Saturday, September 27, 2008

IKE

8:49 PM by Christi Bowman

I live in a bubble. I LOVE storms. I LOVE thunder and lightening. I LOVE torrential rain...I like feeling a little bit scared, yet completely safe at the same time. I don't live in a part of the world that gets devastated by storms. I don't know what it is like to fear the weather...but people in New Orleans, LA do, and now so do the people of Galveston, TX.

Here is a post on my friend Jeff's blog, "Pilgrimage of the Heart", about how people are getting involved and changing the world.

http://jeffgoins.myadventures.org/?filename=hurricane-ike-and-changing-the-world

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Friday, September 26, 2008

Wrecked for the Ordinary

4:10 PM by Christi Bowman

Wrecked For The Ordinary is an e-zine I wait for with anticipation every Friday! The articles are always touching, inspiring, and fruitful. The writers are all people who have had their lives wrecked by the awesome excitement of total surrender to making Christ's Kingdom visible on earth as it is in Heaven.

This week, I was even a bit more excited than usual since learning my article was going to be published. Here is an excerpt.

Although the American church is in exile, He is very near to us as individuals. To find Him, we must get out of the stale dark air that is inside the 4 walls of our churches. We must go. We must go into our own hometowns, to churches that meet beneath bridges, into our schools, or the local McDonald's.

You can read the rest by clicking here, and you can check out all the articles this week and last week by clicking here.

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Thursday, September 25, 2008

"Ask Me...Not Them"

1:02 AM by Christi Bowman

I have been hearing "Chronicles" in my head a lot over the past couple of days, so tonight, when I opened my Bible, I opened to I Chronicles, I read the first chapter, and as I got to the second it became apparent that the genealogy was going to go on for a few chapters. I skimmed until I got to chapter 10. I read chapter 10 and was stopped in my reading tracks at verse 13 and 14.

Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD; he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the LORD. So the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.

Before opening my Bible to I Chronicles this evening I read "My Utmost for His Highest." Tonight's Devotional was entitled "The "GO" of Preparation." Oswald Chambers writes:

"The "go" of preparation is to allow the Word of God to examine you closely. Your sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit will detect in you is your nature that can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you."

There it is folks. I depend on the human voice in times of crisis in lieu of the voice of GOD. It is not that I doubt that God talks to me. I hear God often, but, when I am facing the unknown, or if there is something I don't understand, or should a stressful situation arise I don't take the time to pray about it first. I pick up the phone or hop on the world wide web. My emotions are running high, and I need a voice I know I can hear...the audible voice of humanity. When push comes to shove I depend on that first, and only after I calm down do I seek the voice of God...as a back up.



Well, He's done with that.


Twice now I have been told by God that something I do will bring me death. The first time was March 3, 2008. On that day God told me, via Genesis 3:2, that if I continued to drink I would die. Tonight, Sept 24, 2008 He is sending me the same type of message. It is not a zapping message; God will not strike me dead the next time I seek out the human voice. What He is saying is "I am preparing you...learn to depend on me now, for where I am taking you, you must depend on me...your life depends on it."

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Thoughts While Homeschooling

1:30 AM by Christi Bowman

Reading in Genesis 3 today, with my oldest baby, verse 7 stuck out.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

I always hear it prayed that are eyes be opened to the spiritual...but maybe we should pray them closed to the carnal.

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Sunday, September 21, 2008

Christians Living in Community...and a lot of why's.

3:14 PM by Christi Bowman

We visited JPUSA today. It is a Christian community on the North side of Chicago.

What exactly is a "Christian community" you might ask, and how does it look differant than going to church?

For JPUSA it looks like a big apartment building ("The Friendly Towers") where Christians choose to live out what they read about in Acts 2:44-47 and Acts 4:32-35. That's right, modern day Americans, forgoing the tireless pursuit of the American dream, and choosing, intentionally, to live with one another, like family, and put their income in a common purse and live out loud, together, in their community. I urge you to click on the link above and check it out for yourself in their own words. The worship services are held in the lobby of the complex, and those services are open to the public.

I liked what I saw. I dream one day of being a part of a community like that. I am tired of living without community. I am tired of living for just MY family, MY house, and MY cars. I want to find a group of people who are radically sold out and want to live radically sold out lives together, everyday. I want to be where Christianity means more than showing up for church services on Sunday and Wednesday nights. I want to intentionally live simply right in the midst of the least of these and minister to them on a daily basis. I want to live for the Kingdom and constantly pursue its interests. I am done, no, I am so much more than done, living my life the way Americans think I am entitled to live it...the way that makes the most sense...the way that makes people the most comfortable. I am done living for this life. I am literally dead to this life, and it is dead to me. I need people...people stronger than myself that I can come along side and learn from and be discipled by.

It was a breath of fresh air today, seeing community in action. It was incredible to see people believing in the hope of such a radical Christianity that they are willing to live differently because of it. These people do not live like the world, but they do live right smack dab in the middle of it, and they are making a difference. This community has been in existence since the 1970's, and I wonder why it is so uncommon, unfathomable, and even unpalatable for the majority of us to live this way? Why are we not tired of feeling isolated? How have we become so numb by the world we live in, that we are no longer connected with that deep deep longing in the soul for so much more than this? Why do we live and look so much like the world?

