Diversity Is Our Strength

The Ebb And Flow Of Personal Relationships

After spending four days with old college friends in a cabin in Potter County, I’ve learned that “ebb and flow” brings peace. The creek behind the cabin brought soft whispers of peace and tranquility. No humming of cars could be heard; only the humming of a humming bird who danced around the edges of the porch. The gurgling creek harmonized with the chirps, warbles, caws, and blunt squeaks of birds, creating a song of nature that was both simplistic and distinctive.

Hidden in the recess of eddies, tucked near the shore, just beyond the rocks that causes the rapids to sing is found various forms of life: tiny creatures and crayfish tucked among embedded rocks. Tucked in a deep eddy called a fishing hole, trout swim as if still against the creek’s current because eddies are havens of rest from the torrid pace of the stream’s activities.

Our cabin lay in a sleepy valley tucked between two mountains where sun drenched rays of light fought the foliage to feed the ferns on the forest’s floor. I found refuge here from the strong currents of life. My solace lay not in its silence, but in boisterous laughter, revelry, and bantering among five old friends: a banker, carpenter, print foreman, public school teacher, businessman and college professor, all retired, all advancing in age. Here we reminisced of bygone college days, and here we found the essence of peace in the sound of nature.

Peace can be a woven tapestry in a field of diversity, sewn through each person’s unique journey that bonded them as a group. One’s talents flow through their career, but here they are joined together by just sitting on a porch reminiscing, a perfect eddy.

Commonality was found in their acceptance of each other after forty-five years. The weekend caused walls to crumble and openness to prevail as most of the weekend was spend around a kitchen table, talking, playing cards, or sitting on the porch. Differences diminished with peer acceptance.

Similarities can be found between our weekend and how the five-fold works relationally. I cohabitated with five distinctively different people with five distinctively different gifts, talents, drives, and points of view. Once all were very independent from the others in their journey in life, but now were being drawn together through a bond of acceptance they have never experienced before. All served and accepted one another as equal peers. No bickering or fighting ensued since playful bantering brought howls of laughter and delight. No one needed to be asked to do a chore; all chipped in when needed. Everyone willingly served one another. In the past polite handshakes would have been the norm when leaving, but no longer! Backs were slapped and hugs given.

The power of the “ebb and flow” brings peace, and we experienced that peace through giving and taking throughout the weekend. The creek was not the only place where one can find the “ebb and flow”, nor is the mountain valleys the only place one can find peace. Both can be found in built relationships between one another.

The Cross: A Dying Principle

What Does “Laying Down Your Life For Your Brethren Mean?

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? (IJohn 3:16-17)

• Even nature teaches us that you cannot have life without death.
• The season of “spring” comes only after the dying of the “winter” season.
• The Christian Church was birthed through death & resurrection, thus the Easter story.

During the Lenten season, I often ask the Lord to reveal a new aspect of the Cross to me. There is so much to learn from the Cross, for it is central to the Christian faith.  One year I learned the principle that “God can make beauty out of the worst possible scenario; he can make the ugliest situation the most beautiful.” The most painful, cruel, inhumane judgment the Romans executed was the crucifixion. Jesus hung beaten beyond recognition, exposed before women, and totally disgraced in front of his own mother, YET in less than three days he would be resurrected in a new body with scars but without pain for his mother and his disciples to see!  The beauty of the resurrection replaced the horror of the crucifixion.  When I find myself in dark spots, places of disgrace, in areas of pain and suffering, those ugly places, in hope, I look for the coming resurrection that can only be found in Jesus.

This Lenten season I am focusing on IJohn 3:16-17 as I continue to ponder over the meaning of “laying down your life for your brethren.” “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” That principle I understand in my head, in my intellect, but practically in every day life the “we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” still baffles me.

Being a retired 8^th Grade English teacher for 40 years who had to teach English grammar, I am fascinated by John’s choice of pronoun here: “We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” The pronoun “we” is inclusive and plural. It doesn’t say “I” but “we”. We, I believe, refers to the Body of Christ, the Priesthood of Believers, the corporate Church! Today’s church is known for shooting their wounded, criticizing their brethren, debating profusely over theology and doctrine, yet hypocritically proclaims that “we” are one Church, united in Jesus! If we truly are united in Jesus, then our actions should speak louder than our words, and they don’t. When we see brothers and sisters in different Christian denominations, sects, or local churches not under the same Christian sect’s banner as our own, we do not meet their “need” nor show “pity” towards them, but judge them by “pitying” them for having a “need” as if it were judgment for their lack of faith or incorrect theology! As John and I both ask, “How can the love of God be in (us)?

Laying down one’s life is the central message of the gospel. “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” That single act opened the door for redemption, reconciliation, healing, hope, faith, love, etc. “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers,” that single act, will open the door for redemption, reconciliation, healing, hope, faith, love, etc. between brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. The Cross ended the curse of sin that divided mankind from his God; the Cross also ended the curse that caused Cain to kill his brother Abel that has divided mankind throughout history.

Death brings resurrection. Jesus’ body that laid in the tomb three days dead was resurrected. History was now changed forever. Only if “we”, the Church, the believers in Jesus Christ, the Priesthood of Believers, are willing to lay down our lives, dead to our past traditions and mindsets, can “we” expect to see a resurrection of life and unity in the Spirit and in the Church!

But the question still needs to be asked, “How do we lay down our lives ‘practically” in our day to day life towards each other?” What does that mean? What does it look like? What practical steps must “we” take, individually as believers in Jesus and corporately as a Church, a Body?

As this series of blogs professes, I truly that believe by embracing the five fold as passions, drives, points of view, and diverse voices in the body of Christ to build up the saints into the image of Jesus Christ while bringing unity to the Body of Christ, every believer in Jesus Christ, every member of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, is responsible for the “we” who are to “lay down his life for his brethren.” If I truly profess that the Church is going through a metamorphosis stage of redevelopment and structural reconstruction, then I need to focus on the “we”, the Church, part and figure out how I can lay down my life for my brethren, not for the institution nor its organization, but for my fellow brethren, real live people! This Easter “I” need to die to self; “we” need to die to ourselves, and begin to “lay down our lives” for one another! That is the price for true revival!

Have I Missed The Mark? I “Think Not”; I Just “Experienced It!”

Having Second Thoughts About The Next Movement Of God?

I had forgotten an important principle in my life: In order to learn a spiritual kingdom of God principle, I usually have to experience it! Head knowledge for me is never enough!

Although revivals usually work outside the boundaries of the institutional church, I believe the next major movement of God will directly affect present day Church structure.  I sense God will work within his own body, the Body of Christ, to reinstitute the Priesthood of Believers as peers, equals, brothers and sisters in the faith where linear relationships built on trust, service, honesty, and integrity will be solidified. The clergy/laity schism will finally be diminished. Like every other revival or movement of God, this must be orchestrated by the Holy Spirit, and obedience to what the Holy Spirit reveals is mandatory.         

