Why I don't like preaching.

Jesus once told His disciples that He would send them Holy Spirit, and Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth. That was a promise He made to the group of them. I believe that there is no truth that YHWH wishes to keep from His Body, but I don't think He will reveal everything to just one person. YHWH gives us truths in revelation, and I believe He wants to give full revelation the His full Body.

That being said, let me pose an obstacle- the preacher. On a Sunday morning in your average corps or church, one preacher will preach a sermon. But if we are all individual parts to a whole body, don't you think we might be missing out if only one person is allowed to share? What if there are a number of people in the congregation with different, but complementary, insights to a given truth? If only one person is supposed to share what God has shown them, then we miss out on what God has shown to everyone else! The body then cannot be guided into all truth because, as a Church, we have decided to only value what the preacher has to say! Also, there are different types of teachers who teach in different ways. If we only value one way of teaching, we only get one perspective on truth, only one piece of the truth puzzle. Imagine how much more we could learn if the sermon was a open to everyone!?

Since there are different types of teaching, allow me to express this differently- Say YHWH wanted to reveal the truth of what and elephant was to His church. To one man, he reveals that elephants are big. To another, he reveals that elephants have long trunks. To another He reveals that they are mammals, are grey, and what sound they make. To another, something else, etc. Many have been given a revelation of what an elephant is, but only the first shares, because he is the preacher. So the congregation hears the elephant is big. Only His revelation is given consideration. Nobody else thinks their revelation is important anyway, or is too afraid to speak it. So all we understand is that the elephant is big. This is good and true, but we're really missing out! I know the analogy isn't perfect, but I think it at least explains what I'm trying to say.

So what do you think? How do we fix the problem? Or do you think there is no problem and I'm just a crazy person? What truth has our God revealed to you about this? An by the way, YHWH told me elephants have big ears!

Eyes to see...

1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they aske d him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered them, When it is evening, you say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red. 3 And in the morning, It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. So he left them and departed.

Jesus criticized the Pharisees and Sadducees because, although they could discern physical signs, they could not discern the signs of the times. Jesus was the promised Messiah, but they could not see what the Spirit was doing.

Ecclesiastes teaches that there are different times for all things. YHWH works in His time. We can look through history and easily see the different times where Holy Spirit did new things. The question is, can we discern the signs of the times today? What is Holy Spirit up to today? Do we have eyes to see what He is doing? Do we have ears to hear what Holy Spirit is saying to the churches?

EYES, BE OPENED!
EARS, HEAR!
WAKE UP! SEE, HEAR!

May our spirits be awakened to the call of Holy Spirit. YHWH, help us to discern the signs of the times. Holy Spirit is moving, and something big is coming along. Do you feel it? Can you see the evidence of Holy Spirit working? The time is coming soon. We have to see it coming. We must hear to know what we must do. Lord save us. Save us from being like the blind religious leaders who could not tell the signs and missed the greatest move of the Spirit known on this earth. Oh YHWH save us now! Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest! And highest praise be to YHWH our God and King! All glory to His matchless name! AMEN!

Witness without words

Just a thought.

Preaching the gospel is great. We should all be actively spreading holy Truth, always in a spirit of love. But what I've been seeing a lot of this past year is non-believers who've heard a little too much of the gospel. A lot of people are tired of hearing it. The problem is, while the Church often has its mouth open, in rarely looks much different from everybody else. There are a lot of good people who have no faith in Jesus Christ. A lot of people are willing to help the poor and volunteer with kids and do many great and admirable things, but have no love for Christ. The world needs to actually see that Jesus Christ has more to offer than what they have now. They need to see radical, self sacrificing love. They need to see a fully functioning Body of Christ. They need to see a total disregard for self. People need and want to see not just good people, but holy, spirit filled radicals. People need to see some miracles.

