Eston, Watchman Nee, and Average Christianity...

Hey guys,

So, we've arrived in Eston, and have been here for just a little less than a week now. It's great to be back. The community here is amazing, and God is moving in people's hearts (and classes didn't even start till this morning!!)

I've had some really cool chances to catch up with friends, meet new friends, and encourage people in the things that God's doing in them while they're here. I also got a few (pretty simple) prophetic words for people at a prayer meeting we had tonight, so that was encouraging for myself too! :)

Today, like I mentioned above, we began classes. All first year students are required to take a course called "Introduction to Spirit Filled Living". I'm also taking this course, because I didn't take it last year (thinking I wouldn't be a student at the school long term :P... God has funny plans :P ).

As I began reading the books we have been assigned, one of the topics in of one of the books stood out to me in a super crazy way! The author, a Chinese pastor known as Watchman Nee, was talking about the difference between the "Normal Christian Life", and the "Average Christian Life". As he explained, they're VERY different.

The average Christian life is what you see when you walk into most churches today. You see lethargy. You see people who confess that they love God, that they want to do what He says, and who will sing songs about it every Sunday. Monday morning, though, it's like they've forgotten all about what they said less than 24 hours before.

The average Christian life is what we're used to seeing. It's the current place most Christians are at (thus the term "Average")

The normal Christian life, though, is MUCH different. The normal Christian life is an emulation of Christ in it's purest form. The normal Christian life is characterized by the supernatural happening like it was natural. People living the Normal Christian life are CONTROLLED by the peace of Christ, as if it was woven into them as part of their very identity. Holiness exudes from them, like light from the sun. They walk, balancing the power and love of God in a beautiful display, for all around them to see. They are in sync with their command post, their omnipotent Daddy, like dancers in sync with their music.

The normal Christian life isn't normal by our standards, but by God's. We look at all that, and call it weird, abnormal, or peculiar. But God looks at it, and sees the reflection of His Son in it (because, in truth, that's all it is).


I want what God calls normal to become our average. I'm sick of seeing average Christianity, and what it's doing to the name of my King (and I'm sick of the ways I've emulated average Christianity, instead of Normal Christianity that emulates Christ).


We were all meant for more than that.


Jesus, teach us to live our lives like you -- living out this journey by the "Normal" you've set; not by what we call normal. Thank you that we're yours. Help us to grow into what you've actually called us to, not the plans we've made up that sell You short.

ἀγάπη αὐτου οὐδέποτε πίπτει

Josh

P.S. Sorry... that was pretty scattered... It's after midnight, and I have reading I was supposed to be doing for the morning... I just wanted to write a quick update/rant on that :P

Love ya guys! Thanks for reading

Onto New Adventures - Martyr's Life and Cutting Back on Facebook

Hey guys,

So, if you haven't heard by now, there's a new program that's starting up out of Eston College this fall. It's a very hands on, experiential ministry training program. The idea behind it is that learning to be a witness/disciple/follower-of-Christ, like learning to be or do anything, is best accomplished through actually doing the work that you're seeking to learn, instead of reading about it and hearing people talk about it. For example, if you're wanting to learn how to play guitar, weld, or drive a car, you can read all you want about that particular topic. You can study it. You can read about people that have done those things before you, and examine their lives to see how they got good at it. You can put hours and hours of study time into what ever that is that you want to learn. However---besides giving you a good arsenal of data at your fingertips (and maybe increasing your passion about the topic)---all of that won't do much for you until you actually get that thing you want to learn into your hands (whether that be the guitar, welding gun, or steering wheel), and start to practice. It's not about just thinking about concepts and ideas, but practising them. 

This is the rough idea behind the new program that Eston College is starting up: that putting into practice the things that Jesus did and told us to do is just as important as learning the concepts behind them.

This new program is called Martyr's Life. 

Martyr is a Greek word which originally meant "witness". In Acts 1:8, when Jesus said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth," the word He used which is translated "witnesses" was "martyr". So, the students who are on this program will be learning how to live out their lives as Christ's witnesses---His martyrs---living out their day-to-day lives to show those around them the Love that they've been shown, as the witnesses He's made them to be. 

Here's a video of the man that came up with the idea explaining the program a bit more:

It's a sweet idea, in my opinion! :)

If you're wondering why I'm telling you about all this, there is a reason! And here it is! :)

There are (roughly) 10 students who have been accepted into the program this fall as a bit of a test group to see how the program runs for a first year.

Well, my brother and I have the extreme honour of being able to be two of those ten students!

We are very excited to be able to be part of it! The last few months have been filled with anticipation for what God's going to do in us and through us during the program, and that anticipation just keeps growing, as we are now only 3 days away from heading out to Eston to begin the program!


