When the tire meets the pavement…

You’ve all probably heard the expressions “when the tire meets the pavement”, “when the rubber meets the road”, and “when reality sets in”…right? If not, I probably picked them up from my childhood in rural Nova Scotia. These expressions mean that things can look great when they are ideas or plans…but they can look totally different when they become real and its time to put them into real life.

When the “tire meets the pavement” the car moves ahead. So, are you ready to move ahead with what God has done in your life at #OFLO14?

Jesus once shared a story with some religious folks about a man who was possessed by an evil spirit. The man was delivered from the evil spirit by the work and power of Jesus Christ; what a celebration that must have been! If you were to imagine the man’s life as a house, it would have been swept clean and everything put back in its rightful place. The only problem is that the house was empty; the man’s life was empty of spiritual things. Although the man was made clean by his encounter with Jesus, his life was empty of spiritual things. The evil spirit realized this and returned with seven other friends more wicked than itself to toss the place and make it disorderly again. There was no resistance. There wasn’t even a fight. The house was easily picked off and now filled with more filth than before. The final condition was worse than the first. (Matthew 12:43-45)

It is agonizing to think that after God has revealed himself to so many people at #OFLO14 we would return home swept clean but still empty spiritually.

The reality is that what God does in our lives in a moment still requires a lifetime of follow-up on our part. Right? This is called discipleship, and it is what Jesus was referring to in the story I told you. Mary Magdalene, a prominent woman in the story of Jesus’ life, was relieved of a significant burden in her life by the power of Jesus. Her response: she became an active disciple of Jesus.

The work of Jesus at #OFLO14 has set us free to make a new beginning; but if we now fail to take the road of discipleship, we are in danger of relapsing into a condition worse than before. (1)

What does it take to be a disciple? A disciple regularly interacts with other disciples for fun, food, fellowship, worship, and strength (Acts 2:42-). A disciple studies the Word of God (2 Tim 2:15). A disciple regularly leaves the chaos of the world behind to spend time alone with God (Luke 4:42-). A disciple cuts themselves off from the things that lead them into temptation and sin no matter the cost (Matt 5:29). A disciple shares their inner victories and inner struggles with other disciples (Galatians 6:1-2). A disciple actively works to ensure justice is met and those less fortunate are cared for (James 2:14-17). A disciple seeks to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit and does only what the Father [God] speaks (Ephesians 5:18, John 5:19)

I could go on…but I won’t. If you take even half of those statements seriously enough to implement them into your life, you are on the right track. Your destiny will be changed and your life will be more abundant than you can imagine.

Like I said, this one will take work. Not work to earn God’s love and eternal favor, we already have that. The work we now do is God’s work on earth as we have now because a part of his body. We are his hands and his feet.

This is a marathon; let do it!

(1) The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Gospel of Matthew. R.T. France.

Divine Healing III: The Spirit and the Kingdom

As I have been reflecting on divine healing and other biblical themes I was struck by a parallel with the role of the Spirit in the OT versus the NT and the role of the Kingdom of God (or heaven) in the NT versus the age that is to come after the Second Coming of Christ. This may or may not strike a chord with you…but please interact with this if it does!

THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

I have taught often about the role of the Spirit in the OT versus the NT. The Spirit was quite active in the OT and often filled people, provided them with creative abilities (Exodus 31:1-3, Bezalel crafted object for worship), gave them wisdom and knowledge (Genesis 41:37-38, Joseph interprets dreams), and even inspired prophetic words (Numbers 11:24-25, Moses and the elders). Elsewhere in the OT we see the Spirit inspiring Judges, prophets, kings and others with specific words and actions, for a specific time and purpose.

In the OT the work of the empowering Holy Spirit was reserved for just a few people, not everyone. The work of the Holy Spirit was reserved for specific moments in time, and then he withdrew. The prophet Joel prophesied of a time when the empowering word of the Holy Spirit would be shared with everyone (Joel 2) and the prophet Ezekiel prophesied of a time when the Holy Spirit would start a new work that was never before undertaken in the hearts of all of the faithful, a work of holiness and righteousness (Ezekiel 36:25-28). In the OT it was the law that kept people holy and righteous; in the NT Ezekiel tells us this will change.

Both of these prophetic promises came to pass. Today the Holy Spirit resides in all who confess faith in Jesus Christ no matter of their denomination. Paul tells us in Romans 8:9 that if someone does not have the Spirit they are not in Christ. The Spirit convicts us of sin and assists us with righteousness (i.e., the fruit of the Spirit). The Holy Spirit also subsequently empowers those who have confessed faith in Christ to be witnesses of that fact. Luke tells us in Acts 1:8 that the Spirit will empower us to be witnesses and this fact is demonstrated numerous times throughout the book of Acts.

THE PARALLEL WITH THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Holy Spirit, once temporary and breaking in here and there in the OT, has become a permanent fixture in the lives of NT Christians. In the same way, the Kingdom of God, currently breaking in here and there in a temporary fashion (remember my movie trailer metaphor), manifesting its power and glory here and there, will become a permanent fixture in the lives of all of the faithful when Christ returns and ushers in this new era of existence.

SO WHAT?

One of the things that this parallel tells me is that just as God was faithful in sending his promised Holy Spirit, he will be faithful in bringing the Kingdom of God to us in due time. Another thing that this parallel tells me is that the Kingdom of God has not ‘arrived’ in the sense that the Tree of Life is presently here for harvesting whenever we desire. Some of the fruit may be presently accessible (i.e., fruit of the Spirit) but some other fruit is still not fully ripened (i.e. divine healing, removal of sin, removal of death). I believe signs and foreshadows of the Kingdom of God are breaking in all the time but we cannot over state what God is doing in some places (i.e. that they have somehow ‘got it’, whatever ‘it’ is) and we cannot degrade our local context if we do not see the same kind of evidence of the working of the Kingdom of God.

King David was once a young boy tending sheep. Sheep smell and they are not the brightest. Who would have ever thought that he would one day be anointed King and carry the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in a day where this was not something everyone in God’s elect had the opportunity to do. Yet, he was faithful where God placed him and with what God gave him.

So…eagerly await the full release of the Kingdom of God…on God’s timing. Pick the fruit that are presently available and anticipate the ripening of what is still to come.

THE WORD

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law”