Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "will-of-god"
Stand Still and Walk! – Part 1
But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” [Exodus 14:13-14]
It is a commonplace in today’s churches to hie off to the nearest Christian bookstore in search of spiritual secrets. The latest fad book on “How to Make Your Church Grow from Seven Souls to Seven Thousand Overnight” is one of the best sellers. When we follow such an approach, we turn the church into a worldly organization. Truth be told, the Church is a spiritual organism, the Body of Christ on earth today.
There are no shortcuts in natural life, dear friends. To create a mature adult several steps need to take place, each of which takes years to blossom. Let’s itemize some of them:
1. consummation of a marriage
2. carrying to term
3. giving birth
4. baby years
5. toddler years
6. preschool years
7. elementary school years
8. high school years
9. college/trade school/apprenticeship years
10. young working adult years
11. middle age years
12. golden oldies years
The list is not all-inclusive to be sure, but it suffices to express the stages of natural life.
The same is true in spiritual life. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God [John 3:3]. So in the spiritual life we also need points 1-3: consummation of a marriage, carrying to term, and giving birth.
A simple cursory glance at both Old and New Testaments reveals the Lord’s will for His people to become educated in the Word of God. Strict directions are given for parents to rear their children in the things of God, both by teaching them the Bible and by setting a Biblical example of Christian living for them. So in the spiritual life we also need points 4-9.
In 1 John 2:12-14 the Apostle John identifies three ages of spiritual maturity. He addresses the “little children” and the “young men” and the “fathers”. When we understand that John is writing spiritual truth to these folks, then we know to interpret these terms spiritually, i.e., as pertaining to spiritual life. So in the spiritual life we also need points 10-12.
Here’s the moral to this story, dear people. In the natural life things are not the same for each person. Your course in life and your natural gifts and abilities are not mine or your neighbors or your sisters. And what is applicable to you today might not be so in twenty years or twenty days or twenty minutes.
The same is true in the spiritual life too. How one person came to know the Lord is not the way everybody must come to know the Lord. What books and teachings attract one Christian is not what will appeal to another. What ministry I have is not the ministry you are supposed to have. There is no one-size-fits-all in spiritual life.
For that matter what is apposite for me today in ministry might very well not be tomorrow. I used to have a pulpit ministry: now I have a writing ministry. The Lord wants to rear us to walk by faith, which requires constant dependence on Him, not a predetermined plan on our part of what will be.
Until we get a handle on this spiritual truth that the Church is a spiritual organism and not a worldly organization, we will never accomplish for Christ anything to write home about. We need to study 1 Corinthians 12-14 until we thoroughly understand this.
Do you see how this affects Christian fad books about how to grow the church? What worked in one case is not a blueprint for every church—or perhaps even for any other church. Programs, fads, gadgets and gimmicks—suchlike gewgaws are not the work of a spiritual organism. They are the baubles of a worldly organization. They only serve to attract folks on the natural level, not the spiritual.
We will pursue this issue further in our next lesson. Spend some time alone with our blessed Lord now, why don’cha.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
It is a commonplace in today’s churches to hie off to the nearest Christian bookstore in search of spiritual secrets. The latest fad book on “How to Make Your Church Grow from Seven Souls to Seven Thousand Overnight” is one of the best sellers. When we follow such an approach, we turn the church into a worldly organization. Truth be told, the Church is a spiritual organism, the Body of Christ on earth today.
There are no shortcuts in natural life, dear friends. To create a mature adult several steps need to take place, each of which takes years to blossom. Let’s itemize some of them:
1. consummation of a marriage
2. carrying to term
3. giving birth
4. baby years
5. toddler years
6. preschool years
7. elementary school years
8. high school years
9. college/trade school/apprenticeship years
10. young working adult years
11. middle age years
12. golden oldies years
The list is not all-inclusive to be sure, but it suffices to express the stages of natural life.
The same is true in spiritual life. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God [John 3:3]. So in the spiritual life we also need points 1-3: consummation of a marriage, carrying to term, and giving birth.