So, that's a bit of an update on what the next 8-9 months of my life are going to look like. With that in mind, there's something I am planning on changing, as far as my social media presence is concerned, which I also wanted to give a quick update on. 

(For the next bit of this post, I'm going to explain some of my reasoning behind some changes in how I plan to be using Facebook for the next while. It may be a bit boring, so you probably want to scroll to the next bolded part to get the summary :P :) )

First, a bit of context: During Street Invaders boot camp a few weeks ago, I occasionally would check Facebook in the evenings, and would get discouraged.

In the context of AMAZING things happening (God changing people's hearts, old hurts being taken away, new passions being ignited, and Holy Spirit doing awesome stuff), I'd go on FB and see posts that were... well... sketchy... from friends I love and wanted to see encounter God the same way that those people around me were. Yet, there wasn't much I could do... I mean, of course I can message them and share what God's put on my heart for them, and let Holy Spirit do what He does best. 

That's obvious. 

But I was still somewhat discouraged to see a lot of that stuff. Along with that, it was a bit of a distraction from the things that God was doing and wanted to do around me at that time.

So, now that Martyr's Life is coming along, I kinda wanted to re-assess my social media usage, and change it up a bit to see if I can come up with a better system. Especially in the context of the fact that we will not have a whole lot of spare time during Martyr's Life to just chill and waste time on the internet, I want what ever time I do spend online to be as useful as possible. :)

I had considered completely getting rid of my Facebook for the year, and had mentioned this idea to a few friends. They advised against it for a couple reasons, which I think were fairly wise. So I've come up with this system/idea which I'm gunna try out and see if it works at all (and will be subject to change based on how well it works) :P :)

I've set up my Twitter account, and this Blogger account to automatically post anything I post on them to my Facebook account. I'll be updating these pretty regularly over the course of the year, including (hopefully) things we've been learning on Martyr's Life, what we've been doing, where we are, and other things along that line. However, I won't be on Facebook itself very much (or, probably, at all), so any comments and such that are posted I won't see. I also have tools I'm planning on setting up that will give me access to FB messenger without going on FB itself (so I will still (likely) be on chat and such at various times). This will be, for the most part, so that I can focus my attention on what God wants to do and what He's saying, while minimizing other distractions that come along through everything that's on FB.

In summary of all that, I'm going to be commenting and reading stuff on Facebook a whole lot less (basically, not at all), but (hopefully) still posting updates and other posts a fair amount on Facebook (via Twitter and Blogger), and will (potentially) still appear on messenger at times. This is primarily to minimize distraction while I focus my coming year on God, and what He wants to do in my life.

Because of this, I probably won't get a lot of updates from your life that I would have gotten otherwise and Facebook will become a relatively unreliable tool for reaching me. 

If you want to chat, update me on your life (which I want to hear about! :) ), ask me anything (which I'd love to do my best to answer), comment on something that I post in such a way that I'll actually receive your comment, or contact me for any other reason, the most reliable method now will probably be through email (or through text message: if you want my number, just email me and I'll get it to you).

You can email me at theophilus.the.Jesus.freak777@gmail.com 

Love you guys! 
Thanks for taking an interest in my life and for your support! (and if you actually read all the way through to here, WOW! Thanks! I appreciate it! :) Sorry this was so long for such a simple update xD )

Please feel free to email me at any time!

Hopefully, you'll hear from me soon!

Grace to you and peace!
Josh

P.S. This will probably all take effect once Martyr's Life starts. So I'll be around for a couple more days :P :)

Does God Heal? - John G. Lake

Does God heal?
This is an age-old question.
The miracles of Jesus have been the battleground of the centuries.
Millions declare that God does heal the sick. Millions scorn the assertion.
"Go into all the world, and proclaim the Gospel," said Jesus.
"And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues... they shall lay hands of the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:17-18).The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). If His gospel was true then, it is true now.
His disciples healed the sick then (Luke 10). His disciples on the Christians in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. This power is still available. Healings are just as certain in Sacramento [or Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, BC] today as they were in Judea then.
It is said that many of those who would bring the joyful message of salvation and healing to the public have obscured the vision and darkened the simple sweet truths with a blare of trumpets, and the din of sensationalism. The public has listened, pondered and in many cases turned away disgusted.
However, truth is unalterable. God does heal today. Christ healed all that came to Him 2,000 years ago. He is still willing to heal all who come asking.
He is the same yesterday, today forever.

Taken out of a book of John G. Lake's sermons. (with additions :P :) ) 

Open up the Heavens?

So, yesterday we were watching Corner Gas (this goes out to you Nick Draper! Haha jk xD).

