Dec | 16 | Diems, Deums & Dumb De Dumbs!

Key Word:- REAL

Title:- Diems, Deums & Dumb De Dumbs!

Genesis 32:24-26  
Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”.

I wonder if there are three types of people in the world today: Dumb de Dumbs, Diems and Deums.

A Dumb De Dumb could be a passive perambulator along the bright boulevard of life. Masses of money or lazy indifference or even mental illness (for believe me, each of these three types, positions or conditions can manifest the same symptoms of madness!) has led these ‘Dumb de Dumb’ people to simply disconnect from their eternal purpose and in-depth relationship with God and move to some kind of isolated observation platform, from which they simply lift their chin into the air and glance nonchalantly around, being so satisfied with their lot that they softly sing to themselves, “Dumb de dumb de dumb.... dumb de dumb de dumb.” Life holds little fear for these futile folk, because they are already the quasi dead, refusing long ago to grapple with the yawing eternity that lies within them and the mess, heaped up like old garbage, that lies outside of them. With money, indifference or mental illness, life may not be satisfying, but it is somehow bearable and has become even acceptable. “Dumb de dumb de dumb.... dumb de dumb de dumb.”

The Diems of life are far, far different. They are the movers and shakers, the artist and decision makers. They are, at the very least, making the most of whatever their hands find to do, they are going for it! At least the ‘it’ they think they should be going for. They are sucking on the dappled green rind of the red and rich dripping water melon of life baby! They are great to be with, they are on a journey, they are connecting with life, they are engaging with purpose, far ranging in relationship, and they are seizing the day for all it’s worth, they are the ‘Carpe Diems: Seizing The Day!’ Yet at the end of each long day, even with all this passion, they remain, uncomfortably restless. The doubting Diems always wonder if it’s all really worth it?

I woke up today with a vague remembrance of during the night, dreaming or thinking on that rascal called Jacob. He would no doubt have gotten his ‘Jewish Sandwich Soul Food’ from Wolfie Cohen’s Rascal House in Miami Beach, after a long night tending sheep along the broad beach up past the little city of Aventura. At an early age he moved from ‘Dumb de dumb’ status to being a ‘Carpe Diem’ and for many, many years, lived on the exciting roller coaster that such a lifestyle brought. He seized anything, he seized anyone and seized everything. Especially if it wasn’t his! However, this often repugnant, passionate and pugnacious individual was also in the end, still ravenously restless.

In all Jacob’s long life there is but one incident that makes him frighteningly special to me. Frightening in that he fought with God and nearly won! Special in that God, with the softest touch, graciously disabled him so that all Jacob could do was hang on to his aggressor for dear life. You see, the thing that makes Jacob so different and so blessed, is not that after this epic title fight with God, all his skies were clear, no, ‘au contraire’ dear friend ‘au contraire!’.  Nope, the so amazingly special thing is that Jacob the rascal seized God and would not let Him go until he received a blessedness that he would be satisfied with! O for the fellowship of such desperate men.

I say to you today dear friend, the only way we Christians should live out our lives is to seize God, capture Him in our arms and demand a blessing! Those of you who are offended by this; those of you who think this kind of impolite and disrespectful talking to a great and Sovereign Creator even, have a God, I imagine, who is to you, a God who is ‘afar off’. I would venture to say that all you might have is an idea of God, a beloved one maybe, yet never the less just an idea of who God is. Maybe God would grant you at some point the growing gift of desperation, together with, on some dark night of your blessed and desperate soul, the opportunity to be let loose to fight with the Lion Himself. I hope so, because until then, we all are a mocking caricature of what we should be and not even a pale shadow of what we might be. It’s only a little change of a letter to go from a Carpe Diem to a Carpe DEUM but I tell you, your life will never be the same again should you change that very little letter! Call Him out! Call Him in! Go on! Get to grips with God, go fight with Him. Go on friend, CARPE DEUM. SEIZE GOD AND LIVE!

Listen:- .. But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, Deuteronomy 4:28-31


Pray: - Lord, I don’t want to arrive in heaven without any scars; I don’t want to have never been in a fight with You and lost. So Lord I call You out today and challenge You to fight with me that You would beat me into blessedness. I dare you God! Do you dare too? Amen.

 

Dec | 12 | Leave The Clucker's Alone

Dream Word – REAL

Galatians 2:6-7 But from those who seemed to be something — whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favouritism to no man — for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. NKJV. 

Leave The Clucker’s Alone

The local, but wider Christian community can be a strange and noisy pond to swim in, for there are always a few large croaking frogs within it that enjoy singing from the central lily pads and the strangest thing is, that whether male or female, the croaking frogs always turn out to be large old hens, big bosomed and clucking! The saying, ‘Better be a large frog in a small pond, rather than a small frog in a large pond’ always seems to be an encapsulating observation for the strange manifestations of these fowl amphibians. No, I don’t rate them much myself and I avoid them at all costs.

The apostle Paul methinks, was of the very same mind set. A man who had been taught and trained in the loud lily pond pools of the Sanhedrin of Solomon’s courts, it seems to me, that he had no inclination to go back there and little respect for those who longed for it or continued to linger there within it. Paul found that most coveted cloak of ‘being someone,’ to be in fact a garb of garbage and frankly, he wanted nothing to do with it.

I have seen this puffed out reptilian chin and air-filled feathery chest, all clucking and a croaking, all over the world where Christians gather together. There are always folk in the guise of service wanting to sit on the central lily pad and be held in renown for doing so. Any reference to being ‘Founder, Instigator, Longest standing, Holder of keys, Possessor of rights, Presidents (especially former ones) or Presider’s over,’ well you get my drift, are all indicative references to people who have croaked and clucked their way to a respectable place on the central lily pad. They are someone. They are to be respected and they want you to know it. It’s all very Captain Mainwaring and it’s all very sad really.

The need to be respected by your peers (and frankly the more the respect you can get, the better it is!) is a most powerful force, which when fully embraced, will not only propel you to the centre of the local lily pond, the top of the local mountain, but will also take from you the very essence and loveliness of who you are. It will, now mark my words here, it WILL turn you into a croaking chicken.

