updates and wows..

I'm currently in Valparaiso, Indiana. I'm serving on a Bethel ministry team with Danny & Sheri Silk who are doing a conference at Bethel Valparaiso called "Living in a Revival Culture".
It's been a great time so far. Bethel Valpo is an awesome church. It's growing, vibrant, fun, and filled with Holy Spirit.

I've always loved big picture stuff. The grand scheme of things. God's plan and such. Many times at Bethel I get to hear about this stuff because many prophets come through and the church really has it's finger on God's pulse (regarding His hopes and plans for earth). I know that sounds very smug, but if you know me, you know my heart and what that actually means.

I believe God has such a heart for this world, why else would He have created it? Who, in their right mind, creates a place in order to condemn it to hell. No, God is love. And that God loves you and me, and the perverts, greedy, and violent. Jesus really is perfect theology. What He did, is what we should be doing. How he lived, is how we ought to be living.
A lot of times, we come to scripture with a pre-conceived set of notions and ideas of "Who God is" and then interpret scriptures as such.
A scripture like: John 14:15 – “If you love me you’ll keep my commandments.” could be seen in two ways (probably more, but for the sake of this example we'll say two)...
Because of my church background and upbringing my initial reaction to this verse is that God is a judge, who judges whether we are doing right or wrong. That obedience is an issue of the high court of heaven and we are on trial. Therefore our love is shown in our works of obedience.

Now, before I'm labeled a heretic. Sure He's a judge and obedience is good. But in looking at this verse, I notice my attention favors the word "commandments" and totally forgets the word love. In fact, I end up re-interpreting love as something I have to prove through works.
But that doesn't line up with the character of God who would say, "There is nothing you could ever do that will make me love you less or more."
So looking at that verse again, suddenly I'm confronted with this idea: It’s not a thing about rules and law. It’s about keeping what’s important to Him. Because we love Him and want to protect what’s important to Him.

Sheri Silk talked about our freedom and the fact that God isn't a punisher. Jesus took the punishment for us. So basically that means we are free to do and be whatever and whoever. Kinda scary yah?
You can see my other blog http://jeremylang.tumblr.com for a snippet of the notes from her teaching today.

God is not a Cop. So many people live their lives for the sake of reputation, out of fear of being punished, etc. But the punishment never comes. It may come from people trying to control us, but it doesn't come from God. (punishment is not the same as consequences).
So the solution is self-management. If we are free, then we must manage our freedom otherwise our lives will end up a bit disastrous.
Prov. 25:28 – “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.”

Freedom exposes our weaknesses. As a Christian people, we must foster a culture where our weaknesses are understood and dealt with in loving and empowering ways. If shame continues to permeate the hearts and minds of Christians, people will continue to hide for fear of punishment, accusation, condemnation, and humiliation. It's sad when the church takes Satan's job away from him.

We've been going through a renewal season in 2nd year. Eric, our school leader, believes God is re-calibrating our understanding of holiness. He says: Purity is clarity. And Holiness is not a list of what we can't do but it's an understanding of what we get to do.

I got some revelation the other day as I was prophesying over one of my roommates. A form of holiness in the sense of feeling how God feels about stuff. Like, for instance, the five senses (smell, hear, touch, taste, see). To re-calibrate how we experience that to how God experiences that. Sounds surreal, but God made us in his image, and we with unveiled faces are being made like Him more and more each day. 2 Cr 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

I wanna feel how He feels, because then my perspective on problems, people's needs, and the world in general will shift from an earthly perspective to a heavenly perspective. That is what it's all about after all. Heaven's perspective.
Jesus said, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." That's a prayer for us to pray...

There is a shift happening in the church today, an apostolic reformation might be one way of saying it. The Lord is awakening His apostles, and the church is beginning to understand how to empower them to walk in their calling and be who God made them to be. There's been so much confusion as to the role of an apostle and whether or not they still exist. It's time to drop experiential misunderstandings, and empower people in their call.

I can't wait to see what happens in the next 20 years. Wow! The possibilities are incredible.

A church of promise, hope, revelation, power, love. A church that is the center of creativity, leadership, and influence. That is what we are supposed to be. We are the salt of the earth. We are to season it, preserve it, make it unique and beautiful. We are the light of the world, we are not to be hidden, or do we shrink, cities grow. We are a kingdom people, a holy nation, reflecting a heavenly kingdom with a powerful king that LOVES the nations and people everywhere. Let's join Him in this conquest of love. Let's save, heal, and deliver the world from sin, sickness, and oppression. We can do it because He commissioned us to. He said we can do it. He told us we'll even do greater things. What are we waiting for?