Art, the Kingdom and a Culture of Honor

When I was in college I was involved with a small group of guys who started a group based around Francis Schaeffers Basic Bible Study, we later brought the film series "How Should We then Live?" to the campus (Oklahoma State University)and watched the entire series...it was probably the best and only worthwhile thing I took out of college.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Francis Schaeffers study was the way he tracked the culture thru the art it created...the fact that the "David" (a famous statue by Michelangelo) was uncircumcised revealed to me that the art of a culture truly does represent the philosophy of the culture.

Here's where I start having problems...as a believer I want to reflect the culture of another kingdom, but much of what passes as "Christian" art seems to be deficient in creativity or at best is sub-par with a lot of the contemporary art I see in the culture around me.

My creative side prefers Peter Gabriel and Pixar to Hosanna and "Facing the Giants"...yeah I know so burn me at the stake, I'm a heretic what can I say?

Whats worse is when my artistic side seems to come to a complete stand-still because most of the music I create is so "churchy" it makes me tired...I have nothing against worship, I live to worship and some of my most popular songs are really good at getting people into worship/worshiping, they are geared to create a corporate sense of worship, but my heart...oh man my heart wants to create something entirely new, and fresh and outside the box...and this thirst for something "otherly" drives me crazy.

Part of the crisis is the new Kingdom that Jesus revealed is a culture of honor...it is inappropriate in the new Kings Domain to create things that fail to honor others, especially those who have gone before and made the current path possible...I sometimes wonder what would happen to the Church Culture if we repented for the way we treated those early pioneers like Larry Norman and then went out of our way to honor those "borderline" kind of artist like Daniel Lanois and Bruce Cockburn...if you've never heard "the Maker" or "All the Diamonds" you are missing some artistic treats.

So whadda we do?

I dunno...

But maybe if we took the Holy Spirits words in more of a business model than a church model we might get somewhere...remember Paul said:

"All things are LAWFUL for me, but not all things are PROFITABLE. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything." (1 Cor. 6:12)

Ultimately ALL true kingdom art must reflect freedom...freedom to create, and freedom from anything that would enslave...so if you approach it as a business model and look to what would make a profit for the kingdom, well it would be art that made people sense freedom was calling them home...for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty...

Treasure...

Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe [which is] instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man [that is] an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure [things] new and old. Matt. 13:52

Treasure is a really cool word to study in the Bible...my Grandfather was an avid "treasure hunter"...he would work his vacation around his research regarding lost treasures from the old west days...he even invented his own gold finding machine, they say it worked...

I guess thats where I get it...I am constantly looking for things that might escape less trained eyes...

Recently i was in an old electronics store in San Diego and came across this old broadcast mixing desk...

I looked it over and on the back saw the make on a little tag..."UREI"...Universal Recording Equipment Incorporated...otherwise known these days as "Universal Audio"...

Do a little ebay search sometime for "Universal Audio Vintage"...

this desk was sitting by the back door very close to getting rained on in the dirt.

I bought it.

It will become part of my studio after I clean it up and "renew it"...

I was also doing some research on the Texas Instrument website and came across a new prototype evaluation board for converting analog sounds to digital files...it was a limited time offer to get a module for next to nothing that is state of the state of the art...its not even on the market in any devices yet...

So on one hand I find a very "old" kind of treasure, and on the other a very "new" kind of treasure...

I guess as an "audio scribe" I am doing just what Jesus recommended...

On my way home from the electronics salvage store I stopped and sat down for a hot dog and chili (it was raining and a perfect day for a chili-dog) as I waited for my food I glanced over at an elderly woman sitting by the window just staring out the glass and eating her french fries...she was nothing to look at sort of an older style pants suit that was way out of style, but I noticed this, she had dressed herself and decorated her appearance to come and eat a hot dog by herself...and as I sat there, I began to think about the incredible machine that this elderly woman was, just the sheer biological machine that contained her soul was greater than any achievement of mankind...it could drive a car, and order food and had its own sense of style and value...there's nothing like this in the modern world and robotics is light years behind even the frailest elder in our society...I suddenly saw treasure both old and new...

I think this is what God see's...treasure in earthen vessels...regardless of the cultural value placed on her this woman had incredible value in Gods eyes...she left before I did, but I was completely awestruck at the incredible machine that God had designed to house our souls...

So I'm learning to treasure the "old" (I am getting that way every day), and I am grabbing the "new" as opportunities and streams of revelation pour into me...hopefully I will be able to bring them both out as a faithful householder.

