Expecting the Blessing of Abraham!!

This blog has been a while in coming because to be honest I've struggled believing it! It really does seem too good to be true! That's because it IS too good! Here's the New Testament principle:

Galatians 3:6 (NIV):

"Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness"

Galatians 3:7, 9 (NASB):

"Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham ... So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham".

So Paul lays out quite concisely what Abraham simply did to receive this blessing. "He believed God". Just as concisely we are told what we do to receive the same blessing AS Abraham - we simply also believe God. What then is the blessing that Abraham received? It is a seven-fold blessing and it's found in Genesis 12:2-3;

1. And I will make you a great nation
2. And I will bless you,
3. And make your name great;
4. And so you shall be a blessing;
5. And I will bless those who bless you,
6. And the one who curses you I will curse
7. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

THAT is the blessing that fell upon Abraham and if we are to believe the Word of God - THAT is the blessing coming our way if we have faith! Now I must admit that my religious background hasn't been very pre-disposed to the idea of God actually being passionate about "blessing me abundantly". My initial upbringing was very much instruction on how sinful we were and then my time in Bristol was far too dominated by my now-hated phrase; "Better than I deserve". So you can see I struggle with this. Yes I believe God is ABLE to bless (but as Rob Rufus points out - that isn't faith at all. Even demons believe God is ABLE). Faith is believing God is WILLING to bless!

Even the recent "Preaching the Cross" edited by Dever, Duncan, Mohler et al spoke out against this saying;

"We further deny that any teaching that offers health and wealth as God's assured promises in this life can be considered a true gospel".

Well I understand they may be reacting against health and wealth and the prosperity gospel which teaches that health and wealth is a reward for your faith. But this is different. This is faith in an abundantly generous God who pours out health and wealth among other blessings as a display of His sovereign affection and love for His people. But now I have started to process this awesome revelation - I've started to see it everywhere! For instance Ern Baxter was speaking on "The King, the Kingdom and the Holy Spirit" while I was driving back from London and he said;

"God makes us millionaires to prosper the kingdom of heaven!".

I can hear the evangelical "winces" even as I typed this! But we need to get away from the discomfort with money. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 10:19: "Money answers everything". It's the LOVE of money that is the root of evil! If we start to realise that we are simply stewards of God's blessing and that He has given it to us for the blessing of the nations then it is a whole new perspective, just as if we realise that He empowers us to do signs and wonders and healings for others and not to promote ourselves.

Rob Rufus had such an amazingly helpful perspective on prosperity in his sermon "Established in the Gift of Righteousness - Part 2". It's helpful because I think traditionally the perception was that health and wealth teachers received this "blessing" and ended up with private jets and Rolls-Royces. If you see that God has given you this prosperity as a free and undeserved blessing then how can you squander it in such a way while thousands die in Africa? You can't and you won't surely! Rob said;

"We need to develop in 2009 a receptive attitude - an attitude of receptivity to the goodness and blessings of God. Let's get out of this thing - well I've got enough now! My job pays for my rent, food and travel. That is like living in slavery! The land of "just enough"! God is El-Shaddi - the God who is "more than enough"! Blessing after blessing after blessing! God wants to bless us so that the nations will fear Him!

God wants to release millions of dollars into this church so we will invade the nations and so we will bless! Money says to land; "I can buy you!". Money says to buildings; "I can buy you!". Money says to missionaries; "I can pay you". Money says to the poor; "I can feed you". Money says to the wealthy that God is not against money - He is against the love of money. I don't love money - I love Jesus! I tell you people in this hour who are not greedy are going to be entrusted with the stewardship of great wealth because we will not consume it upon ourselves but release finances to feed the poor and help as the economic downturn gets worse - we are just going to get better!

God will bless your job and bless you with FAR MORE than just to pay your rent! We are not going to finance the gospel in these last days just by salary! Salary will not be enough! It's got to be more! You will find money just coming in - all your richest uncles and aunties are going to die!

Having a receptive attitude means to be living with a confident expectation of good coming into your life. Every day I have got to discipline my mind to stop the negativity, the foreboding, the sense of dread, the sense of this could happen or that could happen, or that loved one could die, or this may happen. This could happen to my church or that could happen to me. I have got to live with a spirit of receptivity - a confident expectation of God that I have come into fulness of grace and from that fulness of grace I am receiving one blessing after another!".

And finally I was interested to see that C Peter Wagner even addressed this in a book of his that I have read recently called "Dominion! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World";

"One of the most effective devices Satan has used to keep the Church from being ready to receive a great transfer of wealth is the pernicious influence of the spirit of poverty. The church in general has been seriously deluded with the widespread notion that piety is closely related to poverty ... (poverty) and many other disasters are termed "curses" (in Deuteronomy 28)".

This all makes so much sense to me. The majority of my frustration with not having enough finances is because there is so much I want to "do" with it. I long to pay for a much needed loft-conversion for Pete and his family, I long to give to help Scott's family out, I long to pour thousands into China to see City Church International's much longed for hospices raised up and precious and dying children cured. I don't want a new car particularly - my little Ford Ka (called "Abi" after it's previous owner - my friend!) gets me from A to B quite speedily!

I love Rob's perspective - and by the way let me say that this hasn't been released on my life ... yet! But this is something I am now in the position of believing and seeing. The true Gospel of grace means that God is FOR us and is abundantly passionate about us!

"Money says to land; "I can buy you!". Money says to buildings; "I can buy you!". Money says to missionaries; "I can pay you". Money says to the poor; "I can feed you". Money says to the wealthy that God is not against money - He is against the love of money".

