theologer

"For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power." - 1 Corinthians 4:20

Prayer, prayer, prayer. Fight the battle. In power.

I could talk more about it, but it might ruin the point.

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" - 1 Corinthians 1:18

God chose to use the most ridiculous, backwards, illogical way imaginable to bring about his kingdom. The cross is folly to those who are not believers. Why would God use death to bring life?

I remember the movie The Mystery Men where there are bunch of wannabe super heroes who get together to try to accomplish superhero type missions. Throughout the whole movie there is one guy who leads everyone in their training and he basically takes obvious concepts and turns them around to be ridiculous but possibly wise sounding. He says things like "in order to see we must first be blind." Or "If we want to change the world the world must first change us."

The guy is just downright annoying because what he says is so predictable but doesn't seem to have an ounce of thought (let alone truth) behind it. But in a similar way that seems like what God did, "In order to really live, you must first die," or, "The last will be first and the first will be last."

Who says these kinds of things?

The answer is God. Our gospel is compelling because it seems too far fetched for a man to have come up with, which, while not a reason for it's validity, is a reason for its attractiveness. It challenges us to think differently about a world we recognize we are incapable of figuring out.

We know we don't have the answers through what seems logical to us. We've tried living life on our own understanding and we've failed (I know I have). God chose the cross. While foolishness to them, it is the very power of God to us.

The cross is power to us because it is salvation to us. It is power over death. Power over our old man. Power to not be dead in sin, but alive, filled with joy, and supernatural love. Our lives should be compelling to non-believers because of the power of the cross. Is yours?

"'So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!' So they took his advice," Acts 5:38-39

Everyone is complaining about Todd Bentley. Some think he's good, others think he's evil. Some think he's from God, others straight from hell. I hate to use a whole blog entry to discuss this topic but since I could apply it to a verse I thought it fitting.

I take a different stance than most people, and I think mine is easier. Simply - WE DON'T KNOW. And it's really not worth worrying about.

The truth is, God uses people that make you uncomfortable. He'll use people and situations that none of us can comprehend. He is after all, GOD. He's not you. He's not me. He doesn't think like us. In fact, the absolute BEST thoughts you can think about who God is or what methods He might use are still infinitely lower than His worst thoughts.

That is, when you sit down and say "Kicking someone in the stomach is not how God works," you're just absolutely, unequivocally WRONG. I'm not saying that is how he would or will work, simply - who the hades are we to put Him in such a box?

If God wants to save the world through nuclear bombs, He can. He can drop bombs on all the major cities of the world and heal everyone who is in the blast radius (instead of have them vaporized).

It's GOD guys. It's not us. I'm not saying Todd is straight from God. I would imagine like the rest of us he is an unhealthy mix of things from the flesh and things straight from God. These revivals typically have a good mix of things and people who are healed, and people who are completely slimed and undone by what happens.

God can work with the messy. God can work with unhealthy believers. He's God. And we're not. If you're in Florida, I say go check him out, you might even be blessed. Don't take everything he says as straight from God, but remember, the Lord might very well be using him in some weird ways that make you uncomfortable. He has the freedom to do that. He's not a pastor who has to please a congregation, he is the All Mighty. And you, my fellow bloggers... are not.

If he's not from God, he'll just fail. But if he is, it would behoove you not to stand in his way. Take the safe path, it would be a bummer to get to heaven and find out you had stood in God's path.

Posts mentioning Todd Bentley in the last 30 days.

"And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." - Philippians 2:5-8

I once had a conversation with a friend who is not a believer and he was asking me all kinds of questions about creation. How could God create man? How could know what was going to happen in the future etc... Basically it boiled down to him limiting God to human abilities and attributes. At the end of the conversation I wanted to grab him and shake him and yell, but I mostly just told him sternly,

"Thats because you want to worship a God whose no better than man! Do you want to worship a God who has human emotions? Who gets scared? Who has no power? I don't want to worship a God like that, I don't want to know a God like that, I don't want to even believe a God like that exists because he would be no better than man, and I do not want to, nor am I willing to submit myself in worship to a man."

Okay that was long, but my point is, our God is an AWEsome God, our God is a God who can go anywhere anytime and do anything with as much strength as he wants to. He was no wimp. And when he came to earth and knew what it was to be human he humbled Himself to a gruesome terrible death and gave Himself for us, to us. God I'm glad I worship a God like that.

God thank you that you are a God like that. Thank you that you can, and you did move the heavens and the earth to love me and save me.

"And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all." - Luke 6:19

At the risk of sounding repetitive I'm going to talk again about just how awesome our savior is. I know I've been touching on this a lot lately, and I think it might be because I'm trying to beat it into my own head. I'm surprised at how I'll look back at some of the blog entries I wrote a year ago and think "that was a really good lesson, I wish I had learned it by now."

The truth is, our savior Jesus is more awesome, more beautiful, bigger, stronger, and far more loving and powerful than we will ever comprehend. This doesn't mean I wont try... This morning this verse struck me. Power was emanating from His body. People pressed in just to touch Him.

Remember King Midas? Everything he touched turned to gold. That would be a cool power until you wanted to hold your child (or even a TV remote). Shel Silverstein wrote a poem about a guy who everything he touched turned to strawberry jello (or something like that).

Imagine if everything you touched was made right? Imagine knowing that person and walking around with him? People would definitely press in and touch him. I've been seeing a chiropractor for back pain for about a month, I'd kill to be able to touch the Lord and see instant healing.

My point here is God is awesome. Everyone He touched -- and more -- everyone who touched Him, was instantly healed. I want to know, walk with, commune with, and love, this powerful God. I'm so happy I serve an all powerful God "for power came out from him," and not some lame person with emotional problems (or whatever other problems we often project on our Lord).