I believe that this move of God will be a “metamorphic” transformation of present day church structure that is professional, clergy driven, and pyramidal in structure (caterpillar stage) to a laity driven, linear structure of peer relationships among believers in Jesus built on acceptance, equality, and accountability to “one another” (butterfly stage). How does the Church get from Point “A”, the caterpillar stage, to Point “B”, the butterfly stage?

On this path lies the dynamics of this next movement of God, the cocoon stage. As God covers, masks, and builds this cocoon around his Church, unobservable by the outside world, the Holy Spirit will supernaturally reconstruct what was once natural into a butterfly. The butterfly’s structure will not resemble anything the traditional church has ever seen; the old structure will be totally reconstructed. “The old has passed, behold the new!”  Infamous for not embracing change, the Church will embrace structural change and how it functions. Since butterflies function differently from caterpillars, this new Church structure will demand new ways, new forms, and new mindsets.

My dilemma: I have believed that my local church, which has embraced drastic changes in the past, would be open to embracing this new movement of God. I became shocked when leadership opposed it, not wanting to hear about it, so conflict arose which has forced me to break ties with that body. It became a power play. Why would a strong, pyramidal leadership structure relinquish their control over the Priesthood of Believers? I have looked “unsubmissive” to their leadership by questioning them. Some have even accused me of “slandering” their office and “defiling” their sheep. One elder advised me to accept their strong, pyramidal leadership style that he thought biblical or leave the fold, the family, that which I have been grafted in for almost twenty years. I told him I am seeking leadership who will be in front of me to lead, behind me to cover my back, and beside me to walk relationally through my faith journey with me, not a leader who dictates what I should and should not do and can and cannot do over me. I am looking for an equal brother in the Lord, not a leader who renders me voiceless, threatening severe church discipline if I make one more mistake.

While what was my local church keeps choosing the path of institutionalizing, empowering clergy and staff, while enabling the Priesthood of Believers into passivity, families are leaving, numbers dwindling, with many of the faithful no longer faithfully attend. I still believe God is working in their midst, for they are entering their cocoon of introspection, and it is painful because inside the cocoon at the center of all this activity is the CROSS!

The Cross is a painful place that brings death. Without death there is no resurrection. Great opposition led Jesus to the Cross. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day could not hear nor see what God was saying or doing. Today is no different, for Pharisees are always spiritually blind and tone deaf. I know; I am a recovering Pharisee. Like Saul, now Paul, I have been there! At the Cross God reconciled himself to man (John 3:16) and reconciled man to mankind (IJohn 3:16). The Cross is the only place God can teach his faithful, his Priesthood of Believers, how to “lay down your life for your brethren,” bringing transformation from dominant leadership to peer acceptance through reciprocal service to and from “one another” as equals. There are no classes of distinction, no offices nor titles in the kingdom of God, only equals, a Priesthood of Believers.

In spite of the opposition, the darkness of the hour, facing the emotional feelings of rejection and abandonment, I still believe God is faithful and moving, and revival IS happening IN the CHURCH right now as it approaches this metamorphic stage. God, give us, the Priesthood of Believers and church leadership everywhere, strength as we go through this dynamic transformation! 

Celebration: 500th Blog Entry!

Incredible Writing Journey

Who would have thought where my journey would take me when I began writing my first blog “New Beginnings” on Saturday, August 15, 2009? In a little over 4 years I have written 500 blogs dealing either with the topic about the five fold or about mental health and the Church! How can so much be written about basically one topic?

That’s the power and creativity of the Holy Spirit, for the truths about five fold are only beginning to be unfolded. I still believe the five fold is the wave of the future for the Christian Church. I truly believe the Church is in a metamorphosis stage from being a cumbersome religious institutional structure of hierarchy leadership to entering a cocoon of structural transformation that will release a sleek, hard shelled structure for flight. The structure of the Church will be changed from hierarchal to linear. Church leaders will no longer be looked as spiritual giants hovering over their people but walk beside them. Leadership will no longer demand respect but earn it, for they will be willing to lay down their lives for their common brethren.

The Church in China knows the cost of laying down one’s life for their brethren after the persecution they endured over the last seventy years, and amazingly this blog cite gets more “hits” from China than any other country, and I thank my Chinese brethren for faithfully reading this blog and tweeting it to others. It is an honor to be a part of your social networking family. The Church of China has become part of my heart and spirit’s cry, and I pray for you daily.

Since we are only entering the cocoon stage, more change is in store, so I am sure more blog pages will flow. The themes may be the same in many of the blogs, but the content is growing. I would encourage “comments” to the blogs from my readers, for I would love to know how the five fold is being manifested among our Chinese brethren and in other parts of the world. Where churches are open to the Holy Spirit and are obedient to his directions, change will come naturally and powerfully, and we, the Church, need to hear your story. E-mail your story to me or through an attachment at popnozall@gmail.com and I might post it as a blog!

I will also post blog entries on the topic of mental illness and the Church's role. Mentall Illness is the lepordsy of our time, the socially unaccepted disease in many countries due to the stigma of not knowing what to do with it. The Church wrestles with that stigma, but "Grace", "Compassion", and "Mercy" are the keys to reaching out to those fighting that dreadful disease effecting the mind and the stigma surrounding it.

God is a Creator. Jesus is Lord of His Creation. The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is creative. This blog cite is dedicated to honor and glorify the Creator, through his creative creation, that which His Spirit is doing in our generation throughout the world.

Thanks again for being a part of my continual journey of exploration into this topic, and I hope you continue to read what the Spirit motivates and inspires me to write, and join in social networking the Church together throughout the world. May the Lord bless you and keep you in His love!

Anthony Bachman, blog’s author

Five Fold In A Practical Situation

 Successful Summer Sr. High Camp

Last week, as a speaker for the Sr. High Camp at Camp Timberedge, in Beach Lake, PA, I enjoyed beautiful weak of perfect weather, heart warming fellowship, and an experience that changed lives. Pondering its success, I realized that all five passions, points of view, and drives were evident in very practical ways.

I combined the evangelist with the teaching component as the evening speaker, sharing Biblical principles that sparked small group and individual discussions. The camp counselors provided the pastoral, shepherding, nurturing care to those in their cabins/tents. They took what I had taught and applied it to their everyday life, helping the campers to walk out the principles.  They also reinforced the teaching component in a more intimate setting. Their nurturing care developed a “family” atmosphere rather than a camper/counselor pyramidal structure. Their built relationship with the campers was genuine, real, and caring, not authoritative.

The worship leader had a prophetic passion, drawing everyone into a more intimate desire to grow in Jesus all weekend, sensing tit-bits of directions, information, and encouragement, leaning everyone even closer to Jesus in their personal relationship with him. “Worship” was monumental to him and his band. He brought Rhema, or life, to the Logos or written word that I taught.

