Thursday, March 14, 2019

Forgotten God-Week 3- Holy Spirit 101

Let me confess:  I don’t know what I’m talking about.  When we’re talking about what God is like, (and the Holy Spirit being key to understanding Him) no one does.  We’re talking about something – some-One – so utterly beyond us, that we’re just scratching at the edges of a profound mystery.

Imagine a single ant trying to understand humans as we lumber over an anthill in the woods.  The Ant might form some rudimentary idea about a human from your boots crashing nearby, but could it even begin to comprehend detail?
  • What we are?
  • How we’re similar to the ant? 
  • How we’re different?     
       - No way.

UNLESS…

Unless what?  Unless we could directly reveal information about us to that ant.  How?
  • Maybe someday we could inject it directly into its tiny little nervous system. Or:
  • Maybe, if we became an ant, we could communicate something its own rudimentary language.

But, to do either of those things, we’d have to simplify, right?
-First, we’d have a very short time to do it in, we live 75 years, an ant lives 75 days!
-Second, the ant has no capacity for complex thought, it has 250,000 brain cells, compared to our 10,000 million.
  • So we’d have to pare down the information.  Lots of info would forever be a mystery to the Ant simply because the Ant has no capacity for all the information – it would fry its circuits!
  • Remember, Moses – got to see God’s “back”, not his “face”.  Isn’t that the same?

Now, do you believe God is as far above us, as we are above ants?  At least, right?  So how can we know any detail about what God is like?   The same way the ant could know about us: IF and only IF the higher Being stoops down to reveal itself.
QUESTION:  HAS GOD DONE THIS?

We believe he has; throughout history, climaxed in the Incarnation and Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  So Christians believe that the ant analogy actually happened. God stooped to reveal himself to us.
But not everything about himself.

Moses, who received some of this Revelation, said:
Deut 29:29  The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

As we talk about the Holy Spirit this month, let’s admit always, there’s secrets here we’re never going to understand.  They belong to God, and we can NEVER access them, because we’re ants.
-BUT, there’s things that have been revealed.  Like ants we’d never know these things on our own.  But once revealed by a source we trust, Moses says, it belongs to us, and we can KNOW it.

It’s not just dry doctrine, either.  Tozer once said, we will live up or down toward the vision of what we think God is like.  So, we should seek to get to the edges of the secrets we can’t know and ask, what can we know?  What has God revealed?   Because believing it and cherishing it, will change us.

SSo first God has revealed that there’s only ONE of him. Deut 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord  is one.”  This might be a “duh” for you, but it’s a shock to Israel, immersed as they were in a polytheistic world.  But after God saves them, He reveals there’s a God above all other gods.  Who existed BEFORE the world.  One all-powerful Architect. One Source and Father of all creation.  One.

uBut secondly, Jesus revealed that God is a “COMPLEX UNITY”.  And after Jesus promised the Spirit, his apostles and all subsequent Christians have noted the more than 200 times an entity known at the SPIRIT of God is talked about all over Moses and the Prophets.  Jesus brought what was cryptic and secret out into plain view:
John 14:16-17:  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.

Emphasis on “another”.  The Spirit is not the Father and the Spirit is not the SON…but the Spirit is equally God.  So Three. God is one in BEING, and three in PERSON.

Let us then, never forget, the Spirit is personal.  As such He can speak and guide and he can remind.  
-He can be lied to: Acts 5:3-4
-He can be grieved: Eph 4:30
-He can lead us: Gal 5:25
-He can be insulted: Heb 10:29
-He comforts: Acts 9:31

This is a person!  And this person is God, along with the Father and the Son.  As a person, the Spirit of God cares deeply about you, about conforming you in the Image of Christ.  And when we resist His refining work, we do grieve Him deeply.

Doesn’t that put a finer point on the relationship we have with the Counselor, inside?  I believe if we believe the Spirit was really God and really a Person, we would care more deeply about the Holy Spirit’s grief.  And if we did, there would be fewer fights, squabbles, gossip in the church. Fewer divorces, fewer splits, fewer moments of entrenched unforgiveness… why? Because we’d care more about the Spirit’s grief, than our own.
Gal 5:26: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

-Written by Rick Thiessen

Monday, March 11, 2019

Constructive Connections-Part 12

Parable Queen


Constructive Connections is a fiction series.  They are beginning tales of how each person is crafted by God to fulfill a purpose, to enhance the narrative of life.  By contributing unique talents to serve one another, a tower God calls us to construct begins to form for His joy.

