A Weekly World Wide Word of Encouragement to those in the Ministry
PRAISE GOD IT’S MONDAY!
A WEEKLY ‘WWW (world-wide word) OF ENCOURAGEMENT’
TO THOSE IN MINISTRY
A FREE service, currently connecting with Christian leaders from 3,000 denominations and ministries, in 70 countries.
Issue No: 635 Published: 16 Dec 2013
WHOSE CHURCH IS IT ANYWAY?
THE POST APOSTOLIC CHURCHAgain I acknowledge that much of the material that follows is drawn from the excellent publication by Eddie L. Hyatt, 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity. For specific references to the writings quoted, please refer to that publication.
We continue looking at prominent spirit filled men who lived during the 7th to 15th centuries AD.
600AD-1517
We are discovering that there was ongoing Holy Spirit activity in the midst of the Dark Ages, both within and outside the dominant Roman Catholic Church of the time.
THE CATHARI (c 12th-14th centuries)
In an opposite approach to the Monastics who tried to reform the Roman Catholic Church from within, the Cathari, or 'come-outers' (meaning 'pure'), led morally strict lifestyles in contrast to the political and moral corruption of the established church.
The general understanding of the Cathari has been negative, as all earlier written records were composed by their institutional opponents. More recently however, this view has started to change, for there has developed an understanding that their 'revolt' was similar to others who opposed the excesses of the establishment through the power of the Holy Spirit. For example, Scaff in ' Ante-Nicene Christianity, vol. 5 of History of the Christian Church' says.....
The exciting cause of this religious revolt is to be looked for in the worldliness and arrogance of the clergy, the formalism of the Church's ritual and worldly ambitions of the papal policy...The people wanted to get behind the clergy and ritual of sacraments to Christ himself.
They opposed many things, including the emphasis on church buildings as being of religious value. Shaff continues his critique......
God dwells not in houses made with hands. It is not the house of stone, but the good man and the good woman, and the community of such, that constitutes the Church. Prayer in the Church is no better than prayer in the closet.
THE CONSOLAMENTUM
In rejecting the highly developed ritualistic forms of the Church, the Cathari rejected both baptism and the Lords Supper, replacing them with the 'Consolamentum', a baptism of the Holy Spirit received by the laying on of hands. According to Augustus Neander, a nineteenth-century Lutheran scholar.....
By virtue of this imposition of hands, whoever submitted to it in a suitable frame of mind would be filled with gifts of the Holy Spirit and purified from all sin; he would be made capable thereby for the first time of rightly understanding the deep things of Scripture...This inward working of the divine Spirit stood to them in the place of sacraments.
The Cathari experienced the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in tongues. One woman is recorded as speaking in Armenian, a language she did not understand. She was accused as being under a wizard's spell. The Roman Catholic Church accused the Catharis of witchcraft for exercising the gifts of the Spirit, in an attempt to destroy the movement.
HERETICS OR HEROES?
The establishment considered the Cathari as heretics and burned them at the stake or branded them on the forehead in an unsuccessful attempt to eradicate them. As we have seen earlier, this reaction is consistent of opposition to Holy Spirit movements throughout history.
While many establishment scholars have considered them to be non-Christian, or at best, sub-Christian, John Foxe, the sixteenth-century author of the famous classic, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, judged them to be true Christians, in fact, forerunners of the Protestant Reformation.
So we can continue to say.....
THE TRUE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS ARE ONES WHO ARE OBEDIENT TO THE LEADING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THEIR LIVES.
(Continued next week)
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FROM THE WORD
THE WORDS OF JESUS continuedThe Lord has asked me to compile a publication of the words Jesus spoke, as recorded in the New Testament in chronological order. I have got about halfway, and have found it very enlightening and encouraging in my relationship with Him. The final version will have changes of layout and version used, but this is a foretaste of things to come. Of course, it is not a Bible substitute! I Hope you find it helpful too, in your walk with Jesus.
