After years of thinking and praying about possibly going to grad school or seminary, I have finally decided to take the plunge.  As of a few weeks ago, I have enrolled in IHOP's Forerunner School of Ministry (FSM). 

It's a bit of a compromise for me.  I was leery of seminary because I really don't want my relationship with God to become academic.  I'm also not really interested in debating controversial issues.  I think far too much controversy is just a smokescreen to avoid the personal implications of the Bible's plain meaning. ("It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." - Mark Twain)

FSM is not a seminary, but I have received verbal assurance that students who are capable of working at that level will be treated as such.  We shall see.  The major advantages for me are (1) It is structured around IHOP's prayer room, and prayer room time is a required part of the program, so it should be easier to keep a vibrant walk with God in the midst of studying; and (2) Because I'll be in the prayer room, I can maintain my ministry as an intercessory missionary.

On top of that, I think there really may be something to FSM's tagline of "Redefining Theological Education through Night and Day Prayer."  It's pretty clear to me that the current model of seminary education, by and large, is not producing leaders who radically impact society.  Perhaps it's time to try putting the theological education together with a deep commitment to prayer, fasting, and personal holiness.

I'm excited about it.  I'm actually starting classes this week - even before the end of the Fire in the Night internship - doing something called SEEP (Summer Early Entry Program).  With a name like SEEP, you might think it was a way to slowly enter into the school semester, but in fact it's rather the opposite.  I'm going to be taking 4 months' worth of classes in about 9 weeks, and the first 3 weeks of that will overlap the internship.  Perhaps they should call it the Summer Crash Course Program instead.

Anyway, it should be an interesting summer.  Watch this space for (irregular) updates!

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This is a video message recorded by Lou Engle at the end of TheCall Jerusalem about the upcming Call in Washington, DC. I encourage everyone who identifies themselves with Jesus and believes that the moral decay in the US is a crisis to seriously pray about going to DC on August 16.

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I've put another sermon up on the Today and That Day podcast. This was actually the first sermon I heard when I came back to IHOP-KC for Fire in the Night Track 2 and it made a huge impression on me. I've been thinking a lot about Christology and the personality of the Lord Jesus recently, and I hope to post some of those meditations soon, but time to blog continues to be hard to find. This talk helps to lay the foundation for why that pursuit is so significant.

Stephen Venable - Growing in Intimacy

Stephen Venable, a professor at the Forerunner School of Ministry gave this message at an Encounter God Service in April '08. It is an excellent teaching on what intimacy with God really is and how we grow in it. He discusses the distinction between the invitation to intimacy (God wants you to know Him), the overflow of intimacy (the joy and peace and pleasure of knowing God), and the actual substance of intimacy (relational knowledge of God).

I believe this is the most concrete and practical teaching on intimacy with God that I've heard. (hint: it's all about Jesus!)

Teaching notes for this sermon can be found here.

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Reading the Bible in translation is like kissing your bride through a veil. 

- Haim Nachum Bialik

 

ἵνα γένηται ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς πρωτεύων.
- Colossians 1:18d, Greek New Testament

 

With precisely one class meeting of New Testament Greek under my belt, a working knowledge of the Greek alphabet, and a good Bible study program, I have undertaken to begin spending some of my devotional time in the prayer room reading from the Greek New Testament.

I don't know anything about conjugating Greek verbs yet, nor about declining Greek nouns, and my electronic version of the Dictionary of Biblical Languages solemnly warns me that "one is not competent to pontificate on the Greek article without careful analysis", but I haven't let any of that stop me.  Mostly I'm just sounding out the words, looking them up in the lexicon (it's nice when you can look something up in the lexicon by double-clicking on it...), and assuming that the translators of the New King James Version knew their Greek tenses well enough to be trustworthy for the parts I don't know yet.

But it's still been a pretty powerful experience.  There have been multiple times in the past few days as I've been sounding out words when suddenly my heart has been moved over a phrase that I had read (or prayed) a thousand times before in English. 

