John's referring to Paul's warning to Timothy in w...

2005-10-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

John's referring to Paul's warning to Timothy in which he says,

"1 This know also, that in the last days, perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."

John is right about the "wineskins" of our days -- denominational forms, rabid independant congregations, suffocatingly ritualistic religions, or even a simple rejection of the new Move of the Spirit in today's world. Paul's warning to Timothy concerns these apparently "religious" or "spiritual" "Christians" from which we are (in fact) told to turn away.

My point in saying, "not that there is anything in particular wrong with their old ways" isn't to whitewash or overlook the seriousness of keeping to old wineskins. My point is this: Even if the old wineskins, were entirely "good", we don't want to stay with the old and reject the new Move of God.

Bill Johnson (Bethel Church, Redding, CA) often says that the greatest obstacle to the new Move of God, is the old "successful" Move -- that Move of a decade or a generation ago that was truly God then but not today.

It's important to keep our focus right. As we press into the new Move of God today, we only have to keep our eyes forward. We don't want to spend time looking back -- especially not looking back to criticise the old wineskins and analyze their various failings. As far as we're concerned, even if the old winskins were faultless, they're useless when God moves past them into a New Wineskin, a Wineskin being filled by God's New Wine.

A good perspective is this: It isn't that God is against denominations or "church-as-usual" -- He's simply ignoring them. They're of no, real significance anymore.

Emil

I too have looked at the reproach of Christ as bei...

2005-10-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

I too have looked at the reproach of Christ as being the persecution that we will endure as we boldly take a stand which will come because Jesus himself prophesied it, and this may well be a part of said reproach, but I see now that this is a tunnel vision view. It is also turning our backs on the niceties of the world and our own wills, but it is still more than that. It is a changing of wills, and a preference for being outside the camp, if that is where Jesus is.

I disagree with this statement; ?Not that there's anything in particular wrong with their ?old ways?". I believe that there is quite q bit wrong with the ?old ways? and it is found in II Tim 3:1-5.

Comments on KingdomScribes: Breaking the Windows in God's House?

John's referring to Paul's warning to Timothy in w...

I too have looked at the reproach of Christ as bei...