A simple cursory glance at both Old and New Testaments reveals the Lord’s will for His people to become educated in the Word of God. Strict directions are given for parents to rear their children in the things of God, both by teaching them the Bible and by setting a Biblical example of Christian living for them. So in the spiritual life we also need points 4-9.
In 1 John 2:12-14 the Apostle John identifies three ages of spiritual maturity. He addresses the “little children” and the “young men” and the “fathers”. When we understand that John is writing spiritual truth to these folks, then we know to interpret these terms spiritually, i.e., as pertaining to spiritual life. So in the spiritual life we also need points 10-12.
Here’s the moral to this story, dear people. In the natural life things are not the same for each person. Your course in life and your natural gifts and abilities are not mine or your neighbors or your sisters. And what is applicable to you today might not be so in twenty years or twenty days or twenty minutes.
The same is true in the spiritual life too. How one person came to know the Lord is not the way everybody must come to know the Lord. What books and teachings attract one Christian is not what will appeal to another. What ministry I have is not the ministry you are supposed to have. There is no one-size-fits-all in spiritual life.
For that matter what is apposite for me today in ministry might very well not be tomorrow. I used to have a pulpit ministry: now I have a writing ministry. The Lord wants to rear us to walk by faith, which requires constant dependence on Him, not a predetermined plan on our part of what will be.
Until we get a handle on this spiritual truth that the Church is a spiritual organism and not a worldly organization, we will never accomplish for Christ anything to write home about. We need to study 1 Corinthians 12-14 until we thoroughly understand this.
Do you see how this affects Christian fad books about how to grow the church? What worked in one case is not a blueprint for every church—or perhaps even for any other church. Programs, fads, gadgets and gimmicks—suchlike gewgaws are not the work of a spiritual organism. They are the baubles of a worldly organization. They only serve to attract folks on the natural level, not the spiritual.
We will pursue this issue further in our next lesson. Spend some time alone with our blessed Lord now, why don’cha.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Stand Still and Walk! – Part 2
But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” [Exodus 14:13-14]
In the text we quoted to start this study, the Israelites were standing on the shore of the Red Sea. The sea was in front of them to bar their advancement, and Pharaoh and his army were behind them to bar their retreat. The Israelites were in a state of discombobulation, fearing for their lives and panic-stricken.
Moses alone stood resolute because his eyes were on the Lord, while the other Israelites focused on the sea and the enemy soldiers. By faith Moses exhorted his compatriots, Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today.
Following today’s approach, Aaron should’ve run off to seclusion and written a fad book titled, “How To Escape All Your Troubles!” He could write down the account of how the Lord delivered the Israelites at the Red Sea. All of Egypt’s enemies would be sure to make a mad dash for the bookstores and get their copy. Then they could lure Pharaoh to the Red Sea and win the war the way the Israelites did!
Dear friends, on this occasion the Lord instructed the Israelites to stand still and watch Him deliver them from Pharaoh’s clutches. While they watched the Lord parted the waters of the Red Sea and sent the Israelites across it on dry ground. Of course the Israelites had to do their part, viz., to stand still and trust Him while the waters were parted, and then to get a-marching across the dry seabed.
But the Lord didn’t repeat this approach any other time, except forty years later when He also stopped the waters of the flooding Jordan River to allow Israel to cross on dry ground. The repetition of this approach was for reasons of typology.
On many occasions the Lord instructed the Israelites to take up arms and do the fighting themselves. He did defeat the enemy for them, to be sure, but they had to participate by actually fighting. So at the Red Sea the Lord forbade the Israelites to do the fighting, while against the Amalekites (as one example, cf., Exodus 17) He insisted they do the fighting.
Isn’t it clear that fad books about how to grow the church are only worldly ways? We have many a missions program which apes this approach. Such programs think bigger is better, rather than Biblical is spiritual. They wind up sending out family units on their own to do the work of the ministry, like isolated participants in guerrilla warfare.
What they should be doing is involving the entire Body of Christ in spiritual warfare. After all, every Christian is a prayer warrior in the Christian military. But Christians cannot effectively conduct spiritual warfare without personal involvement in the ministry. We need to know the missionaries and be kept up-to-date on their needs and goals, so we can offer up very specific prayers to the Lord.