I have been trying to study Colossians in the prayer room recently, spending at least an hour on each verse, making observations, reading commentaries, comparing versions, etc.  A couple of nights ago, I decided to look at Col 1:15-20 (which is supposed to be a poetic confession of the attributes of Christ) in the original Greek.  When I got to the phrase above (roughly, "so that He might become in everything preeminent"), I had another one of those "wow" moments.  I prayed the phrase for a few minutes, switching back and forth between Greek and English.

And then it hit me: this is what Paul wrote!  Word for word.  No more guessing, no more comparing versions, no more wondering what it really says.  Paul wrote "ἵνα γένηται ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς πρωτεύων."  Obviously, the whole task of translating those words and communicating the idea accurately in English is still there.  But there is a genuine thrill in getting past the "veil" of translation and getting at the original words.

I think I'm hooked!

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What I liked:
A great introduction to the theology of Israel, and a history of the Messianic movement.

What I didn't like:
He doesn't prove all of his points thoroughly, and he makes some minor mistakes in interpreting the scriptures.

Summary:
This is  must-read.  An excellent summary of God's purpose for Israel today.

Introduction

I recently finished reading Your People Shall Be My People by Don Finto, and wanted to post a few thoughts on the book.

This book was given to me at an Iron Sharpens Iron conference, and then I heard it recommended again at IHOP's Israel Mandate Summit this year in Kansas City.  I decided to read it after hearing Mike Bickle's recommendation of it.

Don Finto is a Gentile pastor in Nashville, who has gone on a journey over the years of understanding God's purpose for Israel - realizing first of all that God has not rescinded His promises to Israel (nor has the Church replaced Israel in those promises), and second, that a revival is currently taking place among Jewish people who are discovering their Messiah Yeshua (known to Gentiles by His Greek name Jesus the Christ).  Since the early 70's, a Messianic Jewish movement has rapidly expanded, and it is believed that there may be as many as 10,000 Jewish believers in Messiah Yeshua in Israel today.  Most of these are keeping their identity as Jews, and observing the Torah - not in hopes of being saved by law-keeping, but out of love for God revealed in Yeshua.

Pastor Finto's book is an excellent introduction to both the theology of Israel and the history of the Messianic movement.  He also addresses the shameful and painful history of anti-Semitism in the Church, dating all the way back to the time of Constantine and the early Church councils.  Unfortunately, many of our heroes of Church history, such as Martin Luther, were virulently anti-Semitic (see Luther's On the Jews and Their Lies).  All of this is reasonably well-written and Finto does a good job of convincing the reader of his points.   Finto makes seven applications for the Church, which he lists in chapter 14 ("Blessed to be a blessing"):

1. Ask the Lord to cleanse our hearts of every vestige of anti-Semitism [including "Replacement Theology" - the teaching that the Church has replaced Israel in all Old Testament promises]
2. Become aware that the world's news media is prejudiced against God's work and God's people.
3. Seek ways to affirm Jewish people, to love them and bless them - whether or not they ever accept Jesus as Messiah.
4. Prepare for future crises. [the Bible teaches that another Holocaust is coming, and anti-Semitism globally will get worse before it gets better (Psalm 2, Zechariah 12).  Christians need to be prepared to lay down their lives for the Jews in the midst of their darkest hour, which is still ahead of them (Jeremiah 30:7)].  
5. Encourage and assist Jewish people to return to their ancestral inheritance.
6. Bless the Jewish people financially.
7. Establish prayer support groups to share in the ministry of those who are on the front lines of the battles.

I have a couple of quibbles with Finto, however.  None of these are serious problems with the book, but they frustrated me as I was reading.

