Here's the question and as always there are no "gotchas" here:
I understand healing in the Atonement (1 Peter 2:24). However since healing happened before the Atonement, and has continued to happen since the Atonement - Is the Atonement the "linchpin" for all healing?
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sermon Copying: When The World Has More Integrity Than The Church
Great article from GalatiansC4V16 blog:
"When it comes to matters of integrity and decency, the normal course of events it seems, is that the secular culture and the world often condones that which the church condemns. For example, when the world calls adultery an “affair,” justifies divorce without cause, or calls addictions “diseases,” it is then the church that holds its own people accountable to a higher standard of morality and has less toleration for a lack of integrity and morality.
"When it comes to matters of integrity and decency, the normal course of events it seems, is that the secular culture and the world often condones that which the church condemns. For example, when the world calls adultery an “affair,” justifies divorce without cause, or calls addictions “diseases,” it is then the church that holds its own people accountable to a higher standard of morality and has less toleration for a lack of integrity and morality.
Although we typically find the world celebrating sin and the church confronting it, there is one area where this seems to be reversed: Plagiarism."
Read the rest HERE.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Have You Ever Noticed?
Have you ever noticed that churches that seldom preach the gospel seldom have conversions to Christ?
Let me take that to the next logical step.
Churches that don't preach healing don't see very many people healed.
Why is this? It's because your faith usually never rises above your own revelation of who God is. Here's the corollary to that: Your faith will usually never rise above your pastor or your church's revelation of who God is either.
God longs to display His glory in our midst - but we run the danger of becoming like the people in the city of Nazareth who's faith, or lack there of, was so woeful that the Bible says "Jesus could not do many mighty works there".
Why was that the case? The Bible says they were "offended" at Him. Not offended in the sense of having their feelings hurt and becoming bitter (as stated in a post below) - but offended in the sense that they couldn't put it together how this carpenter, whose family and siblings they were well acquainted with, could possibly be able to do the miracles that they had heard He was doing in Capernaum.
In many ways today - we are like Nazareth. Not only has the familiarity of the Gospel bred contempt, but many have decided that God doesn't move supernaturally anymore and healing and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for another bygone error. Their limited revelation of God has had the same effect on them and their churches as it had on the people of Nazareth - Jesus couldn't do many mighty works there, and furthermore was "amazed" at their unbelief.
When we lose the demonstration power of the Gospel that we were intended to operate in (healing, miracles, Gifts of the Holy Spirit) all we are left with is a half way Gospel message that requires us to extract or re-explain large portions of scripture such as "By His stripes we were healed".
What we are left with? A crippled Gospel. A Gospel of words that lacks the manifest power of the New Testament God that we see operating in the early church.
Churches with a crippled Gospel are then forced to go one of two routes - either become like the recreation director of a retirement home who is constantly saying, "Isn't this great - aren't we having fun?" (Translated - 'aren't we smart - our doctrine is superior to everyone else') while the residents bored out of their minds are pretty much a captive audience because they are financially invested there and don't have a whole lot of other exciting choices, or, churches go the route of offering yoga classes, bowling leagues and line dancing in order to try to stir up interest in folks coming to church.
However churches that will operate in what Paul describes as 'demonstration power', will not need to resort to gimmicks. Jesus will be the main attraction. He is the One who fills us with Living Water that satisfies our longings and cravings.
Churches that will preach and teach that God heals today, delivers today and still does the miraculous today, Hebrews 13:8, will see healing, deliverance and miracles because God always honors His Word.
As Petra used to sing concerning Christians: There's too much talk and not enough walk.
Let's show this world how awesome Jesus Christ is!
Let me take that to the next logical step.
Churches that don't preach healing don't see very many people healed.
Why is this? It's because your faith usually never rises above your own revelation of who God is. Here's the corollary to that: Your faith will usually never rise above your pastor or your church's revelation of who God is either.
God longs to display His glory in our midst - but we run the danger of becoming like the people in the city of Nazareth who's faith, or lack there of, was so woeful that the Bible says "Jesus could not do many mighty works there".
Why was that the case? The Bible says they were "offended" at Him. Not offended in the sense of having their feelings hurt and becoming bitter (as stated in a post below) - but offended in the sense that they couldn't put it together how this carpenter, whose family and siblings they were well acquainted with, could possibly be able to do the miracles that they had heard He was doing in Capernaum.
In many ways today - we are like Nazareth. Not only has the familiarity of the Gospel bred contempt, but many have decided that God doesn't move supernaturally anymore and healing and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for another bygone error. Their limited revelation of God has had the same effect on them and their churches as it had on the people of Nazareth - Jesus couldn't do many mighty works there, and furthermore was "amazed" at their unbelief.
When we lose the demonstration power of the Gospel that we were intended to operate in (healing, miracles, Gifts of the Holy Spirit) all we are left with is a half way Gospel message that requires us to extract or re-explain large portions of scripture such as "By His stripes we were healed".
What we are left with? A crippled Gospel. A Gospel of words that lacks the manifest power of the New Testament God that we see operating in the early church.
Churches with a crippled Gospel are then forced to go one of two routes - either become like the recreation director of a retirement home who is constantly saying, "Isn't this great - aren't we having fun?" (Translated - 'aren't we smart - our doctrine is superior to everyone else') while the residents bored out of their minds are pretty much a captive audience because they are financially invested there and don't have a whole lot of other exciting choices, or, churches go the route of offering yoga classes, bowling leagues and line dancing in order to try to stir up interest in folks coming to church.
However churches that will operate in what Paul describes as 'demonstration power', will not need to resort to gimmicks. Jesus will be the main attraction. He is the One who fills us with Living Water that satisfies our longings and cravings.
Churches that will preach and teach that God heals today, delivers today and still does the miraculous today, Hebrews 13:8, will see healing, deliverance and miracles because God always honors His Word.
As Petra used to sing concerning Christians: There's too much talk and not enough walk.
Let's show this world how awesome Jesus Christ is!
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