Apprentice2Jesus

Ramblings of a Confessing Pentecostal

Archive for the month “October, 2009”

29 Oct 2009
5 Comments

Thoughts on Reformation Day

November 1 October 31 is Reformation Day. For Pentecostals like me, that usually means nothing.

However, having graduated from a Lutheran seminary, I know slightly more about this guy named Luther and am thankful for his life and example. This was his testimony facing a trial in 1521:

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason …,  I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.”

May I be bound by Scripture. Sola Scriptura.

Posted in Church, Church Life and tagged ,
28 Oct 2009
1 Comment

What Happens When We Dwell?

Colossians 3:16,17: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

When we are feasting on the word of Christ, when Christ is truly dwelling in us…RICHLY… there is a great dynamic about coming together. We come ready to share. We come ready to worship, to FEAST. There is a song in our hearts.

Imagine a great potluck where everyone comes with their finest dishes. They have anticipated coming together, so they have spent time putting together fabulous dishes that will add to the potluck. They are excited about sharing those recipes and seeing the delight on people’s faces when they taste that food! These are people who have learned how to cook and when a potluck is called, everyone eats well!

Now imagine a potluck that is called but even the good cooks don’t prepare. The week got busy. They were rushed. They forgot there was a potluck.

Maybe they prepared a great dish last time and people kind of turned their noses up at it. Maybe they worked hard and everyone else brought Doritos. So they think, “Why bother?”

Or, imagine a potluck where no one is ready. No one has any idea how to cook. One person brings a bag of chips. Another brings a 2 liter of Pepsi. There are 20 people.

When we come together… are we ready? Is the feast of the Lord truly in us? Do we understand that our presence at a worship service should ADD to that time? We have a feast prepared if we are dwelling in the Word of Christ.

But too often we think of church as a full service restaurant. We come in and WE are to be served. Someone else prepares the meal, and we don’t care HOW they prepared it. So what if they used illegal immigrants! If the food tastes good, so what?

We come to church and look to be “wowed.” We WANT to be spoon fed. Why should WE prepare?

That is not really a place of joy or long-lasting abundance. It might be a hot night at the local bar or a great meal at an expensive restaurant we can afford once in a blue moon. But it’s not abundance.

Come to the feast. Bring your best. Dwell richly in the Word of Life. Share it with others. Watch abundance flow.

Posted in Bible Study, Church Life, Worship and tagged , , , , ,
26 Oct 2009
2 Comments

Let the Word of Christ Dwell…

I understand this verse from Col. 3:16 means more than the Bible. I fully understand that.

My question is this: When it comes to the Word of God, how do YOU “dwell?” How do you get this Word into your spirit? I’d love to hear!

Posted in Bible Study and tagged ,
25 Oct 2009
2 Comments

The Heavenly Experiment — Realizing Our New DNA

I can completely understand the temptation to spend the majority of our Christian lives in the epistles. They are straight to the point, we have little in the way of cultural barriers, and we can go easily to application. Since I am teaching Prison Epistles this semester, I am immersed in some the greatest doctrine of the Early Church. I am also immersed in the most challenging practices.

The current challenge is Colossians 3. The call is to get our eyes up. We are to fix our gaze on what is above. It’s not about being “heavenly minded” in a way where we dream of gold streets. It’s being heavenly minded in that we get our eyes on the One who sits on the throne.

To have our gaze fixed on the Beautiful One, we need our eyes OFF of what we have normally looked at in our old lives. This is the challenge. There is a need for a “spiritual divorce.” Paul puts it more plainly: “Kill the old self.” It’s like a call for spiritual suicide.

We MUST starve the old life and learn about our new spiritual DNA. The old life is summed up in this thought: “I want what I want.”

Why do we have such intense battles over abortion and homosexual marriage? It’s not about “rights.” That’s the false argument. The underlying principle is serving the god of sex. Even more base is this: “I want what I want, when I want it, in any manner I want it.”

Any kind of sex in any manner in any form and in any way I choose to describe it. We worship at this altar in America.

This is so embedded in us it’s become part of our DNA.

Through Christ, we have a new DNA. THIS is what we put on now. THIS is the great challenge.

In a world that is all about violence and vulgarity, we are called to PUT ON these ridiculous traits:

Compassion, humility, kindness, meekness, patience, love, forgiveness…

How crazy is that? When we can tear down character, insult people publicly, act like idiots on TV and get instant fame, why on earth would we want to do anything else? How silly.

Well, if we want to insist on living as we want, we need to hand over the name “Christian.” It’s not our DNA. If we insist on “I want what I want,” our DNA isn’t about Christ, and we need to cease calling ourselves Christian. Our life is different in Christ. It’s his. Paul said it best in Galatians: “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

My DNA is supposed to be different. I need to know how to speak the truth in love. I need to learn how to forgive. Patience must become my hallmark. His word must dwell richly in me.

If I were new to this country and wanted to become a citizen, I would give myself to studying for this citizenship. My citizenship is heaven. I need to study the culture of my new “country.” I must take on that DNA.

Christ is my life.

Posted in Bible Study, Culture, Discipleship/Spiritual Formation and tagged , , , , ,
23 Oct 2009

The heavenly experiment

Paul’s words in Colossians 3:1-4 challenge me. I would really love to hear from people on this subject.

What do YOU do to fix your gaze on Christ? How does it effect your walk in this world?

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22 Oct 2009
3 Comments

Too heavenly minded?

