Body of Christ (Conclusion Part 1)

This morning during my devotion I read about how Paul was saved (Acts 9:1-31). Verse 3 reads, ". . . suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him." My conversion was similar in respect to the "suddenly" (there were no actual flashing lights, although in my spirit there was: it was awakened). I had watched (this was around Easter in 1998) the last part of the video Jesus of Nazareth several times with students at the school where I taught, and my life was transformed, just like that. All I did was watch the video and I became, as Paul puts it, a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

And that is when I became a member of the Body of Christ. I became a son of God (Galatians 3:26-4:7). I became a member of the family. So did my son Isaac. Actually he was a member of the family all along. It took us several years before we finally found a "church home." God gently led us to where we worship now in St. Paul.

Here's how the Body of Christ functions. It's us working together. Paul uses the metaphor that we are like a body. One person is an eye, another an ear and another a foot, and together we function as a body (and hence the body of Christ) (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). Peter says that we "like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house" (another metaphor) (1 Peter 2:5).

Let me share a testimony of how the Body of Christ has worked for me. In my entry 'The Deal" I shared how I have asked God to make me a professional artist. I had learned from reading books by a man of God named Kenneth Hagin that you could do that sort of thing. Kenneth Hagin had prayed with hundreds of people about all sorts of things, and they've had their prayers answered. All you need to do is believe. Sometimes it's good to have someone to pray with. It gives you a point of contact. Jesus said, "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done by my Father in heaven" (Matthew 18:19).

Two and a half years ago during the summer a speaker came to our local Bible camp. His name was Harley fiddler and he was an older gentleman. I learned that he had worked with Kenneth Hagin in the past so I asked him if he'd pray with me. He said he would, and I met with him the following evening after the service. Harley had finished his sermon by saying, "God has not lost the recipe for making manna." In other words, God still knows how to perform miracles. Harley was just the man that I wanted to see, and I showed him the scriptures I had collected to support my case to become a professional artist, and then we prayed (he led). We clasped hands (like we were going to arm wrestle) and he prayed for me. Harley's wife was there too and she prayed along with us. Isaac my son was there too, and when Harley finished praying he prophesied that Isaac would one day work with youth. That same thing had been prophesied about Isaac when we were in Israel, at the Mount of the Beatitudes, and also one Sunday at our church after the service by one of our pastors. Isaac spent last summer working as a counselor at a summer camp for kids. That's the way the Body of Christ works.

After praying with Harley I was excited because I believed that God would do what His Word says he will do. I still believe that God will make those things happen. It is while you are waiting that you really develop your faith. I have learned a lot about prayer and prophecy and the Body of Christ over the past two and a half years. I've learned a lot about faith and and believing and trusting God. The scripture I quoted above from 1 Corinthians in verse 28 states, "And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles [Harley is an apostle], second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues."

The Body of Christ AKA Family (Part 4)

   In my last entry I wrote about evidence that proved the truth of the Bible (and I will share that evidence in the near future); however, here's another piece of evidence, although this evidence is somewhat circumstantial and subjective in nature. It seems quite eido to me (that is, empirical, observable, see the first red entry, last blog). I'm talking about the above picture of a group of Palestinian Christians attending a mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, taken by Christopher Anderson and which appeared in National Geographic in December of 2007. What other explanation can there be for the behavior of these Palestinians than to say that the glory of God has come down (glory in Hebrew is defined as "weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousness"—and I must include the etymology of copious from the Merriam-Webster dictionary: Middle English from the Latin copia abundance, from co- + ops wealth, power, help). So, instead of the glory of God we could say the weighty goodness, splendor, copiousness and abundant wealth, power and help of God, and that is what the people in the above photo are experiencing. That's why they look like they're going on some kind of a trip, because they are going on The Trip. 

   It's great to be a member of the the Body of Christ: you can see a picture of a group of people from another part of the world and you love them as your own brothers and sisters, because we all have the same mind blowing Father. I have brothers and sisters in Palestine, in Israel, in China, in South-East Asia, in India, in Europe and Russia, in Africa, and all over the world. We all have the same spiritual DNA. We're a big, big family with a big, big Father who lives in big, big heaven. And He is so good, good, good. Try reading Luke 15: 11-24 (Jesus is a genius when it comes to metaphors) and see how much the father (God) in the story loves his son (any one of us). And then come and join the family.

What Is Jesus Doing in Heaven? (The Body of Christ Part 3) Continued

   This is a picture of my studio. It's kind of cramped and I seem to have little time to spend there. See that pine door? It needs to be finished and installed in the kitchen, and there's a roll of flooring on the floor which needs to be installed in the porch. There's lots to be done around the house. I have lots of ideas for my art and I hope to share them and document their progress through this blog. To make art is my heart's desire. God placed that desire there, and that's why I'm asking him to make me a full time professional artist.

   Jesus is running his church from heaven, but we're not a bunch of robots. Each of us has a free will. He wants us to "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7). 

   Here's a passage from Ephesians 1:18-23 which give us a peek into the spiritual realm. This is Paul speaking, and I'm going to interject a few comments in red: "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know [the Greek word for know, eido, means to actually perceive with the eyes, or by any of the senses. In other words, it means to observe the same way a scientist would, empirically. So in other, other words, according to this passage, we can actually observe "the hope" (read on)] the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparable power for us who believe [we, as believers, can actually observe (with our eyes and other senses) the afore mentioned hope, riches, and power]. That power [emphasis mine] is like the working of his mighty strength, which he [the glorious Father (verse 17)] exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come [This is quite inclusive power]. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything in the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills everything in every way."[So Jesus Christ, The Messiah, the Anointed One, the King of Kings, who said, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you," has been given the authority by God to "fill everything in every way," in the Body of Christ, of which I am a menber]. 

