Tuesday 29 October 2013

The Way to Live

Someone can spend a lot of time reading self-help material. They can experience the joy and health of working towards a goal.

But that doesn't give them eternal life.

In the same way, someone can spend a lot of time engaging their mind with Christian topics. They can pursue so-called Christian objectives, even self-sacrificially.

But that doesn't necessarily give them eternal life.

The only thing that gives eternal life is Jesus. By grace. Through faith.

Not the type of faith that works for eternal life with its own effort. But the type of faith that rests in and has received eternal life freely. And then works because it has received.

Oh to be always connected to Jesus in this real and living way, and not in the way of striving and self-effort.

Where self-effort is being depended upon, fear is present. For self-effort can never be enough to attain to God's holy Law.

But we have received not the spirit of bondage to a standard alone, resulting in fear - but we have received the spirit of adoption and sonship whereby we cry, "Abba. Father".

We repent of dead works and instead walk in the Spirit.

We walk in Who our spirit has become one with.

It becomes spontaneous, whenever we stay conscious of His indwelling and yielded to walk in Him. It's not contrived.

It bears the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

Love, joy, peace.

It gives us the content, approachable look.

It's really Him and His strength living through us. All we have to do is yield our body.





Monday 28 October 2013

Is the Creation Story Literal or Symbolic

There isn't anything in the creation story in Genesis chapter one that necessarily indicates the text wasn't meant to be taken literally.

Even the snake story can be taken literally. I can believe that Satan was somehow able to use a snake to speak to Eve, perhaps similarly to how a donkey spoke to the mad prophet in the Book of Numbers.

Exodus 20:11 also seems to make it clear that the heaven and earth were included in what was made on the first day, not in some different ephoch of time prior to the first day:

"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

Even if by by some stretch these texts can allow a non-literal interpretation, they certainly don't necessitate it.

Saturday 26 October 2013

Ezekiel's Temple and John's New Jerusalem

Ezekiel's Temple. Literal or symbolic? Future or past?

If it's literal, it hasn't happened.

And it can't be future because that would involve returning to the Old Covenant.

So it might be symbolic.

After all the vision of the dry bones was probably symbolic.

If it's symbolic, did it come to pass during the Old Covenant or will it come to pass during the New?

Same question with John's New Jerusalem. Will it be literal or was it symbolic? Present or future?

I think some statements in John's passages of Scripture probably depict some things which will be culminated in future, while it seems other statements can almost certainly describe only the present functions of the Church.

And in Ezekiel's passages of Scripture, I think some things are now in the past, and it's possible I suppose that parts of it are finding a continuing fulfilment in the Church.




Thoughts About Melody

Some thoughts about melody:

It's been a while since I've heard a contemporary worship song that has made me feel, "What a beautiful melody!"

Rousing, maybe. But not what I'd describe as beautiful. 

Every song doesn't have to be beautiful. Driving, rousing tunes certainly have their place. 

But the mood of sweetness and beauty is something that seems to be lost on a lot of contemporary Christian melodies.

Melody has the power to affect hearts even without words. 

Londonderry Air is an example of a melody so sweet it can fill a heart with love and reduce someone to tears even before any words are heard. The effect seems to even transcend time and culture. 

No wonder countless hymns, Christian songs and romantic songs in more than one generation have been set to the tune. It's the melody of such a beautiful song itself that produces the effect, not just the lyrics.

A beautiful melody - you only have to hear it once, and it stays with you.

I think people are missing hearing worship songs where the melody itself is beautiful and moves the heart.

Something else:

The melody of a song can help you remember the words. But if a tune isn't too melodic, then it doesn't. 

I think that's part of the reason why people aren't remembering the words to a lot of modern worship songs - the tunes themselves, let alone the lyrics, aren't really easily finding their way into people's brains.

And if the tune doesn't, then the words won't either. 