What a reflection.  Golden wig, pink fairy wings, polka dot clown pants, and blue sweatshirt with “Save the Unicorn Lamas!” screaming across my chest.  Mam-Maw would be pointing and laughing her pretty little grey-haired head off, askin’ me, “What did you sign up for this time, Dra-Mona?”  When I was six, I had an ear-splitting rant-trum (like a tantrum, only I had my reasons and made them known for all to hear) at the Save-A-Lot grocery store.  Ever since my passion ignited regarding obtaining that particular cherry fruit roll up, I lost the name Ramona and was dubbed “Dra-Mona, the reigning Drama Queen” by my loving family.
My 4-year-old Charles and I moved to Washington after some real-life drama exploded on our front lawn.  My husband of 10 years decided I wasn’t all that and had a girlfriend on the side. I thought it fitting to leave his possessions on the lawn with a large Sharpie sign, “Free to any 6’5, size 13 shoe real man!”.  Yah, I got a temper. All that was left when he came home was a few of his bowling trophies and his reading glasses.
Being a single parent has been the hardest challenge of my life.  I had Mam-Maw to look to for direction the first few years of Charles’s life, but now I feel like I’m going solo.  Well, there is also my ex-husband, Harper. He followed us up here to the Northwest a few months after Charles and I moved.  Harper showed up on our apartment doorstep with a basket of fruit, introducing himself as my new neighbor. Sure enough, he rented an apartment a stone’s throw away; and believe you me, I was tempted to throw that stone!    
Harper and I didn’t do much for reconciling before we left Tennessee; that’s not my way.  If he was brazened enough to do the crime, it was not worth takin’ the time. Sure enough, Jesus kept trying to get my attention.  I understand that we need to be forgiving, but I just couldn’t do it. My heart was full of the rage of being wronged. I had seen it enough times in other people’s lives to understand why I wasn’t ever to take back a cheater.  Even if he was the father of Charles. Even if he had been my best friend from the time we were 8 years old. Even if he sent me letters, flowers, fruit, and all the rest. Cheatin’ was cheatin’ and there was no forgiveness in me.
But then it was Harper who was the one who found the church preschool.  “Charles needs to find Jesus in this mess of what we did to upset his life.”  Oh, yeah, I heard it too and called him out.
“We did?  Are you serious?”  My crossed arms and unbelieving eyes said it all.
“You and I both needed to come together, but you were busy.  I was busy. Busy became life and we must’ve forgot to schedule each other in.”  He wasn’t wrong, I guess. I was occupied being Charles’s mom; I might have forgot Harper also had to be part of the whole parenting process.
I met Amy at my son’s preschool.  She didn’t even have kiddos, but she was doing what she loved; teaching sticky-crafts.  We became fast friends, bein’ we were both from the South and had accents to make any Washingtonian stop and say, “Oooo, I just love how you talk!” I was thankful to meet Amy when I did.  She was light in the dark of bitterness.
Amy and I attended a women’s retreat recently and I found out I wasn’t the only one who had trouble with that whole “forgiving” thing.  There were a few divorcees in the group and a few that talked about putting their marriages back together after separation. Their testimonies about how God was their strength through all of the bumps and bruises of life was inspiring.  But what I took from the weekend wasn’t about the endin’ or mendin’ of marriages. It was about the slowing down; praying for God to show me what part I had to play in the offence. Guess that is when Jesus got a hold and showed me the reflection of the drama I had allowed into my life.
I sat down with a group of ladies to play a game during the evening at the retreat.  We got talking about life as we pondered which letters would fit the triple word score space.  I was telling one of my silly stories from childhood and the ladies laughed so hard they dabbed at tears.  Someone said, “I think I could listen to you read off a grocery list and be thoroughly entertained!” I smiled and something in me stirred.  “Have you ever thought of acting in the dramas at church?” she asked.
Now I know who was responsible for the stirrin’; that Holy Spirit.  Then I felt somewhere deep within, not audible, but just a feeling: What if I changed my focus of unforgiving angry, and put that negative…oomph into the telling of a story?  Jesus was keen on story telling. Picturing Jesus weaving tales of thieves, rulers, and farmers to the people he met along the way must have been the best method to get his message across.  People can watch a play and relate to the characters, they can read between the lines of the story being told. Tales of being mistreated, life decisions made in the name of justice, and the such, all lead to the redemption or the ruin of character.  
Looking out into the audience, I see in the middle row a familiar face.  Anger wanes as I realize the importance of changing the focus of anger, applying energy to creativity, and entertaining a smidge of forgiveness.  
And I also realize how humility plays out in this crazy zany parable we are acting out for the church today, and how hard it is going to be to get the image of me in this ridiculous getup out of my head!  
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.
Matthew 13:34