Transformers Part 2

So you can read my fascination with transformers and the law of "inductance"...it reminds me of something that I began to consider after hearing Lance Wallnau (I buy mp3's from Morningstar whenever something really jumps out at me), where he talked about the duality of "sheep" and "warriors"(7 Mountain Mandate), how that we need people who want intimacy with Jesus and a "pure" lifestyle untainted by the world, but we also need people who are warriors who get down and dirty and change the world around them.

Well here's the cool thing about the law of inductance...

You can completely reverse/increase/decrease/ the flow of current in a transformer and NEVER have the "transformed" current touch the original...

Let me see if I can "Un-tech" this a little...

Electricity goes into a loop of wire that is wrapped around one side of a U shaped piece of metal...on the other side of the U is a completely different loop of wire...and the law of inductance makes it so that the electricity going into loop 1 makes electricity come out of loop 2...but it is reversed...and if you change loop 2 to different sizes then the electricity that comes out can be of a higher voltage, or lower voltage or lots of things...the point is the electricity coming out of loop 2 NEVER touches the electricity in loop 1...

So if you have "dirty power"...send it thru a transformer and it comes out clean on the other side...its kind of the electrical version of distillation...

So this means that it is possible to transform "bad power" to "good power" by the law of inductance...once you were darkness, now ye are light...kinda thing...

So what are the things we should be "inducting" into the kingdom?

Well entertainment comes up as a pretty big thing...currently the best Hollywood can offer is to kill people like Heath Ledger with all the bad power they offer.

We need to induct the entire entertainment industry...starting in your town...that means I gotta "induct" all the cowboy singers in my town and try to "induct" the rockers as well (be they so few)...so I am planning on opening a recording studio as part of the process...to that end I have some ideas...

Transformers...no not the science fiction kind...

Part of my education as a worship leader is in the realm of audio equipment...why you ask?

Well in the Tabernacle of David (the only Tabernacle that God said he would restore) they had twenty four seven worship and in order for that to happen they had a lot of worshipers (somewhere in the neighborhood of 8000) and in those worship leaders/teams there was a mandate that you had to make your own instrument and part of my instrument (besides the guitar and other instruments I play) is technology...so I've been studying up on audio gear for the last 5-6 years.

There's some pretty cool new stuff, but a lot of the really great old equipment was designed by a Missionaries son named Rupert Neve.

Neve gear sells on ebay at incredible premiums, and there are a lot of gear guys that are trying to copy his designs, there's just something really great about the gear he designed. (I do not know if he is a believer but he is a highly successful businessman and much sought after for his designs)

One of the things that Rupert Neve discovered and really developed was the use of "transformers" in his audio gear.

Transformers are everywhere, because of the nature of electricity most of your stuff actually runs on DC voltage, the computer you are using converts the AC from the wall into DC through the use of the power supply, which is really nothing much more than a specific kind of transformer that does this job very well.

Here's whats cool about transformers...electricity goes into one side of a transformer and back out the electric cord completing a circle or "circuit"...but transformers use a law that God has built into nature called "inductance" and while the original electrical current might not be useful, the transformer is able to create a completely new electrical current because the original current "induced" the electrons on the other side to react...the new current is completely independent of the original current, it happens on an isolated side all by itself (it does need the original current to induce the electrons).

Pretty cool huh?

Well I think its cool, and Rupert Neve must have thought it was cool because he designed some very wonderful audio gear that uses transformers on the microphone signal and on the output signal...he used them all over the place.

So whats the point?

Well if you look around the kingdom you see this law at work quite a bit...

"Where sin abounded grace abounds more..." how is that even possible?

Think about it, you got a lot of sin, and here God is saying there will be even more grace...kinda like transformers...you can actually create a higher voltage by the way they are wound...so God uses the law of inductance to invade where sin seems to be a problem...

Its not simply about opposite's its also about something being transformerd from one thing to another...you were darkness....now you are light...you were aliens now you are of the Household of faith, you were sinners now you are saints...I could go on, but I won't.

"I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service of worship, and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you may be able to prove what is the acceptable, perfect, and good will of God" Romans 12: 1

The Economy and the Kingdom

Most if not all of us have been impacted in some way by the recent economic turmoil, the immediate reaction is to withdraw, store up, save and maybe freak out a little.

Emotionally I found myself withdrawing, you know, you try to maintain some semblance of hope on the outside but inside you're all panic and worry, I have found my sleep being affected and when I went to the Lord to pray about it He told me I was not trusting Him.

Wow!

What he said was "If you trusted me you would be able to sleep thru this storm"...