The couple who were camp directors had apostolic talents, networking everyone in their staff as well as campers in serving one another, taking personal interest in each camper’s spiritual growth as well as the corporate growth of the entire group. They let counselors be counselors, never micromanaging, allowed me to be myself, and basically “saw over” what the holy spirit was leading and doing rather than “overseeing” from an authoritarian position as many administrators do.

I taught about service and grace, and the counselors, staff, and leaders practice it. Campers willingly volunteered to do dishes after every meal, clean up the camp, throw out trash, watch or play with the staff’s young children. The owners of the camp complimented the staff at how immaculately clean the camp was at the end of the week. Everyone served willingly, not out of obligation. They submitted to each other through service, and it worked!

By mid week, campers were praying for one another, supporting one another, serving one another, yet still being themselves competitively playing quirky games, challenges, and competitions. Friday night’s “Country Fair”, featuring booths for dart throwing at balloons, knocking over milk jars, floating duck pulls, ping pong balls in fish bowls, etc. to earn tickets for cotton candy, funnel cake, and drinks in ball jars with straws, could have been taken as “old fashion boring” by most teenagers, but these kids engaged in them all as a family, cheering for one another, supporting one another, making sure everyone was a winner. Even at the talent show, when talent was thin, everyone cheered, clapped, and supported one another. There were no rude remarks or catcalls as teenagers are normally prone to do. Truly everyone felt like part of the family that night.

The lessons that I taught became practical applications by the staff the next day, real life experiences for the campers. These campers opened up in worship, extended grace instead of blame, never criticizing only complimenting, served one another, and bonded in friendship and unity. They even began to minister to the staff.

The power of evangelism, nurturing, caring, teaching by doing, prophetically bringing life, and apostolic oversight by networking were just some of the ingredients to the week’s success. The staff sacrificially laid down their lives for the campers and each other, and their serving attitude was reflected by the campers by the end of the week.

I saw typical teenagers coming to camp, but experienced dramatically changed lives by the time they left. They came, not sure how to define God in “godly” or Christ in “Christ-like” but became living examples of them before their departure. I worked with the staff where no internal conflict was evident to me, but attitude of service, understanding, and open communications pervaded.

The five fold doesn’t have to be “spiritual”; it is just practical! 

Metamorphosis: The Cocoon Stage

A Time Of Rewiring, Reworking, Remaking, Redoing

Several months ago I wrote about the church going through a metamorphosis process, going from being a caterpillar, cumbersome, slow to change, devouring all it can eat in an effort for growth to entering a cocoon stage where a transformation of structure would occur to be released as a butterfly, a sleek structure ready for flight.  I believed the church was about to go through quite a transformation process because it would literally change the “structure” of the church. I wondered what would take place in this cocoon stage that would create such a dramatic change.

Then I remembered that “we” are the church, so it would have to directly affect “me”.  I thought of the church as a whole, as a structure, as an institution, but not that it would affect me personally. How wrong that assumption has been.  I briefly shared my journey then with a group of people last night, and one participant piped out, “sounds like you are in that cocoon now.” I think he is right.

So what is happening inside it? I can wrap it up in two words: drastic change. I feel like I am in a challenging time; it can be a depressing time. I do not have a “critical spirit” that produces negativity, but I find myself questioning everything the church does, believes, and propagates as well as what I do, believe and propagate spiritually.  It’s beginning to drive me nuts, because it creates an illusion of isolation, not being able to “fit” in to current structures, structures that always gave me assurance, support, comfort, encouragement, structures that use to be the pillars of what I did and what I believed.

It feels like I am being rewired, old out dated wiring being ripped out while newer wire that meet more stringent codes of higher quality and standards are replacing them. I am beginning to sense what an old housing structure must feel like when deemed inadequate or even condemned, then completely gutted, only to be rewired, reworked, and remodeled to newer and higher standards and codes. It must be a painful process to that old building when at first experiences being ripped apart, then reworked and even reshaped, before being repainted.  Often we take “before” and “after” shots of our remodeling projects so we can say, “I can’t believe it looked that way once, but look at its beauty today.” 

The hardest part of this process is the constant challenge of new ideas and ways of thinking by the Holy Spirit to challenge my willingness or lack there of to embrace new mindsets. The way that I did church in my childhood seems so antiquated that it parallels with Puritanical times. Societal norms and culture have drastically changed over the century. My grandfather drove a horse drawn cart to deliver milk, experienced the invention and integration of the telephone, radio, television, and internet.  He took a trolley to town, bought a model-T Ford, and saw the creation of superhighways. He lived in a society life centered around the local community church and the local band pavilion, then changed to school and sports activities, to now embracing social networking. His world started local, being interrupted by a World War, followed by its connection through something called a world wide web. He longed for “the good old days” of a simpler, more local life, but gave way to health care, assisted living, and nursing facilities that lengthen his life by several decades. Even my life span of six decades has seen incredible change.

So the cocoon phase brings death to some old structures, pillars, out dated wiring with outdated codes, and replaces it with new life, new pillars, new wiring with more stringent and higher healthier codes.   The new remodeled building or structure looks nothing like its original although basically it is still built on the same foundation. That foundation is Christ Jesus, the Rock.  The Church is facing a world that is changing, one with a greater global vision, more interconnectivity, one actually becoming smaller, a world that can come to one’s Smartphone in one’s pocket, the way I/we structure Church, do Church, will have to be revamped, restructured, reworked, redone, rewired.  

Church, I propose, we are in that cocoon stage.  The only way to come out of it as a butterfly is our willingness to yield and listen to the Holy Spirit and be obedient to His work as he coordinates this restructuring, rebuilding, rewiring, redoing.  If the creature that enters the cocoon as a caterpillar decides to stay in the cocoon, it means only one thing, death. Life, a resurrected life, is one that is willing to oppose the grave and rise in newness, the butterfly, the new structure, a new life.

I am sure as I/we walk through this stage, even more challenges, more new mindsets, more reworking, more repentance, more dying to self and dying for our fellow brethren will have to take place. The cocoon stage has only begun!

A Surprise, Unattainable, Undeserving, Unmerited Gift

What Did I Do To Earn This?

What did I do to receive this gift? 

Christmas had already passed; my birthday lay months away. 

I lived at my current resident for five years, so it wasn’t a house warming gift.

I never asked for this gift. There was no “list” like at Christmas; how then did the gift giver know that I needed it? 

What did I do to receive such a gift?  Absolutely nothing!  For the most precious gifts we receive we never “earn”; we can only receive because they are given in love.  I often have found it difficult to accept the fact that I can receive something that I never earned, never asked for, but is a gift given because I found “favor” in the eyes of a gift giver.  What did I do to find that favor? What happens if I discover that I did absolutely nothing; the gift was given to me just because the gift giver wanted to give it to me?  What do I do with that?

Just receive it with gratitude, I guess!

