Prayer

Biblical Hermeneutics – Does the idea of being “born again” have a root earlier than John/Peter (or Jesus)?

Daniel Adeniji 1 Peter, Baptism, Baptism of The Spirit, Christian, Holy Spirit, Job ( Bible Book ), John, Nicodemus, Prayer, Spiritual, Stories

Question

In Stack Exchange – Biblical Hermeneutics, Soldarnal asked whether the idea of being “Born Again” has roots earlier than John 3:3, Jesus conversation with Nicodemus.

Link

 

Comment-er

ScottS, who has an “M.A. in Bible Exposition, Master of Divinity, and Ph.D. in Biblical Studies with a concentration in Systematic Theology” took a good swing at it and traced it back to Job.

Answer

Here is his proposed answer.

Nicodemus Should Have Known from the Old Testament

That the Old Testament is the source of the doctrine is confirmed by Christ Himself, for Nicodemus was supposed to have known these things. A slightly larger context helps see this:

Jn 3:3-10 (NKJV)

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again [or “born from above,” see below], he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh [i.e. of woman], and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit [i.e. of God]. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?

Verse 10 clearly indicates that Christ expected that Nicodemus should be following Christ’s previous statements because he was one of those that taught Israel the scriptures. So the concept certainly is not “new” with Jesus, but rather one contained in Israel’s teachings. However, that does not mean it is found as directly stated in the OT as what Christ is stating here.

Clarifying Christ’s Meaning

So Christ introduces the “born again” concept to the discussion and links it to the Jewish expectation of the kingdom of God (v.3). The phrase “born again” in the Greek is two words.

The first word is that typically used for one’s birth, an aorist passive form of the verb γεννάω (gennáō), to “be born” (BDAG).

The second word is ἄνωθεν (ánōthen), translated in the NT only in John 3:3 and 3:7 as “again.” In most uses of the NT, it means “from above” (including Jn 3:31; also Jn 19:11; Jam 1:17, 3:15, 3:17) or “from the top” (Mt 27:51; Mk 15:38; Jn 19:23). Occasionally it is a time reference (in context), and so “from the first” or “from the beginning” (Act 26:5). The Luke 1:3 usage is debated whether it should be a time reference or a source from above reference. Gal 4:9 it is usually untranslated, considered to be intensifying the typical word for “again” in that passage, πάλιν (pálin).

It is (1) the fact that Christ does not use the common word for “again,” πάλιν, in John 3, and (2) his paralleling of flesh/Spirit as sources of the two births that leads me to believe the better translation in all of John 3 is that used in v.31, “from above.” The idea of “again” was probably favored because of Nicodemus’ reply in v.4, where a repetition of a natural birth is inquired about (but even so, such is to him obviously an incredulous idea.

So the “born from above” Christ is referring to is a Spiritual birth, as he clarified in vv.5-8.

Therefore, to look for what Christ was referring to in the OT, we need to find references that (1) refer to the insufficiency of the fleshly birth, and (2) the necessity of the spiritual birth, especially as relates to the kingdom of God.

The Need and Remedy are both Understood in Job

The idea that the first, natural birth from a woman is insufficient is expressed in the book of Job.

Job 15:14—“What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? (cf. Job 4:17)

Job 25:4—How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?

Through these rhetorical questions, both righteousness and purity are understood to be impossible for one merely “born of a woman.”

But Elihu gives the answer to these questions in his statement to Job:

Job 33:23-30

23 “If there is a messenger for him, A mediator, one among a thousand, To show man His uprightness, 24 Then He is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom’; 25 His flesh shall be young like a child’s, He shall return to the days of his youth. 26 He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, He shall see His face with joy, For He restores to man His righteousness. 27 Then he looks at men and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted what was right, And it did not profit me.’ 28 He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit, And his life shall see the light. 29 Behold, God works all these things, twice, in fact, three times with a man, 30 To bring back his soul from the Pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of life.

Notice how the theme in this passage also parallels Christ’s later statement in John 3 about his death. He is the “mediator” to “show man His uprightness” of Job 33:23. He is the “ransom” found (v.24). Through this mediator, one is made new from above, both physically (flesh, v.25) and spiritually (righteousness, v.26), which newness comes by a person’s repentance (v.27) and is a redeeming from the spirit going down into the pit (i.e. grave, v.28), and a bringing of the flesh “back” from the grave (v.30).

Note the similar themes between Job 33 and John 3 (some of these connections are more direct, some more conceptual… I leave it for each one reading to decide how well matched conceptually the parallels I show are):

 

Job 33:23-30 John 3
A messenger v.23 Christ’s witness v.11, v.32-34
A mediator v.23 The Son from heaven as mediator v.13-16
Show uprightness v.23 Christ recognized as godly v.2, above all v.31
Deliverance from pit v.24 No perishing v.15, salvation v.17
Ransom v.24 Son is given v.16
Flesh like a child’s v.25 Born again v.3-8
Return to youth v.25 Born again v.3-8
Redeemer prays to God v.26 [no parallel found]
God delights in Redeemer v.26 God with Christ v.2, loves Son v.35
Restores righteousness v.26 Believer not condemned v.18
Admission of unrighteousness v.27 Belief is key v.15-16, 18, 33
Redemption from going into Pit v.28 Believers not perish, have eternal life v.15, 36
Redeemed one’s life sees light v.28 Doers of truth go to light v.21
Three works of God for man v.29 [no parallel found]*
Redemption back from the Pit v.30 [no parallel found]**
Enlightenment by life v.30 Doers of truth deeds enlightened v.21

 

 

  1. * Unless the three works are as messenger, mediator, and judge, all ideas seen in both Job and John
  2. **Resurrection is not forefront in John 3, but both the concept of eternal life (v.15-16, 36) and experiencing the kingdom (v.3, 5) have that as a background necessity.While exploring potential parallels between Job 33 and John 3 is intriguing, for the question here, the passage in Job (especially v.25) is speaking of a change like a new birth, and it ties to the resurrection from the grave (v.30). These ideas are tied more directly to the Spirit and kingdom in later revelation…

 

Sourced

Sourced to ScottS as posted in Stack Exchange / Biblical Hermeneutics.