But there I was in the boat saying (actually whining) "Don't you care that we perish?"

Thats not a very good way to approach the Lord (especially considering that if He wanted he could wipe out poverty with a word).

But I'm just being honest.

My response has been less than hopeful and really sort of depressing...it has caught up to me in my sleep cycle in not being able to go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

So my new new years resolution is to be positive in what I say about my personal finances and then to be an example of giving to the flock I am part of.

Interesting enough the current trend in Churches across the country shows a marked decline in giving, nearly 20% down from last year across the board...this is not good.

You will never enter Kingdom Finances as a stingy person.

God LOVES a cheerful giver.

God...

LOVES...


A...

CHEERFUL....


Giver.

So I am giving more.

Gave away my best guitar.

Gave away my favorite sweater.

Have decided to make my worship songs available for free once I figure out how to host them online...

Gave away an expensive compressor (a piece of audio gear)...

Gave away my digital camera, gave away my time rebuilding a computer, give gave going to do more...

Will it change anything?

I don't really care, and I don't list this stuff as some sort of "pat me on the back" it has been a process where I reluctantly trust by giving up...man I did not want to give Bob that guitar, I loved the way it sounded, but I know in my heart that this was Gods will, and it will mean more to Bob than it will to me, it is a seed of creativity and a demonstration of Gods belief that Bob is called as a creative worship leader and he should have the best...and based on that...man I can get behind that sort of giving.

I've taught my kids that we serve because we are servants, not because we are trying to get position or get anything out of it...we serve based on our identity as servants to the ultimate One, and likewise we give because we are givers...not to get something back, or to "save our own finances" or any other reason...the Kingdom is about what people are not about what they do.

We are new creatures, part of another Government that rules over all...and the Nature of our King is this:

"For God so loved the world that He GAVE...."

Who cares what happens to the economy, when you are part of something bigger?

Our primary concern over the economy should be on how to help people who are freaking out, not to freak out ourselves.

I've needed to repent...Jesus reminded me awhile back that it is impossible to be a believer in Him without faith...if you are a believer then faith mus be part of your daily existence, man I'm not sure I like that but its the truth.

As believers we need to not only be givers but find ways to develop kingdom products/attitudes and business practices...ultimately only one solution will bail out the economy and that's not more spending...its more kingdom.

The election

Many Christians are wondering what the outcome of the election means to us, how will it affect us, what should our response be?

Well without hesitation our first duty is to pray for those in authority that we may live quiet and peaceable lives, and so that the gospel will have liberty.

Regardless of who steps into leadership we are called to support them, honor them and pray for them. Whether or not they are godly, qualified, or men and women of character has nothing to do with our response, we should pray sincerely for their success and the peace of our country.

Sounds like your dodging the question Mark, what do you really think?

here's what I really think;

Who we choose as a leader reflects on how effective we have re-presented Jesus to our culture.

In this last election we were given the choice between John McCain and Barak Obama, both men have claimed to have faith in Jesus Christ, and so in a general sense the option presented to the vast populace was the choice between a Democratic Christian and a Republican Christain, neither of which made faith a policy plank in their campaigns. For the general population what they saw was two supposed Chrisitain men slugging it out and getting dirty in a mean spirited campaign for the Oval Office.

There are quite possibly a number of people who will die thinking that these men represent the followers of Jesus, but both were powerless to unite and powerless to re-present Jesus in any meaningful way.

Obamas church suffers under Liberation theology, and cannot imagine a God who does not see life as the Black Church see's it. McCain's faith was what helped him get through Viet Nam and the captivity he suffered, but it was the faith of last resort.

I am in no way dissing either mans faith, what I am describing is how the general public must have seen faith in this election.

Faith in the 2008 election was primarily seen as a private matter and in no way a significant platform for national change.

And here is the great illusion...many including myself fasted and prayed for specific righteousness and a manifestation of Gods Kingdom in the election process, and many woke up feeling as though faith had let them down, primarily because the hot button issues that Christians focus on seem in serious jeopardy due to Obamas record of pro-abortion legislation.

But before we fall into the delusion of the devils agenda, lets not loose our confidence, nor waver in our confession.

Gods Will, will be done.

We will see the Kingdom of God manifest, and we will see the tide of abortion ended.

I have that confidence from my Father, and I know without a doubt that is His will.

So where do we go from here, and what about stuff like the economy and the far left socialistic agenda?

The Kingdom answer is now more than ever God wants to prosper His children, what a better background for the testimony of Gods provision can you have than to see your needs met while all around you are losing financial ground?

