TENT OF DAVID FELLOWSHIP Audio Messages

Here is a list of the available audio messages from the Tent of David Fellowship since April of 2008. They are available on CD by request at:

bryanpurtle@mac.com

by phone at:

816.721.2264

of by mail at:

Tent of David Fellowship

3800 Virginia Ave.

Kansas City, MO 64109

If you are able to give a financial gift for the messages we would receive it gladly (we suggest $4 or $5), but if you cannot we are seeking to make them available without cost, as long as we are able to.


Messages from Bryan Purtle:

1.  The Testimony & Witness of Paul     76 min.

2. The Pots & Pans of Zion     65 min.

3. A T.O.D.F. Manifesto     69 min.

4. The Subtlety of Rebellion     64 min.

5. Paul's Concentrated Pursuit of Christ     63 min.

6. Gleanings from the Sermon on the Mount: Introductory Statements     58 min.

7. The Poor in Spirit     70 min.

8. The Blessedness of the Mourning Ones     78 min.

9. The Meek in Spirit     71 min.

10. Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness     67 min. 

11. Blessed Are the Merciful     51 min.

12. Are You a Voice?     65 min.

Messages from Joseph Leal:

1. Crucial Points for Kingdom Life     60 min.

2. We've Been Commissioned     56 min.

Messages from Michele Leal:

1. Don't Underestimate God: The Triumphant Spirit of David     34 min.

Messages from Summer Johnson:

1. The Father is in the Wilderness     18 min.

Messages from Todd Johnson:

1. Invaded By God's Presence     55 min.

2. Taming the Tongue     35 min.

3. If My People Will Pray     40 min.

Messages from Tyson Saller:

1. Discovering a Desire to Give     62 min.

2. Jesus As Lord and King     75 min.

3. The Heart of Phinehas     49 min.

Joseph of Arimathea's Perception by B.P.

"When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus." -Mk. 15.42-43

While on a sabbatical in December of 2005, I stumbled onto the story of Joseph of Arimathea in the Gospel of Luke. Though I had read the story on many occasions over the years, the Lord highlighted it in a fresh way to my heart. In the margin of Luke 23 I wrote, "There is an apostolic sight in Joseph here, and it should be noted how he honored and esteemed the body of Christ."

While the text is clearly a historical account, and while it was not meant by any of the Gospel authors to be mystified (Joseph's story is in all four Gospels), the Lord has quickened several things to my heart that go beyond what a natural reading of the text would give us. I believe we need to see a recovery of the kind of perception that was Joseph's during the historic event of the crucifixion. We're going to look at it primarily in Mark's version, though we'll glean from the other Gospels when necessary. Let's get into the text to peer into what I believe the Lord is getting at.

"When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came..."

The crucifixion took place, as you probably know, on the "preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath..."; namely, what we know as Friday. This must have caused a certain measure of haste in getting the body of Jesus down and moving it to the burial site before the sun went down, for the Sabbath was about to commence. Hear Craig Keener on this:

If Jesus died at 3 p.m. and Joseph stopped to seek Pilate's permission, perhaps only an hour remained before sundown and the prohibition of work. Although anointing and washing the corpse was permissible even on the Sabbath (m. Shab. 23:5), some other elements of the burial could be conducted only in the most preliminary manner for the moment, though undoubtedly hastened considerably through the agency of Joseph's servants. One could not move the corpse or its members on the Sabbath. (Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew; Eerdmans, 1999, p. 691)

So this is a crucial note, "When evening had already come..."

There was a measure of urgency in that which Joseph was setting his hand to. He was a faithful member of the Sanhedrin, and did not want to do damage to the Sabbath, so there was little time to work with. Yet there was something driving him inwardly, a holy value, an otherworldly esteem for the One hanging on the cross.

While Rome thought it was fitting for those crucified to hang on the cross for days to be picked apart by scavenging birds and racked by the elements, this was not the desire of the religious authorities in Israel. They sought to bury their criminals by sundown if at all possible. Even murderers and thieves deserved a timely burial in the minds of first century Jews.

The Scriptures make clear, however, that Joseph was not only being driven by customs, or even good human ethics. He was seeing something that the majority of his colleagues were missing, and even most of Jesus' disciples had withered under the heat of trial that Jesus' arrest and death presented.

But "...evening had already come, because it was the preparation day..."

I wonder if we realize that evening has already come, and that we are in the midst of the most requiring preparation day that the Church has ever known. In the natural sense Joseph scurried around due to the setting of the sun, and we need to see the recovery of an eschatological consciousness to help us see that evening is already upon us- the end of the age is near. We are in preparation for the greatest times of awakening, glory, tribulation and trial that the world has ever known. Are our lives reflecting this? Are we willing to give ourselves lock, stock, and barrel to the kind of preparation that will fit us for the days ahead?

How aware are we that the evening has already come, and that this is the preparation day?

The apostle Paul said, "...brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on...those who use the world" should live as though not to "make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away." (1 Cor. 7.29b, 31)

Friends, the evening has already come, and the "form of this world is passing away." The people of God ought to be marked with a sense of urgency, surrendering their lives to the most ultimate kind of preparation in prayer and fasting, witness, study, and service to family and community. Our dealings and interactions with spouses, children and other saints need again to be counted as "holy unto the Lord." Are we aware that the evening has already come, or are we treating our days as if they are dispensable, without value, hum-drum and mediocre. If we are going from event to event, restaurant to restaurant, movie to movie, conference to conference, and these things have become the high points of our lives, we have been robbed of the kind of Kingdom awareness that God desires us to live in.

Our every day ought to be marked with eternity, with the Spirit of prayer, with an awareness that the evening has already come, and that this is the preparation day. One prophetic man who became a "grandfather" in the faith to me used to tell me that our days should be "charged with remarkable meaning since there really is a Kingdom at hand."

Joseph had a natural urgency because of the setting sun. He wanted to give Jesus an honorable burial, and he did not want to miss or transgress against the Sabbath.

Saints, the "sun" of this age is setting. History's final pages are being turned. It is the preparation day like never before. Are you preparing for His coming? Is your heart free from the spirit of this age, it's allurements, it's greed, it's lusts, it's jockeying for power and position? We need an apostolic kind of seeing in this, for worldly influences are still prevalent in the House of God. The same addictions, bondages and hollow pursuits that the world is caught up with can still be found in the lives of God's people. The same tactics and earthbound methods that the world utilizes still empower much of what we see in modern ministry. We need to come into the kind of weakness that Paul valued. We need holy perception. We need to value what the Lord Himself values and esteems.

It is not the time to get cozy with the world. It's time for a baptism of clear seeing to help us find the exit signs in the busy, fast moving train that our culture constitutes. We need to find the exits, and flee to some still and quiet place where we can focus on the counsel of the Lord. We need to hear His heart, what He is after in our lives, and give ourselves without reservation to that holy preparation. History's evening is already upon us, and the midnight hour approaches. How are you preparing for the Day of the Lord?

"...the day before the Sabbath..."

Again, Joseph did not want to miss out on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a picture of the reign of God in the lives of His people. Jesus demonstrated the reality of the Sabbath by living under the canopy of the Father's authority and government. He was working feverishly among the sick and diseased, but he was at rest from human striving and self-conscious ministry. He was suffused with the power of God, driven by the love of God, and having His being in the wisdom of God. What can be said of our ministries? Are they mechanical and methodologically driven, or are they being carried out in the wisdom and power of Christ? There is only one kind of ministry in the mind of the Lord, and it's that which He accomplishes through us, and if it's His work it will redound to His credit. Who is accomplishing your ministry and who is it unto?

What God was after in the Sabbath was really a preliminary example, or an introduction to the greater Sabbath which came in Christ, and the ultimate Sabbath which will be manifested at the end of the age. When the Lord assumes Kingship over the nations at His return, the entire cosmos will experience a Sabbath that is indestructible, permanent, and beyond anything we've ever imagined. The scholars talk about the "indestructibility and inviolability of the covenant", and we will see its full unveiling during this time, when the Glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. The government of Jesus Himself will be spreading with force and rapidity, and the nations will know war no longer. Sabbath will be the mark of our existence, righteousness will flow like a mighty river, and justice like an ever-flowing stream (Am. 5). O, how I long for His return! It's almost the Sabbath, friends. God will come and make His abode with us. Is that what you're wanting, or are you clinging to something lesser?

Joseph did not want to miss the Sabbath because he valued it, and I wonder if we value the reality of Sabbath. The fact that we are willing to busy ourselves with programmatic ministry, but not to wait on the Lord for His power and life is a statement that we are not really anticipating the great and permanent Sabbath which is to come. Jesus was no doubt busy in ministry, but He was only doing that which He saw the Father doing. "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working." (Jn. 5.17)

Have we rested from our works and been inducted into a resurrection-empowered ministry through communion with the Father? Or are we only operating through our own ideas and creations? There is a Sabbath reality that we are called to walk in, and it is a heavenly peace and rest, out of which will flow the kinds of works that we see the Father doing.

This kind of sabbath reality in our lives will prepare the way for the greater Sabbath to come, when "...the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." (Rev. 21.3-4)

Are you living in the glory of this sabbath now? Are you anticipating the greater Sabbath to come? Friends, it is "the day before the Sabbath", and the Lord is calling us away from the buzz and hype of this religious age, and to the place of prayer and priestly stillness, where we are able to hear His voice, and thereby do the works of God Himself.

"Joseph of Arimathea came..."

There is something to be said for the nature of surrender and response in the lives of Biblical men and women. We are so accustomed to hollow responses to truth that we hardly know what it means to come to the Lord in reality. When the Lord called to Moses from the midst of the bush, he said, "Here I am." (Ex. 3.4) From the initial call, the Lord had Moses in totality. From the first call, Moses responded as a man, "warts" and all. He came to the Lord, even with insecurity, as he found it difficult to believe that the Lord would set him apart as a deliverer. But the Lord had him in the first statement, "Here I am."

We are more apt to give heroic responses and make emotional commitments, but to decay and diminish in the first season of trial. We will commence heroic fasts, or blast off with some impressive outreach, but we are not accustomed to coming to the Lord in totality, where He has us in the valleys as much as He does on the mountains. But the Biblical men knew what it was to come, and even in weakness, their coming was something more than a hollow response.

I love it when Abraham says, "Here I am."

When Isaiah says, "Here am I, send me..."

When Elijah says, "The Lord, before Whom I stand..."

When Paul asks, "What would You have me to do?"

When Jesus says, "Not My will, but Yours..."

There you see, that though they are vessels with weaknesses, they respond to the Lord as men, not as religious performers. We need to see the recovery of this kind of totality in surrender. We need our 'Yes' to be 'Yes' and our 'No' to be 'No'. Joseph's situation was the same:

"Joseph of Arimathea came..."

Why was his coming significant? Why was it something more than the common experience of coming and going? Because his coming was not by choice of pleasure, nor was it self-driven. He was coming as a man who was willing to give honor to One who had been dishonored on a national scale. He was going against the tide of his generation to show value to Someone who had the highest esteem in the invisible courts of Heaven, but was despised in the courts of men. I wonder how brash and biting the wind was against the face of Joseph. What did it require of his soul to follow what he knew to be true of Jesus? He was a prominent member of the Council, but his associates were not tracking with him at all. In fact, they were in an opposing stream, and he was required to swim against the tide.

"Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council..."

I don't believe that this is an unimportant detail. There is a principle being laid out here. It is very possible that Mark is getting this information from the apostle Peter, as many consider him to be Mark's primary resource. Perhaps this point was inserted by Peter and Mark to show us the manner of man that Joseph was.

He is called a "secret disciple" in John's account, and he remained a secret disciple out of fear of his colleagues and kinsmen who did not receive Jesus in the way that he did. So there is a remarkable tension mounting here. You have Joseph, a prominent member of the Council of the Sanhedrin, moving along with his associates during the event of the crucifixion. His heart is breaking as he watches his own colleagues make mockeries of the Messiah, pulling out sections of His beard, spitting upon Him, and hurling abuses at Him with the very Scriptures that were meant to magnify Him.

Joseph is walking alongside persecutors, seeing a live example of the deception that comes upon men when they function in a religious system that lacks the reality of God. He sees that men have put the Son of God in chains and depreciated His Manhood. They have been blinded to His deity, and defaced His humanity. The Son of God is being utterly despised in ways beyond description, and here you have a "prominent member of the Council" whose soul is cracking and breaking on the inside. I can almost see him at the back of his circle of colleagues, vision blurred by tears as he looks upon the Man on the cross, while heckling men shout blasphemies that echo down the hill. Joseph is weeping and trembling inwardly, for another wisdom is moving on the inside of his heart. He is losing sight of his prominence, and a love for the Crucified One is rising in His soul.

I don't think Mark is mentioning this to hype up the Christian testimony. In other words, he is not using the "fame" or prominence of Joseph to validate the Christian witness. I believe he is trying to tell us that Joseph was being compelled to break out of the "course of this age", and to do something that could bring reproach and shame upon him, perhaps even threatening his career and future provision.

Therefore, when "Joseph of Arimathea came", his coming was not an insignificant detail in the story. He was surrendering to the truth that was flowing like waves through his inner-man. He treasured this Man too much to let Him go without an honorable burial. He did not have the book of Romans to undergird his Christology, but he knew this Man was worthy of honor. He knew that he was seeing something that the others were not seeing. He believed Him, though the disciples had fled and his colleagues had bitterly opposed Him. He had a sight that enabled him to value and esteem that which was being despised by men all around him.

What about you, friend? Are you feeling the resistance of this world's view of Jesus and the Gospel? Are you willing to go against the tide of this age and to value and treasure the Man on the cross? Do you see the glory of the cross, or is your soul finding treasure in some other place?

Joseph gave away one of his own reserved family tombs to make a place for the body of a Man who had been marked a heretic and a deceiver. It was a lavished place for burial, and one wouldn't give away a tomb of that quality unless there was a unique appreciation for the one being buried. Joseph was unconsciously fulfilling prophecy, and demonstrating a wisdom that this world cannot fathom or make sense of. When we are seeing by the Spirit, we too will unconsciously fulfill prophecy, and the world will not know what to make of it.

"...who himself was waiting for the Kingdom of God..."

Here we get another glimpse into the kind of man that Joseph was. Though surrounded on every side by religious power and pomp, he had a spiritual longing that grafted him into a continuum with the prophets of old. He is described as was Simeon in Luke's Gospel: one who was "waiting for the Kingdom of God." Isn't it remarkable? Simeon had the discernment to recognize the presence of Israel's King in a little Jewish infant. Amid the cries of other children being circumcised that day, he saw the "light that lightens the Gentiles and the glory of the people Israel" in the weakness of a common Carpenter's newborn Son.

Joseph too recognized the glory of Israel, but in a mangled, bloody and bruised, terribly marred Man who was being crucified between criminals. Simeon valued Him in his babyhood, and Joseph valued Him at the place of His death. The incarnation and the crucifixion are the greatest displays of the nature and character of God, and it is utterly impossible to recognize their glory unless you are "waiting for the Kingdom of God", and have learned to value what He values.

Are we that sensitive to the presence of the Lord? These men recognized and esteemed Him when men walking in natural wisdom did not even acknowledge His presence. They rejoiced in Him, cherished Him, and exalted Him when there was no logical reason to declare Him as King. Are we missing His presence in the everyday affairs of life? Are we like Simeon, led by the Spirit to acknowledge Him in the midst of the temple traffic, or are we like the men who circumcised Him, caught up in another religious service- one among many that are all too common, mundane, and devoid of awe and wonder?

Have we placed any measure of trust in our own righteousness, in our ability to produce successful Christian programs, or in the power of democracy or other man-centered political paradigms? Simeon and Joseph were waiting for the Kingdom of God on both ends of Jesus' earthly life, and they were granted a vision into His heart that few were able to see. They valued what He valued, were required to go against the tide of their generations, and were privileged with honor from the Lord. Their names will always be known in annals of Heaven's history. Where would we like our names to be known?

Are we "waiting for the Kingdom of God", or are we hoping for ministerial success so that our bank accounts and reputations will be bolstered up? Are we God-centered servants, or are we being fueled by human influence and prestige? If we are being moved by the praises of men, we may well find ourselves in the same shoes as Joseph's colleagues, thinking we are doing God's works, accurate and prominent in leadership attributes, but having a hand in crucifying that which He loves and esteems.

If we are waiting for the Kingdom of God, we will value what He values, even if it is presently mangled and without human attractiveness.

"...and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus."

I don't know what was required for Joseph to come to this kind of intentionality and resolve. He was bent on burying Jesus honorably, and while it is unlikely that he had a place of influence before Pilate's throne, he gathered up courage and went before him.

Now Pilate is far from a type of the Lord, but there is something we can draw out of this, and it will require a courage that we have yet to come into corporately.

In the same way that Joseph valued the body of Christ, though it was mangled and disfigured, we have a holy calling to value and esteem Israel and the Church no matter how immature, incomplete, and unattractive they are. It's not a humanistic, seeker-sensitive value. It's an intimate enjoinment of our lives and prayers with the life and prayer of Jesus Himself. He is jealous over His people, and while He has severe correctives for the Church in our generation, He is still at the right hand of the Father, ever living to "make intercession" on our behalf.

This is a challenge to all who are "waiting for the Kingdom of God", and are jealous for truth, holiness, and the fullness of Christ. When we look upon the Body of Christ, we usually see disfigurement and something less than what we would expect from a royal priesthood. In fact, many of the descriptions that the Scriptures give of God's people (e.g., "body", "army", "family", "holy ones", "community", etc.) do not seem to match what we commonly see in the Church, no matter what segment or movement you look at. Within our own fellowships, if you have relationship with the saints you will find so many idiosyncrasies, tensions and childish thought patterns that you could grow discouraged at the condition of the Church real fast. There are divisions throughout, compromises, bad doctrines, and faulty teachings much akin to the condition of the Church at Corinth in the 1st century. Yet Paul's manner of relating to them was not professional, condescending or stand-offish. It was fatherly. He knew that he was looking upon a mangled and disfigured Body that was in need of further death and burial before a resurrection glory would result. For that reason he called them "saints", "sons", and "holy ones", and confronted the erroneous teachings and morals out of an apostolic humility. It was not a humanistic, manipulative attempt at external humility. It was the very experience of the cross. "Death works in me, so life in you." He was seeing "after the Spirit", and like Joseph of Arimathea he had the grace to value the Body of Christ though the natural man would see little or nothing that was worthy of esteem.

We have to realize that the Body is radically connected with the Head, even if that reality is not being manifest in full as of yet. It has been pointed out by numerous teachers that when Saul of Tarsus encountered his Messiah on the road to Damascus Jesus revealed the intensity of His connection to the Body when He asked, "Why do you persecute Me?" Rather than asking, "Why do you persecute my followers?", He revealed His intimate identification and union with them, and Saul trembled unto salvation.

There ought to be a certain trepidation about our dealings with brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ. If you find it easy to heckle and defame fallen leaders, teachers with imbalanced messages, or saints from another stream or denomination than your own, you may well be operating in the same spirit that rested on Joseph of Arimathea's colleagues. In your attempts at being "correct", you may well be speaking out against the Body of Christ, and thus Jesus Himself. If you do not have a value and esteem for those believers for whom you carry 'concerns', you are likely ill-fitted to address or bring correction to them.

When Jesus set out to correct the waywardness and error of mankind, He sealed the deal by spilling all of His blood on our behalf. He did not open His mouth in defense or correction, even when he was being portrayed in an inaccurate way. He set the human race aright through death. Can you say that you are looking upon the Body with that kind of mercy and sacrifice? Until you are aligned with His own love, you are incapable of bringing the kind of correction that the Lord appoints. He is still at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us amidst our immaturity and blemishes, and He is requiring the same kind of mercy and intercession from us. Where corrections are needed they will come in His time and through the vessels that He chooses, but our first responsibility is to come into alignment with His heart in the place of prayer. Have you got that kind of selfless value for the Body, though it is currently a bloody mess, emaciated and unattractive?

