Fellow Labourers-
I pray you had such a great Sunday that your today is filled with great thoughts for a better tomorrow. Can you feel the exhilaration and the assurance that the omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent God is with you?
For those of you who were present at yesterday's Fathers day service you can easily relate to the subject line above, but for those of you who were absent I hope my recap and summary will suffice.
After a beautiful rendition of people need the Lord by brother and sister Winston Campbell (I am convinced that brother Campbell does not have a singing voice but a ministering voice) we were treated to a God sent message by Elder Albert Theophilus Bailey (Pastor). In his message surrounding the theme 'people need the Lord' he took his text from St. Luke 15:11-32. He came to the podium shortly after he and I were in the foyer and my prodigal son ran up to me and hugged me and wished for me A happy fathers day. Elder Bailey looked at the three main characters in the text and he pointed out that the prodigal son acknowledged that "I have sinned". The father ran to meet him and was not too concerned about what he had to say but was only too glad to have him back home. The son who was at home all this time was upset because of the kind of reception the prodigal received. Could it be because he thought his brother would not come back home so everything would be his?' Selfish and unforgiving'.
Let me now share with you a quote from Douglas Lawton that I find quite appropriate. "Since the Church believes Jesus models the kind of relationship people should have with the Law, then everyone should follow Jesus' example. Of note, Jesus not only took cognizance of the need to be compliant with the Law, He also took cognizance of the need to be compassionate to those who are affected by it. In principle and practice, He recognizes the need to be responsive to human dilemma rather than slavishly conforming to the Law, unjustifiably injuring those whom the Law is intended to protect. As the Law interfaces with the human condition, we see God in Christ showing compassion and giving grace.
In so doing Jesus demonstrates that the very foundation of the Law is rooted in love. He shows that the Law rises to a place of significance and importance only through the application of unconditional love. In this absence of this love we have legalism-a system that seeks to meticulously apply the Law without regard for the individual and in disregard for context. If love is to have a rightful place and prevail, love must be the primary consideration in every situation. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (Matt.7:12).
Omnia Vincit Amor,justitia Omnibus (Love conquers All, Justice to All).
Pax Vobiscum.
Robert A. Stewart
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Breaking headlines
Fellow Labourers-
Note the subject and consider what headline would they write at our passing. Please do not think I am being morbid; I am responding to today's article. What if they announced your death when in fact it was not you who died. What do you think would be screaming across the front page of our two daily newspapers? Or do you believe you would have made the front page?
I don't know how familiar we are with the Latin Phrase 'Carpe Diem' but here is the story behind it. In Horace, the phrase is part of the longer Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero – "seize the day and place no trust in tomorrow", and the ode says that the future is unknowable, and that instead one should scale back one's hopes to a brief future, and drink one's wine. Compare with the Biblical "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die", with emphasis on making the most of current opportunities because life is short and time is fleeting – an existential caution.Yes,We must endeavour to seize the moment.
Pax Vobiscum
Robert Stewart
Note the subject and consider what headline would they write at our passing. Please do not think I am being morbid; I am responding to today's article. What if they announced your death when in fact it was not you who died. What do you think would be screaming across the front page of our two daily newspapers? Or do you believe you would have made the front page?
I don't know how familiar we are with the Latin Phrase 'Carpe Diem' but here is the story behind it. In Horace, the phrase is part of the longer Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero – "seize the day and place no trust in tomorrow", and the ode says that the future is unknowable, and that instead one should scale back one's hopes to a brief future, and drink one's wine. Compare with the Biblical "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die", with emphasis on making the most of current opportunities because life is short and time is fleeting – an existential caution.Yes,We must endeavour to seize the moment.
Pax Vobiscum
Robert Stewart
Monday, June 15, 2009
Love,Lover,and Beloved
Fellow Labourers-
Can you handle this? There is a song we sing "Holy,Holy,Holy,Lord God almighty----God in three persons blessed trinity."
That is the original version but I have heard us sing God in one person blessed unity. Is this true? Is there a difference between 'Apostolic oneness' and Apostolic Unity'.