Its the perfect time for a Kingdom Manifestation of Gods ways, and His Grace, and we get to re-present Jesus to our neighbors and cities and to the general population who will soon grow tired of awesome speeches and partisan pay-offs, what they need is a government bigger than the one being represented in Washington, a government that knows no poverty, no sickness, and no selfish infighting.

The history of our family is that we shine the brightest when the governments of our world fail the worse...think about Daniel, or Joseph, think about Paul before Herod, or John the Apostle leaving the political prison of Patmos with a revelation of the King of Kings.

That is our pedigree, that is our culture, and that is the government that will see no end.

So whats the practical side of this?

Well in my spirit I see a generation of men coming out of this that will be able to speak to nations...think about it, the old prophets usually spoke to NATIONS, we can barely get on t.v., but that is fixing to change.

In my prayers I am praying for Obama, that he will become filled with the Holy ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and his inner man will be completely transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ, I am praying that he receive angelic visitation, and that the Lord himself visit him in the White House...do you really think he could destroy Gods babies once he meets God face to face?

I am dedicating to pray and fast until it happens.

So think about it...what position would your faith be in right now if you knew without a doubt that the Angel of the Lord, and major Prophets were on assignment to visit the new President? That God had a plan to bring transformation to an entire segment of our population who has sold out their hearing ear to Obama?

Frankly the idea makes me excited...is anything to hard for God?

Our Greater Assignment

Regardless of what happens in our culture or our world we have been commissioned with the purposes of God as revealed in the gospel and our hope is not based in events of our time.

• We have the ultimate truth.

Nothing changes that. Regardless of speculation, or adversity, human achievement or calamity, we remain (as the church) Gods seedbed of truth demonstrated in the world.

“1Tim 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself
in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”



We have the ultimate reality, not the kingdoms of this world, not any government or agency of man, the church is the pillar of reality, not the feds, and certainly not wall street.

• The book of Hebrews PROMISES that once more God will shake the earth and also the heavens.

“Hebrews 12:27-28

And this [word], Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:”

The reason for this shaking is not to intimidate or frighten us, it must be viewed in context of the gospel of grace; that God is in process giving us something that CANNOT be shaken, so when we see turmoil in the markets, or economy our biblical response is gratitude, why? Because thru the shaking, the church (that means ME) receives the unshakable kingdom, which will remain. This means something comes out of the mess that will endure for our kids, our kid’s kids, and our generations yet to be born. That is very good news!

• God is not intimidated, worried, apprehensive, or even bothered by the current situation.

God is perfectly comfortable with who he is, and what He’s doing in the earth, His plan has not back-fired, there are no loop-holes the devil can exploit in Gods purposes and ALL His purposes are FOR GOOD AND NOT EVIL. He’s comfortable being God. He likes His job.

• Insecurity in the life of a believer is simply security in the wrong thing.

On a personal level how do you deal with the insecurity of the financial markets, the possibility of job loss, the possibility of higher taxes etc..?The first piece of equipment listed in the armor (Eph. 6:14) is the girdle of truth, if you do not approach your finances, job, gas prices and all of it in truth then you will be exposed to the enemies attacks against those very things. You have to ask yourself the truth, who do you work for? Who is your source? Where does your help come from? If you honestly get apprehensive or have insecurity clouding your attitudes then the reality (truth) is your security needs to be realigned with Gods promises and purposes for your life.

• God has never failed to provide for His purposes or assignments.

Ever, not once, it would actually be sin for God to give you an assignment and then fail to provide for it, so it is not even possible for you to lack Gods provision to accomplish what He has called you to do.

Lakeland and Beyond

So if you are much of a Charismatic, or whatever the current label is for someone who follows deeply the activity of the Holy Spirit, I'm sure you've heard about the Lakeland revival and Todd Bentley.

The obvious questions that arise from such activity is "Is this from God?" "Is it real?" "What will happen now that Todd has stepped out of it?" etc...etc...etc...

My response to these questions is simple: Yes, yes, yes.

Is it from God:
Let me ask you this;
Do you know anyone who can even bring a physical improvement for a cold by simply speaking words? Have you ever met anyone who could cause another person to fall down simply by speaking?

The only person I know who can do that is Jesus, so its not a far stretch to see it happen through people who claim a connection to him.

If you want to go and try blaming this activity on the devil or his spirits, I need to remind you that his (the devils) main operating strategy is to kill, steal, and destroy...none of which fits into the activity I've just described.

