Post by Zac Loh on Jan 6, 2009 10:50:00 GMT -5
Dear Friends,
Can I ask you a question?
Have you perceived lately, like I have in my own observation …that truth is no longer that important anymore ...when compared to numbers?
Have we been compromising truth for the sake of numbers, for wider acceptance?
Since the day of Martin Luther and reformation; truth is progressing in substance, depth and clarity. Are we willing to forsake this progress for numbers?
If numbers is the gauge and standard bearer, then Christ is not who He claims to be, because the majority of this world are unbelievers!!!
No, we cannot let the popularity poll decides our theology. We cannot compromise truth for political correctness. We cannot promote towards the good image of Christians, and then blur the image of Christ who is the truth.
I am going back to my roots as a Protestant …I protest!
Specific Guidance
Matthew 26:17-19
Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. (Matthew 26:17-19)
In ministry, we also ask Jesus: “where do you want me to go, what do you want me to do?”
I want divine specific guidance to happen in my life.
What made the disciples to have had such a privilege of specific guidance from the Lord?
Or how the Lord Himself had such specific guidance?
How can I have such a blessing?
The disciples had Jesus physically. In our day, the Holy Spirit is the `another counselor’ representing Jesus to us. The Holy Spirit is Jesus to us, as Jesus was to the disciples in their day.
The disciples left everything to follow Jesus. The disciples were at the Lord’s disposal. They were serving Jesus’ ministry. So we should cease building our own ministries, and let Jesus build His ministry through us.
Hence, the question we need to ask: “what is Your ministry, Lord, what is the specific part that You want me to play in Your ministry now?”
The disciples had centered their lives on Jesus. The slept, drank, ate, travel and serve with Jesus. They had reached a point, a state, a condition, of thorough abandonment in their hearts.
The Lord speaks to us, not just in our minds, but in our hearts. The Lord relates to us …in our hearts.
God brings us to a place where we want nothing from Him. We let Him do whatever He wants in our lives.
For the Lord to guide us in such a specific manner; we cannot have any area of our life – sectioned, compartmentalized, block-out, from Him.
We must give Him that one thing that we have refrained from Him.
The disciples were chosen. They were intimately involved with the affairs of Jesus’ work. Not everybody could get close to Jesus that way. Not everybody could have access to Jesus that easily.
Jesus is, to us, now, not limited to a physical body. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is available to us. Jesus is not constrained to a human form. But, to have such specific guidance as the disciples had, we must walk in our chosen calling and ministry.
What has God called us to do, specifically? To have the specifics of the specific, we must first be in the specific.
Reading the Book of Acts, we see a flow, a progression of the works of the Holy Spirit: unity, power, large number of souls, geographical expansion and specific guidance. We notice that the Holy Spirit gave specific ministry guidance to Philip, Peter and Paul.
Can I ask you a question?
Have you perceived lately, like I have in my own observation …that truth is no longer that important anymore ...when compared to numbers?
Have we been compromising truth for the sake of numbers, for wider acceptance?
Since the day of Martin Luther and reformation; truth is progressing in substance, depth and clarity. Are we willing to forsake this progress for numbers?
If numbers is the gauge and standard bearer, then Christ is not who He claims to be, because the majority of this world are unbelievers!!!
No, we cannot let the popularity poll decides our theology. We cannot compromise truth for political correctness. We cannot promote towards the good image of Christians, and then blur the image of Christ who is the truth.
I am going back to my roots as a Protestant …I protest!
Specific Guidance
Matthew 26:17-19
Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. (Matthew 26:17-19)
In ministry, we also ask Jesus: “where do you want me to go, what do you want me to do?”
I want divine specific guidance to happen in my life.
What made the disciples to have had such a privilege of specific guidance from the Lord?
Or how the Lord Himself had such specific guidance?
How can I have such a blessing?
The disciples had Jesus physically. In our day, the Holy Spirit is the `another counselor’ representing Jesus to us. The Holy Spirit is Jesus to us, as Jesus was to the disciples in their day.
The disciples left everything to follow Jesus. The disciples were at the Lord’s disposal. They were serving Jesus’ ministry. So we should cease building our own ministries, and let Jesus build His ministry through us.
Hence, the question we need to ask: “what is Your ministry, Lord, what is the specific part that You want me to play in Your ministry now?”
The disciples had centered their lives on Jesus. The slept, drank, ate, travel and serve with Jesus. They had reached a point, a state, a condition, of thorough abandonment in their hearts.
The Lord speaks to us, not just in our minds, but in our hearts. The Lord relates to us …in our hearts.
God brings us to a place where we want nothing from Him. We let Him do whatever He wants in our lives.
For the Lord to guide us in such a specific manner; we cannot have any area of our life – sectioned, compartmentalized, block-out, from Him.
We must give Him that one thing that we have refrained from Him.
The disciples were chosen. They were intimately involved with the affairs of Jesus’ work. Not everybody could get close to Jesus that way. Not everybody could have access to Jesus that easily.
Jesus is, to us, now, not limited to a physical body. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is available to us. Jesus is not constrained to a human form. But, to have such specific guidance as the disciples had, we must walk in our chosen calling and ministry.
What has God called us to do, specifically? To have the specifics of the specific, we must first be in the specific.
Reading the Book of Acts, we see a flow, a progression of the works of the Holy Spirit: unity, power, large number of souls, geographical expansion and specific guidance. We notice that the Holy Spirit gave specific ministry guidance to Philip, Peter and Paul.