Not available this week as is on my nearly 'terminal', 'hacked' computer! Recovering well from 'virus' sickness! LOL! Back next week!
(Continued next week)
Read the NIV Bible online at.....
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DAVID'S DOODLINGS
FAITH271. Faith breeds faith.
272. True faith is exercised to attain God's desires, not our own.
273. Building faith in God builds faith in oneself - in God.
275. We must exercise faith to accept God's grace. But once done, God returns the compliment in unlimited measure.
276. God creates a mountain of faith out of a molehill of obedience.
277. Grace and faith make God's world go round.
278. Hope is expressed through faith. Faith is expressed through love.
279. For God so loved the world that He gave... us grace and faith.
280. Faith and doubt are constant companions. For it is only in accomplished faith that we see the devil's defeat.
281. If there is no room for doubt in faith, there was no need for faith in the first place.
282. 'Blind faith' is 'blindingly blind'!
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CARTOONS FROM TOON FEVER
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TUESDAY TEACHINGS
THIS WEEK: A REVELATION OF....... 3 KINGDOM AGES continuesNEW TESTAMENT REVELATION
Each of the New Testament triad of hope, faith and love actually represents the particular focus of a kingdom age.
It's amazing how God works!
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LAUGHING AT OURSELVES
***Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused****** Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others. ***
824. THE PREACHERS CRY!
I've taken a vow of poverty. To ANNOY me, send MONEY.
823. WHERE?
Linda W. shares this humorous event with us: Last December, in our Children's Church Class, Avery, an adorable 3-year old girl, was looking at a picture of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. She looked at the picture intently. Then, she pointed to the baby and asked, "Is that the baby?" I said, "Yes it is." She continued to gaze at the picture. Then she asked thoughtfully, "Where is his car seat?"
822. POLITICALLY CORRECT 23RD PSALM (This is brilliant! - David)
The Lord and I are in a shepherd-sheep relationship, and I am in a position of negative need.
He prostrates me in a green-belt grazing area, and conducts me into lateral proximity with a non-torrential aqueous accumulation.
He restores to original satisfaction levels my psychological makeup.
Notwithstanding the fact that I make ambulatory progress through the non- illuminated geological interstice of mortality, terror sensations shall not be manifest within me due to the proximity of omnipotence.
Your pastoral walking aid and quadruped-restraint module induce in me a pleasurific mood state.
You design and produce a nutrient-bearing support structure in the context of non-cooperative elements.
You enact a head-related folk ritual utilizing vegetable extracts, and my beverage container exhibits inadequate volumetric parameters.
Surely it must be an intrinsic non-deductible factor that your inter- relational, emphatic, and non-vengeful attributes will pursue me as their target focus for the duration of the current non-death period.
And I will possess tenant rights in the residential facility of the Lord on a permanently open-ended time basis.
" FREE DOWNLOAD: You can now download the book 'Laughing At Ourselves' in PDF format at LAUGHING AT OURSELVES One of the most comprehensive sources of Christian Humour on the Net with 800 sermon fillers for your entertainment and use at ...
FACTS FOR FUN
LAST WEEKS QUESTION: What's the difference between a turtle and a tortoise?ANSWER: No computer, no answer! Is my memory bank! LOL!
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Uuuummmmm!
Answer Next Week.
SOME FUN FACTS 776. DANGEROUS MEDICINE
1999 medical data shows that an alarming 2 million people are hospitalised and as many as 140,000 die each year from side effects of, or reactions to, prescription drugs. (‘For better for worse… in sickness we will take the risk for health’.)
777. LONG MEMORIES
In 1950, Scottish Nationalists stole (reclaimed?) the "Stone of Destiny" from Westminster Abbey. This was Scotland's Coronation Stone, taken by the English in 1296. Traditionally, all British monarchs have to be crowned while sitting on it. It was eventually recovered from Arbroath Abbey, although some claimed this was a copy, and the original remained in Scotland. But Where? In 1996, the "Stone of Destiny" was returned from London to Edinburgh Castle, exactly 700 years after being stolen by Edward I. (Will all future coronations have to be in Scotland so that succeeding monarch can be ‘stoned to be throned'.)