Frank Schaeffer – “You won Mom. I believe”.

Daniel Adeniji Authors, Books, Christian, Christian Apologia, Edith Schaeffer, Francis Schaeffer, Frank Schaeffer, Huffington Post, Nabeel Qureshi, News Aggregator, Prayer, Ravi Zacharias, Spiritual

 

Background

A few years ago, I heard Ravi Zacharias speak on the Schaffer family.

To paraphrase he said “though Francis Schaeffer is the the Apologist in the family, it was his mother, Edith’s love, that finally wore Frank down“.

Ravi made sure to say the column appeared in a liberal news outlet, Huffington Post.

Story

Link
Edith Schaeffer 1914 – 2013 RIP

My mother Edith Schaeffer died today. She was the author of many books on family life and spirituality and co-founder with my father Francis Schaeffer of the evangelical ministry of L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. She has just gone to be with the Lord, as she would put it. She died at home which was her wish.

I last talked to Mom yesterday. Rather she slept as I talked. A few days before my granddaughter Lucy was on my lap and we were talking to Mom via Skype. That day she was awake.

Mom’s face filled the screen and she was looking at us on the laptop placed on the covers of her bed. I last had been with her in person two years ago when I’d spent ten days with her. Before she was bedridden (about four months ago) we’d talk on the phone and after that we’d Skype.

I’ve been talking to her every day for the last several weeks knowing she was slipping away. Since I care for my two youngest grandchildren, Lucy (4) and Jack (2) five days a week they have often been there when “Noni,” as her grandchildren and great-grandchildren called Mom was on the screen with us.

During one of the last calls when Lucy and I talked to her last week, Mom was beautiful with her silver hair in a ponytail and her red hair band and matching shawl. Trapped in a body she’d lost control of, it took all of her formidable willpower to acknowledge our love. She had a feeding tube in her nose and was slipping in and out of consciousness. Five minutes after we hung up she would not remember the conversation. But in the moment when I said “I love you,” she nodded back and was fully aware.

Mom was staring earnestly into the laptop screen her nurse had set up so we could talk via Skype. My four year old granddaughter Lucy whispered “Does she have her perfume on?”

“Your great grandmother always wears perfume. So I bet she does,” I answered.

I kept reminding Mom of who we were, speaking rather slowly and loudly, “This is your son, Frank, and I have my four year old granddaughter, Lucy, on my lap. Can you see her Mom? This is John’s daughter. John was our Marine. Remember praying for his safe return from Afghanistan? God answered your prayers, Mom. Say hi to your great-granddaughter Mom.”

When I asked if she knew we loved her, Mom acknowledged us with a slight nod and whispered “Yes.” Those turned out to be her last spoken words to me.

Mother was three thousand miles away in Switzerland. We were in Massachusetts. She was ninety-eight and dying. Lucy is four years old and thriving. We were in my home in the studio/office I’d built out of the old woodshed. We were surrounded by piles of manuscripts including, a stack four feet high of the twenty-three drafts of a new novel I’m working on. Lucy had your feet up on the top of the pile. My paintings were leaning in deep clusters against the walls and were hanging on every surface. The ubiquitous smell of turpentine and linseed oil was in the air. Mom had always loved that smell. When I was a kid she’d walk into my room, breathe deeply and say “I just LOVE the smell of paintings!”

Before that day’s Skype chat with Mom, Lucy and I had been conducting imaginary orchestras while listening to Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto in G, full volume. Lucy launched an impromptu recitation of the Twenty Third Psalm, saying it all the way through. We’d also been looking at the weird and wonderful art of Pieter Brueghel the Elder and Lucy and Jack loved his pictures of sixteenth century peasants, beggars, and his apocalyptic fantasies. So even though Lucy and had never met my mother and were like ships passing in the night we were actually having a very Edith Schaeffer day.

Mom’s great-grandchildren were growing up loving what she’d loved: words, art, music, gardening, cooking and playacting. Mom was unable to speak any longer but she was nevertheless communicating with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren every time they were read to, listened to music or when we painted together.

Since she couldn’t talk I read to Mom and Lucy out loud from one of her own books: Mei Fuh – Memories from China. My grandchildren love the book. Lucy knows it almost by heart.

As usual we had to skip the “sad part” Lucy never let me read, about how Adjipah the gardener ate Mom’s goldfish. Mei Fuh was the last of many books Mom authored and her one and only children’s book. Mom had been born to missionary parents in 1914 and the book was about her growing up in a missionary compound until she moved back to America at age six.

During the last Skype call Lucy made last week she asked Mom if she was “still upset about Adjipah eating your fish?” Mom tried to smile but with her teeth out and the tube taped to her nose her smile showed up in her eyes and not so much on her lips.