Though Pilate is no type of the Lord, it will require the same type of courage for us to lay aside our arrogance, personal kingdom building, religious correctness and self-will to go before the King of heaven and "ask for the Body of Jesus." If we are not "waiting for the Kingdom of God" we may be satisfied with asking for the success of our own ministries. We may be satisfied with feeling like our doctrine is superior to "those other guys in that other movement." But if we have Joseph's perception, we will go against the tide of religious prestige and the arrogance of heady knowledge to gather up courage, prostrate our lives before the King, and ask for the Body of Jesus, which is "...the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way."

I don't know about you, friends, but I'm not interested in starting my own movement or denomination. I want to see the fullness of Christ expressed through a people comprised of saints from every tribe and tongue. I have my own spiritual disfigurements, my own fellowship has immaturity and imperfect doctrines, and so does the rest of the Church. "We see in part."

But if we are "waiting for the Kingdom of God", if we want His glorification only, we can look with forbearance upon our fellowships, and upon other Christian movements and denominations. We can gather up courage to intercede for the Body of Christ, "until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." (Eph. 4.13)

I'm asking for the Body of Christ, and I want to treasure it, even in it's dying, so that a resurrection can result. There is no resurrection without death, and if we have hopes of reviving something that has never before experienced true life we negate the necessary process of God. There must first come a death to our self-seeking and self-reliance if we want to see Christ magnified in His Body. But we ought not think that we have that life by the accuracy of our paradigms or ecclesiological conclusions. There is only one gateway to the resurrection life of Christ, and it is through death. Death to our arrogance, death to our achievements, death to our uppity correctness.

In the valley of the dry bones of Israel, Ezekiel was asked, "Son of Man, can these bones live?" We would be quick to give the Lord a verse about the resurrection, or to say, "Yes, Lord. Remember Lazarus? If You can do it for him, surely You can do it for them!" Ezekiel was on a whole different plane. He was not responding out of a pre-packaged correctness. He was utterly dependent upon the resurrection life of God, so he replied, "Lord, You know."

It was that radical hope in the God of resurrection that caused the Lord to put the ball back into his court, "Prophesy to these bones..." When Ezekiel refused to play the know-it-all, the Lord said, "Ah. He knows something about dependency. He knows something about his own limitations. He knows something about my wisdom and power. He is fit to bear the authority to prophesy to the dead bones of his nation- to command life to come back into them."

We think we've got the New Testament model of Church all hemmed in. We think our groups are superior to the others, our books are the most anointed, our services are the most impressive. We think we know what it means to be apostolic and authentic. The Lord is looking down upon our presumption and saying, "They won't be fit to prophesy until they are broken and completely cast upon the Rock." We've got to be able to say with Ezekiel, "Lord, You know."

Can you pray for that death to have its full work in the Church without looking upon her with condescension? This is the mystery of apostolic sight. Paul could call the saints at Corinth "holy ones" (1 Cor. 1), though they were far from complete or mature. He gave himself to intercessions on their behalf, that Christ might be formed in them.

It's easier to criticize and write negative articles than it is to come into this kind of identification with a Body that is mangled, disfigured, and unattractive to our religious hopes. But the Son of God displays another wisdom, and we see glimpses of it in Joseph of Arimathea.

It's going to require courage, friends. We've never prayed quite like this before. We've never ascended Golgotha to this altitude before. But the joy is set before us. For after this process played itself out, "he granted the body to Joseph." (v. 45b)

If we identify with the Son of God in His intercessions for the Church, we will see the formation and emergence of His Body, and it will be a witness unto Israel and the nations. It will bear His own nature and character. It will be immersed in the Scriptures, walking in holy power, Divine love, and true Godly meekness. It will be marked by the fear of the Lord and the beauty of His holiness. Men will take notice and be transformed, some will fear and oppose it, but the reality of God will again be known in the earth. The powers of darkness will again be made to tremble, as they did when God's wisdom was openly displayed on the cross.

Since Joseph valued the body of Christ, even in death and disfigurement, a context was provided for the resurrection glory to spring forth from. Death is not the end, friends. Death is a gate to eternal glory. Just as Jesus was raised by the Father, so shall the Church be raised up, fit to overcome in the midst of the most trying times mankind has ever known. We will be fit to bear witness to the love of Christ, even to the point of death.

Friends, God is coming to the earth. We need to cry out for a heavenly perception.

Are you aware that "evening has already come"?

Are you giving yourself to Him in this "day of preparation"?

Are you willing to forsake whatever "prominence" you have if it hinders or impedes God's desires and purposes?

Are you "waiting for the Kingdom of God"?

Are you "asking for the Body of Jesus"?

O, for Joseph's perception! O, that God may have a people who walk in the fear of the Lord, demonstrating the mercy and wisdom of God until Christ "shall be all in all."

Father, we ask for the recovery of Joseph of Arimathea's perception, for the willingness to go against the tide of this age and all it represents, to value that which You value. We recognize our weakness. We are waiting for the Kingdom of God, for there is no other answer to the predicament of the nations. Would you breath upon the Church, in all of our immaturity and incompleteness, and give us a Kingdom view? Would you take away our blindness, and give us Your perception? We are not willing to pursue mere success in ministry, and we are weary of being absorbed with our personal callings and destinies. We are asking for the Body of Jesus. Give us the right perception, give us courage, and let Your name be glorified from this time forth, and forever. Amen.

The Prophet's Cosmic View

The prophets of Israel were remarkable men who had been seized by the hand of the Lord and brought into a cosmic view of time and eternity, righteousness and rebellion, mercy and judgment, Kings and nations, and the stunning responsibility of speaking on behalf of the One on the Throne.

In 1962, Abraham Heschel's classic two-volume set "The Prophets" hit the printing presses. It was a work which started out as his Ph.D. thesis in German, and eventually grew into book form, becoming a widely heralded masterpiece on the subject of prophetism. One of the questions he asked in the first volume is looming large in my spirit at this writing, and in an age where there are many boasts and testimonies of prophetic activity in the Church of the West, I think it behooves us to consider it.

Heschel's question, inspired by long and laborious perusals of the oracles of the Hebrew Bible, was this:

"What manner of man is the prophet?"

Many have asked this question in recent decades, and some have sought to give answers. Indeed, movements and ministries have been raised up with men bearing the title of "prophet". You can find movements which place the bulk of their emphasis on supernatural activity, in terms of visions, dreams, interpretations and personal words of prophecy. You can find others who say that a prophet is basically one who preaches a message of repentance. Both views have valuable aspects, and should not be thrown out as a whole. There are many variations of these two emphases, and the opinions are often shared with great feeling and concern.

While Eph. 2.20 refers primarily to the apostles and prophets of the Scriptures, it's clear that without these kinds of foundational servants the Church is going to be severely hindered from coming into the fullness of God. It is most likely to go through unfortunate cycles of backsliding, leaning on the arm of the flesh, and functioning in a mode of life that is far removed from the reality that the Lord has intended and desired. Unless we see the formation and emergence of the kinds of servants that Paul saw as crucial for the Church's maturity, we run the risk of celebrating all kinds of external ministry successes that will crumble in the day of trial, having been built on faulty foundations.

It is vital, therefore, that we revive the question, "What manner of man is the prophet?"

I am suspicious of the great chasm that has been fixed between the role of the OT prophet and the role of the NT prophet. The idea that a NT prophet has an entirely different ministry, one of edification and encouragement only, is a distortion of the overarching testimony of the Scriptures. This distortion has much to do with the lack of a distinction between the Spiritual gift of prophecy, which may be given to any believer in the Body, and the foundational ministry of the prophet, which is reserved for the Lord's choosing and can only be placed upon a mature servant of the Lord. The first is accessible to any believer, whether he is a new convert or a seasoned elder. The latter is a holy appointment, a sacred office, and it is reserved for the one whom the Lord has anointed, consecrated, and commissioned for this particular ministry. The blurring of these lines has caused great damage, men have often been prematurely or falsely appointed, and the standard of the prophetic call has been cheapened. We need to recognize this distinction, encourage an atmosphere where the gift of prophecy can bring edification to the Body, while maintaining a jealousy for the raising up of foundational prophetic servants.

It is my contention that we have done with the prophet what we have done with the Lord Himself. We have interpreted the prophet's role and nature based on our experience, or based on what best meets our present satisfaction. The fact that we have fashioned our own ideas of prophetic ministry is evidenced by the fact that so many believers who are boasting prophetic activity are virtually non-literate, uninterested and unfamiliar with the words of the Prophets of Scripture.

Many have seen Israel's prophets as the old order of prophetic ministry, but some elements of the "new order" that have been presented seem to me to run contrary with the Spirit and stature of everything prophetic in both testaments. We have so little written in the NT of prophetic ministry that it is difficult to be as specific as many have sought to be in recent times. Even so, the overall view of the Spirit and nature of prophetic work has not changed in the NT, as I see it. The prophet's ministry is one of recovery and restoration, calling his hearers away from self-absorption, deception and apostasy, and back to God Himself, back to righteous living, back to love and humility, back to reality.

Little is said of Agabus, Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas in terms of prophetic function, but we see the greatest Prophet, Jesus Himself, in remarkable breadth in the Gospels. We see John the prophet's experience, and the message he is called to convey over the course of 22 chapters in the book of the Revelation. These are New Covenant prophets in the highest sense, and the thrust of their ministry and message is the same as that of the OT prophets. The revelation of God and the message of His Kingdom have only deepened and become more pronounced. Their message is not contrary to that of the OT prophets, it is the fulfillment and fuller proclamation of the same vision and view. Why should it be something less? Jesus is the Eternal One who has never changed, and John was encountering the same God that the OT prophets encountered! NT prophetic ministry flows in a continuum with the OT prophets, but it presents more clearly and more fully the heart and Kingdom of God.

I am therefore dubious about an idea or expression of prophetic ministry that runs against the grain of the revelation of God already given in the Scriptures. If we have thousands of believers acquainted with prophetic ministry who consider the words of Israel's prophets to be somehow "old-hat" or irrelevant to us, then what are we tending towards? If Jesus didn't come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it, then could it be that the idea of NT prophets replacing OT prophetical stature and function is erroneous and even a gateway to eventual deception? If our idea of any ministry removes or lessens the sense of God that the early prophets and apostles conveyed, should we not raise a cry?

The prophets of Israel had a cosmic view, which means that they had been lifted above the wisdom and counsel of their contemporaries and brought into a revelation of the government and Kingdom of God. They saw beyond the tangible, past the immediate, and through the veneer that most of their friends and neighbors were content to hide behind. They could no longer "go with the flow" of material pursuits, religious pomp, or any other idea of life which robbed them of the presence and heart of the Holy One of Israel. This marked them out as different.

They were distinguished from the religious functionaries of their day because they communicated a word and vision of God as He is, and not as men had fancied Him to be.

The great issue of history is that men have not been willing to receive God as He has revealed Himself. They have been offended at Him, unwilling to surrender their lives to His leadership. They have loved pride when He delights in humility. They have loved hate when He delights in compassion. They have loved sin when He delights in righteousness. They have loved unequal weights and measures when He desires truth in the inmost parts.

The world and its systems is perpetuated and carried along by a pursuit of freedom, pleasure, and self-gratification that is the antithesis of the Lord's intention for creation. The world is content to live in a pipe-dream. It is happy with the fantasy. "Ignorance is bliss," they say. The prophet comes to yank the wool from our eyes. He is a holy remembrancer, calling us back to reality and truth, dashing our self-centric dreams to holy desert grounds, where we are compelled by fear and awe to remove our sandals. We see with wide eyes and dropped jaws that our opinions and rights are the expression of the most despicable kind of presumption. Our feet are bared, and we fall prostrate. We can not proceed to walk in the same way any longer.

Here are some of Heschel's thoughts on the manner of the prophet:

"While others are intoxicated with the here and now, the prophet has a vision of an end. The prophet is human, yet he employs notes one octave too high for our ears. He experiences moments that defy our understanding. He is ...an assaulter of the mind. Often his words begin to burn where conscience ends. The prophet is an iconoclast, challenging the apparently holy, revered, and awesome. Beliefs cherished as certainties, institutions endowed with supreme sanctity, he exposes as scandalous pretensions.


The prophets must have been shattered by some cataclysmic experience in order to be able to shatter others. The words of the prophet are stern, sour, stinging. But behind his austerity is love and compassion for mankind.


Others may suffer from the terror of cosmic aloneness, the prophet is overwhelmed by the grandeur of the divine presence. He is incapable of isolating the world. There is an interaction between man and God which to disregard is an act of insolence. Isolation is a fairy tale.


...The prophet’s word is a scream in the night. While the world is at ease and asleep, the prophet feels the blast from heaven.


...the purpose of prophecy is to conquer callousness, to change the inner man as well as to revolutionize history.


It is embarrassing to be a prophet. There are so many pretenders, predicting peace and prosperity, offering cheerful words, adding strength to self-reliance, while the prophet predicts disaster, pestilence, agony, and destruction." (The Prophets Vol. I, A. Heschel; Harper Colophon Books, 1962)

The prophet of God is a broken man; one who has been devastated at the plight of the nations. He has a "fierce loyalty" to the Lord, and his heart is shattered from the realization that the God of holiness and beauty is being neglected while men and their often petty systems are being exalted and celebrated. When the Name of God is denigrated, disrespected, or misappropriated, the prophet's heart burns with a jealousy for the restoration of true worship.

The prophet has a cosmic view, a heavenly vision, for He has encountered the God who transcends our prepackaged categories and preferences. He has come to know the Lord as He is, and His heart cannot be satisfied until the ones to whom he has been called have come into that intimate knowledge themselves. This is why the prophet is foundational.

The prophet is the bearer of the thoughts and words of God Himself. He is an earthen vessel, radically connected to the society that surrounds him, yet conveying and communicating a wisdom and reality that the common man and the frivolous religionist have not been willing to see and hear. He is among the people, identifying with them in mercy. He is not an aloof, self-righteous pietist. He is an awakener, using words and tears to remind us how God really feels and thinks. He lives in the world of God. He has been converted from carnality, broken from his arrogance, severed from self-sufficiency. He introduces us to God's world, the heavenly Kingdom, and everything depends upon whether we casually receive his word, reject it, or take it into the deepest parts of our hearts and lives.

The prophet is not a self-consciously dramatic character, doing what he thinks prophets do in attempts at filling a role or office. A prophet is a God-fashioned, God-intoxicated, God-inspired man with a cosmic view of time and eternity. He sees beyond the mundaneness of everyday affairs, the buzz of modern politicking, the pull of fashion and entertainment, and any man-centered attempts at ministry. He is not inflated by flattery, and he has learned to rejoice when opposed. He realizes that he is bearing a Kingdom view which is of utmost value to his hearers. Indeed, life and death hang on the words that he proclaims.

He is not a showman, boasting of a title or inwardly aching for religious fame. Nor is he a grouchy man, putting on some kind of an archaic garb and spiritual aura with hopes that he might remind us of Moses. He does not have to try at being "prophetic." There is nothing self-conscious about a foundational servant of the Lord. They are not speaking on behalf of their opinions or the lifting up of their reputations. They have been stricken with a vision of the majestic One, and they speak out of that reality.

I wonder why we have heard so much about prophets, why people will flock by the thousands to conferences and events in hopes of receiving a "personal prophetic word", when so few have been willing to crack open the Scriptures to hear from the men whom the Lord Jesus valued as prophets. I'm not discounting the genuine works of the Spirit that we see in many circles. I'm asking some serious questions here. Could it be that we have in many ways made our own God, and have not been willing to receive Him as He is? If we are willing to chase men who call themselves prophets, and who have the latest insights and revelations which bring us a positive lift without dealing with the issue of sin, then who are we really hearing from? What manner of man is the prophet, and what manner of a God is he presenting and proclaiming?

I will likely be accused of discouraging the prophetic gifts by asking questions like this, but that is not my intention. We need to "eagerly desire" the gifts, and I have pursued the Lord for their increase in the church for over a decade. But I believe these questions are crucial for our future witness and maturity. If what we have known as prophetic has not brought us into the same consciousness, the same trembling, the same holiness, the same cosmic view that the prophets of Israel and the apostles of the New Testament came into, what can we say of its veracity? Is it the same prophetic reality?

Perhaps a measure of blessing comes as a result of many of these meetings and expressions. I am certain that the Lord is working in many ways through various expressions in the Body, and that healing and blessing have come to many in every setting where Jesus is being lifted up. Perhaps a facet of the Lord's heart is received, and I don't want to discount or disregard that. But where is the sense of the fear of the Lord? How can the Church go on with hundreds of pastors stepping down from ministry a month due to sexual sin? How can we blend in so successfully with a world that is moving at breakneck speed toward eternal judgment?

I am convinced that the stature and call of a prophet has not changed with the New Covenant, it has only deepened. Christ has become the center and fulfillment. The Gift of Prophecy has become available to all saints, not just to a select few.

Moses' cry that all God's people were prophets has become a brighter possibility, but we will not come into that prophetic reality if we are unwilling to receive Him as King, Father, and Judge. We will not come into that prophetic reality as long as we are chasing after faddish teachings or personality-exalting, successful ministries. If the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then the Church has a responsibility to be sure that the God we are worshiping and proclaiming is the same as the God that the prophets and apostles of the Scriptures heralded. The cosmic view of the prophets revolved around God Himself, and if He is not being proclaimed as He has revealed Himself, we are in grave danger of falling into a pit with the other blind guides of our generation.

Could it be that with all of our teachings on the prophetic, all of our conferences on the prophetic, all of our insights of prophetic ministry, that most of us have yet to come into the kind of union with the Lord that produced the men who became foundational for our faith? I am thankful for every genuine furtherance of the work of the Spirit in recent years, but my heart is crying out for the fullness of Christ. I know there is a greater love, a greater sense of the fear of the Lord, a higher place of abandonment to His heart. O, for a greater vision of God Himself! The world is perishing for want of true servants who have come out from the holy place, proclaiming the truth of God with incandescent hearts!

“I would choose to see the brightness of the heavenly things, although their lightning-glory leave me blind henceforth to any earthly glow; and I would hear but once the voice of God Almighty sweep in thunder from His Throne, although from hence mine ear be deaf to the sweet trembling chime of this world’s music. I had rather stand a prophet of my God, with all the thrills of trembling, which must shake the heart of one who in earth’s garments, in the vesture frail of flesh and blood, is called to minister as seraphs do with fire- than bear the palm of any other triumph.” -Unknown author, quoted by Oswald Chambers

The Lord is jealous to mold and fashion a prophetic people, walking in the joy of the Lord and the brightness of His holiness. We need to be staggered and awakened from our fairy-tale paradigms, and brought into the revelation of God, and His coming Kingdom. Prophets will bring this necessary jolt.

The prophets of old foresaw a coming King, a Judgment approaching, and a glory covering the earth as a result. They wept in compassion over their own people, who could usually be found straying from the primacy of worship and the hope of His calling. They cried out in warning, with a merciful identification and an intercessory burden. They were glowing witnesses during days of unrighteousness. What will we be in our generation, friends?

If the Lord is jealous to raise up a prophetic Church that loves with His love, is holy as He is holy, and extends His Kingdom to Israel and the nations, how can we give ourselves to any other pursuit, whether secular or religious?

God Himself is coming, saints, and we are not prepared for His coming. Israel is not yet ready. The nations are drastically ill-prepared. When He comes, He will come as Judge and Saviour. There will be terrible judgment and devastation, nations rising up against nations as never before. To the degree that the Lord has a Church of this quality in the earth, to that degree will salvation, revival, and mercy break forth in the midst of the upheaval.

We have a prophetic call to weep and pray, to give ourselves to time in worship and in the Scriptures. We have a call to purify our hands and cleanse our hearts from the sin and pride of this age. We have a responsibility to speak the truth to one another in love. We have a mandate to proclaim His Gospel in every dark place.

