Senin, 28 April 2008

WHY JESUS WAS NEVER IN A RUSH


Why Jesus Was Never in a Rush
by Joseph Mattera www.josephgmattera.com

In this harried society, many of us feel guilty if we relax and are not engaged in hard work moment by moment. This often results in unnecessary stress and intensity that can lead to mental and emotional burnout.
As I ponder the life of Jesus, I notice that He was never in a rush as He walked among us, often taking time to minister to someone while He was on His way to minister to someone else (read Mark 5:21-43). This is foreign to many of us who attempt time management methodologies instead of utilizing life management principles in which each day centers around a major agenda or category instead of mapping out each minute of the day.
The more focused a person is, the less rushed and harried they are because their specificity enables them to have less of a chance engaging in unnecessary activity that eats up time. The general rule of thumb is: The more unfocused activity a person is involved in, the less productivity, profit, and time they have for self-renewal, family, and meaningful ministry.
Here are twelve reasons why Jesus was never in a rush:
I. He knew His purpose
1. In John 18:37 Jesus told Pilate that He is the King: “For this reason I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.”
2. There was nothing ambiguous about Him; He knew the what and the why regarding His birth and purpose on the earth.
II. He knew His mission
1. Luke 4:18-19 shows that Jesus had a vision regarding what He was supposed to do in ministry to fulfill His mission.
III. He had specific goals
1. Luke 13:31-33 shows that He had a goal of where and when He was going to be in His travels.
IV. He spent much time daily in prayer and only did what He saw His Father do
1. Read John 5:18-19 and Isaiah 50:4-7.
2. Harald Bredesen once said to a group of pastors: “If ministers would concentrate on only doing that which pleases the Lord and put that first, then everyone they are supposed to please will be pleased and ministers would not suffer burnout.”
V. He was focused on people, not programs
1. Matthew 9:36 shows us that Jesus was cognizant of the people and felt compassion for them.
2. In Matthew 23:2-3 Jesus teaches against putting heavy burdens on people without helping them.
3. In Matthew 23:23 Jesus put down leaders who emphasized the tithe without also emphasizing justice and mercy for people.
VI. He concentrated on “catching” men (Luke 5:11)and leadership development instead of administrative duties
1. Jesus only focused on what He and His 12(and later on His 70) could accomplish. He wasn’t bogged down with a lot of administration because He delegated to His disciples everything needed to release Him to concentrate on preaching, teaching, and training His disciples.
2. Most churches would prosper if they would attempt to do away with every ministry that doesn’t focus on evangelism and making disciples.
VII. He knew where He came from and where He was going
1. In John 8:14 Jesus told the Jews that His testimony was true because He knew where He came from and where He was going.
2. If people don’t know where they came from (the genesis of life reveals the purpose and journey of life) then how are they going to know why they are here and where they are supposed to go?
VIII. He wasn’t ego driven but was moved to minister by compassion (Mark 1:41-44)
1. Leaders who are driven instead of being led of the Lord are often competitive, insecure, and egocentric in regards to their ministry. They may work hard but their low self-esteem drives them hard in their search for significance.
IX. He knew when His ministry would be finished
1. John 19:30 shows that Jesus knew when His ministry was over and said “It is finished” before He gave up His spirit and died.
2. Many people either don’t end well, don’t finish their purpose, or they stay at a position long after they should have handed it off to a younger or more gifted leader to adequately accomplish the corporate mission.
X. He didn’t minister outside of His assignment
1. Mark 7:27 shows that Jesus wasn’t going to minister to the Syrophenician woman because she wasn’t under the covenant with God and didn’t fit His target audience.
2. In Matthew 10:5-6 He instructed His disciples not to go to any of the Gentiles or Samaritans; He wanted them to stay focused and purposeful. When you go outside of your God-given assignment you step out of His grace and favor and minister out of the flesh. This leads to ministerial burnout.
3. We can’t be everyone’s savior. We are not everyone’s answer to prayer. You are not called to help every person you meet. (Sometimes Satan will even send people your way to wear you out!) Stay within your assignment and you will prosper and be satisfied.
4. In our church I refuse to start a ministry (even if there is a great need) until God gives me a leader qualified oversee it. The reason for this is that if I don’t have a leader to manage a ministry then either I or my office staff will have to manage the new ministry, which will put undue stress on us.
XI. He didn’t waste His time in meaningless conversation
1. John 12:20-23 says Jesus never honored the request of the Greeks (who wanted to see Him) but ignored them and continued to enter the next phase of His ministry.
2. I am not obligated to return everyone’s phone call, email, or meet with every person who wants to meet with me. I can’t satisfy everyone’s agenda for my life! I am only obligated to please the Lord and do what I see my Father command me to do.
XII. He operated out of His inner circle and delegated to them the ministry of helps that released Him to focus on preaching, teaching, praying, and accomplishing His purpose
1. He had His 3, His 12, and His 70 minister to Him and for Him.
2. The Gospel accounts show that it was His disciples who shopped for food (John 4:8, 27, 31) which released Him to minister to Samaria. Also, it was His disciples who arranged for the multitudes to sit down so He could feed them (John 6:10); Peter and John were told to prepare the Upper Room for Jesus to conduct the famous Last Supper (Luke 22:8-13); Jesus was asleep on a boat while His disciples took Him to His next destination (Mark 4:35-41).

BEYOND BIBLE STUDY: FINDING JESUS CHRIST IN SCRIPTURE


Beyond Bible Study: Finding Jesus Christ in Scripture
by Frank Viola www.ptmin.org
Email: violabooks@aol.com

In my personal judgment, many segments of the Christian world today—including much of the emerging church conversation and the house church movement—have lost the centrality of Jesus Christ.
 
In addition, for many Christians, the Old Testament has fallen out of functional use. Scores of present-day believers do not find anything of spiritual value in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy.
 
The exception would be the legalists who wish to put everyone under the Law, the Theonomists who wish to turn society into a Christian state, and the apologists who wish to prove that the Old Testament is historically accurate.
 
But for the rest of God’s people, the Old Testament has by and large lost its functional use.
 
I believe one reason for this is because of the way we have been conditioned to read and interpret the Old Testament. Let alone the New Testament.
 
The Historical Roots of the Modern Hermeneutic
 
A lot of what passes for biblical interpretation today is simply looking at a biblical text strictly in terms of its intended meaning at the time it was written.
 
This approach owes much to the 19th-century German theologian and philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher sought to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional Protestant orthodoxy. As a result, he was very influential in the evolution of modern Biblical interpretation, including higher criticism.
 
Since Schleiermacher, a shift has taken place among biblical scholars wherein the common way to study the Bible is to analyze it just like any other written document. This approach sees biblical hermeneutics as a secular science that’s applied equally to all writings—secular as well as spiritual.
 
Consequently, according to the modern method, the Bible is interpreted according to the same rules of interpretation that would apply to the writings of Homer, Tacitus, Aristotle and every other historical document.
 
This approach to biblical interpretation, though not wrong, is built on modern thinking. Therefore, it has great limitations.
 
Unfortunately, those Christians who apply pre-modern methods of interpreting Scripture are in jeopardy of having their wrists slapped by advocates of modern biblical hermeneutics.
 
I submit that the modern way of interpreting Scripture is helpful, but it’s not adequate. It’s helpful to interpret a biblical text in light of the author’s original intent in writing it. It’s helpful to understand the sociological and historical context and setting of the people to whom the Bible was written. It’s helpful to learn the original language of the biblical authors.
 
However, a truly biblical hermeneutic cannot be limited to recovering the meaning that was in the author’s mind nor in grasping the social, historical, and linguistic setting of the text.
 
There are three reasons for this:
 
First, the Holy Spirit often had an intent in Scripture that went beyond the author’s knowledge. Andrea Fernandez coined the term sensus plenior or “the fuller sense” to describe this fact. The sensus plenior refers to ”the deeper meaning, intended by God but not clearly intended by the human author, that is seen to exist in the words of Scripture when they are studied in the light of further revelation.”
 
For instance, the writers of the Old Testament frequently didn’t realize that they were speaking about Jesus Christ when they penned Scripture. Examples of this abound throughout the Bible. Here are two in particular.
 
Hosea 11:1 says, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”
 
Undoubtedly, Hosea believed that he was writing about the nation of Israel in this text. Matthew, however, interpreted this passage to have a meaning that related to Jesus Christ.
 
Matthew 2:13-15 says, “When they [Mary and Joseph] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’”
 
In Acts Chapter 2, Peter quotes Psalm 16 and puts the words of David in the mouth of Jesus Christ.
 
Later, when Peter writes his first epistle, he says that the prophets of old prophesied of the coming Messiah without fully realizing the specifics of what they were prophesying about. He goes on to say that the full meaning of their words was intended for us who live in the New Testament era rather than for those who lived in the Old (1 Peter 1:10-12).
 
Again, the authors of the Old Testament often did not realize that they were speaking about Jesus Christ when they wrote Scripture.
 
So understanding the author’s intent is certainly part of the task of biblical interpretation, but it’s not the whole task.
 
The second reason why the modern method of biblical interpretation falls short is because the Bible is a supernatural book. It’s God-breathed. Consequently, it’s a living document.
 
When we interpret Scripture, therefore, we are not simply interpreting documents as dead objects, like we would analyze tree stumps. We are engaged in a transaction with a Divine book that was authored by a Divine Person who still lives and speaks. Interpreting Scripture, then, is not simply a scientific, secular endeavor. It requires spiritual insight. Paul describes this principle in 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 where he argues that the natural man cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit.
 
The third reason is that the Scriptures are not a set of disjointed, independent, inspired books. They are a canon. And the books of the canon work together.
 
Modern methods of biblical interpretation often fail to take into consideration that the biblical text functions authoritatively for the church only as part of a canon. And therefore its meaning is not just the meaning that a particular biblical book has on its own. It’s the meaning it has within the canon. And the canon is centered on and ordered around a single theme. The Old Testament and the New Testament are Act 1 and Act 2 of a single drama.
 