I felt bad that Lucy was seeing Mom at her most vulnerable to the ravages of age. So while we talked to Mom, I opened an album of pictures of her and whispered, “See how beautiful your great-grandmother really is? Look!”

Lucy nodded and said loudly to the screen “You’re beautiful, Noni!”

Mom heard Lucy and moved slightly and managed of a hint of a crumpled smile. Then Lucy said in a loud awed whisper,

“She heard me! She nodded! She smiled!”

I placed my hand on the laptop screen and showed Lucy that when the lower part of her face was hidden from the bridge of her nose up to her eyes and silver hair, Mom still looked like the lovely pictures in the album.

From time to time I’d ask, “Mom, do you remember that?” about this or that detail of her childhood and she’d open her eyes a bit wider to signal that she did remember. Any mention of her early years that got the biggest response. The neural pathways were shutting down and the last remaining seemed to be the memories of her life as a young child. The little girl who had once been Mom was looking at us through a thicket of memory loss and confusion. I reminded her of the five week trip she took back to China with my wife Genie when Mom was in her eighties. In the early 1990s they’d traveled for 5 weeks to Mom’s birthplace in Wenchow, on the coast of southern China.

Amazingly, given the communist “remake” of China and the destruction of everything old and beautiful that blocked “progress,” Genie and Mom found the mission compound still as it once was. Mom was welcomed by the people living in her old home and that allowed to wander through the buildings. Genie said that Mom remembered everything from the dusty courtyard where she had played, to the thick gate with the little barred window she used to look through while wishing that she could go into the street and join the passing processions during festivals.

I knew that each Skype call might be the last time I’d see my mother alive. So each time we talked I thanked Mom for her love and the terrific creativity she’d shown in how she raised her children. Reading Mom her book reminded me of the many hours my mother had read so many wonderful books to me out loud. She was such a glorious reader.

After about half an hour of sitting on my lap watching Mom sleep, wake and sleep again as I read to her, Lucy went to my easel and painted. A few minutes later she cheerfully called out to the screen; “This is a painting for you Noni! I’ll give it to you in heaven since you’re going to die before I see you.” Lucy said this very matter of factly with no fear, as if she was mentioning that she’d soon be seeing her great-grandmother someplace very ordinary. I don’t think she heard Lucy, but if she did, Mom would have liked what she said because my mother was nothing if not a believer in a literal heaven.

When the two hours or so we spent with Mom concluded Lucy was sitting up on a high stool in the kitchen while I was putting on her boots for the walk back to Lucy’s house.

“I’m so sad my mother is going to die soon, “ I said.

“You will be alright Ba,” Lucy said.

“How?” I asked.

“You have me,” she quietly answered and put her arms around me.

I trust my mother’s hope-filled view of death because of the way Mom lived her life. Mom first introduced me to a non-retributive loving Lord who did not come to “die for us” to “satisfy” an angry God but came as a friend who ended all cycles of retribution and violence.

Mom made this introduction to Jesus through her life example. Mom was a wonderful paradox: an evangelical conservative fundamentalist who treated people as if she was an all-forgiving progressive liberal of the most tolerant variety.

Mom’s daily life was a rebuke and contradiction to people who see everything as black and white. Liberals and secularists alike who make smug disparaging declarations about “all those evangelicals” would see their fondest prejudices founder upon the reality of my mother’s compassion, cultural literacy and loving energy.

Just before Christmas of 2010, Mom and I sat down together during a ten day visit and I told her about my (then) latest writing project that turned out to be “Sex, Mom and God” (the third in a trilogy of memoirs that began with “Crazy For God.”) I told her about the book in detail—including that I was going to “tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may, Mom.”

With a flash of her old self and a familiar defiant head toss, Mom said, “Go ahead; I don’t care what people ‘think’ and never did!” Given her memory problem, I should add that before it developed and before her eyesight failed, she read my other equally “scandalous” writing, including my novels and nonfiction works, which also drew heavily from memories that to some people might have seemed too private to share.

Mom wasn’t “some people.” I once got a letter from one of my mother’s followers telling me that, having just read my novel Portofino (a work of humor where the mother character, “Elsa Becker,” is like my mother in some ways), she was sure it would “kill your mother because of the hatred for Jesus that drips from your SATANIC pen!” Coincidentally, that fan letter (received in the early 1990s before I was using e-mail) arrived in the same post delivery as a note from Mom asking me for another dozen signed hardcover copies of that book so that my mother could send out more to her friends. Mom’s follower had signed her letter “Repent!” My mother signed her note “I’m so proud of you.”

Besides a loving God and her steadfast support for the arts — even when she disagreed with some of my writing — here’s who else my mother introduced me to: Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Brahms, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Handel, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Verdi and Vivaldi. She made them my friends. They are still my friends and companions and I have made them my children’s and grandchildren’s friends too. And that is my tribute to her example.

Here are some other people amongst others my mother taught me to love: da Vinci, Duccio, Giotto, Vermeer, Degas, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Van Eyck, Van Gogh, Botticelli, Breughel, Michelangelo and Monet. They are still my friends and companions and I have made them my children’s and grandchildren’s friends too. And that is my tribute to her example.

My mother read to me and introduced me to Shakespeare, Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Anne Bronte, Susan Fennimore Cooper, Emily Dickinson, George Eliot, Mary Shelley, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Beatrix Potter, E. Nesbit, Louis Carroll and A. A. Milne and… Woody Allen, amongst others. They are still my friends and companions and I have made them my children’s and grandchildren’s friends too. And that is my tribute to her example.

