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: 424 Published: 07 Dec 2009
MUSINGS ON THE KINGDOM - PAST, FUTURE AND PRESENT
KINGDOM PRESENTThe problem we have with living the kingdom lifestyle now, I would suggest, is that we don't believe that it is possible to do. Like the Pharisees of Jesus time who prevented the people from entering into the 'present truth' of Jesus.......
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. (Matthew 23:13)
.......so the traditions of the church built up over the best part of 2 millennia have blinded us to the reality of establishing the kingdom now.
There is scripture in John 14 that we have been trained to understand as a future promise only.
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.†(John 14:1-4)
This understanding has been perpetuated through ongoing mistranslation of the contents of the Father's house. It started with the 'many mansions' of the King James Version. How can there be many mansions within a house?
The NIV, quoted above, realised this, but has only marginally improved the translation to make it more logical, but still wrong.
The true translation of 'mansions' or 'rooms' is 'abiding places'. There is a spiritual principle of 'oneness' that we don't understand. We abide in God. How that works out physically, we don't understand.
There are numbers of references to us being in oneness with Christ and God - now. One is;
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:2-3)
This is a mystery to us, as is the Trinity - 3 in 1, 1 in 3. If we reach out, believe and grasp it, we have the opportunity to be one with Christ, in God, now! Heaven wont be a series of mansions, or a giant hotel with many rooms. Rather, accomodation aside, it will be a place of bonding, of unity of oneness, with a triune yet one God.
But more than that, the kingdom of God (or heaven) is attainable now, for as the Scripture says, we are now hidden with Christ. Now means now! It has been 'positionally' done for us when Jesus died for us. But we must reach out and 'experientially' grasp hold of this truth - now!
How do we do it?
We will look at this next week.
I understand that this may seem really strange to you. For it is different to what we have always understood. But please, don't reject it out of hand. Seek the Lord about it. Study the Scriptures to find out for yourself.
There is a greater future available to us now than we could ever imagine!
(Continued next week)
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FROM THE WORD
Imitating Christ’s Humility"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:1-11)
Made Alive in Christ
"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:1-9)
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!â€" (Galatians 2:20-21)
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DAVID'S DOODLINGS
REVELATION AND RELIGION890. Many say, 'give me religion', but few, 'give me revelation'.
891. Religion fosters pride, while revelation comes from a broken heart.
892. Religion promotes people, revelation, servanthood.
893. Religion builds. Revelation breaks down, then builds.
894. Religion breeds status, revelation, servants.
895. In religion, roles are nouns, in revelation, adjectives.
896. In religion, roles are expressed by Title, in revelation, identified through action.
897. Revelation changes hearts, religion tickles the mind.
898. An ounce of revelation is more precious than a tonne of religion.
899. Revelation meeting religion, ignites revolution!
900. Religion is built upon structure; revelation, servanthood.
901. Give me an ounce of revelation rather than a tonne of religion, any day.
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CRANWELL'S CARTOON
11 “O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
I will build you with stones of turquoise,
your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your battlements of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your sons will be taught by the LORD,
and great will be your children’s peace.
14 In righteousness you will be established:
Tyranny will be far from you;
you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed;
it will not come near you.
15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;
whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith
who fans the coals into flame
and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;
17 no weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and this is their vindication from me,â€
declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:11-17)
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TUESDAY TEACHINGS
THIS WEEK: RELATIONSHIP V THEOLOGY - THE POWER OF THE CALLWe conclude our look at leadership from the perspective of the people.
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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." ***
129. NOT 100% CORRECT, BUT STILL... PRETTY ACCURATE.
A Sunday school class was studying the Ten Commandments. They were ready to discuss the last one. The teacher asked if anyone could tell her what it was.
Susie raised her hand, stood tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers off the neighbor's wife."
128. REALITY CHECK
An elderly pastor, looking over his large congregation on Easter morning, startled them with this announcement: "My friends, realizing that I will not see many of you until next Easter, may I take this opportunity to wish all of you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!"
127. MANY A TRUE WORD...
On his Key Life radio program Steve Brown told of a friend who attended a meeting of a local civic club. One member who was the pastor of a local congregation normally gave the invocation. Since the pastor was absent and there were no other ministers in attendance, the President asked the guest speaker if he would offer the blessing. The speaker stood up and started his prayer, "Being no ministers present, We thank thee Oh God............."
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FACTS FOR FUN
LAST WEEKS QUESTION: How long can honey be stored and still safelyeaten?
ANSWER: Apparently, honey can last forever, if stored well. The ancient
Egyptians left honey, among other assorted luxuries, in burial chambers
to make the dead happy. Some of it, unearthed in modern times, is still
edible! (Though one wonders how they determine this. Are
archaeologists eating the evidence?)
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: What is the sleeping sickness?
Answer Next Week.
SOME FUN FACTS295. CHILDLESS
A ‘nullipara’ is a woman who has never given birth to a child. (The ‘PC’ people will have to get to work on this one!)
