Love Your Neighbor: A Movement

Yesterday, in the House of Prayer, we were praying for local and global missionaries. I believed it was the right direction but I could not lift my eyes off of Long Island/NYC and her needs. We prayed for the Church to see herself as a missionary to the region. Suddenly, The Lord dropped an idea in our hearts and it dominated our thoughts in prayer. The idea? Love your neighbor.

The needs of our region are so overwhelming that they can be paralyzing. The result is that although our hearts are moved with compassion, we often withdraw from volunteering or affecting change in our communities because we feel like we can barely keep our own heads above water. Thoughts of mobilizing large projects are often immobilizing. Often, instead of focusing on the mission field right in front of us, we look elsewhere. Don't misunderstand me... There are people that the Lord has called to other nations and regions and we truly believe in their mission and support it financially and in prayer. However, there is a whole "Church" (big C = big Body) that has been planted right here on LI/NYC, a mission field that has the potential to reach the nations naturally, and we ARE missionaries!!!! We represent a King and His Kingdom! We are ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven here on LI/NYC.

So... on to the idea that dropped... what if all of the leaders in the Christian Community prayed a release of the first and second commandment (in its right order) and we started a simple movement. "Sons and Daughters, Love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength. Then, love your neighbor as yourself." What if we all just loved ONE neighbor with God's help? Not the whole neighborhood, (at least not right now)... just one neighbor.

Long Island used to brim over with neighborhood identities, block parties, mutual support, adopting a watchful eye over your neighborhood kids, etc. What if we just went back to the simplicity of loving ONE neighbor and I mean NEIGHBOR. Not your friends, not your co-workers (they are your neighbors too but this is different)  just one neighbor. What could/would happen to LI/NYC? Can you see the possibilities for the Church as missionaries??? God is so smart!

Well, anyway, that's how we're praying. In the meantime, entirely without foreknowledge I ran across this video this morning and thought, "Wow, can God confirm a word or what?"

Thoughts on MLK Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

If you have not read this prophetic letter from MLK Jr., today is the day to do so. In prayer, on the morning of the 2008 Elections, the Lord brought this letter to light - at least a portion of it. He let us know that we were, as a generation, experiencing the results of our inaction to injustice as a body.


In this letter, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. prophesied this: "But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust."

Although many of us, because of our concerns regarding abortion, cast our vote for Senator McCain that day, the clarity of Lord came with power that evening - way before the election results were in - and He let us know that Senator Obama would be voted in and that President Obama was, in fact, a gift of mercy and redemption. It became clear that how we responded to Him - by praying for him and honoring him respectfully even though we were free to disagree about issues - and how we dealt with other injustices that would be coming into the light during his term would also bring to light what else still needed shaping (in love) in the heart of the Church.

It is clear that MLK Jr. articulated God's judgments in regard to our injustices. Take a good long look around. We are currently living them. However, as a result, we are uniquely repositioned to turn the tide. The kindness of God's righteous judgments have directed our attention to seeking His heart in worship, prayer, mission and the related answer of God's kinetic acts of justice/mercy in us and through us. Remember, the manifold wisdom of God is meant to be expressed through the Church. Lord, help us to finally do exactly that! The Lord is showing us yet again that Love and justice is still, as always, the issue of the hour. "His Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

Don't pass by this opportunity to read this letter and allow it to poke around in places of fear, inaction or even anger. It will force you to ask the Lord, "How shall we now live?". We CAN make a difference in our time frame and do a stunning thing: "Love our enemies, bless those who persecute us, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who use us and persecute us. love, t

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

Why Do We Pray ~ Truman Faulkner

Why do we Pray... Truman Faulkner

I love how kids are unafraid to ask the simplest questions of life that adults are sometimes too proud or too “smart” to ask. In the CEC (Children’s Equipping Center), as I was teaching a class on the Apostolic prayers in the New Testament, a seven-year-old boy named Spencer raised his hand and asked the question, “Uh, why do we pray?” I sought to answer that question in the class this Friday morning. I started by drawing a simple diagram on the board.

