R.T. Kendall's Blog, page 8

God’s Servant or His Friend?

God’s Servant or His Friend?

Would you prefer to be known by God as His servant or His friend? I put this question on my twitter and I think most who have responded have said they would prefer “friend”.

Abraham was called God’s friend (2 Chron.20:7; Isa.41:8; James 2:23). Moses was also referred to as His friend. For “the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend” (Exod.33:11). Near the end of the book of Deuteronomy, it is written that “no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut.34:10).

Moses and Abraham – the two most acclaimed servants of the Lord in the Old Testament – were called God’s friends. God imputed righteousness to Abraham when Abraham believed the promise that his seed would be as the stars of the heavens (Gen.15:6). Later on God swore an oath to Abraham when he became willing to sacrifice Isaac (Gen.22:16). Such faithfulness led to Abraham being called God’s friend, although there is no indication that Abraham knew this. There is nothing in the book of Genesis that shows God called Abraham His friend. This was said of Abraham later – long after he died.

Jesus said to the Eleven disciples (after Judas Iscariot left them, as in John 13:30), “You are my friends, if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:14-15).

The implication is, that being called “friend” is an upgrade from being “servant”. This is obvious or Jesus would not have said that they are “no longer” called servants. And yet Jesus stipulated that they were friends if they do what He commands. That is what servants do – obey. This means that friendship has obligations. I would add that “the Lord confides in those who fear him” (Psa.25:14). The King James translation: “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him”. The English Standard Version: “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him”. This means that friendship with God is on offer – upon a condition: that we fear Him.

Why do I raise the question? One reason is because we all would prefer to be regarded by God as His “friends”.

However, there is something that moves me – sometimes almost to tears – when I read these words that open the book of Joshua: “Moses my servant is dead” (Josh.1:1). Why does this grip me so? Why is it that I would almost prefer to have God call me “servant” than “friend”? Is it because these words authenticate Joshua in a very special manner? Or does it not show what lay behind their friendship? “My servant” is the way the Lord chose to refer to Moses when announcing his death to Joshua. Why not “my friend” is dead? Could it be because we should aspire to be God’s servant before we could presume to be His friend?

Martin Luther said you must know God as an enemy before you can know Him as a friend. It seems to me we must be known by God as servants before He would call us friends. The Eleven had been servants of Jesus. But toward the end of their time together He calls them friends.

I would be thrilled no end if I knew that God called me his friend. And yet if I knew that, when I am gone, He called me His servant, I would feel so unworthy but so thankful. It would mean that God accomplished in me what He envisioned for me. That is the way I read God’s affirmation of Moses after he died. Surely it couldn’t be better than that.

 

RT Kendall

Today is my 79th birthday

July 13, 2014

Dear Friends:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength”
- Isaiah 30:15.

Today is my 79th birthday. This also means a semi-annual letter to my friends.

As many of you will know, we have just finished a period of ministry in London, beginning last February 1st – and ending a few days ago. It was like a fairy-tale. To live in London again – indescribable. Truly wonderful, to say nothing about the opportunities for ministry. Pastor Colin Dye of Kensington Temple invited Louise and me to be a part of their team and we accepted his gracious invitation. I calculate that I have spoken 135 times  since February 1st including at  Kensington Temple, IBIOL (KT Bible school), Holy Trinity Brompton, Westminster Chapel, Sweden, Scotland, various churches in England, South Africa and South Carolina.

What is more, we have been invited back and we plan to accept. This means we would return to London next February 1st 2015 for another era lasting just under six months. What a privilege in our old age – to spend half the time in America and half in the United Kingdom. Our daughter and son-in-law, Melissa and Rex, visited us for a week in May. Melissa thoroughly enjoyed showing Rex around our favorite city as well as Oxford.

Never have I seen London, speaking generally, so full of expectancy – booming with building. Areas we were so familiar with have changed radically. But the presence of Islam is ominous. There is virtually no respect for God and the Church. Most churches are empty; few are full – like KT and HTB. Never has the need for Revival been greater.