It’s a common debate among Christians. Can we be so heavenly minded we are no earthly good? The common answer seems to be “yes.”

Then there is Paul. He just seems to get in the way.

“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory” (Col. 3:1-4, NRSV).

Paul was incredibly effective on earth. Yet, his passion was above. His life was incredibly wrapped up in the eternal. His deep passion was the knowledge of Christ.

It might be his contention we can be too EARTHLY minded. Where are our thoughts? On what do we dwell?

Posted in Bible Study, Culture, Discipleship/Spiritual Formation and tagged , ,
21 Oct 2009

The Pope and the Anglicans

I am learning of this story and beginning to see comments on blogs. This may have been something stirring for quite some time, since the American Episcopal church allowed a practicing homosexual to become bishop, but the news on this seems to come fast. Certainly the Pope didn’t walk into this lightly.

This will have far more repercussions than I can imagine as a Pentecostal. It’s a story I am interested to follow.

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19 Oct 2009

All You Need is Love…

Peter waits until the last characteristic to put in LOVE. He starts with faith… ends with love. Why? This kind of love is the toughest things we’ll ever have and do in our lives. Only God brings it and we can only live in this power through the Spirit of God.

When we live unselfishly, working for the good of others, bearing burdens in prayer for others, living in kindness, (and the list goes on)… we’ll know love.

All of these characteristics are vital. The call is great. We are called to partake in the divine nature. These qualities are essential. We don’t just get them and then check them off our list. We GROW in them. We become productive and fruitful (v. 8). Without them, we are blind (v. 9).

Is Christ worth it? Really. Is HE worth it? The question can’t be, “Is it worth to me?” We would give up to easily. Is HE worth this pursuit? Is Jesus great? Then join this journey.

“For if you do these things you will never stumble” (v. 10b).

The journey is a high calling. We have a high calling, but we have the divine power to reach this calling.

Happy climbing.

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18 Oct 2009

Philadelphia

How about them Phillies?

Sorry. This isn’t about baseball. (Though I’m dying to do that!) Philadelphia is the Greek word for brotherly love or mutual affection. It’s what we add to godliness, according to 2 Peter 1:7. Philadelphia doesn’t exactly live up to its name these days, but that’s a whole separate discussion.

Mutual affection is key to the Body of Christ. We simply walk in devotion to each other. The call throughout Scripture is to truly love one another. It takes devotion.

Ps. 133:1 — It takes unity. It takes looking out of the good of someone else before you look at your own needs.

Acts 4:32 — The love they had for each other had action. They sold their extra possessions to take care of needs. They shared possessions to make sure needs were attended to in the church.

We are called to love one another from a pure heart. We are to step out in that love and ACT. We look to out-do each other in good deeds. We look to make sure someone is taken care of so needs are being met.

One of the best ways to accomplish that is to end a conversation with this question: “What can I do for you?”

Look to lift up the other. Philadelphia.

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17 Oct 2009

Godliness

Working our way through the characteristics of 1 Peter 1:5-7, perseverance brings us to a place of adding in godliness. Getting to godliness sure takes some time! Why couldn’t we start here? It’s all in the mix from the start, I understand that, but it’s clear that there is a healthy progression that needs to take place in our lives to understand the full magnitude of these characteristics. Plus, each of these characteristics, Peter reminds us, needs to be increasing in our lives. We are called to keep climbing higher!

Godliness is reverence. It is about having piety toward God. In 1 Tim. 2:1,2 Paul calls on the readers to pray for those in authority. The prayer offered up seems offered in a very selfish way. We are to pray so that WE can live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. We may not like our leaders, but we are to PRAY for them. As we pray, regardless of their political parties, we are asking God’s blessings for them. In seeking out their good, we find peace in our own lives.

The goal of praying for our leaders is our own godliness. For all those who despised President Bush and his plans, how does that feel? Of course, now that he is out of office, we can easily say, “Hey, I prayed for the guy.”

For those who despise President Obama and his plans to “take American into socialism,” how does this set? It was easier praying for President Bush, wasn’t it?

My point is this: we all face hypocrisy in our lives over this issue. We let our political affiliations take over our emotions and lead our prayers. So… since that’s totally uncomfortable, let’s move along.

1 Tim. 4:7,8 — Paul admonishes us to get away from godless myths and old wives tales. We are to train ourselves in godliness. Move away from conspiracy theories. (The World Trade Center was blown up by our own government. President Obama is not a U.S. citizen.) Move into training.

Paul is HUGE into training metaphors. Athletic metaphors paint the picture. Our lives can be trained in piety. It means you shove out what doesn’t belong and you take in what is good for you spiritually. Our habits can change. Physical training has some value. Training for godliness has eternal value.

1 Tim. 6:6 — Godliness with contentment is great gain. We have powerful weapons available to us. Training in piety, we can find contentment. We don’t have to live in discontent like our culture wants us to live. We can be satisfied in God. He can direct what kind of phone we have, and what kind of computer we buy, and what kind of house we purchase. We can learn to live within his provision. Contentment.

Through our pursuit of God we can find rest. Contentment.

1 Tim. 6:11 — Paul gives a list of good things to pursue. To what am I giving my life? My life has a holy calling. Your life has a holy calling. The goal is high, attainable, and wonderful.

Posted in Bible Study, Culture, Discipleship/Spiritual Formation, Prayer and tagged , , , | Leave a Comment

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