Hi this is goign to be very sort on the caption time.. cuz Im tiered
Our family went on a bike ride the other day in the park.. and we wer picking a mulberry tree
Flower
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Grilling
fireworks in the woods.... unfortantly I found that I was using my suviner frokm Mexico.. my coke bottle from down there.
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My view from my bed... My dear Lil Bambino.. always there to sing me to sleep at night...
At some music in Lapeer
More Bikeing
At red Knapps in downtown
DSO on Saturday
Sunday was a swinging good time!! here is Elizabeth on the swing... about to run into me :-D
Here is my Candid picture for the post... Joe.
I was giving Lemual his walking lessons.
Mrs. and Mr. Good... hmmm...
HERE is a video clip of sammy.. a must see 12 megs
DSO on Sunday infront of me
and behind me.. a bunch of friends..
hmm a very small flower..
A air conditionor I was working on with the sprinkler casting a nice mist over it...
Ok.. now for someone elses writtings...
This is something I would like all my friends from far and wide to read and take to heart.. and if you have any comments about it.. do post!!
A Plea for Christian Unity
by Frank Viola
For the last eighteen years, I
have been meeting in non-traditional churches. During that time, I have
seen the good fruit that is produced when Christians meet around Jesus
Christ in novel ways. At the same time, I have watched many churches
struggle to keep the unity of the faith. I’ve seen many of them
split due to unresolved conflicts over God’s will. On top of that,
I’ve watched Christian leaders have bitter falling-outs over theological
and practical differences.
I believe that a major thread that ties all of these maladies together
is bound up with how we have been conditioned to perceive the will of
God.
A NEW LOOK AT DIVINE COMMUNICATION
There is a very obscure passage in the Old Testament that sheds light
on how God communicates His will to His people. It’s found in
Jeremiah 18:18:
Surely THE TORAH is not going to be lost to THE PRIEST, nor WISDOM to the SAGE, nor THE PROPHETIC WORD to the PROPHET.
The Hebrews divided the Old Testament
up into three sections. The first section is called the Torah. It includes
the first five books of the Bible. The steward of the Torah is the priest.
The second section of the Old Testament is the Prophets. It includes
the major and minor Prophets and the historical books. The steward of
the Prophets is, of course, the prophet. A prophet is a person who speaks
God’s present mind.
The third division of the Old Testament is called the Wisdom literature
or “the Writings.” It includes the Psalms, Ecclesiastes,
Proverbs, Job, and the Song of Solomon. The steward of the Wisdom literature
is the sage (or wise man).
These three sections of the Old Testament represent the three major
ways in which God communicates His will to His people.
GOD’S THREE-FOLD SPEAKING
The Torah contains the foundations by which the community of God’s
people is built. The Torah contains God’s enduring moral principles—the
standards that spring out of His very nature. These standards do not
change nor can they be compromised.
The Prophets often seem to contradict the Torah. The prophet is the
person who enters the community of God’s people and causes an
abrasive, disruptive upheaval of what the people believe and practice.
The prophet challenges the people’s response to Torah, which is
usually a legalistic or misguided response.
The prophet really doesn’t contradict the Torah. He contradicts
the people’s response to it. We are fallen creatures and sometimes
we take the standards of God and turn them into dead rituals. At other
times we misapply them or disregard them altogether. The prophet is
needed at such times.
The Wisdom literature contains something that we Christians do not have
a great abundance of—wisdom! Wisdom is knowledge that is gained
through experience. It also contains a predictive element. Because of
his long experience, a wise person can detect patterns. He is able to
foresee outcomes (see Luke 11:49; Prov 22:3).
A wise person may make a statement like this: "What you just said
sounds really good, but it’s not going to work, and here’s
why . . ."
The instrument of the Wisdom literature is the sage, the wise old man
who has the gray head. He is sought after for his wisdom because he
has the experience of life. As a result, he can peer into the future.
The priest is authorized by the authority of the Torah which contains
what God has previously spoken. The prophet is authorized by the present
burden of the Lord that is upon him. The sage is authorized by his experience
and the fruit of his wisdom, which can be evaluated by the future outcome
of his counsel (Luke 7:35).
Put another way, the Torah looks to the past and asks, “Is this
Scriptural? Is this right?” The prophet looks to the present and
asks, “What is God saying to us right now? What is His present
leading?” The sage looks to the future and asks, “How will
our present actions affect the future? Is this decision wise or foolish?”