296. ARM SIZE
The size of your foot is approximately the same as the size of your forearm. (Forearmed and ‘foot warned’!)
297. A LIVING MUSEUM
Many of the Vatican’s museums were never intended to be museums at all, but were designed instead as unique apartments or residences. As a result, visitors must work their way through the numerous blind passages and bottlenecks that contain many of the most beautiful works housed there. (Were the residents museum pieces also?)
A WORD PUZZLE FOR YOU
Make another word from this word using all the letters.
STENCIL
Answer at the end of A David Musing
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BIBLE QUESTION - PROVERBS
12) Drive out the mocker:A - for the righteous he will corrupt.
B - for his tongue is a poison.
C - and out goes strife.
D - and the city will praise you.
Source: www.biblequizzes.com
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IF ONLY I'D THOUGHT OF IT!
"""OTHER'S SAYINGS TO ENLIGHTEN, AMUSE, OR BEMUSE"""LIFE'S LITTLE REMINDERS
1. An apology is a good way to have the last word.
2. Pick your friends, but not to pieces.
3. Life is like a mirror; we get the best results when we smile at it.
4. Usually people are as happy as they make their minds up to be.
5. You cannot leave footprints in the sands of time while sitting down.
6. You will never offend a person by returning a smile.
7. Gentle words fall lightly, but have great weight.
100'S MORE TO BE FOUND AT...
GREAT GROANS!
56. PUN ALERT!! SO BAD !Q: Whats the difference between a batman and a thief?
A: Batman can go without Robin.
Q. Why did the lady go outdoors with her purse open?
A. Because she expected some change in the weather.
Q. How do you attract a vegetarian?
A. Make a noise like a wounded vegetable.
Q. Which is worth more...an old ten dollar bill or a new one?
A. An old ten dollar bill is always worth more than a new ONE.
Q. What did the salt say to the pepper?
A. Season's Greetings.
Q. What flower is in between your nose and your chin?
A. Two lips!
Q. What's brown and sticky??
A. A stick.
57. A DOG NAMED MACE
A mechanic who worked out of his home had a dog named Mace. Mace had a bad habit of eating all the grass on the mechanic's lawn, so the mechanic had to keep Mace inside.
The grass eventually became overgrown.
One day the mechanic was working on a car in the backyard and dropped his wrench, losing it in the tall grass. He couldn't find it for the life of him, so he decided to call it a day.
That night, Mace escaped from the house and ate all the grass in the backyard.
The next morning the mechanic went outside and saw his wrench glinting in the sunlight. Realizing what had happened he looked toward the heavens and proclaimed, "A grazing Mace, how sweet the hound, that saved a wrench for me!"
58. THE MINISTER AND THE PAINT
A Minister had a group of trustees over to paint the parsonage. It was getting late and it looked like they were going to run out of paint, but by that time the paint store was closed. The pastor looked and noted that it was water based paint, so they added water to thin the paint and finished the job.
That night it rained cats and dogs. The pastor worried that the paint which wasn't dry would be washed from the house. Sure enough, in the morning all the paint to which they had added water was washed from the house. At that moment the clouds parted and the pastor heard a voice from above. It said "Repaint and thin no more."
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BIBLE TRIVIA (Old Testament Family Life)
HUSBANDS ABD WIVESIn the East, every company of travelers, every tribe, every community, every family, had 'a father', who was head of the group. eg. Abraham. They could not conceive of any band or group not having 'a father'.
Adapted from: '1001 Surprising Things You Should Know About The Bible' MacGregor & Prys
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Church of England set to lose a tenth of its clergy in five years
The Church of England is facing the loss of as many as one in ten paid clergy in the next five years and internal documents seen by The Times admit that the traditional model of a vicar in every parish is over.The credit crunch and a pension funding crisis have left dioceses facing massive restructuring programmes. Church statistics show that between 2000 and 2013 stipendiary or paid clergy numbers will have fallen by nearly a quarter.
According to figures on the Church of England website, there will be an 8.3 per cent decrease in paid clergy in the next four years, from 8,400 this year to 7,700 in to 2013. This represents a 22.5 per cent decrease since 2000. If this trend continues in just over 50 years there will be no full-time paid clergy left in Britain’s 13,000 parishes serving 16,000 churches.
Jobs will instead be filled by unpaid part-timers, giving rise to fears about the quality of parish ministry. Combined with a big reduction in churchgoing, the figures will add weight to the campaign for disestablishment.
Nine meetings with bishops, diocesan and cathedral staff were held in London this summer to discuss the crisis. A Church report on the meetings released yesterday to The Times describes the traditional model of a stipendiary vicar in every parish as “broken in much of the countryâ€.
This week the Archbishops’ Council approved a plan to make Anglican clergy work until the age of 68 to help to save the Church from its multimillion-pound pensions shortfall.
Increased life expectancy, combined with greater regulation and the credit crunch, has left the Church’s pension scheme with liabilities of £813 million, almost double the £461 million market value of its assets.
The scheme, created in 1998 and partly funded by churchgoers who are being asked to put more in the collection pot than ever before, has been especially hard hit because all of its investments were placed in the stock market at the end of the 1990s.