Thus each book must be understood and interpreted within the framework of the greater whole.
 
On the heels of these three reasons, I believe that the modern method of biblical interpretation is inadequate to fulfill the overarching purpose of Scripture—which is spiritual transformation and conformity to Jesus Christ.
 
Toward a Christological Hermeneutic
 
The Scriptures do not exist for mere study or intellectual absorption. They are meant to renew our minds, touch our hearts, and shape our lives. Put another way, the Scriptures are meant to be performed. The Psalms, for example, are meant to be prayed and sung. The biblical narratives are meant to be meditated upon and responded to. The revelation in the epistles is meant to be embraced and applied.
 
The vast richness of Scripture can be likened unto an elaborate musical piece that’s written out on a sheet of music. That sheet is meant to be interpreted and then performed.
 
For this reason, the Bible, like a Divine musical composition, requires the contributions of various musicians to interpret and perform it in harmony with one another.
 
Each musician may use a different approach to interpreting it. And each may perform it in a slightly different way. But taken together, those musicians comprise an orchestra that creates a beautiful melody, expressing the richness of the biblical message through different sounds, pitches, and tones.
 
Consequently, amid all the methods of biblical interpretation that exist today, there is one method that cannot be overlooked. Without it, the full meaning of the biblical text can never be grasped. The reason is because this method is centered on the main theme of Scripture. It’s rooted in the grand narrative that links all of the books of the biblical canon together.
 
This method is what I call the Christological hermeneutic. The Christological hermeneutic is very simple. It’s goal is to find Jesus Christ in all of Scripture.
 
The Christological hermeneutic is built on the fact that all Scripture has but one center of gravity that links all of it together. And that center of gravity is the Person of Jesus Christ.
 
This hermeneutic is also built on the notion that the main purpose of Scripture is to present, reveal, disclose, unveil, magnify, glorify, and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Consider this comparison. When an unbelieving Jew looks at the Torah (also called the Pentateuch), he looks at the whole Tanakh, which is what we call the Old Testament. But he sees it as a completely different book than we Christians do.
 
Why? Because for the Jew, the key to understanding the Torah is to understand the destiny and calling of the nation of Israel.
 
For us Christians, however, the key is in understanding the destiny and calling of Jesus Christ.
 
So a Jew and a Christian will find different messages in the same text of Scripture.
 
For us Christians, the Old Testament isn’t just a Jewish book that’s the preface to a Christian book. It’s one canon, and it’s one canon centered on and ordered around Jesus Christ. And we understand the whole canon that way.
 
Both Old and New Testaments are fused together to create a single book with one coherent message. And that message is Jesus Christ. He is the glue that binds both Testaments together.
 
I shall paraphrase one writer who says, The nature of Divine revelation is Christocentric. The mind of God is eternally centered in Christ. All angelic thought and ministry are centered in Christ. All satanic hatred and subtlety are centered against Christ. All human hopes are, and human occupations should be, centered in Christ. The whole material universe in creation is centered in Christ. The entire ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and glorify Christ. For these reasons, the entire written Word, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit, is centered in Christ.
 
Jesus Himself taught His disciples the Christological hermeneutic. During His earthly ministry, He made plain that He was the subject and full meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures. In John 5:39, He said to the Jews, You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures testify of me! And in verse 46, He said, Moses wrote about me.
 
A Christian hermeneutic is a Christological hermeneutic. Jesus Christ is the subject of all Scripture. That particular discovery changed my life and radically altered how I read the Bible.
 
For many years as a Christian, the full meaning of Scripture was veiled to me. The experience was not dissimilar to how Paul described those unbelieving Jews who read the Old Testament:
 
But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 2 Corinthians 3:14-16
 
Later, I began to see the Scriptures in a new light. I saw them not as a destination, but as a guide. I began to view the Scriptures as a road map whose goal was to lead me to a greater knowledge and experience of this incredible Christ . . . the despised Galilean, my Lord and Savior.
 
The Old Testament became God’s picture book for me and for the believing community in which I was a part. Together we began to understand that the biblical narratives found their full meaning in Christ.
 
Example: In 1992, a small group of Christians and I spent a few summer months in the book of Leviticus. We had one objective: to find Jesus Christ in it. Using this approach, the entire book opened up to us. We saw Christ on every page. As I recall that experience, I remember realizing just how “sweet” Christ is as a compassionate Savior who saves us to the uttermost.
 
We discovered that each of the offerings mentioned in Leviticus point to a different aspect of Christ in His atoning work. And so do the feasts.
 
Today, there’s a lot of debate on the different models of atonement. The book of Leviticus, read Christologically, helps shed light on this debate. It shows that the redemptive work of Christ is too rich, too vast, and too multifaceted to be reduced to one or two aspects. Jesus Christ is the reality of the sin offering, the burnt offering, the trespass offering, the meal offering, the drink offering as well as all of Israel’s feasts.
 
After finding Christ in the book of Leviticus, I couldn’t understand how a Christian could read that book and get anything spiritual out of it unless they read it Christologically.
 
Before that summer, reading Leviticus was a laborious task that constituted good medicine for insomnia.
 
Because the Christological approach to Scripture has been so largely forgotten in most Christian circles today, the result is, that on a functional level (not on a formal level), there are whole sections of Scripture that have fallen into disuse and cease to function among God’s people.
 
It has been said that the way to know a person is through a narrative. The four Gospels function as a narrative disclosing the Person of Jesus to us. But so does the Old Testament. To put it in a sentence: the function of the Biblical narrative in both Old and New Testaments is to set forth the identity of Jesus Christ.
 
Jesus—the Teacher of Scripture
 
In his seminal book, According to the Scriptures, C.H. Dodd traces the way that the New Testament authors quote the Old Testament. In so doing, he finds a pattern. The biblical authors all seem to share a common hermeneutic for understanding the Old Testament. Dodd powerfully argues that the source of this common hermeneutic was Jesus Himself. Jesus Christ taught His disciples how to understand the Old Testament Scriptures, and this is reflected throughout the New Testament writings.
 
Simply put: the hermeneutical key that Jesus passed on to His disciples was to see Scripture as fulfilled in Himself. Note the following texts where Jesus Himself handles the Scriptures in this way:
 
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself . . . Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Luke 24:27, 31
 
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:44-45
 
Note that the three sections of the Old Testament canon—the Torah (the Law of Moses), the Prophets, and the Writings (the Psalms)—all speak of Jesus Christ. When Jesus unveiled this truth to them, “their minds were opened to understand the Scriptures.”
 
So again: the real and total meaning of Scripture is found in Jesus Christ—His Person, His mission, and His work. He is the fulfillment of all Scripture—including the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. Consider His own words:
 
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17
 
Hans Frei, the 20th-century professor at Yale, marked a new shift for returning to the Christological way of interpreting Scripture that pre-dates the modern hermeneutic. Frei remarked that a Christological reading of the Old Testament is indispensable if we are going to understand history as the story of God revealing Himself in Jesus.
 
Frei redefined the literal interpretation of Scripture. He argued that the church’s understanding of Scripture is basically found in Jesus Christ.
 
Herein lies the charter for Christological interpretation.
 
To understand the full meaning of Scripture, then, one cannot simply adopt a method of interpretation derived from secular hermeneutic philosophy and start applying it to the Bible.
 
The truth of the matter is that the Bible has its own hermeneutic.
 
 
 
 
Examples of the Christological Hermeneutic
 
Let’s look at some examples of how the New Testament authors interpreted the Scriptures Christologically. You will see that they were all good students of Jesus, adopting the method of biblical interpretation that He passed on to them. The Bible is filled with examples of this approach. What follows is only a small sampling of them.
 
Romans 5:14 - Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
 
Here Paul says that Adam was a pattern or a picture of Jesus Christ. Karl Barth argued that many Christians have misunderstood this text, taking it to mean that we must understand Christ in terms of Adam. But the text says that Adam should be understood in terms of Christ. In other words, Adam is a shadow of Christ, and Christ is the fulfillment and reality of that shadow.
 
This doesn’t suggest that Adam was not a historical person. But it does mean that he depicted Jesus Christ. (Reading Scripture Christologically does not dehistoricize the text.)
 
In the same spirit, Paul calls Jesus “the last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15:45. (This insight throws considerable light on the full meaning of Genesis 1 and 2.)
 
In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul says that “Christ is our Passover lamb.”
 
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, Paul takes a Christological interpretation of the Exodus narrative saying, For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
 
According to Paul, Moses portrays Christ—the great deliverer. The passing through the Red Sea portrays water baptism into Christ. The rock that followed Israel was a picture of Christ also. (Note that the rock was struck and out of it poured water. Jesus Christ was struck with death and out of Him flowed living water.)
 
In John Chapter 6, Jesus presents Himself as the reality of the manna in the wilderness. In John Chapter 4, He presents Himself as living water. Christ is the real manna, the real water, the real rock, and the real lamb—all of which were pictured in the Old Testament narrative.
 
In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul continues this line of interpretation asserting that the Old Testament festivals, sabbaths, ceremonial foods and drinks were a picture—or a shadow—of Jesus Christ.
 
He writes, Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
 
Peter carries on this Christological approach when he unveils the real meaning of the story of Noah’s ark, showing it to be a picture of water baptism in Christ (1 Peter 3:20-22).
 
The book of Hebrews is saturated with the Christological hermeneutic. According to the author, Christ is the reality and fulfillment of Moses and Joshua—He is the new Moses and the new Joshua (Chapters 3 and 4); Christ is the reality and fulfillment of the Sabbath (Chapter 4); He is the reality and fulfillment of the Old Testament high priest. He is the reality and fulfillment of Melchizedek and Aaron (Chapters 5 through 7). The tabernacle and the tabernacle furniture, along with the Old Testament sacrifices were pictures, shadows, and types of Jesus Christ and His work (Chapters 8 through 10).
 