Be yourself. Fulfil your own ministry. Pursue your own personal calling, realize your destiny and leave all the other clucker’s alone. They have their pale reward already. Tell me, where are you sitting today?

Listen: - "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. (Matthew 6:16-17 NKJV.) 

Pray:- Lord Jesus, delight Yourself in me. Lord Jesus, help me delight in me. Lord Jesus, let us have joy together in who we truly are; Lord, let there be food and drink and true fellowship of the heart between us, in Your great name I ask it – amen.

Oct | 25 | The Deal of Death

Dream Word – REAL

Luke 3:7,8 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? NKJV

The Deal of Death

I might have said this before, but like it or not, intended or not, the Paul Newman film classic, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ is a veritable mine of Christian Metaphor.

Taking note of the crucifixion-like posturing of Luke following his eating of fifty eggs, to all the crosses at the end of the film, I never the less especially like the fact that the character of Luke, is assigned the prison number of 37. Of course Luke 3:7 is our text for tonight and speaks to hypocrites regarding ‘fleeing the wrath to come!” And what are hypocrites, except those folk who are not true to themselves?
In any event, the film of ‘Cool Hand Luke’ is on the positive side, the story of a misfit and a rebellious one at that. It is the story of man who will not give up being who is, and in being who he is, brings hope, inspiration and happiness to the rest of the motley chain gang he is in prison with. These, in turn begin to feed on both him and his exploits. Like Luke Jackson, Jesus, in simply being who He was, most certainly clashed with those in authority and in the same way, that clash also most certainly brought life to others! There are many Christ-like comparisons to that fact in the film, but for tonight, I have found three things in the movie and in my own life that prove being your authentic self, does bring life and light and hope to others.

Firstly, please note that God has put certain people on this planet,who no matter how hard you or they try, just will not fit the standard mould of things, in any shape or form! These circus folk, these rebels who are too often without a cause, need to be celebrated for who they are and guided in the planning for what they shall become. Unfortunately and very often, all of society’s social misfits, are kept hidden in the attic, or way back in the research and development area of businesses that benefit from their seeming eccentricities, but are embarrassed by their exploits. Yes, in one way or another, this circus crowd is always hidden away because of their seemingly weird and wacky ways. Yet given the right kind of encouragement and direction, these shooting stars can shine brighter and longer than anyone ever imagined, across the sky of which they long to streak. Embrace such circus folk with happiness and laughter, for even though they might be firecrackers, they will light up your life and light up your world! God made them and their individuality needs to be seen as a gift and not a curse.

Secondly, know that all of us are cramped in some way by our sin sick societies. All of us are crippled by unnecessary rules and may I say, most of the sick, restricted, stunted, stayed and stifled people I have ever met are those which have been brought up in, or brought into the church of the living God! Like it or not, that is the truth. The church of the Lord of life, is often more guilty of the control of and perpetuation of death. The church needs to learn to release the uniqueness of the individual within its walls and outside to the world. Oh my, imagine when people are finally served into their destinies! Imagine what an uncontrolled explosion of life and light, might just envelope our communities of boring darkness. For darkness, death and Hell are above all things, boring. Think about that.

Thirdly and most importantly, please recognize the ‘deal of death’ which is often presented to firecrackers. I personally have had this deal presented to me so many times now, that I am astonished that the devil continues with the presentation! Yet he does and throughout the ages of time and the seasons of our life, still persists in his coming to us with the same sad deal.

This ‘deal of death’ and with it, the destruction of destiny, is seen in the Scriptures passing across the lips of the best friend which Jesus ever had on this planet, Peter the rock. Here the devil tries to use this best of friendships to scupper the eternal destiny of the Son of God and all who should be found in Him! “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’” Matthew 16:21-22 NKJV.

This ‘deal of death’ often comes from the best of places, the best of intentions and the best of friends, yet if you listen you can hear the serpents hissin.’ In the film ‘Cool Hand Luke,’ it is Luke’s best friend, ‘Dragline,’ played by Geroge Kennedy, who comes to Luke after his passion in the church and amidst all the sirens, police and the crazy correctional officers waiting to tear him apart, says to him with a nice big hopeful smile, “You’ve got to listen to me, all you’ve got to do is give up, nice and quiet. Just play it cool.”

There you have it! Do you see it? If life, if change, revival, love and light and world shaking can only come through the release of authentic Christians into destinies which are designed uniquely for them, then the devil will always, and I mean always, come to them come to you and say “Draw back, be quiet, be cool….” and my dear brother and my brave sister, when that happens, then ‘what we’ve got here, is a failure to communicate!’ For death of both the individual and the team will always follow such cowardly compliance to play it cool and draw back from our own uniqueness. Life will no longer be communicated when we draw back from who we are.

If you want to shake that tree your hiding behind, if you want to shake the earth for Jesus, then you must be all you are in Jesus and do all He wants you to do! Do not let anyone stop you being otherwise. Do not enter any deals of death! No, go on being who you are, for despite the embarrassment of the populace, true and lovely life will always follow hard on the heels of any release of your spirit.

Listen: - For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. Psalms 139:13-16 NKJV

Pray: Lord, help us all tonight, to see beyond any restrictive boundaries set for us by others simply wanting us to play it cool, in Jesus name we pray, amen!

Sep | 26 | The Bare Facts

Dream Word – REAL

Ezekiel 16:25 "You built yourself a high place at the top of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry. NASU

The Bare Facts

I am not a pornographer. Though I could be. No, the abuse and the misuse of women in glossy magazines and internet titillation, is in my mind, an offence to all real men and is an abomination to God, for the marriage bed is holy and undefiled. Yes indeed, according to the Bible, sex is good and great and holy to boot! How wonderful. Imagine that!

Therefore, dragging sex through the dirt is a terrible offence to the gift of God and a stain on His beautiful creation. However, I am no prude, no, I have no problem with fine art and the odd bosom and bare behind. It is all a matter of context you see, a matter of what is being portrayed and said. Yes, the misuse of sex is a terrible thing, but the misunderstanding of naked portrayal is simply immature and silly. As a verbalist, in the same way I suppose, the naked words I use must also have some relevant artistic ‘context’ lest they too become pornographically offensive. Yes that sounds right doesn’t it? For our culture I mean. It sounds right? Right? However, God does not seem to follow these same cultural rules.
Our text for tonight for example is raw and naked. It contains no misunderstandings. It is straightforward, it is grossly offensive and it is God that is speaking! Imagine a Pastor or church member using that kind of language! They would be excommunicated! No, don’t play the cultural context card here, for if anything, in that culture the impact of these words in our text for tonight have more offense and power than we can possibly imagine. God knew it and so God used it. God is very offensive. He doesn’t care. He’s not polite and He’s not respectable.