778. NOTHING'S NEW
Colonel Waring, the New York City Street Cleaning Commissioner, was responsible for organising the first rubbish recycling plant in the United States way back in 1898. (No longer to be ‘just a load of rubbish’.)
A WORD PUZZLE FOR YOU
Make another word from this word using all the letters.
ARMREST
Answer at the end of A David Musing
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SERMON ON THE MOUNT
Another hacker victim!Source: http://biblequizzes.org.uk
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IF ONLY I'D THOUGHT OF IT!
"""OTHER'S SAYINGS TO ENLIGHTEN, AMUSE, OR BEMUSE"""!!!!!!! Lead your life so you won't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.
!!!!!! People gather bundles of sticks to build bridges they never cross.
!!!!! Life is 10% of what happens to you, and 90% of how you respond to it.
!!!! Did it ever occur to you that nothing occurs to God?
!!! Life is like an onion; you peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep.
!!! Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
!! There are two things I've learned: There is a God. And, I'm not Him.
! Following the path of least resistance is what makes rivers and men crooked.
100'S MORE TO BE FOUND AT...
GREAT GROANERS!
4. IN THE CEMETERYA man was walking past a graveyard and he heard one of Beethoven's symphonys playing backwards. He thought to himself "That's weird" and kept walking.
The next day the same man walked past the same cemetery and heard another one of Beethoven's symphonys playing backwards. He thought to himself, "Now that's REALLY weird!" and kept going.
The next day the same man was once again walking past the same cemetery and heard "Ode to Joy" playing backwards. The man said "I can't take this any more!" He walked up to the caretaker and asked, "What is going on around here?!"
The caretaker answered, "Oh, that's just Beethoven decomposing."
5. THE PLIABLE PRISONER
Several years ago, Andy was sentenced to prison. During his stay, he got along well with the guards and all his fellow inmates. The warden saw that deep down, Andy was a good person and made arrangements for Andy to learn a trade while doing his time. After three years, Andy was recognized as one of the best carpenters in the local area. Often he would be given a weekend pass to do odd jobs for the citizens of the community, and he always reported back to prison before Sunday night was over.
The warden was thinking of remodeling his kitchen and in fact had done much of the work himself. But he lacked the skills to build a set of kitchen cupboards and a
large countertop which he had promised his wife. So he called Andy into his office and asked him to complete the job for him.
But, alas, Andy refused. He told the warden, "Gosh, I'd really like to help you but counter fitting is what got me into prison in the first place."
6. THE HUMBLE BUMBLEBEE
Consider, if you will, the case of the awkward bumblebee who became ill while gathering pollen but continued to work. Unfortunately, he thus infected all the flowers with his virus. The consequences are recorded in the annals of horticulture as the blight of the fumble bee.
7. WILLIAM TOLD
William Tell was not only a great patriot and a great archer, he was also a great cook.
One day, after he had prepared a new dish for his friends, he said, "I think there is one or more spices missing. What do you think?"
Their answer was, "Only thyme, Will Tell!"
8. ELEPHANT STEW
1 Elephant, Medium Size
2 Rabbits (Optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Brown Gravy
Cut elephant into small bite-sized pieces. This should take about two months. Add enough brown gravy to cover. Cook over a hot fire for about four weeks. This will serve 3800 people. If more are expected, two rabbits may be added, but do this only if necessary as some people do not like to find a hare in their stew.
Groan with me here. It's a lot of fun!
God cured baby with HIV, former medical missionary believes
November 20, 2013 By Mark EllisShe served for six years as a medical missionary in the Horn of Africa, and credits God for the first case of HIV remission in a child, as documented by The New England Journal of Medicine.
“When I treated this baby I was not even thinking of curing the baby,†Dr. Hannah Gay told Baptist Press. “That was the furthest thing from my mind. I was simply trying to prevent infection and I failed at what I was trying to do.â€
Dr. Gay, now an associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, treated the child with a hard-hitting regimen of three anti-viral medications in the first 30 hours after the child’s birth.