Near the end of the epistle, the author of Hebrews summarizes the real meaning of the Torah saying, The Torah is only a shadow of the good things that were coming—not the realities themselves. Hebrews 10:1
 
The interpretative key to all Scripture is Christ. He is the pattern of the entire Word of God—the lens for understanding the narrative sweep of the Bible. This should not surprise us since Christ is the revelation of God and the incarnation of God’s grand purpose.
 
As John Calvin aptly put it, “The Scriptures should be read with the aim of finding Christ in them. Whoever turns aside from this object, even though he wears himself out all his life in learning, he will never reach the knowledge of the truth.”
 
Let’s quickly look at the Old Testament narrative of Isaac. He is a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ. The same is true for Adam, Melchizedek, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, etc. But for the sake of time and space, we’ll just consider Isaac.
 
* Jesus and Isaac are the only two people in the entire Scripture who are referred to as “the only begotten son” (John 1:18; Hebrews 11:17).
 
* Isaac is the promised seed (Genesis 17:16). Jesus Christ is the promised seed (Galatians 3:16).
 
* Isaac's birth was a miracle as it was physically impossible for him to be conceived (Genesis 17:17‑19). Jesus Christ's birth was miraculous as well (Matthew 1:18‑25).
 
* Abraham was instructed to sacrifice Isaac his son (Genesis 22:1-2). God the Father spared not His only Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16; Romans 8:32).
 
* The sacrifice of Isaac was on Mount Moriah. (Genesis 22:1-2) Moriah was located on a hill in what would later be called Jerusalem. Jesus Christ died on a hill outside of Jerusalem.
 
* Isaac was obedient to his father unto death (Genesis 22:5‑12). Jesus Christ was obedient unto His Father unto death (Philippians 2:5‑8).
 
* Isaac was considered dead by his father for three days (Genesis 22:4). Jesus Christ was dead for three days (1 Corinthians 15:3‑4).
 
* Isaac carried wood for his own sacrifice (Genesis 22:6). Jesus Christ bore His own cross, which was made of wood (John 19:17‑18).
 
* After the obedience of Isaac, his mother Sarah died (Genesis 23:1). After the death of Christ, the nation of Israel was set aside (Romans 9-11).
 
* Abraham gave all things to Isaac (Genesis 25:5). God has given all things to Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:22; Hebrews 1:2).
 
There are other corresponding points that show how Isaac foreshadowed Christ, but these will suffice.
 
Hans Frei said that a Christological reading of the Old Testament was in “bad odor today” simply because it was pre-modern. But he espoused it because it’s the only way to find Christ in many Old Testament texts.
 
Speaking of the Christological heremeneutic, Frei remarks, “Not only Old Testament narrative, but its legal texts and its prophetic as well as wisdom literature are taken to point beyond themselves to their fulfillment in the New Testament. The Jewish texts are taken as types of the story of Jesus as their common antitype—an appropriating procedure that begins in the New Testament, notably in the letters of Paul, the letter to the Hebrews and the Synoptic Gospels, and then becomes a common characteristic of the Christian tradition of scriptural interpretation until modern times.”
 
In order to grasp the full meaning of the Old Testament text, we must understand the shadows, pictures, and types that the Old Testament narrative contains to reveal Jesus Christ, and His counterpart, the church.
 
To put it another way, the Christological interpretation of Scripture is a return to the text as it understands itself.
 
As Rich Lusk put it, “All of Scripture is held together by its testimony of Christ. The Old Covenant Scriptures foreshadow His coming, often in puzzling and paradoxical ways. The New Covenant records His coming and unpacks its meaning. All the types and shadows of the old aeon converge upon Him; from Him emerges a new creation and a transformed Israel.”
 
Toward an Ecclesial Hermeneutic
 
Perhaps one of the reasons that some have been reluctant to take a Christological approach to the Old Testament is that they fear the danger of over-allegorization. This fear, however, is rooted in the benighted idea that the Bible can be fully understood by the individual Christian.
 
I concur with John Howard Yoder in his “hermeneutic of peoplehood.” The biblical text was meant to be understood, not by an individual, but by an interpretative community. That interpretative community is egalitarian—it’s neither comprised of nor directed by a clergy. It is the people of God seeking meaning out of the text by the Holy Spirit together.
 
All the churches in the New Testament were grassroots, interpretative communities.
 
An interpretative community that is centered on Jesus Christ will be able to bring out the multifaceted richness of the Biblical text. As each member of the Body seeks to find Christ in Scripture together, all of His glorious aspects can be extracted, uncovered, and grasped. The result is the edification and spiritual nourishment of the community.
 
As David Buttrick says, “Virtually everything in scripture is written to a faith-community, usually in the style of communal address. Therefore, biblical texts must be set in communal consciousness to be understood.”
 
The believing community provides a sort of checks and balances, safeguarding the church from over-allegorizing the text and from falling prey to fanciful and bogus interpretations. If someone goes too far in one direction, someone else is present to pull them back in. This is the genius of Christian community.
 
I do not say this as an arm-chair philosopher. I have lived in such communities for the past twenty years.
 
Consequently, I am not only arguing for a Christological hermeneutic, I am arguing equally for an ecclesial hermeneutic where the members of a Christian community wrestle with the biblical text together, and seek to find Jesus Christ in them.
 
This ecclesial approach is completely at odds with today’s common hermeneutic of the individual going into his closet and interpreting Scripture all by himself. Equally so, it’s at odds with the notion that biblical interpretation is the sole property of the scholar who uses his scholarly tools in his personal study as he pours over the text by himself.
 
John Goldingay isolates the point beautifully when he says, “It can seem as if biblical scholars are the privileged interpreters of scripture. They alone can determine what the Bible means. But the Bible was written for believing communities, not critics, and real biblical interpretation happens when scripture does something to such a community. When the church places special emphasis on an academic and critical approach to scripture, it easily sets up a new type of priestly control of the Christian community by a guild of experts whose work is authoritarian, not in the sense that it cannot be questioned, but in the sense that it is the privileged responsibility of an elite.”
 
Goldingay goes on to say that the academic approach to Scripture can help a particular community identify its interpretative biases and prevent it from interpreting the Scriptures in light of its own traditions. He sums up his argument by saying, “Interpretation takes place in the context of both the church community and the academic community. We must believe and strive for interpretation that enables these to compliment each other even insofar as they stand in tension with each other.”
 
Interpreting the New Testament
 
Note that the Christological approach to Scripture applies to the New Testament as much as it does to the Old. I have heard men and women preach and teach from the New Testament and yet miss the central message of Scripture in the process—which is Jesus Christ.
 
Contrary to popular belief, the Bible is not a manual for Christian behavior and church practice. It’s a revelation of Emmanuel—the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
 
It’s all-too common for preachers and teachers today to extract from the New Testament rules, commands, abstract ideas, theories, concepts, and inspiring thoughts, yet fail to present the glorious Person of Jesus Christ.
 
The New Testament itself teaches that the outstanding mark of New Covenant ministry is the unveiling of Christ. In his comparison of Old Testament ministry verses New Testament ministry, Paul sums up the difference saying, We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:5
 
A careful reading of the New Testament clearly shows that its overarching message is Christ. In the Gospels, the subject is Jesus Christ in His earthly life and ministry. In the Gospel of John, we find many hints about His preexistent life. In the book of Acts, we see the apostles preaching Christ. We also see Christ operating through His Body as it expands from Jerusalem to Rome. The epistles reveal the unsearchable riches of Christ and apply the Lord’s mind to crisis situations that confronted the early churches. The book of Revelation is a revelation of Christ in His triumphant victory over the world system.
 
Yet regardless of the above, it is possible to miss the Person of Christ in the New Testament and instead present something other than Him through them.
 
To see just how full of Christ the New Testament is, I challenge you to take one of Paul’s epistles and count the number of times he mentions or refers to Jesus Christ. Do this for the first chapter of Ephesians or the first chapter of Colossians, for example. The number of times Paul refers to Christ will astound you.
 
Paul was a man driven by a revelation of his Lord.
 
And herein lies the basis of all New Testament ministry.
 
Consequently, one of the tasks of Christian ministry is to extract Jesus Christ from the Scriptures and present Him in a living way to God’s people.
 
So the next time you hear a person preach or teach from the Bible, ask yourself: Is this person giving me Jesus Christ . . . are they revealing Christ to me . . . or are they giving me something else?
 
Jesus Christ is the Christian life. And God the Father has chosen to speak of Him in every age.
 
Knowing Him, being conformed to His image, and expressing Him in the world with other believers is the goal of the Christian life.
 
In summary, to properly understand the full meaning of Scripture, two things are necessary:
 
1. Availing ourselves of all forms of biblical interpretation—including the Christological hermeneutic that the Bible itself contains.
 
2. Interpreting the Bible as part of an interpretive Christian community rather than as an isolated individual. That community should be willing to draw on the rich history of the Christian church, from the Church Fathers, to the Anabaptists, to the Puritans, to the eastern and western branches of the historic church, etc.
Fleshing It Out
 
In closing, here are some practical tips that will help you find Jesus Christ in Scripture:
 
1. Before you read a text, remind yourself of the Christocentric nature of Divine revelation. The Bible contains one revelation and that revelation is a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, a proper understanding of any text will always lead you to discover more of Christ. Your ultimate goal in reading the Bible is to find Him.
 
2. Ask yourself when reading a text: “What does this text tell me about Jesus Christ?” That question will get you to the real meaning of the text.
 
3. If you can’t find Christ in the way that you’re reading a text, then get on different mountain from which to view it. Look at it through a different lens. I suggest you read a book entitled Notes on the Pentateuch by C.H. Mackintosh. The book is an exegetical treasury on the Old Testament that glorifies your Lord. D.L. Moody once said that if all the books in the entire world were to be burned, he would be satisfied to have just one copy of the Bible and C.H. Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch. I have also written a book entitled God’s Ultimate Passion (www.ptmin.org/passion.htm). This book seeks to unlock the grand narrative of Scripture. In it, both Old and New Testaments are unfolded in a Christological way.
 