You see the problem with naked words, words without any culturally respectable mores, is that the pictures they paint are shocking! Indeed, they sometimes paint so large a portrait that it is only the vast unbounded context of the mind that can house those word pictures painted upon it. We need to be careful don’t we then, regarding just what kind of pictures we can paint with the words of our mouth? I mean last night’s poetic quote from the ‘Poet Bank Robber Black Bart,’ was pretty offensive, I mean, fancy finding 'that' in a Christian devotional. It is a good job that it was only verbal art wasn’t it? What's more important for me though, is that it is a good job I didn’t go as far as Jesus did in giving astonishing cultural and religious verbal offense. Phew! Thank goodness I did not go as far as Jesus in being offensive in my language. You see God is often very offensive. He doesn't care. He's not polite. He's not respectable.

Shall I be brave? Yes, I think I shall. Why not? Let me introduce you tonight then to some of the most offensive words ever spoken. Libellous they are! Outrageous they are! Astonishing even! Unfortunately though, the words are true and the passion in which they were spoken is rightly powerful, even spitting in its condemnation. So much so, that they got the speaker killed.

Listen – Jesus speaking to religious hypocrites says -"If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. John 8:42-44 NKJV

Now friends, we have little felt import regarding the extreme offensiveness to a learned Jew of being called “A lying and murdering son of Satan!” When Jesus shouted and spat this verbal slap at the great and the gowned , all the listening mothers began holding their hands over the ears of their children. All the grandmothers were saying “Tush” and sucking their breath in deeply and shaking their heads in outrageous disbelief! All the Pharisees were reaching for rocks and all the disciples were wide-eyed and open-mouthed, staring at Jesus in disbelief! Its outrageous I know, but it’s nothing compared to another place, where He’s really going to go ‘word wild’ on them and open up His big verbal guns and blast them with nomenclature like you’ve never heard before! Names that explode like hot shrapnel on the ringing ears of dumbfounded, pompously pious and polite big hypocrites whose nice religious language has camouflaged a festering and a fallen reality. “Open graves!” He shall call them, “White washed walls and nests of snakes” He throws at them, and a whole lot more besides. Yes indeed, there is many a religious and respectable Christian that should be thankful that not all the works and choice words of Jesus have been fully recorded for us.

Christianity is for real men. Men with swords, men itching for action, men willing to hazard their lives for the Gospel, men who can face lions and the strongest of charging bulls, grapple them by the horns, look them in the eyes and tell them the truth in full and not so glorious technicolor, even if it costs them their lives. The words of Jesus are for men, for they are spoken by the very best of men.

Christianity is for real women, godly women, strong of life and sure of lip, throbbing in heart, weeping at His feet, serving with singing, tough and tender, ready to glean in the fields of Boaz, ready to labour long, love lots, hope much, and command the dignity they deserve in every market place that they may tread. The words of Jesus are for real women who are sick of lies.

I have to say to some of you tonight that it is time to grow up. It is time to get real, it is time to lay aside the large offense you attach to small words and become as Christ. Christianity is not polite. Christianity is not respectable. Christianity is like its founder, like its Commander in Chief, it is righteous, robust and holy and that is the way you and your ears must become.

I spend my time encouraging folk to come to Christ! I spend my time encouraging folk to come to church, but I tell you tonight, that with some of you, I need to encourage you to put down your gold-engraved, red- leather Bibles and go join the Masons or the Women’s Institute or some other non-offensive little club. I say this because Christ and His cause is not for you. Frankly your polite and pressed suit approach to the beautifully raw and everlasting Gospel, is keeping people away from the Kingdom, yes it’s keeping them away in their thousands. I invite you tonight then to either get saved, get real, or get out, for I wonder if you really know the real Jesus of the real Bible all red in word and raw?

Listen: - "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Acts 7:51-60 NKJV

Pray: Lord, forgive me for treating Your house like a club for old ladies. Lord, let the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart, the passion of my pulse and the presence of my true self, be acceptable in Your sight, Oh God my strength and my redeemer. Amen!

Sep | 20 | Atonemints & Other Laodicean Abominations

Dream Word – REAL

Matthew 21:12,13 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" NKJV?

Atonemints & Other Laodicean Abominations

It’s like a freshman student who isn’t really comfortable and at home in their own body and therefore being out of place, being out of their comfort zone, being out of sorts, they are always trying to too hard to be a student. “Hey look at me!” they say, “Goofy bag, Bud-beer, piercings’, tattoos, ripped jeans and T’s with an offensive but cool print! Yeah, look at me! Look at me! I’m a student!” Louisville, Kentucky tries too hard to be weird. It needn’t try that hard, for the spiritual tectonic plates of the South and North of the U.S.A. meet right underneath the deep bed of the Ohio River and the constant rubbing and a-grating of the old South’s past, always gripping like a spastic bowel on the North’s imposing present during the warm cricket-creaking night, forces a noxious flatulence to break forth and bubble up across the whole Ohio River Valley, the green bogeyman gas, filling people with an insane need to be different and be different in a very different, but very weird way! No, it’s not just the inbreeding that causes a weirdness in Louisville, it’s the titanic and continuing clash of two spiritual fronts, which in the end always sucks and blows people out to the West, even as far as Seattle. Kentucky has always been a jump- off point for those heading West. Strange but true.

It is of no surprise then that such a place should produce a number of weird individuals, one of whom is regarded as the founder of Gonzo journalism, Mr. Hunter Stockton Thompson. One of my favorite quotes of his is regarding the music industry is where he says, “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” Ha! I like this quote because it belongs to any ‘successful business,’ which whilst utilizing the talents of artists and tradesmen, is in the end after profits rather than excellence. You can have both. If you have faith to believe, I suppose you can have both! However, I often find that in reality, there is always a trade-off between profits and excellence. Good grief, go into any Christian bookstore and the presence of yards and yards of shelving full of published and well publicized drivel is quite a testimony to that truth.

