanciful, or even a secondary ending that some dumb editor has tacked on to the end of a more nuanced book. Such skepticism is profoundly mistaken. One of the points of the books is that in the end the people of God are vindicated. God is just. Similarly, Christians are not asked to accept suffering without vindication, death and self-denial without promise of heaven. Evil may now be mysterious, but it will not be triumphant. We are not spiritual masochists who can only be fulfilled by suffering. If there be any sense in which we delight in sufferings, it is that we delight to follow the Lord Jesus who suffered. Even he did not delight in sufferings. The pioneer and perfecter of our faith was the one "who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb 12:2). So "let us run with perseverance the race marked out before us" (Heb. 12:1).

From For the Love of God by D. A. Carson, March 13.

[mizpeh]

I just found out the devotional books by D A Carson that follow the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan are free online. Even though Carson is of the reformed Presbyterian persuasion, his insights into the word of God are impressive. I loved his writings on the book of Job. Here are the links to his devotional books.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-document...ove_of_God.pdf

http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-document...ove_of_God.pdf

This devotional reading is taken from Volume 2.

March 27

Exodus 38; John 17; Proverbs 14; Philippians 1
l
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of
Christ” (Philippians 1:27)? The expression is striking. It is also adverbial—that
is, it describes the manner of our conduct, not us. Paul does not say that we ourselves
are worthy of the Gospel, for that would be a contradiction in terms: the
Gospel, by definition, is good news to people who are not worthy of it. But once
we have received the Gospel, however unworthy we may be, we are to conduct
ourselves in a manner worthy of it.
The way Christians are to do this (Philippians 1:27-30) is by standing firm
together (“in one spirit,” 1:27), “contending as one man for the faith of the gospel
without being frightened in any way by those who oppose [them]” (1:27-28).
People who have benefited from the Gospel are certainly not conducting themselves
in a way worthy of the Gospel if they are ashamed of it (Rom. 1:16). Of
course, in a time when the surrounding culture ridicules Christians or even persecutes
them, it takes courage to stand together in bold and transparent witness
to the power of the Gospel. But there, too, another element of what it means to
conduct oneself in a manner worthy of the Gospel comes into play. “For it has
been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to
suffer for him” (1:29).
What a remarkable notion! Paul does not say that these Christians have been
called to suffer as well as to believe, but that it has been granted to them to suffer
as well as to believe—as if both suffering for Christ and believing in Christ were
blessed privileges that have been graciously granted. That, of course, is precisely
what he means. We often think of faith as a gracious gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9), but
suffering?
Yet that is what Paul says. On reflection, it is easy to see why. The Gospel of
Jesus Christ is that in God’s good purposes Jesus suffered on our behalf, bearing
our guilt and shame and atoning for our sin. Surely it should be no surprise, then,
that conduct that is worthy of such a Gospel includes suffering for Jesus. In fact,
that theme is part of what makes this paragraph transitional. For on the one hand,
it looks back to the example of the apostle Paul (1:12-26). He ends the paragraph
by referring to his own “struggle” (1:30), of which his Philippian readers have just
read—a “struggle” so severe he was not certain he would survive. And on the
other hand, the chapter ahead is one of the most powerful New Testament
descriptions of Jesus’ humiliation and death. We are to conduct ourselves in a
manner worthy of that kind of good news.

[mizpeh]

From D. A. Carson's, For the Love of God vol 2, again,

March 28

Exodus 39; John 18; Proverbs 15; Philippians 2
l
FEW PASSAGES HAVE AS MUCH THEOLOGY and ethics in them as Philippians 2. We
can pick up on only a few of its wonderful themes:

(1) Scholars have translated 2:5-11 in all kinds of creative ways. In large measure
the NIV has it right. Christ Jesus, we are told, “did not consider equality with
God something to be grasped [or possibly “exploited”], but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (2:6-7).
All that is quite wonderful, a glorious description of the incarnation that prepares
the way for the cross. I might reword the translation in the first line of verse 6:
“Who, being in very nature God.” At the level of raw literalism, that is a perfectly
acceptable translation. But Greek uses participles far more frequently than does
English, and Greek adverbial participles, such as the word being in this line, have
various logical relations with their context—relations that must be determined by
the context. Probably most English readers mentally paraphrase this passage as,
“Who, although he was in very nature God . . .” Certainly that makes sense and
may even be right. But there are good contextual reasons for thinking that the participle
is causal: “Who, because he was in very nature God.” In other words,
because he was in very nature God, not only did he not consider equality with
God something to be exploited, but he made himself a nobody: it was divine to
show that kind of self-emptying, that kind of grace.