What kind of view are you walking in? Does your vision for life consist of a hollow 60 to 70 years of pursuing your own pleasures and wants? Is your vision for ministry a mere hope for success in the worldy sense, accolades from family, friends and colleagues? Or have you been stricken with the majesty of God and brought into the heavenly vision?

We need something more than a Christian T-Shirt and a tract, friends. We need something more than an impeccable model for Church structure. We need something more than impressive buildings and state-of- the-art equipment. We need a cosmic view. We need to see what the prophets of old saw. They saw the beauty and holiness of God. They had glimpses of His coming Kingdom, and they came into the realization that the earth was tottering under the weight of sin, pride and rebellion. Out of the revelation of God and His coming, they cried out for mercy. If we are not crying out as they did, it's because we are not seeing as they saw.

JUDGMENT IS NOT THE FINAL WORD

As we come into prophetic reality, we will see mercy and salvation released in our day. And at the end of this age, we will see the ultimate release of righteousness and mercy when "the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus." (2. Thess. 1.7-8)

The cosmic view of the prophets did not end in the Judgment. They were possessed by a Divine hope. Judgment, trouble, and turbulence do mark the end of the age, but tribulation is not the final word. The prophetical visions in Scripture end in great glory, the permanent destruction of death, the removal of all sin and sickness, and the indestructible reality of a New Heaven and New Earth inhabited by God Himself!

The prophets panted for this day, the apostles yearned for His return, and they all labored for an expression of that future Kingdom in their present experiences. What a view to abide in. What a hope! What a worship-inducing vision. The hour is later than we know, and the King of Glory is coming. Are you content to live outside of this cosmic view? Are you treating life with a holy sobriety? Do you have a cry for the fullness of Christ and the establishment of His Kingdom in the nations, or are you content with something less?

"The Bible stirs up an intense and unquenchable hope that an age of time is coming on this earth, inconceivably wonderful, when all that we have ever dreamed will fade into silly fancies beside the reality." -Oswald Chambers

O God, restore the reality of the prophetic vision. We want to more actively join the company of these foundational servants. Let our lives burn with the same passion, brim with the same hope, tremble with the same awe, and love with the same heart. Bring about the recovery of prophetic reality, and let your Name be glorified in Jerusalem, and in the cities of the earth.

The Blessedness of the Mourning Ones by Bryan Purtle

"Blessed are those who mourn..." -Matt. 5.4a

The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most staggering portions of Scripture.

Oswald Chambers noted that it was calculated to throw our humanity and self-sufficient religiosity into despair, for there is no soul- however impressive their spirituality may seem- who can meet its requirements without an infusion of supernatural grace.

Indeed, when we peer into this sermon we are stricken by the wisdom of a heavenly milieu; a resurrectional mode of being. Are we living in the reality of this awesome message?

The remarkable thing is that Jesus had a no-holds barred, intensely deliberate motive when He sat down on the hill and opened His mouth to speak. He was jealous for His followers to come into the quality and depth of life that He was introducing, and He believed that His own obedience to the Father would provide the way for us to do just that. I wonder how much less intentional we've been in the hearing of the Sermon than He was in the giving of it.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones believed that one of the greatest schemes of the devil was to convince believers that the Sermon on the Mount was not to be literally applied to their lives. He believed that the low quality of moral living, the lack of the fear of the Lord in much of the Church, the absence of joy in the life of the believer, the prayerlessness that still prevails in most places, and the general superficiality that most of our ministries are marked by could all be linked on some level with the Church's inadequate consideration of what Jesus gave us in this awesome Sermon.

Over sixty years ago, Dietrich Bonhoeffer unintentionally tripped over the truth and landed face down on foundational ground. The simple revelation that struck his heart was this: the Sermon on the Mount was actually meant to be lived out by those who are following Jesus.

For decades the scholars had been mystifying its statements, critically examining its origins and relishing in heady, intellectual conclusions on the Sermon. To many of them, it had lost its fire and been robbed of its cogency. They examined it technically and symbolically, and though they were neck-deep in studious labors, many of them were far from touching its true vitality. Dietrich's heart was awakened to its freshness, and the radicalness of its demands and promises. Consequently, he gave us his masterful work, The Cost of Discipleship.

Leonard Ravenhill called Matthew 5-7 "the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest Man who ever lived." Have we held it in the same esteem, or has it become mere flourish to us? Have we read it with trembling hands and rejoicing hearts, or do we fly through it as we would fly through the newspaper ads or some other fleeting subject?

These are eternal verities, weighty and buoyant, and it will require an entire surrender of heart to hear them rightly.

T. Austin Sparks tells us that:

Truth received and not responded to brings spiritual declension and loss of capacity.

In what manner are you hearing His words? If we think we've got it all together, or that we need not heed a word given because we've heard it before and it has become familiar to us, we have made ourselves eligible for a despicable numbness of heart that is capable of taking us downhill fast. The words of Jesus are Spirit and they are Life, and if they cease to bring our hearts to a place of awe, the chances are that we are not hearing Him rightly.

"...take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him." (Lk. 8.18)

THE MOURNING ONES

Within the majesty of the Sermon on the Mount there are statements that have been heralded more loudly and frequently, and there are more subtle statements that are not considered as often. This statement, "Blessed are those who mourn", falls into the latter category. Most of the time it is quoted and expounded in times when we are seeking to console and comfort the grieving. We hear this verse at funerals and memorial services, and it has been of great spiritual help during such times. Still, I am convinced that while this manner of mourning is valid and even Godly (e.g., Acts 8.2), there is a call to mourning that Jesus is issuing here, and it is something much deeper than most of us have been willing to engage.

Without a doubt, the word "mourn" is used most often in the OT in reference to the death of a loved one. But there is a mourning in spirit that Jesus was encouraging here, and throughout history, whenever God's servants have been chronicled, this mourning can be found in their lives without fail. I am concerned that the frivolity and lightness of our pleasure-seeking, entertainment-centered culture has all but snuffed out this reality in the Church in our day, and we need to cry out to the Lord until we see its restoration.

This mourning is something more than the natural human response to personal tragedy. It is more than the pain we feel when we lose someone or something that we love. The mourning that Jesus was commending in this beatitude has everything to do with allowing our hearts to be consumed with the passions of God Himself.

A.W. Tozer once said that "America is laughing her way to hell." Our culture, which is tragically man-centered and largely oblivious to the heart of God, thrives on that which brings immediate entertainment, amusement, and gratification. Tens of millions of souls fill the bars and show-houses of our cities every weekend, drinking and amusing themselves into a stupor. Their hearts have a gaping hole that can only be filled by God, and they have seen very little reality in the Church to convince them that there is a heavenly alternative.

While the powers of darkness continue to rock this generation with lies, much of the Church casually jogs along, drinking in the spirit of this age, running headlong into many the same compromised pursuits. As a corporate witness, we are mostly chasing after the wind- fat, happy, and indifferent to reality as God Himself sees it.

Yet, as John "Praying" Hyde, missionary & intercessor to India once declared, "Our Lord still agonizes for souls." Are we agonizing in spirit? Friends, what has become of the mourning ones?

I am not opposed to the enjoyment of life. I love to watch my children carry on hilarious conversations. I love to play games with them, to hear them sing and to watch them dance. I delight in going on dates with my wife, laughing together, talking about life and enjoying one another. I am thankful for friends. Life is full of God-given things to taste, watch, hear and feel, and the "Father of Lights" has given us wonderful gifts that fall upon both the righteous and the unrighteous.

But what can be said of a Church that is mostly frivolous, indifferent to eternity, and virtually never mourns in spirit? If we have been made into a company of souls who are stewards of the heavenly mysteries, yet so very little of what Christ died for has been realized in the earth, how can we glide through life on this earth so smoothly? How can we not mourn until His Kingdom comes in full?

AN INADEQUATE VIEW OF SIN

As soon as the church adopts a benign or common view of sin, she opens the gate to all kinds of deceptions. Authentic, God-breathed joy is replaced by a hokey, hollow, performance-based joviality. Once we tolerate sin in our own lives, we are forced to maintain a plastic happiness, for this is what we believe a Christian looks like. He is smiley, happy, and a good old boy who everyone likes to be around.

Our pastors, worship leaders and door greeters are pressured to put on a kind of external performance that doesn't line up with the true condition of their lives. They are cornered into a way of living that is much more professional than it is an expression of the life of God working within the heart.

Leaders and believers alike often find themselves harboring secret moral failings, and they are maintaining a feigned happiness at public gatherings and ministry events, lest they give anyone the impression that they are struggling in any way. They have grown loose in their view of sin, the fear of the Lord has departed from them, and the blessedness of mourning- in the way that Jesus encouraged it- has become a foreign concept. Sin is still in the camp, and if we do not align our hearts with the Lord and mourn over it, we become subject to a performance based ministry and life, and worse still, we cut ourselves off from the blessing of an intimate union with the Lord.

Our churches are in a critical need of this kind of mourning, for as long as the presence of sin is tolerated and swept under the rug, the powers of darkness will remain in our midst, unchallenged and unchecked. The greatest faith-healers may come through town, but a measure of sickness and death will always effect the people of God when sin is condoned, however subtle that condonation may seem. A compromised, dry-eyed Church will never express the fullness of Jesus Christ. Saints, let us mourn until the light and holiness of God Himself breaks in!

I'm not encouraging some kind of a grumpy disposition, or saying that if you purse your lips and your brows are straining downward you have come into this reality. You can gripe about the church and self-righteously challenge other believers all you want. That does not make you a part of this company of mourning ones that Jesus calls "blessed". There is nothing as far from true Spiritual mourning as a self-righteous, smug believer who walks around with a grouchy disposition and calls it spiritual sobriety. That is a sign that you are functioning out of human emotion and thought, and you are not walking in the abiding life of Christ. The Lord does not want to produce religious intimidators any more than he wants to produce senseless clowns. The Father loves, disciplines and raises up sons, and that is what you are if the Spirit of Holiness abides in you.

Nothing that the Lord has expressed in the Beatitudes can be established through natural means. Mourning in spirit, like all of the other qualities He speaks of in the Sermon, is not an affectation or something that we work up. It's not a certain face that we make or a certain image of intensity that we carry for others to see and recognize. It's a resurrectional mode of being, and it takes the dying of our own self-consciousness for us to receive life from the Father.

The mourning ones are those who mourn in the Spirit. Their hearts have been enveloped by God Himself, and they can do no other. They mourn because they have aligned their souls with the God who still weeps. He weeps over Israel. He weeps over the nations. He weeps over a church that has yet to come into the fullness of His Son. He is not depressed or sadistic. His mourning is a holy mourning, and as we align our hearts with His, it produces life in us and in those to whom we are called to bear witness. When was the last time you mourned, dear saint? When was the last time your heart cried out for the glorification of Christ in your own life, in your city, in Israel and the nations? How long will we look upon our cities without weeping as Christ wept over Jerusalem? O, how blessed are the mourning ones.

Some of you have allowed sin to creep back into your lives and you are no longer grieved by it. There is no mourning in your heart. You have such a guard up against condemnation that you've opened the gate to sin, and godly mourning has left you. The clear air of vibrant communion with the Lord has been polluted. The flame of His holiness that once burned in your heart has dwindled. It's time to mourn!

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." (Psm. 51.1-2)

Perhaps your heart used to burn for the salvation of unbelievers and the transformation of sin-ridden cities. You've grown weary in well doing, and you no longer know what it is to weep for the lost in prayer. Mourning with the Lord on their behalf seems foreign and distant. Friend, it's time to mourn again! We need to cry with Jeremiah:

"O that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep for the slain of the daughter of my people!" (Jer. 9.1)

Moses was a mourning one, for in all things he "cried out to the Lord." Mercy was repeatedly extended to Israel as a result of his mourning.

Samuel was a mourning one. "Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night." (1 Sam. 15.11)

David was a mourning one. "My tears have been my food day and night..." (Ps. 42.3)

Daniel "wept bitterly" and fasted in Babylon during a time of national judgment upon Judah. Though we know of no consistent sin in his life, he mercifully cried out on behalf of his nation, "Lord, we have sinned"!

Jeremiah mourned and cried out to a people who were teeter-tottering on the edge of the cliff of Divine justice. All of the prophets were mourning ones.

Paul was a mourning one, weeping for the salvation of his Jewish kinsmen and groaning as a mother in childbirth, "until Christ be formed" in the churches that he had planted and nurtured. Every true missionary, revivalist and reformer throughout history has been a mourning one.

They were joyful men, but their hearts burned with the passions of Jesus, and they did not treat life like a fleeting game. They wept over lost souls and grieved over the condition of the Church. They cried out for a greater measure of the power of God, and mourned over shortcomings in their own lives. They mourned until grace came down afresh. They mourned until the Spirit was poured out. They mourn yet today on our behalf. O friends, we cannot afford to remove ourselves from this continuum.

One day soon, their mourning will cease. When the government of God has its cosmos-wide influence at the end of the age the mourning will be once and for all turned into dancing and holy jubilee. God will rejoice over Israel with singing (imagine the majestic reverberations when God sings for joy!), and He will quiet them in His love (Zeph. 3.16-17). Sin, sickness, death and demonic influence will be permanently uprooted and cast into the lake of fire. The Lamb of God will be worshiped and exalted in the earth like never before. My heart burns for this day, friends!

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted..."

If you are comforted in a way that is not the result of God-inspired mourning, you are likely living in some form of deception. The spirit of this age is driven by the pursuit of comfort, happiness and pleasure in the midst of a staunch denial of all that God is. It is a sham. There is no true comfort apart from a holy alignment with the King of the ages. To come out of our own depravity, out from underneath everything in this world that manipulates and jerks us, mourning is a holy necessity.

Isaiah, a seasoned prophet, saw the Lord and mourned over the uncleanness of his own lips. He was utterly devastated. Undone. This is not an issue of "works". We are not talking about justification only, as glorious as that is. We are asking what it means to be a Sermon on the Mount people; an apostolic Body through which the Lord delivers His own heart to Israel and the nations.

The Spirit of mourning upon the people of God is a catalyst for salvation and deliverance in the societies of the earth. No wonder the apostles were mourning men. They penetrated society because they were taken up with the heart of the Lord, and their ministries were "blessed" by God Himself. The Lord desires to put the same blessing upon an entire Body in these last days, and it will rest upon those who are poor in spirit, mourning in hope until the fullness of Christ is manifested in the earth.

Mourning in spirit is the gateway to the kind of comfort that only God can grant. The mourning ones will bring true comfort to the earth. Their witness and fellowship will produce life in the Church and in society. They will enjoy life, they will rejoice with those who rejoice, but they will not be mindless jokers. They will mourn in prayer and fasting until the Lord sees "the travail of His soul and is satisfied." (Is. 53)

"Jesus answered, 'How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.'" (Matt. 9.15)

Have you become satisfied with the things of this world? Is there a cry for the fullness of God in your spirit? Have you sought to circumvent or avoid the kind of mourning that still burns in the heart of the Son of God? Saints, we have not the time for playing games with our lives. We have one life to live. There is sin to be mourned over. There is a harvest to be reaped by laborers who go into the fields, weeping in faith and anticipation. There is a fullness to cry out for. There is an Israel to intercede for. There is a Living God to pant after!

I want to be found in that company of mourners, weeping in spirit in an anticipatory way until the glory of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. What about you?

Father, we ask you to align our hearts with Yours. However Your heart still mourns, we want to be enjoined with Your cry. Make us a house of mourning, that in our day souls may be comforted by the reality of Your salvation. Make us mourners along with the great host of heaven, that the Day of Your return may be hastened. We want to weep between the porch and the altar for the salvation of Israel, the transformation of the nations, and the release of Your judgments and mercies. Forgive us our self-satisfaction and empty religious performances. We lay our souls in the dust, O God. Abide with us, great Apostle and High Priest. Let us weep with You now, until we are able to rejoice with You in full, when Your Kingdom is permanently and indestructibly established in Jerusalem. Have for Yourself a people who mourn in spirit. Mark us with blessing, the high privilege of having hearts that are united with You. Amen.

The Pots & Pans of Zion by Bryan Purtle

"In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, 'HOLY TO THE LORD.' And the cooking pots in the Lord's house will be like the bowls before the altar. Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day." -Zech. 14.20-21

I believe that this rather obscure passage at the close of Zechariah's prophecy is charged with more meaning and significance than most of us have been able to recognize. I wonder how many believers in our day have really considered it.

Out of those who have spent time in Zechariah, many have seen these two verses as an unfitting finale to the drama, cataclysm, and splendor of this magnificent book. Indeed, when the Lord began to highlight these verses to my heart some time ago, I was amazed to see that I too had flown through them over the years without giving them ample attention.

We need a newfound consciousness of how "pregnant" each passage of Scripture is. We are too often flying through the Words of God, and that is not the way to approach the holy things which have been given from Heaven. This little inconspicuous passage is one such "holy thing", and it needs to be approached with "rejoicing and trembling." (Ps. 2.11)


David Baron (1855-1926), a Jewish believer in Jesus who was a remarkable theologian, gave us these words in his masterpiece on Zechariah:

In the last two verses we reach the glorious goal and climax of vision and prophecy. God's original purpose in the calling and election of Israel- 'Ye shall be unto Me a Kingdom of priests, an holy nation'- shall at last be realized; the aim and purpose of the whole law,- namely, that His people might learn the meaning of holiness and become holy because Jehovah their God is holy; but to which, so long as they were in bondage to the law, they could not attain, shall at last be fulfilled when they are brought into a condition of grace, and when God shall put His law into their inward parts and write it on their hearts.

Then the world shall witness for the first time the glorious spectacle of a whole nation, and every individual member of it, wholly consecrated to Jehovah, and an earthly capital which shall truly answer to its name, 'The Holy City,' because it shall in many ways be the earthly counterpart and reflection of the glory of the New Jerusalem, which will come down out of heaven from God. (Baron, Zechariah: A Commentary On His Visions & Prophecies; pp. 530-531)

This whole statement from Baron is fascinating, but my heart is hung up on the first sentence:

"In the last two verses we reach the glorious goal and climax of vision and prophecy."

The "glorious goal and climax of vision and prophecy"? What is it about the "bells of the horses" being inscribed, the cooking pots in the Lord's house, and the other cooking pots in Jerusalem and Judah that causes the prophet to take notice?

I have said that when we think about that which is holy we are not likely to think upon utensils and accessories from a kitchen. When asked, "What constitutes the 'holy things'?", we may respond in reference to the realities of fasting and prayer, the wonders of the Scriptures, or the calling of the saints to bring light to the nations through witness. But bells on horses? Pots and pans? What is the prophet communicating here? How can mere pots and pans evoke a sense of the holiness of God?!

Perhaps our rapid-fire association of everything holy with religious practices, even God-given practices, is a statement that we have not yet come to realize the glory that lies in the most subtle, unexpected, and seemingly unspiritual of places. Jerusalem, at the end of the age, is the picture of a people, a land, and all that is within them coming into the high and glorious plane of consecration unto the living God.

AN IMMEDIATE HARVEST OR A LIFELONG CONSECRATION?

Any believer with a jealousy for bearing fruit would rejoice in the receiving of a notable harvest. A brother with a heart for evangelism would surely jump at the opportunity to preach to a crowd of 10,000 souls who were all wanting to hear about the Gospel. A sister with a vision for calling the church to fasting and prayer would surely be thrilled if she was asked to lead one of the major events of our day, when thousands were gathered to fast and cry out for revival. A brother with a heart for intensive study in theology would certainly see it as a gift from heaven if 5,000 volumes were dropped into his office with no charge to his account. Any believer who is hungry to see the power of God demonstrated in the earth would not wince when receiving a word that through his hands would come thousands of miracles and healings.

All of us value the receiving of a "harvest" in whatever form that takes. But there is something about this passage in Zechariah 14 that raises a question about the potential unreality of our consecration to the Lord, and it has everything to do with how we are viewing those things in our lives that appear mundane, common, or even despised by men.