4. Interpret the Scriptures with other believers and avail yourself of all the light that the Body of Christ has shed on the Bible in the past and present. Remember: the Bible is addressed to the community of God’s people. And it invites that community to let the biblical narratives shape its vision of the world. Therefore, it’s the ecclesial community that is called to interpret and live out the message of Scripture, not the isolated believer.
 
5. Discover ways of interacting with Jesus Christ through Scripture. Here are three exercises you can try:
 
(1) Read the Gospels and the Epistles autobiographically—from the viewpoint of Jesus Christ. This approach owes much to Frank Laubach in his book, The Autobiography of Jesus. It allows the reader to understand Scripture from a whole new perspective and listen to the voice of Christ through it:
 
Example 1: “When I entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, I said, ‘Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at me. After the crowd had been put outside, I went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region. As I went on from there, two blind men followed me, calling out, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’“ (Matthew 9:23-27)

 
Example 2: “For by me all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by me and for me. I am before all things, and in me all things hold together. And I am the head of the body, the church; I am the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything I might have the supremacy.” (Colossians 1:16-18)
 
(2) Read the Psalms in the voice of Christ. Thomas Merton in his book Bread in the Wilderness said that the main speaker of the Psalms is Jesus Christ.Sometimes it is Jesus Christ in His people. Sometimes it is Jesus Christ in David. But it is always Jesus Christ who is speaking. When you recite the Psalms, therefore, you are in a sense speaking the words of Christ, uniting yourself with Him, being pulled into His presence.
 
Example: “Father, you are my Shepherd, I shall not want. You make me lie down in green pastures. You lead me beside the still waters. Father, you restore my soul. You guide me in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.” (Psalm 23:1-3)
 
(3) Praying the Scripture. This approach is ancient, tracing back to the Patristic period. It is known as lectio divina—sacred reading.
 
Example: “Lord Jesus, I have been crucified with you and I no longer live, but you live in me. The life I live in my body, I live by faith in you—for you love me and you gave yourself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)


Sources
According to the Scriptures by C.H. Dodd.
Christ in the Bible (Commentary Series) by A.B. Simpson.
Jesus the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible by Eugen J. Pentiuc.
Models of Interpretation of Scripture by John Goldingay.
Notes on the Pentateuch by C.H. Mackintosh.
Reading in Communion by Stephen Fowl and Gregory Jones.
The Christotelic Spiral by Rich Lusk.
The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative by Hans W. Frei.
The Great Code by Northrop Frye.
“The Hermeneutics of Peoplehood” by John H. Yoder in The Priestly Kingdom.
“The ‘Literal Reading’ of the Biblical Narrative in the Christian Tradition: Will it Bend or Will it Break?”by Hans W. Frei in Frank McConnell’s The Bible and Narrative Tradition.
The Old Testament as the Book of Christ by Martin Kuske.
“The Reasonableness of Typology”by G.W.H. Lampein Essays in Typology.
Typology of Scripture by Patrick Fairbairn.
Virtuoso Theology: The Bible and Interpretation by Frances Young.
Ye Search the Scriptures by Watchman Nee.

Thanks also to my friends, Frank Valdez and Jon Zens.

NOTE TO WEB MASTERS AND BLOGGERS: you are free to link to this article and quote excerpts from it, but please do not post it on your web site or blog.
The link is: www.ptmin.org/beyond.pdf
If you wish to dialogue with Frank about this article, you may email him at Violabooks@aol.com
Copyright © 2007 Present Testimony Ministry www.ptmin.org

WILL THE US BE ISLAMIZED?

Will the U.S. be Islamized?
by Joseph Mattera www.josephgmattera.com

Much has been made regarding the infiltration of Islam into America and Europe. The following are reasons some give who believe the U.S. will become an Islamic nation in the next 50 years:
I. The liberal media and political leaders downplay terrorism and underestimate the threat of radical Islam.
1. They refuse to allow religious profiling regarding immigration and security issues.
2. They underestimate and underreport Islamic attacks on our own soil.
3. Liberal elected officials often think dialogue will solve all problems.
II. The birth rate in the U.S. is continually declining. Thus, the Muslim population will continue to increase at a much greater rate than non-Muslims living in this nation.

III. Mosques are being built at a record rate in most U.S. cities.
Eighty percent of these mosques are funded by the radical Wahhabi sect of Islam that comes from Saudi Arabia. Thus they are all breeding grounds for homegrown terrorists.
IV. The United States must be careful to treat Islam as equal with other religions because of multiculturalism, Arab oil, and the goal of partnering with Middle Eastern nations to marginal radical Islamists.
The challenge here is that many of the so-called friendly Arab nations like Saudi Arabia willingly harbor radical Muslim sects.
V. Radical Islam is being funded by rich oil companies in the Middle East.
Every time you and I purchase gas for our vehicles, we are indirectly supporting terrorism since at least 10%-15% of all our oil is imported from Middle Eastern nations sympathetic to Islam.
Why I don’t think Islam will succeed in the United States:
1. Most immigrants to the U.S. come from Spanish speaking nations that espouse Catholicism or Evangelical values.
2. There is presently a strong apostolic movement in the U.S. that is countering Islam.
3. God has his hand on this nation. There will be yet another great awakening that will save millions and revive the churches.
4. There is a strong move of intercession fueled by the prophetic that is growing stronger and stronger as the threat of Islam looms larger.

Kamis, 24 April 2008

ASIAN HOUSE CHURCH CONFERENCE 2008

Asian House Church Conference 2008 - please forward to your contacts
Wednesday, 23 April, 2008 6:58 PM
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Asian House Church conference 2008 - application form.doc (40KB)
 
House Churches serve Asia
 
3rd Asian House Church Conference – 4-8 September 08
 
Speakers: Wolfgang Simson and Bindu Choudhrie
 
Wolfgang Simson ( http://www.simsonwolfgang.de/html/welcome.html ) is known throughout the world as one of the prime vision casters for the global house church movement. He says that he doesn’t have a vision – but a vision has him and his family! And the vision is breathtaking –“The Starfish Vision”, a realistic apostolic vision to disciple half the planet. He writes “we have three passions: the reshaping of the Church of Jesus Christ to accurately reflect the design of its author and King; an economic reformation by returning to Kingdom Economics……; and a reformation of unity….” No doubt we will hear more about these passions at the conference! Wolfgang and his family currently live in Germany and are locally connected with house church networks reaching into Germany , France and Switzerland .
 
Bindu Choudhrie and her husband Victor ( http://www.indiagateway.net/operation/index.htm ) took up full time church planting ministry in Madhya Pradesh , India in 1992. God has blessed this ministry abundantly. Large numbers of grassroots level leaders have been trained who have planted thousands of house churches all over India as a result. Bindu herself is especially involved in equipping women as trainers and leaders, a major pioneering role in Indian culture where women traditionally are subservient to the men. She will speak on “growth drivers of CPM’s”. 
 
Other speakers, presentations and workshops planned include:
        David Lim – (a) working together to reach the other unreached peoples and nations of Asia , (b) effecting transformational impact on communities in the fastest way possible through planting "insider movements" through the house church movement/CPM
        Presentation from restricted nation – detailed mechanics of large CPM in a restricted nation currently planting 1500 new churches per month. Outline of the main transferable principles being used, which have enabled this movement to plant approximately 100,000 new churches since foundation in 2000.
         Spirit-led Network, Australia – www.spiritled.com.au  Workshop on  how to heal the sick
        Randeep Mathews – Nurturing Of Multiple Generations of Disciples based on 2 Timothy 2:2
        Tom and Liz Adleta ( http://www.gcni.org/ )  – Research and databases: tools to effectively help reach unreached people groups; reaching the unreached in the cities.
        Selected country and ministry reports – We would love to all country and ministry reports but there won’t be time. All written reports will be circulated and discussed in small groups.
 
Like the last Asian House Church conference in Hong Kong, there will be plenty of “free time” just to spend getting to know other house church enthusiasts, participation, time to wait on the Holy Spirit, and time to pray and seek the Lord together. Last conference the prophetic word was “time to cross the Jordan ”. It’s time for house churches to impact Asia – come and get refreshed and equipped………….
 
Conference venue: Bandung, Indonesia
(full transport provided from Jakarta airport)
 
Dates: September 4-8, 2008
 
Cost: US$155 earlybird (before July 1): $175 standard
(includes food, accomodation, registration and transport from Jakarta airport. An offering will be taken for Wolfgang's and Bindu's ministries) 
 
Procedure: Fill in attached application form and send to 
 
gunturbarus@yahoo.co.id
 
with a copy to
 
rcorner@quality-safety.co.nz
 
On acceptance of your application you will be sent full details of payment methods, and pickup times at Jakarta airport.
 
More information? You can get more information from any member of the steering committee:
Anuroop Swamy (India)  anuroopswamy@hotmail.com
Daniel Samuel (Chairman) (Philippines / India)   ds.samuel@edsamail.com.ph
David Lim (Philippines)  cmiphil53@yahoo.com
Eman Abrea (Philippines)   eman1227@gmail.com
Guntur Barus (Host of 2008 conference) (Indonesia)  gunturbarus@yahoo.co.id
Mitsuo Fukuda (Japan)   paparabbit@nifty.com
Robin C (Hong Kong / New Zealand   rcorner@quality-safety.co.nz
Wolfgang Fernandez (Indonesia, US / Venezuela)  wdfernandez@psmail.net
 

21 COMMON MISTAKES PASTORS MAKE

21 Common Mistakes Pastors Make
by Joseph G. Mattera www.josephgmattera.com


As a pastor for over 23 years, I have learned much through the School of Hard Knocks. My goal with this article is to identify some of the most common mistakes made by pastors and leaders so others would not replicate them.

21 Common Mistakes Pastors Make:

I. They try to disciple their congregation solely from their pulpit messages
1. I learned a long time ago that often no more than half the congregation is paying attention and attempting to retain all that you teach.