At first, she thought she failed when the baby was born HIV-positive. “However, my failure in God’s hands turned into a miracle,†Dr. Gay says. “And it was God that cured the baby and I just happened to be standing close by at the time.â€
Tests performed on the baby at 23-months-old revealed the virus has not been replicating itself, which raises hopes the child is permanently cured. The viral presence was so minimal it could not be detected by standard tests.
Dr. Gay has received significant media attention due to the unique case, which allows her to share her faith in God. “I still have no idea why He picked the shiest pediatrician in America to do this, but I suppose I’ll find out in heaven,†she told Baptist Press. “I am by basic nature very shy.â€
She and her husband teach Bible drill at Trace Ridge Baptist Church in Ridgeland, Miss. She relates to the biblical account of Moses’ bashfulness as a speaker.
“God proved to Moses that He can use a stick to get water from a rock, or to part the Red Sea, or whatever. So with Moses protesting all along the way, ‘God I can’t talk,’ God sent him anyway.â€
“I can’t talk (either) but God is providing words.â€
She continues to follow the child’s progress, whose identity is anonymous. “I see the child on a regular basis, but several times a year I will be continuing to send samples of her blood to their research labs so that they can do these ultrasensitive tests,†she says.
Source: OpenHeaven.com
DAVID'S DOWNLOAD
A REVELATION OF....... THE AMAZING TABERNACLE OF MOSESThe first modern revelation of the importance of Moses Tabernacle as being the pattern of a godly walk, and one of church development and life, came out of the Latter Rain Movement, after World War 2.
In more recent times the teaching has been neglected, but it is still applicable today. And the Lord is today, giving even more revelation about it, as we move still closer to the end of the age.
Yes, an understanding of Moses Tabernacle is vital for every Christian with a heart to know God and His plans in a deeper way.
I pray that you will find it as illuminating, challenging, yet encouraging, as I have in my life.
Find out more and download your free PDF Files here.....
WAXING LYRICAL
An amazing event in our family! My Mum, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in her late 40's is still with us to celebrate her 90th birthday, becoming the longest lived lady ON our 300 year family tree! Incredible!(She lived just a few months more.)MY MUM IS 90!
Yes, today my Mum has turned ninety!
Threescore years, plus ten, plus twenty!
Where have all those years gone?
To us, a right royal paragon
Of virtue, befitting a hundred and fifty.
My Mum was born in Northern Ireland.
Green grass, grey sky, but her land.
Taken to Canada when oh so small,
Before arriving on New Zealand soil,
Where, on the farm, she leant a hand.
Experiencing the quake of 31 at school,
Where, of course, she was nobody’s fool.
Yes, dux of her year, you would expect no less,
With lots of brains, the Lord, my Mum did bless.
Getting it right, not the exception, but the rule.
Then up and away, to work on her bike,
Along the embankment, fast as you like.
In a lawyer’s office, my Mum did lurk,
Behind a typewriter, she did work.
Through a mountain of paper, Mum did hike.
One day in a shoe shop, she did meet her match,
A dastardly plan, my Dad, he did slyly hatch.
One wrong shoe in a box,
Put in by the wily old fox,
Return she did, where now, he made his catch.
Along came wedding bells and the knot was tied,
And then a son, bearing whom, she nearly died.
A time of blindness to go along with the pain,
But a bonny boy (if I may say so) she did gain!
To bring him up right, was what she always tried.
Eighteen months later, he was joined by a cute sister,
Judith Lorraine, a girl to dote on, not another mister.
Now there were two, with each other to fight,
Or rather, over which, a proud Mum, to skite.
Our Mum, she now had her son and her daughter.
I remember my Mum out on the tennis court,
A pretty picture in her dress, oh so short.
And then, of course, she charmed the Queen,
On the Britannia, where not many have been,
An experience, money could not have bought.