Years ago, when speaking about true consecration unto God, Amy Carmichael wrote that the believer who abides in true holiness "cleanses in brightness all that he touches." There is a crucial revelation in this. The believer who comes into a union with God that produces a living holiness affects that which he touches, even down to the most practical and common of issues. Whether laying hands on a sick child for healing, or filling the sink with soap water to do the dishes for his wife, everything has become holy. Whether lifting his hands to worship the Lord during a fast, or changing the diaper of his baby in the middle of the night, everything has become holy. Whether proclaiming the Word in a large gathering of the saints, or helping his child with homework, everything has become holy. He "cleanses in brightness all that he touches." Indeed, to him, the pots and the pans have even become holy, for he has learned to abide in the presence of Christ. He has recognized the light of the Son of God in the "land" of his life. Everything is charged with the weight of glory, and the light of His countenance.

Zechariah 12 through 14 comprises one of the most intense eschatological portions in all of the Scriptures. In it we stumble upon glimpses into the battle for Jerusalem, the time of Jacob's trouble, the judgment of the nations, the salvation of the remnant of Israel, the return of Christ, and the glories of the millennial Kingdom and the New Jerusalem. It is a concentrated revelation, in three short chapters, of many of the things that will transpire at the end of this age. It's absolutely riveting to meditate on. Have you considered it?

Yet this shocking, almost pulsating passage of Scripture is capped off by a few verses speaking of the consecration of bells on horses, pots in the house of the Lord, and pots in the homes of Judah's residents. Baron says these verses are the "glorious goal and climax of vision and prophecy" themselves. Not merely the climax of Zechariah's book, but the climax of vision and prophecy altogether!

So what makes the pots and pans holy? It raises questions regarding our modern understanding of holiness. If "holy" is not merely a word we use during worship times, and if "holiness" does not only mean that we refrain from certain movies and styles of dress, what constitutes that which is holy? This is certainly not a statement of license for those who wish to live morally compromised lives. God has called us to righteousness in all things. There should be no question on that. But perhaps holiness is something that is of the same Spirit as righteousness, but is comprised of a reality that we have scarcely seen or experienced. I believe that true holiness has rarely been realized and walked in among the saints in our generation, and it has everything to do with the lack of an awareness of the presence of God in the "common" places of our lives.

In Jerusalem, during the millennial reign of Christ, anyone who visits the home of a Jewish family is going to be stricken by the surprise of an entirely different atmosphere. According to this passage, not only are the pots "in the House of Lord" considered valuable and of especial value, but every "cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord of hosts."

At the end of the age, the wisdom of men will be turned on its head. Swords will be beaten into plowshares. Nations will study war no more. The last shall be the first and the greatest will be the servant of all. The menial tasks of working and plowing will be transfigured as the bells on the horses are inscribed with the phrase, "HOLY UNTO THE LORD." The pots in the kitchens of Jewish residents will act like a match that strikes a spiritual fire in the hearts of all those who visit Jerusalem. There will be an overwhelming consciousness in all of Judah that every person within their borders, and every possession that they have been given has become "HOLY UNTO THE LORD."

What a glorious picture! What a culture shock! What a distinction from the manner in which we typically view our brothers and sisters, our spouses and children, our possessions, our occupations, and our so-called menial tasks. We are accustomed to flinging open the kitchen cabinets, banging and clanking until we find the pot that will best and most conveniently serve our immediate purposes. We often treat other people, even our own family members, with such carelessness and irreverence that one may wonder whether or not we have realized the light and presence of Christ at all. But the saints to whom the "pots and pans" have become holy will emit a heavenly fragrance, a holy value, a Divine disposition, and out of their souls "will flow rivers of living water."

Our propensity to find value in position, status, or some mode of religious performance is a statement that we have not yet come into this glory. Yet the Lord desires to bring us into it, for this kind of seeing would enable us to engage His heart in communion and worship in the midst of all surroundings. He longs to abide with us.

What makes the bells and the pots and pans of Zion holy? Nothing less than the presence of the Christ in the land. These pots and pans are not special because of their brand name or the uniqueness of their design. They are holy because they have been permeated with the light of the Son of God who reigns from the holy hill of Zion. He has planted His feet "on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east," "and the Lord will be king over all the earth." (14.4, 9)

The "luminaries will dwindle" (14.6) in comparison to the sending forth of His light and presence in the land. To be in Jerusalem during the millennial reign of Christ is to find yourself in a land and amongst a people that have been consecrated through and through as "HOLY UNTO THE LORD." You will be surrounded on every side by a sense of the holiness of God Himself, and the remarkable thing is that the "kind intention" of the Father is to bring us, who are mostly Gentiles, into a walk and a consciousness that is not unlike the experience of one who visits Zion at the end of the age.

Karl Barth, arguably the most well known theologian of the 20th century, was famous for three simple words:


"God is other!"

"Other than what?", you ask. We need not give further description. He's simply "other." There is no god like Him, and every man falls short of His glory and beauty. Everything that He is transcends the best of what we've seen in the earth. His righteousness is brighter than our best moral attempts. His humility is not like our self-conscious attempt at meekness. His love is utterly selfless. He's holy. He's other.

Most of our ministerial activities are marked by human striving, dependence upon technology, and are more predictable and subjective than they are alive with Divine Glory. Most of us stumble in unbelief over the mundaneness of all that has been set before us in the reality of life. But the saints in our generation who recognize and value the presence of Christ, even in the midst of the menial tasks in their "land" will express a heavenly wisdom that will move Israel to jealousy and constitute an apostolic witness to the nations.

The souls who lay hold of the grace to still their hearts in awe before the abiding Christ, consecrating as "holy" even the "pots and pans" in their lives, are the ones who will drink deeply of His own nature, becoming a house in which He makes His habitation by the Spirit. They will not be dominated by the spirit of this age. The powers and influences of lust, pride, fear, rage, and self-absorption will have no pull on their hearts. Their lives will be a glory unto God. They will be called "other".

"HOLY UNTO THE LORD."

Can you believe that this is your own high privilege as a child of God?

ONE SHOT: Reflections on the Life of A.W. Tozer by Bryan Purtle

I am just finishing up a new biography on one of the most beloved prophet-hearted teachers in American history. It's entitled A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A.W. Tozer, written by Lyle Dorsett. I have long loved Tozer's writings and messages. For over a decade I've relished in his insights and fed off of his knowledge of God, and the intensity of his worshipping heart. I've read some of the other bio's on A.W., but this biography is a real gem, and I'm commending it to all of the pastors and laborers in our fellowship here in Kansas City.

It tells of his formation as a man of prayer and incessant worship. It tells of the trials he endured and the stretchings he experienced. It inspires us to forsake a vain pursuit of ministry-breadth, and calls us back to the pursuit of depth in the secret place. Tozer's relentless longing for the presence and person of God grabs us by the collar of our professional or subjective ideas on ministry, and plops us down in the dust on the backside of the desert. Before long we see the glow of the bush again, and remember why and how we ever put our sandals back on and proceeded to face the people.

I am jolted again. This man labored for 4-plus decades- contending for the faith, reaching out to souls in darkness, setting aright faddish movements and faulty doctrines. Most of all, every soul that was remotely close to A.W. Tozer knew that there were at least 5 hours a day where he was intently removed from all contact with anyone other that the God of Majesty. He knew what it was to behold the uncreated One, to love Him, to listen to Him, to gaze upon Him with delightful and sometimes awe-full attentiveness. He didn't need adrenalin, entertainment, or programmatic pick-me-ups to bear up his walk with the Lord. He had what Moses had...what David had...what the prophets had...what Paul had. He had a singleness of heart in pursuit after the God of Israel, and he was not willing for anything to stand in the way of that impassioned vision.

I wonder how far we have fallen from this kind of Davidic intensity.

Still, there is another stinging thing in the story of A.W. Tozer. Many believers who have been profoundly affected by his teachings are unaware of the manner of his life at home, and even the manner of his death. He died in Canada in 1963 in a hospital room. He was all by himself. Indeed, he was in his death as he was in his life.

One of his colleagues noted that one of the last remarks he ever heard Tozer make was this:

"I have lived a lonely life."

The young revivalist may read this and unleash a heroic cry: "Yes! This is the price that every true man of God pays. You cannot follow the Lord and make friends with every one around you."

Indeed, this is true. When we cling to the Lord in this life, there will be great opposition and trial. But mere loneliness is not a sign of prophetism, and isolation from family and friends is not necessarily the chief hallmark of an eternity-centered life. We were created for community. As Gordon Fee points out, the idea of salvation in the mind of Paul was never primarily a thought toward whether an individual person would be able to make it to heaven or not. Salvation, in the hebraic mind of the early apostles, was a picture of God's Kingdom breaking into a society, and wrenching loose a group of souls from the spirit of this age, that they might be formed and fashioned together by the power of the Spirit, into a Body that expresses the very nature of Christ. In other words, we need Christ (!), but we are not likely to experience Him fully if we don't also experience Him through our experiences in family life and church life.

Life is a fragile thing. "Man is but a mere breath," the psalmist declares. I wept on numerous occasions in the reading of Tozer's biography. For the first time I saw areas of his life that I had never seen before. Gaping holes. Perhaps he was oblivious to them. Perhaps his engagement with ministry travels, reading, writing, preaching, and the remarkable amount of time he spent in "speechless adoration" of Christ filled his plate to the extent that he was incapable of figuring in other necessary Kingdom responsibilities and privileges.

The most crucial of these blind-spots was his inability, over the course of 40-plus years, to connect relationally with his wife Ada and their 7 children. He also struggled with connecting relationally to the vast majority of the saints who were under his care for all of those decades. They say that he and Ada never fought or argued (as best as we know), nor was there ever a known issue of infidelity or abuse. There was simply this radical, unexplainable inability to relate with his wife and kids to the extent that he would be a presence in their lives. He would be drawn to them as long as they were babies, but when it got past that, he struggled to father them. The story goes that his father was a hardworking farm-man who was quite non-relational himself. I would assume that this passed to his sons and daughters, and it certainly seems that way with A.W.

When Tozer died, though Ada had scarcely (if ever) complained about their distant relationship, she made several things clear. Both she and the children (all adults by the time of his death) were in agreement that they knew very little about this man whose teachings and writings have sent waves of revelation through many hungry hearts. This, to me, is a tragedy of tragedies.

It is not enough to say that "a prophet is not without honor except in his own town." Too long have preachers been presumptuously putting themselves in the sandals of Jesus, and blaming the unhealthy condition of their families on the requirements of ministry. We are not Jesus, friends.

Most of us have wives. Most of us have children. What shall our wives declare at our funerals? What will our children leave with when they move on into adulthood?

I was told that after A.W. died, Ada was asked if she missed him. She had been re-married by this time. Her reply was tragic to me. She said something like this: "A.W. was God's man, but my new husband is my man." Oh, that it would not be said of us! May we be wholly given to Him, and to those whom He has given us.

Ironically, a few weeks ago I had just picked up this Tozer bio, and was really getting into it. The kids were playing outside so I decided to sit on the patio in my chair. The plan was to get into the bio (I have a thing for books, in case you didn't know) while being close enough to supervise the children. As I was reflecting on the fact that Tozer's children barely knew him, I was looking at his face on the front of the book. Just then, my son Simeon said,

"Daddy, will you play ball with me?"

There was a trembling that went through my soul, and it was as if Tozer was bellowing from the heavens, "Bryan! Don't look at him the way I looked at mine. Look him in the eye. He is a little boy with a soul, and with his own thoughts, and he is sensitive to you. His heart is beating for you to father him. He is awaiting you, and he will never forget your response to him."

I set the book down, and played catch.

I do tremble, friends. I tremble at the busyness of our American ways. I tremble at the awesome responsibility and privilege of raising these boys and girls. I weep over the fact that it is so easy for us to be engaged in ourselves- even religiously- to the neglect of our spouses, or children, or congregation members, or unbelieving neighbors.

As I was praying into this some days later, I had a strong word of Fatherly caution from the Lord:

"You've got one shot at this, son."

18 or 20 years is all we have with our children. What shall they take from us? Will they feel like it was a mere obligation for us to feed them and care for them? Will they feel like we really didn't want them around? Will they feel like all of our talk about the nature of God was mere flourish or rhetoric? Will they feel that they are valued and cherished? Will they have been fathered? mothered? Or just raised? I believe that God desires to give us wisdom and love enough to be a literal representation of Himself in the home. We will certainly miss the mark here and there, but He will enable us to actively engage them with a whole heart. To hear them, for real. To speak into them, for real. To love them, for real. That's fathering, and it's an awesome privilege available to us all.

"One shot..."

The great revivalist Leonard Ravenhill, who was in many ways mentored by Tozer, used to say that you can't catch up your prayer life when you get to the judgment seat of Christ. I certainly agree, and he was a man to back up his talk with a real value for prayer and intercession.

I'd like to acknowledge another cut in this fine diamond of discipleship. We can't catch up our parenting, or the way we treated our spouses, or the depth of our humility toward others at the judgment seat either. We have one shot, saints. It will be a journey, and we will all trip up and fall in one way or another along the way. But abandoning ship is not an option. We've got to face our spouses, face our children, face our congregations, knowing that we've got "one shot" with all of them.

Whitefield said to speak every time as if it were our last, and "compel them to cry, 'Behold, how He loves us.'"

I want to burn with a passion for God like Tozer did. I want to know the long seasons of adoration, awe, and intercession. I want to stand as a pillar in the household of faith.

I also want to love and tremble toward those who are closest and most familiar to me. We all have those who are most familiar...spouses, children, parents, neighbors, fellow believers. I want to see a generation of preachers raised up who are aware of the mighty mercies of God, are overwhelmed with His love, and who walk with a "one shot" consciousness. They look at each person with a radical value, a Spirit-dependent outlook. They make priority for prayer and scripture as Tozer did, while stretching out the tent of time and relationship for those whom the Lord has given them.

Every occasion is another "shot." Every conversation with the wife. Every seemingly irrelevant question from a child..."one shot." Every interaction with an unbeliever..."one shot." Every time of secret prayer and scripture reading..."one shot." Every opportunity to father our sons and daughters..."one shot." The self-absorbed are distracted and cowardly. But the servant sees the "one shot" and takes it, while others are passing by as the proverbial stranger in a rush-hour traffic jam. May our eyes be opened to see that every occasion is another shot at learning and dispensing the very love of Christ.

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children. - Psalm 90.12, 16

Purposes for an Intensive Community Context by Bryan Purtle

Without giving a rigid model on Christian community and fellowship, I felt it would be good to emphasize some of the purposes of finding wisdom from the Lord for a context of life together that is more fitting for the relatedness that He desires for all of the saints. The term community has taken on multiple meanings in Christian thought, as all words do. I am still fond of the word, believing that if community is experienced in the Church -by the reality of the Holy Spirit- it would serve as a great provision for us all in terms of edification, friendship and spiritual sobriety. I believe that the multiplied thousands of pastors who are stepping down from ministry annually (mostly due to sexual sin of some sort) could be radically reduced if we were experiencing intensive community and fellowship, along with our pursuit of the knowledge of God, revival, and the activity of the Spirit. I am even convinced that a right relationship among the saints could have served to expand and deepen past moves of God that instead ended up declining and fading away into the history books. Community, or intensive fellowship, is one of the facets of the Body that will release the Spirit of truth in the day to day lives of the saints, and encourage us toward a fullness that will last forever.

As leaders in the Body of Christ, we need to regain a value for "the least of these", and a value for relationship and fellowship with others as a crucial means of seeing the Kingdom of God break into the realm of real life. Spirit-endued community- like prayer- undergirds all ministry activity, bringing the reality of God as a foundation to it all. If our marriages, parenting, and daily lives are hollow and devoid of the wisdom and love of God's kingdom, any other ministry efforts will at best be hindered, and at the worst they may be found false. There are a handful of souls who are true to the Lord without having experienced intensive community, but the vast majority of the saints are still harboring secret sins, insecurities, fears, and anxieties, and are bound up in so many ways that we leaders tend to be unaware of (especially in an event-orientated expression of the faith).

Truth be told, many leaders are still harboring unforgiveness, competitive spirits, and an idea of "performance-driven" ministry that is not in keeping with the apostolic Spirit of the New Testament. How shall we be delivered from all of this without utilizing the relatedness that God has given as one of the key provisions for our Spiritual stability and growth? The New Testament vision is a cry for the emergence of a corporate people who have been freed from the spirit of this age and brought into a present experience and demonstration of the age which is to come.

The Hebraic idea of the faith has always been one of "God over all and in all", not separating real life from service and ministry. Therefore, the Scriptures show us that it is desirable to see all aspects of life and spirituality flow together in one glorious ensemble. This is impossible without the experience of the cross of Christ, and that cross cannot be fully experienced apart from the life together that the apostles have always encouraged.

How many men have we seen fall from their places of influence in recent years? Some who were considered seasoned prophets or apostolic leaders, and who had genuine words, visions and dreams have been found engaged in sins ranging from homosexuality to alcoholism to heroine use to adultery and embezzlement. Some of these men went on in these sins throughout the course of decades of outwardly fruitful ministry. My heart breaks for them. The pressures of man-centered ministry and platform persona often become the downfall for men who are expected by the people to be something that no one man can be. This is tragic, and there is a real possibility that if they would have been related rightly in the kind of context that I believe Paul was jealous for, they could have been delivered from that state before they ever plummeted into self-deception. Community is not a guaranteed success for every life involved, but it is indeed a provision for the Church in the last days, and I believe we need to ask the Lord for wisdom to see it released among those souls for whom we have responsibility.

I'm not discouraging larger gatherings, houses of prayer, or any other expression of the Body. I'm asking the Lord to release wisdom to build contexts for true relationship in the Church. Community, as I see it, is not merely getting together a group of saints and moving onto a compound. Community is the experience of Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit in a context that pertains to real life. It has to transcend mere meetings or events, and leak into the realm of day to day life experienced with other saints. This is a challenge, especially in a Western culture, but I believe the Spirit of God will give us the love, courage, concern, and heart for being to one another what the Lord has called us to be. It may not look the same in every case structurally, but a context for this reality must be found for every congregation.

Here are some purposes for the formation of an intensive "community context". At the end I'll share what the Lord has given us, but the main issue is not our model or some other model. It's the Spirit Who grants a context where these realities have opportunity to flourish.

WHY DO WE NEED "INTENSIVE COMMUNITY"?

1. Confession of Faults

"...confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed." -Jas. 5.16

"...if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
...If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
-1 Jn. 1. 7, 9

We need to give the Holy Spirit the liberty to create a context in which ALL of the saints have opportunity and are encouraged to bring their faults/sins to the table of fellowship. There needs to be a place where the people of God know that they are not going to be written off or discarded as outcasts when they bring their sins into the light. We all need to be among fellow-believers who have laid hold of the grace to hear our shortcomings without approving of our sins OR rejecting us as we come into the light.

This is only possible if the Spirit of the Lord is active amidst His people. If we realize that we are all in the "shadow of the cross", we will not lighten the weight and consequence of sin, nor will we reject or look down on the one confessing. If the love of Christ is burning in a community, the people will have mercy on one another, and pray for healing and liberty from all of the strangleholds of darkness. Everything that keeps us from the love of Christ and the liberty of the Spirit- from immorality to marital strife to self-righteousness- is broken off of us in the place of confession and prayer. We need a context that is "safe" enough for this, that the people of God may come into the Light and find freedom and deliverance once and for all.

2. Edification and the Activity of Spiritual Gifts

I have long believed that the two primary contexts for the activity of the gifts of the Spirit were the two least utilized contexts in modern times. I believe that the gifts of the Spirit were given for the edification of the saints and the exposing of the hearts of unbelievers. Prophecy, healing, and other gifts were meant to edify saints and release the wisdom of God on the streets.