Before we start witnessing to the love of God, we need to exhibit it. Perhaps then the unbelieving world will see the reason for our hope and surrender themselves to His wonderful redeeming, fully saving grace that we so fully enjoy. Praise be to our God and King!

"What do you mean 'Good Samaritan'?"

In my last blog, I rewrote the parable of the Good Samaritan. I want to talk a little more about that today.

We often tell this story, but rarely focus much on the context. The parable was in response to a lawyers question. He asked Christ what he had to do to go to Heaven. Jesus answered his question with another question- "What does it say in the Law? What's your take on it?" The lawyer answers with the same answer Christ gives the lawyer in Matthew 22, to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Here's where things get interesting. Christ tells the man "Do this and you will live." But this lawyer wants to justify himself, so asks "Who is my neighbor?" Basically "Who do I really have to love?" Christ's answer is the story of the Good Samaritan.

Its a little ironic that we even call the story "The Good Samaritan," because in Christ's day, the average Jew would probably see that as an oxymoron. There was nothing good about Samaritans. They got their name from the city of Samaria, which was the capital of the Northern Kingdom, Israel. When Israel was taken over by Assyria, the Israelites mixed with Gentiles (non-Jews). So these Samaritans were half-breeds, partially Jewish, but also disgustingly part Gentile, and that made them social outcasts. They were not allowed into the temple for regular worship. They were socially unclean and thus made outcasts.

I find it very interesting that Jesus' story didn't come out and say "You should love the Samaritans" or even a more general plea to love the outcast. Instead, He chose to shame the socially elite religious people. Priests and Levites held a lot of respect for leading the worship at the temple, but in Christ's story, they are the bad examples, not showing love to their neighbor and disobeying the law. Instead, the outcast Samaritan is showing extraordinary love to a stranger.

And all this in response to the lawyer's question "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Is Jesus really saying these good religious people are not going to inherit eternity? Was He possibly alluding that this Samaritan, who was not accepted by the religious, would be accepted by Father God and given a place in Heaven? Sounds pretty radical to me. What do you think?

The Good Goth

I was just preparing for VBS which starts tonight. The Bible story I will be teaching is the story of the Good Samaritan. As I was cutting out the paper Samaritan and Levite, I began to think that perhaps the parable has lost a little of its shock value. So I decided to re-write the parable using more modern symbolic people groups.

A man was walking through a park on the way to church one Sunday morning when a couple of thugs jumped out of the bushes, beat him up, stabbed him a couple of times, took all his valuables, including his nice slacks and shoes, and left him half naked and bleeding on the path.

A couple of minutes later, a pastor walked by, on the way to the same church. He saw the man bleeding on the side of the path. He thought about helping him out, but then he realized the man was probably some addict or maybe a drunk who had gotten into a fight. He got what was coming to him. The pastor stepped aside and looked away as he passed by.

Soon the worship leader came by on his bike. He saw the man and stopped, wondering what he could possibly do for him. He thought he might have recognized him, when suddenly his cell started buzzing. He said a quick prayer before answering his phone and rode his bike away. "Probably just some homeless guy..."

A little while later, a young looking guy walked down the path. He was wearing all black and couple of chains. He had some piercings around his face and a few tattoos. He saw the man laying on the ground, now covered in his own blood, but still breathing. He recognized the man from the church. He'd gone there once before, although the visit didn't last very long. "Was he the one that kicked me out..." his thought trailed off.
He took out his cell, dialing 911. He did his best to stop the bleeding, from what he could remember of his first aid training. The ambulance came to pick the man up 10 minutes later. The next day the same goth kid went in to see how he was doing. He found out the man had just been fired from his job and couldn't afford to pay his bills, although he was grateful for the help. Before the kid left, he stopped at one of the counters and paid off the man's bills.

So what do you think of my rendition? Does it match up? Is it slightly offensive? It ought to be, as Christ's was. May we all gain a greater understanding of what Christ meant in His parables and teachings, and may we have a good revelation of His truth applied to our lives right now. Amen.