Week 2 at Shove Chapel was over-the-top good! Thank you to those who were able to join us; we look forward to this Sunday, November 15th's edition!
To listen to the message from last Sunday, simply click below.
And here's a shot from the balcony during our time of Worship...
What a night we experienced together in Shove Chapel, November 1st! Thank you to all of you who joined us for the first weekly gathering; we can't wait to see what next week holds.
For a taste of the "Word" side of our "Word & Worship" format, here was Sunday's message:
And here was a view from the back during our time of Worship...
What a night! Thank you, Jesus!
In late-1805, with Napoleon at the height of his military and imperial power, he joined battle against both the Russians and Austrians (backed by the English) at the Battle of Austerlitz. By daring design, complete preparation and expert day-of-action movement, he then stunned the world by defeating both armies with seeming ease. As was the custom of the day, his men exulted whenever they captured an enemy's standard and brought it back to lay at the Emperor's feet. But even more of a thrill was the capture, and thus the removal for all times from any future fields-of-battle, of an enemy's cannons and artillery-pieces.
The Vendome Column is the product of the 1,200 bronze cannons and guns captured from the allied enemies at the field of Austerlitz. Napoleon's statue literally stands atop the melted-down spoils of war. The glory of the Grand Armée is this: that even despite the loss of blood, limbs, lives and men on that battlefield, that this pillar stands for all time as a testament to their combined sacrifice and power. Even though those men are long dead and mostly forgotten, those melted-down remnants of their victory will always rise into the azure Paris sky. My friends, may we live like the Vendome Column for Jesus. Instead of cannons and artillery, may it be us whose lives are melted-down, burned-away and shaped-together into One Church that lifts up the Glory of Jesus. May the stories of our lives rise up and spiral their way toward the Heavenlies, where our Conqueror stands relaxed and exultant. Just like the Grand Armée, our lives are short; the days flee past; 210 years from now, we will be, like them, long forgotten. Yet if our blood, limbs, lives, days, weeks, months and years are consumed by Jesus, we are doing our part to erect a monument to His Glory today. How much better to be a nonentity for His purposes and yet give Him eternal praise, than to be "someone" in the world's eyes and, like chaff in the wind, forgotten tomorrow. Let us abandon the Self and be wrapped into this column rising to the Throne-room. From age to age, He stands, ever victorious. In finishing The Other Country, a book that walks through all the shorter Pauline epistles, I tried to imagine Paul, after finishing the words of 2 Timothy, being led off to his trial before Nero and, then, to his death. From there, I became captivated by the scene that might've occurred had Paul been given a funeral by his friends...
Here's the ending of The Other Country, utilizing the Apostle Paul's own words as a eulogy. Let’s imagine for a moment that we are present at Paul’s funeral, a non-flashy, hastily-arranged memorial service, but one attended by all of the Twelve still living, as well as, of course, Timothy, Titus and so many people from all the churches all over the Roman world that Paul had either planted or watered. Not unexpectedly, it’s Timothy who walks to the front to deliver the eulogy and, again not unexpectedly, he won’t be delivering his own words. He has in hand an address that Paul himself has written. As always, Paul will have the last word… My friends, my brothers and sisters, how grateful I am that you would be here today. As I have gone to be with Him, the Living One, may I offer some final thoughts along the lines of everything you’ve ever heard from me: “For you have certainly heard of my past career in the Jewish religion, how I persecuted the Church of God with fanatical zeal and, in fact, did my best to destroy it. I was ahead of most of my contemporaries in the Jewish religion, and had a greater enthusiasm for the old traditions. But then the time came for God (who had chosen me from the moment of my birth, and then called me by his grace) to reveal his Son within me so that I might proclaim him to the non-Jewish world… “Oh, I am deeply grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ (to whom I owe all that I have accomplished) for trusting me enough to appoint me his minister, despite the fact that I had previously blasphemed his name, persecuted his Church and damaged his cause. I believe he was merciful to me because what I did was done in the ignorance of a man without faith, and then he poured out his grace upon me, giving me tremendous faith in, and love for, himself. “And I was made a minister of that Gospel by the grace he gave me, and by the power with which he equipped me. Yes, to me, less than the least of all Christians, has God given this grace, to enable me to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ, and to make plain to all men the meaning of that secret which he who created everything in Christ has kept hidden from the creation until now. The purpose is that all the angelic powers should now see the complex wisdom of God’s plan being worked out through the Church, in conformity to that timeless purpose which he centered in Jesus, our Lord. It is in this same Jesus, because we have faith in him, that we dare, even with confidence, to approach God. “And I am not ashamed of the Gospel. I see it as the very power of God working for the salvation of everyone who believes it, both Jew and Greek. I see in it God’s plan for imparting righteousness to men, a process begun and continued by their faith. For, as the scripture says: ‘The just shall live by faith.’ “Since then it is by faith that you are justified, may you grasp the fact that you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things he has for us in the future. This doesn’t mean, of course, that we have only a hope of future joys — we can be full of joy here and now even in our trials and troubles. “And God forbid that I should have boasted about anything or anybody except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, which meant that the world was a dead thing to me and I was a dead man to the world. “You are those to whom God has now planned to give a vision of the full wonder and splendor of his secret plan for the sons of men. And the secret is simply this: Christ in you! Yes, Christ in you bringing with him the hope of all glorious things to come. “I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of Heaven nor monarch of earth, neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord! “I wish you could see how all this is working out for your benefit, and how the more grace God gives, the more thanksgiving will redound to his glory. This is the reason why we must never collapse. The outward man does indeed suffer wear and tear, but every day the inward man receives fresh strength. These little troubles (which are really so transitory) are winning for you a permanent, glorious and solid reward out of all proportion to your pain. For we are looking all the time not at the visible things but at the invisible. The visible things are transitory: it is the invisible things that are really permanent. “When I was a little child I talked and felt and thought like a little child. Now that I am a man my childish speech and feeling and thought have no further significance for me. At present we are men looking at puzzling reflections in a mirror. The time will come when we shall see reality whole and face to face! At present all you know is a little fraction of the truth, but the time will come when you shall know it as fully as God now knows you! In this life we have three great lasting qualities — faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love. “For you, my friends, are citizens of Heaven; your outlook goes beyond this world to the hopeful expectation of the savior who will come from Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will re-make these wretched bodies of ours to resemble his own glorious body, by that power of his which makes him the master of everything that is. “As for me, I know now that the last drops of my life have been poured out for God. The glorious fight that God gave me I have fought. The course that I was set I have finished, and I have kept the faith. The present for me now holds the crown of righteousness which God, the true judge, will give to those who have loved what they have seen of him.” My friends, at the center of everything… Jesus. May He conform you to His image and may we meet again someday in the glories of His wonderful Presence. Until then, and with my great love, Paul "Look at the ministry: how much it is in the wisdom of man and of literary culture; how little in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Think of the unity of the body: how little there is of the manifestation of the power of a heavenly love binding God's children into one. Think of holiness—the holiness of Christlike humility and crucifixion to the world. How little the world sees that they have men among them who live in Christ in heaven, in whom Christ and heaven live. "What is to be done? There is only one thing. We must wait upon God. And what for? We must cry, with a cry that never rests, "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens . . . [and] come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence" (Isa. 64:1). We must desire and believe, we must ask and expect, that God will do unlooked-for things. We must set our faith on a God of whom men do not know what He has prepared for them who wait for Him. The wonder-doing God, who can surpass all our expectations, must be the God of our confidence." Andrew Murray, Waiting on God
As The Union prepares to launch in Colorado in the Fall of 2015, here is the heart of the matter...
Only a little while after Jesus speaks to His disciples about the life of Abiding, He spontaneously begins to pray in their hearing. First, for His work at the Cross; then His ongoing work through the disciples; then for them, personally.