Here’s what my mother showed me how to do by example: forgive, ask for forgiveness, cook, paint, build, garden, draw, read, keep house well, travel, love Italy, love God, love New York City, love Shakespeare, love Dickens, love Steinbeck, love Jesus, love silence, love people more than things, love community and put career and money last in my hierarchy of values and — above all, to love beauty. I still follow my mother’s example as best I can and I have passed and am passing her life gift to my children and grandchildren not just in words but in meals cooked, gardens kept, houses built, promises kept, sacrifices made, and beauty pointed to.

My mother read me hundreds of books out loud, took me everywhere with her, provided order and beauty for her children from the mundane like scrubbing floors spotless on her knees and keeping our home orderly and clean, even when she had “no time” and was writing her book, to serving every meal I ever ate at home as a child with candles and flowers on the table and making the simplest family time an event. (Thank God we had no TV and Mom wasn’t ever distracted by a cell phone or the internet from being a mother and of course her children were allowed to connect with the actual physical world hands on because we were lucky enough to grow up in the pre internet/electronic filtered age of false second hand “experiences.”)

Mother taught me that sex is good, stood by me and my young wife Genie when we were foolish and got pregnant as mere (very unmarried) children ourselves, backed every venture I launched from movie making, to being an artist and writer, stood with me when I dropped out of the evangelical religion altogether, stuck with me even when I denied her politics and turned “left” and “went progressive.”

Mom spent every dime she had on keeping her family together through family reunions and setting her example of putting family first. She stood with her sometimes abusive husband as he became famous in the American evangelical ghetto, though she well knew that she was the stronger partner in her always productive, sometimes lovely though at other times disastrous marriage.

Mom treated everyone she ever met well, spent more time talking to “nobodies” than to the rich and famous who flocked to her after her books were published and became bestsellers. Put it this way: through my experience of being a father (of 3) and grandfather (of 4) I’ve finally been able to test Mom’s life wisdom and spiritual outlook and found out that she was right: Love, Continuity, Beauty, Forgiveness, Art, Life and loving a loving all-forgiving God really are the only things that matter.

Each time I pick up my little grandchildren (or hug Genie’s and my grownup grandkids) and pray for wisdom about how to pass on the best of what I was given I know it is my mother’s example speaking to me. I never go to a classical concert or walk into a museum without remembering how Mom saved her money to take her children to hear the great music played by the great performers and helped me to learn that creativity trumps death.

I never say “I love you” to my wife Genie, to my children Jessica, Francis and John or to my son-in-law Dani or daughter-in-law Becky, let alone to my grandchildren Amanda, Benjamin, Lucy and Jack without remembering who showed me what those words mean.

Mother was a force to be reckoned with, a whole energetic universe contained in one trim little female frame, and she used that force entirely for good.

Memories—

Mother in the garden at dawn weeding and watering her wonderful flowers and vegetables… Mother typing up a storm while writing her thousands of letters and dozens of books… Mother so pleased that her good friend Betty Ford invited her to the White House to swim laps with her in the White House pool… Mother so please she’d met BB King at one of his concerts when she was 91… Mother praying with me every night before turning out the light as she let me in on her best secret: the universe is not a hard cold lonely meaningless place but a cosmos full of love… Mother never making a sarcastic remark about her children or anyone else and the life-long self-confidence that gave me… Mother deep in conversation with cab drivers and giving her books away (and money, personal phone numbers and her home address) to hotel maids and other total strangers she decided she could help… Mother taking impractical detours to look at something lovely… Mother always late for everything and praying out loud over meals long, so long, at table as she forgot that for the rest of us prayer was mostly a ritual though for her it was an endless conversation with the eternal… Mother cleaning up my vomit after I took drugs as a young wayward teen and then fixing me poached eggs on toast as if I was 3 again… Mother buying me art supplies… Mother’s horror at the “harshness” as she put it, of so many evangelical religious people and the way they treated “the lost” and her saying that “no wonder no one wants to be a Christian if that’s how we treat people!”

Maybe everything has changed for me theologically but some things haven’t changed. I’m still thinking of Mom’s eternal life in her terms because she showed me the way to that hope through her humane consistency and won. Her example defeated my cynicism.

Mom understood me and tried to speak when I said my last “I love you.”

I knew what she was trying to say. It’s the phrase she spoke most to me over my 60 year journey on this earth so far. I answered her thought, and I said, “Thank you, I know you love me and I love you too Mom.” The day before Mom died my last words to her were “I want you to know your prayers for your family have been answered. I credit every moment of joy to your prayers.”

I’ll miss her voice. I learned to trust that voice because of the life witness that backed it up. I know I’ll hear her voice again. You won Mom. I believe.

