Galatian Church, perhaps Emergent?

Here’s another poem assignment, for the book of Galatians:

Works of the Flesh

Sexual Immorality – a cancer of the heart, eyes, rotting the soul
Impurity – surely you would want to offer yourselves without blemish?
Sensuality – lustful desires, overrun the cup to brink of destruction
Do you not see, O Galatians, how you dig your own grave?

Idolatry – could one worship what took another an hour to carve?
Sorcery – the covenant of witchcraft the enemy sows in your soul
Enmity – the deepest of the hatred, the anger, the disgust
Do you not know, O Galatians, how you live against the Living G-d?

Strife – when we all thought a poor economy was the worst
Jealousy – the coveting of any and all, violation of the Torah
Fits of Anger – it only leads to hatred, violence, and suffering
Do you not feel, O Galatians, the destruction of your love?

Rivalries – not just a school competition, but a battle between churches
Dissensions – have you not the expected respect for your elders?
Divisions – why scorch the seed over the impression of a weed? 
Do you not care, O Galatians, how you are losing your soul?

Envy – why desire so much in such a great hatred?
Drunkenness – do you surely feel you praise G-d when imbibed?
Orgies – how much longer, Fools, must you live like pagans?!
Do you not smell, Emergent Church, the stench of repeated history?

Heed

A Seminary assignment: write a poem about First Corinthians. Well…here you go:

Watch yourself! Saints and sinners alike! O Corinth, rend your heart!
Turn back to G-d, the Mighty Counselor, for He holds truth
Without Him we find emptiness, resolute in pagan ritual sacrifices
Cast down your idol, O Corinthian, and find the Holy One again!

O Corinthian…O Follower…O Disciple…O Saint…O Christian
Why do you make your own form of the Holy One?
Do you not recognize, truly see, that Christ died and rose again?
These are not empty words – for without them we have no such hope

Rend back your heart to your maker, as once was in your youth
Cast down the idols, the statues, the disorder, the relative lies
Find G-d yet again, in Orderly worship, His Word Resolute
Follow His commands: Supper, Gifts, Love, Prophecy, Tongues, and Tithe

Listen carefully, O Corinthian church! Hark the warning you hear now!
Do you not know this life is only temporal? We have yet a brighter future!
Do not lose hope, do not give up, do not emerge into lawlessness!
For it is by the Law, and through the Law, that Christ died for us all.

Not through faith alone, not through works alone, but combined
Your Savior calls to you once again…He says He is coming soon
So remember – follow G-d; stand firm; be strong and courageous
And the Counselor will fall upon you, giving you strength from Above…

Sunday Q & A

Hey – today’s Q & A day, so start asking away! Yes, it rhymed…

What Difference Do It Make by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent

 

Sorry that it has been so long since a book review – I’ve been drilling through this book but find myself extremely busy with all of the schoolwork I’ve been doing – which you’ll be seeing a lot of as well. This is a different turn from the regular schedule, since there is usually no Sunday post. Reality is, though, this is overdue and I just need to get it posted. As it is, this week is completely off-schedule with how the posts are going to be. Needless to say, school has been quite inspiring recently. So, without further ado…

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In essence, What Difference Do It Make is a retelling of the first text, with expansions and additions of “stories of hope and healing.” I don’t want to give too much away, but this guides us through the lives and pain of Ron and Denver, seeing part of their original text, with much more information added in, after the fact, that helps complete the story. Overall, this book is, more than anything else, about hope.

This book was quite a challenge to accept in many ways. Before I started reading this book, I had a discussion with some men I am discipling. We were talking about our concerns helping the homeless because they may use what we give them for sin addictions. After reading this book, I cannot say the same. Y’shua said that we are to give of anyone who begs, and for those who would ask a coat, give them also our tunic. I have learned that we need to give to the least of these, as if entertaining angels. Secondly, it isn’t helping them. It is blessing them. To help them would get them out of there entirely, but requires us to get quite dirty on our own end as well.That, and the fact that if the church stepped up and did what they have been called to do, there would be no homeless situation.

Biblically-based, rooted in scripture, and of sound foundations, I support this book for those either looking for a hopeful tale or need a serious wake-up call about how we are to help the homeless.

Does God Have YOUR Number?

Out of respect for His Name, please do not dispose of any printed copies of this post. If you no longer have use for the document, please contact me.

This post is a guest post by Randy Vollrath.

In the past few months, God has been increasing the borders, FAITH, and stepping out of our/my comfort zones in many ways. In my life, in our church body, in our discipleship groups’ lives.

And it is a phenomenal thing!!

Prayer and expectation for a great move of God and the Holy Spirit have been manifested recently. A couple of weeks ago in one of our Church services, GOD asked me, What Do You Want?

I’d like to tell you my answer was instant, but at that moment, I had to think for a minute. But I answered, God, I want to see Miracles, More of you in my life, More of the Holy Spirit guiding me, More prophecy, and Peace and Joy.