But yeah, we were watching the show, and there was one scene in the episode we were watching that went something like this:

*Karen and Davis are playing rock paper scissors*

*Davis plays rock, Karen plays paper*

David: "Ha! I win!"

Karen: "... paper covers rock..."

Davis: "rock flattens paper!"

Karen: "... paper's already flat..."

Brent: "I've made that keen observation."

So, stepping aside from that for a second, this morning when I woke up, I had part of a song in my head (of which, in retrospect, I can't figure out how it got there; I haven't heard it in months).

Anyways the lyrics I had in my head went like this:

"Open up,

Open up,

Open up the heavens."

After those lines played through in my head a couple times, that scene from Corner Gas popped into my head, but it sent more like this:

Person 1: "Open up, open up, open up the heavens!"

Person 2: "... heaven's already open..."

Me: "I've made that keen observation."

Lol, it made me laugh when I thought of it. I wonder how often we sing songs asking God to do something (like opening heaven, sending revival, or giving us something), and He's trying to say back to us, "I've already given you everything in Jesus. Stop asking me to do what I've already done and what I've told you to do, and start walking in what I've given you."

Just my thoughts this morning xD

Heaven is open for us, ever since Christ died for us and the veil was torn! :D

Don't Go to Church

So, let me be completely honest for a minute:

I think I'm getting to the point where "attractional ministry" is a foreign concept to me.

Like, you know the whole thing where you invite people to church, cause that's where they'll hear about God? Or, that's where they'll find support? 

Or, (and this is the one that did it for me) that's where the epic preacher that'll be doing a healing and Baptism of the Holy Spirit talk and ministry time will be ("so come and get healed")?

Man, I used to have the concept down pat: "People need to hear about God. People need to get healed and Baptized in the Holy Spirit. People need 'fellowship'. There's a dude at that building that will be talking about God, and giving an alter call for people to be healed and Baptized in the Holy Spirit, and there are other people there to 'fellowship' with. So, let's get everyone to 'go to church', and everything will be good! :)"

Everything was figured out :P

Then God goes and takes me on this epic ride of these past few months.

He goes and shows me that WE can lay hands on the sick, command the sickness to leave, and it must leave.
He showed me that WE can minister the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to others if it's something they want and are willing to receive. All we/they need to do is ask for it, and walk in what God gives.
He's showing me that if someone needs to hear a word from God, often (since we're God's sons/daughters, and we're there and see the problem) God's got something for US to say that'll show God's love in that situation (and often, better than a general, "for everyone" word that a pastor gives on a Sunday morning can do).

The church is not a building.
You are the church.

This thing is not about "inviting people to church". 

It's about this: Wherever you and I go, we expose the glory, grace, and love of God to everyone we come in contact with, just like Jesus did, and we destroy the works of the devil as we go - whether sickness and disease, depression and condemnation, or slavery and malnutrition - just like Jesus did. Anything that doesn't look like heaven, we change it by the power of Christ in us.

You don't need to invite someone to a building for them to receive from God.
You - yes, YOU! - are fully equipped to reveal God in every situation you're in.

You see cancer? Kill it. (Matt 10:8)

You see depression and hate? Show them God's peace and love.
You see poverty? Give what you've got, knowing God will provide for you. (Matt 6)

Quit thinking you need something more before you can serve God. That's the hugest lie of life.


I'll leave you with the text I saw on a t-shirt a while ago, which pretty much summarizes what I've been trying to say :P

Front: "DON'T GO TO CHURCH"
Back: "BE THE CHURCH
CAUTION: SIGNS WILL FOLLOW THOSE WHO BELIEVE
And these SIGNS WILL FOLLOW THOSE WHO BELIEVE: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Mark 16:17-18"

Love you guys!





DISCLAIMER!!!!
PLEASE READ BEFORE YELLING AT ME ;)
I'm not saying you should stop meeting with other Christians. I'm not saying you should stop meeting in a building and worshiping God together or any of that.
I'm saying "WE ARE the CHURCH".
When I hear "I'm going to church now", it's gotten to the point where that statement confuses me.
How can you go to something you are?
We are the church, so be it wherever you are.
We don't turn in on and off for Sunday morning and Wednesday evening.
We live it 24/7/365.


Ok, now you can yell if you still want to :P :)

Quote from Ryan Rhoades' upcoming book "Why Revival Really Tarries"

I'm pumped to read the whole book, so I thought I'd post a quote from it that was made availible a few months back:

I propose to you that the reason “revival” really tarries is not because there aren’t enough people “crying out to God” or because there’s so much sin in the land.