Listening

Listening to …

Beautiful Message By Nabeel Qureshi (Defense of Christianity)
Link

Sermons & Discussions – 2017-February

Daniel Adeniji Christian, Chuck Missler, Kim Clement, Prayer, Redemption Point Church, Spiritual

 

Sermons

  1. Damon Thompson
    • Damon Thompson–Superbowl Sunday, 2014
      Published on :- 2017-Feb-2nd
      Added On: 2017-Feb-06
      Link
  2. Chuck Missler
    • Q&A April 29th Kim Clement Interview
      Chuck Missler and Ron Matsen take a moment to host a guest, who has been the centre of much conflict here on the internet. Chuck and Ron invited Kim Clement on to their weekly QA show, and the answers Kim gives may surprise a lot of you. This was broadcast on the 29nd of April 2015.
      Published On:- 2015-Apr-30
      Added On: 2017-Feb-06
      Link
    • Chuck Missler Revelation Session 16 Ch-10 11 The Two Witnesses
      Published on :- 2013-Sept-4th
      This is session 16 out of 24 sessions.
      I have all 24 sessions of this very interesting bible study of Revelation.
      Link
    • The Woman and the Man Child
      Link

 

Indepth

Damon Thompson

Damon Thompson–Superbowl Sunday, 2014

  1. Opening Prayer
    • As the eye of almighty Yahweh roams the earth, I believe Tenessee
    • Whatever you want to do there is a Yes in us
    • Rock us in our comfort
    • Wherever you are
  2. Verse
    • Acts 12:1
      • About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.
        He killed James the brother of John with the sword,
        and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.
        And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.
        So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
        Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
        And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
        When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.
  3. Where we are
    • Killing apostolic expression of Church
    • No teaching of tithing as we would rather be  liked, then  for the congregants to be blessed
    • No teaching about Spiritual Authority
  4. Sleeping
    • It was not an idle threat had they already killed James
    • But, Peter knew the intercession of the Church was destined to change the Apostolic expression of the Kingdom
    • We have killed the Apostolic expression of the faith, as it will sometimes keep you in Church till 2 O’Clock

 

Chuck Missler

Chuck Missler Revelation Session 16 Ch-10 11 The Two Witnesses

Mysteries of God

Mysteries of God – Part 1

mysteries-part1

Mysteries of God – Part 2

mysteries-part2

Mysteries of God – Part 2 – Mystery of Godliness – 1st Timothy 3:16

mysteries-part2-mysteryofgodliness-timothy3-16

Nabeel Qureshi

Daniel Adeniji 2nd Timothy, Christian, Christian Apologia, Nabeel Qureshi, Prayer, RZIM Ministry, Spiritual ,

Background

Here is one area that I was first acquainted with late last year.  And, that is Nabeel Qureshi’s fight with Stomach Cancer.

I did not really want to touch it, until he himself is more open and forthcoming about it in the Public Space.

Please join me in praying and seeking God’s complete healing on him, his family, and the ministry, RZIM – Ravi Zacharias International Ministry, that he is part of.

 

Moving from Carefully to Clearly…

nabeelqureshi-carefulandclearly

 

Sermon

  1. Nabeel Qureshi: Fulfill Your Ministry – Biola University Fall 2016 Commencement Address
    Published On:- 2016-Dec-20th
    Added On: 2017-Jan-06th
    Link
  2. Nabeel’s Vlog 008 – Partial Healing
    Nabeel Qureshi vlog blog video cancer update
    Published on : 2016-Nov-17th
    Link
  3. Nabeel Qureshi on Islam & Cancer
    Published On :- 2016-Sep-19
    Added On :- 2017-Jan-06th
    Link
  4. Nabeel’s Vlog 012 – My Visit to Bethel Church
    Published On :- 2016-Dec-22
    Added On:- 2017-Jan-04
    Link
  5. Nabeel Qureshi – Reading the Scripture and Helping Others
    From the YouTube video – “Does Unscripted Oral Proclamation Account for the Short Ending of Mark’s Gospel”
    Published On :- 2017-Jan-05
    Added On:- 2017-Jan-06
    Link
    The full video is available here
  6. Uppsala University Open Forum with Ravi Zacharias
  7. Nabeel Qureshi Reports Something ‘Remarkable’ in His Fight Against Cancer
    Christian apologist Nabeel Qureshi, who has been battling advanced stomach cancer, reported last week that his tumor is completely gone.
    “What has happened is remarkable,” he said in a Facebook vlog Friday. “The primary mass of the tumor, what was in my stomach, is now gone”
    Published On :- 2016-Nov-22
    Added On:- 2017-Jan-4th
    Link
  8. Engaging Islam: The Gospel & Nabeel’s Testimony
    Published On :- 2012-July-24
    Added On:- 2012-Dec-23rd
    Link

Jason Upton – Never Alone Martin

Daniel Adeniji Artist, Christian, Jason Upton, Music, Prayer, Spiritual

Background

To all those praying for our country, know within you, that you are not ever alone..

Prayers

  1. NT
    • Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God
      ( Acts 10:4 )
    • The Seventh Seal:
      Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel      .
      ( Revelation 8: 4 )
    • The Fifth Seal: The Martyrs
      And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld.
      And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who live on the earth” and avenge our blood.
      Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.…
      ( Revelation 6:10 )
  2. OT
    • You shed abroad a plentiful rain, O God; You confirmed Your inheritance when it was parched.
      Your creatures settled in it; You provided in Your goodness for the poor, O God.…
      ( Psalm 68:9 ) { Crediting Pat Schatzline – Saving Private You – Segment Minute 34 to 36 }

Fellowship

  1. OT
    • When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them.
      ( Daniel 11:34-35 )
    • Do not associate with a man given to anger; Or go with a hot-tempered man, Or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself.
      ( Proverbs 22:24-25 )
  2. NT
    • I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.  Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.…
      ( Acts 20:29-30 )
    • Keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.  For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
      ( Romans 16:17-20 )
    • Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.
      ( 1 Timothy 5:22 )

 

Fearing the Lord

  1. OT
    • My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not associate with those who are given to change
      ( Proverbs 24:21 )
  2. NT
    • Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
      ( 1 Peter 2:17)

Dedicated

Difficult days suggest otherwise, but “Let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help. ” ( Hebrew 4:15 ).