Quibble #1: A Few Weak Arguments

First, there is a perpetual tendency among those who are advancing a certain viewpoint to interpret all of history through their lens.  Sometimes this leads to ridiculous claims - for example, I once heard a leader of a Messianic ministry claim that all the problems of western civilization from family breakdown to crime to drug abuse to sexual immorality were the result of the Church having neglected Messianic believers.  Finto does not go as far as this, but he does make some claims which, to me, needed stronger proof:

1. He claims that the undeniable ubiquitous division in the Gentile Church (Orthdox vs. Catholic vs. Anglican vs. Methodist vs. Baptist vs. Pentecostal vs. Nondenominational etc.) are all a result of division between Gentile Christians and Jewish followers of Yeshua. 
   
   By breaking from those who birthed us, the Church has produced one division after another.  Every new movement has resulted in a new church; each reformation, a new denomination. (Chapter 7 "Division - the DNA of the Gentile Church", Page 98)
   
   He may actually have a point here, but I think the argument is too simplistic.  You cannot quote Acts 4:32 as proof of unity in the First Century and then skip the rest of the New Testament.  Division was creeping into the Church long before 70 AD.  And in at least one case, it had nothing to do with Jew and Gentile (1 Corinthians 1:14-17)
2. He makes an argument (quite common in both Messianic and Zionist circles) that every nation that has ever acted against Israel has come under swift judgment from God.  This is a fascinating possibility, and would certainly have Biblical support (Gen 12:3 "I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you;" and Zech 2:8 "he who touches you touches the apple of His eye."), but the historical proof was lacking.
   
   Some of the examples he gave were Spain - from the most powerful empire on earth to a second-rate power after persecuting Jews in the Inquisition; and Britain - from the global superpower before World War 1 to just another European nation after reneging on the Balfour Declaration to create a Jewish state in Palestine.
   
   Perhaps there is a more detailed book that traces the history of various nation's relationships to Jews and proves out the historical background, but it would need to written by someone with a great deal of historical depth.  The examples of Spain and Britain are intriguing, but there are too many other factors involved to be convincing (for instance, the Spanish Inquisition was initiated in 1478 - before Spain became the superpower of the 16th century...)
   
   This is a complex subject theologically as well as historically - Biblically, judgment almost never fell immediately on those who persecuted Israel.  There was always a gap of some years, because God used the enemies of Israel to discipline His own people first. (For example, Assyria - Isaiah 10:5-19)  This last point seems rather unpopular among pro-Israel teachers.

Quibble #2: Biblical Timeline Confusion

Second, Finto makes some missteps in Biblical interpretation.  They are not serious problems - in fact they are rather peripheral to his point - but they were frustrations to me.

The biggest issue is in Chapter 12, "A Time to Pray."  Finto interprets Daniel 9:1 ("In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—") as being 522 BC - the beginning of the reign of Darius I the Great (see timeline of Persian kings).  Thus, he interprets Daniel's prayer as asking God to finish what He had already started: God had caused King Cyrus (Cyrus II the Great) to decree that the Jews could return to Jerusalem in 538 BC, but the work in rebuilding the temple had stalled.  So Daniel's prayer, according to Finto, led to the restoration of the work on the Temple under the ministry of Zechariah and Haggai, and the completion of the Temple in 520 BC.

Finto also claims that Ezra and Nehemiah were returning to Israel at the same time (page 163).  His point is that all three men - Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah - prayed prayers of repentance for God to keep His promises to Israel.  This is a fine point, but the chronology is totally confused.

Ezra and Nehemiah lived a whole generation after Daniel, and the temple had already been completed for years by the time they came to Jerusalem.  It was under the reign of Artaxerxes that Ezra and Nehemiah returned to the land (Ezra 7:1, Nehemiah 5:14).  Daniel, Zerubbabel, Joshua the high priest, Haggai, and Zechariah were all dead by this time.  (Interesting side note: according to Jesus, Zechariah was martyred! Matt 23:35)