2. One of the ways I compensate for this is to make sure everyone writes notes while I teach; only 10% of what is preached is remembered the next day by those in the congregation who don’t take notes.

3. Approximately one-third of the congregation is missing on any given Sunday. Thus, discipleship is greatly limited. One way to compensate is for the pastor to regularly teach a series of messages that build upon one another with a quick review of the previous lesson, thus allowing those who missed the previous week to stay in the flow and be taught.

4. As important as congregational preaching is, the most effective way to disciple and train believers is by teaching them in small groups and in informal mentoring as Paul instructed Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2. (Every Monday night I have a small group of about 10-12 men that I pray with, teach, and share my heart with. Also, I often take a few people with me when I travel and minister so we can spend time together, which gives them time to learn my ways, not just hear me preach on Sunday.

II. They think vision trumps the culture of the church
1. Leaders think that presenting a mission statement to the congregation is enough to create momentum and move the church towards its goals.

2. Before a new vision can be implemented the culture of the church has to change. For example, if a church is going to adopt a cell church strategy, their old program based culture (mindsets, habits, ways) will first have to be changed through one-on-one meetings with key people, months of prayer, strategy, implementation, and most importantly, having all the key leaders and members of the church or organization successfully implementing cell groups as their main focus (in regards to winning souls, training leaders, and actualizing the mission) before they attempt to get the rest of the congregation to walk in it.

III. They invest most of their time nurturing people instead of developing leaders
The main difference between pastors and apostolic leaders is that pastors spend all their time visiting and nurturing all the sheep while apostolic leaders focus 80% of their time with the 20% of the congregation who will produce 80% of the ministry.

IV. They place people in ministry based on gifting instead of integrity and character
1. The foundation of our life is our character, not our gifting. Thus, if we place people in a ministry function before the foundation of their character is deep enough, we are posturing our church to be a personality and gift-driven entity that doesn’t have what it takes to enjoy its current rate of success beyond 3-5 years.

2. The general rule of thumb is that a person will be able to walk in their purpose when their gifting and anointing to minister is commensurate with integrity and godliness.

V. They fail to communicate adequately with their spouse and key leaders before making big decisions
This sets the senior leader up for marital problems and/or disconnect or division among the key leadership of the organization. I have seen this happen more than once through the years; I have made important announcements and as I was making them I viewed the astonished look on my wife’s face! The point is this: Even if you have a great idea, the pastor should always give their spouse and leadership time to “buy in” to all major decisions before they are announced.

VI. They spend more time in administration than in study and prayer
1. Most pastors I know are functioning as glorified deacons who focus more on marketing and administration than before God in the secret place.

2. God has called for pastors to be “kings and priests,” not just serve as kings! The priestly function allows the kingly function to hit the mark in regards to decisions and impact.

3. Acts 6:2-4 clearly teaches that the senior leader’s primary function is prayer and the ministry of the Word. Those who focus on this, as well as developing leaders and delegating administration to their disciples, will flourish most in regards to their primary purpose.

VII. They fail to put up boundaries to protect their family life
1. Many pastors’ wives blame the ministry for 80% of their marital problems. I know of many pastors who allow congregants to call their homes, interrupt family time or dinner time, allowing visits at all hours of the night, thinking this is what God expects of them. This is probably the single biggest reason why children of preachers hate the ministry and would never even think of imitating their parent’s faith and works.

2. This is one reason why I counsel pastors to have an office OUTSIDE of their home--to keep set office hours and separate church work from their family time in regards to affection and focus.

3. Without setting proper boundaries, the pastor will inevitably sacrifice their family on the altar of ministry, alienating both spouse and children.

VIII. They feel threatened by other gifted and strong leaders instead of harnessing them
1. Insecure leaders limit the ministry capacity of strong emerging leaders instead of harnessing and releasing them to their destiny.

2. Having a large church does not necessarily mean a church is successfully developing and releasing emerging leaders to their destiny.

3. Insecure pastors and leaders will always have cycles of divisions in their churches because they frustrate those with mantles of leadership on their lives by not making room for their gifts. The results of unfairly capping potential leaders is either splitting congregations or organizations, starting a new church or entity prematurely, or having these leaders attending other churches looking for greener pastures. Churches with a history of church splits and divisions may have an insecure senior pastor who needs to become emotionally whole before the church can release mature sons and daughters into the harvest field.

IX. They try to have success without a successor
1. Some pastors I know are well into their 60’s and still don’t know who their successor will be!

2. I am currently 48 years old and already have a number of options in regards to potential successors.

3. Often, the spouse of the pastor takes over after the senior leader passes away, thus thrusting a person who is likely uncalled and unqualified into an executive leadership position. Other leaders just put one of their children in as the new leader even though there is clear consensus among the primary leaders that this person is not yet ready or even called.

4. The moment we step into any ministry we should begin to work ourselves out of a job by training others to do the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12). One rule of thumb for senior leaders is to delegate everything others can do almost as good as them, while only focusing on things no one else is qualified to do.

X. They fail to understand the three components of vision: hindsight, insight, and foresight
1. A leader cannot successfully take their organization into the future if they don’t learn from the past and accurately interpret the present.

XI. They fail to affirm those working for and with them
1. 90% of all the feedback human beings receive regarding themselves is negative.

2. This issue is so important even Jesus didn’t go forth to minister until He received affirmation from His Father (Luke 3:22).

3. Senior leaders should regularly affirm those who faithfully serve in their organization. Affirmation releases people to their destiny like nothing else!

4. Often times, pastors replace fatherly affirmation and affection with the laying on of hands. But the laying on of hands is only supposed to be the culminating seal of a long-term process of nurture, love, and relationship building that is the foundation of properly releasing ministers and workers to their destiny.

XII. They never adequately develop accountable peer relationships among other ministers
1. Every leader needs three levels of relationships:
i. Spiritual children
ii. Brothers and sisters (peer relationships)
iii. Spiritual parents (every pastor needs a pastor)

2. Not having accountable level two and three relationships leaves a leader vulnerable to their own sinful tendencies which can shipwreck everything they have ever worked for!

3. A pastor who doesn’t have an overseeing pastor or bishop is already in error!

XIII. They fail to bring their children along as part of their ministry team
Merely placing our children in Sunday school one hour per week is not as good as having them as part of your ministry. Have them come along with you on mission trips, hospital visitations, prayer meetings, and releasing them to minister with you in the church--children’s choir, evangelistic teams, getting them involved in skits and other evangelistic activities allows your children to have ownership of the ministry instead of making them feel like they are merely being dragged along against their will. Then as soon as they are old enough (when they have a choice) they will leave both the church and the ministry!

XIV. They attempt to develop faithful members instead of sons and daughters
1. The greatest title I have by far in our church is the title “dad.”

2. A church or ministry will only be effective to the extent it has developed the army of God out of the family of God! Having a lot of laborers without a spirit of sonship results in merely having a house of slaves or servants.

3. Sons will always be more loyal than servants because sons are assured of their father’s love, their placement and role in the house, and their share of the inheritance.

XV. They go by the latest Christian contemporary fads instead of building on proven biblical principles
1. I have some minister friends who change the vision of their church every few years based on the latest renewal movements or strategies featured on the covers of Christian magazines.

2. Although we can learn much from what God is doing with other churches in other parts of the world, we need to know our core values and purpose, and build everything else around this. When a church changes its vision too often then the senior leader loses credibility and the congregation senses instability.

XVI. They fail to be transparent with their inner circle and congregation
Senior leaders who share with their inner circle their internal and personal struggles pave the way for more transparency and trust among their core leadership. To a certain extent, even sharing personal challenges from the pulpit can actually encourage folks in the congregation because they feel more of a sense of trust and connection with the leader; they also feel encouraged knowing that they are not the only ones struggling in their Christian life and faith.

XVII. They fail to enforce the principles of Matthew 18:15-18
1. In our church we have made walking in the light a staple and core value.

2. I have found that communication between leadership eradicates 98% of all potential problems and cuts off Satan’s game of deception and accusation.

3. For years, I made it a requirement for those serving with me in leadership to receive Communion together and promise to walk in the principles of Matthew 18:15-18. Those failing to make this vow were asked to step down until they were willing to comply. I refuse to work with people who can’t promise that they will come directly to me or my wife or with another team member in cases of offense. The reason for this is because experience tells me that offense is inevitable among those who work the closest together. Those not walking in the light are a train wreck waiting to happen!

XVIII. They fail to get their congregation to have ownership of the vision and develop proprietors instead of employees
1. Employees check in at 9 a.m. and clock out at 5 p.m., even if there is an emergency and more work is needed. In contrast, a proprietor clocks in early and leaves only when the work is done; even if it is 5 p.m., if a pipe breaks in the basement of their business, they will stay until midnight to make sure it is fixed, long after employees have left for the day.

2. All effective organizations successfully transfer ownership of the vision to their adherents.

XIX. They preach individual blessing and destiny instead of the biblical model of corporate blessing
1. The typical preaching in America is about individual destiny instead of corporate purpose. This is so in spite of the fact that 95% of the Bible was written to either the nation of Israel or the body of Christ.

2. A person can’t “write their own ticket” with God if they are not flowing with the corporate destiny of their local church. Our historical faith teaches us that it is never just us and God, or just an individual and their Bible. Second Peter 1:20 teaches that Scripture is never about one’s own private interpretation. For example, our fingers need a hand which needs and arm which is connected to a shoulder, etc. in order to function properly!

3. All biblical prophecies are corporate; there is no such thing as individual prophecies because all biblical examples were either to the nation of Israel, to the church, or were for an individual regarding their ministry to Israel or the body of Christ.

XX. They build one-generational instead of multi-generational works
1. God revealed Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and has called us to think strategically for at least three generations in everything that we do.

2. Most leaders act as though God is just the God of Abraham since they plan concentrically around only their present lifetime. I tell leaders all the time that if they reach their highest purpose and potential while they are alive, they have failed miserably because Scripture teaches that those who follow our footsteps should do greater works than us (John 14:12; Psalm 78:1-4).