Which brings me tonight to a reality check for those involved in the Christian market-place and God help us, in this consumer driven Laodicean church age which we presently inhabit, we are all involved in the ‘BUSINESS’ of Christianity at some level. Unfortunately, those of us actually working in it, trying to make a living from it, know that it is more cut-throat, merciless, more forgetful, more rude and loveless, than the secular arena could even try to be and would even be allowed by law to be. You know it’s true! How many of you would rather do business with Christians or non-Christians? How many of you have been well and truly burned by the religious industry? Give me a dollar for everyone I know who has the singe of the religious machine upon them and the smell of burning compost about them and I shall retire to Tenerife and live handsomely for the rest of my days.

God’s Kingdom is not of this world, though it would be nice to see an occasional manifestation of it in the Christian Publishing Industry, in the Christian Clergy Industry, in the Christian Theological Training Industry, in the Christian Local Church Industry, indeed, in all the many and varied Christian Industries that we have created. However, in the money-driven weirdness of it all, it’s rare friends, the Kingdom is so very rare to see.

I have made my piece with the religious Christian industry in recognizing it for what it is. It’s like a freshman student who isn’t really comfortable and at home in his own body, out of place, out of his comfort zone, out of sorts, you know, trying to too hard to be a student. “Hey look at me!” It says to the watching world and the shallow masses that fill our pews “Look at me! Tungsten carbide laser etched personalized Bible, excessively long rat haired goatee, punctured piercings’ with nail’s of the cross, ‘Oh the wonderful cross’ keeping the holes open. Celtic, Klingon style tattooed Scripture verses in Hebrew and in Greek, ripped jeans and T’s with a thorny black Chez Guevara style Jesus, dripping blood on my Nike trainers, iPod ear buds filling my ears with the latest Christian bands! Yeah, look at me! Look at me! I’m a Christian and I’m armed to the teeth by the religious industry to meet the demands of the present age. Come and get it whilst it’s hot!”

Frankly, the religious Christian industry is all a little weird and if you don’t watch out, it will bite your hand off, and I have observed that the infections from Christian Industry religious bites are particularly nasty ones.

I’m not ranting tonight, honest, just using a little Gonzo, just mixing some fact and some fiction to prove a point and if you do not get the point yet, then let me speak quite clearly. All that we Christians buy and most of what we see, hear and build, has absolutely nothing to do with the Kingdom of God whatsoever, but rather has everything to do with business, with profits and with money. Ride the beast if you will but do be careful you never fall beneath its pounding hooves. I wonder tonight just what Hunter Thompson would have said about the religious Christian industry? What do you think?

Listen: - "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24 NKJV?

Pray: - Lord, help us. Lord help me to touch and to taste, to hear and to see, to feel and to enjoy, the reality of Your Kingdom. Lord, may Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in my life, in our lives, at every conceivable level. Amen.

 

Sep | 11 | Snake Oil and New T Shirts

Key Word:- REAL

Title:- Snake Oil and New T Shirts

Romans 1:3-6 
concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

The shop window was a dumping ground. Every thing you could imagine was packed into the display section and I mean everything! It was only through the smallest crack in the display that you could actually see inside the store and sure enough, that too was packed to the gunnels. The large sign on the window seemed to ring true, ‘If we don’t have it, you don’t need it!’

In the West, Christianity is once again having to compete in the market place of religion and that, not only when it “Super Wal-Mart’s” itself and competes against other large churches in the same area! No, postmodernism and post-Christendom seem to walk hand in hand and so a spiritual vacuum has been left and “hucksters” and “snake oil sellers” of every kind and description are on the rise and faring very well indeed. The disadvantage for the pseudo church, for that is what they are, is that their very own snake oil sellers, those heavily involved in the religious industry, will have to work that much harder. However, I do believe that time will show that Christian snake oil does not compare to that which other religions sell for in the end, frankly, Christian snake oil is just not that good, no, it’s just not efficious enough to do everything it says on the bottle. It’s a con. It’s a health, wealth and prosperity seeker sensitive con!

Now friends be encouraged, for the advantage for the real church in such a religious and competitive market place, is that we shall have to at last, come up with the real goods. It’s becoming a worn out word I know, but we shall have to prove ourselves, especially for these last generations, to be the actual authentic article. That takes integrity and in the market place of religion, we had better make sure our bottle contains what it says on the label.

What is “Christian authenticity” and how shall we know when we possess it? Well, may I say that to be an authentic Christian we need to manifest grace, truth, faith and power in the real world, rather than behind the closed doors of the sanctuary. Mind you, even the sanctuary would be a good place to start with those four fellas! Well, wouldn’t it?

Grace to forgive and embrace in enormous measure, grace to hope in the goodness and greatness of God, to make itself manifest amongst the mess of our communities. Truth about the real Jesus and not the Jesus of our own making. Truth about ourselves as individuals, truth about our communities, our nations, our race and our culture. Faith in God and His ability to redeem to the uttermost. Power to live, power to stand, power to testify, power to heal, power to deliver, power to provide, power to overcome and power to possess all that we are in Jesus Christ. That’s the good stuff!

When the authentic church arises, I tell you that they shall dare to walk anywhere in the market place of religion, loaded with heavenly goods, stacked to the gunnels and wearing newly printed t-shirts that bear the simple message: “If we don’t have it. You don’t need it!” We’ve a way to go that’s for sure, but this type of advertising needs to be seen and most importantly, needs to be backed by the reality of our possession of the same. “If we don’t have it. You don’t need it!” Imagine that.

Listen:- Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:11,12

Pray:- Lord, I am not what I should be. Lord I fall far short of what I see in the Scriptures. Lord, forgive me, please heal me, deliver me and release me in such a way that Your grace, hope, truth, faith and power would be evidently manifest in my life. O Jesus, re-generate the regenerate today. Amen.

 

May | 25 | Did I Tell You I Was In Prison?

Dream Word – REAL

Philemon 8-9 Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting, yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you — being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. NKJV

Did I Tell You I Was in Prison?