   If you don't think God only wants to do good things for us, and wants only the very best for us, just start reading the Bible. It's TRUE. And I've got an excellent piece of evidence to substansciate that claim that I will share with you in the near future, eido type evidence.

What Is Jesus Doing in Heaven? (The Body of Christ Part 2)

   I've learned two things about this blog. The first thing is that you can only indent by using the spacebar, and sometimes for some odd reason (or not so odd) that doesn't work, when moving from "composing," which I am doing right now in a window which you the reader can't see, to "publishing," which is where you the reader are reading this right now. The second thing you can't do is copy and paste text, and "Help" is silent on the topic.

   I wanted to copy and paste some passages from Revelation 5 and 6 which paints the most incredible picture of  Jesus "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," but appearing as "a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures" and so forth in heaven (Rev 5:5-6). For a long time now I've wanted to make a picture of the four creatures around the throne (they're described in Revelation 4:6-8). I'd like to do some drawings and/or an etching and/or a painting and/or both, one day. I'd like to do them in a cubist style, like Georges Braque or Picasso. Anyway, try reading that passage from Revelation, it's one of my favorites (amongst hundreds—the Bible is the most amazing book you we will ever encounter because it's pure Truth). Read it. You will not be disappointed.

  (To Be Continued)

The Body of Christ

When we say the Body of Christ we are not talking about the cold dead and disfigured body of Jesus washed and wrapped in linen lying in a dark tomb the day after he was crucified and died. After all, the important thing is that Jesus rose from the dead, and left the tomb the very next day. I've been there. I took the the picture above and I peeked inside. The tomb is empty. He is risen, and he is so alive.

After he rose from the dead Jesus was with his disciples and followers for "forty days and spoke about the Kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3). Then "he was taken up [into heaven] before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight" (Acts 1:9). Then an angel came and told them as they stood there staring into the sky, "This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). Isn't that an amazing story?

So we could say that the (living) Body of Christ is now in heaven. But that's still not what we are talking about when we talk about the Body of Christ.

Just before Jesus ascended into heaven he spoke about believers being "baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5), and then he added, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you [isn't that cool and exciting and amazing and awesome?] and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Now I am sitting here writing this two thousand years later half way around the world in what would have been at that time "the ends of the earth." It is estimated that there at least 250 millions believers (who believe that the Bible is the Word of God, that it is true, literally true, from cover to cover) in the world today. And I am one of them. Collectively we are the Body of Christ. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:30, "we are members of his body."

I'm going to discuss this a little further the next time write because it's getting late. This writing business is time consuming.

The Deal

   Here's the deal. This is so good, so rich, so excellent. It's the deal—not to be confused with THE DEAL which is Jesus Christ, AKA Yeshua Messiah (his actual Hebrew name). Jesus the man was a practicing Jew which for me makes him seem all the more historically real: Jesus the man. THE DEAL is that Jesus the man was at the same time the Son of God. He was Emmanuel (God with us), or as John the disciple wrote, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). John knows what he's talking about. He was an eyewitness to "that which was from the beginning [God], which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched [Jesus the man]" (1 John 1:1). THE DEAL is that Jesus Christ actually lived, and actually was the Son of God and the whole story is true—the Truth we need to know. The Truth is that Jesus was the righteous Son of God and that as a man he died for us, you know the story, he was crucified and died so that those who accept by faith who he is and what he did as a man can become righteous and die with him (by faith) and become resurrected and live forever with him. What a blast! A lot more could be said about this (if you follow this blog more will be said in time) but for now I want to talk about the afore mentioned lower case deal (which nonetheless is good, rich, excellent and much more).

   So here's the deal. Jesus said, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you" (John 15:7). Jesus said that, so we know it's the Truth—I'm going to be writing about (spiritual) Truth further in the near future—spiritual truth is more real than what you can hear, see or touch with your senses, but you can only access it by faith. Believe it's true, true, true. Access it now. 

   Anyway, Jesus' statement above is a logic statement. It says if A (you remain in me) + B (my words remain in you) then C (ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you). Jesus has more to say about asking and receiving but it boils down to essentially three things. If you hope to receive anything from God you must: 1) be in right standing with God, 2) be in right standing with your fellow man (these first two points are irreseparable  (I just made that word up so you won't find it in the dictionary, yet—it means they can't be separated) and 3) have faith (believe it's true). This essentially means that if a promise is in the Bible (God's Word)  then you can ask God for whatever is promised, and he will do it. 

   A good example would be asking for healing. God's Word promises over and over again that God will heal you if you are sick. And he will. Just follow the three above points and it's a done deal. Which is basically what it is, a deal. If you keep your end of the bargain, God will keep his. 

   So I asked God to make me a professional artist. I have virtually hundreds of scriptures to support my case. Scriptures from Exodus 35 where it states that it is God who fills the artist with His Spirit, "with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts," or this scripture from Psalm 90 where the psalmist states, "May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands." Believing is the hardest part because this promise sounds so impossible. 

   What I am proposing to do with this blog is to document my progress as I move on with God and prove the truthfulness of His Word.