But if my eschatological take is correct, Revival is not far away. Yes. I still believe the Midnight Cry (the announcement “Jesus is coming soon”) is at hand – that I will see it in my lifetime. I have decided to call my next book The Midnight Cry – an elaboration of the chapter called “Isaac” in my recent book Holy Fire.
 
The only problem with being away from Tennessee is the distance from our children and grandchildren. But Skype helps a lot.

Louise and I enjoy good health. Old age is not for sissies but we are doing well for our age. Amazingly, we are busier than ever.

God has been so kind and gracious to us. And yet Isaiah 30:15 has been put to me of late with a renewed warning: – a sober caution not to run ahead of the Lord as Joseph and Mary did in Luke 2:44. It is so easy to do.

Thank you for your prayers. God bless you all.

R T and Louise Romans 8:28.

The Sovereignty of God

Does man have a free will? Answer: yes and no. Martin Luther (1483-1546) said “No” in his book The Bondage of the Will. Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) said “Yes” in his book Freedom of the Will. But Edwards’s thesis is that, whereas man is free to do what he wants to do, what is it he invariably wants to do? Answer: by nature he always has a proneness to evil. We love darkness rather than light because our deeds are evil (John 3:18). So Luther and Edwards came to the same conclusion: man is not free after all.

We must bring St Augustine (354-430) into the mix. His famous “four stages” of man are very relevant:

Stage One: man was born posse pecarre  – able to sin.

Stage Two: after the fall man is non posse non pecarre – not able not to sin.

Stage Three: after conversion man is posse non pecarre – able not to sin.

Stage Four: after glorification – non posse pecarre – not able to sin.

It is Augustine’s second stage that we should be mainly concerned with: the state of humankind after the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is granted that Adam and Eve had free will when they were first created but that was before their Fall. Everything changed after the Fall. So what of their seed – as in Able, Cain, Seth – and all of us? The answer: we are all born unable not to sin.

So is man free? Before the Fall, yes. After the Fall, no.

Does this teaching upset you?

Paul says were born “dead” in trespasses and sins (Eph.2:1). A dead man can do nothing unless infused with life from the Sovereign Redeemer. Try speaking to a dead man! He cannot answer because he cannot hear.

Paul also says we were born “blind” (2 Cor.4:4). A blind man cannot see unless given sight by the Sovereign Redeemer. Try trying to get a blind man to see! He cannot see because he is blind.

The issue regarding the free will of man is: are people born as Adam was before the Fall? No. We are all born in sin. I was shaped in iniquity, in sin did my mother conceive me (Psa.51:5). We were born speaking lies from our mother’s womb (Psa.58:3). This is why you don’t need to teach a child to do wrong. You do have to teach him or her to do what is right.

The only way we come to faith is for God Himself to impart faith.

Question: does one believe before he is regenerated? If regeneration means being “born again”, it means one must be given life before he or she can believe. It is not believing that precipitates the new birth; it is the new birth that enables one to believe and repent.

After Adam and Eve sinned they were ejected from the Garden of Eden. The cherubim were placed their to keep them out (Gen.3:24). We have been kept out ever since. Only God can bring one to faith.

But does God bring everybody to faith? Apparently not. Not all people believe, not all have faith. Who has it and who doesn’t have it? Those who have faith are given it by the gracious hand of a Sovereign God. A man can receive nothing unless it is given him from Heaven (John 3:27). “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth” (Jas.1:18 – ESV).

Does this surprise you? Does this offend you? And yet it is clearly what Jesus taught. No one can come to Him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). The Son lives life to whom He will (John 5:21). No one knows the Son except those to whom the Son “chooses” to reveal Him (Matt.11:27). According to Luke, those who were “ordained” (KJV) or “appointed” (NIV) to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48).  Some think that Luke meant that those who believe were ordained to eternal life. Had Luke said that it would have been true. But that is not what he said. He said that those who were appointed to eternal life believed.