I am happy to say that there has been an increase in America of the gifts of the Spirit being manifested in grocery stores, malls, and on the street corners. May it continue to rise!

The other purpose of the gifts was for edification, and many have profited spiritually by their occasional activity in larger gatherings. I am convinced however, that the edification that comes from the Spirit- especially through the gifts of the Spirit- is most direct and effectual in smaller gatherings. How else could Paul say:

"What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification." -1 Cor. 14.26

If "each one" had a gift in a large gathering of hundreds or thousands of folks, it would be next to impossible to have order in the gathering. The "each one" reality is meant for the smaller community gatherings, I believe. It's in that familial context that the saints mature and grow in the activity of the Spirit. It's where they "try their wings", and are not rejected in their immaturity, but have liberty to be encouraged by others in love and the sometimes necessary correction. The gifts of the Spirit are of course for any atmosphere, but I believe Paul was encouraging their activity in a more relational, communal context. Out of such atmospheres, prophets and apostles will emerge.

3. "Let your hair down" and Be Humans

"...they were taking their meals together with gladness and simplicity..." -Acts 2.46b

Community provides a context for the saints to be humans together. There are times in the smaller gatherings given over to prayer, praise, the Word, and confession. But there are also times to "let our hair down" and do what humans do. It's too easy, especially with those who are young in the faith, to fall into a pseudo-spirituality that is based on religious performance, striving, and seeking to build a spiritually superior image before men. In community you share meals together, talk about life and family, play with the children, break out the board games or the volleyball nets, perhaps. We need times to "be human" together, for the purpose of seeing God's people released from that subtle outlet for self: man-centered, performance based-religiosity. One man used to say: "Community is what keeps true prophets from becoming false."

Out of a context with this reality, families and friendships will emerge that will glorify Jesus and last forever.

4. Encourage and Stir One Another to Love and Obedience

"...speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him..." - Eph. 4.15

"Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called 'today,' so that one of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
...and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling toether, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." -Heb. 3.12-13;10.24-25

We need a context where the saints are being encouraged and challenged by friends to go deeper in God. The spirit of this age is increasing in influence and power, and the people of God need a Spirit-charged communal reality together to combat the invasive waves of lust, greed, fear, and anxiety that continually assault the saints. We need the Spirit of life, given in a setting intimate enough for consistency, to release us into the real nit and grit of Kingdom life. This helps us to see souls- yes, even believers!- who are still bound by fear, anxiety, compromise and unbelief delivered and brought into wholeness by the wisdom and power that God has given through His Body. The insecure are lifted up and encouraged, the proud and arrogant are confronted, the fearful and timid are strengthened and emboldened, and the compromised are lovingly challenged by those who have become a family to them. It is a context for the experience of the cross, which releases resurrection glory.

Pastor, have your people a context for this reality? It has to be something more than tacking a few cell-groups onto the larger ministry and congregation. We need to see the emergence of a value for these things to be released in the church. I'm not promoting one structure. I'm talking about the realities the apostles encouraged. They require a context that is not fulfilled if we only gather in large assemblies or houses of prayer. So what shall it be?

The Lord has called us (for our part here in Kansas City) to labor for the raising up of 12 large congregations, undergirded by house churches and houses of prayer.

Say those congregations eventually number close to 1,000 souls each. Underneath each one there will be roughly 100 house churches where the saints will have opportunity for a more close-knit relatedness. There will be several- perhaps a dozen- elders/pastors in the larger congregation who have fatherly oversight of about 10 house church pastors each. This means that each house church will number around 10 or 12 adults (along with their children) who are all encouraged to go deep in relationship to one another, even if they have only a few similarities. In all of this, a formative thing is taking place, as the people of God are learning to take up their crosses and love each other beyond the realm of familiarity and likeness. Authentic love is formed by the Spirit resting on a people who have foregone a 'me-first' mentality and chosen the path of the Servant. It transcends cliquish relationship and convenience. It becomes an issue of each member ministering directly unto one another.

Each house church may form spontaneous outreaches in their neighborhoods, Bible studies, other prayer times, etc. They will contact each other throughout the week in simple ways (e.g. emails, phone calls, etc.), enhancing their relationships in a manner that is practical within our culture and does not detract from the quality of the family unit. Pastoral couples will be raised up who have a quality of life and grace, enough to be a presence in the lives of these 10 or 12 people on a regular basis. People will be raised up in these settings unto maturity, and as the months and years go by, they will find their identity in the Lord and be released into His purposes. Some will stay in their locale, making disciples and multiplying house churches, and others will be sent into the nations.

This is a simple model the Lord gave us after 40 days of corporate fasting and prayer. We don't have anything close to 1,000 souls even in this first congregation. But we believe the Lord has given us a simple model to labor in. Each week there will be a larger gathering with worship, prayer, and preaching. Once a week each house church will gather for confession, praise, the activity of the Spirit, and "letting our hair down" to have meals and hang out. Every pastor or leader will have as much value for the house church as any other aspect of the ministry, and that's a crucial thing. If the house church is just something we have as an option, and the pastors don't value it or involve themselves in it, the saints will be likely to neglect it as well. We've seen this over and over again.

It's not primarily about the structure as much it is about receiving a holy value for the things God wants to release in the lives of His people.

Still, just as Jesus' command to take the Gospel required a context for missions (note how foolish William Carey once looked for suggesting that laborers be sent into India with the Gospel!), just as David's heart for worship and prayer required the context of the Tabernacle, so do the apostolic encouragements require a context for Christian community in an intensive sense. We need a context where it becomes possible to "bear one another's burdens", "confess your faults", and experience an atmosphere where "each one" has the ability to bring to other saints what the Lord has gifted them with.

So this is a rudimentary example of what the Lord has given us here. It may look different where you are, but the question still remains:

Shall we allow the Lord to give us a context in which the saints can come into these realities?

I believe He is stirring many hearts along these lines, and we are not interested in writing a faddish book about structures. We simply long for the Lord to grant the wisdom that is necessary for these things to be released by the Spirit. I believe that when the people of God have this foundation, the great and climactic completion of the Joel 2 outpouring of the Spirit will have a wineskin that is not some new faddish model, but the people of God themselves. They will have become His habitation in the realm of real life. The earth- and Israel Herself- will finally be fit to contain the new wine that will cast out death and usher in the age of glory.

Intensive community is where the saints find confrontation and challenge, hope and healing, the activity of the Spirit, time in the Word, friendship and reality in a context that's intimate and effectual. Coupled with city-wide gatherings, houses of prayer, missions-sending bases, I believe these communal contexts will help to bring the Church into the fullness of what God has always desired.

I am convinced that we will not come into the fullness of Christ without experiencing His community. Nothing short of this will fit us for the time of trial that is most assuredly coming. As a result of the maturation that comes over time from experiencing Christ in life together, I believe Israel will be moved to jealousy, the nations will see a greater measure of God's Kingdom, and Christ will be all in all.

May it be released, Lord. Grant wisdom and revelation to leaders of all streams and contexts for the building and nurturing of intensive community. We ask You to help us see this great provision be developed in our congregations and ministries. Let Your Spirit move upon us, to deposit the loving concern and holy sobriety that has always burned in the heart of the Great Shepherd. And may we hasten the Day when You break into the earth and come down in Jerusalem. Amen.

Already! Not Yet! by Bryan Purtle

"Behold, I have told you in advance." -Mt. 24.25

"...let the reader understand..." -Mt. 24.15b

"To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God." -Acts 1.3

"Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?" -2 Thess. 2.5

There is no question that the advent of Jesus, his perfect priestly life, his teaching and miraculous ministry, his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension have shifted history and radically altered the course of this age. A brief look at the scriptures shows what was affected in the hearts of the earliest Jewish believers in Jesus the Messiah. From Mary's (Miriam's) outburst of praise, "My soul does magnify the Lord...", (Lk. 1.46-55) to Simeon's long-awaited prophetic cry of relief, "Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace..." (Lk. 1.25-33). From John the Baptist's applications of messianic prophecies in Matthew 3 to Simon-Peter's revelation from the Father in heaven (Mt. 16.15-18).

From Jesus' own statements about the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God in His time (through speaking, healings, exorcisms, etc.) to the resurrected proclamation of Himself to the blind-hearted disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24.13-35). From the preaching of the apostles with signs following throughout the book of Acts, to the new community created by faith in Christ and the activity of the Spirit in their midst. From the quotations of so many OT prophecies by the early church as fulfilled in their time, to the establishment of new communities of faith in previously untouched regions and nations. From the church's history of revivals, awakenings, miracles and missionary advancements, to the present movements of international church planting outbreaks, prayer and fasting movements, and miraculous healing testimonies.

Yes, friends, it is acutely clear that the Kingdom of heaven has been breaking into the earth for the last 2,000 years. It is clear that Jesus saw His own life and ministry as a shift in history. A new age was being kick-started. A fuller expression of the eternal Kingdom was rocking the atmosphere. The apostles saw themselves as engaged in the continuum of the same things Jesus had set into motion. The early church saw themselves as connected to the privilege and responsibility of it all, too! And throughout Church history, in waves (sometimes with long gaps in between), the Church has seen herself in the same light. The result has been great revivals, awakenings, missionary movements, and great movings of God.

Who can read the history of the Church and doubt that the Kingdom has been breaking in for hundreds of years (despite the fact that there are many tragedies to consider- from the crusades, to anti-semitic theologies, to divisions and schisms)? It is clear that God has been at work, and that "the kingdom of heaven" has been invading the earth. There is so much to rejoice over, and I believe that the extension of God's kingdom in these ways is only going to burn brighter and go further as the days go on. The present testimonies only serve to solidify this belief.

WHAT ABOUT THE AGE TO COME?

It was decades ago that men like George E. Ladd pioneered the perspective of the "already/not yet" nature of the Kingdom. This was simply the idea that Jesus and the apostles saw themselves as extending the Kingdom into the earth in their day, realizing also that the fullness of that Kingdom would not be released until an apocalyptic time in the future (however near that future was). The "not yet" was a thoroughly Hebraic expectation. In Jesus, the Kingdom was breaking in "already", but the ultimate fulfillment (which was spoken of so often by the OT prophets) would "not yet" be seen until some major cataclysmic event took place, and "David's Kingdom" was restored in the earth. The "already" was quite new for most 1st century Jews, and Jesus' statements about the Kingdom being "upon you" were extremely perplexing to many of His hearers. "How could the Kingdom be upon us when we're still being dominated by Roman rule? Doesn't the presence of the Kingdom of God mean a complete transformation of Israel and the earth altogether?"

Many were waiting for something cataclysmic, something sweeping, something (or rather someone) that would break in and overthrow the state of things, bringing the rule of God back to Jerusalem. And why should they not expect this? The prophets had spoken of such things.

What they didn't realize was that their own Messiah was to come and express the nature of the Kingdom through ultimate displays of the mercy of God first. His presence in the earth, every teaching, every healing, every demon driven out, the washing of the disciples feet, and ultimately the cross were all radical expressions of the nature of the Father to a nation that had mostly been given religious examples of the God's Kingdom for hundreds of years. Jesus came to release the "already" upon Israel.

"But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you." -Lk. 11.20

We live in a generation where the "already" is being expressed in new and wonderful ways, as I've expressed before. Even in America, there have been more miraculous healings in the streets of our cities in the last 10 years than I can find over the 30 years previous to that. There is a great church planting movement going on in different parts of Asia, South America, and elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands of people are coming into the Kingdom. The missiologists estimate that about 20,000 souls are coming to the Lord DAILY in China. This is awesome, friends! The Kingdom is invading the earth "already"! Houses of prayer have been springing up spontaneously over the last decade in many parts of the world where people are engaging the Lord in worship, intercession and fasting to a degree never before seen in history! The Kingdom is invading the earth "already"! Every day it seems I hear some testimony of a healing that has taken place in a grocery store, in a Wal-Mart, or at a gas station. This is happening in America! The Kingdom is invading the earth "already"! The issue of Israel and a prayerful consideration of the end is even on the increase in several places. Hallelujah! This is a wonderful hour, and the expression of His Kingdom is only going to intensify.

I've prefaced my main point with all of this positivity, because I know what the response will be from many hearts when I bring up my primary burden in this article. I don't mean to belabor the point, but I believe it's necessary to emphasize these things.

We've covered the "already" in a clear way (albeit brief). But what about the "not yet"? What about the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments that speak of the things to come? What about the future of Israel?

Do these prophecies really matter? Are they too "far out" for us to really consider? Isn't the whole realm of "end-times" teaching riddled with bad interpretations, false assumptions, and cheesy expectations? Haven't the scholars argued on so many points for so many years that it would be vain for us to even go there? Is it really possible for us to see the end of the age in the way that the prophets and apostles did? Is it even necessary? Isn't it our primary calling just to get the Gospel to the nations? Let me be very clear:

I believe that just as the powers of darkness have sought to slow the Great Commission, just as they have sought to snuff out the Spirit of prayer, just as they have sought to put a damper on the faith of the saints for the supernatural work of the Spirit, so have they sought to put blinders over the eyes of our hearts when it comes to our consideration of Israel and the age to come.

HOW OUR GENERATION FEELS ABOUT ISRAEL AND ESCHATOLOGY

There is a common sentiment in the Body of Christ in our generation. There is a paradigm that I would say is the most prevalent regarding the end of the age. It is this:

"The end of the age must have some importance since the prophets spoke about it sometimes. Israel must be important also. But I don't see the point or benefit in studying or spending a lot of time on the end of the age or the issue of Israel. I believe God wants to use us to bring the Kingdom now. He is more concerned that I preach the Gospel and heal the sick than He is with me understanding some end-time chart or having a fixation with Israel. Besides, all of the end-time stuff has only served to distract people from our chief calling, which is the Great Commission. I think what really matters is that Jesus has fulfilled the prophets, and we need to preach Him in the nations."

Let me just make a few points here. This is the primary disposition of the Church in our generation, and I believe there is a reason that we feel this way. In fact there are several.

1. We feel this way because we have seen so many people get distracted by a study of the end-times. We have seen so many people make attempts at charting everything out, getting every eschatological duck in a row, and it seems that the majority of those who are engaged in these things are not concerned for the expression of the Kingdom in our generation. They have more of a "fatalistic" mentality, that everything is going downhill from here on out.

2. We have come to believe that the nations are in need of the Gospel (rightly so!), and that we have a primary calling to see the Gospel spread in a powerful way to all people (Amen to that!). To take time to really wade through the Scriptures regarding Israel and the end of the age seems like a diversion from this high calling.

3. We are intimidated by looking into these things, since so many have done so and been distracted from the Great Commission. On top of that, so many Bible scholars have differed in so many ways on so many points that it seems vain for us to take up the issues pertaining to the end. We have lived most of our believing lives glossing over the passages that speak of the end of the age, moving on to something that seems more applicable to us. We can't find the relevance of it all as 21st century American believers.

4. We have a bad taste in our mouths about even engaging these things, since all that we've heard over the last 30 years (from "Late Great Planet Earth" to "Left Behind") pertaining to the end seems removed from reality, almost cartoonish and devoid of a sense of purpose.

I can relate to these feelings. I spent my first 4 years as a believer (from '96-'00) rebuking friends that I thought were too engaged in eschatological studies. "What about the end of the age?" they would ask. "Jesus is coming back, so repent and take the Gospel to the nations," was my response. "What about Israel?" they would ask. "We have Jewish roots, and we need to preach the Gospel to the Jews as well," I would reply. For me, that was all there was to it.

Dear friends, that is not all there is to it.

While my jealousy for the harvest was from the Lord, there was a great loophole in my paradigm. I believe this is also the case with the majority of believers in our nation today. In 2001, the Lord brought me to a conclusion that we need to reckon, in fasting/prayer and study, with the issue of Israel and the end of the age. We cannot neglect the dozens and dozens (and that's a modest number) of chapters in the Scriptures that pertain to the issue of Israel and the end of the age. They are there for a reason, and I believe that it's our own ignorance (which is the result of many things) that keeps our hearts closed to these realities. It is absolutely crucial that we allow the Lord to restore a value for what the prophets have spoken.

I have heard more teaching in the last year AGAINST a consideration of the age to come than ever before in my life. Often times, the teaching is coming from those who are seeing genuine miracles and awesome fruit in terms of the Kingdom breaking in now. The argument is that those who consider the end of the age have lost sight of God's desire to break in to change the world in the present. I believe that this is often the case, but I also believe that there is a big hole in the middle of these recent messages. The whole Kingdom view of the prophets, apostles and Jesus Himself was immersed in an awareness of the future, which included great turmoil in Israel and the nations, preceding the return of Christ and the permanent establishment of His Kingdom. They expressed the Kingdom in the present in light of what God promised and warned about the end. While I rejoice in the fruit these saints are seeing (and I really do rejoice!), I'm compelled by the Lord to step back for a moment to inquire of His heart. My prayer for the last 7 or 8 years has been something like this:

"Lord, I am so thankful for what you are working in these saints. I pray that all over the earth, these works of power would increase in the Church...the Spirit of prophecy, the healings, the supernatural events that cause your grace to break in upon the hearts of unbelievers. I want to see an increase in my own life. But what shall we say of the age to come? Why is there this disposition of neglect toward Israel and the age to come? What was in Jesus' heart? What was in the hearts of the prophets? What was in Paul and the other apostles that caused them to be possessed by a vision of the age to come, the issue of Israel, and to simultaneously release the life of the Kingdom in the present? The pendulum seems almost always to be on one side or the other. Would you breathe upon us, and make us a people who are not neglecting the prophets? Would you breathe on us, and make us a people who also express the Kingdom in the present? We want to be like Paul...like the prophets...like the Son."

IT'S NOT EITHER/OR

I believe that we generally have two different camps that are grinding against one another. One is saying that a consideration of eschatology (usually Israel falls into that slot as well) takes away from a spirit of faith for the Kingdom to come now. The other is saying that everything is going downhill, apostasy is coming, "we're in the Laodicean age so why bother" (which is an unbiblical idea), etc. Both expressions are outside of the view that the apostles and prophets carried. The former may see some wonderful miracles, the latter may receive some genuine insight into the prophets of Scripture. But separate from one another they produce skewed measurements.

I believe Jesus performed miracles, expressed the power and nature of the Father, and spoke resurrectional words out of His intimate knowledge of the prophets/servants behind Him, the future ahead of Him, and most importantly, the Father surrounding Him. Jesus' view was not "already" or "not yet". It was both at once, without one detracting from the other.

We don't often meet the kind of men who can speak with authority on both views. We don't often find men who speak on the life of the Kingdom, miracle power, and faith for expressions of the Kingdom in one breath, who can then turn the table and speak about the judgment to come, the glory of the future, the trials ahead, and the call to prepare for these things in the next breath. Jesus was one such man. Paul was too. And I believe that God is wanting to raise up a generation that expresses the nature of God and His Kingdom in the present, while anticipating and preparing for the still future events that the prophets have spoken of. We need the "already/not yet", not as a mere theology, but as a consciousness that affects our moments in real life. God's going to raise up that company by His Spirit, I believe.

Ultimately, our view of the Lord tends to determine our theology. This is why we have entire movements based on "the Father's Heart", and others emphasizing God primarily as judge. We need a view of God as He is, and this is the chief reason that a consideration of the end of the age and the issue of Israel becomes a stumbling block for the majority of believers. We do not know God as He is. Most believers have a stoic, "out of reach" view of God and have not been awakened and healed by the intensity and personal nature of His love. They may speak often of His love, but have not had a revelation of the fiery nature of His love toward them. Others have a view of the Lord that makes it unbearable to consider Him as the coming Judge who will literally deal with Israel and the nations in a cataclysmic way. These things are intense, and need to be prayerfully weighed out. If you can talk about them lightly, you are probably viewing them inadequately. To think about the intensity of what the prophets have spoken is not a cute hobby for the curious religious mind. The end-times have often been pursued in this way, and it has reduced the value of these things in the minds of believers. The end of the age, the nature of God, and the issue of Israel cannot be rightly considered as a hobby or a mere personal interest. We need to be awakened by the Lord through prayer and the Scriptures.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF STUDYING AND PRAYING ABOUT ISRAEL AND THE END OF THE AGE?