Sure the contemporary songs are popular for a season while they're being pedalled and church worship teams scramble to keep up lest they be left behind in the nerd-dom of last year's top ten. But once the songs are superseded by the new album, it seems many of the once-popular songs seldom come spontaneously into mind again. 

Unlike some of the sweet simple worship songs churches used to sing up until about the mid-1980s. Decades later we can still recall those melodies and words easily. Even after all these years.

In meetings when the Holy Spirit is moving, or when we're alone with God, or with friends in a home-meeting - those are the songs that most naturally come to heart and mind.

Why? Aside from considering the anointing, it's because the melody style has that effect. The melody gets into your heart and carries the lyrics along for the ride.

These are facts of the trade, really. Just like a painter knows the effect that different colours have on mood. Just like an architect knows what type of design is needed in what setting. 

Song writers, worship leaders, and church music directors ought to know whether or not a melody is going to produce a certain mood. They ought to know whether the melody of a song is going to aid in memory or not. 

Again, I do love some of the more intricate, motivating, get-up-and-go songs we've been singing. Not every song needs to be so simple that it can easily be reproduced in a more spontaneous setting. It's okay to throw a bit of spice in!

As sweet as sugar is, it's been nice to have some chilli thrown in too!

But I think there is also a place now for re-introducing some simple sweet melody.

The type of tune that today's new converts will still easily remember decades from now.

A final consideration:

The anointing. 

The sweetest melodies are the ones that are birthed from intimacy with the Holy Spirit. 

A songwriter's relationship and walk with God does seem to come through in a song. 

I think it's true that some songs are just plain more anointed than others.

Concluding:

We've got some brilliant music. But to some extent we're missing the elements of sweet and memorable.

Time to bring back sweet. Time to bring back memorable.

Three things that can work together to help:

Anointing - melody - and lyrics.

Lots of old songs still cut it in every way.

Write some new ones too. 

And throw one in on Sunday! 

Why not!

Friday 25 October 2013

Perfect Bride

The Bride will be perfected not historically but in every generation God is making up His jewels until the final presentation on the last day.

Wednesday 23 October 2013

To Worship Leaders and Song Writers

Worship leaders. Song writers.

When I'm with a group of Christians who already started going to church 25+ years ago, or when I'm with my Christian aboriginal friends, or friends from the Philippines, Samoa, Papua New Guinea or some such country - we can enjoy singing and praising together, harmonizing for hours on end. 
We could go all night if we wanted to - singing spontaneously, without needing to look at the words. It's great! 

But try singing spontaneously with a group of Christians who have known only the contemporary Australian Church - in a setting where you're away from the rehearsed band on the stage and away from the PowerPoint words projected onto the big screens. You can't do it!

It seems no-one knows more than a few lines of the lyrics of most contemporary worship songs.

Recent converts don't know many of the old easy flowing songs that we're blessed to know - so they can't easily sing along with you.

Result: spontaneous singing is no longer much a part of the Christian experience of the contemporary Australian Christian. Not much at all.

Does it really matter?

I think they're missing out! Big time. We're all missing out.

I should probably address this to pastors as well as to music directors, seeing music directors are really only doing what their pastors are expecting them to do.

It seems we've come full circle. Some years ago during the Charismatic Renewal the Holy Spirit gave the Church new praise and worship songs with easy lyrics and nice melodies that enabled us to easily flow with one another and with the Holy Spirit without needing to hold a hymn book in our hands.

It was really anointed! Remember how much you looked forward to the praise and worship in those days?

Now we've come full circle, only this time it's not the hymn book that we can't do without - it's the PowerPoint projection on the screen that we can't do without.

So once again there is a need today to introduce songs that are easy to sing and remember.

Songs that let the congregation close their eyes and get caught up in worship without needing to look at the words.

Songs that have a touching melody line.

The type of song you can still remember the words to when you get to your home meeting on Wednesday night.

The type of song you wake up in the morning singing. And I don't mean just singing a few lines and then you have to hum the rest of it because you can't remember the words. I mean singing it all the way through, then over and over again, because it blesses you so much!