Anyone who maintains that Lakeland was the work of the devil is in major deception and needs serious deliverance from demonic strongholds rooted in unbelief...there I've said it may the truth of that sink in.

So what about all the unusual demonstrations and the "hype"?

I don't know. Really. What difference does it make?

If you suggest that the world will reject Jesus because of the weirdness of this event, I gotta say, the world has already rejected Jesus, what makes you think any activity of God would be designed to impress them anyway?

The same Jesus who heals the sick with a "BAM" told the religious leaders of his day that in order to have life they needed to eat his flesh and drink his blood...and then he did not even bother to explain what he meant to them, he just let them get all hot and bothered and upset to the point that many of his own followers ended up leaving him.

Let me say this perfectly clear:

God owes you no explanation.

Jesus does not need to explain the whys and where-for's of his activity.

To quote from a Matrix movie " Your comprehension is not a prerequisite for your cooperation.".

So where does that leave us? Especially considering that Todd Bentley has basically resigned from the movement?

Well that's an interesting question.

There is one thing I would like to remind anyone who followed this movement about, many times I heard speakers, including Todd refer to the coming revival as the faceless nameless army, meaning that God was raising up an army not composed of superstars and headliners, but instead He was raising up something that had no particular form or comeliness that we should be attracted to it, it would be average Joe's doing the miraculous.

Once you make that declaration as a leader, you sort of volunteer yourself to become a nobody, and the difficulty with Todd's presence was that in order for him to lead the faceless, nameless army, he himself would need to become the very thing he prophesied.

Kinda tough under all that spotlight to fulfil that kind of declaration...so I do not find it even slightly unusual that in the course of this he would basically disappear from the spotlight, regardless of how it transpires.

I am not suggesting that God orchestrated the seemingly impending divorce, but what I will suggest is that God can and will use it to move Todd into a place of obscurity so that he can fulfil the next stage in the declared purpose in this movement.

Where do we go from here? Well that remains to be seen, if you consider that what happened in Lakeland was actually a "seeding" process, well that's some pretty impressive seed there and when it comes to full fruition it will be everything the hype suggested and more, I suspect we will look back at Lakeland as a spark that grew into a flame that became a fire that burned a nation and beyond.

As one of the old charismatic songs would say..."It only takes a spark..."

Ovecoming Evel with good.

Romans 12:21-"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

I think it is prophetically significant that the man formerly known as "Evel Knievel" has come to experience the love of God as demonstrated in Jesus Christ.

You can read about his experience here in Christianity Today.

Apparently thru the testimony of Robert ("Evel"), there we about 500-800 people baptised or rededicating thier lives following his story.

I am not sure of the specific significance, but he will be 70 years old next year.

70 IS significant especially in reference to the captivity of Israel in Babylon.

Regardless, I think it is wonderful that the prayers of the saints have coincided with the destiny of Gods design in saving this man.

We should be celebrating.

Evel has been overcome by Gods goodness.

Wonder

This post is about just being amazed at God.

[There is] one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for [one] star differeth from [another] star in glory. ICor. 15:41 KJV.


You can go to Hubble Space Telescope and see more of Gods amazing ability.

What if...

I broke another string last night during our prayer and worship meeting...

It is frustrating because it breaks the flow of worship for me and as a leader I want an unbroken flow to continue...

So I paused long enough to retune the guitar... (When one string breaks the tension or lack there-of affects ALL the strings)...and continued to play minus the "d" string...

Bob asked me if I was now breaking different strings on the Taylor than I did on the Martin and the answer is yes...

So we muddled through...continuing to take ground in spite of the resistance.

When you break a guitar string, and re-tune and then continue to play it is a very strange experience because your fingers are trained to expect a certain amount of resistance from the strings, when no string is there the lack of resistance makes you think you are playing a wrong chord or that you have misplaced your fingers, which is not true.

So if you can imagine what is going on in my head, I am trying to navigate in the spirit what I see the Father doing (it was evangelism prayer last night), and I am also trying to tune into the "Song of the Lord" (a very old phrase that lacks replacement) and spontaneous worship working with the musicians and hoping we are all on the same page, all the while feeling like my left hand is in the wrong place, which it was not.

When I get to this place where things are completely out of my grasp, it is here that the heart takes the lead.

My heart will ignore my head which says the hand is being rebellious.

The heart will ignore the sounds which might be dissonant and will drive for worship and praise in spite of what my ears might be interpreting.

It becomes worship driven from the heart because all other elements seem to be fracturing or at best out of sync.

So...


What if every string I break represents the soul of a family that God is capturing?

What if every broken string signifies a household returning to the Lord?

