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BACKGROUND
The background to this teaching is found in the book 'Eagles Fly High!'.
DOWNLOADABLE HERE
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Online links to scriptures (New International Version [NIV] unless otherwise stated) are shown in blue
| WHY WALK IN THE WAY? conludes |
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| THE CONCEPT OF TIME
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 But there is one big difference between the natural and the spiritual. That is in the completely different understanding and application, of time. In the natural, time starts when we are born, frustratingly continues at the same pace through life – seeming too slow when we are young, yet too fast as we get older! But for God in the spiritual realm, time has no beginning, no middle and no end. I struggled to understand this concept. So I asked the Lord about it. He showed me that for us, time is a line, (a “time-line”) with a finite beginning and end from birth and death.
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 But for God, time is a circle, infinite, because a circle has no beginning and is never ending. For we must start at one point, moving in one direction only (sorry no secret of eternal youth on earth here), while God can move round the circle, either way, at any time.
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 My son, Nigel, suggested using the infinity symbol instead of the circle. That would be an equally good or even better illustration. More mathematical than his old man!
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 Interestingly, the concept of time needed only to be introduced by God after man sinned. If Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned, the need for time would never have existed, for they wouldn’t have aged, they would have lived forever. It is death that created the need for time. A concept of limitation. In eternity however, time in the sense we understand it is a non-issue, for it is endless, not finite as here on earth.
Like the air we breathe. It assumes no importance until we are trapped in a sealed room and every breath is one nearer our final one. Very important then!
Takes a bit of grasping, doesn’t it. This may help our understanding of the creation week too. For there is so much we don’t understand. But one day we will! Praise the Lord!
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| GOD’S TIME: No beginning....Never ending...(Infinite)
MAN’S TIME: Begins..............Ends.................(Finite) |
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 Our walk with Jesus then, is a process, like our journey through life. It is not dependent upon time like our natural walk, but upon spiritual growth, upon relationship with God. An individual may have been a Christian for many years, having accepted Jesus as Saviour, but still be a child in the Lord and quite happy staying there. No condemnation here for that. For God gives the choice. If it’s you however, you’re most unlikely to be interested in what follows.
The positive though, is that we don’t have to be old in years to become mature in Christ. Maturity in God is a function of relationship, not time.
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 Then there are those who are spiritual teenagers. Some remain so all their life, but generally the constant trials will result in them retreating back into spiritual childhood (being hurt and moving back into a less threatening spiritual situation) or giving away their walk with the Lord altogether.
Many charismatic/pentecostal churches and people are typical of this teenage stage of life.
Derek Prince, the noted bible teacher, has said that in his early days in the Pentecostal church (1950s & 60’s I presume) there was a saying, “we have it all.”
Sound like a teenager to you?
One day he looked back at John Wesley, and quickly realised that John Wesley had something more again!
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 So what did people like John Wesley and possibly omeone you know, have, that most of us “normal Christians” don’t?
For we need to consider our personal growth before
looking at the church as a whole, and the exciting things the Lord has for it. Why?
Two reasons.
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1. The church consists of individuals.
Pretty obvious, David! But the church cannot
progress into new realms until the individuals
in it are prepared and ready to move!
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2. God works in individuals first.
God prepared His church for change through men (and women) such as Luther, Wesley, Calvin, Finney, Booth and many others. We need to be personally prepared so God can use us too, as He chooses.
For God doesn’t just wave a magic wand. He prepares His people for change ahead of time.
Yes, even before the dramatic, initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It didn’t happen unexpectedly. Jesus told the disciples and Peter passed this information on to the remnant of 120 believers – to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come.
Those who were obedient and waited were able to participate in the greatest single event in church history since the death and resurrection of Jesus.
But that wasn’t the end of God’s plan. For there is still one even more exciting event to come, more exciting from our perspective because we can directly participate in it! That is what we will look at later. But first things first!
To participate in the events to come we must, each one, get right with God first. For we have to do the hard work first! We can’t hope to win the match without doing ‘the hard yacker’ of training first, my Australian friends would say. And the Aussies are pretty good at sport! Even if I hate to admit it, being a “true blue Kiwi”! (New Zealander).
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 May I use just one picture out of scripture to reinforce this? 1 Kings 6:7 tells us, in building Solomon’s temple, (a picture of the church), the stones or blocks used, (a picture of the individual Christian), were dressed at the quarry, “and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.”
The stones (Christians) were fully prepared before use! That is what we are being called to at this time. To be prepared for the fascinating, exciting, challenging, intriguing, unbelievable, most amazing days in the history of the world, ahead! You get the picture!
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NOTE: This teaching preceeded the teaching A REVELATION OF... REVELATION 12:11 WALKING WITH JESUS.
Check out this 7 part series
DOWNLOADABLE HERE
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| <i>NEXT WEEK:</i> VICTORY!
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 Something completely different!
A poem about our '3 stage' walk with Jesus.
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| A NOTE FROM DAVID |
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As one 'matures' in the natural, we wish we could stop time! For our bodies certainly pay the price of sin. Wrinkles are the smallest price we pay!
Sadly however, we all too easily carry our ruluctance to mature over into the spiritual also. Yet God's plan is for us to 'become spiritual wrinklies for Him' (Just joking!)
May we be prepared to submit our lives fully to Him.
Ancient Babylonia - Babylon
The city-state of Babylon, especially under the leadership of Hammurapi, made an impressive mark upon history and Babylon was regarded as a natural capital, even when it was not the actual capital.
After Hammurapi's death, the imperial structure, which he founded, was being continually challenged. Foreign peoples and powers were placing an unbearable strain upon Hammurapi's successors. One of these forces were the horse-riding Kassites who descended on Babylon and put an end to the Amorites as well as civilized progress for the next 400 years.
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So until next week.......
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD!
His servant and yours
Learn more about us at...
www.wwj.org.nz/about.php
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A DAVID'S DOODLING
207. The only stride in the race of life that we can instantly change, is the one we are now taking.
David Tait
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Check
out the WWJ website for….
More David's Doodlings: www.wwj.org.nz/dd.php
What We're All About: http://www.wwj.org.nz/about.php
PGIM! Weekly Encouragement Ezine : http://www.wwj.org.nz/wwword.php
Reports on past Ministry visits: http://www.wwj.org.nz/diary.php
Eagles Fly High!: http://www.wwj.org.nz/eagle.php
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