I just received such a gift:  I looked healthy, acted healthy, was walking my routine everyday life’s journey when something physically just didn’t seem right which took me down a different path than I had ever traveled before. Before I knew it a cardiologist proclaimed I had 98% blockage in a major artery, labeling me as a heart-attack waiting to happen, resulting in placing three stents in my heart.  The procedure was without pain, without any discomfort, without any complication, perfect in performance and results.  Seventy-two hours later I am keeping scoreclock at a Jr. High Girls Basketball game, living a life that now had energy and zip.  What had I done to deserve this?

Absolutely nothing!

I had just experienced God’s “Grace”, His unmerited favor, not because who I was or anything I did.  For some reason unbeknown to me, God extended His favor towards me, which I warmly received. Hindsight reveals that it had been extended for over six months.  In June that still small voice of the Holy Spirit told me to slow down my lifestyle as I became a retiree after 40 years of being a public educator, quit multitasking, lay down and release the pressures that went with my former profession, learn to be quiet, listening for the small voice and being obedient to it.  I did that, and it was instrumental in saving my life. 

Now I realize I have been given two to three more decades of life! Why? I feel I have to “do” something now in gratitude, but that still small voice says, “No, just receive it, receive life, and live it in Me! You can do NOTHING but receive, accept, and live in it!”

Wow! Grace has nothing to do with work, allowing only gratitude as its reward!  I haven’t earned it, can’t earn it, nor ever will earn it! Grace is a “free” gift of “favor” with NO STRINGS ATTACHED!  I can’t pull God’s string!

God’s “Grace” is always about life, for He offers us eternal life of being in his presence if we accept it, often being healed if we accept it, giving us wisdom and understanding if we accept it, and extending favor if we accept it.  He gives; we can only receive through “acceptance” which produces gratitude, praise, thanksgiving, honor, etc. which He calls worship. It is all about HIS Grace, HIS favor!

I thank God for the grace and favor He has extended to me with another couple of decades of life on earth and the promise of an eternal relationship with Him, and I would like to extend the challenge to your to see what Grace and Favor God has extended to you with the invitation to accept whatever the Holy Spirit reveals!  Please leave comments here on what Grace, what Favor, what Gift God has given you.

A Heart Catheterization Has Opened My Heart & Eyes

A Heart Felt Lesson

Monday I go to the hospital for a heart catheterization to explore if there are blockages in my heart.  According to the prognosis of my cardiologist, a balloon angioplasty or stenting procedure may be in order.  Worst-case scenario would be open heart by pass surgery.  They claim that this blockage may have taken years to get to this point although it has appeared that I have lived a healthy life all along.  They gave me a notebook to read to prepare me for all that is ahead.  What I did not like was the latter part of the manual featuring “Lifestyle Changes” and “Healthy Eating” section.  Not only will this be a procedure that will change the length of my life, but also demand a lifestyle change.

Mostly all these blog pages that I have been written have been about the church, where it is now, and where it might be headed in the future.  The church’s condition is so much like my own: looking healthy, but after centuries of history have formed blockages, not allowing free flow of the blood of Christ and His Holy Spirit.  I believe the church is beyond the stenting and angioplasty stage of improvement, needing a complete open heart surgery called REVIVAL, RENEWAL, and a new REFORMATION!  What it also needs to realize is that with this revival, renewal, and reformation will come a “lifestyle change”, in other words, the way we “do church”.  We may have to “bypass” the way we have always have done church that has caused this condition in order to restore free flow of the Holy Spirit again. If we go back to the old way of doing church, we will end up with the same results we are now facing.  If we embrace a new lifestyle change or way of doing church, we will restore the healthy Christian lifestyle of community in the body of Christ.

I believe the church needs to face a “new lifestyle change” by embracing the power of the five fold as outlined in Ephesian 4, not as church offices or positions, but as personal believer’s in Jesus Christ passions, points of view, and voices that will help them mature individually into Christ-likeness while corporately bringing unity to the body of Christ.

If you are new to this blog, I invite you to go back and read the blogs about “retooling the church”, the current “metamorphosis of the church”, the “21^st Century Church”, “the Priesthood of Believers”, “five fold overall”, “new mindsets”, “accountability”, and others in the category section of this home page.  It will expose a new way to look at the church, will require a new lifestyle of community from the church, will demand “grace, mercy, & acceptance as peers” as some of its pillars.  It will demand a drastic “lifestyle” change for the church with a new diet based on “relationships” rather than programs, procedures, rules and regulations, in other words “religion”.  Spiritual life without relationships produce religion, the blockage of the heart of God.

A fragmented body needs not only a restructuring, but also a fresh blood supply.  The Church as a whole needs open heart surgery.  The heart affects all parts of the body giving it oxygen, nutrients, life.  The blood of Christ has always been the central theme of the gospel.  The church does not need a blood transfusion, for the blood is the blood of Christ, but it does need open heart surgery to clear or bypass the blockages that religion has collected inside the Church’s veins. 

I have faith in my cardiologist on Monday that he will perform the procedures that are necessary for normal blood flow throughout my heart and body, and I trust Jesus, the great Healer, through the power of his Holy Spirit to perform the procedures that are necessary for normal blood flow through the heart of the Church to all parts of its entire body to bring revival.  I also trust the Holy Spirit to bring, lead, and orchestrate the “lifestyle” needed to keep the body healthy for centuries to come or until He comes for His Bride.  Who would have ever thought that His Bride would have had to have open heart surgery before her wedding day in order to be healthy, pure, and without spot or wrinkle?  

FROM CATERPILLAR TO COCOON TO BUTTERFLY -Part 1

From Lumbering Along to Transformation to Freedom; A New Way At Looking At Church

A friend of mine once told me that he had had a dream/vision of me inside a cage. What was odd about it was that the cage door was wide open, and I opted not to leave it.

A caterpillar, although fun to watch with its multiple legs navigating a twig, never gets far fast nor far off the ground.  It can also be destructive; a caterpillar infestation can kill an entire tree if the caterpillars eat off all the leaves. After all that eating, they spin a protective cocoon that appears to be dormant in spite of the radical transformation of life going on inside it.  Only after that transformation is complete will it break out of its cocoon in a new, transformed identity, a butterfly.  After drying its wings, it springs forth to fly, forever abandoning its old house of safety and its old identity.

My cocoon has been the Church.  It provides transformation from an old life to a new, from an old identity to a new one, from an old form to a completely new one, all in the safety of a secure place.  My B.C. life, “before Christ”, “before cocoon”, followed that of a lumbering caterpillar close to the ground, eating all for my self-satisfaction. When accepting Jesus, I joined church that supplied a safe atmosphere for spiritual growth and nurturing. I admit that I have had doubts if I really want to spout wings and fly.

A pre-natal baby has it made: its own built in spa complete with hot bath, manicure service with nail growth, comforting music of the steady heartbeat of a mother, all the nourishment needed, and constant naps with no work schedule hanging over one’s head. 

Labor pain announces the upcoming birth followed by pressure, pushing.  What a shock when one’s head pops out of one’s cocoon, or one’s mother’s womb.  Humans are greeted with a smack of pain on their buttocks to make them cry in an effort to clean out their lungs.  We call this “birth”.

I wonder what it is like to go from a caterpillar through reconstruction into an image of a butterfly or moth?  It must be a shock too to discover a completely different formation and identity, which isn’t complete until you “fly”.

There is a direct correlation between “birthing” and “flying”; its called “freedom”. A newborn is “cut” from his mother, literally, and spends the rest of their transformational life as a child distancing herself/himself from mother to become an independent adult. A butterfly is “cut” from its cocoon, from its old identity as a caterpillar, spreads and dries its wings in an effort to fly, distancing itself from its past.  It is called “freedom”.

Unfortunately my flesh cries out that I do not want “freedom” from my church, my cocoon.  I want to stay wrapped up in it, seeing no need to fly. I tell myself that I just want to “do” church and “be” the church which I see having no need to fly, particularly from its safe confines.  Holding on, I am not free!  Freedom is “releasing”, being released from your mother, released from your cocoon, released from your church.

One of the problems of being a “church kid” is never being released, nor wanting to be released, opting for safety over flight, which is prohibiting me from what God actually created me to be: “free”!  When choosing to fly, I can glide on the winds of the Holy Spirit, feeling free of the confinements of structure and past life. Being “free” in the spirit is a different way of doing “church” than when all I did was “attend” church.

I sense the Church is in a cocoon period of its history, being transformed into a different image, from a lumbering caterpillar of an institution to the free flowing and soaring of the Holy Spirit as a butterfly.  In order to fulfill its transformation, it must now fly. 

I see before the cocoon a church built on structure; after the cocoon a church built on relationships with little if any structure, more free flowing.  We, the Church, now find itself in a cocoon stage of transformation, new mindsets, new wineskins, a total transformation and redevelopment of “body” ministry, from an old caterpillar model that has labored the church as a structure to a new butterfly form of freedom of flow through relationships.  Just as the caterpillar and butterfly were the same living organism that went through dramatic change of identity and form, so the Church past and present are the same living spiritual organism that is going through dramatic change of identity, form, and body ministry.

When this transforming is complete the Church will not look the same, but it is the same Church.  It will have a new image, a new identity, a new freedom in the Spirit that it has not experienced in the past.  The tough part is the choice left before us:  stay dormant in the security of our cocoon, those safe church structures, staying in our cage with an open door, or crawling or jumping out and spreading our wings and fly.

SIMPLE ANSWER TO CLUTTER: REMOVE IT!

The Price: Revaluate It’s Worth, Remove The Clutter, Make It Simple, & Accept “Newness”

 “No to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work in us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 2:20-21

Sitting Among The Clutter Has Made Me Reevaluate It's worth, Remove The Clutter, Make It Simple, And Accept "Newness" In Its PlaceWhile reading this passage, it hit me that this summarizes much that has been percolating in me lately.  Since retiring from public teaching at the beginning of June, this summer has been a time for me just to settle, to rest, to change my lifestyle, my priorities, and control my calendar rather than my calendar controlling me.  I have spent more “quality” time with the Lord, expounded energy on social networking, tweeting, blogging, preparing to redo my fiverevealed.com web site, and spent a great amount of time just “listening” to that small spiritual inner voice that leads, guides, directs, and teaches.  Much of what I hear, I have been blogging, so the price for all this has been exposure, a theme that has been a constant in my life. 

Also, being a creature who has to experience something in order to learn it, I have had to clean an over cluttered basement, forcing myself to shred away years of documents that recorded finances, tossing what I thought were meaningful heirlooms, now monuments of the past, that only clutter my life, reorganizing rooms so things have places with simplicity.  Everything is beginning to find a “place”. When I need something, I will know where to find it! 

Empty Nest & Mother In Law To A Nursing Home's AccumulationI’ve realized that my mother-in-law’s life has been reduced to “staying alive and healthy” in a nursing home while I have accumulated all her “valuables”, alias clutter which has junked up my basement.  It is hard to face the fact that some of my own personal possessions that I thought were “valuable” have become junk, “yard sale fodder.”  Furniture accumulated by children growing up and leaving the nest as adults also clutters my basement.  I think I must store them for the “grandchildren” who are not even in existence yet, but my wife has label the furniture as junk, clutter.  Wrestling with bipolar, she despises “clutter”, for it overwhelms her. In reality, I too am learning to despise “clutter” as it has been my job of sifting through all our “valuable junk.”  Mementos I once cherished as precious are gone when reduced to clutter. Things considered “special” have lost their value over time and lost their use through disuse.

I know God’s greatness, that he “is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.” What got me as I read the above passage was the participle phrase “according to his power that is at work in us.”  As much as I like to see him work, it is the “that is at work IN US” that strikes me between the eyes, pierces my heart, challenges my soul, for I want to see his power, his grace, and his mercy.  He has chosen to do it through you and me.  His power doesn’t happen in isolated space, but through people, His people, believers in Jesus Christ, the priesthood of believers, you and me! He no longer chooses to inhabit burning bushes but in people with a burning passion for Him. He has “immeasurable” power burning in “me”, so what does he make me do? Clean house, remove clutter, reevaluate worth of material objects, and bring simplicity to my life.

Accumulated Junk!What has been precious about this process?  During the daily grind and drudgery of its tediousness, He has been speaking to me, revealing things to me, and I love revelations.  Unfortunately, his revelations are about my spiritual life, calling me back to finding my place of purpose in Him, so when He needs me, He will know where to find me, just as I need to find my tools when they are needed.  He is calling me back to a life of simplicity when I have majored in complexity throughout my life as an adult.

At Least In The Garage Everything Has Its Place; I Know Where It Is When Needed!He is fusing my love for “old school”, those things in my past that have meaning as historical milestones in my life, but now clutter it, that have become “junk”, and is revealing to me “new school” those same experiences of meaning in a “new” form, a “new” song, a “simple song in a simplistic form. He is fusing the old with the new by removing the clutter, reevaluating “worth”, and causing complexity to yield to simplicity, thus the power of the end of the scriptural passage, “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations.”  I have experienced revival as a young adult, and hunger so badly for it for this younger generation, my children and grandchildren’s generations, to bridge of understandings between both generations.  The price: remove the clutter, reevaluation of worth, a call for simplicity, and acceptance toward “newness.”

Why I Need The Five Fold In My Life! A Self Confession

 I’m Tired of Getting Ripped Off By Failure When Being Alone

Personal History:  Over the last four decades I have been involved in “church” at almost every level. Some would credit me as being a “good Christian” because I went to Vocation Bible School and sung in the choir as a child, have attended and worked at church camps through my youth, as an adult taught Sunday School, aided in birthing an inner-city urban church, lead two different home churches, participated in leadership in a church plant, headed a youth ministry at my home church and regionally where I lived, lead the youth component of a major city-wide evangelistic Crusade, coordinated Lay Witness Missions in dozens of churches in the Mid-Atlantic region, took lay speaker courses and filled pulpits, earned a Master’s Degree in Biblical Studies, been in church leadership positions as an elder, taught Bible courses, participated in prophetic presbyteries, became faculty advisor for a public school Christian club, and even have my own blog site writing hundreds of blogs on the five fold which you are currently reading.

But, to tell you the truth, unfortunately, the inner-city urban church no longer exists, neither do any of the home church where I participated, nor does the church plant where I once was an elder.  I resigned from my home church office as Youth leader and struggled as a regional Youth Coordinator.  Lay Witness Missions are now scarce if not history.  My pastor said I should earn a Master’s Degree so “doors would open”; since earning that degree, no doors have opened.  I no longer get invitations to fill pulpits. Our local church no longer has prophetic presbytery teams, thus the almost disuse of that gifting. I write on a blog on a topic from a point of view that is unique to most of the Church, not its current acceptable standard.  Some people would credit me as a “good Christian”, but the data, the evidence, appears to show the contrary, a failure.

I have pondered my failures for hours, days, years, ruminating over them, analyzing them, trying to figure out what happened even though I was pure at heart, I thought spirit led, but the accuser, satan, always gets the upper hand by putting me down, condemning me as a “failing Christian.”  The reason I have failed is because in almost every one of those positions I found myself doing whatever I was doing alone.  Don’t get me wrong; Jesus was with me through them as well as other Christian brothers and sisters, but when involved with an evangelist in church planting, or church birthing, or in an evangelistic Crusade, I flowed evangelistically, but I did not have the support of a pastor/sherpherd, teacher, prophet, or apostle around me for protection, guidance, and accountability.  I had tastes of pastor/shepherding in small home groups, but again I did not have the other four giftings around me to share their points of view, insights, and accountabilty.  I have taught Bible School, Bible Classes, Sunday School, and even developed my own Christian course, but did not have the other four around me to make the “head”, “academic” knowledge into practical “living out” daily the kingdom of god knowledge to those I taught.  I have dabbled in the prophetic, but saw the independent spirit of the prophet if not submitting to the other four five-fold passions and points of view.  I even got a taste of the apostolic as a coordinator for Lay Witness Missions by “releasing” those on my team to share their evangelistic testimonies, care for those they stayed with for the weekend, share the truth of the gospel through mini-teaching, and working prophetically by listening to the small voice of the Holy Spirit all weekend, but did not have the opportunity to continue those giftings once our team left.

I have tasted each of the five fold passions, points of view, and giftings in my faith journey, but realize the importance of them in the context of a “body ministry”.  I need an evangelist around me to bring life and rebirth. I need a shepherd to care for me and the rest of the flock. I need a teacher to make the writing Word of God a living Word of God.  I need a prophet to challenge me towards intimacy with God.  I need an apostle to “see over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in my life, then “releasing” me to be free in my passion while setting up an accountability factor through relationships around me. 

I confess: I’ve blown it, often. I have failed even when my intentions were pure.  I have become self defeated because of the constant bombardment of the accuser, satan, constantly exposing my failures. In spite of all of this, I still have a yearning, a belief, a faith that all this can work, and will work if only the different points of view in Christianity would have one point of view, Jesus, if all the different passions in Christianity had one passion, a passion to “serve”, a passion to be intimate with the Father through Jesus and His precious Holy Spirit, a passion to “lay down one’s life for his brethren.”  The golden rule is to love god and your neighbor. Hey, Church! Let’s not only love God, but lets also love our Christian brothers and sisters, our family, by laying down our lives for one another!  That is the power of the five fold! You in the Church who have different passions and points of view than mine; I NEED YOU!

Knowing the Heart of the Father

How To Understand Agape Love

Lesson 4 - "Learning to be Christ-like - Revealing The Heart Of The Father" will be taught at CityView Community Church in York, PA.Note:  Bonus Lesson 

Eldon Post, a guest speaker at our church in 2004, showed how ancient Hebrew was also a pictorial language.  His lesson showed how writing symbols were not only alphabetic but pictorial.  Through those pictures he taught what the word Agape Love meant and eventually translated it into Revealing the Heart of the Father. 

Till the end of the lesson, when placing  revealing the heart of the father in place of the word love, an unique revelation occurs:

Example:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…..” John 3:16

“For God so revealed the heart of the Father to the world that he gave his only begotten son…..”

“A new commandment I give unto you, to love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another.”  John 13:34-35.

    “A new commandment I give unto you, to reveal the heart of the Father to one another as I have revealed the heart of the Father to you, so you must revealed the heart of the Father to one another.”  John 13:34-35.

It was always the will of Jesus when on earth to reveal the heart of His Father, and it is still his will through the Holy Spirit.  We as believers in Jesus Christ have the ability to know the heart of the Father as Jesus did when he was a man on earth.

Freedom of Worship

The Climax To An Unique Course

Note:  On Sunday,  December 26^th, 2010, I will be participating in the final session , Response To Worship in my “Journey with Pappa B” Series at CityView Community Church, just north of Rt.30 on Roosevelt Ave (on top of the hill) at 9:30 a.m. until 10:15. 

In the past 7 weeks we have learned:

     - The trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is in each believer in Jesus Christ

     - Every person has to face his own personal Passover, Pentecost, and Feast of Booths individually with a requirement for each.

     - God’s name is “I AM”, and the rest of the Bible records his character and nature, so that we as believers can give back to Him what He has given us.

     - We have the ability as believers in Jesus Christ to seek the Heart of the Father, thus sharing His love.

     - We can be in proper relationship with mankind if we take 100% responsibility with 0% blame.

     - When the supernatural dissects the natural, we can expect “God Moments”.

     - We are Priests according to the Order of Melchizedek, thus we need to act like priests.

So the last session will be an open session of worship where we can celebrate the trinity in us, acknowledging our salvation, empowerment, and fulfillment in Jesus Christ, worshiping his character and nature through the power of His name, seeking the Heart of the Father while in right relationship with mankind, while acting as priests unto the Holy Spirit.

During this session you can read a scripture, a Logos Word, that has become activated, alive, a Rhema Word in your life, or a new song, or a poem, or a testimony of the power of His Name in your life.  Feel free to minister to one in a Christ-like relationship, encouraging one another, empowering one another as priests of the Holy Spirit.  Feel free to worship musically, verbally, or silently!  It is a time where as Priests of the Holy Spirit, a Priesthood of Believers, you can give back to the Lord what He has given you.

Being the day after Christmas, this should be a special session of honoring Jesus on the celebration of His birth.

The Believers of Jesus Christ As Priests?

The Priesthood According To The Order of Melchizedek

Note:  On Sunday,  December 19^th, 2010, I will be teaching another lesson, The Priesthood of Believers in my “Journey with Pappa B” Series at CityView Community Church, just north of Rt.30 on Roosevelt Ave (on top of the hill) at 9:30 a.m. until 10:15. 

