Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 13 of 13

Thread: Four stages in revivals

  1. #11
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Oslo, Norway
    Posts
    14,487
    Thanked: 5793
    John 17:22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—
    23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

    The formalization and cementation of correct doctrine and correct organizational structure will never bring about unity in the Church. Unity can only come about through an organic understanding from within the glory of the risen Christ, who has conquered this world including death itself :

    Eph 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
    18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
    19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
    20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms

    Eph 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
    17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
    18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
    19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

    An organic understanding with the eyes of the heart from within the glorious riches of his inheritance, the inheritance that the resurrection of Christ produced will fill the Church to the measure of all the fullness of God and produce unity from within.

    Why does that glory have the capacity of producing what formalization and cementation cannot produce ? Because it embodies the resurrection power that raised Christ out of the dominion of death and to indestructible life. The reality of its power and fullness is more powerful than death in all its aspects :

    Song of Solomon 8:6 for love is as strong as death,
    its jealousy unyielding as Sheol.
    It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame.
    7 Many waters cannot quench love;
    rivers cannot sweep it away.

    The many waters of Sheol could not keep Jesus behind the bars of the Earth that closed over him forever (Jonah 2) because the glory that God gave him before the creation of the world was more real and more powerful, the love God had for him and for those who would come to faith in him was more real and more powerful, its jealousy against Sheol, death and death's sting - sin was more real and powerful and overcame it all.

    That is the glory he has given us so that we would know him fully - which is the essence of eternal life - and that is the power capable of bringing us to unity from within that glory and collectively to demonstrate to the world that our message is true. Which equals the greatest revival in the history of the world.

    Is that more powerful than death, that glory within which unity may come about ? Yes it is. A man or a woman looking through all the depths of death and hell and then looking through all the depths of God's heavenly glory issued on this Earth through the Son would forget about the former within one second because of its power.

  2. #12
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Oslo, Norway
    Posts
    14,487
    Thanked: 5793
    How to carry the responsibility.

    Luke 17:7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?
    8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?
    9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?
    10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

    Read the above slowly with yourself in mind, as the Lord's servant. An interesting question here is what this servant is supposed to do, or what he may expect to be told to do ? The passage itself gives some context for this, if we back up to the preceding verse :

    6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

    So after you have told that mulberry tree to uproot itself and plant itself in the sea and it has obeyed you, you ought to tell the world that you are an unworthy servant who has only done your duty.

    There is glory in this servitude but it is not your glory. Raising your voice and declaring yourself something more than an unworthy servant who has only done your duty will bring about the wrath of your master, including when the mulberry tree has uprooted itself, is flying through the air and is in the process of figuring out where to place its roots in the sea so that it can plant itself there. All done at your command.

    Did I quote a fantasy novel now ? No, I quoted the Bible. I quoted Jesus Christ who is talking to his disciples. He is replying to a direct question about having greater faith. He isn't kidding, he himself walked on the water and had two fishes and five loaves of bread turn into enough food to feed the masses.

    He's talking to his servants who are supposed to carry on doing his tasks and thereby complete the mission that their master came for, the salvation of as many men and women as possible. This isn't a fantasy novel, this is real.

    A true servant of Jesus Christ refuses any right to glory on the basis of working with God's power according to faith. The result doesn't matter because it is all the working of a power that has Jesus Christ himself and his resurrection power and resurrection life as its source. The worker deserves his wages but those are given by the master, it is not something that the servant procures for himself nor something that he has his fellow servants procure for himself. He remains in servant's attire, even while that mulberry tree is planting itself in the sea and the whole world is watching.

  3. #13
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Oslo, Norway
    Posts
    14,487
    Thanked: 5793
    One of the reasons why being the Lord's servant or bondservant or slave is better than anything else :

    Heb 4:9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
    10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.
    11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

    At the fundamental level we are brought out of a household where we relate to God according to our own works, whether according to the law or according to the conscience. Always trying to do right or do good, always trying not to do wrong, trying to be found acceptable to God. Instead we are declared righteous by faith in the risen Christ and our works, whatever they are, do not add anything to that.

    What now ? Carry on like before, trying to do right and do good, trying not do wrong, trying to obey, trying not to disobey ? Just it doesn't directly affect my status as righteous according to my faith in the risen Christ ?

    Mat 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
    29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
    30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

    A yoke is something they put on the oxen's neck and then he would be able to pull the plow or a cart. It also meant that the beast was now under someone's authority and direction.



    Jesus calls us to take our own yoke of own understanding, own direction, own effort, own power, own stature and replace it with his yoke. Or his servant's attire, to use an other picture of being under "a yoke". How can his yoke be easier and his burden lighter ? His yoke is easier on our necks because it fits our necks better than any yoke we or our fellow men place there. Thereby his burden will feel lighter as well since its weight will not contribute to making the yoke feel harder to wear. His burden is lighter not because its weight is smaller but rather because the effort going into pulling it is based on his understanding, his direction and his power and involves a stature that is given by him and that fits within the household of being his servant. This produces a rest for the soul, even when the weight pulled happens to be immense or the work being carried out is cumbersome or prolonged in effort.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Has your Kia Forte warranty expired? Get a fast online quote from CarWarrantyUS today. Enjoy the open road and leave the repairs to us.