XXI. They glibly say “God spoke to them” and lose credibility when it doesn’t happen
1. I tell our leaders never to say “Thus saith the Lord” when they either attempt to prophesy or speak out what they feel God has spoken regarding their church or organization.

2. If you say the “the Lord said” then you already preclude judging the word because who can judge God? We should always say “I believe the Lord is saying” because everyone’s faith and prophecy is always subjective and should be scrutinized by the counsel of core leadership. I have seen many pastors and leaders glibly say the Lord has spoken to them and then not long afterwards the Lord told them something else (after the word didn’t come to pass!). I have especially seen this when a leader says that God promised them a building for the church, etc. When a leader speaks out like this, they begin to lose credibility with their congregation; then the next time they speak no one will listen!

SEVEN HAZARDOUS HABITS OF EXECUTIVE LEVEL LEADERS

Seven Hazardous Habits of Executive Level Leaders
by Joseph Mattera www.josephmattera.org

Introduction
Though many may be associates of either senior pastors or business owners, it is virtually impossible to understand the pressures, sacrifices, and weight of responsibility that rests upon the shoulders of effective senior leaders. The following points illustrate some of the hazards of executive level leadership.
I. Executive level leaders often isolate themselves
• Many do not speak to other senior leaders because they want to keep up an air of success and respect among their peers.
• Many do not confide in their associates or staff when they struggle because they are afraid that familiarity will breed contempt.
• The Bible teaches us in Genesis 2 that it is not good that man should be alone. Man was made to be in community with others, whether it be family, friends or vocational colleagues. No matter what the situation, executive level leaders must find others of their ilk to confide in and receive counsel and support from for the sake of the longevity and success of their lives, families, and organizations.
II. Executive level leaders often violate principles of Sabbath rest
• Many continually bear the weight and responsibility of their work with them 24/7, even when they are on vacation or with their family during downtime. The human mind can only take so much and must have a total break from stress if it is going to function at an optimum level. It is foolish to try to function at an optimum level with a tired mind and hurting soul.
• Many do not take a day off each week and attempt to continually function at a high level without breaks to recover and revitalize. This would be as foolish as running a one-week marathon without ever stopping to sleep or eat.
III. Executive level leaders often do not celebrate the processes of success
Often, they are so driven by the long-term product that they do not take adequate satisfaction in the small victories needed to achieve long-term success. In many ways God considers the process just as important as the product! Because of this, they are continually unhappy, stressed out, and are not able to adequately rest because their lack of fulfillment or satisfaction in achieving small victories in short-term goals makes them feel restless.
IV. Executive level leaders often judge themselves by the success stories of other leaders
In the same way everyone has a different fingerprint, we all have unique callings and ways to accomplish them that differ from everyone else on the planet! Because of this, we all have different ways to judge success and failure. Ultimately, God will judge us by our faithfulness to our particular assignment. When we attempt to value ourselves based on the most successful models of leadership in our genre of work, we can do damage to our emotions because we will never come up to the level of every model showcased. The moment we think we have come to one person’s level, another person will arise who will have an even more impressive model that will again cause us to go into the emotional funk of devaluing ourselves.
V. Executive level leaders often sacrifice the health of their soul for the urgent matters of pending tasks
I have met numerous high-level leaders who never take time to adequately pray, study, or exercise because of urgent pending tasks in front of them. While there may be seasons of this, neglecting self-renewal and health should be the exception to the rule that happens only occasionally and for a very good reason. Never continually sacrifice something that is vital for something that is urgent.
VI. Executive level leaders often do not have a plan for personal growth and development
Although most successful executive level leaders know how to work off of a strategic business plan and budget, most cannot say the same regarding a personal plan for their own growth. The ones that can have made the connection that an organization will only grow as far as the executive leader grows. Thus, if they really care about their church or business, they would put themselves on a strict systematic regimen of reading quality books, listening to quality audio teachings, and having regular conversations with great leaders and achievers.
VII. Executive level leaders often put the work of the organization before the health of their family and key personnel
According to Genesis 1:27-28 the foundational principle of subduing the earth and having dominion is not based on achievement in work but based on proper male-female relationships (especially in marriage) and having children’s children who are properly trained to consecrate the earth (“replenish” in Genesis 1:28 means to consecrate). Many high-level leaders are shot down or stunted in reaching their potential because of marital and family problems arising from neglect. For long-term effectiveness, executive level leaders must learn to prioritize their marriages, families, and the key staff assigned to them to fulfill the dominion mandate in Scripture.

THE NEXT MOVE OF GOD

The Next Move of God: Church in Community
by Joseph Mattera http://www.josephgmattera.com/

In 1999 the Spirit of God began to emphasis the recognition of the marketplace as part of the kingdom of God, and since then many began to recognize the biblical mandate to disciple whole nations according to the dominion mandate of Genesis 1:28 and Matthew 28:19.
Now I believe it is time that we go from talking about taking cities to actually doing it in a practical way. The following article is based on what I have been doing through Resurrection Church in my particular community. I am not dealing in this article with what we have been doing in the body of Christ in our city, but what we are doing for our community.
This article was triggered by a conference advertisement apostolic leader Ed Delph sent me regarding a “Church @ Community” conference he is doing that aptly describes our congregation’s practices. This concept smashes the separatist mentality of much of the Fundamentalist Evangelical Church that began since the end of the Civil War, and has the potential to radically recontextualize church praxis without compromising church biblical orthodoxy.
The following characteristics outline the “Church in Community” revolution that is going to sweep the globe.
(Note: The titles of the first seven points (only the point titles) were taken from Ed Delph’s “Church @ Community” conference advertisement.)

I. It Transitions the Body of Christ from Being Church-centric to Community-centric
1. The body of Christ is finally going to move away from escapist theology, in which community involvement was replaced with an obsession with the rapture and the world to come.
2. The body of Christ is finally sowing the incredible gifts of the congregations for the good of the community instead of just having Holy Ghost parties within the confines of a physical building.
II. It Releases the Saints to Serve God by Serving Their Community
III. It Is Giving Churches Favor With God and Man
1. I truly believe the main reason why community boards and elected officials try to use zoning laws to stop churches from having more land is because they see the church as an irrelevant, tax revenue sucking leech that contributes nothing to the life of the community.
A. The church was originally granted tax exempt status because it was so involved in the social life of communities that it was saving communities an enormous amount of money through the redeeming nature of its work with individuals and neighborhoods. Thus, when the church only emphasizes the next world and the rapture, judgment comes upon it in the form of tax exemption revocation, which corresponds to our irrelevance.
B. In the present, our church is dealing with some contextual zoning limitations regarding our plans to construct a new edifice for our congregation but a strange thing is happening: Contrary to the numerous war stories we hear around the country, the elected officials and community leaders involved in the zoning in my community are almost at competition with each other in their attempts to help us avoid zoning limitations.
IV. The Church’s Main Cause Becomes the Community
1. Jesus told the church to affect Jerusalem before going to Judea and Samaria (Acts 1:8).
2. Much of the body of Christ spends millions of dollars every year with mission trips while neglecting their own local community. Many of them do this to cover their lack of community impact.
3. Many will send a person to Africa to minister but ignore the African-American families in their proximity.
4. The body of Christ can utilize their congregants to serve according to their natural and spiritual gifts, thus giving their communities their expertise in economics, the environment, and various community issues too numerous to mention in this article.
V. Churches That Equip People for Life, Not Just Church Life
When our burden is for the community, we then train our church in a practical manner and not just a mystical manner regarding spiritual things.
VI. Churches that Enhance Kingdom Influence by Working With Community Spheres of Influence
When the church learns how to recognize, celebrate, and serve the various jurisdictions of society, then God can bless us with influence. If you want influence with the local police, serve them. If you want influence in local community government, then make yourself available to them, etc.
VII. Today’s Influencers in the Church Become Tomorrow’s Influencers in the Community
1. When the church understands this paradigm, then it will recognize those in the church called to minister primarily in the marketplace. These folks should be honored in the church as ministers in the same way we may honor the deaconate in the church. God calls the civil authorities in Romans 12:4 His servants (“deacon” in Greek means servant).
2. This paradigm will give the church membership motivation to be trained as leaders because it will take the utilization of every gift possible to meet all the vast needs of a community.
3. This paradigm has a double-edged sword since it enables the church to simultaneously affect both the local congregation and the community in its discipleship process.
VIII. Common Grace Issues Become Common Ground for the Church to Connect with Key Community Leaders and Initiatives
One of the most important theological awakenings pastors can have is when they realizes that they can work with leaders in various levels of authority in society (including the unsaved) without compromising their faith because of the fact that God extends His common grace to all involved in the stewardship of a community.
IX. The Senior Pastor Becomes a Chaplain/Statesman to a Whole Community Instead of Just to Their Flock