Let's get considering Abraham!

Todd Bentley's Apostolic and Prophetic Commissioning

I was unaware that a very special event took place in Lakeland, Florida recently. Rob Rufus said this in his sermon last Sunday morning;

"Tomorrow at Florida men that I honour and men that I know and have met like Bill Johnson will be standing on that platform with Rick Joyner and many others of wisdom and father dignity and a long trail of credibility will be standing with Todd and we bless that in Jesus Name!".

So I have looked into what took place a little. C. Peter Wagner opened the meeting and the commissioning and there is a transcript of what he said here. According to this transcript 3 recognised apostolic ministries were present and involved in leading the meeting and blessing Todd Bentley;

"Todd is following Paul’s example by inviting to the platform three apostolic pillars of today’s church: Ché Ahn of Pasadena, California, Bill Johnson of Redding, California, and John Arnott of Toronto, Canada, Todd’s native land. They represent an apostolic network called Revival Alliance".

I found a video clip of some of the proceedings thanks to You-Tube. Here it is:



This event makes things a little more difficult for what some are calling the "scoffers" or what Rob Rufus called; "The doctrine police". It was fairly easy to accuse Todd Bentley of being a lone shark or a loose canoon ball. The unity that something like "Together for the Gospel" excited many. Why should this unity be any different? These ministries may be Pentecostal/Charismatic (and aren't renowned for always standing together) but for I one am really excited at the interest and the passion that what is happening in Florida is attracting. Traditionally many who have been involved in former moves of God often stand against new moves. Yet to see John Arnott standing and lovingly blessing Todd Bentley and what is happening shows TRUE humility.

So I continue to watch what's going on in Florida with loads of excitement at what God will do next after this wonderful blessing in the midst of this unity and this passion and this vision.

Apostles Understood!

I was spurred into re-thinking through the biblical position on the full five ministries of Christ's Ascension Gifts being available and indeed vitally needed today by a comment disagreeing with Terry Virgo's blog on Apostles. Though I didn't mean for this to turn into a mini-series I finished reading C Peter Wagner's book "Churchquake!". I first heard of the book at Stoneleigh Bible Week 1999 when Terry Virgo recommended it, but didn't get round to buying it. Wesley Owen were selling it off for £2.50 so I couldn't resist! It is an excellent and very interesting book. Some of Wagner's predictions such as the fading out of the term "charismatic" have been proved wrong but there is still some very valuable material.

Before I get into some of the key quotes he brought, here are the first two parts:

Part 1 - Apostles Today! - dealing with the traditional objections to apostles today.

Part 2 - Apostles Mean Fathers! - Independent churches aren't always best!

1. Missionaries or Apostles?

I noted that those who do not accept apostles today tend to make much use of the term "missionary" to explain away those who may actually fit the criteria of modern apostles! However Peter Wagner helpfully distinguishes between the two terms.

He defines the ministry of the apostles as following;

"The gift of apostles is the special ability that God gives certain members in the Body of Christ to assume and exercise general leadership over a number of churches with an extraordinary authority in spiritual matters that is spontaneously recognised and appreciated by those churches".

And missionaries as following;

"The gift of missionary is the special ability that God gives to certain members of the body of Christ to minister whatever other spiritual gifts they have in a second culture".

Wagner goes on to examine the subtle differences in both Paul and Peter's ministries.

"Notice the contrast between Peter and Paul. They were both apostles but Peter was not cross-cultural. He was the apostle to the circumcision namely to his fellow Jews. Paul was an apostles primarily to the uncircumcision, the Gentiles ... Peter had the gift of apostle but not the gift of missionary. Paul had both the gift of apostle and missionary".

It is not enough I believe to use the term "missionary" as an acceptable substitute for modern day apostles. My home church was a strong missionary sending base and sent many individuals out to various countries including Africa and Japan. None of them planted churches to my knowledge and I never heard of them imparting the Holy Spirit to those they were ministering to. Their function seemed fall more within Wagner's definition - that they took their giftings whatever they were (usually teaching) and ministered within another culture.

2. Apostles Must Be Fathers!

Wagner went on to emphasise the function of apostles as fathers - this is key. Once again there is much talk of "apostolic ministry" around today but it is hard sometimes to see those who claim to have an apostolic ministry actually behaving as spiritual fathers. Wagner is absolutely correct - being a spiritual father isn't just about domination or authority but about releasing. He wrote;

"Spiritual parents provide ... (a) parental role of empowerment when taken seriously and exercised wisely will raise up children in the faith, many of whom will be subsequently released for their own parental ministry".

And he quoted Bill Hamon as saying;

"True prophetic and apostolic fathers are more interested in those they are fathering come into their ministry than in magnifying their own ministry".

Reading Wagner helped me to understand that that despite the restoration of the Ascension Gifts since the early 1970's - there is still much confusion which is why "Churchquake!" is a useful book. It seems that when we spend the majority of our time defending the biblical view, there is less time available to develop our understanding of it. Peter Wagner is well positioned to do this. Terry Virgo mentioned in his review at Stoneleigh Bible Week 1999 that we would not agree with everything he writes (and that is true) but it doesn't take away from the use of this excellent volume. Let me close with a quote from Wagner as to what he believes the powers of darkness make of the restoration of the Ascension Gifts!

"How the enemy dreads the apostle! How he fears the full restoration of this ministry! A New Testament apostolic function fully deployed within the Church today would significantly impact the dominion of darkness. Satan knows this and I'm sure all of hell shudders at the prospect of the revitilisation of apostles and apostolic people".