A Weekly World Wide Word of Encouragement to those in the Ministry
PRAISE GOD IT’S MONDAY!
A WEEKLY ‘WWW (world-wide word) OF ENCOURAGEMENT’
TO THOSE IN MINISTRY
A FREE service, currently connecting with Christian leaders from 3,000 denominations and ministries, in 70 countries.
Issue No: 337 Published: 07 Apr 2008
TRANSFORMATION OF THE CHURCH: 3. FROM KINGS TO KINGDOM (continued)
We finished last week by saying: 'Yet, as we can see in the churches in Smyrna and Philadelphia, the characteristics of the churches Jesus praised are not those desired by most of the church, then and now. Principles of sacrifice, faithfulness, full reliance upon and submission to the will of God.'These are principles we hear about in church. They are generally understood though, as being sacrifice (giving to and helping in the church), faithfulness (attending church and meetings of the church), reliance upon (the pastor or leadership), and submission to the will of God (as revealed through the vision of the pastor).
However, these are principles of 'kings' not 'kingdom'.
Let's go right back again to God's reluctant appointment of Israel's first king, King Saul. God warned the people:
10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. (1 Samuel 8:10-17)
Of course, when we read this, we automatically think of ancient times with kings in crowns and robes leading foot soldiers into battle riding on a chariot pulled by horses. A king who had the power of life and death over his subjects. An autocratic leader whose word was law.
This is true. The situation today generally is different. We are more educated, most live in democracies, and we pride ourselves upon our independence. We say our government is 'of the people, by the people, for the people', the definition of democracy. However, we also know that the ideal does not always relate to the practice. Enough said!
When we look at church history through the ages, we see that the principle of kingship remains entrenched within the church. In fact, the darkest age of both church and society was in the days of the highly autocratic Papal system of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Much of the thrust of the Reformation was an attempt to break this rigid authority structure. However, after initial times of revelation and change, denominational structures again grew. Over the hundreds of years since then, God has used many different groups of 'dissenters' to further reform His church. Each group has received revelation from God, which they invariably, have taken to be the last and greatest revelation, and stuck with it through thick and thin, forming another structured grouping of 'spiritual kings' with their 'member subjects'. It is a truism that the greatest enemy of a new revival is the leadership of the previous one.
Sadly, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the early 20th century, giving rise to the Pentecostal movement, this imposition of 'kingly structures' has become even more pronounced than in the traditional and evangelical churches that grew out of the reformation.
The spiritual giftings of leadership have been used and abused to put the people down rather than being used as instruments to grow and develop the congregation.
We need to see what God said about such behavior, way back in the time of Samuel.
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,†this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. (1 Samuel 8:6-7)
Reality is, 'religion' needs and breeds kings and structure, for ironically, that is what people want! 'Kingdom' though, is based on entirely different principles.
(To be continued next week)
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FROM THE WORD
ISRAEL ASKS FOR A KING"When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.†But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,†this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.†Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.†But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!†they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.†When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. The LORD answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.†Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Everyone go back to his town.†(1 Samuel 8:1-21)
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DAVID'S DOODLINGS
RELIGION, REVELATION AND GOD'S KINGDOM1012. I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the biggest hindrance to God building His kingdom is man building his. It's called religion.
1013. Man organises the god out of God!
1014. Religion builds tradition, the Spirit, change.
1015. Religion builds tradition, the Spirit breaks tradition down.
1016. One person's vision becomes their successor's job.
1017. The kingdom of God is built upon relationship, not organisation.
1018. Mankind cannot build the kingdom of God for He has already done it far better than we ever could.
1019. While religion may desire to build God's kingdom, it finally succeeds in building its own.
1020. The kingdom of God doesn't need to be built, rather, grasped hold of.
Please feel free to quote these quotes. Acknowledgement of David Tait as the author would be appreciated. There are now over 1300 David sayings for you to view at ...
CRANWELL'S CARTOON
6 After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him. (Genesis 8:6-12)
(The land of my mother! Went there once, but didn't manage to find a 4 leafed clover! Maybe Noah's dove would have had better 'Oirish luck' than me! David)
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TUESDAY TEACHINGS
THE NOAHIC COVENANTWe complete our look at the covenant God made with Noah by considering the seal, both actual and spiritual, how the covenant was broken and some significant historical events that took place at the time.
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LAUGHING AT OURSELVES
***Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused****** "Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others." ***
709. MY DAD'S BETTER THAN YOUR DAD!
When Jesus was a kid He was sitting around with some friends. One of the kids says "My dads a fireman and he's better than yours!" ; another says "Well my dads a police man so he's better than yours!" Jesus looks at this and says "Well my Dads God, and He created you, you, you, and you,...."
708. GOOD SERMON
After a very long and boring sermon the parishioners filed out of the church saying nothing to the preacher. Towards the end of the line was a thoughtful person who always commented on the sermons. "Pastor, today your sermon reminded me of the peace and love of God!" The pastor was thrilled. "No-one has ever said anything like that about my preaching before. Tell me why." "Well - it reminded me of the Peace of God because it passed all understanding and the Love of God because it endured forever!"