Since that time, God has had my number. Literally and figuratively. I have always admired, respected and loved to be around men and women of God, and Prayer warriors. My Grandmother was an especially gifted prayer warrior. Well, suffice it to say, I always thought that was someone else’s gifting, someone else’s job. WRONG NUMBER!!!

After telling God what I wanted to see and do, he rang me up. In a way that was consuming, and easy enough to recognize, but stepping out was another thing.

I started feeling promptings, and a wonderful confirmation email came from a friend, forwarded by a great man, Dick Schroeder, a Chi Alpha minister who teaches as well on the Holy Spirit. My spirit man welt up with emotions of, that is exactly how I am feeling.

“Are you learning to recognize the promptings of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit often speaks to you as a thought that drops into your mind; words that you “hear” in your mind. An impression, or gentle urging to do or say something, or an impression that you should not do or say something, as if God is gently pulling back on the reins. You will develop the ability to accurately recognize the Holy Spirit’s promptings if you immediately obey what you hear. OBEDIENCE is the key. When you do what the Holy Spirit tells you, He will speak more to you. Why should He continue to speak to you if you haven’t done what He said last time? SO Listen, Listen Listen.” Dick Schroeder

In the next week, I had been asked to be part of the Prayer Team at church. Talk about an honor and blessing both. Not a week has gone by that there has not been promptings to pray over, with and give God Directed blessings to those God wanted to impart to.

My first one, though was a hard step. A young man in our youth group had been having some bad days/weeks. I had stopped to talk to him on Youth night, and told him I was praying for him. Well, Sunday morning service, and God said, you need to go and tell him this… I was like, well, God, that is clear across the church, and maybe I would tell him later, but not now during worship and prayer time. OK God, if he comes down to me during prayer time, I will certainly step up and tell him. Well, if he only comes down front, and lo and behold, he does move out at prayer time. OK GOD, here you go!!

So here I trod, clear across the front of the sanctuary, to this young man. For this time, nothing else was going on. Time stood still, I could not hear anything else going on. As I laid my hands on this young man, he was sort of expecting something. The words of prayer and knowledge were not of my own volition, but truly words from God Almighty.

The main intent of the words, were that he would be lifted out of depression, into a leadership position in the youth group and that he would be instrumental in many things.

Now you see, God had his number too, but had called mine to minister to him. It was exciting to see later, that on Facebook, he had mentioned that he had been called to leadership. We are set to get together and talk more about his calling and his newfound calling to youth leadership.

A Word...

We demand a sign from G-d, and He provides them, yet we still ignore Him. How long, o ye lands, will this continue? How long must He suffer while we be estranged so happily from Him? Time is running out, o Israel. The clock ticks near, Jerusalem. Return to your first love, children of Eden, and love your Maker. He is jealous for you, and will play the shofar very soon.

Wildcard: Midrash of Abram

My OT Foundations professor shared this Midrash with the class a few weeks back. Let me know what you think…

 

Terah, the father of Abraham and Haran, was a dealer in images as well as a worshiper of them. Once when he was away he gave Abraham his stock of graven images to sell in his absence. In the course of the day an elderly man came to make a purchase. Abraham asked him his age, and the man gave it as between fifty and sixty years. Abraham taunted him with want of sound sense in calling the work of another man's hand, produced perhaps in a few hours, his god; the man laid the words of Abraham to heart and gave up idol-worship. Again, a woman came with a handful of fine flour to offer to Terah's idols, which were now in charge of Abraham. He took a stick and broke all the images except the largest one, in the hand of which he placed the stick which had worked this wholesale destruction. When his father returned and saw the havoc committed on his "gods" and property he demanded an explanation from his son whom he had left in charge. Abraham mockingly explained that when an offering of fine flour was brought to these divinities they quarreled with one another as to who should be the recipient, when at last the biggest of them, being angry at the altercation, took up a stick to chastise the offenders, and in so doing broke them all up. Terah, so far from being satisfied with this explanation, understood it as a piece of mockery, and when he learned also of the customers whom Abraham had lost him during his management he became very incensed, and drove Abraham out of his house and handed him over to Nimrod.

Nimrod suggested to Abraham that, since he had refused to worship his father's idols because of their want of power, he should worship fire, which is very powerful. Abraham pointed out that water has power over fire. "Well," said Nimrod, "let us declare water god." "But," replied Abraham, "the clouds absorb the water; and even they are dispersed by the wind." "Then let us declare the wind our god." "Bear in mind," continued Abraham, "that man is stronger than wind, and can resist it and stand against it."

Nimrod, becoming weary of arguing with Abraham, decided to cast him before his god--fire--and challenged Abraham's deliverance by the God of Abraham, but God saved him out of the fiery furnace. Haran, too, was challenged to declare his god, but halted between two opinions, and delayed his answer until he saw the result of Abraham's fate. When he saw the latter saved he declared himself on the side of Abraham's God, thinking that he too, having now become an adherent of that God, would be saved by the same miracle. But since his faith was not real, but depended on a miracle, he perished in the fire, into which, like Abraham, he was cast by Nimrod. This is hinted in the words (Gen. xi. 28): "And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees."