Comparison. What's my gospel?

I was pondering on the exhortation of Jesus to preach the gospel, and the gospel that Paul preached. I can't recall an instance where Paul exhorted us to preach the Gospel, help me out if you find one. After what my mate JC said last week I'm viewing things in a different light. Jesus was born a Jew in the flesh, ministered to the Jewish community, OK the Samaritans for 5 minutes, but weren't they Hebraic? He taught in parables so nobody understood Him, not even His disciples. He majored on displaying God's character, and illuminated the Kingdom through His teaching.
 He did this for a specific reason because what the Jews had experienced under the law was soon to change. The Old Covenant was soon to end and Jesus was preparing them for the transition. He exhorted His disciples to preach the gospel of the Kingdom, accompanied with miracles. At the end of Matthew He told His disciples to preach this gospel. But did he tell me?
After pentecost the Jewish disciples were thrust out of Jerusalem because of persecution and continued to preach the gospel of the Kingdom, and I think to a mainly Jewish audience. Then comes the paradigm shift, the catalyst if you like. Saul the Pharisee, zealous to persecute the Way, gets zapped on the road to Damascus. Specifically chosen by Jesus, specifically set apart for the work of God. This Jewish firebrand apprehended by Jesus was anointed to preach to the Gentiles. Where Peter broke into Gentile preaching, Paul takes the lid off, opens up the throttle and lets rip with the good news to the Gentiles. The Jewish Christians in Jerusalem are shocked that this renegade should even tell them that he received his revelation from Jesus Himself, and wasn't seeking their permission to preach, but was just asking for their advice. By God's grace, and the love of Barnabas, Paul set off with the letter from James in his hand coupled to the Holy Spirit. He set the whole world alight, wrote most of the New Testament, but sadly a lot of Christians don't believe his revelation.
OK lets cut to the quick. The gospel of the Kingdom is Kingdom centred. The gospel of Christ is CHRIST CENTRED.
Jesus said to the Jews in person. 'Hey the Kingdom has come, its right next to you.'
Jesus says to the Church through Paul. 'Hey I'm here. I'm in you and right next to you. I wasn't in Adam, but I'm in you. All I want you to do is to go into your world and let Me out.
Paul said that he didn't want any one to know anything except CHRIST CRUCIFIED. That's all he preached. He preached Christ, forward, back, which way. I'm not stepping on anyone's toes but a whole industry has grown out of Kingdom preaching, and there are some mega churches employed in this. Miracles, and healings are fine as they point to Jesus. But I'll go with what Jesus said to Paul.

Beware:- Screwed up church!

Reading Paul's letter to the Colossians this morning I can see what he got so forceful in his writing. Gnostics, those who think that matter is evil, and only the spirit is good, were infiltrating the new fellowships. If that wasn't bad enough, Judaizers were also sneaking in to see the freedom the believers had, and naturally in their minds they wanted to add 'law' to their way of life. The same religious spirit that inspired these groups, and others I am sure, is still working today. The church was birthed in the midst of different religions, and today is surrounded my many. The father of lies couldn't stop the gospel spreading so he thought that by shifting the teaching of the church away from the centricity of Christ he could screw the church up. Well in my opinion he has been very successful.
He designed man centred religious systems the minute Adam and Eve had to leave the garden. But God knowing  He had to get Messiah into the earth chose Himself a people and two thousand years ago Jesus Christ was born. After a very short ministry Jesus was crucified, and raised from the dead. On the day of pentecost Daddy poured out Holy Spirit and filled 120 Jewish believers in the upper room and the church was birthed. It is important for us to consider the next important decision by God. He arrested a Jewish Pharisee called Saul for a very specific purpose.

I'm seeing more clearly.

I can see a little more clearly. It is very helpful sometimes to be reminded of the words spoken to us from the Holy Spirit. maybe many years ago, and actually see them begin to shift into place. Coupled with this, in my case,
are answers to prayers from my heart beginning to be answered in a way I could not have imagined. I got captured by Christ twenty eight years ago, but un be known to me the virus of the religious spirit began it's work immediately. This religious spirit has infected the church for nearly two thousand years and there I was thinking because I had no religious upbringing I was somehow immune. But being zealous for God I began to read avidly, not knowing that all I was reading was rubbish. I was in the 'charismatic movement', but that has not escaped the virus, because the virus affects people minds. Only last year it began to dawn on me that the christianity I was experiencing was a phoney. No let me rephrase that. It was christianity I was experiencing, but not the gospel. I had lived below my potential for 28yrs. because I had been fooled. I had been fooled not just by the religious baloney I could see, but by man's traditions. I had been robbed of the simplicity of Christ. Many changes have taken place for the good within the small but beautiful fellowship I hang out with. Love, de construction, re alignment and deep commitment are the hallmarks of the Bridge crew. But personally I was still well below par as my friends could tell you.

Like Moses

This morning basking in the warmth of God's love and journalling, what a lovely phrase that is, I was reminded of the time Moses spent in the back end of the mountain sheep herding. It must have been a very productive period for Moses, even if he didn't think so. Quietly the Lord spoke to me.
'Son you are not in the wilderness. Think of it as more like a womb where I have secreted you to fashion in you the very essence of Jesus. This is a time where you can practise My presence and learn to trust me with all of your heart. I will show you what I mean when I said I want Jesus to live in and through you.'
Part of me trusting God is to believe that He knows best for me, and that I can  thank Him in every situation. He is love, but He is also good. Resting in His goodness is sometimes difficult for me as I suffer to a degree with that which effects us all, the fear of letting go, and believing that all things come from His hand.

Reflection

To pray truly means to direct the thought and the memory, without relaxing, to the recollection of God, to walk in God's divine Presence, to awaken oneself to God's love by thinking about God, and to link the Name of God with one's breathing and the beating of one's heart. 
... The Russian Pilgrim

Another Picture....

I had this cute picture from Pop this morning. Can you imagine a lay by on very busy road? The meadows over the hedge are full of contented cows, grazing quietly on the grass. As the view unfolds you can see mountains in the far horizon, snow glistening on the tops like starlight in the heaven. There is a car in the lay by and beside the car is a table laid out for a picnic, brimming over with goodies of all kinds. Two comfortable chairs are alongside the table and me and Jesus are just content to be in each others company. The traffic on the road is very busy. Buses, cars, lorries and even motorbikes are travelling up and down the road, but they don't bother us.
The interpretation for me was that Jesus and me are on a different journey than everyone depicted on the road. Our journey is unique as it is His planned journey for me. I am in fact not doing anything at all as He is completely in charge of the planning, and the resources. For now it's time to picnic, to be alone together and spend more time in fellowship than we have before. It's an ideal time, and a great privilege to be able to immerse my whole being in the river of His love. 'Strive to enter My rest....' comes to mind. There is no striving now.

No Outcry.........

This is the self confessed assassin of Pakistani Governor Salman Taseer. The one time body guard of the Governor was incensed at the Governor's backing for reform of the blasphemy law. Last November a Christian woman Asia Bibi was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad, she denies the charge. Hardline clerics had been angered by the Governor's visit to see the woman in jail, and for his support for a private members bill hoping for a amendment to the law to prevent miscarriages of justice, and to remove the mandatory death sentence. What is so alarming about this incident is that he was able to discharge two magazines of sub machine gun rounds with out being challenged by his colleagues. At his first court appearance in Islamabad last week, he was showered with rose petals by sympathisers, including some lawyers. Yesterday 50,000 protesters marched in Karachi against the proposed reforms. The rally was attended by all Muslim groups and sects in the city, including moderates and conservatives.
A compassionate Governor is gunned down, and his murderer is hailed as a hero? Aatish Taseer, the Governor's son has written a poignant article in the Sunday Telegraph on the killing. He states that unless Pakistan can separate religion from the state then Pakistan will not be able to move on. He is not very hopeful though.  The-killer-of-my-father-Salman-Taseer-was-showered-with-rose-petals I feel deeply for the Governor's family, and I feel deeply for Pakistan where a level of bigotry and hatred continues to hamper the country like a curse.

An Epiphany

It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Of all the wonderful things God did for us in Christ, liberty to me is one of the highest gifts that we have received. When your freedom is compromised you know it. Whether by slavery to a worldly system, or slavery to man, or bondage to sin, the loss of freedom leaves an indelible mark on the soul. Man has carried this scar since the Garden when satan was given the right to 'lord' it over the human race. From then on man has lived in a self centred rule based existence.
Do this and you will get that, goes the mantra. I should do this, I ought to do that, I must do this. When God gave the law it only compounded the problem. More rules and conditions to live by. Thousands of years of inbred data wired into our hard drives, no wonder we are so screwed up and in need of deliverance. As I re read the scriptures again this morning God met me in an incredible way. No I didn't have angels visit, no jewels or gold dust, but a resonance deep in my soul from the Holy Spirit. He put His finger, if you like, on the core issue that has been eluding me and made it come alive. Truth had come, not from the pages but from the author.
When Jesus said, 'It is finished.' I know it meant a lot of things but this thing I know. He meant slavery has finished. The slavery to the old system of living, the slavery to sin, bondage to the world, and the fear of man. As our enslaved old nature, and our corrupt way of life, was crucified with Him into His death in our baptism, it paved the way for us to be raised up in Him to newness of life in His resurrection. But here is the crucial factor for me. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. The freedom I have been granted as a free gift, is in Him. My new life now is Him, He is eternal life. That's why God's plan after regeneration is to have His Son Jesus the Christ live in and through us.
How the 'church' has missed it.

A little more.........

Reflecting on my 'picture' and after reading once again Romans ch. 6,7,8, this morning I am glad to say some revelation form the Spirit is percolating through the un-renewed mind. Paul quite clearly teaches in Romans ch.7 that what he calls the law of sin is still operating in our mortal bodies. He attributes all his past failures to walk in victory to this very real and present law. In the previous chapter he explained quite plainly the spiritual work that God undertakes at a believers baptism. We are baptised into Christ's death, and raised up into His resurrection. Sounds simple doesn't it? Should be plain sailing to walk in righteousness then shouldn't it? But how many Christians are trapped in the 'wretched man syndrome' Paul discusses when the screams, and pressure, from the flesh continually wreck havoc on a righteous lifestyle. Most of my Christian life has been spent in the reality of that dilemma. With my inner man agreeing with God, but in reality being tripped up at every turn by the law of sin working in my body. Many Christians I am sure if we were honest have been so defeated by the sin, forgiveness, guilt, sin trip that we have in fact given up and settled for a compromised life on more than one occasion..
But something inside of me screams out for freedom. The true spiritual freedom that Christ died for. And I know it's available to all of us.

More...........

The other day I had a picture from the Lord but I didn't really understand what it meant. This morning it became clearer. The picture was of a leper in the desert. He was all alone and on top of everything else he had to use a crutch to get along with. He looked so pitiful, and I thought to myself that sometimes I felt a bit like that. But it wasn't about what I felt at all, it was more an illustration.
'This picture son is to drive home to you how useless, and ineffective your flesh is at living the Christian life. Paul had to learn that Christ is the only person who can live the Christian life, and you have to learn this lesson too. Face the reality this morning that you can't live the life you want to live, only Christ in you can.'