I pointed Acts 13:48 out to a Greek professor at my Seminary many years ago. He insisted that all who believe are appointed to eternal life. But I pointed out that Luke said only those who were “appointed” believed. He replied: “I know, but I don’t agree with Luke”.

The question is: will you believe the plain reading of Holy Scripture? Or do we read in what we want to believe into Holy Scripture?

You will ask: If God makes the choice, why does He not choose everybody? You tell me. The nearest you get to the answer to that question is Jesus’ own response to this: it was the Father’s will – it seemed “good” in His sight (Matt.11:26-27).

Don’t try to figure this out! Do you understand the Trinity? No. But do you not believe that God is in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit? I hope you do.

Dr. J. I. Packer (one of my mentors at Oxford University) called all this an “antinomy” in his classic little book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. An antinomy is parallel principles that seem irreconcilable but both being true. For example, is Jesus 50% God and 50% man or 100% God and 100% man? The answer is: Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. So too with the sovereignty of God and man’s moral responsibility: God is 100% the Author of salvation, and yet man is 100% responsible for his or her condition.

Whosoever will may come. Whoever is thirsty comes. But who makes a person thirsty? God. Who disdains the way of salvation? Those who refuse to believe.

As for the popular idea that man is a “free moral agent”, I would point out: (1) man is not free; he is in dominion to sin. (2) He is not moral; the heart is deceitful above all things and incurably wicked (Jer.l7:9). And (3) man is not the agent; the Holy Spirit is the agent (John 6:63).

If we get to Heaven, it will be by the sheer grace of God. If we refuse the Gospel we are to blame – not God. It is an antinomy.

I have written this blog partly because it has come to me of late that many of those who read my tweets and blogs have not been aware of my views of the sovereignty of God. Perhaps this should not have surprised me, but it did.

Now you know. After delivering His “hard sayings”, Jesus asked, “Do you take offense at this?” (John 6:61). Many of His followers did.  “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66).

 

RT Kendall

 

Christ Church Barnet

Sunday 29th June at 7pm.  

Christ Church Barnet

St Albans Road

Barnet 

Hertfordshire  EN5 4LA

 

Telephone:  020 8449 0832

http://www.ccbarnet.org.uk/

Thorn in the Flesh 1

I originally wrote Thorn in the Flesh sitting in a boat on the bonefish flats in Key Largo some 15 years ago. What started out as a series of sermons became a book. It went into reprints both in the USA and UK and also has been translated into several languages. Paul Crouch chose it as a giveaway for TBN viewers – I believe he said they gave away 197,000 copies.

I got interesting responses, mostly from offended people enamored with ‘prosperity teaching’ and the notion that you should never be sick or poor. A follower of a well-known prosperity teacher wrote me, “Satan loves your book man” but he did not sign his name or give address. Yogi Berra said “Never answer an anonymous letter” so I didn’t! The anonymous writer followed the man who said, “If the Apostle Paul had my faith he would would not have had his thorn in the flesh” – possibly one of the most despicable, reprehensible, sick, disgusting and theologically unsound statements I have heard in my (almost) 79 years.

Paul said that he was raised up to be an example – pattern – for those who would receive eternal life (1 Tim.1:16). How dare some man disregard Paul and imply he is more spiritual than Paul! This is what happens when you deny the supremacy, infallibility and finality of Holy Scripture when it comes to sound doctrine.

In any case, Paul testifies to a thorn in the flesh. I am glad we don’t know what it was; otherwise, we would dismiss the idea and say “only Paul had that”. But because he used an “umbrella term” – we an all get under the phrase “thorn in the flesh” – and know that God sends such to all believers! The Greek word likens  Paul’s thorn to getting stuck with a fish hook; you can’t get it out and if you try it hurts all the more – so you live with it. That is the idea.