Martin Luther professed the Priesthood of Believers as one of his tenants during the Reformation, yet he did not practice it when setting up church government.  He still advocated the clergy/laity relationship when establishing the Lutheran Church.

Today, the Mosaic system of leadership with priests from the tribe of Aaron has been replaced by the rabbinical system of leadership in the Jewish faith.  Today they have no priests, no temple, and no animal sacrifice.  So where does the priesthood stand?  Is it an archaic institution?

Abraham paid respect to a priest, king of Salem, whose name was Melchizedek, by giving him 1/10^th of all he had, the first recorded tithe in the Bible.  Who was this Melchizedek?  David even records and recognizes him him in Psalms 110:4.  Hebrews 7:26-37 & 8:1-13 records, “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying “Know the Lord” because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest.”

So if we are priests to the order of Melchizedek, then what can we do as priests since there is no longer any need for a sacrificial system since Jesus is our sacrifice, our sacrificial land? 

Supernaturally Natural, The Power Of The Cross

Can We Trust The Holy Spirit?

Note:  On Sunday,  December 12^th, 2010, I will be teaching another lesson, Supernaturally Natural in my “Journey with Pappa B” Series at CityView Community Church, just north of Rt.30 on Roosevelt Ave (on top of the hill) at 9:30 a.m. until 10:15. 

What do you call it when your mundane, every day routine is dissected by the supernatural?  I call it a “God Moment”.  That vertical intersection of the horizontal creates the Cross.  The Cross is central to all that is supernaturally natural.

If we, who are believers in Jesus Christ have to admit that our spiritual birth, or new birth, is supernatural, then why can we not believe that God can move supernaturally in our natural life after that initial event? Are we afraid of change, or challenge, or of the Holy Spirit, or of the supernatural?

What happens when the supernatural dissects the natural?  Routine is replaced with change!  Comfort is replaced with challenge! What evidence is there of the supernatural?  How about Jesus, God’s Son in the flesh, the virgin birth, the resurrections, the power of the resurrection, Pentecost, and the coming of the Holy Spirit is all recorded in the Bible as supernatural events!  Bottom Line:  Can we trust the Father?  Can we trust the Son?  Can we trust the Holy Spirit? Then why not live a supernaturally natural life?

Christian Relationships

How To Handle Relationships in a Christ-like Fashion

Note:  On Sunday,  November 2010, I will be teaching another lesson, Learning To Be Christ-Like - Relationships in my “Journey with Pappa B” Series at CityView Community Church, just north of Rt.30 on Roosevelt Ave (on top of the hill) at 9:30 a.m. until 10:15. 

Eldon Post was the feature speaker at a Men’s Retreat in 2004.  He did a series of lectures on How Men Of God Can Become Godly Husbands.  His teaching was revolutionary to me, life changing, and saved my marriage.  He taught how any believer in Jesus Christ can take whatever they have to the Lord and seek the Heart of the Father on the matter; then be obedient to what they have seen or heard.

He taught that Jesus died on the cross not for the Church, nor for us, but because He was obedient to the Father.  He knew his mission, and was obedient to the point of death.  He then took 100% responsibility for our sins, yet gave 0% blame. He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

Eldon then exhorted us men that we must take 100% responsibility for our wives and 0% blame.  It is not a question of being right or wrong.  There was nothing right about Jesus being condemned to die on the cross, except that He was obedient to the Father.  Think about it! Most marital spats are “blame” sessions.

If we would apply the 100% responsibility/ 0% blame principle in every relationship we have, what an impact we would have on the world.  Hardly anyone takes responsibility in the political arena or business world, but are good at spreading the blame.  If your boss takes 100% responsibility for what you do without the blame, you would respect him, do anything for him, and be more productive.  All politicians do today is blame the other party and produce negative ads.  Why are they surprised that no one trusts them?

This lesson will go into depth on this unique principle and its implications.

God Is A Linking Verb

Names Of God & Worship

"Names of God & Worship" is the third lesson in a series of "Journey with Pappa B" to be given Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010 between 9:30 to 10:15 @ CityView Community Church in York, PANote:  On Sunday, November 28, 2010, I will be teaching the third lesson, Names of God/Worship, in my “Journey with Pappa B” Series at CityView Community Church, just north of Rt.30 on Roosevelt Ave (on top of the hill) at 9:30 a.m. until 10:15. 

Only an 8^th grade English teacher can get excited about the name of God!  When Moses asked God to reveal Himself, giving himself a name for Moses to tell his people, He said, “I AM who I AM”!  God is a LINKING VERB!  Linking Verbs must link their complement with their subject, so what comes after the Linking Verb is crucial.  If a description comes after the Linking Verb, you have a Predicate Adjective.  If what comes after it renames the subject, it is called a Predicate Noun.  God tells Moses his name, IAM, then tells his nature through Predicate Adjectives and who He is through Predicate Nouns.

For Example: Predicate Adjectives – “I AM your strength, your joy, your deliverance, your healer, etc.  Predicate Nouns – I AM the Lord God Almighty, the Alpha & Omega, the Rose of Sharon, the King of Kings.

It is incredible the amount of different names and description that are listed in the Bible for God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, all for the purpose of revealing himself to us!  Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I AM?” The Bible lists who He is, but the question is to each one of us, who do we say He is that is an active part of our lives?

During times of worship, when the worship leader just plays an interlude, one can just begin to verbalize those names back to Him.  I believe that worship is simple: Giving Back To Jesus What He Has Given You!  If he has healed you, delivered you, provided for you, forgiven you, etc., give it back as a proclamation of faith.  In personal prayer times, tell the Lord what He is to you, what He has done for you, who He is!  Proclaim in faith his character and nature even when it is not tangible or evident in your life.  The name of Jesus, and all the names associated with his character and nature are powerful.  Release that power.

Deut. 16:16 Jeopardy

What is your “Daily Double” worth?

"Deut. 16:16" Jeopardy will be played Sunday, Nov. 14th, and Sunday, Nov. 21st, 2010 at the CityView Community Church, Roosevelt Ave., York, PA from 9:30 to 10:15!Note:  On Sunday, November 14, 2010, I will be teaching the second lesson in my “Journey with Pappa B” Series at CityView Community Church, just north of Rt.30 on Roosevelt Ave (on top of the hill) at 9:30 a.m. until 10:15. 

“Old Testament for 100”, or “New Testament for 300”, how about “Kingdom of God for 500”, or “Jesus for 1000”?  What will you wager?  Are you willing and ready to play the “Deuteronomy 16:16 Jeopardy Game”?

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, so small, yet from it comes a huge tree, which can house large birds!   This little mustard seed of a verse, Deut. 16:16, when planted in your life in faith can produce an understanding of the Kingdom of God and the entire Bible. 