A church that has not rightly considered the issue of Israel will be in danger of lapsing into an illusive version of the faith. It will end up thinking that the Kingdom revolves around its own ministry and functions. It will not see itself as grafted into a glorious Kingdom, it will see itself as the center of that Kingdom. The mystery of Israel reveals God as the center of the Kingdom, Christ as all in all, and Jerusalem as the center of God's purposes in the earth. We find that the Kingdom is much bigger than our individual prayer lives or our collective ministry endeavors (though the Lord has a radical love and value for each one of us). We find that the Kingdom is being expressed in the present, but that its fullest revelation will come when the consummation of all things has been released in the earth.

1. The study of Israel and the end of the age imparts a freeing and empowering hope to the people of God. We begin to see that we have been gloriously grafted in to God's covenantal purposes, and that we have a link that goes all the way back to Abraham and finds its fulfillment in the coming Son of God Himself. This is awesome! There is a hope, empowered by the fact that the living God has spoken through the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. That hope is expanding and deepening, these men have told us, for this Kingdom will soon be indestructibly planted in the earth never to be uprooted again. Jesus will reign from Jerusalem, "all Israel" will be saved (Rom. 11), and the nations will study war no more (Is. 2.4). This is fascinating, and it produces great hope! This day really is coming to the earth.

2. The study of Israel and the end of the age also imparts a high seriousness, releasing the fear of the Lord and a love for His Person. It gives us a burden for Israel and the nations. We begin to see that the earth is not prepared for what's coming. We have a mandate to preach the Gospel to all nations, and the calling to come into the fullness of Christ for the Gospel to go out with power. We begin to see that we are not just a religious club that happens to read the Bible. We have a mandate to see the house of the Lord built in the earth. When we have revelation of the nature of the coming Kingdom, we receive a faith and wisdom for the Spirit to build that kind of community in our own churches in the here and now. For this we give ourselves to prayer and fasting, the scriptures, community, witness, missions, and theology. To rightly peer into these issues is to be moved with urgency for the thing to which God has called us.

3. I believe that the Scriptures are clear regarding the simultaneous increase of glory and darkness in the final stretch of history. Some call it the period of "dual extremes." Well, it's obvious that to speak of the promises of "premillennial" outpouring as well as "post-return of Christ" glory is an encouraging, faith-building thing. But I believe the Lord has also spoken about what the Scriptures call the "time of distress" (Jer. 30, Dan. 12, Mt. 24) for very important reasons. We need to see the Lord with vision from the Holy Spirit, through the lens of the Scriptures. He is is coming to deliver His people, to judge the nations, to purge Israel, and to release His government on the earth. Our consideration of His nature (revealed now and at the end) is what draws us into the knowledge of God as He is. You can't know God unless you know Him as Father and Judge. If we reject one attribute we neglect or distort the other. Friends, God is coming. And He is not bound by our categories. He is God over all, and when He comes we will be shocked to find that His love is so much deeper than we ever knew, and His justice is so much more sweeping than we ever imagined.

This Kingdom consciousness needs once again to permeate our preaching and living, or else we reduce the faith to something that is disconnected from God's history and future, which paralyzes us for the expression of the Kingdom in the present.

With much prayer, and the accumulation of time in the Scriptures, we will obtain the grace to live and minister as Jesus did:, expressing the Kingdom in the present, while anticipating events in the days to come that will introduce the Kingdom in a final and permanent way. I say again, God is coming! The nations are not ready! Israel is not ready! And most of us have been cruising our way through life, building a name for ourselves and our ministries, unaware that the great shaking is coming!

"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the Lord of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall." -Mal. 4.1-2

One of our chief roles as the church of the last days is to prepare the earth for age to come. It will not be completely prepared by our labors (in other words, as great as the harvest will be, there will still be great judgment when He comes), but as we extend the Kingdom through repentance, prayer and fasting, worship, witness, and service we "hasten the day of God", invite the return of the King, and prepare many hearts that would have otherwise been caught unawares.

Isn't this the picture? God has broken in through the Gospel, and the Kingdom is expanding in the earth. The prophets have spoken about an outpouring of the Spirit in the last days, which kick-started with Jesus and the first apostles and is heightening as this age draws to a close. If the "day" was near then, it's even closer now! A great harvest takes place during this final season of history! God is being revealed in the nations, and unto Israel. The prophets also spoke about great tumult and cataclysm at the end of the age. Just as we've seen the earth contract and pulsate with mercy (revivals and moves of God), we've seen it contract and pulsate with judgments (earthquakes, wars, etc.). There will be a church in the earth that is prepared for the difficulty that moves through the nations. They'll not be offended at what takes place, for they've been expecting it. The prophets have spoken these things! They will be a witness to Israel and to all people during this time. There will be a "falling away," but there will also be many who "know their God" and thereby "do exploits." It's the heart that prepares now, through prayer and fasting, worship, lavished time in the Scriptures, fellowship and witness, who will be poised for the glory and "distress" to come.

It's been the end of the age for 2,000 years, but all of these things are heightening as the age draws to a close! The day of the Lord is dawning. You say, it has been since the days of Jesus. Okay, well it really is now! A prayer and missions movement is burning like never before, the mystery of Israel is being revealed in a more profound way than it has in the last 1800 years, and a vision for the fullness of Christ in the Church is spreading like never before. We are called to prepare the way.

This is the hour for a fresh view. I haven't presented a complete picture here, brothers and sisters. You and I only see in part. But let's stop cooping up the expression of the Kingdom in the present. Let's stop quenching the Spirit and carrying a "downhill" mentality. Let's open up our hearts and let God transform society through us. Let's believe God for healing, prophecy, God-centered character, and works of power today.

On the flip side of the same "Kingdom coin", let's stop downplaying the significance of Israel, coming Judgment, and the age to come. Let's dive into the Scriptures with impassioned hearts, knowing that the Spirit will guide us into all truth- even if much of it is difficult to bear. Yes, it's time for the Kingdom to be known and understood in the Church again. It's ancient, but it's new to so many of us. We must look at the Scriptures as a whole, releasing the "already" while finding hope and sobriety in the "not yet". I say, let's put an exclamation point on the "already" and the "not yet"! Let this age be permeated with the Kingdom, and let us be prepared for the age to come! An exclamation point for both! They were both important to Jesus, and they ought to be of utmost importance for us as well. The hour is late, the Kingdom is at hand.

"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets." -Acts 3.19-21

Amen. Let Your Kingdom come, Lord.

The Stranglehold of Offense by Bryan Purtle

A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. -Pro. 19.11

Our self-absorbed culture does not promote the development of true wisdom. Of course, self-absorption is not confined to American ways. It happens to be the condition of the entire fallen race of humanity. Perhaps one of the most subtle yet deadly forms of selfishness is that of clinging to personal offense in the heart.

Many men and women have been robbed of the joy of the Lord through compromise and immorality. But one of the most untouched areas in the hearts of God's people is the area of offense. Yet this area is massive. It's absolutely crucial that we live a life that is free from the power of offense.

Jesus said that the one who does not forgive those who have sinned against him will not be forgiven by the Father in heaven. There is something about releasing grace and blessing toward those who have wronged us that frees our own spirits from self-absorption. As long as we harbor unforgiveness and offense, we will be transfixed on what we deserve and how we should have been dealt a better card. When we release mercy and true blessing from the heart, when we direct it toward those ones who may have treated us unjustly or unkindly, something breaks loose by the Spirit. We are no longer caught up in what we think we deserve, but have instead entrusted our own hearts to the Father of Lights, and laid our lives down- even for people that we have had difficulty with. This is the expression of the cross, and we are called to exhibit this reality in the earth.

Decades ago, T. Austin Sparks wrote a booklet entitled "The Blessedness of the Unoffended". It is indeed a blessed state to be able to release mercy and blessing upon those who have not extended those graces to you. Are you free from offense, friend? Have you truly forgiven everyone in your life?

Do not allow the stranglehold of offense to keep you from the river of life that God has given so much to provide for you. A movement of joy will be your experience when you resolve in faith to deliberately extend mercy to those who have offended your heart. You will leave the land of self-absorption, and enter the land "wherein dwelleth righteousness and peace, forevermore." Amen.

Thoughts On Pastoral Ministry by Bryan Purtle

1. “And He gave some as...pastors...” - Eph. 4:11

The Lord is jealous to raise up pastoral servants within the realm of local Christ-centered communities. These servants will have foundational attributes, and a grace-formed ability to serve as shepherds in the lives of the saints.

It is remarkable to see what is going on under the surface of our congregations in America. If you have engaged anything beyond a "handshake" relationship with fellow saints, then you know that the Body of Christ is in great need of true pastoral laborers. If you have only superficial relationships within your assembly, let me tell you what could be your discovery if you aim to go deeper in fellowship. You will be shocked and flabbergasted to see the compromise, marital strife, prejudices, indiosyncrasies, quirks, jealousies and strange doctrines that still fester in the secret lives of the people of God. Only a true pastoral ministry (which is not likely function in the early phases of a community among more than twenty souls per pastor), where the servant/leaders are a real presence among the “sheep”, will have the power, authority and character sufficient to break those strangleholds and to free the saints into a revelation of God and His purposes.

We need to see that God has placed specific souls within the Church to serve in this fashion, and that ministry, in the first and last analysis is a suffering that releases true glory. “Death works in us, so life in you...” (2 Cor. 4:12)

We need to be freed from a professional idea of ministry, and get back to the nit and grit of true life. I believe Paul used the word "shepherd" simply because there need to be men who have the time, love, patience, and boldness to be among the saints in the realm of real life. This will require a certain quality of a man, and that is why Paul gave standards for the overseers and elders in the pastoral epistles. If you have a self-driven agenda, are concerned for your reputation, consider ministry that is not on a platform to be a waste of time, you are disqualified from true pastoral service. The pastors that God is wanting to raise up will be men and women of stature in God, and they will have their sights set on eternity. They will labor from house to house with much prayer, extending the nature of God's love and righteousness to individuals and families. They will possess the "gift of hearing", and will often be required by the Lord to graciously listen to the spewing out of fleshly paradigms and opinions without religiously responding out of an impatient subjectivity. They will know how to respond with authority and love, having placed "the sheep" above themselves through a radical identification with Christ. Having heard the hearts of the saints (even in immaturity and error), they will have the grace and power to give counsel and correction to the building up of the Body in the context of real life.

It may be fitting to have a team of 12 or more pastoral servants functioning in congregations numbering in the hundreds or thousands. I am convinced that this is in the mind of the Lord for the church. I'm not making a law out of it, but from my own experience of several years in Christian community, I believe it is difficult for one pastoral servant to function adequately among more than 15 or 20 saints (unless those saints are seasoned and mature-in which case they will likely be engaged in some manner of leading service). There are too many issues that need to be addressed, too many souls that need to be encouraged, too many situations that need the presence of a loving, bold, Spirit-empowered vessel. Expecting one or two men to pastor hundreds or thousands of people is an unrealistic ideal, which puts strain on the lives of the leaders and leaves many in the Body unengaged. We need laborers who are in relationship with other pastoral friends to be experiencing "life together" with the newer believers in smaller settings (undergirding the larger gatherings). I believe the Lord wants to release this in the earth, and we need to begin crying out for the emergence of these servants, while encouraging the ones who feel so called. (Chances are, many of our larger congregations may have a dozen or more servants who -without much more training- could be recognized and released to function in a pastoral way among the congregation. Some may be supported financially and some may not. But we leaders need to ask the Lord for wisdom to provide a context for that life-flow to be unstopped.)

2. The Inward Formation of a Pastor

In pastoral formation, there must come a time when the servant realizes his utter inability to alter situations or salvage the saints. He must reach a point of realization wherein he sees that his silent suspicions don’t convict, his judgmental rebukes don’t provoke an awareness of sin, his flattery doesn’t impregnate the saints with a consciousness of sonship, and his humanistic encouragements don’t produce a revelation of the Father. He must be brought to the place where nothing in his humanity will suffice; where every exterior trust has been cast to the sea; where the ministry of the interior becomes the dominant reality. He must long and believe for a timely and panoramic release of the word of the Lord. The Chief Shepherd put it like this: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” -Jn. 6:63

Father, raise up these servants! How we need Your wisdom to break in, for the building up of families, for foundations to be laid. God, give us the Spirit and context that will be conducive to this reality. Let not your people settle any longer for a superficial mode of relationship. Release the Spirit of the Great Shepherd in Your house, that Your people may become whole in real life. In Jesus' name.

Psm. 23; Jn. 10:11-17; Acts 20:28-32; Eph. 4:11; 1 Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9; 1 Pet. 5:1-4

A Brief Overview of Divine Healing in Both Testaments by Bryan Purtle

“God will do great things for us if we are prepared to receive them from Him. We are dull of comprehension because we let the cares of this world blind our eyes, but if we keep open to God, He has a greater plan for us in the future than we have seen or ever have dreamed about in the past. It is God’s delight to fulfill to us impossibilities because of His omnipotence, and when we reach the place where He alone has the right of way in all things, then all mists and misunderstandings will clear away.”
-Smith Wigglesworth

A Lie Associated with Divine Healing

“God wills some to be sick. This is His way of purifying obedient children. If someone is sick, diseased or terminally ill they are probably being refined by God. It’s a rarity, then, that He would have us pray for healing.”

This is simply unbiblical. Throughout the Scriptures (especially in the NT), sickness is seen as an aberration, an intruder, the handiwork of Satan. The OT view of sickness was that it was usually the result of the presence of sin (e.g. Gen. 20; Ex. 15.26; Num. 12; Psm. 25.16-18, 31.9-10, 103.3, to name a few); the hopeful discipline and chastening of a Fatherly God toward His wayward children. This view is seen in the NT community as well (cf. 1 Cor. 11.17-34).

There was, however, very little understanding of the devil and his angels within the community of Ancient Israel. We have a few glimpses in Job (see esp. chs. 1-2) in which the devil is seen before the Throne of God, requesting permission to disturb and bring destruction to men. Even so, it was not God who instigated the infliction upon Job. He saw that the powers of darkness would ultimately be humiliated by Job’s faith, and his refusal to curse God in the midst of the most horrific, tragic events was something that would in the end bring great glory to His Name.

Yet and still, if we stick only to an OT view, the picture is a bit blurry as far as the powers of darkness are concerned. Job does leave us with some questions. We must admit that there are certain things that still put a cloak of mystery over the whole story. But somehow, this “cloak of mystery” did not seem to affect Jesus’ presentation of the will of the Father concerning sickness and disease, nor did the apostles’ seem to wallow in a pit of confusion over the issue. Instead, they saw themselves as servants, appointed by God to invade the present age with the vibrant life of the age to come.

With the advent of Jesus, and particularly His public ministry, we get a much clearer view into the heart of the Creator God. It is made known that sickness/disease/death, in and of themselves, are not in His original desire and plan for mankind. The “line in the sand” is drawn much more deeply in the Gospels than in the OT: Sickness is present in the earth because sin is present in the earth. Not only that, though sickness is often the result of some personal sin or moral failure to the law of God (as the OT clearly presents [cf. the great “if” of Ex. 15.26]), it is by and large, in NT terms, “the work of the devil”; either directly, since there may be the present activity of demon-spirits accompanying the sickness, or simply because disease and death express the effect of fallenness and sin in the world (e.g. Lk. 13.10-17; Acts 10.38).

Since sickness is primarily seen as the work of the devil (especially as seen in the NT), the idea that believers ought to accept it or consider it a refining agent of God seems to run contrary to the view of Jesus Himself, and the views of the foundational men that He appointed. Not only should sickness and disease be recognized as intruders in the household of God, they should be attacked by the saints through repentance and confession of sin, along with faith and prayer (e.g. Mt. 10.7-8; Lk. 10.8-9; Jn. 14.12-14; Acts 4.29-31; Jas. 5.14-16). Here is a wonderful conclusion from the foremost biblical scholar on the subject:

“To be sure, modern proponents of divine healing have often sensationalized and commercialized the ‘ministry’ of healing of the sick, and some have been outright charlatans. Public demonstrations of compassion and understanding have often been sadly lacking, and there has frequently been a corresponding lack of sound biblical exegesis. As one active in Pentecostal ministry around the globe, I can speak freely and candidly. However, as an evangelical student of the Word, I must also say candidly that modern opponents of divine healing have generally thrown out the baby with the bath water. In their zeal to correct the excesses and abuses of the ‘faith healing’ movement, they too have misread the Scriptures, denying the reality and promise of an unbroken continuum of diving healing power. While their exposition of individual verses is often superior to that found in the popularized writings of divine healing teachers, the overall thrust of the latter’s message is more sound biblically in terms of its attitude toward sickness and health. The same God who heals the broken in heart today also heals the broken in body.
What then does all this mean to the seriously ill person? How does this apply to those suffering debilitating pain and disease? Certainly, if there is any subject that does not lend itself to abstract theological discussion, it is that of sickness and healing. What does a cancer-stricken child care about biblical theology? ...The Word of God speaks to us today.
Anyone visiting the I.C.U. of a hospital cannot help but feel a longing to see healing and relief come quickly to the sick and suffering. Such attitudes are in keeping with the Scriptures. Sickness and disease are terrible reminders of the Fall, speaking vividly and forcefully of the horrid consequences of historic, human sin. Who cannot be moved to compassion in the face of such suffering? The good news is that our God and Father is also moved to compassion. In his ultimate act of sacrificial love, he gave his Son for us, offering him up for our rebellion. Through his death, Jesus struck at the root cause of all human suffering, viz., our sins, nailing them to the cross and thereby opening the door for a profusion of healing grace to come to the whole person- spirit, soul, and body. The Scriptures offer us hope! No doubt there will be godly people who suffer from protracted diseases, along with handicapped saints who are not made physically well. Certainly there will be mysteries of suffering that will not be explained to us in this lifetime, and many will find redemptive value in their personal experience of sickness or even in the tragic death of a loved one. Yet the Word of God encourages us to come in confident and humble faith, asking the Lord for healing. He who made all things good in the beginning and who in the end will remove all suffering and pain is accessible for healing mercy even now.
Let us look back to the Word of God- to the covenant at Sinai promising healing as a blessing and dread diseases as a curse, and to the history of Israel, where God struck down the guilty but delivered those who put their trust in him. Let us bring to mind the book of Psalms with the anguished sufferer on his sickbed, ridden with guilt and pain, then wonderfully restored within and without, now encouraging us not to forget all the Lord’s gracious deeds, especially forgiveness and healing. Let us remember the wisdom of Proverbs, exhorting us to walk in the fear of the Lord, which adds length of life and brings healing to the bones. And then let us consider the final end of Job.
Let us hear afresh the words of the prophets who spoke of the future restoration of their sin-sick nation, longing for the day when God’s kingdom would be manifest on earth, when the lame would jump, the blind would see, and the broken hearted wound be bound up. And let us look up to the Redeemer, whose coming into the world meant the inbreaking of that prophesied kingdom, spelling ‘the beginning of the end of Satan’s reign,’ whose whole earthly ministry was a vicarious bearing of our pain and guilt, and who revealed the heart of the Father by healing the sick and oppressed. Let us look to him who promised that all who believe in him would do the works that he did, sending the Spirit to empower his people after his ascension and resulting in a glorious pattern of healings and miracles throughout the early centuries of the church. And then let us remember the words the Master spoke to the ‘leprous’ man seeking healing from his hand: “I am willing,” the Lord said, and with that the man was cured.
That is the essence of divine healing in the Bible, in history, and in the world today. It translates theology into action. It brings the divine Healer into intimate contact with suffering humanity. It produces radical change.
‘But,’ someone might ask, ‘can we really expect such divine acts in our day?’ As long as God is God and there is sickness and disease on the earth, the answer is certainly yes. ‘For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is sounded by us to the glory of God’ (2 Cor. 1.20). Israel’s divine Healer is still at work- for his glory and for our good.” -Dr. Michael L. Brown (From his final conclusions in Israel’s Divine Healer)

The Mystery of Israel and the Glory of the Consummation by Bryan Purtle

(Here are some notes from a class taught in the Kansas City School of the Apostolic Faith by Bryan Purtle [early 2006]. The wording is a bit thick, but there are wonderful things throughout if you have the heart to wade through it.)