We won’t know until we get to Heaven (of course) what Paul’s thorn was. It could have been his bad eyes. Health. Enemy. Living single. Who knows? I am glad he admitted to praying “three times” that it be taken away – for God who gave it could have taken it away; if Paul doesn’t get all his prayers answered why should I feel bad if I too experienced a lot of unanswered prayers?

Do you have a thorn in the flesh? I do – latest count: three.

The thing about the thorn in the flesh is that it is painful – and you can’t not think about it all the time. It is “in your face” (so to speak) – so intrusive. But it is God’s way of keeping us humble.

No single translation explains the purpose of a thorn in the flesh. One translation is “lest I be exalted above measure” (KJV) – implies that it kept people from thinking too much of Paul. Other translations – to keep him from being “conceited” (NIV ESV) – shows how human Paul was (does this surprise you?).

If you had a choice between the removal of your own thorn in the flesh and a double anointing of the Holy Spirit, which would you choose? Paul wasn’t given a choice but God answered his prayed with the promise of “sufficient grace” – which surely is better than having the thorn removed. I would prefer a greater anointing of the Spirit on me than anything. So if this is why I have my three thorns, I say “YES LORD – leave things as they are”.

We are selling Thorn in the Flesh at the discount price of $10.97 this month!

Christ Church Nashville TN

8:30am & 11.00am

http://www.christchurchnashville.org

Theology and worship

Theology and worship

Having had one foot in the reformed camp and the other in the Charismatic-Pentecostal camp, I have been increasingly alarmed at the trend in some of the worship among the latter camp. The early Methodists got their theology mostly from their hymns. This made them theologically-minded – a trait you and I must never lose. Whose hymns did the early Methodists sing? They sang those written by such people as Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Charles Wesley (1707-1788), William Cowper and John Newton (1725-1807). Read them. Sing them. Have you had a look lately at the words of hymns like “And can it be that I should gain and interest in my Savior’s blood?”, “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died”, “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform”, “How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds”, “O for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free”? I would plead for the present generation of all Christians to sing the new as well as the old. Jesus spoke a parable about “the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old” (Matt.13:52), a truth that could readily apply to new and old hymns.

What worries me most about some contemporary worship is its lack of good theology. Some seem to have almost no theology at all! This is not good. I fear that we are producing a generation of people who are vulnerable to heretical movements partly because of a lack of good grounding in the truth. That said, I thank God for hymns like Chris Bowater’s “Jesus shall take the highest honour”, Graham Kendrick’s “Restore O Lord the honour of your Name”, “Knowing you, Jesus”, “Such love”,  Stuart Townend’s “How deep the Father’s love for us”, “In Christ alone”, Matt Redman’s “Blessed be your Name”, “Ten thousand reasons”, Stephen Fry’s “Oh the glory of your presence”, Darlene Zschech’s “Shout to the Lord” and others.

But there are pitfalls in conservative Evangelicalism too. One teaching that is common in reformed theology is called “cessationism”. The idea is that the miraculous “ceased” sometime after the last apostle died or when the canon of Scripture was complete. Cessationism is not a fad. It has been around for a long time. Those who uphold this are not heretics. They are good people. But cessationism quenches the Holy Spirit as much as the previously mentioned teachings that displease him. You will not likely convince a cessationist to believe that the living God heals supernaturally today. A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still! I just don’t want some of these people to convince you! So do not let those who hold to their views that God will not manifest his power today deter you from seeing the God of glory show himself in our generation. That is why I wrote Holy Fire.

My own theological stable is reformed. But I came into it not by reading reformed theology. My purpose in writing this book however is not to change your theology but make you hungry for the Holy Spirit. If you walk in the Spirit, know your Bible and spend sufficient time alone with God, your theology will take care of itself. My greatest mentor was Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Through this book I want to make him better known and a blessing to you as much as he was to me. The greatest thing he ever said to me was this: “The worst thing that can happen to a man is to succeed before he is ready”. This statement is what helped me “keep my head” when God did not manifest his power in my own ministry as quickly as I hoped. But I never gave up. I don’t want you to give up!