These are the types of songs you can sing spontaneously one after another in a group, expressing the Holy Spirit's work in you, without anyone needing to look at the words.

In a home meeting. Down the beach. On the mountaintop. Out bush. In the car. On your own. In a group. Away from a flow sheet. Easily flowing with the Holy Spirit.

We can benefit from
singing together not just on Sundays where we've got the big screen but also in smaller informal gatherings, and when we're by ourselves with the Lord.

I'd love to grab a guitar and go down the beach with you sometimes and be able to sing spontaneously together to the Lord.

Or in the car on the way to a meeting. Someone starts singing. We all join in and keep singing all the way to the meeting - and we all know all the words to every song. That used to be normal.

But nowadays even if we play a CD or plug in someone's iTunes playlist, people still can't really sing along. No-one knows the lyrics to contemporary songs well enough.

Sure we can soak in the Spirit while a CD is playing contemporary music. I'm all for having extended times where we aren't
primarily singing but instead are receiving from the ministry of the Holy Spirit. All for it!

But
being able to sing the words of a song together in a group also helps you to "...be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph.5:17,18).

Singing
spontaneously together helps us to "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col.3:16).

And it's nice to be able to get that uplift in
the middle of the week in settings where it isn't always possible to look at the words. In settings where you can be spontaneous about it. Not just at church. 

But to be able to do that spontaneously in a group it helps if the group knows songs off my heart.

See, our role as singers and songwriters
in church is not just to showcase the full range of our own creative abilities. Of course there's a time and place for that in our meetings too. I love it just as much as anyone whenever a band lets loose on occasion and someone sings with their full vocal range!

But part of the role of a church music director is
also to equip the congregation with songs they can sing easily - not only at church but also during the week, by themselves or in small groups.

It's not just about what the trained full-time songwriter is capable of performing on the stage - it's also about what the congregation can sing when they're away from the band, away from the PowerPoint projector, away from the stage lights, the smoke machine, the backing CD, the DVD with lyrics, or the leader's iTunes playlist.

It's about equipping new converts with songs they can easily sing spontaneously without having to look at the words, in their own prayer time and in small groups.

If you can sing spontaneously because
you know lots of older songs off by heart - then you could hardly imagine what it must be like for recent converts who haven't been equipped with the capability to do that.

Similarly many of today's new converts who don't know many songs off by heart wouldn't know what they've been missing out on either, unless they experience it.

Since so many of our church-friends these days don't know many songs without looking at the words, we
usually just don't go there anymore. Spontaneous communal singing has therefore pretty much become a thing of the past for all of us in contemporary churches, unfortunately.

Perhaps you feel
many contemporary congregations generally are really getting into the worship quite full-on. Well you should have seen what the level of congregational participation was like during praise and worship in the Charismatic Renewal days!

I must confess that some modern popular songs give me a fail-to-launch
kind of feeling in worship. It feels like there's little to no anointing on it. It just doesn't do it for me. Often I stand there trying to overlook what I'm feeling - or rather what I'm not feeling - and just try to worship anyway despite the music. Looking around at the congregation I think others might be having the same trouble.

In comparison to the Charismatic Renewal days, the level of congregational participation in a lot of today's praise and worship sessions remind me more of an audience waiting for what's coming next on the program.
The congregation is not all that engaged. It's like they're being sung to from the loud band on the stage more so than they're being heard audibly singing themselves.

When the Holy Spirit moves in a special way during a meeting
, and the pastor or evangelist takes over from the song leader and begins to lead with an unscripted song - have you noticed in those moments that the pastor seldom chooses a contemporary song. He almost always goes with one of the old simple anointed songs he knows. 
Yet look what happens. The volume of the congregational singing crescendos. Hands start going up everywhere. Eyes are closed. Faces are uplifted. For a change you can actually hear the congregation singing above the volume of the band, as a wave seems to sweep over the crowd.