In ministry the Lord has His part to do and we have ours. Those parts vary from ministry to ministry and sometimes from moment to moment. We need to maintain our relationship with the Lord daily and be in prayer about what He wants from us each day. That is how to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Isn’t this what you want for yourself? I know I do.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
In the text we quoted to start this study, the Israelites were standing on the shore of the Red Sea. The sea was in front of them to bar their advancement, and Pharaoh and his army were behind them to bar their retreat. The Israelites were in a state of discombobulation, fearing for their lives and panic-stricken.
Moses alone stood resolute because his eyes were on the Lord, while the other Israelites focused on the sea and the enemy soldiers. By faith Moses exhorted his compatriots, Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today.
Following today’s approach, Aaron should’ve run off to seclusion and written a fad book titled, “How To Escape All Your Troubles!” He could write down the account of how the Lord delivered the Israelites at the Red Sea. All of Egypt’s enemies would be sure to make a mad dash for the bookstores and get their copy. Then they could lure Pharaoh to the Red Sea and win the war the way the Israelites did!
Dear friends, on this occasion the Lord instructed the Israelites to stand still and watch Him deliver them from Pharaoh’s clutches. While they watched the Lord parted the waters of the Red Sea and sent the Israelites across it on dry ground. Of course the Israelites had to do their part, viz., to stand still and trust Him while the waters were parted, and then to get a-marching across the dry seabed.
But the Lord didn’t repeat this approach any other time, except forty years later when He also stopped the waters of the flooding Jordan River to allow Israel to cross on dry ground. The repetition of this approach was for reasons of typology.
On many occasions the Lord instructed the Israelites to take up arms and do the fighting themselves. He did defeat the enemy for them, to be sure, but they had to participate by actually fighting. So at the Red Sea the Lord forbade the Israelites to do the fighting, while against the Amalekites (as one example, cf., Exodus 17) He insisted they do the fighting.
Isn’t it clear that fad books about how to grow the church are only worldly ways? We have many a missions program which apes this approach. Such programs think bigger is better, rather than Biblical is spiritual. They wind up sending out family units on their own to do the work of the ministry, like isolated participants in guerrilla warfare.
What they should be doing is involving the entire Body of Christ in spiritual warfare. After all, every Christian is a prayer warrior in the Christian military. But Christians cannot effectively conduct spiritual warfare without personal involvement in the ministry. We need to know the missionaries and be kept up-to-date on their needs and goals, so we can offer up very specific prayers to the Lord.
In ministry the Lord has His part to do and we have ours. Those parts vary from ministry to ministry and sometimes from moment to moment. We need to maintain our relationship with the Lord daily and be in prayer about what He wants from us each day. That is how to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Isn’t this what you want for yourself? I know I do.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Stand Still and Walk! – Part 1
But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” [Exodus 14:13-14]
It is a commonplace in today’s churches to hie off to the nearest Christian bookstore in search of spiritual secrets. The latest fad book on “How to Make Your Church Grow from Seven Souls to Seven Thousand Overnight” is one of the best sellers. When we follow such an approach, we turn the church into a worldly organization. Truth be told, the Church is a spiritual organism, the Body of Christ on earth today.
There are no shortcuts in natural life, dear friends. To create a mature adult several steps need to take place, each of which takes years to blossom. Let’s itemize some of them:
1. consummation of a marriage
2. carrying to term
3. giving birth
4. baby years
5. toddler years
6. preschool years
7. elementary school years
8. high school years
9. college/trade school/apprenticeship years
10. young working adult years
11. middle age years
12. golden oldies years
The list is not all-inclusive to be sure, but it suffices to express the stages of natural life.
The same is true in spiritual life. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God [John 3:3]. So in the spiritual life we also need points 1-3: consummation of a marriage, carrying to term, and giving birth.
A simple cursory glance at both Old and New Testaments reveals the Lord’s will for His people to become educated in the Word of God. Strict directions are given for parents to rear their children in the things of God, both by teaching them the Bible and by setting a Biblical example of Christian living for them. So in the spiritual life we also need points 4-9.
