The Re-emerging "Church"

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
Arthur Shopenhauer, German philosopher (1788 - 1860)

If God is working, like I believe He is, in correcting the damage done in the last 1,700 years to what He intended Body life to be, then what stage are we in? I believe it is the first one - ridicule.

I believe we are on the bottom of the wave - a long way from the crest. We may not even see it in our lifetimes or even our grandchildren's lifetime, but I see him moving His Body.

If this is true, then we have yet to experience true persecution from those who will violently oppose us. That is, the one's who have the most to lose.

Poured Out

Jesus said, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" ...You'd better know that you are already filled. Because those rivers are flowing out of you, and you're going to have a hard time getting a drink for yourself. Your tongue isn't quite long enough to reach those rivers of living water flowing out of you. Why? Because they are for somebody else. You don't need to drink. You are permanently drunk. You don't need to eat. You're already fat on the Spirit. You're filled.

If we see ourselves as a liability or as hungry and thirsty, we'll say,"I've got to have some of that for me, then I'll give some away." But we're getting free of that, aren't we? We have no need...in the spirit realm, because Jesus has promised us, "I am your sufficiency. I am your filling."

From The Rest of the Gospel by Dan Stone

God is.....

The All Sufficient One, He alone is my rock and my salvation, my hope and expectation. He is my shield and exceeding great reward, my glory and the lifter of my head. He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother, my counselor and guide. He's my bread from Heaven, water from the rock and comfort in a storm. He's my apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, helper, and healer...He's all I need.

And Now for Something Completely Different

One of my favorite works of literature is I Claudius and the sequel, Claudius the God. In I Claudius, Robert Graves has Augustus pondering this upon learning that the Senate has voted to make him a god:

The Senate voted today to make me a god in Palmyra. There will be a little statue to me in the temple and people will bring offerings to me, ask me to bring rain or cure their father's gout. Tell me, Livia. If I'm a god, even in Palymra, how do I cure gout?

Great question!

More on Fruitfulness - What is it Really Supposed to Look Like?

Part of our confusion about fruitfulness stems from our bent to QUANTIFY everything as a measure of success – number of converts, bodies in pews, churches in the denomination, etc. Certainly our society’s penchant for focusing on the bottom line is no help here. Add to that an incomplete view of our Scripture’s use of fruitfulness and it’s no wonder our view is blurred.

The Old Testament uses fruitfulness almost exclusively to refer to having babies – progeny. “Fruitful” is used 13 times in Genesis, and 12 of those times specifically refer to increasing in number, mostly through bearing offspring. From God’s first instructions to the animals He created to his promises to the patriarchs, fruitfulness was specifically linked with an increase of numbers.

Only a few references hint at God’s deeper view of what it means for us to be fruitful in His kingdom. Psalm 72:3 links fruit with righteousness and Isaiah 32:17 extends that application: “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” But perhaps the clearest reference comes in Hosea 10:12: “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers the righteousness on you.”

Fruit, here is seen as an expression of righteousness that comes from the unfailing love of the Father. Here Scripture’s definition of fruitfulness deepens beyond a simplistic increase of numbers and deals with the depth of our character.

In the New Testament, the tables turn completely. There is only one reference to fruitfulness as expanded numbers (Colossians 1:6), and that passage deals with the fruitfulness of the gospel. When the fruitfulness of INDIVIDUAL lives is addressed, however, only one definition is used: Fruitfulness is the demonstration of God’s transforming power in the character of his people.

John the Baptist encourages us to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” In Philippians 1:11 Paul exhorts believers to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.” In Ephesians 5, he contrasts the difference between the fruit of the light (goodness, righteousness, and truth) with the fruitfulness of darkness.

Finally, in Galatians 5:22, 23, a passage long revered for its profound simplicity and clarity, he lists the fruits that God desires from His people:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Fruitfulness has nothing to do with how many Bible studies I’ve taught for how many people I’ve lead to Christ, nor has it any attachment to any other religious activity. FRUIT IS BORNE IN OUR CHARACTER. It is the transformation of our lives so that we reflect God’s nature to the culture around us. In John 15, the call to fruitfulness and the command to love one another are one and the same.

When we love the way God loves, we bear the fruit of His kingdom. It’s what He wants to work into us through the long process of growth and maturity. The fruits of the Spirit are not what we can make ourselves do for a moment, but what God makes us to be for a lifetime. At its fulfillment, this fruit is how we freely respond to people and situations. Obviously, this kind of fruit is not produced overnight. Learning how to respond like Christ is fashioned in us over time as God walks us through our joys and disappointments, all the while transforming us from the very depths of our being.

Our ability to reveal God’s image to the people around us is more important than our worship, our prayers, our religious deeds, our devotions, our spiritual gifts, even our acts of evangelism. For without this fruitfulness there is no spiritual work that counts, no evangelism that succeeds, and no gift that prevails. All of these other aspects are valuable in our growth in God’s kingdom, but these are not the fruit that God seeks in our lives. If the objective of our time in worship or Bible study is not to allow God to transform us into His image with ever increasing glory, then it means nothing.

From Tales of the Vine by Wayne Jacobsen

Over Spiritualizing Billy Joel

Please don't judge me too harshly, but I was thinking about my newly realized identity and how the Father totally accepts me, and this song came to my mind. You can say it was not God, and you'll probably be right, but I kind of think it kind of fits:

(God talking to me)
Don't go changing, to try and please me,
You never let me down before,
Don't imagine, you're too familiar,
And I don't see you anymore.

I would not leave you, in times of trouble,
We never could have come this far,
I took the good times,
I'll take the bad times,
I'll take you just the way you are.

Don't go trying, some new fashion,
Don't change the colour of your hair,
You always have my, unspoken passion,
Although I might not seem to care.

I don't want clever, conversation,
I never want to work that hard,
I just want someone, that I can talk to,
I want you just the way you are.

I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew,
What will it take till you believe in me,
The way that I believe in you?

I said I love you, and that's forever,
And this I promise from the heart,
I couldn't love you, any better,
I love you just the way you are.

Okay, let the fur fly! ;-)

Brother Dan Stone

If you have been enjoying some of my postings lately, you can thank the late Dan Stone (he went home in 2005). I am not going to post these articles because of their length, but you can find them here http://www.christasus.com/Letters/DSPage.htm.