Why is that? Well a little while ago I got together with some friends in their lounge room. I picked up a guitar and began to sing. A worship leader from a contemporary church was there, and afterwards she made a comment which I felt was quite telling, and I'll finish this Post with her words. She said:

"It's so easy to worship with the songs you sing".

Now this doesn't mean I don't like any contemporary songs at all. It's not to say we should stop singing contemporary songs altogether. It's not to say
our churches should have stayed locked into an earlier music style exclusively.

When the Holy Spirit gave us new songs to sing during the Charismatic Renewal, it didn't mean we completely stopped singing hymns. We mostly sung the new songs, but we also still sang the old ones sometimes too.

So it doesn't mean we need to stop performing contemporary
songs just because we can now see benefits in introducing some simpler songs again. There is good in almost any style - and we can still enjoy it all.

It's like if I'm suggesting we put chocolate topping on our ice-cream, it doesn't mean I'm against the ice-cream. As good as the ice-cream might be, it just means I want to make it taste even better! So there are some things I do like about contemporary churches.

It's
just that I think we've reached the place where there is something to be gained now if we once again introduce some anointed, melodic, simple songs back into the church.

Songs like:

Lord You Are More Precious Than Silver: and

As the Deer Panteth for the Water,

have a melody
line and lyrics that are almost timeless.

So singing some of those old songs again - it's not like you'd be singing something so nerdy that you'd loath it.
Some of those songs can still be made to sound quite contemporary. And they're really anointed!

Some brand new songs with simple words and pleasant melody lines could also be written.

Written by songwriters who are living right.

Who would rather choose not to do something that
might be permissible for them than to offend another believers' conscience.

Songs birthed out of an anointed moment where the writer's focus was God-ward, rather than sitting around a table trying to meet a producer's deadline - not that there's anything wrong with that either.

Add some new
and old, anointed, sweet melodies with easy words, back into the mix. Without necessarily throwing out everything good that we already have.

For "...the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old" (Matthew 13:52).


We'll see a lift in our Sunday worship services, and we'll once again be able to get the blessing of singing with our brothers and sisters in settings where it isn't possible for everyone to look at the words.


I wonder if anyone else out there feels the same way I do about it?

Tuesday 22 October 2013

You May All Prophesy

 I read a helpful explanation somewhere once which said that the simple gift of prophecy doesn't necessarily include revelation-knowledge (supernatural knowledge of facts past or present), nor insight into God's plans (including knowing the future). That would be the additional gifts of either the word of knowledge or the word of wisdom, in operation. To prophesy simply means to speak forth under Divine inspiration - for edification, exhortation and comfort. 

I found that helpful, because it means that a lot of us might actually be prophesying a lot more often than we ourselves realize. 

For example, when we are in a one-on-one conversation with someone and we feel inspired to encourage the person in a special way, sometimes that might actually be the simple gift of prophecy in operation.

This makes it possible that any of us can be flowing in a gift of the Spirit even in a simple conversation without necessarily needing to give someone a precise word of knowledge or detailed insight into God's plans. 

It means even our daily conversations, phone calls, Fb posts, Tweets, SMSs - and of course our Sunday sermons - can include moments where the gift of prophecy is in operation, as the Spirit wills. All we have to do is make ourselves available to sense when the Holy Spirit is inspiring us with something special to say!

About the Gifts of the Spirit

  • Prophesying is including but not limited to preaching.
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    • You and Yosefu Ueno like this.
    • John Edwards I read a helpful explanation somewhere once which said that the simple gift of prophecy doesn't necessarily include revelation-knowledge (supernatural knowledge of facts past or present), nor insight into God's plans (including knowing the future). That would be the additional gifts of either the word of knowledge or the word of wisdom, in operation. To prophesy simply means to speak forth under Divine inspiration - for edification, exhortation and comfort. 

      I found that helpful, because it means that a lot of us might actually be prophesying a lot more often than we ourselves realize. 

      For example, when we are in a one-on-one conversation with someone and we feel inspired to encourage the person in a special way, sometimes that might actually be the simple gift of prophecy in operation.