Daniel 5:31 and 6:1 make it clear that "Darius the Mede" is not Darius I the Great, but another Darius, who was made temporary viceroy over the province of Babylon immediately after the fall of Belshazzar.*  Cyrus himself eventually assumed direct control over Babylon as well, presumably once the province was pacified and the administration of the old Babylonian bureaucracy was integrated into the Persian system.  In Daniel 6:28, we are told that after the lions' den incident, Daniel prospered in the reigns of Darius and Cyrus.  This implies that Daniel died (or at least retired from government service) during the reign of Cyrus, before Darius I took over.  This makes sense logically (Daniel must have been at least 12 years old in 605 BC when he was taken from Jerusalem, and thus he would have been 95 by the time of Darius I), and Biblically (Daniel's last vision was received in the third year of Cyrus' reign, and it ends with the angel telling Daniel that he is going to die soon - "You shall rest..." Daniel 12:13).

At issue is what difference Daniel's intercession in Daniel 9 really made.  If Daniel was interceding for Jersualem 17 years after the prophecy of Jeremiah was already fulfilled, then his prayer was a good example of humility and faithfulness, but it did little more than thousands of others who were praying for God to bless Israel.  If, however, Daniel's intercession came at exactly the time when the prophecy was to be fulfilled, and before there was any sign that it would be, then it may well be that this one man's prayer - taking God at His word and boldly asking Him to do what He promised - literally changed history.

I think the scripture supports the latter view.  And if that is the case, we can not afford to take the responsibility of intercession lightly!

In summary, I still consider Your People Shall Be My People to be a great book, and an excellent introduction to the theology of Israel and the history of the Messianic movement.  For anyone looking for insight into God's purpose for Israel today, I would put this book at the top of the list.

 

---

* This is the traditional view of interpreting "Darius the Mede", for whom outside historical evidence has not yet been found.  Another view is that this is just another name for Cyrus.  For a discussion of the views, see the Wikipedia article on the book of Daniel.

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I finally found the time to get a podcast online through PodOmatic.

I plan to occasionally post some sermons that have been really helpful to me through the podcast.  I've also added a podcast section to the nav bar.  You can view the podcast directly at:

http://todayandthatday.podomatic.com

The first episode online is a talk by Stuart Greaves, the director of Fire in the Night and the Nightwatch at IHOP-KC.  Stuart gave this sermon in February at the Forerunner Christian Fellowship, the local church associated with IHOP-KC.  The topic is loneliness, and Stuart shares some of his own testimony with regard to loneliness, and then shares the Lord's perspective on what loneliness really is.

If you struggle with feelings of loneliness or depression, you'll want to listen to this.  But be warned, what he has to say will not be comforting if you're feeling sorry for yourself!

Stuart's teaching notes for this sermon are available here.

 

Today and That Day Media

Stuart Greaves - Overcoming Loneliness

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Psalm 27:4
One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.

What does it mean to "behold the beauty of the LORD?"  Phrases similar to this occur in several places in the scriptures - "Behold your God!" (Isaiah 40:9); "Behold the Lamb of God!" (John 1:36), etc.  But Psalm 27:4 is notable because King David - easily Israel's most powerful and successful king, and arguably one of the greatest political leaders in history - said that this was the only thing he wanted from God.

So what is it?  What did it mean to David to behold the beauty of the God of Israel, and why was it such a big deal to him?

 

Beholding God is Meditation on God

As usual, the Bible explains itself if we keep reading.  The rest of the Psalms give us an example of what this "one thing" that David wanted above all else was. 

Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

Psalm 23:1
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 24:1
The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.

Psalm 25:8-9
⁸ Good and upright is the LORD;
Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.
⁹ The humble He guides in justice,
And the humble He teaches His way.

God is a Rock.  God is a Fortress.  God is a Deliverer.  God is a Shepherd.  God owns everything and is rich beyond measure.  God is good and upright.  God is a teacher.  And so on.  David filled his psalms with meditations on the attributes and personality of God.

Meditation should not be a scary word to Christians.  It is a profoundly Biblical concept, and in most translations the word is used frequently.  Psalm 1 says that the righteous man meditates in the Word of God day and night.  Psalm 119 repeats the word 8 times, always in reference to either the words or the works of God.  Paul tells the Philippians to meditate on "whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, or of good report," and Timothy to meditate on the Word and doctrine, giving himself entirely to them.