FREE DOWNLOAD: You can now download the book 'Laughing At Ourselves' in PDF format at LAUGHING AT OURSELVES
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FACTS FOR FUN
LAST WEEKS QUESTION: What is the connection of May Day to Robin Hood?ANSWER: The legendary Robin Hood is said to have died on May Day.
(So he ‘may’ be well remembered!)
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Where did the expression ‘red herring’
originate?
Answer Next Week.
SOME FUN FACTS552. LEFT FOR DEAD
Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people! (It’s a cruel world if you’re different from normal!)
553. BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
While Wrigleys missed out on producing the world’s first chewing gum by 11,000 years, they redeemed themselves by being the first product to sport a bar code. (The bars though, had to be straight, not ‘wriggley’!)
554. HOW THIN CAN YOU GET?
A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court! (The heavenly streets are paved, not thinly flattened.)
A WORD PUZZLE FOR YOU
Make another word from this word using all the letters.
STARVE
Answer at the end of A David Musing
FREE DOWNLOAD: You can download the full version of our Trivia Book at TRULY TRIFFLING TRIVIA
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BIBLE QUESTION - WORKERS AND TOOLS
6) Which woman used a 'workman's hammer' to put a tent peg into a most unusual spot?A - Jael
B - Deborah
C - Hannah
D - Rebekah
Source: www.biblequizzes.com
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IF ONLY I'D THOUGHT OF IT!
"""OTHER'S SAYINGS TO ENLIGHTEN, AMUSE, OR BEMUSE"""!!!!!!! Real friends are those who, when you feel you've made a fool of yourself, don't feel you've done a permanent job.
!!!!!! Sometimes the majority only means that all the fools are on the same side.
!!!!! I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.
!!!! Lead your life so you won't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.
!!! People gather bundles of sticks to build bridges they never cross.
!! Life is 10% of what happens to you, and 90% of how you respond to it.
! Did it ever occur to you that nothing occurs to God?
100'S MORE TO BE FOUND AT...
'TIL DEATH DO US PART!
69. DID NOT!!Whenever your kids are out of control, you can take comfort in God's sympathy with your parental difficulties.
Consider this...
After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve. The first thing He said to them was: "Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
"Don't what?" Adam replied.
"Don't eat the forbidden fruit," God replied.
"Forbidden fruit? We got forbidden fruit? Hey, Eve - we got Forbidden Fruit!"
"No way!" said Eve.
"Yes WAY!" exclaimed Adam.
"Don't eat that fruit!" said God.
"Why not?" whined Adam.
"Because I'm your Creator and I said so!" said God, wondering why He hadn't stopped after making the elephants.
A while later God discovered Adam and Eve happily munching on the forbidden fruit.
"Didn't I tell you not to eat that fruit?" God asked.
"Uh huh," Adam said, eyes downcast.
"Then why did you?" asked God.
"It was an accident," Eve answered, scrubbing her eyes.
"She started it!" Adam said, elbowing Eve in the ribs.
"Did Not!" Eve rejoined, kicking Adam on the shin.
"DID so!"
Having had it with the two of them, God's punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own.
Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed. But there is a reassurance. If you have persistently and lovingly tried to instil wisdom in your children, but have failed, don't be too hard on yourself. If God got nothing but trouble from His children, what made you think it would be a piece of cake for you?
70. THE HOUSE IS GOING TO BURN
In a car in the middle of Colorado a wife says to her husband, "Oh Dear George, I'm afraid the house is going to burn down, I'm sure I left the iron on."
George: "The house will not burn down Dear, don't worry"
Wife: "Now how can you make a statement like that"
George: "Cause I forgot to turn off the water in the bathtub!"
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BIBLE TRIVIA
RIDING ON DONKEYS... was only done by the Hebrews in ancient times. And then, only by the common people. It was humiliating for a ruler. David rode a mule (a cross between a male donkey and female horse) or in chariots pulled by horses but never on a donkey.
When Jesus rode a donkey therefore, it was a symbol of His humility.
Adapted from: '1001 Surprising Things You Should Know About The Bible' MacGregor & Prys
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WORSHIPPERS LIVE AN AVERAGE OF SEVEN YEARS LONGER
by Wolfgang Polzer, ASSIST News ServiceKASSEL, GERMANY - Regular worship is healthy. Churchgoers have a seven year longer life expectancy than those who abstain from worship, according to the US-American Professor of medicine Dale A. Matthews, Washington D.C..
He was one of the speakers at a Christian Health Convention with 1.100 participants in Kassel, Germany, March 27 – 29. Matthews quoted from an investigation, which showed that regular churchgoers have an average life expectancy of 82 years compared with 75 years for non-churchgoers.
A regular religious activity not only enhances the health of Christians. Studies in Israel found that people living in a religious Jewish Kibbutz lived longer than those in a secular community.
