Emotional Health

The gospel brings complete restoration to God's creation. The restoration will include full emotional healing - we will no longer be separated from ourselves or other people due to emotional detachment. In the eternal fellowship we will be free in our ability to deeply enjoy God and all of His creation. This is a clear objective of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately the current situation is clear - many people are detached in their emotions so they lack feeling. To put it bluntly - they are unable to feel or sustain feelings. This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on marriages, families and other relationships. E.D. (emotional detachment) is a condition that came as a result of the fall of man in the garden and continues even to this day.  It doesn't just plague men, although men seem to be the most susceptible. This detachment from feeling has infected both children and women and does not discern between ethnicity, education  or economics.

One of the best ways to get a handle on ones own emotions is through reading, meditating and focusing on the Psalms. I have learned over the years that the song book of the Bible hides very little in the area of human experience. It will talk about  emotions with brutal honesty but also with glorious hope. The Scripture pulls no punches because God intends to demonstrate His love toward us - His love will bring about healing for those stressed out emotions.

I hope to hear from some of you - it is an encouragement to see you respond to one another. May God be praised in the summer months ahead. - P. Ken

No Barriers Ministry

In Acts 18:5-8 we see Paul devoting himself completely to the task of testifying that Jesus was the Christ. This leads to his ex-communciation from the synagogue but opens a door for further ministry. What happens next is startling - the leader of the synagogue believes Jesus and receives public baptism. To put this in the modern context imagine that a former muslim is going into a mosque and preaching Jesus as the only true God. He is thrown out of the mosque but is invited to preach in a building that adjoins the mosque. As he begins to preach the first convert is the leader of the mosque. In modern terms this is what happened to Paul in Corinth.


Question: Why do we underestimate God's ability to fulfill Psalm 68:1? Why are we so quick to assume that just because we get pushed back a bit we must tuck tail and run? Why not go next door instead and let God do His thing?

Would you pray for God to give all who call on His name the courage to be winsome, passionate and contagious in our faith so that people who oppose us may come to believe in Jesus? Perhaps Hebrews 13:5-6 may encourage you to see what could be instead of only what is. To believe that there are no barriers too great to overcome.  To live as Paul lived and wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12 

"What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!"(The Message)

The Gospel Changes Things.. doesn't it?

I have been impressed with the book "Total Church" (Tim Chester and Steve Timmis).  A line of thought is developed in the book that caught my attention recently because it presents a great opportunity to discuss the gospel as that which transforms us, not just informs us.

The line of thought starts with the challenge to see the church as an identity instead of a responsibility. They go on to press the issue with the observation that theology must not only reflect on action; it must also lead to action. The result of theology should be mission. 

Perhaps you have some insights on moving from "responsibility" to "identity" as you are led to "action" because you have taken time to reflect on the "theological implications" of the living Word of God.  You should know that this is exactly what happened to me as I studied the book of Acts.

I love the old pic of D-twn. Yet I love so much more the way God is continually helping us to be more for His glory as we make His kingdom visible. 

Twelve Years Ahead

 

 

"In a little more than ten years St. Paul established the Church in four provinces of the Roman Empire (Galatia, Madedonia, Achaia and Asia). Before AD 47 there were no churches in these provinces; in AD 57 St. Paul could speak as if his work there was done" (Roland Allen – Missionary Methods).

This past Sunday I posed a question: "What would you like to see done in our area for Jesus Christ over the next 12 years?" Perhaps my fellow bloggers can water that seed question. The blank billboard is for you to fill in the space with dreams and desires for gospel visibility.

I am not asking for prophetic utterances, unless of course God gives you one. I would like for you to prayerfully consider the question. Our region is increasing in spiritual darkness - how can the church address this issue.? So, in light of what God allowed Paul to experience - what should be our hope for the gospel in our region?

The King's Prayer

Hopefully there has been some positive progress in understanding how Jesus rearranged the categories of His world.  Everything began to change as the kingdoms of men fell  and the kingdom of God increased. This reversal came as the gospel was received and lived by faith.  We should read the Bible to see how truth was experienced by the people who were interacting with Jesus and the Apostles. The Bible isn't just information but transformational. The stories are really stories of either gospel transformation  or enslavement to self and sin. 

 

I believe one major factor in the effectiveness of Jesus and the Apostles is the interaction of the Spirit in their lives. We need to think more deeply into the relationship we have with the Spirit of power so that our lives would be characterized as Spirit filled. 

This coming Sunday we will look at the prayer of Jesus in John 17. I would encourage you to view this as a Spirit-filled prayer. In fact the only way a person could pray this prayer was if they were filled with the Spirit.

Our church doesn't just need prayer - we need Spirit filled prayer!

 

 

Racing through Life

Is there a way prayer can slow us down? Can prayer cause us to stop and think, discern or change our perspectives? It seems we spend a whole lot of time in prayer hoping God will do the many things we ask Him to do instead of asking Him to do one thing - change us and we all know change rarely happens in a fast paced world.

I haven't moved very far from Hebrews 5:7-8: "While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God's Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do."(The Message)

With that Scripture in mind I hope to generate some discussion on the final question I posed this past Sunday:

  *  With the glaring evidence of the powerlessness in the church, why do we still avoid matters like prayer, fasting and repentance?

So what would be your answer? Maybe you have been in a church that hasn't neglected those things and you would share your experience of what that was like.

One thing is for sure - prayer can be a discouragement for all of us. My only cure for my discouragement is to go again to the gospel of grace and remember that Jesus died for my failures. Rest in His great love and great grace.

Power Connection - Matthew 17:14-18

Jesus not only claimed to have but actually demonstrated that He did have ALL AUTHORITY! His invitation to His disciples was clear - receive Me and you will receive all of Me including my authoritative power.

Jesus would very often put His disciples in difficult situations that would test their desires for Him and their faith in Him. This was not a new way of training because the Rabbinical training system often included episodes of such difficulty that the disciple would be embarrassed by his inability or lack of understanding of the situation. We all know what it is like to be "new" at a job and not have the fully scope of our duties or even how we would carry them out.

So why does Jesus rebuke His disciples after they demonstrated such inability to cure the "lunatic" (Matthew 17:14-18)?

I hope to put make sense of this question on Sunday because we all, as disciples, need to understand the source of our power and more importantly perhaps, how to live in constant relationship to that power.