X. The Church Becomes a “City on a Hill” and the “Light of the World”
1. This kind of church employs a holistic approach to ministry that includes educational and social ministry out of their church building, not just worship and soul-winning sermons.
2. This kind of church takes advantage of the social structures and outreaches already present in a community and releases servant leaders into those structures to bless and transform from within.
XI. Soul-Winning Reflects the Daniel/Joseph Model
1. Instead of employing only one strategy, e.g. preaching on the street, this kind of church reflects what Daniel did when he gained favor and built a platform to evangelize a nation by serving a pagan king in a pagan system with wisdom, faithfulness, and prophetic insight.
2. The typical “Christian Right” methodology of merely emphasizing politics and moral issues will never work in most urban areas of the Northeast United States. The Daniel model is the only one that works in a post-Christian or humanistic environment.
XII. The Church Penetrates and Transforms Culture Before It Emphasizes Politics
1. One of the biggest mistakes the Evangelical Church has made is to only target moral issues and political elections without a multi-generational plan to transform culture.
2. Culture trumps politics and ideology. While we are winning an election we are losing our children because they are inculcated by the MTV world and secular humanistic college professors.
XIII. The Church Views the Community (or City) as a Gift to the Church, Not Only Vice Versa
1. The church will begin to recognize that even as individuals and congregations have specific redemptive gifts for humanity, so communities and cities (and nations) are also endowed by God’s common grace with a redemptive gift to be a blessing to all its inhabitants, including the church.
2. Instead of the isolationism of the twentieth century, the twenty-first century church is going to learn how to both appreciate and capitalize on all the resources presently available in their cities for the purpose of serving, leading, and transforming all systems to reflect God’s purposes.
3. The twenty-first century church will love the city (community) even as God commanded Israel to love a pagan city some 2,700 years ago in Jeremiah 29:7.
The Resurrection Church Model for “Church in Community”
The following is what our local church has done in the Sunset Park community of Brooklyn, New York. This does not include the various citywide initiatives we spearheaded though City Covenant Coalition, the apostolic network I oversee.
1. Children of the City
My wife founded Children of the City, a separate non-profit 501c3 that holistically reaches out to more than 1,000 children between the ages of 3-16.
Among the programs for our community are:
• “Create Success” after school and summer school tutoring.
• “Heal New York,” a counseling ministry for children and families after 9/11.
• “Parenting Solutions,” teaching parents skills for raising children and various other programs.
• A guardianship program so parents in the church can work with parents of at-risk children in our program to have legal guardianship of their children until the parents are emotionally ready to take them back.
2. New York Police Department
NYPD outreach which includes adopting our local police station. We have a prayer task force for the officers and commanding officer; give the officers Christian apologetic books; minister to their personal needs and meet regularly with all of the commanding officers of the local precinct regarding community issues.
• After 9/11 I served as a community crisis manager that met with the precinct commander once a month with other key community leaders so we could adequately prepare for a terrorist attack in our region.
• After 9/11 I worked with the borough chief to organize a means so all the police officers in the precincts in the borough of Brooklyn would have access to counseling in New York City churches.
• Our church building was used several times to mediate issues between the NYPD and our local community. I also functioned as one of the mediators.
3. Clergy Crisis Responder Facilitation
After 9/11 I worked with the Office of Emergency Management and the NYPD (through Detective David Hartman) to help recruit about 50-75 clergy to be trained and certified to have access to Ground Zero and any other places of crisis in our city to minister and offer counseling.
4. Elected Officials and Community Leaders
I meet regularly with and on occasion advise and minister to numerous elected officials and community leaders.
5. Community Board Membership
I serve on our local Brooklyn community board along with a few other folks either in our congregation or who relate to me in some capacity. While serving on the community board I found numerous people volunteering their time to steward their community regarding economics, the environment, education, affordable housing and real estate development, zoning laws, garbage removal, highway and roadside development, etc. These people are more responsible and love their community more than those in the church who don’t even bother to show up for town hall meetings and other important events related to the stewardship of the community.
6. Education
We are actively involved in putting together a major school for grades K-8 for the community. This will be a huge blessing for all.
7. Sowing Our Church into the Community
We have a history of encouraging our congregation to help with local elections, community boards, elected officials, and community based outreaches, and to help either serve or facilitate various community events.
Some Cautions Regarding the “Church in Community” Model
I. The Pastor and Sent-Out Community Leaders Must Be Theologically Grounded
When Christians begin to get involved in a community, they will be exposed to all sorts of belief systems, power, money, and political corruption. If a person is not rooted and grounded in the Word then they may either get confused or compromise to accommodate.
II. The Church Must Be Grounded in the Cultural Mandate (or Dominion Mandate) of Genesis 1:28
If the church doesn’t emphasize the lordship of Christ over all, then all service in the community collapses down to humanism.
III. The Church Must Never Stop Emphasizing Saving Grace Methodologies of Discipleship and Soul-Winning
In spite of the vast needs and opportunities of ministering to a community, the church should never stop preaching the Gospel, saving the lost, healing the sick, and producing full-time ecclesial ministers.
IV. The Church Must Understand Saving Grace/Common Grace Distinctions
1. The church in the early 1900’s fell into a social gospel in which the preaching of the cross was gradually supplanted by just doing good works.
2. The fundamentalist approach reacted to the social gospel and eschewed common grace methodologies because their hyper-dispensational end-time eschatology taught that it was a waste to “arrange the chairs on the Titanic.”
V. The Church Must Never Surrender Leadership of Its Programs to Unbelievers
As the church begins to integrate itself and its programs into the community with various partnerships, the temptation will be to allow those with money, power, influence, or smarts to control their governing boards and leadership committees. This is why many or most of the Christian organizations that started off preaching the Gospel stop doing so in the second or third generation of their existence. The unsaved eventually get on the governing board and commandeer the organization away from its Christian foundations.
VI. The Church Congregants Must Learn the Balance between Community and Congregational Ministry
The tendency of pastors when they learn a new truth is to go to extremes. In this regard, pastors must make sure they don’t only emphasis the community to the neglect of their local church’s internal needs.

Selasa, 22 April 2008

DON'T GIVE UP


Don't Give Up
Have you felt like giving up lately? Has God placed you in a hard place and given you promises that have not yet been fulfilled? Have you been wondering if you heard correctly when you stepped into your present situation? God has a word for you.    
    "Have I not said unto you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? You have obeyed my voice and have set yourself to do all my will. I see and I will honor your obedience. Only be not weary in well doing for IN DUE SEASON you shall reap if you faint not.
    I know that you have not walked a perfect walk before me, but you are under a BLOOD COVENANT and all your sins are forgiven for Jesus sake. "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." I have given to you the sure mercies of David and though I may visit you with the rod, yet I will not remove my mercies from you, for I correct and I discipline the one in whom my soul delights.
    Therefore let not your heart be discouraged, but lift up the hands that hang down and give high praise to the Lord your God who has called you and anointed you to be a blessing RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, RIGHT NOW. Think not that your happiness and fulfillment will come to you at another time and in another place. You are AT THIS MOMENT in the right place to experience fullness of joy. I AM YOUR JOY AND HAPPINESS! No created thing or circumstance has power to bring you into peace and rest. I AM YOUR DWELLING PLACE. As you rest in me, I am at work in you, around you, for you and through you." says the Lord your God.
Robert & Joni Fitts

KUALITAS MELIHAT CALON PEMIMPIN


KUALITAS UNTUK MELIHAT CALON PEMIMPIN
(JOHN C MAXWELL)

Karakter; orang yang memiliki karakter baik adalah orang yang jujur, setia, dapat mndisiplin diri, mau diajar, dapat diandalkan, tekun, kesadaran dan etika kerja keras.
Pengaruh; kualitas pengikut mencerminkan kualitas sang pemimpin. Semua pemimpin harus tahu kemana mereka akan melangkah dan setiap pengikut sebaikny tahu dengan pasti bahwa mereka berada di belakang seorang pemimpin yang tahu apa yang harus dia lakukan.
Tingkah laku positif; orang seperti ini mampu pergi ke tempat-tempat yang sulit dan melakukan apa yang tak mampu orang lain lakukan. Mereka tidak dibatasi dengan kekurangan diri mereka sendiri. Seorang yang memiliki pengertian bahwa perjalanan hidup ini merupakan suatu sukacita yang harus dinikmati sebagai tujuan hidup.
Orang yang memiliki skill/kemampuan sempurna; seorang pemimpin tanpa orang-orang berpotensi cepat atau lambat akan kehilangan pengikut. Kesempurnaan tersebut termasuk memiliki perhatian sejati terhadap sesame, kemampuan untuk mengerti keberadaan orang lain dan mengambil keputusan untuk suatu langkah positif dari suatu interaksi dengan kebutuhan pokok orang lain.
Karunia-karunia yang jelas; setiap orang memiliki karunia dari Tuhan.

Catatan dari pengalaman, kita harus belajar dari pengalaman:

Percaya diri; orang tertarik secara alami pada seorang pemimpin yang dapat membawa orang lain turut percaya diri. Seorang pemimpin yang baik dapat membuat para pengikut percaya akan kemampuannya dan seorang pemimpin besar memiliki kemampuan membuat pengikutNYA percaya akan diri mereka.
Disiplin diri sendiri; kesuksesan tidak datang instant, untuk meraih kemenangan ada harga yang harus dibayar. Aku harus mengambil pilihan untuk merasakan “sakitnya” disiplin yang datang dai pengorbanan dan pertumbuhan.
Memiliki kemampuan komunikasi yang efektif; miliki kepedulian pada mereka, maka mereka akan mau mendengarkan perkataanmu. Kita juga harus menjadi responden yang baik sebagai kawan bicara. Mampu berbicara dengan semua jenis orang. Pandang mata lawan bicara anda dan tersenyumlah.
Tidak merasa puas dengan keadaan yang tetap/monoton.