      This makes it possible that any of us can be flowing in a gift of the Spirit even in a simple conversation without necessarily needing to give someone a precise word of knowledge or detailed insight into God's plans. 

      It means even our daily conversations, phone calls, Fb posts, Tweets, SMSs - and of course our Sunday sermons - can include moments where the gift of prophecy is in operation, as the Spirit wills. All we have to do is make ourselves available to sense when the Holy Spirit is inspiring us with something special to say!
    • Yosefu Ueno I hear you, and I agree with you in most of what you say. If what you are saying is effectively expanding the lower range of prophecy allowing more of people that previously did not believe that they can prophesy; then what I am trying to do is to expand the higher range of it by inviting people that previously didn't get impressed by any 'prophecy' to pay attention to what some real-deal prophets, many of who are in America. Either way, we need to expand the range of our expectation regarding prophecy. I am apostolic and crave a close relationship with a prophet. We are the foundation of the church.
    • John Edwards Yes that's great Yosefu

      Prophecy is definitely something distinct from simply giving encouragement or preaching. It is saying something that is especially inspired by the Spirit in and for that moment. 


      When the gift of prophecy comes into a sermon, you can feel the difference. 

      When the gift of prophecy comes into a one-on-one conversation, you can feel the difference.

      It's altogether on another plain. It's distinct from normal preaching, normal conversation, or normal counselling. 

      Of course it must always line up with the written Word. But it's something that you are Divinely inspired to say in that moment. And the extraordinary element of it can be felt.

      But it may or may not be accompanied by the additional gifts of the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom. That's something extra again.

      Another great element which can be included in public preaching besides the gift of prophecy is the gift of tongues coupled with the gift of the interpretation of tongues. 

      Smith Wigglesworth while preaching would sometimes suddenly begin to speak briefly in an unknown tongue, and then what would follow was something spontaneous in English - the interpretation. And then he'd carry on preaching again.

      We can do this in a counselling session too. And even in a private casual conversation. Sometimes you'll suddenly feel inspired to speak in a tongue. And then what follows is revelation, in English. What follows is a new idea or new topic of conversation that has a special element of the Spirit, of God's will, in it.
    • Yosefu Ueno As regard to sperking in tongues. I am convinced that those believers that have grown out of the 'unbeliever/unlearned' phase of their Christian life should learn to say 'Amen' to prayers that are prayed in prayer language (tongues). I am so blessed that I get to hang around with people I really trust as legit believers and therefore I can, without any dought, say 'So bet it' to their prayers in their prayer language. And that moment, only that moment, something really unexplainable happens. God honours your faith and you can feel in your spirit that He is about to reveal something new to you. So speaking/praying in tongues is no big deal. I do that all the time. And prophecy should equally be real normal part of any Christian's life.
    • John Edwards The additional gifts of the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom can be really helpful too. 

      I remember one time I was sitting in a church meeting, listening to the sermon, when suddenly the number "3" came to me and "back pain". 

      I said to myself, "I think I've got a word of knowledge".

      Straight away the preacher said, "Somebody here has a word of knowledge".

      I spoke from the back of the church, "I think it's me! I'm getting the number '3' and 'back pain'".

      Then the preacher said to the congregation, "Anyone with back pain, put your hand up."

      Three people put their hands up. The preacher told them to come back to where I was and asked me to pray for them. 

      One of the three people explained to me that he was born with an unformed disc in his spine. 

      I asked him, "Which disc is it?" 

      He answered, "Number 3 from the bottom".

      So I laid hands on each of the three people for healing.

      Some years later I was visiting a small rural town, and I met one of the men. He told me that he'd had back pain for years and that it had been real good ever since.

      Then he asked me whether I remember the other man - the man who had an unformed disc in his spine. I said that I remembered.

      Then he told me he was a friend of his and that it was his friend's first time in church and that it left a big impression on him.

      Praise God the gift of the word of knowledge is available for all of us!
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