In 1 John 2:12-14 the Apostle John identifies three ages of spiritual maturity. He addresses the “little children” and the “young men” and the “fathers”. When we understand that John is writing spiritual truth to these folks, then we know to interpret these terms spiritually, i.e., as pertaining to spiritual life. So in the spiritual life we also need points 10-12.
Here’s the moral to this story, dear people. In the natural life things are not the same for each person. Your course in life and your natural gifts and abilities are not mine or your neighbors or your sisters. And what is applicable to you today might not be so in twenty years or twenty days or twenty minutes.
The same is true in the spiritual life too. How one person came to know the Lord is not the way everybody must come to know the Lord. What books and teachings attract one Christian is not what will appeal to another. What ministry I have is not the ministry you are supposed to have. There is no one-size-fits-all in spiritual life.
For that matter what is apposite for me today in ministry might very well not be tomorrow. I used to have a pulpit ministry: now I have a writing ministry. The Lord wants to rear us to walk by faith, which requires constant dependence on Him, not a predetermined plan on our part of what will be.
Until we get a handle on this spiritual truth that the Church is a spiritual organism and not a worldly organization, we will never accomplish for Christ anything to write home about. We need to study 1 Corinthians 12-14 until we thoroughly understand this.
Do you see how this affects Christian fad books about how to grow the church? What worked in one case is not a blueprint for every church—or perhaps even for any other church. Programs, fads, gadgets and gimmicks—suchlike gewgaws are not the work of a spiritual organism. They are the baubles of a worldly organization. They only serve to attract folks on the natural level, not the spiritual.
We will pursue this issue further in our next lesson. Spend some time alone with our blessed Lord now, why don’cha.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
It is a commonplace in today’s churches to hie off to the nearest Christian bookstore in search of spiritual secrets. The latest fad book on “How to Make Your Church Grow from Seven Souls to Seven Thousand Overnight” is one of the best sellers. When we follow such an approach, we turn the church into a worldly organization. Truth be told, the Church is a spiritual organism, the Body of Christ on earth today.
There are no shortcuts in natural life, dear friends. To create a mature adult several steps need to take place, each of which takes years to blossom. Let’s itemize some of them:
1. consummation of a marriage
2. carrying to term
3. giving birth
4. baby years
5. toddler years
6. preschool years
7. elementary school years
8. high school years
9. college/trade school/apprenticeship years
10. young working adult years
11. middle age years
12. golden oldies years
The list is not all-inclusive to be sure, but it suffices to express the stages of natural life.
The same is true in spiritual life. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God [John 3:3]. So in the spiritual life we also need points 1-3: consummation of a marriage, carrying to term, and giving birth.
A simple cursory glance at both Old and New Testaments reveals the Lord’s will for His people to become educated in the Word of God. Strict directions are given for parents to rear their children in the things of God, both by teaching them the Bible and by setting a Biblical example of Christian living for them. So in the spiritual life we also need points 4-9.
In 1 John 2:12-14 the Apostle John identifies three ages of spiritual maturity. He addresses the “little children” and the “young men” and the “fathers”. When we understand that John is writing spiritual truth to these folks, then we know to interpret these terms spiritually, i.e., as pertaining to spiritual life. So in the spiritual life we also need points 10-12.
Here’s the moral to this story, dear people. In the natural life things are not the same for each person. Your course in life and your natural gifts and abilities are not mine or your neighbors or your sisters. And what is applicable to you today might not be so in twenty years or twenty days or twenty minutes.
The same is true in the spiritual life too. How one person came to know the Lord is not the way everybody must come to know the Lord. What books and teachings attract one Christian is not what will appeal to another. What ministry I have is not the ministry you are supposed to have. There is no one-size-fits-all in spiritual life.
For that matter what is apposite for me today in ministry might very well not be tomorrow. I used to have a pulpit ministry: now I have a writing ministry. The Lord wants to rear us to walk by faith, which requires constant dependence on Him, not a predetermined plan on our part of what will be.
Until we get a handle on this spiritual truth that the Church is a spiritual organism and not a worldly organization, we will never accomplish for Christ anything to write home about. We need to study 1 Corinthians 12-14 until we thoroughly understand this.