Just an aside-Did you know that University literally means Unity in diversity?
Pax Vobiscum <>
Robert A. Stewart
Can you handle this? There is a song we sing "Holy,Holy,Holy,Lord God almighty----God in three persons blessed trinity."
That is the original version but I have heard us sing God in one person blessed unity. Is this true? Is there a difference between 'Apostolic oneness' and Apostolic Unity'.
Just an aside-Did you know that University literally means Unity in diversity?
Pax Vobiscum <
Robert A. Stewart
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Not "nice" Enough
Fellow Labourers-We are migrating our communication to PGT Blog so after today if you wish to continue our daily contact you MUST go to the blog.
In today's world we are faced with making some tough choices.But,the temptation to be politically correct looms heavily in our psyche. Is this borne out of Guilt or Shame? "I must confess it is hard for me to envision the apostle Paul worrying excessively about not being “nice.” It is equally difficult if I consider Wesley, Whitefield, Charles Finney, or Billy Graham. They were not rude, belligerent, ugly, or unnecessarily aggressive. They were clear, confident, compassionate, and courageous. At stake were some key issues for all of the above, the importance of truth, and the necessity of obedience. The gospel is not advice, a set of ideas, or a moral exhortation for those who happen to like such things. It is the revelation of God to man of his great salvation (Titus 2:11-16)."
Is it time to tell it like it is? Do we challenge or adopt the culture? As Oswald Chambers said "My Utmost for His Highest."
Pax-Vobiscum-Omnia Vincit Amor
Robert A. Stewart
Not “Nice” Enough
Every culture or era has its own way of defining issues that invoke shame and guilt. These are connected, but different. Guilt is a feeling associated with things done or not done. Shame has a much deeper and wider impact. It is, in a sense, a deep embarrassment about who we are. It is an almost visceral contempt for some act or behavior that leaves you feeling disgust, contempt, or humiliation...at yourself.
In 2 Timothy 1:8, the Apostle Paul exhorts the young Timothy, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me his prisoner.” The apostle understood the pressure against witness, the cultural dynamics that militate against boldness, and the real dangers and threats from militant traditional Jewish audiences or hostile Roman Imperial authorities. The dangers were many, and as we know from the history of the early church, they were real.
One danger, however, that I’m fairly sure they did not face was the pressure to be “nice.” What do I mean? In our time, we have lived through the expansion of the market, the explosion of media influence, and what Philip Rieff of Chicago University calls “the triumph of the therapeutic.” We are immersed in values and visions of the good life, which we inculcate with almost every breath that we breathe. It is a cultural moment where looking good and feeling good are paramount, and anything that threatens, disturbs, or challenges the cultural value-setters is ruled out of court.
I am not suggesting that following these values is a conscious choice for many, but I would propose it is the default setting of most lives in our comfort-driven, convenience-laden moment. Our internal radar system is fixed on the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain. We simply “know” that certain things, difficult things, and yes, even some good things, are just too much to ask in our context.
For instance, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel...” Well, maybe for some people. “Be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is in you...” But they may think I’m a fanatic, or worse, some kind of religious nut. Anyway, the doors of the church are open and we have a special speaker on Sunday. They can come if they want to (or not). I can’t jeopardize my status, my peace, my equilibrium, and thereby risk becoming not “nice.”
I must confess it is hard for me to envision the apostle Paul worrying excessively about not being “nice.” It is equally difficult if I consider Wesley, Whitefield, Charles Finney, or Billy Graham. They were not rude, belligerent, ugly, or unnecessarily aggressive. They were clear, confident, compassionate, and courageous. At stake were some key issues for all of the above, the importance of truth, and the necessity of obedience. The gospel is not advice, a set of ideas, or a moral exhortation for those who happen to like such things. It is the revelation of God to man of his great salvation (Titus 2:11-16). Jesus commanded his Church to “go,” and as one wise leader once said, “‘go,’ means change of location.”