1. “Look at the nation Israel...” (I Cor. 10:18a)

a. The chief element in the mystery of Israel is the revelation of God as He is, and the revelation of man as he is. This is seen most often in the Scriptures through YHWH’s interactions, speakings, and dealings with the nation of Israel itself. If we do not receive the revelation that can only come to us by rightly looking upon Israel- her inception, her deliverances, her fluctuating faithfulness to YHWH- we will be too shallow to see God and His ways through the lens of mercy and reality. Our gospel becomes a pipe-dream that does not reveal God’s power, and doesn’t touch and free the souls of men.

Israel is not merely an abstract nation made up of those who repeatedly fail to respond to God adequately. They are a chosen People, whose flimsy morality and failure to love and worship Him in faithfulness reveals to us the nature of mankind altogether. That is, in Israel the Gentiles can see themselves. That Church which has not seen its own fallenness in Jacob, will not share in the resurrection glory that will be Israel’s canopy (Is. 4:4-5) at the consummation of history. A Church that is self-righteous, and strutting through life without a meekness and cognizance of God's mercy, is a poor demonstration of the House that God is wanting to raise up.

In Israel, we are seen as Miriam bickering against God’s anointed ones; as Jacob, conniving and striving to achieve his own agenda; as Moses striking the rock in presumption; as David the adulterer/murderer sitting guilty and convicted before the finger of a holy prophet; as Jeremiah, not wanting to speak in His name any longer; as John the Baptist, offended that God has not carried out His plan on our timetable and in our way. In them, we see ourselves. In their experience, we also see the nature of God. We see the finality of His judgments, we see all His compassions kindled. We humans are apt to be flippant when we should be trembling, and rigid and tense when we should be dancing.

We know Him more fully when we look at Him through Israel’s experience. If the church has a ‘salvation’ that has not first brought the realization of Adamic ineptitude, she is not saved in the way that YHWH has desired. When she has that revelation, which will come largely through looking upon Israel, she will not only be cleansed and saved, but sent as a resurrection witness. Israel’s literal history is instructional for us in leading us to the place of eschatological dependency. We need, like Isaiah, to see the Lord elevated, to see Israel- a “people of unclean lips” (like ourselves), and to cry out for our own coal of purgation and cleansing.

b. In the glory of Israel’s history, we also see a panoramic picture of the mercy, power, and judgments of YHWH that can be found in no other national history.

1 Cor. 10.1-18

c. In Israel’s history we see not only the incapability of mankind to live uprightly without supernatural grace, we obtain a view of the ‘indestructible’ power of YHWH’s authority over the earth- that is to emphasize, His zeal and all-sufficiency in having for Himself a nation of priests who not only overcome the spirit of the world, but dwell in and exhibit the wisdom and power of His kingdom. No other national history contains the documentation of Creation, and the supernatural activity of the Creator within the cosmos.

d. In Israel’s future, we find a transcendent hope in the resurrection and the establishment of the Kingdom of God by Jesus Himself.

“...eschatology dominated early Christianity as an eschatologically-orientated community. They believed that the final climax of history was imminent, not because they had utilized a particular brand of eschatology, but because their beliefs about Jesus and their experience of the Spirit had led them to understand their circumstances in this particular way.” (excerpty from C. Rowland's comments on Dunn’s eschatology)

We need to recognize the dominant theme of the Scriptures. It has to do with the glory and knowledge of God, as it has been expressed through Israel historically, and most poignantly through her Messiah and future King, Yeshua. The threefold view of the Son of Man, “yesterday, today, and forever”- is the foundation of the last days’ Church. Jesus is the lens of apostolic/prophetic exegesis. He is the “blessed hope”, “a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

Lord, may your people be awakened to the mystery of Israel and the glory of what's coming. Amen.

The Spirit of Prayer by Bryan Purtle

With all of the fluctuations of emphasis in the Church over the last 1900 years (and especially in this age of often faddish devotion), we need to hear the singleness of heart in the cry of the Lord; namely, that His house would be “a house of prayer for all nations.” (Is. 56)
The call to prayer is the call to the heart of the Lord. It is the call to manifest priesthood. It is the call to eternal purpose. It is the call to great labor and reward. It is the high privilege of every believer. It is the chief of all ministries, and it’s open to every child of God. It is the call to God Himself. That’s why it is the central issue.

WHY WE MUST BE AFLAME WITH THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER

Without fervent, lengthy seasons in the place of prayer, we cannot know God. This is not an issue of fulfilling our religious obligation of “doing devotions”. There is a fountain of living water in God, and they that choose to come may drink joyfully and “without cost.” We must be aflame with the Spirit of prayer, and this fountain is desirable and worthy of being known through the intimate exchange of fellowship and adoration. How deeply did you drink of Him today? Don’t allow these words to bounce off of you as you would an advertisement or a mere opinion. The living God calls you even now, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters...” (Is. 55.1a)

The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be known and glorified as He is. Oswald Chambers has keenly written:

“The whole meaning of prayer is that we may know God.”

I am reminded of the oft-given words of one of my spiritual fathers: We do not know Him as we ought. Oh, that the floodgate of prayer might be opened wide- that the saints may be awakened to the privilege of open exchange with the God of all life!

Lord, release the dew of heaven upon our understanding and experience of prayer. It is too shallow, too confined, too non-anticipatory, too obligatory. It lacks expectation, zeal, joy, and pulsation. Dearest Abba! Breathe upon our minds and spirits; breathe upon the secret place and release the light of Your countenance there. Cause Your people to steal away and seek You out of the longing of a Bride for her Bridegroom. In Your awesome mercy, quicken life, we ask. Resurrect Your house of prayer, a people in which you dwell!

Guiding, Glorifying, and Disclosing: The Work of the Spirit of Truth

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” - John 16:12-14

The enemy’s greatest boast against the western Church is that an entire Christian subculture has been formed on the basis of mere Biblical tenets and categories, and he has caused this international religious community to feel that it knows God due to its intellectual understanding of Him. So often our faith is founded on cerebral understanding without the Spiritual revelation which comes through intimate interaction with the Lord. All the while, there is little spiritual power seen, little overcoming reality, little love, little holiness, and little intimacy with YHWH because the flame of prayer has been quenched or radically limited. It has been replaced with clever preaching, religious subjectivity, worldliness, programs, feverish activity, and unbelief. Hence, you have a whole slew of sons and daughters who barely know their Father, and do not know that He is lovingly inviting them to a greater knowledge of Himself!

A Church that knows things about God but doesn’t know Him inwardly by the Spirit is an aberration. It’s a distortion. It is the greatest tragedy in the world. It has been robbed of its inheritance. It knows not the Fountain from which peace, joy, and righteousness flow. The flame of prayer must rise again, that we may know Him! The veil is rent, dear ones.

“He will glorify Me...” (Jn. 16:14)

Jesus’ statements here are vital and practical. The Spirit, Who is the beginning and end of true prayer, will “glorify” the Son. That is to say, He will lift up and reveal Jesus to the disciples more deeply than they could have known during His earthly sojourn. The Spirit would come, because of Jesus’ sacrifice and ascension, to reveal the innermost parts of the heart and personality of God. “For to us God revealed through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” (1 Cor. 2)

Jesus knew that unless He endured the cross and overcame death, the Spirit of God (Who is also the Spirit of prayer) would never be poured out in this copious manner. But because of His obedience and love the revelation of Himself and the revelation of the Father would be released upon the cosmos by the power of the eternal Spirit. Without the activity of the Spirit in the prayers of His servants, YHWH would not be known as He is- a real Person of majesty, compassion, and holiness. He would be reduced to a series of religious ideas or tenets. This very thing was happening in Israel when Jesus’ ministry emerged. Even though they had the Scriptures, even though they had religious services, even though they had Messianic expectation (albeit idealized), He was barely recognized. I wonder if we are much different from those who passed Him by on the streets of Jerusalem. They missed Him because He didn’t fit into their own structured ideas. They missed Him because they were praying their own prayers and forming their own theologies. Their religion meant more to them than God Himself, and when He “suddenly” appeared, “their hearts were far from Him.”

The same goes for us. Unless the Spirit of God comes upon us, awakens and guides us in prayer, we will not know the Lord who is “lofty and exalted.” (Is. 6:1) We need to burn inwardly for the knowledge of God. We need to admit nationally that we have not known Him as He is. We have a shallow view of His love, a hollow understanding of His judgments, and a withered perception of His majesty. We are not, as a people, a company of awe-filled worshippers. We are not people of adoration. We have not seen His beauty (Psm. 27:4), because we have not given our hearts to prayer, where the soul becomes preoccupied with the Ancient of Days: the Father of glory.

It shows in the lives of the saints in our nation. So few are walking in holiness. So few are seeing supernatural miracles. So few are broken and contrite. So few are living in true joy. So few are fascinated with God above all things. So few have genuine love for the least of men. So few are able to discern the times. So few have a vibrant passion for the Scriptures. So few are winning the lost. WE ARE NOT LIVING AS SONS OUGHT TO LIVE! All these are the symptoms of prayerlessness.

Prayer is to the faith what breathing is to life. In prayer we hear the heart of the Lord. In prayer we are affirmed and healed by the revelation of God as a faithful and unswerving Father. In prayer we enter into the intercessions of the Son. In prayer we come to know the wonder of His holiness. In prayer we are transfigured. Oh, beloved of God! Won’t you come to the place of prayer?

Dear Christian, whether you’ve considered yourself a man or woman of prayer for 30 years or you’ve never prayed more than five minutes, ask God afresh for the Spirit of prayer! Ask Him to breathe upon you by His Spirit. Ask Him to give you the life of prayer. Ask Him for a heart on fire with compassion and purity. Ask Him for a greater union with Himself. Pray weak prayers. You don't have to perform for Him. He simply wants you to come! He will give you the life of prayer. If you ask for bread, He will not give a you a stone.

To break through to YHWH in the place of prayer is the privilege and call of every true son and daughter of the Kingdom. It is to penetrate the atmosphere and tenor of the present world system and all that it values. It is to be apprehended by the glory and power of the age which is to come, which has Jesus Himself as its King and Shepherd. The Spirit of prayer brings us into a vibrant union with Him. No wonder Jesus spent so much time alone beholding the Father! No wonder Daniel prayed repeatedly throughout the day. No wonder Paul was so insistent with the call to prayer. Prayer is the gateway to God Himself! Beloved, let us pray. Let us know Him deeply, for this is eternal life.

The Spirit will guide us in prayer, enabling us to navigate and soar to new heights in communion and intercession. He will GUIDE us into all truth, both doctrinally and with regards to the condition of our lives and hearts. He will GLORIFY the Son by revealing Him to us, in us, and through us. He will DISCLOSE what is to come, preparing us in our spirits for the simultaneous release of the end of the age harvest, and the time of greatest distress. We will only be ready if we’ve been made into a house of prayer. But what a glory it will be, to finally see the cry of David and Paul answered:

“Surely I will not enter my house, nor lie on my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for YHWH, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” -Psm. 132

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” -Eph. 2

Father, release the spirit of prayer and fasting in this generation. Let it come like a watershed event. Flood our hearts and minds with the faith and hunger of true intercession. Let it loose, O God! In Jesus' name.

It's Time to Awaken! by Bryan Purtle

I am sitting at my desk with one of the original copies of “The Great Revival in Wales”, a book that was published in 1905 and handed out in that same year throughout Western American congregations. It was distributed by a relatively unknown man named Frank Bartleman (author of "Azusa Street"), a revivalist whose fasting, praying and preaching was effectual during this time. It is an early collection of many eye-witness accounts of the revival which made history at the beginning of the 20th century.

It was one of the greatest movings of God’s Spirit in the history of faith itself. The most popular sporting events were barely attended. The nation sold out of Bibles. An estimated 100,000-plus souls were brought from darkness to light in a period of nine months. Bars went out of business, and the praises of God could be heard from the sanctuaries to the streets to the coal mines and back. We’ve never seen anything like it in our generation.

This book was used, in part, to fuel the faith and hunger of many believers in America. In particular, several congregations in California were radically moved by the reports of such a Divine invasion of society. Repentance and prayer for like awakenings became the cry of many hearts during this time. People began to realize that if the Church was not having an effect on the surrounding society, something was tragically amiss. From there the prayers arose.

The result of this stirring was an answer from heaven that would again alter the course of history, when coupled with other events, a broken-hearted black man named William Seymour made his pilgrimage to Los Angeles where he would be a part of what came to be known as the Azusa Street Revival- a movement which saw the fire of God’s Spirit spread with fervent rapidity to touch many parts of the world. John G. Lake, speaking of Seymour noted that “when the fire of God came it glorified him. And the glory and the power of a real Pentecost shook the world.”

“Do Not Forsake Your Heritage In Revival”

I believe that the Lord is forming a “wineskin” so to speak, that will be able to endure the times ahead. This has a great deal to do with the recovery of the cross in life and in genuine fellowship, as well as the reception of the mystery of Israel (which is far too great an issue to plumb here). But in the midst of all of the formation, stretching, molding, breaking, awakening, revealing, growing and refining, there must be a cry for ever new life!

If the word “revival” gives you a sour taste due to past experiences, word it how you will. But as Watchman Nee has said, “there is nothing more tragic than discovering that the wineskin has no wine.” We need to be revived! I am thinking of the Psalmists’ cry:

The humble have seen it [the salvation of the Lord] and are glad;
You who seek God, let your heart revive. -Psm. 69:32

There are those who once rejoiced in the presence of the Lord, filled with a heart of simplistic praise and an innocence that comes from knowing you have been cleansed and shown mercy. Now you are burdened with busyness, suspicious of others, entrapped in the stranglehold of fear and compromise, and there is no living song in your heart. Dear saint, “seek God,” and “let your heart revive.”

There are those who knew a pure communion with the Lord in the secret place, where you sat at His feet and wondered in adoration before the Throne. You had a love for the scriptures, and a grace-charged passion in prayer. Now you can scarcely remember a time of fresh and new exchange with the God of life. He has become a taskmaster, or an employer, or an unknowable figure. Once he was to you both King and friend. Now your heart is weary and aimless. You’ve grown worldly. You are not conscious either of His Lordship or His kind and personal embrace. Yet He is as near as He ever was. Dear child, “let your heart revive.”

There are those who anticipated the works of God. You expected the Gospel to penetrate the society. You prayed and believed for words of conviction and life that would have an eternal effect on unbelievers in your sphere of relationship. You believed that the lame really could walk, the blind really could see, the dead really could arise, and the demons really could be driven out. Your heart was aflame- in God- for the needs of the suffering ones. Now He has become a mere concept. You wonder whether or not He will break into history at all. Perhaps you’ve “been there, done that” and been let down. You’re not willing to let God arise. You would rather just go through life as it is. But that is not the cry of true sons! Dear saint, “let your heart revive.”

We have gone too far to turn back. While I believe that the greatest time of upheaval, suffering, and tumult that history has known is just around the corner, I also believe that we are on the path to seeing the greatest awakening the Church has ever witnessed; and it will not fade into memory, only to be recalled and wept over. It will culminate in the return of our Heavenly King, and the establishment of His perfect rule. Hallelujah! The Lord is issuing a call for the raising up of “lampstands” across the cities of the nations, and we need to believe as Paul believed.

...that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner-man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; so that...you...may know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
-Eph. 3:16, 17, 19

We need to believe as Evan Roberts believed for Wales. We need to believe as Jesus Himself believed:

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
-Jn. 14:12

It’s time for us to cry out to the Lord. If there is sin, let it be brought into the light and repented of. If there’s discouragement or fear, let it be cast aside. There is a great harvest to be reaped, and it will only be brought in rightly by “revived” souls. Servants whose hearts have been kindled by the fire of God’s own Spirit will be the bearers of the ark in these final days. This is not a plea for hollow emotionalism, or the repetition of some method for success. This is the inheritance of the children of God.

Maybe you’ve been handpicked by the Lord for some specific function in the church and you’ve valued your “place” or position above God Himself. Maybe you’ve some lingering bitterness toward one in the Body. Maybe you’ve lost all vision or hope of seeing that which once was alive in your heart actualized. “...let your heart revive.”
Revive unto what? The psalmist has a question that is also to us an answer:

Will You not Yourself revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You? (85:6)

True revival, before it is anything else, is the recovery of a living union with the God of Israel. If we are not rejoicing in God as He is, that itself is sufficient evidence that we need to be touched again with newness of Life.

Tozer was fond of the early mystic phrase “the fellowship of the burning heart”. I am growing fonder of it myself. How about you? I can’t see a valid reason for theology, mission, meeting, or preaching unless my heart has a living flame from heaven.

Dear friends, let’s not settle for something less or other than going in past the veil. In gracious covenantal loyalty He waits for us. He watches us, even now. May He not look upon us in vain. Don’t take this as a conceptual teaching or a theory to consider. God yet awaits you. Respond to Him, beloved.

My God! Have my heart completely, and may it burn fervently with the light of eternal love and holiness today.

The Gospel of the Kingdom by Bryan Purtle

“Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom...” -Mt. 4:23a

The Gospel of God is the most marvelous thing in the universe. It confronts us in our sin and unbelief. It heals and restores us in our minds and hearts. It has the power to reverse natural circumstances: Men that could not see are made to behold the colors of the rainbow and the beauty of a child. Women who could not bear children can find themselves being called “mother.” A child who could not walk can be seen “leaping and praising God.” The insane or anxiety-stricken can walk in transcendent peace and soundness of mind. Hell’s biggest chains are shattered in a word.

The Gospel reveals to us that we have no life in and of ourselves. It shows us that our highest wisdom is foolishness and our greatest morality is as good as a dirty old rag. It shows us that we have avoided God, even in our best attempts to serve Him. It shows us that our view of His judgments is too light. It shows us that our view of His love is too shallow.

It shows us the kind of Person that we have never before known: One Who gives Himself completely; One Who doesn’t break His word or exaggerate; One Who possesses all power yet sacrifices Himself in all gentleness; One Who Is what He says He is; One Who, in the very expression of Himself, chose to forsake His life that we might gain life. The Gospel shows us that, while we have been created in His image, we are really not like God at all. We are fallen.

Yes, we are fallen. Yet, the Gospel turns over the table of logical laws. While we’ve been obstinate and entirely wicked, this message in turn offers us the very wisdom and power of God, and a perfect righteousness given as a gift from the Father of lights. Oh, the blood of the Son! It opens up to us the experience of His Spirit, through which we come into intimate fellowship with the Creator of all things. We are made to hear the Voice of the One Who holds time and space in His palm. We are not only made to be His servants, but His friends. The blessing of Abraham rests on us. The gate is open for us to know the Lord in reality. The Gospel is beyond phenomenal. It is the wonder of the ages. It is the high point of all reality. What a glory this Gospel is! Have you any wonder or awe for the Gospel anymore? Is the Gospel still to you what it was when you first believed?

No wonder Jesus went preaching. No wonder His heart burned. No wonder He entered a public ministry. HE HAD GOOD NEWS! Very good news! He was announcing the presence of the Kingdom of the only true God. The Spirit of the Lord was resting upon Him, and so He prayed fervently, rejoiced incessantly, preached and taught openly, displaying the works of the Father for all to see. Oh, that the church would express the same Gospel!