Do you see how this affects Christian fad books about how to grow the church? What worked in one case is not a blueprint for every church—or perhaps even for any other church. Programs, fads, gadgets and gimmicks—suchlike gewgaws are not the work of a spiritual organism. They are the baubles of a worldly organization. They only serve to attract folks on the natural level, not the spiritual.
We will pursue this issue further in our next lesson. Spend some time alone with our blessed Lord now, why don’cha.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Stand Still and Walk! – Part 2
But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” [Exodus 14:13-14]
In the text we quoted to start this study, the Israelites were standing on the shore of the Red Sea. The sea was in front of them to bar their advancement, and Pharaoh and his army were behind them to bar their retreat. The Israelites were in a state of discombobulation, fearing for their lives and panic-stricken.
Moses alone stood resolute because his eyes were on the Lord, while the other Israelites focused on the sea and the enemy soldiers. By faith Moses exhorted his compatriots, Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today.
Following today’s approach, Aaron should’ve run off to seclusion and written a fad book titled, “How To Escape All Your Troubles!” He could write down the account of how the Lord delivered the Israelites at the Red Sea. All of Egypt’s enemies would be sure to make a mad dash for the bookstores and get their copy. Then they could lure Pharaoh to the Red Sea and win the war the way the Israelites did!
Dear friends, on this occasion the Lord instructed the Israelites to stand still and watch Him deliver them from Pharaoh’s clutches. While they watched, the Lord parted the waters of the Red Sea and sent the Israelites across it on dry ground. Of course the Israelites had to do their part, viz., to stand still and trust Him while the waters were parted, and then to get a-marching across the dry seabed.
But the Lord didn’t repeat this approach any other time, except forty years later when He also stopped the waters of the flooding Jordan River to allow Israel to cross on dry ground. The repetition of this approach was for reasons of typology.
On many occasions the Lord instructed the Israelites to take up arms and do the fighting themselves. He did defeat the enemy for them, to be sure, but they had to participate by actually fighting. So at the Red Sea the Lord forbade the Israelites to do the fighting, while against the Amalekites (as one example, cf., Exodus 17) He insisted they do the fighting.
Isn’t it clear that fad books about how to grow the church are only worldly ways? We have many a missions program which apes this approach. Such programs think bigger is better, rather than Biblical is spiritual. They wind up sending out family units on their own to do the work of the ministry, like isolated participants in guerrilla warfare.
What they should be doing is involving the entire Body of Christ in spiritual warfare. After all, every Christian is a prayer warrior in the Christian military. But Christians cannot effectively conduct spiritual warfare without personal involvement in the ministry. We need to know the missionaries and be kept up-to-date on their needs and goals, so we can offer up very specific prayers to the Lord.
In ministry the Lord has His part to do and we have ours. Those parts vary from ministry to ministry and sometimes from moment to moment. We need to maintain our relationship with the Lord daily and be in prayer about what He wants from us each day. That is how to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Isn’t this what you want for yourself? I know I do.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
In the text we quoted to start this study, the Israelites were standing on the shore of the Red Sea. The sea was in front of them to bar their advancement, and Pharaoh and his army were behind them to bar their retreat. The Israelites were in a state of discombobulation, fearing for their lives and panic-stricken.
Moses alone stood resolute because his eyes were on the Lord, while the other Israelites focused on the sea and the enemy soldiers. By faith Moses exhorted his compatriots, Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today.
Following today’s approach, Aaron should’ve run off to seclusion and written a fad book titled, “How To Escape All Your Troubles!” He could write down the account of how the Lord delivered the Israelites at the Red Sea. All of Egypt’s enemies would be sure to make a mad dash for the bookstores and get their copy. Then they could lure Pharaoh to the Red Sea and win the war the way the Israelites did!
Dear friends, on this occasion the Lord instructed the Israelites to stand still and watch Him deliver them from Pharaoh’s clutches. While they watched, the Lord parted the waters of the Red Sea and sent the Israelites across it on dry ground. Of course the Israelites had to do their part, viz., to stand still and trust Him while the waters were parted, and then to get a-marching across the dry seabed.
But the Lord didn’t repeat this approach any other time, except forty years later when He also stopped the waters of the flooding Jordan River to allow Israel to cross on dry ground. The repetition of this approach was for reasons of typology.
On many occasions the Lord instructed the Israelites to take up arms and do the fighting themselves. He did defeat the enemy for them, to be sure, but they had to participate by actually fighting. So at the Red Sea the Lord forbade the Israelites to do the fighting, while against the Amalekites (as one example, cf., Exodus 17) He insisted they do the fighting.
Isn’t it clear that fad books about how to grow the church are only worldly ways? We have many a missions program which apes this approach. Such programs think bigger is better, rather than Biblical is spiritual. They wind up sending out family units on their own to do the work of the ministry, like isolated participants in guerrilla warfare.
What they should be doing is involving the entire Body of Christ in spiritual warfare. After all, every Christian is a prayer warrior in the Christian military. But Christians cannot effectively conduct spiritual warfare without personal involvement in the ministry. We need to know the missionaries and be kept up-to-date on their needs and goals, so we can offer up very specific prayers to the Lord.
In ministry the Lord has His part to do and we have ours. Those parts vary from ministry to ministry and sometimes from moment to moment. We need to maintain our relationship with the Lord daily and be in prayer about what He wants from us each day. That is how to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Isn’t this what you want for yourself? I know I do.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Stand Still and Walk! – Part 1
But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” [Exodus 14:13-14]
It is a commonplace in today’s churches to hie off to the nearest Christian bookstore in search of spiritual secrets. The latest fad book on “How to Make Your Church Grow from Seven Souls to Seven Thousand Overnight” is one of the best sellers. When we follow such an approach, we turn the church into a worldly organization. Truth be told, the Church is a spiritual organism, the Body of Christ on earth today.
There are no shortcuts in natural life, dear friends. To create a mature adult several steps need to take place, each of which takes years to blossom. Let’s itemize some of them:
1. consummation of a marriage
2. carrying to term
3. giving birth
4. baby years
5. toddler years
6. preschool years
7. elementary school years
8. high school years
9. college/trade school/apprenticeship years
10. young working adult years
11. middle age years
12. golden oldies years
The list is not all-inclusive to be sure, but it suffices to express the stages of natural life.
The same is true in spiritual life. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God [John 3:3]. So in the spiritual life we also need points 1-3: consummation of a marriage, carrying to term, and giving birth.
A simple cursory glance at both Old and New Testaments reveals the Lord’s will for His people to become educated in the Word of God. Strict directions are given for parents to rear their children in the things of God, both by teaching them the Bible and by setting a Biblical example of Christian living for them. So in the spiritual life we also need points 4-9.
In 1 John 2:12-14 the Apostle John identifies three ages of spiritual maturity. He addresses the “little children” and the “young men” and the “fathers”. When we understand that John is writing spiritual truth to these folks, then we know to interpret these terms spiritually, i.e., as pertaining to spiritual life. So in the spiritual life we also need points 10-12.
Here’s the moral to this story, dear people. In the natural life things are not the same for each person. Your course in life and your natural gifts and abilities are not mine or your neighbors or your sisters. And what is applicable to you today might not be so in twenty years or twenty days or twenty minutes.
The same is true in the spiritual life too. How one person came to know the Lord is not the way everybody must come to know the Lord. What books and teachings attract one Christian is not what will appeal to another. What ministry I have is not the ministry you are supposed to have. There is no one-size-fits-all in spiritual life.
For that matter what is apposite for me today in ministry might very well not be tomorrow. I used to have a pulpit ministry: now I have a writing ministry. The Lord wants to rear us to walk by faith, which requires constant dependence on Him, not a predetermined plan on our part of what will be.
Until we get a handle on this spiritual truth that the Church is a spiritual organism and not a worldly organization, we will never accomplish for Christ anything to write home about. We need to study 1 Corinthians 12-14 until we thoroughly understand this.