RT

We are selling Holy Fire at the discount price of $11.99 this month!

Victory Fellowship New Orleans

Victory Fellowship
5708 Airline Drive
Metairie, LA 70003
504-733-5005
http://www.victoryfellowship.net

Isaac

Today I feel like the man who dropped the first atomic bomb. It is said that the bombardier who released the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945 put his head in his hand and said, “My God, what have I done?”

When I first conceived the thought that the Pentecostal – Charismatic Movement is Ishmael and that the greatest outpouring to come is Isaac, I had no idea that one day I would be saying this to some of the most important leaders of this movement. Today I addressed the Board of Oral Roberts University. This board is made up of some of the most influential and highest profile people of the Pentecostal – Charismatic Movement, including the leading historian of this movement. It is the nearest equivalent I can think of to a “Pentecostal-Charismatic Sanhedrin”! Imagine facing these powerful men and women and calling their precious tradition Ishmael.

When I finished my talk I had the exact same feeling as I had when I first unveiled my thoughts along this line at the Wembley Conference Centre in London in 1992. I feared I had offended some of the best people on earth. In a similar way, some twenty-two years later, on the plane back to Nashville I kept asking, “What have I done?”

Some readers of this blog will recognize that the final chapter of my book Holy Fire is called “Isaac”. The idea is this: for thirteen years Abraham sincerely believed that the promised child was Ishmael. But one day God said to him, “Ishmael is not the promised child. Isaac is coming”. This did not please Abraham. At first.

I once asked a Charismatic leader in England, “If you were to decide whether the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement is Ishmael or Isaac, which would you say it is?” He replied: “Isaac”. I then said to him, “What if I told you it is Ishmael?” He said, “I hope not”. In 1992 I gave my talk at the first Word and Spirit Conference at Wembley Conference Centre in London in which I purported that what we have experienced up to now is Ishmael – but Isaac is coming! As the promise to Abraham concerning Isaac was a hundred times greater than the promise to Ishmael, so what is coming down the road will be a hundred times greater than anything we have seen in the historic Pentecostal-Charismatic movement. Many Pentecostals and Charismatics have understandably assumed that the power and success of this vast movement is as good as it gets before the Second Coming. After all, over six hundred million – some say it is a lot more than that – believers scattered throughout the world could be called Pentecostals or Charismatics. This to many is proof that the greatest outpouring of the Spirit has already happened. “We are it”, many might well say.

I believe many have underestimated what God is going to do next.  It is my view that the next thing on God’s calendar is the Word and the Spirit coming together as seen in the book of Acts. Smith Wigglesworth prophesied three months before he died in 1947 that the next great move of God would be the coming together of the Word and the Spirit. That is what I am saying. I have given it the name Isaac. I plan to write an entire book on this.

The members of the Board of ORU had no way of being prepared for what I shared with them today. They knew of many of my books but had no time to read Holy Fire.  I was honored to be asked to address them. They responded with a polite applause. But I could not help but wonder what they really thought!

I do not think it will be long before it will be seen objectively whether my word is truly from God. There is not much more I can say at this stage. Only wait. I only know it is a perspective I have held for some forty years, reaching back to the days when I talked about this with Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

Many Charismatics were initially offended when I first gave this position in 1992. But afterwards some have embraced my position. There is a widespread feeling that “We need something – desperately”. The world has no respect for the Church of God. They laugh at us. The church is in a deep sleep. It is my view that when the Word and Spirit come together – resulting in the awakening in the middle of the night (Matt.25:6) – the simultaneous combination will result in spontaneous combustion. It will mean Isaac. Isaac means “laughter” or “he laughs”. But as the old saying goes, “He who laughs last laughs best”.

 

RT Kendall

 

Family Worship Center Williamstown, KY

Family Worship Center
1380 N Main St.
Williamstown, KY 41097
Phone: 859.824.7391
Website: www.fwcgc.com
Service Times: 10:00 AM & 6:00 PM