  

Friday, March 1, 2019

Exciting News!




A Pathway for Vocational Ministry


As a non-denominational church, AC3 stands independently. In other words, organizationally speaking, there is not an authority outside Allen Creek to which we are accountable. Of course as leaders and as people we are all accountable to God (Romans 14:12). But responsibility for day to day operations, establishment of mission and vision, preparation of teaching materials, church discipline, finances and evangelistic efforts fall to men and women from inside the church family of AC3.

This provides us great freedom. As a church we can be very “light on our feet” and the decision-making process stays very close to the people whom the decisions directly affect. There’s not a lot of “management”. It also means that when insuring we stay aligned with historic, Biblical faith, we must be doubly aware and intentional about how teaching and decision making authorities are conferred. There is no one else but “us” to decide if someone is qualified “to teach”. (2 Timothy 2:2)

Our Elder selection process reflects the sobriety and weight we give to this responsibility. Since there is no “higher authority” for approval, the process is extensive, detailed and very thorough.

In recent years, our attention has turned to a similar leadership role: that of pastor. A technical case can be made that “pastor” is not an office or position in the church. While it’s true that the term “pastor” is not used in the Bible for a specific position, Paul does mention “…elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.” It’s from this (and other) Biblical references that we see the role most people refer to as pastor emerging, and it’s from this passage in particular that we see a precedent for vocational (paid) positions.

AC3 has an Elder selection process that has served us well for nearly 25 years. But how do we select a “pastor”?

First: Don’t worry. No one is leaving! But the pastoral staff IS aging, and consideration must be made for the next generation of “teaching elders”. Without denominational oversight, it was up to the existing leadership team to develop a process as robust and effective as the elder selection process for the welcoming of new members of the pastoral staff.

We think we’ve done that, and we want you to know about it. If you would like to read about in detail, just click HERE.

Following is a brief summary:

Candidates for vocational ministry must complete a 4-step process before they are eligible to be considered for ordination at AC3.

  1.    Affirmation. The church body must recognize the giftings, character, and capacity of the individual. This recognition is codified in the following 4 steps:
1.    A formal interview with the pastoral staff.
2.    A formal interview with the Elders.
3.    Submission of (2) written references from AC3 members.
4.    Submission of (2) written references from Christians outside AC3.
  2.    Academics. Candidates must have successfully completed Bible school training from an institution recognized by AC3 Pastors and Elders.
  3.    Apostolic Succession. The completion of Bible School studies must result in that institution awarding a license to the candidate under their by-laws. This connects the candidates training to an unbroken line of training extending back to the Apostles.
  4.    Apprenticeship. Candidates will serve under the direct supervision and mentor-ship of existing AC3 pastor(s) for a minimum of one year.
Completion of these 4 steps results in the candidate meeting basic qualifications for acceptance as an AC3 pastor, but does not guarantee it nor guarantee a paid position.
It is hoped that this monumental step is seen with great joy! It was motivated, in part, by conversations with AC3’rs who expressed a longing to serve this church vocationally, and that is a huge encouragement. It speaks to the hope and expectation that what God has begun at Allen Creek will endure far beyond the direct influence of those with whom He started!

Philippinas 1:6 “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.