Following, is my inter-between the lines- version of Paul’s letter to Philemon. Please don’t get offended at this stab at the invisible words which I have perceived laying in between the lines of this letter to Philemon. I have, no doubt, possibly incorrectly ascribed to the great apostle, thoughts that never even entered his head...maybe? In any event, I do hope it gives you some idea of the possible 'churchmanship' of the great Apostle to the Gentiles and that it helps you find the humanness of this inspired letter a delight to read. It’s one of my favourite epistles in the New Testament and always makes me smile. OK Here we go!

“This Wee note is from Paul, (and by the way I’m in prison for serving Christ and others, the way I served you, yes you! A FREE, slave owner) and Timothy, (who also, by the way, is proof reading this personal letter and knows its contents.)
To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow worker (and you’re NOT a worker in prison my friend..you are FREE!)
2 to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: (I want to make sure everyone at your end also has a read of this.)
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (You’re gonna need it. by the time I've finished writing this)
4 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers,
5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, (including and especially, the one who handed you this letter. Yes I mean Onesimus!)
6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective (providing you don’t blow it by rejecting what I am about to say) by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, (Yes love! Joy, consolation, cmpassion, ooh and remember, LOVE! You good old boy you! Do what a good guy would do!) because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. (You’re a nice geezer, you;re my bruva! You, me old mucker, are the refresher. MY refresher. P.S. Refresh me now, by sending back Onesimus.)
8 Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting,(I am an apostle you know! But we;re friends.) 9 yet for love's sake (You’re a lovely guy remember?) I rather appeal to you — (from well below my present built up greatness of you, you old joy giver you. You old compassioante refresher!) being such a one as Paul, the aged, (aahaaah, good old Paul. Good old, pitiable Paul, and did I tell you I was in prison? No? ) and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ — (told you!)
10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, (yes that scoundrel that legged it from your service who is now as dear to me as a son, even as my own son, even as another Timothy! So watch what you say!) whom I have begotten while in my chains, (Did I tell you I was in prison?)
11 who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. (Don’t forget the last bit..AND TO ME.)
12 I am sending him back.(we need to get this sorted) You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, (Paul the aged. Good old Pitiable Paul… and did I tell you I was in prison?)
13 whom I wished to keep with me, (and by the way, with your say so, want to still keep with me) that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. (Told you, I need him to minister to me. Oh by the way, are you sure I didn’t mention to you a free man, that I was in prison?)
14 But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might( in others words mate, any public non-compliance with my suggestion will be considered by others to be a ‘bad deed’) not be by compulsion, (well not overtly anyways) as it were, but voluntary.
15 For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave — a beloved brother, especially to me ( Did I tell you that I needed him to minister to me? Also, did I tell you I was in prison?)but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. (Paul the aged PRISONER.)
18 But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account.
19 I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay —(not that you would take anything from Paul, the good old aged, pitiable PRISONER) not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides. (Not to mention that of course…no, not to mention you are in great debt to me! Did I mention that? You owe me mate!)
20 Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Lord. (Accept him, get it sorted, send him back. I’m in prison and I need him. REFRESH ME.)
21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. ( Because you are a good guy. A FREE guy and I am an old guy, who you owe, who is also, unlike you…IN PRISON!)
22 But, meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, (Yup, whatever you do, you’re gonna have to face me SOMETIME) for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you.
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,
24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow labourers. (There’s a least five more well known influential folk with me who know about the reasons and request of this private letter.) 25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.”

Listen: Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, - 2 Corinthians 7:6-7 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, thank you for the real comfort and the real help that You give us through the administration and ministry of other real people. Thank You Lord.

May | 23 | Cookie Cut Christians

Key Word:- REAL

Title:- Cookie Cut Christians

1 Kings 1:13,14 Go immediately to King David and say to him, 'Did you not, my lord, O king, swear to your maidservant, saying, "Assuredly your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne"? Why then has Adonijah become king?' Then, while you are still talking there with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words."

It was British comedian Ken Dodd who I remember saying that "a husband is a man with the nerve taken out!" I think what he was alluding to is the much caricatured 'hen-pecked husband,' you know, cowering and subservient, frightened to put a foot wrong, fearful to be wild. Now friends in the same vein, it has been my observation that one of those horrible peculiarities that we in the Christian church seem to have is the tendency to produce 'Cookie Cut Christians.' Nice, neat, well spoken, quiet, humble, obedient, polite people. I'm not knocking it (well maybe a little) but let's face it, some people had more life in them before they became Christians! Since that glorious day, it seems they have had their nerve removed

In the first book of Kings we are straight way presented with people who have been on the road a good wee while. Decrepit David, gnarly Nathan and old bent over Bathsheba are about to get the chop as Adonijah has just crowned himself king. A ‘clear out’ is ‘a coming’ and they are going to be thrown out with the garbage. Except that Nathan moves on the situation, managing the scene, both maneuvering the queen and manipulating the king. Nathan, the prophetic puppet master pulls all the right strings here. The result is simple, the kingdom is saved and Solomon becomes king instead of Adonijah. To round off the chapter, David, dear old man that he now is, gives command to his son concerning the dispatch of his enemies after his own forthcoming demise. Look! Can you see this? For one thing the people of the Bible are not, is 'nice and neat'. There is little presented pretence. They are who they are, still red in tooth and claw.

My point is this: The Lord in the scriptures reveals real people, in some raw and raging situations. There is nothing placid, lame and cookie cut about them at all. They are not caricatures of the Christian life, they are people and it's all a bit messy and it's all a bit smelly.

Let's get the nerve back friends. Let's have the courage to be who we are in Jesus, who He created us to be, who He wants us to be. Let me ask you today, WHO ARE YOU? DO YOU KNOW? Or have you had your nerve taken out? The other oven baked biscuits mightn’t like you so much if you don’t fit in the factory packet mind you. However, God and the world might find you that much more tasty. Some of you this morning, especially you men, simply need to go and get your nerve back!

Listen:- And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you. Isaiah 62:5b

Pray:- Lord, I am sorry that I am not the person I should be. Please help me to know how You delight in me. Help me to possess all that I am in You. Amen and amen!