I may never know for sure this side of heaven...but I'm willing to break them all if it means others come to know Him and the power of His resurrection.

Still breaking strings.

Work in progress

Ok I haven't posted in a bit so here we go.

I am currently working on a new song...about being born at the cross.

Recently the Lord kinda startled my thinking by telling me I wasn't born again in 1962 when He appeared to me, I was born when the soldier pierced the side of Jesus at Calvary. My delivery was completed when He stepped out of the tomb three days later...sort of a "Divine Ceaserian".

We are all born under the shadow of the cross and we are not simply "remade Adams" we are a completely different thing on the earth.

Think about this: The disciples could barely pray for more than an hour prior to the resurrection...ever been there?

You know you want to pray, you NEED to pray, others NEED you to pray...and you fall asleep after about an hour...consider yourself normal.

But look what happens after Jesus breathes on the disciples in John 20:22 (think about the original creation of man where God breathes on him the breath of life in Genesis 2:7)...these guys can't seem to stop praying...the book of Acts records many of their prayers and they are different somehow.

We are something completely new.

Our music and worship should reflect this.

I don't understand how in a little town up in the mountains we can participate in something eternal, but that has to be our goal.

The Tuesday nite city prayer and worship is a great place for us to experiment.

Healings and deliverances are going to become even more commonplace because it is our heritage as worshippers.

How will it sound?

New.

I dunno.

I don't mean "new" like the popular groups like the kiddos are listening to (I know the names but most of you reading would not so its sorta moot to mention them)...I'm not even sure if it would be "new" in a Peter Gabriel world music kinda new where he records with chimps playing percussion...

It will be new in that it comes from a source that is new.

One of the things I am tapping into is the incredible sound of victory and hope I hear in the spirit...the song "prophecy" has begun a new day for us to think about worship differently.

It must communicate hope and courage and victory that are the earmarks of the Kingdom of God...some of the hymns do this better than the "new" songs we sing, so the "new thing" isn't all that and a bag of chips...not if it fails to deliver the AWE and HONOR of so great a King.

"Shock and Awe" worship...theres a metaphor to wrap your mind around...the "shock" of such great love and mercy and the "awe" of such a glorious Lord...

Anyway its a work in progress...as are we all...

Prophecy

There will be silence before You and praise here in Zion
There will be silence before You and praise here in Zion
Out of the mouths of the infants and babes
Unto the Father You've perfected praise
And what was broken and cast by the side
You have redeemed and adorned as a bride
There will be silence before You and praise here in Zion

Egypt will dance with Assyria Israel will join them
Egypt will dance with Assyria Israel will join them
Where once was violence hatred and war
A highway of peace will be built to the Lord
For You are twice more than able to bring
All the children of Abraham home to one King
Egypt will dance with Assyria Israel will join them

I will be changed to Your image I will be like You
I will be changed to Your image I will be like You
Where once was sin and the darkness of doubt
You'll make it pure with the freedom to shout
And as a son I will stand by Your side
With nothing but beauty and nothing to hide
I will be changed to Your image I will be like You

Still breaking things...

I do get a little tired of cliché’s.

Break-thru...

Cutting edge...

Extreme...

You know what I mean.

The phrases we borrow from scripture like "break-thru" (break-thru actually comes from "Baal-Perazim" where David proclaims that God has broke thru upon my enemies-2Sam.5:20) can get a little tired and redundant, and possibly lose motivation for us.

If you get to familiar with something you can be in danger of ignoring its potential, or worse yet you can become so familiar with something you dishonor it by neglect.

Our worship.

The prophetic.

Praying in tongues.

Lets take a quick little aside and look at a couple of very powerful things and see perhaps if we aren't motivated to stir up the gift within us again.

I just watched a DVD of one of my mentors.

CW Mitchell who is now the president/dean/chief servant of a Samoan Bible school.

His message was both incredibly simple and amazingly profound.

"Pray in tongues and read the word"

Pretty simple message, followed by some pretty radical testimonies about how God has used these simple things to impact both people and cities for the kingdom.

He suggested a rather practical approach to this instruction.

Start with praying in tongues on day 1 for 15 minutes.

Increase it to 30 minutes on day 2.

Day three pray in tongues 45 minutes.

By day 5 he promises you will be praying more than an hour on your own, and the time management issues we all face will not even be an issue.

Day six will come and go and you will be in the plural hours of prayer.

In one week if you do this your life will be RADICALLY changed.

There's one of our clichés again.

Ouch!

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What’s the worse that could happen?