I believe 100% of the reason that “revival” really tarries is because we have an entire generation of Christians who look nothing like Christ and have little to no clue what He actually did on the cross for them.

When you really begin to understand the work that Christ did on the cross, it absolutely sets you free and you can’t help but share this amazingly Good News Gospel with everyone you talk to!

People are healed, oppressive, tormenting demons are cast out, sin loses its grip on people who have struggled with it for decades…and believers are empowered as they realize that God has completely done His part and is now waiting on the Church to arise and take dominion over the works of the devil on this planet.

I submit to you that one of the largest problems and hindrances to “revival” in the church today is that there is an entire generation of Christians “crying out to God” to come be with and forgive them when they already have Him and they’re already forgiven…

...all the while ignoring the very real cries of the lost ones around them who do not have God and desperately need to be made aware that sin has been atoned for in the Person of Jesus Christ, that there is a way that they can be truly set free NOW—from sin, sickness, torment, and yes, even death (Matthew 10:7-8).

"The Santa Clause 3" and the Gospel

So, I was watching "The Santa Clause 3 - The Escape Clause" today, and there was a part I really connected with that I thought I'd share :) 

(If you haven't seen it, this may not make any sense. But, yeah :P )

Ok, so you know the part where Scott ends up in the north pole after Jack Frost has taken over and made it all commercially focused and such?

Scott walks around, and sees all the crap going on. He sees people arguing over toys and t-shirts, and fighting to get on rides. Adults are rushing to get through the line so they and their kids can take part in the attractions and spend money on souvenirs. In the mean time, the elvs are exhausted and exasperated with doing stuff they were never meant to do (managing the kiosks and attractions, being "attractions" themselves, and trying to manage the endless crowds).

The camera points to Scott as he looks around, and you can tell what he's thinking: "Awe man... look what's come of this thing. It used to be such a beautiful thing. Look at the elvs -- they're supposed to be helpers and toy makers; not sideshows and crowd pleasers. Look at the reindeer -- they were supposed to fly around and be cared for when they're at rest; not to be used as petting booth attractions, stuck in tight wooden stalls,  having nasty hay stuffed in their faces 12 hours a day. This thing has become something SOO far from what it was supposed to be..." 

Everyone is completely missing the point of what the north pole was originally designed to be about, and none of them can see it! Scott is the only one there that has any idea what the real thing was designed to be like...

Let me be honest for a sec here: I couldn't help but link that scene to some of the things I've seen the modern, North American church system. 

I've been in a pretty decent number of churches in the past few months, in several different towns and cities across the province, and there's a lot of times lately that I've felt like Scott did there.

I've seen a little bit of what the gospel can look like apart from all the events, traditions, and stresses we've taking on, thinking they're just part of the gospel. 
In the last few months, I've seen chronic leg pains leave instantly -- in a car, on the highway, traveling 100 km/h with a hitchhiker in the passenger seat of the car. I've seen inflamed kidney pain leave instantly at the name of Jesus -- on the sidewalk in front of our house while chatting with a friend. I've seen short legs grow out while just hanging out with some friends. And plenty of other things in-between, from Jesus touching the heart of the old lady with the walker (bringing her to tears), to seeing some teenage friends finally work up the nerve to go talk to the homeless guy on the park bench in the city, and love him like Jesus did.



Having seen all these things, I find I often walk into different Christian places and think "Wow, this is not how this thing was meant to work at all..."
I see and hear of the events, the attractions, and the show that's being set up, and I can't help but notice the weary Christians walking around, exhausted and exasperated with doing stuff they were never meant to do.
I see the stressing and arguing and rushing from event to event, and I think "Wow... This thing has become something SOO far from what it was supposed to be..."



Then, the worst part about it, is it seems like no one sees it! In most cases, they've been in that environment for so long, that they think that's just how it's supposed to be. 


I must admit that on some occasions, I feel like I may be the only one that has any idea what the real thing is supposed to be like (in some specific incidences, I am; though I'm learning to remember there are other rebels out there that God is rising up. We're not alone. 
You're not alone.)

There is hope. 


Unfortunately, however, there isn't any magic snow globe that will reverse time and reset the system to the way God designed it to be. We're going to have to go about this transformation a little differently. And, to be completely honest again, I don't exactly know what that will look like. 
It will happen though. Jesus is coming back for a Church that looks like Him -- a bride without spot or blemish. The church I see right now needs a bit of work before it will fit that bill, but it will get there. 
It may take one elf at a time standing up and saying, "THINGS NEED TO CHANGE!!!" or it may happen nuclear style -- God revealing to millions of Christians that change needs to happen now -- but until it's done, we stand for truth and don't conform to what we see. We only conform to the image of the One who chose us.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."


Love you guys.