Former location of "The Kingdom of the Heavens" blog, written by an incurable fool who is trying to become a holy fool!
God uses our uniqueness and gives unique gifts and roles. He does not make interchangeable, cookie-cutter believers for our administrative convenience. Examples: the first deacons, Stephen, Philip. Paul and the anomalous New Testament prophets.
The modern emphasis on first identifying my “gift” so that I may then “help” God develop it gets the matter exactly backwards. The important thing isn’t identifying my gift, it is offering my body as a living sacrifice so that the Spirit may exercise any gift He chooses through me. Then any gift I am observed to be actually exercising can be identified as my gift, and its exercise will be genuine and have God’s power.
A God who Speaks, Desire to have our own way, Disrespecting poor believers, Divisions in the Church, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, Historical Background, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Personal Background, Personality cults, Prophecy, Through others, Through teachers, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To bear fruit, To live in unity
Addresses the subject of the roles of the people said in Ephesians 4 to be “given” to the Church by Christ and the qualifications and roles of church officers mentioned in the New Testament–overseers, officially recognized elders, and church servants (deacons). Also discusses the role of elders–older people in the church–even when not formally recognized as leaders, with application to me, the author of this presentation.
God “calls” all believers to love one another and to be conformed to the image of His Son–to be made, by God, to be just like Jesus. There is also a number of other things to which God “calls” all believers–almost all of them things we simply let him do to or through us, and all of them summed up by loving each other and being remade into His image.
A God who Speaks, Adoption, Choosing darkness over light, God Acts by Speaking, God is light, God is Love, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, God's sovereignty, God's Voice, His Children, His Friends, Must Trust God to Enter, Pride in accomplishments as our own, Promises, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Show us the Way of Truth, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, To be in his image, To bear fruit, What is sin?
Linked text accompanying the You Tube video with the same name. God calls us. God’s call presents neither a question of what human has “authority” nor of human “leadership,” but of God’s right to make free use of what He gives.
A God who Speaks, Authority Contests, Divisions in the Church, God Acts by Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, God's Voice, His Children, His Friends, Must Trust God to Enter, Peril of Seeking Power, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, To be his ambassadors, To be in his image
Linked text to accompany the third in a series of videos about God’s gifts and callings for people, which he sometimes gives to notorious evildoers. Discusses Moses, King David and Saul of Tarsus, who literally got away with murder. Or did they?
A God who Speaks, Consequences, Discipline or Correction, forgiveness and mercy, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God was never our enemy, God's rationality, Merit, patience, Reconciliation, Repentance, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Sin, The Problem of Evil
When God told the people to go in and he would give them his promise “Today,” they did not trust he was good. So they believed their fears instead. As a result, they could not go in, as he had said, “tomorrow.”
A God who Speaks, Consequences, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's Voice, Promises, Refusing to hear, Repentance, Repentance versus Remorse, Salvation, Sin, Trusting sight over God's words, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?
A summary of my calling and life direction. I am becoming comfortable with the idea that most of the positive effect of my life will occur after it is over and that, among humans, I will receive no credit for it.
If God never speaks to me, it will be impossible for me to keep his commands to keep a soft heart toward his words, to hear and obey him “TODAY”, while I am still hearing him. Beginning the discussion of entering God’s rest today, while God is speaking to me–and the consequences of Israel’s rejection of his voice.
A God who Speaks, Conversation with God, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, idolatry, Language and Speech, Refusing to hear, self-serving worship, Through Jesus, Trusting sight over God's words, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?
God speaks to us individually, and also collectively as his Body. We must hear him and walk with him individually and also depend on each other for his voice. Believers all have the mind of Christ, but none of us alone has all of the mind of Christ.