Do you see how this affects Christian fad books about how to grow the church? What worked in one case is not a blueprint for every church—or perhaps even for any other church. Programs, fads, gadgets and gimmicks—suchlike gewgaws are not the work of a spiritual organism. They are the baubles of a worldly organization. They only serve to attract folks on the natural level, not the spiritual.
We will pursue this issue further in our next lesson. Spend some time alone with our blessed Lord now, why don’cha.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
It is a commonplace in today’s churches to hie off to the nearest Christian bookstore in search of spiritual secrets. The latest fad book on “How to Make Your Church Grow from Seven Souls to Seven Thousand Overnight” is one of the best sellers. When we follow such an approach, we turn the church into a worldly organization. Truth be told, the Church is a spiritual organism, the Body of Christ on earth today.
There are no shortcuts in natural life, dear friends. To create a mature adult several steps need to take place, each of which takes years to blossom. Let’s itemize some of them:
1. consummation of a marriage
2. carrying to term
3. giving birth
4. baby years
5. toddler years
6. preschool years
7. elementary school years
8. high school years
9. college/trade school/apprenticeship years
10. young working adult years
11. middle age years
12. golden oldies years
The list is not all-inclusive to be sure, but it suffices to express the stages of natural life.
The same is true in spiritual life. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God [John 3:3]. So in the spiritual life we also need points 1-3: consummation of a marriage, carrying to term, and giving birth.
A simple cursory glance at both Old and New Testaments reveals the Lord’s will for His people to become educated in the Word of God. Strict directions are given for parents to rear their children in the things of God, both by teaching them the Bible and by setting a Biblical example of Christian living for them. So in the spiritual life we also need points 4-9.
In 1 John 2:12-14 the Apostle John identifies three ages of spiritual maturity. He addresses the “little children” and the “young men” and the “fathers”. When we understand that John is writing spiritual truth to these folks, then we know to interpret these terms spiritually, i.e., as pertaining to spiritual life. So in the spiritual life we also need points 10-12.
Here’s the moral to this story, dear people. In the natural life things are not the same for each person. Your course in life and your natural gifts and abilities are not mine or your neighbors or your sisters. And what is applicable to you today might not be so in twenty years or twenty days or twenty minutes.
The same is true in the spiritual life too. How one person came to know the Lord is not the way everybody must come to know the Lord. What books and teachings attract one Christian is not what will appeal to another. What ministry I have is not the ministry you are supposed to have. There is no one-size-fits-all in spiritual life.
For that matter what is apposite for me today in ministry might very well not be tomorrow. I used to have a pulpit ministry: now I have a writing ministry. The Lord wants to rear us to walk by faith, which requires constant dependence on Him, not a predetermined plan on our part of what will be.
Until we get a handle on this spiritual truth that the Church is a spiritual organism and not a worldly organization, we will never accomplish for Christ anything to write home about. We need to study 1 Corinthians 12-14 until we thoroughly understand this.
Do you see how this affects Christian fad books about how to grow the church? What worked in one case is not a blueprint for every church—or perhaps even for any other church. Programs, fads, gadgets and gimmicks—suchlike gewgaws are not the work of a spiritual organism. They are the baubles of a worldly organization. They only serve to attract folks on the natural level, not the spiritual.
We will pursue this issue further in our next lesson. Spend some time alone with our blessed Lord now, why don’cha.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Stand Still and Walk! – Part 2
But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” [Exodus 14:13-14]
In the text we quoted to start this study, the Israelites were standing on the shore of the Red Sea. The sea was in front of them to bar their advancement, and Pharaoh and his army were behind them to bar their retreat. The Israelites were in a state of discombobulation, fearing for their lives and panic-stricken.
Moses alone stood resolute because his eyes were on the Lord, while the other Israelites focused on the sea and the enemy soldiers. By faith Moses exhorted his compatriots, Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today.
Following today’s approach, Aaron should’ve run off to seclusion and written a fad book titled, “How To Escape All Your Troubles!” He could write down the account of how the Lord delivered the Israelites at the Red Sea. All of Egypt’s enemies would be sure to make a mad dash for the bookstores and get their copy. Then they could lure Pharaoh to the Red Sea and win the war the way the Israelites did!