(2) “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (2:5), who did
not regard his rights as something to be exploited, but who humbled himself and
died a death of odious ignominy so that we might be saved—and was ultimately
vindicated (2:6-11). The exhortation of 2:5 thus supports the string of exhortations
in 2:1-4. Reflect on how this is so.

(3) The verses following the “Christ hymn” (as it is often called) of 2:6-11
emphasize perseverance. “Therefore” at the beginning of verse 12 establishes the
connection. Christ made himself a nobody and died a shameful death but was
finally and gloriously vindicated, and therefore we too should take the long view
and “work out” our salvation “with fear and trembling” (2:12). Of course, there
is all the more incentive when we recall that “it is God who works in [us] to will
and to act according to his good purpose” (2:13). We reject utter passivity, “letting
go and letting God”; rather, we work out our salvation. Yet at the same time
we joyfully acknowledge that both our willing and our doing are evidence of God’s
working in us. And he will vindicate us.

For a monogeristic believer, he sure sounds synergistic! For all of you reformed folks, why should synergism only be considered AFTER salvation?

[mizpeh]

"Filling up the Afflictions of Christ" by John Piper (an excerpt from the introduction)

http://www.missionfrontiers.org/pdf/...fflictions.pdf


"God’s Painful Path to Reach All Peoples


More and more I am persuaded from
Scripture and from the history of missions
that God’s design
for the evangelization of the
world and the consummation of
his purposes includes the suffering
of his ministers and missionaries.
To put it more plainly and
specifically, God designs that the
suffering of his ambassadors is
one essential means in the triumphant
spread of the Good News
among all the peoples of the world.
I am saying more than the obvious
fact that suffering is a result of
faithful obedience in spreading the
gospel. That is true. Jesus said suffering
will result from this faithfulness.
“You will be hated by all for my name’s
sake” (Luke 21:17). “If they persecuted me, they
will also persecute you” (John 15:20). I am saying
that this suffering is part of God’s strategy for making
known to the world who Christ is, how he loves,
and how much he is worth.

This is both frightening and encouraging. It
frightens us because we know that we may very
likely be called to suffer in some way in order to
get the breakthrough we long to see in a
hard frontline missions situation. But
it also encourages us because we can
know that our suffering is not in vain
and that the very pain that tends to
dishearten us is the path to triumph,
even when we can’t see it. Many
have gone before us on the Calvary
Road of suffering and proved by their
perseverance that fruit follows the death
of humble seeds.
Jesus came into the world to suffer
and die for the salvation of a countless
number of believers from all the peoples
of the world. “The Son of Man came not
to be served but to serve, and to give his
life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
“By your blood you ransomed people for
God from every tribe and language and
people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).
Suffering and death in the place of sinners was the
way that Christ accomplished salvation. “Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming
a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). “He was wounded
for our transgressions; he was crushed for our
iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). We preach that. It is the
heart of the gospel.

But this voluntary suffering and death to save
others is not only the content but it is also the
method of our mission. We proclaim the Good
News of what he accomplished, and we join him
in the Calvary method. We embrace his sufferings
for us, and we spread the gospel by our suffering
with him. As Joseph Tson puts it in his own case:
“I am an extension of Jesus Christ. When I was
beaten in Romania, He suffered in my body. It is
not my suffering: I only had the honor to share
His sufferings.”1 Pastor Tson goes on to say that
Christ’s suffering is for propitiation; our suffering is
for propagation. In other words, when we suffer with
him in the cause of missions, we display the way
Christ loved the world and in our own sufferings
extend his to the world. This is what it means to fill
up the afflictions of Christ (Colossians 1:24)….

Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ

We would be warranted at this point to be
concerned that this way of talking might connect
our suffering and Christ’s suffering too closely—as
though we were fellow redeemers. There is only one
Redeemer. Only one death atones for sin—Christ’s
death. Only one act of voluntary suffering takes
away sin. Jesus did this “once for all when he offered
up himself ” (Hebrews 7:27). “He has appeared
once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself ” (Hebrews 9:26). “By
a single offering [Christ] has perfected for all time
those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).
When he shed his blood, he did it “once for all,”
having obtained “eternal redemption” (Hebrews
9:12). “There is one God, and there is one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”
(1 Timothy 2:5). So there is no doubt that our
sufferings add nothing to the atoning worth and
sufficiency of Christ’s suff erings.
However, there is one verse in the Bible that sounds
to many people as if our sufferings are part of
Christ’s redeeming sufferings. As it turns out, that
is not what it means. On the contrary, it is one of
the most important verses explaining the thesis of
this book—that missionary sufferings are a strategic
part of God’s plan to reach the nations. The text is
Colossians 1:24 where Paul says,
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am
filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his
body, that is, the church.

In his sufferings Paul is “filling up what is lacking in
Christ’s afflictions for . . . the church.” What does
that mean? It means that Paul’s sufferings fill up
Christ’s afflictions not by adding anything to their
worth, but by extending them to the people they
were meant to save.
What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ is not
that they are deficient in worth, as though they
could not sufficiently cover the sins of all who
believe. What is lacking is that the infinite value of
Christ’s afflictions is not known and trusted in the
world. These afflictions and what they mean are still
hidden to most peoples. And God’s intention is that
the mystery be revealed to all the nations. So the
afflictions of Christ are “lacking” in the sense that
they are not seen and known and loved among the
nations. They must be carried by missionaries. And
those missionaries “complete” what is lacking in the
afflictions of Christ by extending them to others....

May the Lord of the Nations
Give Us His Passion

When Paul shares in Christ’s sufferings with joy
and love, he delivers, as it were, those very sufferings
to the ones for whom Christ died. Paul’s missionary
suffering is God’s design to complete the sufferings
of Christ, by making them more visible and
personal and precious to those for whom he died.
So I say this very sobering word: God’s plan is that
his saving purpose for the nations will triumph
through the suffering of his people, especially his
frontline forces who break through the darkness of
Satan’s blinding hold on an unreached people. That
is what the lives of William Tyndale, John Paton,
and Adoniram Judson illustrate so dramatically.
My prayer is that their stories here will awaken in
you a passion for Christ’s fame among the nations
and sympathy for those who will perish for their sin
without having heard the Good News of Christ."

End notes
1 Joseph Tson, “A Theology of Martyrdom” (an undated booklet of
The Romanian Missionary Society, Wheaton, IL), p. 4.
2 The following exposition of Colossians 1:24 depends heavily on
the thought and words of my book Desiring God: Meditations of a
Christian Hedonist (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2003), pp. 267–270.

[mizpeh]

From "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan

".... I am still dumb enough to forget that life is all about God and not about me at all.

It goes sort of like this....

Suppose you are an extra in an upcoming movie. You will probably scrutinize that one scene where hundreds of people are milling around, just waiting for that two-fifths of a second when you can see the back of your head. Maybe your mom and your closest friend get excited about that two-fifths of a second about you...maybe. But no one else will realize it is you. Even if you tell them, they won't care.

Let's take it a step further. What if you rent out the theater on opening night and invite all of your friends and family to come see the new movie about you? People will say, "You're an idiot! How could you think this movies is about you?"

Many Christians are even more delusional than the person I've been describing. So many of us think and live like the movie of life is all about us." Chapter 2 page 42-43.

Before this segment Francis was discussing how we tend to get all caught up in the cares of this life, we become self-absorbed, and we forget about God.

After the quoted portion, Francis proceeds to describe how God is the main character in the movie of life and then he proceeds to write,

" We have only our two-fifths of a second long scene to live. I don't know about you, but I want my two-fifths of a second to be about my making much of God. First Corinthians 10:31 says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." That is what each of our two-fifths of a second is about.

So what does that mean for you?

Frankly, you need to get over yourself. It might sound harsh, but that's seriously what it means."