Here is reality according to the Bible (see diagram I put together based off a diagram from my friend, John Harrigan):

Because the Church (those people circled in the diagram: sealed with Holy Spirit, or “HS” [Eph. 1:13-14, 2 Cor. 1:22], and chosen to inherit the Kingdom [Mt. 25:34, 1 Cor. 6:9-11, Gal. 5:21, James 2:5, Rev. 21:7]) lives in this present evil age, “saved in hope” for the Messianic age (Gal. 1:3-5, Titus 2:12-13, Rom. 8:24-25), as wheat among the tares (Mt. 13:36-43, 1 Pet. 2:12ff), it conducts itself as a sojourning nation (1 Pet. 2:9-12), waiting, praying for, and preparing for the coming of the Messiah and His Kingdom (Mt. 6:10, Luke 18:1-8, 1 Pet. 1:13, 1 Cor. 1:7, Phil. 3:20-21, 1 Thess. 1:9-10, Titus 2:13, James 5:7-10, Jude 20-21, Rev. 19:7). The tool that keeps us in this posture of repentant faith, so that we may inherit the promises of the age to come (Heb. 10:36-11:6), is the power, or grace, of God. As 1 Pet. 1:4-5 says, “to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power (grace) of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

The grace of God through the Holy Spirit is given to the Church to strengthen us not only in our sojourning, but also in our witness (Acts 1:8) of God’s absolute sovereignty over the Heavens and the Earth. His absolute sovereignty is expressed presently in amnestic patience toward the wicked (Luke 6:35-36, Rom. 2:4ff) and subsequently in recompense when the Day of the Lord is executed at the hands of the Messiah (Mt. 16:27, Rom. 2:4ff, 2 Thess. 1:4-10, Rev. 22:12). The Holy Spirit is given as a “gift” (Acts 1:4) and a “helper” (Jn. 14:16), that the Church might remain faithful and perseverant in her calling.

I then gave two mental pictures of our relationship to the Lord according to the Bible:

1. A Betrothed Bride

“…for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin” -2 Cor. 11:2

As I was teaching the kids the basic contours of this age and the age to come and how we need the power of God to prepare us for that Day, the picture of an engagement ring came to mind. I’ve seen three of my sisters get engaged and then married. Watching the daily emotions and preparations that go into that transition is truly exciting. For a betrothed bride, or fiancée, her role is simply to keep herself in love (see Jude 21). The ring says it’s going to happen, but she just has to wait and get ready. What a tragedy it would be for a bride to get to her wedding day ill-acquainted with and indifferent to her groom as everyone realizes that she had spent her whole engagement period flirting with other men, totally unconcerned with this most important day of her life. As a betrothed bride, we should get up everyday, look at our finger, and concern ourselves with the most important day of our lives. The Holy Spirit is our pledge (2 Cor. 1:22, Eph. 1:14), our “ring”, so to speak, who daily reminds us of our Bridegroom’s faithfulness as He pours out His love within our hearts (Rom. 5:5-11), glorifying Jesus by reminding us of His words (Jn. 14:26, 16:13-14), so that on that day, “His bride has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7). The metaphor of “bride” is chosen in Rev. 22:17 to describe the Spirit’s preparative work in producing longing love for the Bridegroom in the Church—”The Spirit and the Bride say ‘Come’ “. In this engagement period, “when the Bridegroom is taken away” (Mt. 9:15), perseverant longing is required (“Maranatha” of 1 Cor. 16:22-23). If we don’t order our life in this way, everything, even legitimate things, will choke out the remembrance of the words of our Beloved (his “love letters”) and distract us from the simplicity of devotion to Him (Mt. 13:18-23, 2 Cor. 11:2-3).

2. A Placed Orphan

“You have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God… having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved…” -Rom. 8:15-24

According to Romans 8:23, “we wait for our adoption, the redemption (or resurrection) of our bodies”. Though the Bible emphatically declares, “Beloved, NOW we are children of God” (1 Jn. 3:1-2) and the Spirit testifies to this (Rom. 8:16), there seems to be at times an ambiguous distinction between our present calling and its future realization. Like the picture of an engagement unto a wedding, there is a process in adoption. I gave this analogy to the kids to help solidify the often-etherealized function of “the Spirit of Adoption”. My sister and brother-in-law, Rachel and Marcus Meier, are in the process adopting eight-year-old twin girls from Ethiopia. On March 31st, the girls will legally be theirs. They would have had to fly out to Ethiopia to do that legal transaction, but thankfully they don’t have to anymore (Regardless, what a picture that is of the First Coming of Jesus! I’m getting ahead of myself…). Even though they will legally have the girls on the 31st, they won’t be able to fly over to Ethiopia (Second Coming in the clouds!) to get the girls and actually “have them” for another four to six weeks because of legal processing. So, there is this period of waiting and preparing (“already/not yet”).