Through three Jewish Festivals/Feasts, Passover, known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, known as the Feast of Ingathering, and the Feast of Tabernacles, known as the Feast of Booths, we can understand the purpose of both the Old Testament and New Testament, the establishment of the Kingdom of God, their fulfillments through Jesus Christ, and how each person has to face all three of them sometime in their personal lives, and what price each will cost you.

Just like the “Daily Double”, asking “How Much Will You Wager?”, there is a price in accepting the truths and fulfillments of each of these Feasts/Festivals.  Passover requires giving up your garbage, your sinful life, and turning away from it, making Jesus your Savior; Pentecost requires giving up everything including self by making Jesus your Lord, while activating the written Word, the Logos Word, into the living, active Word, the Rhema Word; and the Feast of Tabernacles means giving up your earthly body, becoming a spiritual body in the likeness and radiance of Jesus, where we will see him in His fullness. Are we willing to pay the price?  C.S. Lewis in his classic novel “The Great Divorce” challenges those in hell to give up what is precious to them in order to accept the gift of salvation from their loved ones which they refuse because they are unwilling to pay the price.  The Rich Young Ruler, when faced with the price, backed down from his commitment.  Someone once claimed that everyman has a price. What is yours?  Come play Deuteronomy 16:16 Jeopardy with me!

Note:  On Sunday, November 14, 2010, we will study the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths.  On Sunday, November 21, 2010, we will study Pentecost from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Kingdom of God teachings, Jesus fulfillment of that Festival, and its implications on our lives as a believer.  The revelation of these two lessons will reveal the implications of the gospel as a whole in the lives of every believer as well as define what “true worship” is!

Adam To Adam To Me

A Look At The Trinity

Lesson #1 - "Journey with Pappa B", Sunday, November 7, 2010 @ CityView Community Church, Roosevelt Ave., York, PA from 9:30 - 10:15 a.m.Note: On Sunday, November 7, 2010, I will be teaching the first of seven lessons in my “Journey with Pappa B” Series at CityView Community Church, just north of Rt.30 on Roosevelt Ave (on top of the hill) at 9:30 a.m. until 10:15.  The lesson features simple diagrams explaining the Trinity as seen through Philippians 2:6-11.

The first Adam was “created in Our image”, the triune image of God, Genesis 3:23 but fell; the second Adam came from the Godhead as man to mend that broken relationship through obedience in the fullness of the Trinity; now as third Adams, we, as believers in Jesus Christ can benefit from knowing  “the heart of the Father”, the “fullness of Jesus Christ”, and the leading of the “Holy Spirit” in our lives, restoring and having the benefits of the first Adam created in Genesis.

Through a simple diagram we can understand the three “natures” of God, a triune God in nature, but still one God in person.  Jesus not only came to restore through obedience what the first Adam could not do, but also revealed “the Father” to mankind, for  Jesus said, “If you have seen the me, you have seen the Father, for I and my Father are one”!  As mankind, on earth, Jesus always tried to direct our attention to the “revelation” of His Father, our heavenly Father if we are believers through Jesus Christ.

Jesus then instructed his believers that the Holy Spirit could not come unless He returned to the Father, which he did.  Now we, as believers in Jesus Christ, can learn “all truth” about Jesus’ mission on earth, and the Heart of the Father” through the Holy Spirit who indwells us, His believers, for our bodies “are the temple of the Holy Spirit”.

The pipe line to the Father, through Jesus, by the Holy Spirit is open!  We can “hear” from God, know His will for our lives, have an intimate relationship with him, establish His kingdom under His Lordship, and rule and reign with Him. We again can establish being created in “Our image”, in the image of the Trinity!

A Journey With Pappa B

A Five Decade Walk With Jesus

"A Journey With Pappa B", Sunday Mornings 9:30 a.m. = 10:15 through November and December 2010 @ CityView Community Church, Roosevelt Ave., York, PAStarting Sunday, November 7, 2010, I will have the opportunity to share some power point presentations I have created teaching concepts and principles that I have learned in my almost 50 years as a Christian.  Like Wesley, I, too, experienced that “warm feeling knowing that God was real” while sitting in the chair by my parent’s living room window almost 50 years ago.  Since that time I have taken my spiritual walk very seriously, and have learned many things.  In the 8 weeks in November and December of this year, I will present some of these principles that have been the basis of my religious belief system.

If you are in the York, PA area on a Sunday morning during this period of time, feel free to stop at CityView Community Church, just north of Rt.30 on Roosevelt Ave (on top of the hill) at 9:30 a.m. until 10:15.  If your home church has an early 8 o’clock service, or 11 o’clock service, or a Saturday evening service, you can still catch your home church’s services and attend this journey.

Here is the lineup of lessons:

Adam 2 Adam – Philippians 2:6-11 – We will look at the trinity in very simple graphic form and its relation to Adam, Jesus, and ourselves.  We will see how the triune God has restored “our image” of Genesis 3:23 back into mankind, and your response to it.

Deuteronomy 16:16 Jeopardy – One little verse (a mustard seed) can explain the entire Bible (the huge tree) through 3 Jewish Festivals/Feasts bringing together the Old Testament, the New Testament, The Kingdom of God, Jesus’ Fulfillment, and our response to it.  It will also define worship.

Names of God In Worship – Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”  Enjoy a grammatical trip into linking verbs, predicate adjectives, and predicate nouns as we explore the many names of God the Father, Jesus, His Son, and the Holy Spirit and apply it to our everyday worship.  “I AM”…..

Learning to Be Christ-like – Knowing the Heart of the Father – Ancient Hebrew is filled with simple pictorial alphabetical symbols that can unlock knowing what the “Heart of the Father” is.  A new appreciation for “agape” love will be nurtured in this lesson.

Learning to Be Christ-like – Solving the Mystery of Relationships – is a “horizontal” look of how Christians should build relationships like Jesus proposed: Taking 100% responsibility with 0% Blame!  This concept saved my marriage and transformed a Christian man into a Christ-like husband.

Supernaturally Natural – When the mundane, our everyday horizontal lives, is dissected by the vertical, the supernatural, a “God Moment” is created.  This lesson will give you a new appreciation of the meaning of the Cross and the realm of the supernaturally natural intervention of God in our lives.

Priesthood of Believers – Martin Luther preached this concept, but did not follow it. The Priesthood of believers is not found in the Mosaic tradition but in the order of Melchizedek, an old testament priest to whom father Abraham tithed 1/10^th of all he had. What is our role as priests today since the Mosaic priesthood, temple worship, and animal sacrificial system no longer exists?

Responsive Worship – Where with the trinity within us, in our salvation, power, and intimacy, we will give back to the “I AM”, while seeking the “heart of the father” in proper relationship with mankind, acknowledging supernaturally natural moments in our life while we are practicing our priesthood!  An unplanned lesson allowing our response to what has been taught!

Are you ready to join the journey with me?  If so, stop by any/all the Sunday mornings in November and December 2010 at 9:30 a.m.  It will be a life changing journey, I know, it has changed mine!