Matthews advised medical practitioners to include religious attitudes of patients in their therapy. Numerous scientific studies had shown that faith has a positive impact on physical and mental health.
There were many reasons for this phenomenon. Believers had a sense of purpose in their lives. They also had more social contacts and were less prone to consume tobacco, alcohol and drugs. Doctors should encourage patients to practice religion, said Matthews.
Hans-Juergen Ahrens, chairman of the board of the German health insurance AOK, promised that he would look into scientific studies about the positive correlation of faith and health. He had learnt that there are more that 140 studies involving more than 100,000 patients.
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DAVID'S DOWNLOAD
A REVELATION OF... HOLINESSA Christian is called to walk towards holiness. While not pretending to give you the complete answer, the 5 examples included here should help you in your understanding of what true holiness is about. And if you so desire, in its application to your life too!
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WAXING LYRICAL
Feeling dejected that you don't seem to be doing as well as the ministry down the road? Then, this poem is a message of reassurance for you. Yes, God love you too!YES IT'S TRUE, GOD LOVES YOU!
"I hear you, I hear you, my faithful one,
For you, just for you, I gave my Son,
You are so very precious in my sight,
A shining star, radiating my light."
Yes it's true, God loves you!
"What you perceive, will not always be true,
You don't see things, from my point of view,
For I am looking always, to the heart,
Don't put the horse, before the cart."
Yes it's true, God loves you!
"I do not judge my own by numbers or wealth,
These can be achieved by the human self,
But by how much of yourself you will give to Me,
Commitment and submission - that's what I see."
Yes it's true, God loves you!
"The order in Heaven is so different to earth,
For I am only interested, in spiritual girth!
Not beauty, nor success, nor intelligence, nor size,
I know your heart is for me, that much I realise."
Yes it's true, God loves you!
"So when the glorious day arrives, to finally come, stay with me,
You have built up treasure here, will last throughout eternity,
No, don't get yourself deceived by the glitter of earthly ways,
You are destined to rule and reign with Me - now and always!"
Yes it's true, God loves you!
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A DAVID MUSING
Just thinking that I haven't written a poem for quite a while so maybe will have a go now - before I forget how!DAVID'S RAMBLINGS
Don't know what to write about.
Something that will have clout.
Should it be all about me?
No! Well - how about thee?
That might be intersting for we all like to hear about ourself,
Particularly it is nice and complementary, off the top shelf.
But the problem is that I don't know you personally, do you see,
So what can I say about you, not knowing if you're she or he!
Time is moving on,
Nearly time it is for bed,
The day is now gone,
The seconds, each has sped.
So what can I say that is of great note?
Before I have to leave, put on my coat.
Go out into the night and wend my way home,
In the darkness, to our wee abode to roam.
My wife Kathy, now she is not there.
Visiting her mother, do not despair,
She will be home tomorrow, I am so sure,
Returning from her travelling adventure.
So now I will go and cuddle the cat.
Oops - recall I can't now do that,
For she died some weeks ago - very sad.
So I'm all by myself; that's very bad.
But no, no, no! I do now remember!
Whether it be April or September,
I have my Jesus with me always you see,
So I wont be lonely, there's He and me.
I hope now, that's true for you too.
In the bed - even when on the loo!
He is a friend upon whom we all can rely,
When you are lonely, give Jesus a try.
Until next week...
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD.
His servant and yours
David Tait
Today's 'Word Puzzle' Answer: VASTER
TODAY'S 'BIBLE QUESTION': D - Slingshot (1 Samuel 17:49, 50)
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ABOUT US
WALKING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES is a non-profit, non-denominational, Bible based ministry located in Hastings, New Zealand. A ministry dedicated to developing discipleship, fostering unity amongst God’s people to achieve the Great Commission, and in doing so, preparing for Christ’s return. It is securely based upon the foundational principles of the Apostles Creed while recognising the wide and rich diversity of beliefs amongst Christians in other areas. In accordance with the Lord’s direction, materials produced by the ministry are available, free of charge, to genuine enquirers upon request. The ministry is solely funded by donations, as the Lord provides. A list of materials available (plus some fun!) is obtainable and freely downloadable from our websitewwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.
Walking With Jesus Ministries
290 Flaxmere Avenue
Flaxmere
Hastings
New Zealand
Phone: (06) 8799 911 International (+64) 6 8799 911
Email: enquiries@wwj.org.nz
Web: wwj.org.nz
Our role is to bless and encourage those in ministry while promoting co-operation and unity of direction amongst the body of Christ, as emphasised 3 times by Jesus in His longest prayer, immediately prior to His arrest and crucifixion. "… so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:12, 21, 23-4) Our website is currently being developed to encourage your participation one with another, to share resources, and to enable you to promote events and items of interest to the body as a whole – and have a smile while doing it!
For comments upon and contributions to this service, please contact
david@wwj.org.nz