For a moment, imagine the excitement of these two girls. They are getting adopted! They found out someone wants them, and they have a new family. They may be thinking things like, “Wow, they are Americans, so I will become an American. I want to live like an American now. I wonder what my new parents like to do, what food they like to eat, what their house looks like. What will my bedroom look like?” Now imagine this: upon Marcus and Rachel’s first visit for the legal transfer, they give these twins a telephone so that the girls can talk to them during the waiting period. The girls are tired of the loneliness of orphanhood. They want to live in the family now. They like their new parents and they want to talk to their new family everyday.

Marcus and Rachel then call the girls on the phone and tell them, “We are so excited to welcome you into our home! We have your room ready. You are going to have a sweet bunk bed. We painted it for you. We’re going to give you this and this and this…” The girls express their gratitude and even call Rachel “Mom” and Marcus “Dad”. Then they ask questions about the family. Marcus replies, “Well, Isaiah, Zion, Rees, Hudson, they are all so excited too. Now, in our home, the family loves each other and shares with each other. Love and sharing in the home is something that’s rewarded. You can get ready by practicing sharing with each other, because those are the laws of this home. I know you may not be rewarded for those things in the Ethiopian orphanage, but you will here. You can get ready now so that it will be a smooth transition and entrance into our home. And if you show long-suffering love towards one another now, we will give you special privileges in the home, just like Isaiah has.” The girls resolve to share with each other right there on the phone and then end the conversation asking their new parents to come to Ethiopia soon. They repeat the conversation each day as anxious expectation grows for their new home and new family.

According to Romans 8:13-25, The Holy Spirit (“of Adoption”) presently works four things in us. He:

1. Orders our life to imitate our new Father; we are now under obligation to live according to Him [vs. 13] and follow His lead [vs. 14].

2. Testifies with our spirits to the acceptance of our new Father by crying out, “Abba! Father!” [vs. 15-16] He pours out the love of the God in our hearts, testifying to the present peace and reconciliation we have with the Father [5:1-11].

3. Testifies to the implications of our sonship, the future glory of being revealed as a co-heir with Christ on a restored earth [vs. 17-22].

4. Produces a groaning longing for that day of our adoption [vs. 23-25], when we get to be with Him, see Him, and freely receive all the things [looking to vs. 32] He’s prepared for us in our “new home”, that is, the restored home of the earth [see climax of Rev. 21:1-7].

Like the imagery of a telephone, the Holy Spirit is dialogical. He is a person. As He fellowships with me and I talk to Him in prayer and worship, I receive grace and strength in my inner man (Eph. 3:16) to persevere in the present age unto the day of my adoption and wedding. The grace that is imparted through the Holy Spirit (“Spirit of grace” Heb. 10:29) is what preserves me unto the Day of Christ (1 Cor. 1:3-9). Therefore, talking with Him and receiving grace from Him is my primary function in this age. This is why I pray.

Can People in Severly Damaged Relationships Reconcile ~ Clive Jackson

Can people in severely damaged relationships reconcile?

by Clive Jackson on Monday, January 3, 2011 at 6:50pm.

If an enemy were insulting me.
I could endure it;
If a foe were raising himself against me,
I could hide from him.
But it is you, a [person] like myself,
My companion, my close friend,
With whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
As we walked with the throng at the house of God. (Psalm 55 vv. 12-14)

When your relationship is fractured, you may fear that it is beyond repair. Whether that relationship is with a long-time friend, business colleague or other family member, you may wonder about the feasibility of reconciliation.