Apr | 28 | A Stir of Echoes

Dream Word – REAL

Genesis 27:22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." NKJV

A Stir of Echoes

You will forgive me but not only do I enjoy country music, I enjoy science fiction writing as well! I think I enjoy sci-fi and especially watching it, because it gives my mind a few open doors to consider the world to come. When it comes to visual space science fiction then, surely ‘Star Trek’ is the daddy of them all?

It was in the film ‘Star Trek Nemesis,’ that the bald but Shakespearean Captain of the ‘Big E,’ The Star Ship Enterprise, Jean Luc Piccard, comes face to face with the character of ‘Shinzon,’ Piccard’s very own cloned but very bitter and evil self. Piccard, like all good Star ship Captains mind you, on meeting the younger evil mirror image of himself encourages Shinzon to aspire to be better than he is but true to form, like every other black, leather coated baddie, Shinzon refuses to aspire but rather assures Picard that it is he who will expire, indeed, in I think a most remarkable little phrase, Shinzon spits at poor old Jean Luc, is when he says that:-

“He’s about to see the echo triumph over the voice.”

The older men get, the less they delight in looking into mirrors. Indeed, most men rarely look themselves in their own eyes even when they are forced to gaze into the looking glass. They will look everywhere around their face, but find staring into the windows of their own soul, often a most disturbing, accusing, sad and condemning thing to do. Even so, God the good, in His great design made sure that the rapid growth of facial hair in forms of beards, and as we get older, nasal hair and the dreaded omni-brow and even rogue curly firework like eyelashes, will all need our daily attention. If I am correct, then it is God through the growth of weird facial hair that requires men to take an increasingly longer look at themselves most every single day, the more older that they get! I think this is important for us, lest our echo should have victory over our voice. Indeed, to counter the power of my own echoes, each morning, unlike Nivea man, I force myself to stare into my mirror, then way beyond it, through my pupils and deep into the windows of my own soul, first greeting what I see and then proclaiming these three things:

“Robert, do not be your echo, for your echo is merely an aspect, a poorer image of who you truly are. It is an holograph and even if it is strong or weak, it is at best, but a warped reflection of who you truly are. Today, do not let the echo have the victory over the voice.

Robert, do not make peace with your present voice, for even at its truest resonance, it too is but a mere echo of that which shall be proclaimed and be itself proclaiming, in all the ages yet to come.

Robert, today in the midst of false reflections, and the realities of those true, yet presently poorly formed reflections, do remember, that they are both seen and heard through the darker looking glass of being this side of the grave. Do not be misled by echoes, neither let them have any victory over the ‘voice becoming.’”


Now, some morning of course I don’t feel so poetic and often shorten this three-fold declaration to sets of three simple words, such as, “Let it go!” Or, “Stop Kidding yourself!” Or simply, “Grow up man!” You might think I’m a bit mad but I tell you to try it! Indeed, try anything, to stop those echoes getting victory over the voice.

Listen: - "Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. Deuteronomy 4:11-13 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. (Psalms 130:2 NKJV)


                                                                                                           

Apr | 19 | Are We Just Morons With A Message?

Key Word:- REAL

Title:- Are We Just Morons With A Message?

Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
 
I remember when the tall young Southern preacher touched on the text above. It was so good it needs repeating. Apparently, the Greek word for ‘losing flavour’ is from where we get our English word, ‘MORON.’ The word means insipid, stupid, dull, dumb, and moronic! And you know friends, when the church loses its saltiness, that’s just how she appears to the world, MORONIC! Jesus seems to intimate, that there is no solution to this problem at all! When the salt has become good for nothing; once the flavour has gone, what can you do but throw it out?

We imagine loss of flavour to be due primarily to some severe moral transgression, or especially maybe, to some doctrinal heresy. For sure, either of these can be catastrophic for the church and I am afraid to say, both are increasingly common. However, I’m not sure that’s what Jesus meant? There’s something far more endemic here which we have to deal with, for doctrinal dispute means nothing to the world, they are not interested and frankly, moral failure comes as no surprise to them as they are often more ‘honest’ about their sins and failures than most Christians are about theirs! Don’t misunderstand me here; I am not downplaying the wrongness and impact of either problem, I just think there is something worse, some might say far, far worse, for when the world tastes us, it finds us unbelievably, BLAND! Lukewarm blandness is the present curse of the Laodicean church.

A flavourless church is a church which is like a body without nerves, without feeling, without passion, without expression and therefore, it is a church without a present voice, her own distinct, clear as crystal voice, all coloured like a pomegranate, fragrant as fresias warmed by the sun on the kitchen windowsill, smelt on a late Friday afternoon; as unforgettable as Dutch liquorice and Cuban coffee.

This bland, voiceless kind of church however, as inoffensive as a well- dressed toddler; can only offer lessons in politeness, diplomas in acceptance and degrees in mediocrity. This moronic, flavourless, voiceless church is above all, respectable. This moronic church though, appears to have it all together and the members of this church are neat, clean-cut, financially viable, and have all their teeth smilingly enamelled. If they have a story, it is encased in the past tense. They certainly have no struggles now, have no victories, have no weeping defeats, have no joy of journey, no, they are in every understanding of the word, senseless and so are subsequently, voiceless, bland and tasteless!

The world however, has stories in the present tense, and struggles of every kind. It’s tastebuds are primed and dancing. So, when the world dares to taste this kind of voiceless church it finds it bland, as expected. When it looks with investigation, it finds it featureless, when it listens it finds it to be but clanging cymbals, full of a people so irrelevant to them and to what they need, that these poor voiceless, but all together churches appear to the watching world as just a bunch of ‘Morons with a Message’ and a less than mediocre message at that!

What’s your church like today? Full of five-flavour lifesavers or just neatly packaged boxes of doctrinally correct, dried up oatmeal that is good for nothing except to be thrown out? What’s your church like today? Full of five-flavour lifesavers or just frothy unfermented new wine, all smulched up with silly love songs that are good for nothing except to be thrown out? If it is either of these, then I have no word of encouragement for you, except that you get out before the housewife of the Holy Spirit throws you out of the window and into the street to be trampled under foot. He, who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Listen: - ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ …… Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ Luke 14:21-24

Pray: - Real God, in all my troubles, really be seen in me today! When I am touched and tasted, may I be found full of Your goodness, yes, let me at least rejoice in the knowledge that the flavour of Christ my Saviour is found in all my troubles, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

 

Mar | 04 | Of Mice or Men!