What I find amazing is that God makes us individually feel special. As though, He came and died specifically for us. (Gal 2:20) He makes us each feel as though we are the most important person in the whole world to him...like we are his favorite son or daughter. When, in fact, He is infinitely of more worth than anyone or anything in the world. And because of who he is and what he has done for us, we, in turn, should die to our earthly desires and seek to fulfill the will of God for our lives...how we may best live our lives to his glory.

[mizpeh]

I just finished reading chapter 2 of " Crazy Love", by Francis Chan. I went to the website to watch the very short video that introduces this chapter. (I know, I did it backwards!) The chapter was thought provoking (and tear provoking) in itself but the video really brought the point home...do I truly believe what I say I believe and if I do, does my life reflect it.

Here is a portion of what was said in the video (try to remember a memorial service of someone you know who has passed on),

" ...did you really see them as people who invested their lives here on earth for the sake of eternity? IOW, did they genuinely prepare themselves for that moment, knowing that this stuff here on earth is an investment for the future. Did they live that way? ...evaluate your life and think it through, "Am I right now preparing for that day? And am I really preparing for eternity in heaven? Am I living in such a way that I really believe my life here on earth is just a vapor?"

James 4:14 For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away

[mizpeh]

Meditate on These Things

My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you in the night watches. Ps 63:5b-6

Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Ps 119:97

Transcendental Meditation. Yoga. New Age. We hear these terms all the time, and they cause many Christians to avoid any reference to meditation. They're afraid of the occult or pagan worship. What they don't realize is how often the Bible urges us to meditate.

We can explain meditation in a number of ways, but the one I find most helpful is to think of it as expressed in the Bible. If we read the verses above (and there are many others), we see three significant things about meditation in the Word.

First,the Scriptures refer to more than a quick reading or pausing for a few brief, reflecting thoughts. The Bible presents meditation as serious pondering. Whenever the Bible refers to meditation, it speaks to serious, committed followers. This isn't a word for quick, pick-me-up Bible verses or Precious Promises. I'm not opposed to those, but this is a call to deeper,more serious concentration.

Second, the biblical contexts show meditation as ongoing and habitual. "It is my meditation all the day," says the verse above. In Joshua 1:8, God told Joshua to meditate on the law day and night. We get the impression that the people who spoke of meditating did so seriously and threw their minds fully into the action. Psalm 1:3 says that the godly person meditates on God's law day and night.

Third, meditation has a reward. It's not just to meditate or go through a religious ritual. In most of the biblical passages where the term occurs, the writer goes on to point out the results. Again in Joshua 1:8: "...for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success."

Psalm 1 describes the godly person who meditates day and night on God's law(or Word) and says, "...and everything he does shall prosper[and come to maturity]" (v.3).

Despite what I've pointed out, we don't talk or teach much about meditation today. It's hard work! It demands time. Meditation also demands undivided attention.

If you want to win the battle for the mind, meditation is a powerful weapon for you to use. You must focus on portions of God's Word. You must read them, perhaps repeat them aloud, and keep them before you. Some people repeat a verse again and again until the meaning fills their mind and becomes part of their thinking. The idea is that you won't put the Word of God in practice physically until you first practice it mentally.

Meditation is a life principle because it ministers life to you, and your behavior ministers life to others through you.

I could go on and on about the subject of meditating on God's Word, because it seems there is no end to what God can show me out of one verse of Scripture. The Word of God is a treasure chest of powerful, life-giving secrets that God wants to reveal to us. I believe these truths are manifested to those who meditate on, ponder, study, think about, practice mentally,and mutter the word of God. The Lord reveals Himself to us when we diligently meditate on His Word, Throughout the day, as you go about your daily affairs, ask the Holy Spirit to remind you certain scriptures on which you can meditate.

You'll be amazed at how much power will be released into your life from this practice. The more you meditate on God's Word, the more you will be able to draw readily upon its strength in times of trouble.

This is how we can stay filled with the Holy Spirit---stay with the Lord through meditation and through singing and praising. As we spend time in His presence and ponder His Word, we grow, we encourage others, and we win the battles against the enemy of our minds.

From Joyce Meyer's devotional, The Battlefield of the Mind.