I mean in theory our clichés are already worn out, so a little more isn't going to do any permanent damage...and what if....


...for once the clichés were all we had to express the types of change we began to experience?

Radical Prophetic Break-thru....

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Many of us are facing life weary challenges that have the potential of wearing out our faith.

Some simple biblical exercises might be just the ticket:

Jude 1:20 "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost."

2Tim.1:6 "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands."

I'm still breaking guitar strings.

Last Sunday was one of the hardest walls I've ever encountered in worship.

I don't really care anymore.

I bought three packs of strings today...in preparation.

I have determined that the harder worship gets, the more abased I will become.

The more resistance I encounter, the more determined and unrelenting I will be.

Clichés or no clichés we will have break thru.

Bring it.

How about if instead of strings we start breaking the routine?

The mundane.

The predictable?

What would happen if you broke out of the daily grind for a minute and met with the Creator on His terms?

Think your cliche's would matter?

One of two things will happen, either God will invade your life, or you can cross something off your list of things you've tried.

If I were a betting man I'd bet on God.

Place your bets...its gonna get extreme.

Prophecy

If you look over at the links there is an Mp3 of Prophecy there that will load in a new window for you to listen to if you like.

Lets continue to keep Israel and the region in our prayers the lyrics "For you are twice more than able to bring all of Abrahams children home to one King" are especially pertinant in this time of violance.

Self Help-less...

Pastor Tim said during family camp that the western church has primarily made everything about "me"...just go to a christian bookstore and look on the shelves its mostly a "self-help" library.

This is unfortunate but true.

"5-Steps to Financial Freedom"

"40 days to fulfill your purpose"

"How to be free from_______"

"Etc...etc...et al"

Most of, if not all, self help materials are meant to guide the person to some form of personal freedom...nothing wrong with that...but...

What if it isn't about us?

What if freedom never was about me?

What if freedom is about Him?

Worship must be about Him.

If it isn't, well...it probably isn't worship...and it definately won't represent freedom.

I am currently studying the life of Paul, the Apostle John and the Ephesian history.

As I connect with the historical perspectives on what these men did and how they approached dethroning the powers of the Asiatic region one thing I notice is that both of these apostles were men of worship.

The book of Revelation is primarily a book on worship, those who will, and those who won't worship the Lamb and the the consequences of those decisions.

Of course we are all familiar with Paul and Silas sitting in a jail cell praising God and worshipping at midnite...

Now contrast the lifes and responses of three great men who were in some capacity in "prison"...

John the baptist...

John the Apostle...

And Paul...

John the Baptist is sitting in prison at the end of his life waiting execution...and he sends a delegation to Jesus asking "Are you the One or do I look somewhere else?"

Whats behind this question?

I think John had reached a point where he was disappointed, the revival he had been promised had came and went and things did't look much different.

Ever been there?

You know, you go to the meeting expecting some earth changing word from God only to walk out wondering if you need to look somehere else...

"Are you the one?"...

Every self help book I've opened I have opened with that attitude...is this the one thing that will change me?

But...


(here it comes)...

John the Apostle and Paul both approached the frustration of captivity a little differently...and both had radically different results than John the Baptist.

These guys made thier captivity about Him.

They worshipped.

In Pauls case an earthquake happened and many people came to know the Lord thru the event.

In Johns case, the heavens opened and he was given a perspective that radically changed the western world.

Historically Johns imprisonment on Patmos was about 18 months. When he was released he went to Ephesus and tradition has it he went into the Temple of Dianna and confronted the demonic power of that region with immediate results.

Shortly after his confrontation there was of an end to the temple worship of "Dianna of the Ephesians" (*Acts 19:28) , and a breaking of not only the demonic powers but also a release of the power of the gospel so that in 100 years the very government that was persecuting the church would be kingdomised.

I'll get to the point:

No matter what the condition of your life be it slavery or freedom, it is about Him.

If you make all about HIM and prioritise worship even while experiencing various forms of "frustrated freedom" (read jail here)...then since God is no respecter of persons...you can probably expect that things will begin to shake loose and real freedom will come to not only you but those around you.

The fastest way out of "self-help-jail" is the same as any other jail...begin to worship.


(* Artemis and Dianna are basically the same demonic power)

The End of the Spear

I just took Courtney to see "The end of the Spear"

If you are unfamiliar with the story it is based upon the actual real events written about in "Thru Gates of Splendor"

You should see it.

What struck me most about the story is that currently there is a huge amount of culture on our planet that is in the same cycle of violence.

The Muslim radicals striking out in desperation to please Allah.

