"I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord....I Love Thy Chruch, Oh God"

"I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea....Greet Priscilla and Aquila...and the church that is in their house." (From Romans 16:)

Most people are probably bored and not particularly "blessed" with a devotional which speaks of the Church.  After all, particularly most charismatics have been running from the Church ever since they "saw the light."  Yet Jesus came to, "build My Church." It is Jesus Christ and His Kingdom and His Church which dominates the New Testament.  

We have so demonized the "organizational church" that most people
have difficulty seeing any value in the Historic Church.  What most are not aware of, and what our text and the rest of the Bible reveals, is that there are only two designations of a church, a town, "the church in Cenchrea," and house, "the church that is in their house."  Most Americans do not choose a church on this basis.  More likely it is, "Well, how is the 'worship?'-- or, "How good is the infant care and the youth ministry?"-- or, can I be recognized and exercise all my great gifts?" Of course, and perhaps most harshly, "the pastor is just too....."

Jesus sent His disciples to "Feed My lambs" and "take care of my sheep," i.e., His Church.  The words used for "feed" or "take care of," are pastoral, reflecting a shepherd's selfless life with his sheep. This is giving, serving.  Jesus Christ is, "the Great Shepherd of the sheep."  Serving Jesus means living in His Heart, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."  Look at Christ's Church this way, serve this way, grow up this way------ we will then manifest the Heart of God.

"I love Thy Kingdom, Lord, the house of Thine abode,
the Church our blest Redeemer saved with His own precious blood.

"I love Thy Church, O God; Her walls before Thee stand
Dear as the apple of Thine eye, and graven on Thy hand

"For her my tears shall fall, For her my prayers ascend;
Her sweet communion, solemn vows, her hymns of love and praise.

"Beyond my highest joy I prize her heav'nly ways,
Her sweet communion, solemn vows, Her hymns of love and praise.

"Sure as Thy truth shall last, to Zion shall be giv'n
The brightest glories earth can yield, and brighter bliss from heav'n."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I want to be a servant of the Church....." Amen
************************** 
Good stuff at:     www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"To Him Be Glory in the Church"

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen."

Have you ever noticed that it is only the leadership of the Catholic Church who speaks affectionately and authoritatively of the Church?  Luther, Calvin, Wesley, none of them desired to separate from the Church.  Yes, they were forced out the "organization" by unrepentant leadership, but they knew that the Word of God Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, says of the Church that He "loved the Church and gave Himself for her." (Do you?)  Yet the farther out from the Reformation, the farther evangelicals have removed themselves from the centrality of the Church, "which is His Body....I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."  The Catholics have always affirmed this, yes, we can say at times to perversion, but that does not change the "God-Breathed" Word.

The Church has become for far too many people just an organization in which they can pursue their own self realization.  They use it as a platform to display their wares, to show to all just how wonderfully spiritual they are.  This is nothing but shameful, but certainly nothing new.  John said, "I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us."  No person who is out for self realization, out to build his own kingdom will receive the true Followers of Jesus Christ.  The Church is not our private laboratory.  The Church is the physical Presence of Christ in the earth, like it or not.  "You are the salt of the earth....You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden."  Jesus is telling His Church, "I have set you on display."

Our text tells us that the Glory of Christ Jesus is not in some fuzzy meeting.  His Glory is "in the Church."  Is His Glory in "your church?"  We can tell people all we want, "Don't look at me or our church; look to Jesus."  They won't do it.  They watch the Church, and this is how God intended, because it is, "to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generation, forever and ever.  Amen." 
 
Father, in Jesus' Name, forgive me of any embarrassment I have ever had of the Church.  Help me to love Your Church as I love You.  Amen.
*******************************
News, Commentary, and Truth at: www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"Can God Spread a Table in the Desert?"

"Can God spread a table in the desert?"  (Psalm 78:19-NIV)

This is not just about finances.  It's about the whole of life's "table."

When I read this during my monthly Psalms reading, I experienced tears of gratitude-------------- and repentance at the thought that I might have ever entertained this question, at least in my heart.  After all the Living Triune God has done and provided for the human race, His Faithfulness, Compassion, Deliverance, Provision, do we still have the gall to ask, "Can God spread a table in the desert?"  Don't we know that is His specialty?!?  Isn't that where He found you and me, a desert, lonely, waste place, lost, "without hope and without God in the world?"  Wasn't it "in the desert" that Jesus Christ "spread" His grace, mercy, and forgiveness for you and me?

"Can God spread a table in the desert?"  Jesus Christ has given the human race absolutely no reason to ask such a thing.  "He took our sins in His Own Body on the Tree."  He "bore our griefs and carried our sorrows....He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening ('with blows') for our well-being -------fell upon Him...."  The Hebrew word translated, "well-being," here is Shalom, and it means so much more than, peace.  It means "to be safe in mind, body, or estate," to be "well, happy, friendly," to have "health, prosperity," and of course, "peace." 

If mankind is without such blessing and favor, it is entirely his own choosing.  This "table" is for everyone who ever lived, who now lives, and shall ever live on Planet Earth.  If any of us humans on the planet can still ask, "Can God spread a table in the desert?"------ may He have mercy on us all!

"And now I will show you the most excellent way."  What more can we do than to offer the response of love, thanksgiving, worship:
     "When I think about the Lord (Jesus Christ),
     How He saved me, how He raised me,
     How He filled me, with the Holy Ghost.
     How He healed me, to the uttermost.
    
     "When I think about the Lord (Jesus Christ),
     How He picked me up and turned me around,
     How He placed my feet on solid ground

     "It makes me wanna shout,
     Hallelujah, Thank you JESUS,
     LORD, your worthy, of all the glory, and all the honor,
     and all the praise...."
**********************************************


"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

This Is Not Dry Theology-- This is Life

"He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Lk. 3:16c-ASV) 

 

The American Standard Version is the only Bible version I have which translates our text, "in the Holy Spirit."  All the others use the word, "with."  The Greek word for, "in," according to Strong's, means "a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position."  Our relationship in Jesus Christ is not primarily a, "with," relationship.  It is a, "in," relationship.  I know that some think I make too much of this theology, but I don't want to live with the mentality of a, "with," relationship, when I can have an, "in," relationship.  Jesus said of the Holy Spirit in John 14:17 "....He dwells with you and will be in you."  The word for, "with," in this text is a different word from the word for, "in."  Yet the word translated, "in," in John 14:17 is the same word which most Bible versions translate, "with," in our Luke 3:16 text.  Translators just seem to find it difficult to accept, "in you," reality. 

 

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the power of the Resurrected Christ in the Believer, in the Church, present in the world.  It is as Paul said to the Corinthians, "You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, (and here from the Interlinear Greek text), "not in tablets of stone, but in the tablets of the heart." 

 

So many are asking for the Presence of God to "come" in our meetings, to "come to our city."  But we don't have to ask Him to come.  "For where two or three come together in My Name, (literally) there am I in the midst of them."  Because we are baptized "in the Holy Spirit," we can now walk in the victory that He is "Christ in you;" He is Holy Spirit "in you," and God, "a very present help." 

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, "What wondrous love" that I should be a bearer of Your Presence.  May Your Church fall in wonder, humility, and fear at such  privilege and responsibility.  Amen.

**************************************

Don't miss the news:    www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com

 

 

 "Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

---