Sunday 10/02/16

Series: …but by My Spirit Pt. 16

Message – Handshakes with God

Handshakes with God

We have looked at our Christian walk for some time now. It was, and remains my desire for the immediate future, to focus on the Kingdom of God…thus the name of this very lengthy series,

“Living in the Kingdom”

It has been my great desire to communicate to you by both words and living example what it means to…

be a Christian
to be God’s children
to be part of His family
to be in intimate and perpetual union with Him.

I’ve chosen the avenue of the “kingdom” not arbitrarily, but because it is THE PRIMARY language of the New Testament…the bible as a whole in fact. Not to mention it is also how I specifically felt led to go this past year.

Sometimes all that is necessary to revolutionize a Christian life is to view it from a different, more accurate and clear point of view – and the kingdom provides that naturally throughout scripture.

Some months ago we amended the series to “Living in the Kingdom BY THE SPIRIT” and in recent weeks I’ve felt compelled to talk about stirring up a hunger for Intimacy with God by the Spirit.

Today I am going to approach this NOT from a kingdom perspective but a familial one.

This is NOT a departure from our series but a beginning of it’s conclusion. (Yes I know that is very vague and non-committal). For even in a kingdom, there is family.

Example of the Temple Tax

Remember how in Jesus’ reply to Peter’s question regarding the Temple tax, that He offered a kingdom illustration from a SON’s Perspective.

He asked Peter –

“From whom do the kings of the earth take taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”

Of course Peter’s answer was – of strangers!

So Jesus concluded, “Then the son’s are free – never the less, less we offend…(pay the tax)”.

So in this conversation, Jesus illustrated that even within the Kingdom mindset there is the continuing notion of family.

A king & sons (children).

So as we look at the familial today, do not forget that it is a royal family. Also, protect yourself from over focus on the “royalty aspect” and more on the family.

While thinking on this last night, I began to re-think some of the thoughts we’ve covered only from the more intimate perspective of family and found that it brought out some clarity and made it more tangible by association with everyday life.

Point 1. Intimacy with God requires co-partnership with His Spirit.

This is to say that to have intimate involvement with God, one must first have intimate involvement with the Spirit.

1 Cor. 2:1-5,

“(1) And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony (mystery) of God. (2) For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (3) I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. (4) And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (5) that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men BUT in the power of God.”

Your FAITH rests in EXPERIENCING GOD yourself!

“(9) But as it is written: “EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” (10) But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (11) For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

John 1:14-18,

“(14) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (15) John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ” (16) And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. (17) For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

(18) No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

John 14:8-9,

“(8) Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” (9) Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

John 16:12-15,

“(12) I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. (13) However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. (14) He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. (15) All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

So Point 1. In order to have intimate involvement with God, one must first have intimate involvement with the Spirit.

This is similar to 1 Jn. 4:19-21,

“(19) We love Him because He first loved us. (20) If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (21) And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

This is stated as a commandment from a king, but it is a statement which is equally true of family.

How can I claim to love my Father while at the same time I actively hate those He loves?

Handshakes…a personal example

When I was a boy, my natural father would sometimes introduce me to one of his friends. I found myself immediately looking for the good in them – reasons why I might like them too. Why? I desired common ground with my father – not a grounds for disagreement.

My relationship of wanting to enter more completely into the world of my father required that I embrace what he embraced…to like what and who he liked. So in effect there were two handshakes going on every time I met a friend of his I’d never met before.

The handshake to meet my father’s friend
The “handshake” I was inadvertently experiencing with my father as he opened up yet another part of his world to me vicariously through the introduction of his friend.

So it is in the kingdom of God!!!

Handshakes with God

Like everything in this life, intimacy with God is a progressive work. While acceptance and relationship are immediate and are the grounds for intimacy, intimacy itself takes time because it is bi-directional. It is NOT simply a matter of God loving us and being in relationship with Him. It is an exchange of knowing and experiencing one another, so it is a progressive work. While I know much more about God than I did as a child, I still know far less than I will know in the future. Every time God opens my heart to experience Him in a different way, it happens by way of an introduction. The Holy Spirit “introduces” an aspect of God with which I was previously unfamiliar. These are “handshakes with God”.

Kingdom Love

Love “in the Kingdom” is NOT a passive ideal, but an active reality that owns ALL of the person.

You cannot claim to love someone with Agape love without first loving…

What is best for them
To love what they love (in that order).

Example of Marital love

Loving my wife does not mean that I have strong emotions for her and simply support her in her pursuits and desires, but that I condition my heart to desire what she does.

So if I claim “partnership” with the Holy Spirit I must share in His passions, desires and goals. His “end-in-view” MUST become MY “end-in-view”.

So…the next question I begant o look at from a family perspective was…

Points 2 Who is it that the Holy Spirit is passionate about?

The Father and the Son.

Point 3 What is the Holy Spirit passionate about?

Their continuous glory, honor and exaltation.

THIS IS GROUND ZERO for intimacy with, partnership with

and MUTUAL JOINT experience with the Holy Spirit!

Do you want to enjoy Him?

Do you want to feel like an active participant with Him?

Then LOVE WHAT HE LOVES!!!

These are first and foremost! If the family (and by extension the Kingdom) is to have ANY stability to it at all, the foundation MUST be sure.

Question for example

What is the most secure place, the most protected circumstance and environment any child can have? In what atmosphere will they thrive the most and be the most socially and emotionally healthy?

A loving environment – BEGINNING with the mutual love, respect and honor of the parents to EACH OTHER FIRST!!!!

They may always wish to love on and dote upon their children, but they will NEVER do so unilaterally. Every expression of love from the parents will FIRST include a deference to each other FIRST!

So it is with the Godhead! The greatest security we can have as God’s children is that there exists a passionate love between the Father, Son & Spirit that is greater than Their love for us and pre-dates it! We were born into a very secure and solid household – the family of God!!!

The Holy Spirit longs to glorify Christ & the Father, so if we want to really…honestly experience a comradery and intimate sharing with the Holy Spirit we MUST love and passionately desire WITH HIM what He desire!

In the internal environment of the soul, this disposition makes ALL of the difference in what we can DO with the Spirit and the depth at which we can enjoy Him!

We will continue here next week….Blessings!

I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

You have a special place in God’s family & kingdom. If you do not know Him, please use our ‘Contact Us‘ page and reach out so we may have the privilege of introducing you to the Lord. Neither money nor attendance at our church will be mentioned.

If you have been spiritually fed by this ministry and wish to give, we truly appreciate that and you may do so here, but all outreaches of this ministry are FREE for you and anyone to enjoy at no cost.

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

View posts by Pastor Mark

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!