Richard Foster has an excellent discussion of the difference between Christian meditation and eastern meditation in his book Celebration of Discipline.  In a nutshell, the difference is that the Christian focuses his mind on the things of God, while in eastern meditation, the practitioner seeks to empty his mind and thus opens himself up to whatever spiritual influences are available.  The two practices are diametrical opposites.

So to behold the beauty of God is to mediate on God - His character, His works, His word.

 

Knowing God is Crucial

If you ask the average Church-goer today what he thinks about the attributes of God, you're likely to get either a blank look or a pat answer gleaned from a popular worship song.  "Theology Proper," as it's technically called - meaning the study of God Himself - takes a back seat in most churches today.  We love the fact that God is forgiving and loving and has a wonderful plan for our lives...  But for the most part, what we really care about is precisely that: our lives. 

What we like to hear about in church is what God can do for us.  We are big on salvation... fixing relationships... getting out of debt... dealing with emotional problems... healing... etc.  All of these things are good and Biblical.  But they cannot be central, because human beings cannot be central.  A theology that puts human beings in the center will rapidly drift away from the teaching of the Bible.  With humanity in the center, we can find a use for a God of love, a God who wants to improve our lives, and even a God who laid down His life for us (as long as we don't think too hard about why He did that). 

But what do we do with a God who is jealous?  A God who has fiery wrath towards sin?  A God who threatens - and delivers - horrific judgment to unrepentant sinners?

David knew God - not just the parts of His nature that were comfortable, but all of Him, as He really is.  He knew God as a tender Shepherd (Psalm 23), but he also knew that God is a just judge who is angry every day (Psalm 7).

This is a crucial.  It really is the "one thing" that matters for us to know God as He actually is.  There is a terrible verse in Matthew in which Jesus warns us that it is possible to think you are a Christian, and even be active in ministry, and yet never actually know Him at all. (Matthew 7:22-23)

 

As We Behold God We are Transformed

As if it were not enough for us to come into genuine encounter with the Creator of the universe - who loves us with fiery, jealous, dangerous passion - there is more.  Another reason that David's "one thing" was to behold God's beauty was that he found that as He did so, he himself was transformed:

Psalm 17:15
¹⁵ As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness;
I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.

As David meditated on God, he found that his own character was being changed into the likeness of God.  Not into the likeness of God's deity: we will never be omnipotent, infinite, omniscient, or omnipresent (though we are eternal right now!)  But our character can become like His.  We can become gracious, full of compassion, slow to anger, and great in mercy (Psalm 145:8).  We can love righteousness and hate wickedness (Psalm 45:7). We can learn to humble ourselves (Psalm 113:6).

Paul said the same thing this way:

2 Corinthians 3:18
^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.

This is precisely the same thought, but with a specifically Trinitarian understanding. 

It is not just "God" that we behold in his glory to become transformed, but specifically the Lord Jesus Christ.  God incarnate.  The "express image of His Person" (Hebrews 1:3).  The Word made flesh and dwelling among us (John 1:14).  Jesus said of Himself that whatever we saw Him do or heard Him say was precisely what the Father was doing or saying (John 14:9-11, 5:19-30).

Also, it is not just a general principle that by beholding the Lord Jesus we become like Him - it is the operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives that transforms us.  In fact, this process of meditating on the life, words, and works - especially the Cross - of the Lord Jesus is a significant part of what it means to "walk in the Spirit," to which is attached the stunning promise that "you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)

 

So let us make a beginning!  This is the one thing that matters in this life.  Getting to know Jesus through His Word and becoming like Him through His Spirit.  Let's set aside an hour a day, open up the Gospels, and read through the story of Jesus again with prayer on our lips.  Jesus, I want to know You!  Jesus, let me become like You!

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