Perhaps you’ve never reflected on how your sincere desire to be “nice” may undermine or completely prevent a serious expression of your faith. If every time you feel you should give an answer or every time you think you should be involved in some kind of witness or ministry, you are effectively stopped by an internal dialogue that insists the need to be “nice” trumps all other goods or needs, perhaps it is time to seek the Lord afresh, resist that voice, break the hold of bad ideas, and step out in faith and obedience and do or say what is needed.
There are worse things in life, after all, than not being nice! Perhaps being unfaithful is one of them?
Stuart McAllister is vice president of training and special projects at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
In today's world we are faced with making some tough choices.But,the temptation to be politically correct looms heavily in our psyche. Is this borne out of Guilt or Shame? "I must confess it is hard for me to envision the apostle Paul worrying excessively about not being “nice.” It is equally difficult if I consider Wesley, Whitefield, Charles Finney, or Billy Graham. They were not rude, belligerent, ugly, or unnecessarily aggressive. They were clear, confident, compassionate, and courageous. At stake were some key issues for all of the above, the importance of truth, and the necessity of obedience. The gospel is not advice, a set of ideas, or a moral exhortation for those who happen to like such things. It is the revelation of God to man of his great salvation (Titus 2:11-16)."
Is it time to tell it like it is? Do we challenge or adopt the culture? As Oswald Chambers said "My Utmost for His Highest."
Pax-Vobiscum-Omnia Vincit Amor
Robert A. Stewart
Not “Nice” Enough
Every culture or era has its own way of defining issues that invoke shame and guilt. These are connected, but different. Guilt is a feeling associated with things done or not done. Shame has a much deeper and wider impact. It is, in a sense, a deep embarrassment about who we are. It is an almost visceral contempt for some act or behavior that leaves you feeling disgust, contempt, or humiliation...at yourself.
In 2 Timothy 1:8, the Apostle Paul exhorts the young Timothy, “Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me his prisoner.” The apostle understood the pressure against witness, the cultural dynamics that militate against boldness, and the real dangers and threats from militant traditional Jewish audiences or hostile Roman Imperial authorities. The dangers were many, and as we know from the history of the early church, they were real.
One danger, however, that I’m fairly sure they did not face was the pressure to be “nice.” What do I mean? In our time, we have lived through the expansion of the market, the explosion of media influence, and what Philip Rieff of Chicago University calls “the triumph of the therapeutic.” We are immersed in values and visions of the good life, which we inculcate with almost every breath that we breathe. It is a cultural moment where looking good and feeling good are paramount, and anything that threatens, disturbs, or challenges the cultural value-setters is ruled out of court.
I am not suggesting that following these values is a conscious choice for many, but I would propose it is the default setting of most lives in our comfort-driven, convenience-laden moment. Our internal radar system is fixed on the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain. We simply “know” that certain things, difficult things, and yes, even some good things, are just too much to ask in our context.
For instance, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel...” Well, maybe for some people. “Be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is in you...” But they may think I’m a fanatic, or worse, some kind of religious nut. Anyway, the doors of the church are open and we have a special speaker on Sunday. They can come if they want to (or not). I can’t jeopardize my status, my peace, my equilibrium, and thereby risk becoming not “nice.”
I must confess it is hard for me to envision the apostle Paul worrying excessively about not being “nice.” It is equally difficult if I consider Wesley, Whitefield, Charles Finney, or Billy Graham. They were not rude, belligerent, ugly, or unnecessarily aggressive. They were clear, confident, compassionate, and courageous. At stake were some key issues for all of the above, the importance of truth, and the necessity of obedience. The gospel is not advice, a set of ideas, or a moral exhortation for those who happen to like such things. It is the revelation of God to man of his great salvation (Titus 2:11-16). Jesus commanded his Church to “go,” and as one wise leader once said, “‘go,’ means change of location.”
Perhaps you’ve never reflected on how your sincere desire to be “nice” may undermine or completely prevent a serious expression of your faith. If every time you feel you should give an answer or every time you think you should be involved in some kind of witness or ministry, you are effectively stopped by an internal dialogue that insists the need to be “nice” trumps all other goods or needs, perhaps it is time to seek the Lord afresh, resist that voice, break the hold of bad ideas, and step out in faith and obedience and do or say what is needed.