I am thankful that it takes a Pastor’s son to lead one to all those passages that we skim over.  Here is one from Pat Schatzline in the same sermon ( referenced above ).

Between Sanctuary entrance and altar, let the priests, God’s servants, weep tears of repentance.
Let them intercede: “Have mercy, God, on your people!
( Joel 2:17 )

Lyrics

Never alone Martin
Link

SittingAtTheKitchenTable

 

Videos

  1. Jason Upton – Never Alone Martin (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)
    Link
  2. Jason Upton – This is my Home ( Added on 2016-07-18 )
    Link
  3. Jason Upton – Fly – Jason Upton and an Angel – HD
    Link
  4. In your presence
    Link

Damon Thompson – 2016/May

Daniel Adeniji Christian, Damon Thompson, Pastors, Prayer, Spiritual

Sermons

  1. First Things First  ( Published on 2014-02-02,  Added on 2016-05-19 )
  2. Sexual Perversion/Authenticity ( Published on 2014-10-24,  Added on 2016-05-19 )
  3. The Discipline of Deliverance  (  Published on 2014-02-02,    Added on 2016-05-19 )
  4. The Secret mountain of God’s presence  ( Published on Friday 2012-04-24,   Added on 2016-05-19 )
    • Insight Versus Revelation ( Clip )
    • Full ( Full )
  5. Jonah   ( Published on Friday 2015-11-24,   Added on 2016-05-20 )
  6. A Word of Faith    ( Published on Friday 2014-11-04,   Added on 2016-05-23 )

In Depth

First Things First

  1. Law of reciprocity
    • A law is not principle
    • But, principles bind together to form a law
    • Principle of Sowing and Reaping
    • Relatable Dimension
      • Deep does not cry out to Shallow
      • And, Shallow does not cry out of Deep
      • You never attract what you want, you attract who you are
  2. Manipulation takes you out of Intimacy
    • Good idea leads to insecurities
    • Insecurities lead to manipulation
    • Manipulation cuts off intimacy
    • You are hot and now become my sister
    • Diminish role of bride, bride becomes the sister
  3. 3 Seps
    • Faith Responding
      • Leave Haran go to Canaan
        • Because God told him so
    • Faith Retreating
      • Diminish role of the bride
        • Because of famine left Canaan and went to Egypt
    • Faith Returning ( Genesis 13:1 )
      • Start believing the word again
      • Intimacy Restored
        • Blessing to follow intimacy, not replace intimacy
      • Where his tent at been at beginning ( Genesis 13:4 )

Sexual perversion/Authenticity

  1. The root is the tender plant out of dry ground
  2. God’s plan for Nineveh was to send a prophet. It was not to send a Seeker sensitive Church
  3. Sin
    • Indulging in what God forbids
    • Not fully given in what the word of God demands
  4. If you have no interest in helping anyone then the revival did not go deep enough
  5. True fathers give authorization for authenticity
  6. Those who know how it should be done, should never interrupt people doing it
  7. Person in Holiness and Legalism live the same lifestyle
    1. Legalism – Fear of Judgement
    2. Holiness – Fear Dove will leave
  8. The Dove remains ( John )
    • All told the same story about Jesus getting baptized by John
    • I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him (John 1:32 )
  9. Pastor Bill Johnson
    • If there was a dove on your shoulder and you did not want it to go away, you take every step with the dove in mind
  10.  I do not want a revival, if it will not plant holiness
  11. When you meet the standard, you begin to inherit the Power that the consequent of that Power
  12. Power is coming back, but repentant is coming first
  13. It is bad theology to say that miracle is gone
  14. Was in a store and asked what is the return policy?
    • God says I have a return policy, and if you return to me, there are things that must be returned to you
  15. It is illegal to use kingdom lingo and not have dominion
    • Apostolic Ministry and not be bearing Apostolic Ministry

 

Discipline of Deliverance

  1. Spoke of the life of Archbishop Vernon Ashe
  2. Weapons
    • Godly Living
      • 1st Timothy 6
        • Godliness is a mean of Gain
          • Who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain ( 1st Timothy 6:5 )
    • Prayer

The Secret Mountain of God’s Presence

  1. Prayer Mountain
    • Transform our view of Life
    • Transform our view of God
  2. Watching Christian TV and saw a guy ( Segment 00:50:00 00:55:00 )
    • I know the way this man and I know the way he lives his life, why does he have so much revelation
    • Insight Versus Revelation
      • Insight
        • Consequence of the mind
        • Attracts you to a man
        • You uplift the man
        • He can have insight into any thing, he just happen to choose the Bible
      • Revelation
        • Attracts you to God
        • Lifts up God

Jonah

  1. God has a passion for a City
    • He sent a Prophet
    • He did not plan a seeker sensitive Church and give people Coffee and Donut
  2. All Sin is disobedience to God
  3. No one is
    • Testifying
    • Evangelizing
    • Praying for Sick
    • Really marrying each other
  4. Culture is keeping the Church from advancing
  5. Difference between now and early Church
    • Life Given
      • They have their lives
      • We give 45 minutes on Sunday, if that
    • Sold
      • Land
      • Houses
    • Broke bread and had all things in common
    • 3% of the American Church Tithe
      • Ready for God to come down and start pointing to each of us and say Not a Christian
  6. No submission to any authority
    • Being Free from religion
      • Does not mean talk about your Leader
  7. Sin
    • Indulging in what God says No to
    • Not being fully committed to what God calls us to
      • Disobedience to what God has called us to
      • Jonas was in Sin
        • He was not doing anything God called him not to do
        • But, he did not do what God called him to do
  8. Jonah Meaning
    • Name means Dove
    • John the Baptist baptised Jesus and the Holy Spirit come down as a Dove