Minggu, 20 April 2008

PESAN TUHAN MINGGU INI

PESAN TUHAN MINGGU INI MELALUI RICK JOYNER

Tujuan kita seharusnya lebih daripada hidup sehat dan bahagia. Kita dipanggil untuk memancarkan kemuliaan Allah. Kita dipanggil untuk menantang dan memukul mundur kegelapan paling pekat masa kini. Kita ada di dunia ini untuk meruntuhkan benteng-benteng musuh dan membebaskan tawanan. Segala sesuatu yang terjadi sekarang ini memang luar biasa, namun jangan sampai kita kehilangan visi akan sesuatu yang jauh lebih besar daripada segala sesuatu yang pernah kita lihat. Kita tidak boleh berkemah di tempat ini, kita harus terus bergerak ke tempat yang lebih tinggi.
Ada perbedaan antara percaya dengan pikiran kita dan percaya dengan hati kita. Bila kita benar-benar percaya dalam hati kita akan kebenaran kebangkitan, kehidupan kita pasti berubah total secara radikal. Beriman berarti menjadi tak terpisahkan dengan obyek penyembahan anda. Iman melekat sedemikian kuat dengan diri orang itu, sehingga hanya dapat diambil oleh maut. Iman adalah pokok keberadaan dan identitas kita yang terdalam; iman menunjukkan siapa diri kita yang sebenarnya. Semakin kuat iman kita, semakin besar dampak yang akan kita berikan pada dunia ini. Semakin positif kita, semakin membangun pula dampak tersebut.
Padang gurun anda atau pencobaan yang anda hadapi untuk menguji iman anda, dimaksudkan untuk mencapai hal yang sama bagi anda. Bila anda menanggapinya secara benar, masa padang gurun akan mengubah kesembronoan emosional menjadi kekuatan! Hadapilah masa kesulitan sebagai kesempatan dan anda akan mendapat tanah Perjanjian anda. Orang yang mengeluh berarti ia telah kehilangan imannya. Orang yang benar-benar beriman menghadapi rintangan sebagai kesempatan untuk merebut kemenangan yang lebih besar dan kemajuan untuk mencapai sasarannya. Iman yang sejati membuka jalan dan tidak mengikuti arus. Iman yang sejati adalah kemampuan untuk menangkap visi tentang tujuan hidup kita dengan cengkeraman yang sekuat-kuatnya, sehingga tidak akan terlepas sebelum visi itu tergenapi. Iman yang sejati akan menduduki tanah perjanjian. Salah satu factor yang paling menghancurkan iman yang sejati adalah keinginan kita untuk mendapatkan pengakuan dari manusia.

Kamis, 10 April 2008


THE EAGLES NEST DISCIPLESHIP
APRIL 2008

Syalom,

Hai saudara-saudariku, saya meminta maaf bagi mereka yang telah bergabung dalam kelompok pemuridan namun tidak dapat secara optimal dalam layanan yang diberikan.
Saya meminta maaf yang sebesar-besarnya, akibat kami sendiri masih mengerjakan semua jenis pelayanan sendiri (saya dan istri) hingga kami memiliki keterbatasan secara manusia.
Putra kami, Philip, baru saja sembuh dari sakit akibat perubahan cuaca. Juga kondisi keuangan pelayanan yang masih naik turun mengakibatkan kinerja kami sedikit terbatas ruang lingkupnya. Namun itu semua bukanlah alasan bagi kami untuk patah semangat dan undur dari perintisan ini.
Kami tidak mau mengecewakan anda, bila anda ingin melanjutkan studi pemuridan ini, anda dapat bergabung langsung dengan pelayanan mitra kerja kami. Tentunya disini dibutuhkan kemampuan berbahasa Inggris.
Bila anda dipanggil dalam pelayanan penggembalaan dalam sebuah jemaat, anda dapat mengakses www.cathedraluniversity.com dan bergabung menjadi mahasiswa Cathedral University, yang menawarkan sertifikat pendidikan penggembalaan (secara cuma-cuma namun membayar $ 30 untuk sertifikatnya) dan anda dapat meneruskan pendidikan di tempat tersebut sampai dengan program doctor (untuk yang satu ini ada biayanya).
Bagi anda yang ingin mengasah pelayanan penginjilannya dapat bergabung di Mercy Street Ministry dan mengakses http://mercystreet.com, setelah anda lulus akan mendapatkan sertifikat penginjilan.
Bagi yang terpanggil sebagai pendoa syafaat dapat bergabung di School of Prayer www.usprayercenter.org. Sedang yang rindu untuk dapat memuridkan orang lain dan terlatih sebagai tenaga pemuridan dapat bergabung dengan The Prophetic Voice Institute dapat diakses di www.gtm.org .
OK, sampai disini dulu informasi dari kami, kiranya dapat menambah bukan saja wawasan tetapi mempertajam pelayanan anda, bagi pertumbuhan tubuh Kristus yang ada baik di Indonesia maupun dunia. God bless you, all.

Dave Broos

Kamis, 03 April 2008

SARANG RAJAWALI

EAGLES NEST (SARANG RAJAWALI)


Sebuah penglihatan yang Tuhan berikan pada kami sekeluarga mengenai sebuah sarang burung rajawali. Penglihatan ini memberikan sebuah pengaruh dalam kehidupan kami.
Pertama-tama, Tuhan ingin kami belajar mengenai keluarga rajawali dan sarangnya.
Apakah sebuah sarang rajawali? Sarang merupakan:
1. Sebuah tempat tinggal, dimana sebuah keluarga dibangun dalam kehangatan kasih dan hubungan yang intim/akrab tidak ada dusta diantara anggotanya,
2. Tempat untuk bertelur = menghasilkan keturunan atau mendapatkan anak-anak.
3. Tempat untuk bertumbuh, belajar atau berlatih (tempat pembelajaran)
4. Tempat yang mendatangkan rasa aman
5. Tempat mengerami anak-anak hingga mereka mandiri
6. Tempat dimana pada akhirnya anak-anak harus meninggalkan sarangnya dan memulai sarang yang baru bersama keluarganya dan menghasilkan keturunan.

Bagaimana dengan rajawali sendiri, apakah kemampuannya?:
1.Ia memiliki pandangan yang tajam
2.Ia mampu terbang tinggi
3.Ia memiliki kemampuan menghadapi badai
4.Ia mampu menangkap mangsa dengan kecepatan tinggi
5.Ia memiliki cengkeraman yang kuat
6.Ia membangun sarang di gunung tinggi yang terjal
7.Ia mengerami telur.
8.Ia mencari dan memberi makan anak-anaknya yang masih kecil
9.Ia mengajar anak-anaknya terbang dan mencari makan sendiri
10.Ia mampu mengendarai badai
11.Ia, satu-satunya hewan yang tidak takut menghadapi badai

Apakah The Eagles Nest, merupakan sebuah yayasan atau sekedar nama pelayanan? Tidak, lebih jauh dari itu semua, ini merupakan panggilan hidup kami. Tuhan ingin kami belajar dari penglihatan itu, agar dapat mencerna kehendakNya atas hidup dan panggilan kami sekeluarga selama hayat masih ada dalam tubuh.
Dari penglihatan dan pembelajaran inilah terlahir visi bagi keluarga kami.
“MEMBERITAKAN KABAR BAIK, MEMURIDKAN & MENGUTUS SETIAP ANAK TUHAN UNTUK “MENJADI” GEREJA DIMANA PUN MEREKA BERADA”
Tuhan pun memberikan misi bagi keluarga kami agar visi tersebut dapat tergenapi.
MEMPERKENALKAN PENGHARAPAN & KASIH BAPA SURGAWI PADA DUNIA TERHILANG
MEMULIHKAN & MEMURIDKAN MEREKA YANG BERKOMITMEN UNTUK BERTUMBUH DALAM KRISTUS
MELATIH DAN MENGUTUS MURID KRISTUS SEBAGAI AGEN PERUBAHAN KE SELURUH DUNIA
MELIHAT TERANG TUHAN BERSINAR DIMANA-MANA MENERANGI DUNIA SAMPAI TUHAN DATANG KEMBALI
Tuhan pun memberikan nilai-nilai untuk kami hidupi dan kembangkan.
MENGENAL KRISTUS & MENGHIDUPI FIRMAN TUHAN SEBAGAI FONDASI KEHIDUPAN (YOH 1:12, 17:3, RM 8:29, 2 KOR 5:21, 2 TIM 3:16-17, 2:15)
MEMEGANG JANJI SUCI PERNIKAHAN & MEMPERKENALKAN KRISTUS PADA ANAK-ANAK SEJAK DINI (MRK 10:6-8, EF 5:22-6:4, AMS 16:6, MRK 10:9, 1 TES 4:3-8, 1 KOR 6:18-20)
KELOMPOK KECIL SEBAGAI KELUARGA BAGI PERTUMBUHAN KEROHANIAN (MAL 4:5-6, 1 KOR 4:15-17, 12:18, EF 4:16, MZM 133, 2 PTR 1:12-13, 2 TIM 2:2, KIS 2:17, YER 31:13
MULTIPLIKASI & REPRODUKSI TERJADI DALAM KEHIDUPAN SEHARI-HARI & PELAYANAN (KIS 9:31, MRK 4:20, KIS 11:19-30, 13-15)
HUBUNGAN SEBAGAI ORGANISME DALAM PEMBANGUNAN KERAJAAN TUHAN (KIS 2:42-47, EF 4:16, GAL 5:13, 1 PTR 2:5)
TIAP ORANG PERCAYA ADALAH IMAM & PELAYAN TUHAN (WHY 1:5-6, 1 PTR 4:9, EF 4:11-12, TIT 1:5, 1 TIM 4:12-14)
KAMI PERCAYA PADA HIDUP BERKELIMPAHAN, BERKEMURAHAN HATI DAN INTEGRITAS (3 YOH 2, MAT 23:23, IBR 7:4-7, MAL 3:8-11, KIS 11:29-30, 2 KOR 8:20-21)
AMANAT AGUNG AKAN DIGENAPI MELALUI DOA, PENGINJILAN, PEMURIDAN, PENANAMAN GEREJA, DUNIA PEKERJAAN DAN PELAYANAN KASIH (MAT 28:19-20, 6:5-18, KIS 1:8, RM 11:11-15, 11:28-31, 1 KOR 3:6-9, MAT 11:12, 2 KOR 10:3-4, KIS 14:21-23, 1 KOR 9:19-22, UL 14:28-29, 26:10-12, MAT 25:31-46, YAK 1:27, AMS 19:17)
KITA DIPANGGIL MEMBANGUN KERAJAAN TUHAN BERSAMA ANGGOTA TUBUH KRISTUS LAINNYA (MAT 6:33, EF 4:1-6, YOH 17, MZM 133, 1 KOR 12, KIS 2:44-45, RM 14:5, MAT 28:19-20, AM 3:3, 1 KOR 1:10, 15:10)

Doa kami adalah kiranya Tuhan memberikan kesanggupan pada kami untuk bertumbuh terus sebagai keluarga rajawali dan melahirkan lebih banyak lagi rajawali-rajawali muda yang akan menjadi pengaruh bagi dunia dan membawa kemuliaan bagi Bapa.