There are worse things in life, after all, than not being nice! Perhaps being unfaithful is one of them?
Stuart McAllister is vice president of training and special projects at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Men in the Word: The pause that refreshes
Fellow labourers:
Although the title indicates its original focus for men, the application for everybody should be straightforward. This is such an important thought, that we must stop for a moment and be refreshed by the living God.
Paul
"Everybody else is noisier than God," notes Eugene Peterson in his book Earth and Altar. "The headlines and neon lights and amplifying systems of the world announce human works. But what of God's works? They are unadvertised but also inescapable, if we simply look. They are everywhere. God mounts no publicity campaign to get our attention. He simply invites us to look: 'Come, see the glorious works of the LORD' (Psalm 46:8). Take a long, scrutinizing look at what God is doing. This requires patient attentiveness and energetic concentration."
The psalm follows through with a second directive straight from God … "'Be still, and know that I am God!' (v. 10). When we are noisy and when we are hurried, we are incapable of intimacy—deep, complex, personal relationships. If God is the living center of redemption, it is essential that we be in touch with and responsive to that personal will. If God has a will for this world and we want to be in on it, we must be still long enough to find out what it is (for we certainly are not going to learn by watching the evening news)." This week will challenge you to begin pausing periodically long enough to sense God's presence.
Until next week,
Harry Genet,
Men of Integrity
managing editor
Although the title indicates its original focus for men, the application for everybody should be straightforward. This is such an important thought, that we must stop for a moment and be refreshed by the living God.
Paul
"Everybody else is noisier than God," notes Eugene Peterson in his book Earth and Altar. "The headlines and neon lights and amplifying systems of the world announce human works. But what of God's works? They are unadvertised but also inescapable, if we simply look. They are everywhere. God mounts no publicity campaign to get our attention. He simply invites us to look: 'Come, see the glorious works of the LORD' (Psalm 46:8). Take a long, scrutinizing look at what God is doing. This requires patient attentiveness and energetic concentration."
The psalm follows through with a second directive straight from God … "'Be still, and know that I am God!' (v. 10). When we are noisy and when we are hurried, we are incapable of intimacy—deep, complex, personal relationships. If God is the living center of redemption, it is essential that we be in touch with and responsive to that personal will. If God has a will for this world and we want to be in on it, we must be still long enough to find out what it is (for we certainly are not going to learn by watching the evening news)." This week will challenge you to begin pausing periodically long enough to sense God's presence.
Until next week,
Harry Genet,
Men of Integrity
managing editor
The Body of Christ
Fellow Labourers-
“How does God speak to your physical existence right now?”
For an answer and further thought please read the following article.
Pax Vobiscum-Omnia Vincit Amor
Robert A. Stewart
The Body of Christ
The question caught me a bit off guard. I am used to being asked to defend and explain my theology. But this something was different. I had been talking to someone about some old fears, explaining that what had helped me to move past them was largely due to faith that gave me hope in a world beyond them. His response pulled me down from my seemingly ascended place. “What is your theology of the body?” he asked. “How does God speak to your physical existence right now?” I didn’t know how to respond.
It isn’t a matter we often consider. What does it mean that Christ came in the flesh, with sinew and marrow? What does it mean that he lived and breathed, died, and was raised as a body? Perhaps more importantly, what does it mean that the risen Christ today, as a corporal being, is ascended and sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven? What does Christ’s wounded body have to do with our own? What of his ascended body?
The modern divorce of the spiritual and the physical, heaven and earth, what is now and what will be, has made these difficult questions to consider. But the promise of the Christian is union with none other than Christ himself. In faith and by the Spirit, we are united to the same body that was on the cross and was in the tomb, which is now also in heaven. We are united with a body who is very much a living, immense, and physical promise. “Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).
The biblical depiction of salvation and sanctification is far more “earthy” than we often entertain. No matter how privatized, removed, or other-worldly we might describe Christianity, it is unavoidably a faith that intends us to encounter and experience both King and kingdom in the here-and-now, everyday, hand-dirtying occurrences of life.