 

A Word of Faith

  1. Burial Procession ( Luke 7:11 )
    • Large crowd went with him
    • Large crowd of the City was with her
    • Expect you to expect an intervention, even before the intervention
  2. Never let your situation, get you out of position
  3. Location is Beauty
    • You can be living in a City called beautiful, but living under intense pressure that is robbing you of the location
    • Peter & Paul
  4. We find ourselves spiritually lacking
    • Instead of changing Heavens, we change Churches
    • We change Churches, because we are not getting fed
    • If you still got to Church, to get fed, then you are communicating your infancy
    • You are not growing and so you can not help anyone
  5. Fresno, CA
    • Government has made
      1. Building not supposed to get
  6. Government can not ignore
  7. Jesus is doing what a 12-step program can not do
  8. Walking the Streets
    • Beautiful City is being robbed of her destiny
    • Light has stepped back and watched Darkness prevail
  9. John the Baptist
    • Darkness does not comprehend the Light
    • I am not the one, but there is someone coming behind me
  10. We change Churches, rather than to change Heaven
  11. Prove or Success of any Government
    • The validity of any Government is the Peace in which its citizens live
    • You can not be under God and still be living as you are in the Government of the evil one
    • Peace, Righteousness, and Joy in the Holy Ghost
    • Never allow the enemy to get you out of position
  12. Never allow the enemy to get you out of position
    • People walking into something that I am trying to get out of
    • You are saying “I rebuke the devil“
    • And, God is saying the Devil will not take credit for this
    • You are going to bury something that I intend to resurrect
    • Quit on thing while God had resurrection in mind
    • Don’t put dirt on it yet

 

David Pawson

Daniel Adeniji Christian, David Pawson, Holy Spirit, Pastors, Prayer, Spiritual

Background

Performed a broad search on prayers on YouTube, and found out about David Pawson.

David Pawson

DavidPawson

 

Biography

Wikipedia

John David Pawson (born 25 February 1930) is a prominent Bible teacher based in Great Britain.  He is the author of more than thirty books.

According to his autobiography, Pawson’s immediate ancestors were all farmers, Methodist preachers or both – dating back to John Pawson, a friend and follower of John Wesley. His father, H. Cecil Pawson, was head of Agriculture at Durham University and also Vice President of the Methodist conference.

From his childhood in the north of England David Pawson had wanted to be a farmer, but by the time he had completed his studies for a B.Sc. in Agriculture at Durham University, he felt God was calling him into full-time Christian ministry. He then studied for an M.A. in theology at Wesley House, Cambridge University, and subsequently joined the Royal Air Force as a chaplain, serving in Aden.

After leaving the RAF he served as a Methodist minister, but became increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of infant baptism. After appearing before a doctrinal committee of the Methodist church, he volunteered to leave the denomination, and did so. Shortly thereafter he accepted an invitation to become the pastor of Gold Hill Baptist Church in Buckinghamshire.

Later, as pastor of Guildford Baptist Church (‘Millmead’, which he helped to design), he established a reputation among both evangelicals and charismatics as a Bible teacher. From here his teaching tapes – originally made for the church’s sick and elderly members – became popular worldwide. Under his ministry, Millmead became one of the largest Baptist churches in the United Kingdom.

Pawson left Millmead in 1979 and engaged in an itinerant worldwide Bible teaching ministry predominantly through seminars for church leaders in Asia, Australia, Africa, England, Europe, and United States. Millions of copies of his teachings have been distributed in more than 120 countries, providing a solid biblical foundation. He is a writer and speaker of urgency, clarity, and uncompromising faithfulness to the Scriptures. His extensive and very accessible overviews of the books of the Bible have been published and recorded in ‘Unlocking the Bible’, available in CDs, DVDs, and YouTube. He is widely considered to be one of the world’s finest biblical expositors. As of 2013, Pawson, aged 83, is still preaching at events across the globe.

Sermons

Prayers

  1. Prayer without Hindrance
  2. Prayer against the Devil
  3. Pray in the Spirit
  4. Prayer my myself
  5. Prayer with Saints
  6. Prayer through the Son
  7. Pray for others

 

Indepth

Prayer without Hindrance

Hypothesis

Basic problem is the problem of unanswered prayer.  The problem is not is not in God saying No, but the problem is in not getting any answer whatsoever.