First MP’s wife, then as the gracious Mayoress,
Napier City, with her presence, she did bless.
Public life though, was not easy for her,
Home with family, she did rather prefer,
Always beautiful, in the way she did dress.
Mum and Dad, they travelled far and wide,
From Taj Mahal, to Sistine Chapel, inside.
They took us to Australia to visit a sewage farm,
A memorable pong that surely did me no harm.
While a cricket ball, round the MCG, it did glide.
Then came the shock diagnosis of multiple sclerosis,
But my Mum would not let it become a neurosis,
The Catholic charismatics prayed so hard,
That our God, played His trump card,
The disease never reaching its terrible prognosis.
Mum, you’ve been so brave and stoic in the challenges of life,
Always with a shrug and a smile, even when in great strife,
An example to me, and others, you have been,
In the good and the bad, and the in-between,
You have coped, persevered, always the good Mum and wife.
From Thompson to Kennedy Road, then up on the hill,
To Avon Terrace, several houses you and Dad did fill.
But in time, your husband, our Dad, did die,
Putting on a brave face, inside you did cry.
Then to get on with your life, it became your will.
Over the past 14 years I have watched you grow,
A new Lady Tait, have been privileged to know.
As you have made a new life on your own,
Into a new dimension you have grown.
A fresh dash of yeast to leaven your dough.
From Knightsbridge Village to Devonshire Place,
You’ve inspired others with your smile and grace.
A contentment in the face of difficulties you have found,
A model, to me, and to others, whom you are around.
In your later years, you have truly found your place.
Yes, as you have reached the milestone of 90 today,
The longest lived lady, in 300 years, you can now say,
All your family together, we’re so blessed by your life,
A faithful daughter, mother, grandmother and wife.
I thank and love you. ‘My Mum’, you will ever stay.
David Tait: Saturday 16 October 2010
More of David's poetry here.....
A DAVID MUSING
Adjusting to a new computer (Kathy's laptop) is a new experience for me.From XP I have moved to Windows 8, which is a very different operating system. Some keys are in a different place (Particularly the DELETE key which I use frequently! LOL!) and the smaller keyboard takes some adjusting to. But I am getting there.
In a way it is a bit like finding Jesus. We have to adjust to a new life, with our 'Help' function being the Word and the Holy Spirit's guidance.
How we adjust, how much we are open to change, are the keys to success in both the natural and the spiritual.
Are you, am I, so stuck in our ways that we are not open to change? Worth musing upon, isn't it?
So until next week.....
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD
His servant and yours
David Tait
Today's 'Word Puzzle' Answer: SMARTER
TODAY'S 'BIBLE QUESTION' Returning next week.
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ABOUT US
WALKING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES is a non-profit, non-denominational, Bible based ministry located in Hastings, New Zealand. A ministry dedicated to developing discipleship, fostering unity amongst God’s people to achieve the Great Commission, and in doing so, preparing for Christ’s return. It is securely based upon the foundational principles of the Apostles Creed while recognising the wide and rich diversity of beliefs amongst Christians in other areas. In accordance with the Lord’s direction, materials produced by the ministry are available, free of charge, to genuine enquirers upon request. The ministry is solely funded by donations, as the Lord provides. A list of materials available (plus some fun!) is obtainable and freely downloadable from our websitewwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.
Walking With Jesus Ministries
7 Bull Street
Ahuriri
Napier
New Zealand
Phone: (06) 835 0567 International (+64) 6 835 0567
Email: enquiries@wwj.org.nz
Web: wwj.org.nz
Our role is to bless and encourage those in ministry while promoting co-operation and unity of direction amongst the body of Christ, as emphasised 3 times by Jesus in His longest prayer, immediately prior to His arrest and crucifixion. "… so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:12, 21, 23-4) Our website is currently being developed to encourage your participation one with another, to share resources, and to enable you to promote events and items of interest to the body as a whole – and have a smile while doing it!
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david@wwj.org.nz