In an unapologetically corporeal account, the book of Acts describes the risen Christ among his disciples: “After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While eating with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father... And when he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:3-4). When the two men in white robes appeared and interrupted the disciples’ stupor, their question was as pointed as the one that stumped me: “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you, will return in the same way as you saw him go forth” (Acts 1:11, emphasis mine).
It is no small promise that Christ came as a body, was wounded as a body, and now sits as a real and living body in heaven until the day he will return and wipe every tear from our eyes. The ascended body of Christ represents something more fully human, more real than ourselves, and it is this reality he lifts us toward, transforms us into, and advocates on our behalf. Our union with Christ and communion with the Trinity add a certain and heavenly dimension to our lives; and it is indeed one that correctly and profoundly orients us here and now, in real bodies, to the world around us.
How does God speak to your physical existence? Here in these weeks from the physical shock of Easter to the corporal gift of the Spirit at Pentecost, consider in your answer the Christ who walked among the world as a risen body, who invited Thomas to physically put his hands in scars that still mark pain, who ascended as one fully human after sharing a meal with those he loved, and who sent the Holy Spirit to live powerfully among us. Consider the body of Christ, who now sits at the right hand of the Father as your advocate, offering his body for the sake of yours, calling you to physically model that body in the kingdom of God among us today.
Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
“How does God speak to your physical existence right now?”
For an answer and further thought please read the following article.
Pax Vobiscum-Omnia Vincit Amor
Robert A. Stewart
The Body of Christ
The question caught me a bit off guard. I am used to being asked to defend and explain my theology. But this something was different. I had been talking to someone about some old fears, explaining that what had helped me to move past them was largely due to faith that gave me hope in a world beyond them. His response pulled me down from my seemingly ascended place. “What is your theology of the body?” he asked. “How does God speak to your physical existence right now?” I didn’t know how to respond.
It isn’t a matter we often consider. What does it mean that Christ came in the flesh, with sinew and marrow? What does it mean that he lived and breathed, died, and was raised as a body? Perhaps more importantly, what does it mean that the risen Christ today, as a corporal being, is ascended and sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven? What does Christ’s wounded body have to do with our own? What of his ascended body?
The modern divorce of the spiritual and the physical, heaven and earth, what is now and what will be, has made these difficult questions to consider. But the promise of the Christian is union with none other than Christ himself. In faith and by the Spirit, we are united to the same body that was on the cross and was in the tomb, which is now also in heaven. We are united with a body who is very much a living, immense, and physical promise. “Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).
The biblical depiction of salvation and sanctification is far more “earthy” than we often entertain. No matter how privatized, removed, or other-worldly we might describe Christianity, it is unavoidably a faith that intends us to encounter and experience both King and kingdom in the here-and-now, everyday, hand-dirtying occurrences of life.
In an unapologetically corporeal account, the book of Acts describes the risen Christ among his disciples: “After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While eating with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father... And when he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:3-4). When the two men in white robes appeared and interrupted the disciples’ stupor, their question was as pointed as the one that stumped me: “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you, will return in the same way as you saw him go forth” (Acts 1:11, emphasis mine).
It is no small promise that Christ came as a body, was wounded as a body, and now sits as a real and living body in heaven until the day he will return and wipe every tear from our eyes. The ascended body of Christ represents something more fully human, more real than ourselves, and it is this reality he lifts us toward, transforms us into, and advocates on our behalf. Our union with Christ and communion with the Trinity add a certain and heavenly dimension to our lives; and it is indeed one that correctly and profoundly orients us here and now, in real bodies, to the world around us.
How does God speak to your physical existence? Here in these weeks from the physical shock of Easter to the corporal gift of the Spirit at Pentecost, consider in your answer the Christ who walked among the world as a risen body, who invited Thomas to physically put his hands in scars that still mark pain, who ascended as one fully human after sharing a meal with those he loved, and who sent the Holy Spirit to live powerfully among us. Consider the body of Christ, who now sits at the right hand of the Father as your advocate, offering his body for the sake of yours, calling you to physically model that body in the kingdom of God among us today.
Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
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