Here are the noted areas:

  1. Earthly
    • Right with God
    • Right with Others
    • Right with Self
  2. Heavenly
    • Satan granted permission in our lives
    • God is waiting to act

 

Earthly

  1. Communication breaks down

 

Right with God

  1. Your feelings about God may be wrong
  2. God feelings about you may be wrong
  3. Thoughts
    • Resentment towards God
    • Action
    • Sinning against God in attitude
    • God enlisted each of us to fight against evil
    • Starts with Self
      • Unwilling to begin that battle in our own lives
      • Holding on to what God has said No
      • We have an hindrance
      • Go to God and ask him to show you the sins in your live
    • Forcing God’s hand
      • Lord show me something in my life that you don’t like

 

Right with other people

  1. Not right with others
  2. Peter, the married apostle, said if you are not right with your wife, your prayers will not be heard, less answered
  3. Forgive others
  4. Only condition in the Lord’s prayer is that you forgive
  5. For if you do not forgive, your Father can not forgive you
  6. When others can not forgive you
    • Saw it at 4 O’clock this morning
    • Your brother has something against you, go and deal with it ( Matthew 5 )

 

Right with Self

  1. Right with Me
  2. Getting on my knees, does not change me
  3. Problems in prayer are not isolated to prayer only, but general problems, as well
  4. Just entertain oneself, and only look for entertainment
    • Then how can take time to look deep into the Word of God
  5. Emotionally frustrated
  6. Integrated with one’s true state
  7. Interesting prayers comes from Interesting people
  8. Love for music
  9. Love for nature
  10. My life will impact my prayer
  11. Cultural Stimulated, Physically Alert, & Emotionally
  12. Come into prayer life, integrated and affectionate person
  13. Prayers affects the rest of life
    • If Prayer is keep in a small vessel and apart from other areas of Life, problems might occur
    • Prayer should make mention of other parts of our lives

Heavenly

  1. God if you do not show me, which of the earthly areas there is a block …
    • Then show me where the problem is in Heaven
    • Do not become endlessly introspective
  2. Is Satan trying to discourage me

Satan is fighting you

  1. Daniel
    • As Daniel prayed, two Angels were fighting over it
      • One in Heaven
      • One on Earth
  2. Use every army of God
    • Prayer

It may be God

  1. Quite deliberately not replying
  2. He might not reply as he wants you to move up in the Spirit of Prayer
  3. Now I blessed you, but will not reply for a bit, as I want you to learn

 

In Closing

  1. Beautiful integrated beings
    • I will rather you to take the joy, if I were to trust in the joy, rather than you ( God )
  2. I can succeed in Prayer
  3. God, the Holy Spirit, wants you to succeed

Prayer

  1. Silence
    • Looking through the reasons listed above
  2. Holding on to a sin in the past
    • Hope that is has been forgiven
    • Forgotten when it last occurred
  3. Sin with self
    • Undisciplined and careless in Life
    • Under satanic attack
  4. Heavenly father thanks for speaking to us today

 

 

Prayer against the Devil

  1. Story about a Plantation Owner and his Negro help
    • The Master said the Devil never went after him.
    • The Master shot at some birds.  The Negro went after the birds and tried picking up some of the dead ones.  And, the master called out, why are you going after the dead ones; while you should be going only after the live ones
      • The Devil is only worried about Christians trying to stay alive in prayer
      • The Devil is not worried about Religion
      • Satan trembles when he sees the lowest being on their knees
  2. When you come to know the Lord, you will come to know the Devil at the same time
  3. In any battle, Identify the enemy
  4. Never pray against people, as human beings are not the enemy
  5. Christians are called not just to pray for people, but against principalities
  6. Crime Surge
    • New Enemy
    • Young recruits with novel approach to commiting crimes
    • New Mr. X
    • Build a profile
      • Build picture, character
  7. Who is the Devil
    • He wanted to change one word in the Lord’s prayer
      • To say mine is the Kingdom, and not thine
    • Jesus attributed to him “God of this World“
  8. Why is God allowing Satan to be troublesome
    • He is allowing you free will, as well
    • And, so why should he not allow Satan, as much
  9. Two Books that the Devil hates the most in the Bible
    • Genesis – His devices
    • Revelation – His doom
  10. Once baptised, the Devil comes on the attack
    • Upon Jesus Baptism
      • If you are the Son of God — Questioned Jesus transformation
  11. To prevent prayer, attacks personality
    • Attack Will
      • Laziness
      • Busyness
    • Mind
      • Philosophical Argument
        • Predestination
          • It is already fixed anyway
    • Heart
      • Attack Feelings
      • Obsession of your Heart
  12. During Prayer
    • Unbalanced
      • One aspect of Prayer
  13. Positive Aspects of Prayer
    • The Devil attacks
      • Blind people’s body
      • Blind people’s mind
      • Blind people’s Spirit
  14. Put in whole armor of God ( Defense )
    • Truth
      • You need truth
      • Not your feelings
    • Righteousness
      • No guilt conscience
    • Feet
      • Gospel of truth
    • Arm
      • Shield
    • Mind
      • Salvation
        • God you saved me
  15. Offense
    • Sword of the Spirit
    • Belt
      • Bible
      • Not the whole bible
      • But, the word the Spirit gives you at that time

Pray in the Spirit

Scriptures

  1. Holy Spirit
    • But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.… ( Jude 1:20 )
    • In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. ( Romans 8:26-27 )
    • And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ( Ephesians 6:18 )
  2. Trinity
    1. Praying to the Father, through the Son, from the Holy Spirit
    2. God
      • Listening
    3. Son
      • Interceding
    4. Spirit
      • Getting the prayer together
      • Packaging
  3. When praying in the Spirit
    • The will of God will come through
      • Does God want to heal or not
    • The Glory of Jesus
      • Thoughts will uplift the Lord Jesus
    • Echoes of God’s word
      • The sword of Spirit will come
      • The truth of Scripture
  4. Mind is unfruitful and mind is unproductive
    • Holy Spirit takes over at the mouth level

 

Pray by myself

  1. Law
    1. No one can pray to anyone, but to the King
      • Appealed to the King’s pride