And then comes one of the most dramatic moments in all of the Gospels, as Jesus prays His final words before His arrest: “I am not praying only for these men but for all those who will believe in me through their message..." That's us! That's every single Believer who has sprung up since the birth of the Church! And what does He pray for us? "...that they may all be one." One. A singular Body. But how could that ever be a human possibility? He goes on: "Just as you, Father, live in me and I live in you, I am asking that they may live in us..." Our personal Abiding, our dwelling-in the One who indwells us, is the only path to unity in the Body. And what does that unity accomplish? "...that the world may believe that you did send me." Our Union with Jesus and the fruits of that Abiding prove the reality of Jesus' being sent by the Father. And, in the tragic inverse, if we aren't Abiding in Him, we are daily disproving that He was sent by the Father. Wow! "I have given them the honor that you gave me, that they may be one, as we are one—I in them and you in me, that they may grow complete into one..." It is impossible for the Body of Christ to disunite while its members all have their eyes on Jesus and, through Him, the Father. As He and the Father are one, so too are all those who daily Abide in Him. And why does our corporate unity matter? "...so that the world may realize that you sent me and have loved them as you loved me." The unity of the Body of Christ proves the reality of Jesus' being sent by the Father. And, in the tragic inverse, our disunity daily disproves that He was sent by the Father to the world around us. Wow! And how does Jesus end His prayer over us, over our personal lives and over the corporate life of the Church? "Father, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am; I want them to see that glory which you have made mine—for you loved me before the world began. Father of goodness and truth, the world has not known you, but I have known you and these men now know that you have sent me. I have made your self known to them and I will continue to do so that the love which you have had for me may be in their hearts—and that I may be there also." Jesus, the One who measured time by His Cross, Resurrection and Ascension, always lives to live His life in and through us! By His power, and by His Abiding Presence in our individual lives, He is able to unite His Body in His prayed-for unity. Oh, will we abide in Him today, brothers and sisters? Will we play our part that makes the whole one?
In Union with Jesus, even our marriages can lead to knowing His nearness and, certainly, His goodness!
Ephesians 4 walks us beautifully down the road of Union:
"Make it your aim to be at one in the Spirit, and you will inevitably be at peace with one another. You all belong to one body, of which there is one Spirit, just as you all experienced one calling to one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one Father of us all, who is the one over all, the one working through all and the one living in all." v. 3-6 Paul's words so deeply condemn our perception that denominationalism is natural, organic and helpful to the growth of the Body of Christ. In fact, interpersonal oneness with the Holy Spirit is supposed to "inevitably" lead to oneness in our worship. We are intended to be "one body," powered by the unlimited energies of the "one Spirit," as we chase after our one and only "calling to one hope," Jesus. He is the "one Lord"; Belief in Him is the "one faith"; being buried with Him is the "one baptism"; there is only the "one God," the "one Father of us all, who is the one over all." And if you wonder where Union with the indwelling Christ fits into this equation, read on: "the one working through all and the one living in all." "His 'gifts to men' were varied. Some he made his [apostles], some prophets, some preachers of the Gospel; to some he gave the power to guide and teach his people. His gifts were made that Christians might be properly equipped for their service, that the whole body might be built up until the time comes when, in the unity of the common faith and common knowledge of the Son of God, we arrive at real maturity—that measure of development which is meant by the 'fullness of Christ.'" v. 11-13 We talk and talk about our "gifts and giftings" in the Church, and yet the only purpose for these gifts is to push the Body of Christ into greater Union with the Living Jesus. Apostles must bring Heaven to earth; prophets must speak only the words of God; preachers must preach only of the Gospel; pastors must lead their flock only to the Good Shepherd; teachers must instruct the hearts, not just the minds, toward the Way of Jesus. The great test for any pastoral staff is to ask whether, in any given year, their efforts have caused their congregation to "arrive at real maturity—that measure of development which is meant by the 'fullness of Christ." Any lesser goal is chaff in the wind; we are meant to be growing up only into Jesus, nothing less, nothing more... "We are not meant to remain as children at the mercy of every chance wind of teaching and the jockeying of men who are expert in the craft presentation of lies. But we are meant to hold firmly to the truth in love, and to grow up in every way into Christ, the head. For it is from the head that the whole body, as a harmonious structure knit together by the joints with which it is provided, grows by the proper functioning of individual parts to its full maturity in love." v. 14-16 There is nowhere to go but up. There is no other destination for you and for the Body of Christ but Jesus. The more our contemplations, desires, actions and spirits are consumed with Him, the more the Body is as it was meant to be: One and fully His. The Church is merely you, the one who is reading these words, the one sitting in front of your computer, your iPad or your smart phone, right now. Your pursuit of the One Lord, in the power of the One Spirit, is the only part you can play today in the eternal movements of the Church. Will you play that part? Will you spur the Body? Will you be one of the ones who never ceases after Him and helps us all to become One? A wonderful chapter that draws us ever nearer to Jesus! Click below and scroll down on The Sounds to listen.
The shortest of Paul's pastoral letters is brimming with the glories of Jesus! Simply click below and scroll down on The Sounds page to listen.