What picture comes to your mind when you think about reconciliation? You may consider the wonder of your own reconciliation with God through the cross of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes reconciliation is like a cease-fire in which warring parties stop their barrage of negative exchanges. Did your parents ever tell you to tell someone you were sorry? In this case a more powerful external authority imposes reconciliation on the contentious relationship. Or did a serious ideological argument threaten a friendship? To preserve your connection without abandoning your ideals, you may have decided to settle your differences by agreeing to disagree. In these examples, the external fighting ends but the internal tension remains. These unresolved issues may smoulder for years under an apparently banked fire, ready to ignite when the conditions are right.

At other times reconciliation implies that you have achieved some degree of friendliness with the person from whom you are estranged. Here we add a positive element to reconciliation. We not only call a cease-fire (end negative exchanges) but also create a treaty (begin positive exchanges).

A definition of reconciliation: Reconciliation is the active commitment to the restoration of love and trustworthiness by both injured party and transgressor so that their relationship may be transformed.

Why should we resolve differences between our brethren?

1) To maintain peace in the body of Christ (Eph. 4:1-3). Whenever there is friction and turmoil in the body it hinders people from entering into worship and receiving from God's Word. It hinders people from coming to Christ, creates an uninviting atmosphere for visitors, and can even grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30-32).

2) So Satan cannot gain advantage over us (2 Cor. 2:10-11). For our own spiritual well-being, we must be quick to resolve our differences with brethren and forgive. Satan can hinder our spiritual life, and even deceive us into apostasy, through harboured bitterness or unforgiveness (Matt. 18:35).

3) To restore a Fallen Brother (Gal. 6:1). Christians must make every attempt to restore brethren who fall into sin. Especially when the transgression has been committed against you personally, your love for your brother's spiritual well-being demands that you confront the brother so that he might be reconciled to God.

Many people foolishly allow themselves to become offended by misinterpreting other's intentions, or listening to rumours and second-hand information which always contain distortions or exaggerations. Many offenses could be immediately resolved by confronting the offending party and hearing their explanation. You'd be surprised how many people are so immature that they don't even bother to investigate the facts or hear the other side of the story.

There would be far fewer misunderstandings in the body of Christ if people would be firmly devoted to love for their brethren. Love for the brethren gives us a desire to believe the best in our brother. Love gives them the "benefit of the doubt," instead of jumping to conclusions and always expecting the worst. The Bible says "If you love someone... you will always believe in him, always expect the best of him" (1 Cor. 13:7 -- The Living Bible).

A church is very much like a hospital. It is for sick people - people sick with sin and hurt. Jesus is the Great Physician and He uses the church to show us the way to get healed of our spiritual ailments. Wouldn't it be ridiculous for a doctor to be frustrated because sick people kept coming to the surgery, for him to expect only the well to come and visit? Yet, many Christians want only the "righteous" to come to church. The Pharisees of Jesus' day had the same wrong thinking (see Luke 7:37-50). That is why Jesus told them, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance
In Luke 5:32. The church is filled with sinners, including you!

Wouldn't it be just as ridiculous for one of us to go to the hospital with a broken leg and spend all of our time and energy focusing on the ailments of others? Why did we go to the hospital? We went to get help for our hurt. Jesus warned us about the tendency to look at the sins of others in many passages, but especially look at Matthew 7:1-5. When we attend the house of God, we should be seeking God's help with "our" ailments (sins, trials, frustrations, wrong thinking and wrong behaviour), not looking at the ailments of "others". Until we are 100% right with God ourselves, living for Him and serving Him with all of our heart, we have no place to be concerned with whether or not "others" are as right with Him as we are. That is between them and God! They measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise, II Corinthians 10:12. Everyone grows at different rates, and we cannot see the hearts of others. We must be careful about making character judgments based upon the externals. The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart, I Samuel 16:7.

My friend, even Jesus' disciples let Him down. One of them betrayed him. They argued about who should be the greatest. They wanted to kill those that were not with them. They wanted to chase away the children that desired some time with the Saviour. They did not understand the spiritual lessons Jesus tried to teach them along the way. They even forsook Him during His darkest hour! There is no perfect church and there won't be until heaven! How can an organisation filled with sinners ever be perfect?

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

Oh, may we all go to church with the attitude of David in Psalms 122:1, I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. May we go with the intent of helping someone rather than hurting someone, Galatians 6:2, Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. May we look forward to the opportunity to serve the LORD with gladness, Psalms 100:2