Surely a people transformed by that Gospel would give everything to see His Kingdom come. When he said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, they would say, “Yes, Lord. I am compelled by Your beauty to say, 'yes'.”

When He said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”, they would “immediately” leave everything to follow this wonderful Man.

When He taught regarding the kingdom and the prophets they would salivate and yearn to hear Him more. When He preached they would give themselves to His words. When He demanded the utmost sacrifice and loyalty their response would not weaken. How can we turn our hearts away from such an awesome Person and such a glorious Kingdom? There will be no price too high to pay and no sacrifice too great when we, in this final season of history, are awakened to the beauty and wonder of the Man, Christ Jesus.

Would you pray with me? Lord, give us a fresh hearing of the Gospel... that foundational word that reveals Jesus to our hearts. Open our eyes again, Father. We want to see Jesus.

Revival by Bryan Purtle

"O Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
Part Your Heavens, O Lord, and come down; Touch the mountains, that they may smoke..." Psm. 144.3-5

Sitting before me is a little book that one of my spiritual fathers wrote. I just went back and forth with him on email, joking about how young he looked in the picture on the back of the book. In the midst of that exchange, I was taken back. Back about 11 years to when I first read this book.

Nostalgia can have many effects on a person. It can bring back disgusting feelings from a bad situation in the past. It can put a smile on your face when some humorous happening is reflected on. Sometimes God uses our remembrances to kindle a flame in our hearts. And that's exactly what happened tonight.

I remember reading this book in fall of '97. I went through it in its entirety in one night. That's not a superhuman feat, for the book's only about 116 pages long. But what I remembered most was that the Spirit of God seized my heart, and this (then) 18 year old wept his way through the urgent and passionate chapters of this little book. Sometimes the biggest things can be found in the smallest of places.

I have been down many roads with words. I spoke to a brother recently who was saying that the word "congregation" was not a good word to use in reference to an assembly of believers. Another brother recently winced at the thought of using the term "apostolic" is a ministry school title. Others are offended if you invite them to your fellowship, saying that it's a place to experience true "community." I suppose if those words have been abused, the word "revival" is marked even more prolifically with scars and bruises. In the Christian world, "revival" has meant everything from the scheduled weekend meeting with a guest speaker to a historic phenomenon that most people hear about at some point in their lives but never have opportunity to witness.

I am weary of what we've done with words. If we're not utilizing them to hype up our own views, we're often throwing them out because we've been burned by their usage through fallen vessels. I'm at a point where I bless and accept almost all words, because in all of the great words that God has utilized there's good to be found somewhere.

Revival is one such word. You don't have to use it. In the "historic revival" sense, the word is not even used in Scripture. But I'm a son of "historic revival." I met the Lord at the Brownsville Revival in 1996, and since then I've had an insatiable desire in my soul for God to "come down". There have been seasons where other things were emphasized more strongly in my heart, but my heart always seemed to swing back around to believing and hungering for God to open the floodgates of heaven and pour out His Spirit "upon all flesh."

I wonder who is reading this that has lost a passion for God to "show up" due to a bad experience that included the use of the word "revival".

All I can say is, the passion for God that accompanies revival; the burden for the lost that grips hearts during times of revival; the Spirit's manifested presence that comes in revival; the spirit of prayer that's released during revival; the conviction of sin and the awareness of coming judgment that characterize revival; the jubilant spirit of praise for the mercies of God that erupts in revival; these are all hallmarks of the authentic Christian life. I've been a believer for about 12 years, and I've found that it's easier to get sidetracked from these simple -yet awesome- realities than it is to abide in them.

I will continue to study and pray into issues pertaining to the Kingdom that don't fall into the neatly trimmed category of "historic revival." But I can't shake the burden from my heart. I still believe God is calling us to cry out for revival. I still believe we need to call for a sacred assembly, a fast, a season of repentance and returning to the God of all life. I want to see God "step down", as Duncan Campbell of the Hebrides Awakening used to say. I want to see a large American city transformed like Wales was. I want to hear the praises of God echoing down the alleys and Plaza walkways of Kansas City. My heart burns for it, friends.

What about you?

Maybe you ought to take a day or two to fast, lock yourself in a room, and cry out for revival again. Maybe you ought to lay down your frustrations with terms or the way things have happened. Maybe you ought to believe God again. Isn't it time that we repented and returned to the Lord, "that times of refreshing may come..."?

Who knows what would happen in a city, if the people of God gave their hearts entirely to Him?

"Part Your heavens...and come down..."

Lord, send revival again.

The Tent of David by Bryan Purtle

"I will not...slumber...until I find a dwelling place for the Lord..." -Psm. 132.4a, 5a
"Christ Jesus Himself....in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." -Eph. 2.20b, 22

There is a fascinating connection between this cry of David and the apostolic mission of Paul. There is a Holy Spirit continuum. There is a raw desire, a singleness of heart, a concentrated pursuit, and I believe that we are living in the generation that will finally be overcome by the power of it.

David had a cry for the presence of God, and a fierce longing for God to appear in Jerusalem. It wasn't merely a theological whim or the exercise of a religious practitioner. He had a gut-cry, a God-suffused passion, and it could not be quenched until he found a place for God in the earth. Love for God burned on His insides. The cry was two-fold:

1. "I want Your presence God, I want to see Your face. I want to see You, as You really are, revealed to my own heart, and to the nations."

2. "I want to see Your government invade the earth in power, love, and righteousness."

Is this what your heart burns for?

In Acts 15, James applies Amos 9's "tent of David" theme to the proclamation of the Gospel in the labors of Paul. While Amos 9.9-15 clearly has an eschatological (end-time) context, the early apostles believed that their own preaching and ministry had an initial hand in rebuilding that tent. This is awesome to consider! God's presence and government were invading the nations through the Gospel!

Paul was immersed in this Davidic vision. He believed that his labors- mainly among Gentiles- were effecting something in the earth; namely, the building of the house of God Himself. And for this apostle, the revelational knowledge of Jesus Christ was the wellspring of life for these communities. They were being built into a place wherein God could literally live and express Himself by the Spirit. The tent of David!

We live in a generation where the Lord is making clear what He wants in His house. Are our ears open to hear? Are our hearts still before Him? Are our eyes single in pursuit? It's time for the intimate knowledge of God to be unleashed in the earth. It's time for the beauty and majesty of God- in His mercies and judgments- to be known. It's time for the mystery of Israel and the Church to be revealed. It's time for the Spirit of prayer to sweep in like a tidal wave. It's time for eschatological understanding to be given. It's time for the power of God to be released, for captives to be set free. It's time for a house to be built! A house of joy, power, righteousness, and wholeness. A house of God. I too believe that a new "Jesus people" is emerging. Whatever city you live in, whatever road you've traveled, whatever failures or successes you identify yourself with, a new day has dawned upon us.

This is a generation called not merely to start ministries or even temporary movements. This is a generation called to pursue God Himself, and to have a part in preparing a place for His habitation. I believe that the vision for the knowledge of God, for Israel and the nations, for an apostolic Church, is resting upon us. It is a radical jealousy for the glory of God forever. We're going to see it released. Afflictions will be real but minor in comparison with the glory that will result. The tent of David- the revelation of God as He is, and the visible expression of His Kingdom- is emerging. Are you preparing yourselves, saints??

True and False Apostles by Bryan Purtle

The words of the resurrected Jesus to the church in Ephesus ought to hit home just as much in our generation as they did over 19 centuries ago:

"...you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perserverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary." (Rev. 2.2b-3)

In our day there is a proliferation of men "who call themselves apostles, and they are not..."
We have men trotting the globe in three-piece suits and private jets, 6 or 7-figure salaries and all the earthly esteem a man could covet. They have organizational oversight of several congregations. Some even boast that they are the apostles over hundreds of assemblies. They shine on full-color conference advertisements and are skilled proclaimers of the "successful life." I do not doubt the sincerity of some of these men. Yet mere sincerity or good intentions are not the qualities of the men whom God is wanting to send.

FOUNDATIONAL SERVANTS

There is something transcendent about the truly foundational servants the Lord is seeking in this last hour of history. They are not professionals, nor are their works the result of ingenuity, cleverness, or skill. They have been SHATTERED by a vision of the Most High, and they have become like Jacob. They limp through life, knowing that they would not have become what they are but by the grace of an encounter with Him. They have an authority from another age. They have a compassion that is more than human sentiment. They have a faith that pierces the most terrible and impossible situations. They have a joy that beams. They associate with the lowly. They have a fierce loyalty to the God of holiness. They abide in peace. They do not fear men.
They do not cease to pray. They have become, over time, men OF God.

There is something presumptuous and vain about much of what is called "prophetic" and "apostolic" in our day. There is a self-appointed, prematurity about many of the ministries who bear these titles. I fear for our lightness in these areas, especially in the charismatic realm (of which I've been a part for over a decade).

"those who CALL THEMSELVES APOSTLES, and they are not..." (Rev. 2.2)
"Jezebel, who CALLS HERSELF a prophetess..." (Rev. 2.20)

We can be sure that as this age draws to a close, we will see an increase in signs and wonders, both true and false. We can also be sure that there will be an increase in those who are considered apostles and prophets. The question is vital then, "Who are we to receive as apostles and prophets?" We may run the risk of rejecting the true, or receiving the false. I believe the Scriptures have given us a framework for wisdom in this area. (I am assuming that those reading have already overcome the lie that apostles ceased to be in the first century.)

CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE APOSTLES IN PAUL'S LIFE AND TEACHING

1. A profound revelation of Jesus Christ, and an intimate walk with the Lord.
"For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
...God...was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him..." (Gal. 1.12, 15-16)
"...I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..." (Phil. 3.8)

True apostles will be secure in a revelation of Jesus. They will be impart peace and righteousness. They will walk in joy. They will also be sober men. This will all result from their walk with the Lord. It will be deep and intimate, and it will rub off on those who they spend time with.

2. A spirit of humility and love towards all men.
"Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God..." (Tit. 1.1)
The False apostles "all seek after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ." (Phil. 2. 21)
"...I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you;"
"I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls..." (2 Cor. 12.14-15, seg.)

Apostles will carry a meekness. They will not throw around their names or earthly influence. They will be servants in the reality of life among the saints. They will not be superstars or self-imposing figures. The fragrance of the crucified Lord will emanate from them.

3. Rejoicing in affliction and hardship; sacrificial servants.
"When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison...
But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God..." (Acts 16.23a, 25)
"...rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation..." (Rom. 12.12a)

They will likely provoke opposition and persecution as the result of their living and preaching. But they will not have a self-centered suffering complex. They will simply abide in the Lord and labor with Him, and in the midst of the sufferings that come, they will rejoice; teaching the churches to abide in joy in the midst of all trials. They will not be softies, whining and complaining when things don't go their way.

4. Supernatural servants, engaged in prayer, seeing miracles.
"The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles." (2 Cor. 12.12)
"For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that...I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And thus I aspired to preach the gospel..." (Rom. 15.18-20a)

They will be men of the Spirit. They will have a history in God, a fervent life of prayer, and the activity of Holy Spirit power will be evident in their labors. They will serve to release others into faith for a supernatural walk with God. They will not discourage the spirit of prophecy or other spiritual gifts. In fact they will impart and help release them in the community. They will heal the sick and drive out demon spirits. They will be a presence in any locality they visit, pushing back the powers of darkness and introducing the Gospel of the Kingdom to all who encounter them.

5. Jealous for holiness and the knowledge of God.
"Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.' Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame." (1 Cor. 15.33-34)
"...so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints."
"For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification." (1 Thess. 3.13, 4.7)

They will be men of holiness, seperate from the wisdom of this world. They will despise the immorality of their age, and passionately love the presence of God and the inbreaking of His mercies and judgments. They will preach repentance and mercy. They will challenge the churches to walk in righteousness and freedom. They will despise anything that does not issue from the life of God, whether it be an immoral issue in the world, or a religious issue that is devoid of the power of God's truth and love. They will breathe holiness, and impart the sense of God among the saints.

6. They have lives and ministries that are formed through a communal experience of reality.
"and all those who had believed were together..."
"Now there were at Antioch...prophets and teachers...ministering to the Lord and fasting..." (Acts 2.44, 13)

They will not be loners, or self-appointed leaders. They will have experienced life amidst a group of saints who know their faults and still love them. They will be raised up out of a true church experience- life together, in a setting that's intimate enough for the confession of sin, personal encouragement, personal confrontation, and all the dynamics that come as we give ourselves to the Lord alongside other believers. When they are appointed and sent, it will be by the Spirit of God, through a company of souls who know the Lord and who know them. They will never become relationally inert.

7. A burning consciousness of the mystery of Israel and the end of the age.
"I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers;"
"...I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel."
"For I do not want you, brethren, to be uniformed of this mystery- so that you will not be wise in your own estimation- that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in..." (Rom. 11.25)

They will not have an immature view towards Israel or the end of the age. They will not be ignorant of these realities, nor will they merely be educated or caught up in sentimental issues pertaining to Israel. They will have revelation of the nature of God's dealings with Israel [and thus mankind], and they will be conscious of the words of the prophets pertaining to the end of the age. They will carry a fervent spirit of prayer and a burden and love for the people Israel. They will have a jealousy for these foundations to be implemented in the hearts of the [mostly] Gentile body to whom they are called. They will walk in a consciousness of coming judgment, and the redemption that will overtake the earth "in that day." They will see their own labors as connected to that final revelation of Jesus.

8. Intensely involved in the preaching of the Gospel- to Jew and "Greek".
"...woe is me if I do not preach the gospel." (1 Cor. 9.16)
"I am eager to preach the gospel...For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Rom. 1.15, 16)

They will have an especial grace to invade localities with the Gospel, both in message and demonstration. Things will change where they preach. There will be an upsetting of "things as usual." Atmospheres will shift. There will likely be opposition, but there will be great salvation simultaneously released. They will carry this burden and preach out of it- from the Synagogue to the Streets. Wherever souls are found in darkness, there they will be "eager to preach."

9. A radical concern for the churches- their family lives, and their doctrine.
"For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy;"
"But I am afraid that...your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." (2 Cor. 11.2-3)
"Wives, be subject...Husbands, love...Children, be obedient..." (Eph. 5, Col. 3)
"Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine." (Tit. 2.1)
"...in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified..." (Tit. 2.7)

They will not be concerned for raising up impressive ministries. They will have a radical jealousy for the glory of God in the churches. They will not settle for all kinds compromises or low views of God in the lives of the saints. They will pray and intercede for a fuller revelation of God to His house. They are seeking something holy. They are pursuing the revelation of God to His people. They are not satisfied with anything other than the fullness. Families saved and transformed. Lives made whole and complete in the Spirit of the Kingdom. They will labor for this. They long to see truth, righteousness, and joy exhibited in the earth. They will not be at peace with marital disorder, bad doctrine, compromise, lovelessness, divisions, laziness or any such thing in the lives of the saints.

True apostles are being formed even as we speak. They are learning how to abide in the Lord in the secular work place, in the raising of their children, or in other ways. They are learning to love fellow believers, and even enemies. They are being tried in ways that no Bible school could provide. They are searching the Scriptures. They are on the wheel of the great Potter. True apostles are being formed. And so is an apostolic church that will reveal God, even to the point of death. What about you, dear friend? Are you allowing the Potter to mold you, or have you removed yourself from His wheel? You can trust Him. You can give your life to Him afresh. There is nothing greater than being one with Him.

This is not meant to be a complete statement. But I believe that we can be assured that the men who call themselves apostles (or prophets), and have not these qualities can justifiably be questioned. Let's not be duped by the false. Let's give ourselves completely to the Lord, and cry out for the raising up of these servants! Let us cry out for the emergence of a church of this kind. The Lord is jealous for His glory. He is jealous for us, friends.

Prophetic Foundations: Gleanings from Jonah by Bryan Purtle

With all of the doctrinal and paradigmatic developments of the Church in the last few decades, I believe there is still a woeful lack of true foundations. If the Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2.20), we may conclude that a Church which lacks the characteristic realities that these servants impart is largely being built on sand.

Seeing that the Church is not only called to raise up prophets (which is a rarity itself despite voluminous self-appointed claims), but to function as a prophetic company, let's see what we can gather from the Lord through the experience of Jonah.

THE PRESENCE OF GOD: THE CENTER & CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE PROPHETIC CALL

"The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.'
But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." (Jonah 1.1-3a)

The prophetic call has never been one of ease, nor is prophetic ministry ever seen as a primarily pleasurable endeavor. The prophet is a servant who sees most of his fulfillment and reward in the resurrection of the righteous at the end of the age. A brief survey of Israel's prophets, and their often gut-wrenching plights makes this crystal clear. For God to be glorified as God, which is the heart of foundational ministry, the man- in all of his fossilized opinions and human crutches- must be set aside. Every prophet has had this experience. "He must increase, and I must decrease."

Take heart dear saint. It is not what you perform religiously, or muster up by way of exterior or emotional intensity. The prophetic Spirit- that is, the condition of being intimate with the Lord and serving from the high place of His counsel- is given to those who come to know the entire SURRENDER of the heart. Nothing foundational to the faith was ever obtained by human zeal. Surrender and trust are the hallmarks of any true ministry.

The prophet is wrapped up in the word of the Lord. You can see that for Jonah to forsake the proclamation of the word that YHWH had given was the equivalent of rejecting His very presence. The prophet is one with the word he bears. He carries the weight and import of his message. To refrain from speaking when commanded to is to cut himself off from life itself. In the same way, one cannot speak as an oracle unless he is eminently a man of YHWH's presence. Only one who has abided in the presence of the Lord, walked with trembling and brokenness, learned the profundity of God's mercy and judgments, and listened long and eagerly for the Voice of His Beloved King will be privileged to speak foundationally. In the simplest of terms then, THE AVOIDANCE OF THE PRESENCE OF YHWH IS THE FORFEITURE OF TRUE PROPHETISM.

To know the Lord intimately in the presence of His Mercy and His Judgments- this is the real bedrock of the prophet's ministry. This was Jonah's predicament. The Lord called him a son and a prophet, but he was not willing to receive that identity in full. When he saw what it would cost him, namely, going to a people detestable to him (a people that he thought to be out of the reach of Mercy), he forsook his identity and call and fled from the presence of the Lord.

"So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." (3b)

I cannot shake the emphasis of the writer here. It is pointed out again that all of Jonah's actions in revolt against his calling were a literal flight from the presence of the Lord. Before you raise any question as to your specific "calling" in ministry, something else must be considered. How often have you fled the presence of God by denying your adoption in the Father's Kingdom? Only sons who know they are sons can serve to liberate and upbuild the Body, so in what ways have we denied or temporarily disregarded our new heritage as children of the great King?

Are we discerning enough in our lives to know the point at which we have fled His presence? Have we fled His presence by neglecting secret prayer and Scripture reading? Have we fled His presence by having a complaining spirit regarding our jobs, families, or church experiences? Have we fled His presence by succumbing to unbelief or denying His supernaturalness? Have we fled His presence by speaking sharply and brashly to our spouses or children? Have we fled His presence through laziness? gluttony? compromise? the fear of man? Do we have such a high value of His presence that we are not willing to suffer any separation from Him, no matter what that costs us?

If the essence of the prophetic call is to abide in Him, why have we lost the sensitivity and awareness of the presence of God that should remain no matter what setting we find ourselves in? Who has walked in the fear of the Lord with this heightened continuity? Who has been diligent to keep a vessel full of oil? Who values His presence above all things? Surely we are called to be guardians of the awareness of His presence. To assume propheticness without this central blessing is the height of presumption.

There is a copious waterfall of blessing and joy for those who will walk in the fear of YHWH, having a value for His presence that transcends all that is seen and felt. "They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Is. 40.31b)

Lord! Raise up a company of saints who are not willing to give permission to the world or to any power that would rob them of Your presence and life. Have for Yourself an army that abides in You, and You in them; a company of holy ones... a truly joyful people. Amen.