One diocese that is particularly struggling is Winchester, where a meeting of the diocesan synod this morning will discuss proposals to cut clergy posts to save £1 million.
In Littlebourne, in the Arcbhishop of Canterbury’s diocese in Canterbury, a benefice that contributes more than £50,000 is protesting at being told that it can have only an unpaid, part-time priest.In a new pattern of ministry mirrored throughout the country the benefice is to be placed in a “cluster†with a neighbouring benefice and will share the neighbour’s stipendiary priest.
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Oxford told The Times: “We have been reducing the number of clergy for a number of years. We are a big diocese and don’t want to take more than our fair share — that’s happening right across the church.â€
Even in the wealthy diocese of Salisbury, where there is a projected budget increase of 1.8 per cent, the 214 full-time stipendiary clergy in 2008 are to be cut to 203 by 2016.
The Rev David Houlding, the chairman of clergy in the London diocese, said: “The bottom line is that the money which pays for the Church comes from people in the pew. The income of the Church of England is seriously threatened at the moment because people do not have the money because of the credit crunch.â€
About one in sixty people worships with the Church of England on an average Sunday. This is projected to drop to less than one in 600 by 2050. The average age of a British Anglican worshipper was 37 in 1980, but is expected to rise to 67 by 2050.
A Church of England spokesman said: “It’s nice to have ‘our’ vicar and ‘our church’. However, most people recognise that this is not the situation.†The cut in clergy was not related to money but to vocations. “The bigger pressure is the really quite encouraging number of ordinations is not as big as the number of those retiring.â€
Edited.
Via Openheaven.com
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GODS VICTORIOUS CHURCHA revelation of the church to come from the book of Ruth + a prophecy on the 3 armies (type of Church ) of God. Fascinating
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WAXING LYRICAL
The ravages of time inflict themselves upon us all!BODY ‘Not So’ BEAUTIFUL?
Know what to do – I’ll go for a run,
So good for me – may even be fun!
Though I realise you don’t agree with that,
It’s certainly one way, to keep off the fat!
For as I look down towards my middle region,
Something appears to be blocking my vision.
My toes, I can no longer easily see,
Blocking my vision, is more of me!
So much more than ever there was before,
No, it’s not me - surely can’t be - I implore!
Poking a finger downwards, it wobbles on its own,
Surely that’s not my stomach, I inwardly groan.
But it is, it is, it is, it is,
Could be hers, maybe his,
For we all suffer from much the same,
As the invasion of fat, we seek to tame.
Now if nature seems mildly depressing,
When our youthful body, age is repressing.
God gave the answer to Adam and Eve,
Clothes for the body, others to deceive.
We learn how to dress our bodies, to disguise their shape,
Over sagging boobs and bums, various pieces we drape,
We pretend to be what we no longer are,
The spitting image of a Broadway star.
But now, to get more serious about this matter,
Recently had a friend die, of lymphatic cancer.
His body faded away to a shadow,
Before being buried in a meadow.
For we will all die one day you see,
As inevitably, as four follows three.
For our body has a limited life span,
So about it, we should have a plan.
There is only one plan, of which I know,
If grass over me, is not always to grow.
It’s called salvation by grace.
In meeting Jesus, face to face.
He died on a cross, two thousand years ago,
To rescue us from death, that much I know,
He rose from the grave on the third day,
To give us a new body, in which to play.
To receive our new body, all we do,
Is believe in Him, the one so true.
By seeking forgiveness for all our sin,
His eternal kingdom, we will enter in.
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A DAVID MUSING
This week I have been away setting up our new shop in Gisborne, the first city in the world to see the sun!New Zealand is beside the International Date Line, hence why the sun rises here first. we make our mistakes and you can avoid them, as your day starts later than ours!
This was of particular importance at 2YK time! Remember back that far? It was thought that computers might stop as they couldn't roll over their date to the next century. We could therefore look forward to the lights going out, etc. etc.
I remember the night. It was gently raining, so we wouldn't get to see the sunrise the next morning. At midnight the lights stayed on! Everything was normal. Life went on. The doomsayers predictions were false. All that had happened was that a considerably larger than normal number of computers had been sold prior to the event!
Jesus said that many things would have to happen before the world came to an end. And that there would be many false (computer?!) prophets.
To me, the most incredible change required before Jesus returns is for a perfect bride to be awaiting Him! This has seemed impossible in the past, for the church has been shades of grey. But as the revelation of establishing the kingdom now comes to be both understood and applied in kingdom believers lives, so we can see the potential for the bride dressed in linen becoming a reality.
Come Jesus, come.
Until next week.......
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD.
His servant and yours
David Tait
Today's 'Word Puzzle' Answer: CLIENTS
TODAY'S 'BIBLE QUESTION' ANSWER: C - and out goes strife. (Proverbs 22:10)
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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
7 Bull Street
Ahuriri
Napier
New Zealand
Phone: (06) 835 0567 International (+64) 6 835 0567
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!
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