From Ephesians 2, with notes:
"So you are no longer outsiders or aliens, but fellow-citizens with every other Christian — you belong now to the household of God. Firmly beneath you in the foundation, God’s messengers and prophets, the actual foundation-stone being Jesus Christ himself. In him each separate piece of building, properly fitting into its neighbor, grows together into a temple consecrated to God. You are all part of this building in which God himself lives by his spirit." Isn’t that a wonderful picture? We aren’t part of a household where we’re hidden away, or willfully choosing to hide ourselves, in some safe inner sanctums. We’re actually part of the Heavenly Temple that’s being built to proclaim Him for all time; each of us is playing our part. Oh, and the tie-ins here are really fun! Do you remember David’s passionate desire that he might be the Israelite king to finally build God a fitting Temple? Yet, due to his battle-scarred history, God makes clear that it’s actually his son, Solomon, who’s the Temple’s chosen architect. So, true to form, Solomon will only utilize the best workers and the best supplies and processes. For instance, here’s the story of his block preparations: “In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.” (1 Kings 6:7) Imagine the soundlessness of this holy Temple worksite; the blocks being slid into their perfectly-fitting locations. Charles Spurgeon beautifully tied that setting to our lives: “Each individual believer is being prepared, and polished, and made ready for his place in the temple; but Christ’s own hand performs the preparation-work. Afflictions cannot sanctify, excepting as they are used by him to this end. Our prayers and efforts cannot make us ready for heaven, apart from the hand of Jesus, who fashioneth our hearts aright… As in the building of Solomon’s temple, ‘there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house,’ because all was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy – so is it with the temple which Jesus builds; the making ready is all done on earth. When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction, no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made meet here – all that Christ will do beforehand; and when he has done it, we shall be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of death, and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to abide as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord.” Brothers and Sisters, He is doing that work in us today! How joyous the thought that He wastes not a moment in preparing us for our place in the Eternal Temple that’s for His glory! Jesus, you're just too good! Sometimes, in Christendom, we act as if our highest strategy is some sort of heavenly hoodwink to draw people in, give them a taste of Jesus and then hope for the best. The ceiling of our expectancy is "Oh Lord, may you make yourself known to a few of those who walk through these doors tonight."
We need to set our sights higher, O Church. Listen to Paul's perception of his calling in the Kingdom: "For I am a minister of the Church by divine commission, a commission granted to me for your benefit and for a special purpose: that I might fully declare God’s word—that sacred mystery which up to now has been hidden in every age and every generation, but which is now as clear as daylight to those who love God. They are those to whom God has planned to give a vision of the full wonder and splendor of his secret plan for the sons of men. And the secret is simply this: Christ in you! Yes, Christ in you bringing with him the hope of all glorious things to come." (Colossians 1) Do we even start to realize that, wherever Jesus has placed us, wherever the Holy Spirit is allowed to operate in and through us, we establish a living-breathing-moving-acting-loving cloud of His glory and authority and presence among people. Any city where "two or more are gathered" is a place where it's dangerous for the evil one to enter in and ply his trade. Yet we've become so used to paltry fruit because our expectations and experiences are paltry; we invite others into our lack, not our abundance-of-Jesus. The lost world desperately needs men and women so attuned to their "Christ in me reality" that their doubts, fears, hostilities and unbeliefs get drowned in His glory-cloud. Oh, that we'd transact each day with Paul's chip on our shoulder! Men and Women of God, that we'd own the cities we're in with the Early Church's confidence of Belief, delight and trust in the Savior-within-us! Hear Paul's courage in this One who lived and worked through him: "The spirit of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, and prevents the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, the image of God, from shining on them. For it is Christ Jesus the Lord whom we preach, not ourselves; we are your servants for his sake. God, who first ordered ‘light to shine in darkness,' has flooded our hearts with his light. We now can enlighten men only because we can give them knowledge of the glory of God, as we see it in the face of Jesus Christ... This priceless treasure we hold, so to speak, in a common earthenware jar — to show that the splendid power of it belongs to God and not to us. We are handicapped on all sides, but we are never frustrated; we are puzzled, but never in despair. We are persecuted, but we never have to stand it alone: we may be knocked down but we are never knocked out! Every day we experience something of the death of the Lord Jesus, so that we may also know the power of the life of Jesus in these bodies of ours. Yes, we who are living are always being exposed to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be plainly seen in our mortal lives. We are always facing death, but this means that you know more and more of life." (2 Corinthians 4) O Church, unity in the Body guarantees zones of Christly authority where His fragrance, glory and love are made manifest. May we come together, members of a Body filled with Him; may there be no place in our fellowships, in our cities, in this world, where He is not. |
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