The street gangs here in America striking out to "Jump the Great Boa" (a metaphor for overcoming death from the film) and prove their strength.

So what does a movie about missionaries and worship have in common?

Well I believe that we are created to worship.

Watch the crowds at a sporting event (the upcoming Superbowl comes to mind) or a rock concert and what you see is is an innate desire to be part of something much larger than yourself.

Have you ever thought about that from a purely biological perspective?

Ever see a fish try to be part of something bigger than itself?

How about a bird?

Creation is kinda settled on its own place, but mankind seems to be driven to expand, to conquer, to step outside of its current position and participate in a larger world.

This I believe is one of the main ingredients in mankinds worship mechanism.

We gotta get bigger...And we wanna worship something bigger than ourselves.

So worship starts with a vacuum...a vacuum for God.

Which is exactly where missions start.

You cannot evangelise the complacent.

You shouldn't even try. (I know this may get me scolded from the higher ups but its the truth)

When I was in New Covenant Commission the primary missions strategy was to find the most war-torn or disaster ridden country and go there...the miracles and results would follow because the hearts of that country had been "plowed up".

The Bible says that "God will not share His Glory with another"...meaning that He will not be room-mates with whatever else is living in our hearts.

And as Matt Redmond has said "Worship is the heart of missions flame"...

Our worship must put on a "missions-garment" to be complete.

Oh yeah I know we need to worship in the quiet of our own chamber, but the innate desire to be part of something larger is as much a part of our worship motor as what we do in private, hence the tandem emphasis on worship AND missions.

Every tribe should join as we humans worship...and what we worship should be powerful, larger than us, and glorious in all its expression...and only One can fit that description.

On a final note...you cannot force someone to worship God and you shouldn't even think about doing so (parents this especially applies to you), it violates the human/divine relational structure, it is something I believe God hates...and one of the primary tools of the adversary...we should instead be drawing people by our worship and our lives.

Lets think of ways that our worship experience can go beyond what we are part of now...Lets figure out a good "Go ye into all the world" expression that will truly touch the most desperate among us in our own little Jerusalem here in the mountains.

A Kingdom of Kids

A Kingdom of Kids

We have a bunch of kids. Sometimes it’s really cool and fun, other times it’s just this side of insanity.

Sunday I nearly lost it as I stood to close the service with more worship and glanced over and saw Faith walking around in her big brothers shoes and socks...but I also recognised it was a moment when God was making a point to us.

We allow the kids to participate in worship at many levels. They gather at the front and dance, and run and take things away from one another.

Are they worshipping?

How would we know?

Believe it or not kids figure pretty highly in the kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed.

I could quote the relevant passages, but instead you should look them up.

When I start down the path to Christmas and understanding the incarnation where God invades by His own version of “Operation Freedom” I am struck by the innuendo and position that children play in the drama.

First there is the whole baby Jesus thing.

If you haven’t thought about the fact that the Creator of the universe who spoke entire worlds into existence went thru a period where he could make no intelligible speech (think Faith and her incessant talking which apparently is words, just words no one knows), then you need to think about it.

It is preposterous to imagine that the God of all has so much faith in us that he trusted his development and birth to a “maiden” named Miriam (Mary) somewhere in the neighborhood of 13-15 years of age.

Let that sink in for a moment...imagine God turning to someone like Ariel,or Alex, or Emily...you know a teenage girl, and entrusting them with the care and welfare of the Savior of all mankind.

Then there’s the whole insanity of Caesar when he orders the death of all the baby males from the time he heard from the wise men.

A little studious digging will uncover the huge possibility that the shepherds watching their flocks by night were actually young boys relegated to the menial task as lowest on the totem pole in the priesthood.

<teaching break>

Migdal Eder was the place of Rachel's tomb, near Bethlehem, but it was also the place where they would keep the sheep for Passover. So these kids were temple shepherds who kept the thousands of sheep that had to be brought up to Jerusalem. Their job was to inspect the sheep to make sure they were perfect and appropriate for the sacrifice. So Migdal Eder happens to be next to the little village where Jesus is born. And the shepherds nearby come inspect the Lamb to see if it's worthy and then go out proclaiming.

<end teaching>

Anyway the point I’m trying to make is that God sees kids differently than we do.

He seems to have no problem letting them become part of His salvation program, and if we want to participate fully with what He’s doing, we need to allow the kids to step up and involve themselves as much as possible.

I am open to suggestions...but ultimately I would like to see our children so involved that the world has to once again stop and listen to the perfect praise coming from the mouths of babes.