Key Word:- REAL

Title:- Of Mice or Men!

Matthew 10:24-26 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.”

 
“I am: obnoxious, overbearing, heavy-handed, fat, bald, ugly, sometimes rude. I like the sound of my own voice. I am so pro-war I've run people off the blog. I'm paranoid. I think I am right all the time. I over-react. I whine. I feel sorry for myself. I sometimes get angry. I sound too intense sometimes. I have a persecution complex. I make insincere apologies. I am a rank hypocrite. I live to frustrate and provoke my enemies. I am an ___________ (insert profanity.) I think everyone should believe like me. I have an ilk. I am too sensitive. I can't take real discussion. I'm too emotional. These are things I already know, just in case you were wondering.”
So goes ‘Rule 36’ of Posting Guidelines for the Boar's Head Tavern, a Web Log and more, hosted and posted by Michael Spencer, ‘The Internet Monk.’

Obviously, over the years with a lot of time spent jousting with a multitude of debate participators, ‘the Monk’ has had everyone of these accusations thrown at him. I expect that ‘Rule 36’ is a little tongue in cheek, but I suspect Mr Spencer would admit that there has been at times, some truth maybe, to some, or all of these self observations.

I must admit that I do like his ‘rule number 36’ for in a way, we should all envy the freedom and the stability that comes from being so rooted in the grace of God and so seemingly at peace with who we are right now, such that when an accusing observation, or a nasty accusation hooks us on the jaw, we simply ride the pitiful punch and wryly reply with a masterful three punch combination saying: “Yeah I know, sorry. Working on that one.” Or maybe a couple of four punch combination such as: “Really? Do you think so? Well I wouldn’t be surprised! Thanks for telling me.” Or even possibly, “No friend, not my bag, maybe it’s just your baggage. Now God bless you and get lost!”

I am coming to the conclusion that only those people who are truly imbibing on the grace of God, have the comfort and seemingly care free ability, to own their own sin. Pharisaic self-righteousness, especially within religious institutions turns real men into marching mice, who are always looking over their shoulders for the hungry cat that might eat their little piece of cheese before biting their mousey little heads off. Is that any way for a man to live? Is that any way for anyone to live? Is that any way for the redeemed to live?

Listen:- For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:20

Pray: Dear Lord, again I come to You. In Your marvellous grace let me own that which is mine so that in turn, both with confession and repentance, I may be free of it! Oh and Lord, on this carousel of life, grant me wisdom and courage dearest Jesus, not to pick up another man's baggage or be oppressed, depressed and repressed especially by the gross intoleration and incarceration of the righteously religious and yet unbelievably unbiblical 'thought police'. Amen.

Feb | 22 | The Problem with Oracles is: ‘They’re ‘Orrible!’

Key Word:- REAL


Title:- The Problem with Oracles is: ‘They’re ‘Orrible!’

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

“The contemporary pastorate is a mess. With hundreds of books, conferences and seminars touting the benefits of changing the traditional church into the purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive, post-modern church, there has been little honest reporting on the resulting awkward evolution of the pastor. In my lifetime, this evolution has swept over the pastorate, replacing what was a recognizable consensus with a maze of models, and an emerging template of the pastorate that would be unrecognizable in most of Christian history.” So says Michael Spencer.

In his essay, Spencer’s conclusion is even more damming; listen, “I am beginning to see a volatile mix occurring between the pragmatism of the seeker-sensitive approach and the quasi-Gnosticism of the Charismatic movement. These two streams of evangelicalism share a low regard for scripture's authority in anything other than the essential Christian message. The seeker movement's pragmatism looks to the culture while the charismatic movement increasingly looks to experience and “prophecy” for their visions of the church and their direction for pastoral ministry.”Maybe his comments are just a harsh look at what might be some terrible and temporary tendencies? In any event, Spencer’s focus call, is that the job of those called to a ministry of the Word, is clear and simple, “Preach the Word! The WHOLE Word, and nothing but the Word.” I believe that if this mandate is faithfully carried out, that this is in and of itself both a very seeker-sensitive and prophetic office of Biblical proportions! You would think that would be simple enough, unfortunately no! So now to the problem. .

Do you think that any return to ‘Full Gospel Preaching’ (take that how you will) will result in peace and tranquility in the church? Do you think ‘Full Gospel Preaching’ will result in eager listeners hanging lovingly on every word? Oh No! PREACHER BEWARE! True prophets, were never liked much and never will be. Riot, revival and even personal ruin may ensue such preaching. It has in the past and it will still do so today.

In light of this, have you noticed the subtle dishonesty of a Pastoral selection committee’s searching prayers? “Send us a man of God O Lord to do Your will,” is in fact clearly heard by God from their heart as “Send us a politician O God to do our will! For whatever the cost, we don’t want to rock the boat!” These prayers have mostly been answered in the affirmative and subsequently then, the church has become a most quietly prophetic place, so much so, that we no longer even try to rock the boat! And should there arise any Prophetic Jonahs on board amongst us, we always follow the old fashioned method, tried and true and at the most opportune time, either at the next deacons meeting or future planning committee meeting, bind them up and throw them overboard! The rising storm of truthful boat-rocking always stops in local churches when that happens and after that, well, we can get back on our own merry little way. Thank goodness!

Maybe when we pray we should at least be more honest and very specific “Oh Lord, send us a suit, that suits our purpose, meets our need and fulfils our plans. No more oracles please O Lord, for they can be truly ‘orrible towards our personal kingdom expansionist planning!” Do you really want someone to come and preach God’s whole Word to you? I mean, are you really ready for it? If so, GET A HELMET! 

Listen: -If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. 1 Peter 4:11 

Pray: - Oh Father, reveal your Son in us that we might preach Him with power. Send us voices from The Throne, even though we might moan at the mighty messages they proclaim. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

Feb | 17 | Prophetic Chatter

Key Word:- REAL

Title:- Prophetic Chatter

Acts 2: 3,4 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.