To put it in the language of the Bible: The priest asks: “What
do these stones mean?” (Josh. 4:6). The prophet asks: “Is
there any word from the Lord?” (Jer. 37:17). And the sage asks:
“Where shall wisdom be found?” (Job 28:12).
THE INHERENT DANGERS OF EACH
Each form of God’s speaking has its own dangers if not attended
to by the other forms. If a church is only conditioned to recognize
the Lord’s will through the form of Torah, it will become ritualistic
at best or legalistic at worst. It will need the prophetic word and
the word of wisdom to balance it.
A church that only recognizes the Lord’s will through the lens
of the prophet will be unstable and erratic at best. At worst, it will
be deceived because the prophet’s revelation can be bogus. Thus,
a prophetic word should be tested by its faithfulness to what God has
already said (i.e., Torah) and by its future outcome (i.e., wisdom).
If a church only recognizes the Lord’s will through the lens of
wisdom, it will be given over to human reasoning and empty philosophy.
True wisdom will always be faithful to what God has already said (i.e.,
Torah), and it will be responsive to the in-breaking of an authentic
prophetic word.
Consequently, all three forms should be embraced by a church because
the Lord provides guidance through each one.
Unfortunately, our religious background has conditioned us to recognize
the Lord’s will through only one form. Those who have a fundamentalist
background tend to only recognize the Lord speaking through Torah. Guidance
must contain a standard or principle of God, which usually has a chapter
and a verse attached to it. But this narrow lens has blinded them from
recognizing God’s guidance through the other modes.
Those who come from a Charismatic/Pentecostal background tend to only
recognize the Lord’s voice through the prophetic word. It must
be peppered with, “I sense the Lord saying” . . . “I
have a word from God”. . . “the Lord showed me . . . ”
. . . “Thus saith the Lord . . .” Appeals to Scripture or
wisdom have very little registration with such folks.
Those from mainline denominations tend to recognize God speaking through
whatever sounds reasonable. Wisdom is their language. What God has said
in the past carries little weight. And prophetic revelation is suspect.
Put differently, those who prefer Torah-speaking are thinkers. Those
who prefer Prophetic-speaking are feelers. And those who prefer Wisdom-speaking
are doers. Three temperaments, three denominations, and three forms
of God’s speaking. (By the way, it’s worth noting that our
temperament is connected to our religious background. We are typically
drawn to the denomination that matches our temperament. Doers tend to
gravitate toward denominations like Baptist. Feelers tend to gravitate
toward the charismatic crowd. And thinkers tend to gravitate toward
fundamentalist denominations.)
Whether we realize it or not, our religious background is a major hurdle
that stands in the way of laying hold of the mind of Christ individually
and corporately.
Accordingly, the Lord Jesus discloses His will through all three modes.
To paraphrase Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:1-6, “Jesus Christ is not
a dumb (mute) idol. He has the power of speech! And where does He speak?
He speaks through His Body. Since the Body of Christ is a corporate
organism, it contains many ministries, but one Lord . . . many gifts,
but one Spirit . . . many operations, but one God. There is diversity
in the Body of Christ! Jesus Christ reveals His mind through such diversity.”
THE CENTRALITY OF JESUS CHRIST
All three ways of God’s speaking should be held in tension. The
reason? Jesus Christ incarnates all three modes! Jesus Christ is the
real Priest as well as the Torah itself. Jesus Christ is the real Prophet
as well as the prophetic word or Logos. Jesus Christ is the real Sage
as well as Wisdom itself!
Our Lord reveals His will through His Body. Through some, He speaks
as Prophet. Through others, He speaks as Priest. Through others, He
speaks as Sage.
The speaking may sound different, but it’s the same Christ working
through each one. Regrettably, because of our religious background,
we have been conditioned to hear Him only one way. But as we open ourselves
up to one another, recognizing that Christ speaks through each member,
then we open ourselves up to the entire Christ and to His self-presentation.
This is how we lay hold of God’s will together.
So the next time your church meets a fork in the road over a difficult
issue, keep in mind the three ways by which God communicates His mind.
The trick is to be open to recognize the Lord’s speaking through
a mode that may sound foreign to your ears.
I believe that if we could get a handle on this spiritual reality, we
would see more unity in our churches and among Christian workers who
have a passion to see the restoration of God’s house today.
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Well thats all for now folks.. God Bless!!
AOL IM Screen Name: eleazarbendixen
Email: eleazarbendixen@comcast.net