Dear friends, on this occasion the Lord instructed the Israelites to stand still and watch Him deliver them from Pharaoh’s clutches. While they watched, the Lord parted the waters of the Red Sea and sent the Israelites across it on dry ground. Of course the Israelites had to do their part, viz., to stand still and trust Him while the waters were parted, and then to get a-marching across the dry seabed.
But the Lord didn’t repeat this approach any other time, except forty years later when He also stopped the waters of the flooding Jordan River to allow Israel to cross on dry ground. The repetition of this approach was for reasons of typology.
On many occasions the Lord instructed the Israelites to take up arms and do the fighting themselves. He did defeat the enemy for them, to be sure, but they had to participate by actually fighting. So at the Red Sea the Lord forbade the Israelites to do the fighting, while against the Amalekites (as one example, cf., Exodus 17) He insisted they do the fighting.
Isn’t it clear that fad books about how to grow the church are only worldly ways? We have many a missions program which apes this approach. Such programs think bigger is better, rather than Biblical is spiritual. They wind up sending out family units on their own to do the work of the ministry, like isolated participants in guerrilla warfare.
What they should be doing is involving the entire Body of Christ in spiritual warfare. After all, every Christian is a prayer warrior in the Christian military. But Christians cannot effectively conduct spiritual warfare without personal involvement in the ministry. We need to know the missionaries and be kept up-to-date on their needs and goals, so we can offer up very specific prayers to the Lord.
In ministry the Lord has His part to do and we have ours. Those parts vary from ministry to ministry and sometimes from moment to moment. We need to maintain our relationship with the Lord daily and be in prayer about what He wants from us each day. That is how to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Isn’t this what you want for yourself? I know I do.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
In the text we quoted to start this study, the Israelites were standing on the shore of the Red Sea. The sea was in front of them to bar their advancement, and Pharaoh and his army were behind them to bar their retreat. The Israelites were in a state of discombobulation, fearing for their lives and panic-stricken.
Moses alone stood resolute because his eyes were on the Lord, while the other Israelites focused on the sea and the enemy soldiers. By faith Moses exhorted his compatriots, Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today.
Following today’s approach, Aaron should’ve run off to seclusion and written a fad book titled, “How To Escape All Your Troubles!” He could write down the account of how the Lord delivered the Israelites at the Red Sea. All of Egypt’s enemies would be sure to make a mad dash for the bookstores and get their copy. Then they could lure Pharaoh to the Red Sea and win the war the way the Israelites did!
Dear friends, on this occasion the Lord instructed the Israelites to stand still and watch Him deliver them from Pharaoh’s clutches. While they watched, the Lord parted the waters of the Red Sea and sent the Israelites across it on dry ground. Of course the Israelites had to do their part, viz., to stand still and trust Him while the waters were parted, and then to get a-marching across the dry seabed.
But the Lord didn’t repeat this approach any other time, except forty years later when He also stopped the waters of the flooding Jordan River to allow Israel to cross on dry ground. The repetition of this approach was for reasons of typology.
On many occasions the Lord instructed the Israelites to take up arms and do the fighting themselves. He did defeat the enemy for them, to be sure, but they had to participate by actually fighting. So at the Red Sea the Lord forbade the Israelites to do the fighting, while against the Amalekites (as one example, cf., Exodus 17) He insisted they do the fighting.
Isn’t it clear that fad books about how to grow the church are only worldly ways? We have many a missions program which apes this approach. Such programs think bigger is better, rather than Biblical is spiritual. They wind up sending out family units on their own to do the work of the ministry, like isolated participants in guerrilla warfare.
What they should be doing is involving the entire Body of Christ in spiritual warfare. After all, every Christian is a prayer warrior in the Christian military. But Christians cannot effectively conduct spiritual warfare without personal involvement in the ministry. We need to know the missionaries and be kept up-to-date on their needs and goals, so we can offer up very specific prayers to the Lord.
In ministry the Lord has His part to do and we have ours. Those parts vary from ministry to ministry and sometimes from moment to moment. We need to maintain our relationship with the Lord daily and be in prayer about what He wants from us each day. That is how to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Isn’t this what you want for yourself? I know I do.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