The motto of the British Submarine Service is “We come unseen.” Some while ago now, I served on board two of Her Majesty’s submarines, HMSM Renown and HMSM Revenge. As machines of stealth and destruction, I still remember them to be then, strangely beautiful, akin to a panther, sleek dark and invisible, that is, until they bare their teeth and growl.

Today in 1864, the first successful submarine torpedo attack took place when the USS Housatonic was sunk by the Confederate submarine Hunley in Charleston harbour; however, the force of the explosion was so great that the submarine itself was also blown up, killing all on board.

Friends, the ‘Promise of the Father’, did not come unseen! The most powerful force in the universe, in the person of God the Holy Spirit, the invisible, unseen God, exploded onto the seen with such a cacophony of light and noise, that frankly, it should have killed both the sender and the receivers! But it didn’t! Rather, it ‘lit up’ the spiritual airwaves. Yes, after 400 years of prophetic stillness, with the coming and filling of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual airwaves began blasting out a prophetic chatter that has never ended and please God, it never will. Silence no more!

Yet, for so many of us, within the silence of our own hearts, the prophetic stillness appears to continue. We say, “If God is speaking then why don’t I hear Him?” If that’s you, then today, get with someone, and say to them “The God who speaks through many tongues, appears not to speak to me. Please, help me find out why.”

Listen: -Isa 30:21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,”

Pray: - Speak Lord in my stillness, while I wait, on Thee, hush my heart to listen, in expectancy.

Jan | 08 | Of Picking Scabs & Pouring Honey

Key Word:- REAL

Title:- Of Picking Scabs & Pouring Honey

Acts 1:3….to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs,

Often presented as a winged figure hovering over the victor in a competition, the Greek God Nike, the daughter of the giant Pallas and the River Styx, came to be recognized by the Ancient Greek world, as a mediator of peace between gods and mortals. Therefore, bearing the same name, 'Nike', the company of this Post-modern world, that for so long now has presented itself as the present mediator between life and boredom, still shouts daily into our lives through its often seen and much repeated advertising tag line: “Just Do It!” --------- “Nike! Just Do It!” Now friends, have you noticed that the gods of this world, so consistently and rudely marketed to us, a much drooled after dog of a life, that is easily gained by “just buying our product and singing our song?”
Performer ‘Eddie Cochrane’ and the 1970's group 'Showaddywaddy'’ had but three steps to heaven and in this same vein ‘Nike’ and all the other dominant sales gods of this present world, hit us all the time with their own three personal steps to glory, these being: competition, confident achievement, and worldly success. Let me say them again; competition, confident achievement, and worldly success!

Jesus however, the only true mediator between eternal life and cosmic boredom; between life and death; between light and darkness; between God and man; presents us with four steps to heaven, four steps to life that is and they are by no means cheap and they are by no means easy. Here they are:

1) Suffer
2) Die
3) Live and then
4) Present such new life, with such infallible and irrefutable proof that others of equal thirst and hunger will also come to taste and see that the Lord is good.

Let me say that again! 1) Suffer 2) Die 3) Live and then 4) Present such new life, with such infallible and irrefutable proof that others of equal thirst and hunger will also come to taste and see that the Lord is good.

Friends, Jesus modeled and completed these four steps for us and in this broken, hurt and cynical world in which we now live and move and have our being, we His disciples, must unconditionally model the same.

Jesus the ‘Resurrection Man’ is the only one that can take unthinkable suffering and rancid death and turn it into indisputable LIFE! He alone has the power to do this. His people and therefore His church should be full of 'life from the dead' if indeed they are full of Him!

Yet for many in the church, the stench of death still oozes from a scabby, pale and putrid puke scab, which has been allowed to solidify and sit there, right on our upper lip and right underneath our nose, for all the world to see and all the church to smell, especially ourselves. Now, even though we honestly find this scab both unsightly and nauseating, the truth is that for many generations, this noxious odour and I shall soon tell you what it is, this noxious odour of empty religion, there it is, and dutiful death, there it is! This stinky scab, both in the church and on the so-called sons of His love, has become an acceptable stench in all our gatherings! Religion, painless and eternally unprofitable religion, friends, it just stinks! But today it’s no longer acceptable, it's just no good. This scab of dead religion needs picking, for we need to smell life in one another, on one another! We the church, need to be seen to be the actual princely possessors and the only true purveyors of true living! We need to look, sound and taste like life to others that are only just, still coming to see what the dying noise and the rushing mighty wind was supposed to be all about!

Believers with sallow cheeks, pale brows and emaciated spiritual bodies, are all pictures of the concentration camps from which we are supposed to have been delivered! But if we are indeed in Christ, why should we in our spirits still look so poor and emaciated to many a hungry seeker?

Enough! We need to pray to see God's rainbow of promise break out once more over one another's heads. We need to hear moans of hopelessness, being replaced by the battle song of the goodness of God. We need to have the taste of Mara's bitter waters removed from our tongues by the over indulgent, overflowing taste of the sweetness of heaven’s honey, that most glorious of grace, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, and do you know? Do you know? Do you really know that when this life grace is poured into our open and hungry mouths, that it will generate a real and an understood and deeply felt, fully apprehended, chewed upon and truly comprehended, smiling and most certain, heavenly hope of abundant life ! Oh Yes it will!

Let's smell, touch, taste and SEE, if indeed the ‘Son of Righteousness’ has risen with healing in His wings and is in His resurrection power both truly in us and among us! Let’s have the courage to ask this question of ourselves and then the integrity to accept an honest answer.

From now on, infallible proofs of resurrection life are all we should accept dear friends, to know that Jesus is truly among us! For the world is waiting for that proof and will accept no other. The world knows what we the church seem to have forgotten; that everything else we are trying to walk in, EVERYTHING, is after all, just expensive dust and air. Even if it is Nike Air!

This year then, let’s walk in Jesus, His life and His resurrection power! For you have to have it before you can live it and walk in it. So let me ask you today, Life? Have you truly got it? Good, now 'just do it!'

Listen: -I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” John 10:10b-11

Pray: - Lord, deliver me from the smelly and petty precincts of plastic Zion into the glorious living of Your magnificent kingdom. Endow me and embellish me with proofs of Your resurrection and Your life, in Your great name I pray, Amen.