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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Learning While Homeschooling

1:30 PM by Christi Bowman

I was reading Genesis 3 with my 7 year old this morning. We arrived at verse 22:

And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

Before the Holy Spirit guided my interpretation of scripture, I was bewildered by this verse. Although I guess I knew better, in all honesty it did seem to me that satan was right, and that God was more preoccupied with his creation becoming like Him than anything else. It looked like God took away the possibility of eternal life because He didn't want anyone else, who was like Him, living forever. But today I was reminded of all the other verses in the New Testament, that do show us that God wants eternal life for us. I was especially reminded of John 6:53.

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

The very essence of God was in the fruit of the tree of life. Perhaps another manifestation of Jesus. God knew man was in no shape to eat of that tree and live forever. It was God's mercy on us that guarded that tree. We deserved to eat of that tree right then; "living," yet dead, apart from God in our brokenness forever. But God had other plans. John 6:40 says:

For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life.

To eat of His flesh, whether it be the flesh of fruit, or flesh in the form of bread we must believe in Him. Genesis 3:24 says that God put cherubim and a flaming sword to GUARD the way to the tree of life.

He guarded The Way until The Way was ready to put skin on.

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Monday, September 15, 2008

Healing and Forgiveness

11:59 PM by Christi Bowman

In Bible class, last Sunday, we looked at Acts chapter 3. I was thrilled because of my latest obsession with Acts. We came to verses 6-8:

6Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." 7Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

My brother-in-law, Randy, pointed out to the class that what it takes babies 2 years to accomplish, this man did in seconds. He had been crippled since birth, still, not only did he stand up, but he walked and even jumped. This man received complete healing and began praising God. I was reminded of James 5:15:

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

In healing there is forgiveness of sin. This man was undoubtedly healed in every sense of the word as his faith allowed him to get up and walk. In John 20:23 we see where Jesus gave man the power to forgive sins via the Holy Spirit. Did Jesus' death endow us with the ability to heal? Could we be made for more than just heaven? Is it possible that we could physically offer salvation to a person by believing in our ability to heal them by the power in Jesus' name.

I Corinthians 4:18 God's Way is not a matter of mere talk; it's an empowered life.

I am getting the impression that we were given a lot more than a get out of hell free card, but few want to even consider this...why?

2 Timothy 3:14 Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another, showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

I Corinthians 12:7 Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful: wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation, distinguishing between spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues. All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

We have to start wrestling with this.

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Tension

10:55 AM by Christi Bowman

I am the happiest I have ever been and yet the saddest. I am the most content, yet I have never in my life longed for so much more...I feel more loved than I ever imagined possible...yet I have never felt more alone. I have never felt so empowered yet so powerless...never so free, yet so trapped.

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Sunday, September 14, 2008

Paul and Even Greater Things.

3:30 PM by Christi Bowman

After realizing that the more in tune to the Spirit we become, and the more, with His help, we die to ourselves, the more Christ gets formed in us I read and reread Acts. There is so much excitement in that book as real people, like us, come alive with the help of the Holy Spirit. We quickly see the apostles stepping into their destiny as the Glory of God shines brightly through them. The man I most took notice of, though, was Paul.

He was Saul in chapter 8 as he stood by approving the murder of Stephen. In chapter 13, we read that he is also called Paul, and he is referred to by this name throughout the rest of the Bible. He is self proclaimed, in I Timothy 1:15, as being the worst of sinners.

Being very interested in how these early Jesus followers were able to so much more look and act like Christ than the Church today, I couldn't help but notice the parallels of Jesus' life with Paul's:

Paul's good bye, in Miletus, to the elders of the church (Acts 20:17-38) sounds very much like the conversation Jesus had with His disciples during the last supper (John 14-16). Jesus, in Matthew 16, predicts His death while setting His face towards Jerusalem. Likewise Paul, was also compelled to go to Jerusalem even in the face of sure persecution as foretold by the Holy Spirit. Paul stood trial because of the hatred of his own people just like Jesus, and just like Jesus the Roman leaders could find no fault with Paul. Also, just like Jesus, Paul tells us in II Tim 4:16 that he was deserted during his defense. On a boat, journeying to Caesar so that he could stand trial, Paul predicts a storm, and when no one heeds his warning he is still able to comfort the men on the boat by a word from the Lord. Jesus also comforted his disciples during a storm...though Jesus calmed the storm and Paul gave strength to weather it. On the boat the men had not eaten for 14 days because they had to throw out provisions in order to stay afloat during the storm. Paul took some bread and after giving thanks to God he broke it in front of them and began to eat. Paul urged the other 276 men on board to eat, and when all had eaten they had to lower the leftovers to lighten the ship (Acts 27:33-38). Jesus fed the 5,000 in the same way. Paul's boat was shipwrecked on the island of Malta, and during his 3 month stay he healed all their sick. Jesus also, wherever He went, healed the sick.

As I wrestle with my destiny I find it comforting, and believe it no accident, that God called out the "worst of sinners " to live out the life of Jesus in his flesh. Not only was Paul a persecuting murderer...but he was a religious pharisee as well. In Paul, we see the worst of both worlds collide and yet after an encounter with Jesus and the help of the Holy Spirit he was able to die completely to himself and embody Christ.

2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.

What are the possibilities?

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Friday, September 12, 2008

A Tribute to Spiritual Giants

4:42 PM by Christi Bowman

After posting Andrew Shearman's G42 sermon, I would like to take a moment to honor him and those like him.

Thank you for going before us and paving the way. Thank you for stepping out and standing up for what you believe in. Thank you for speaking in the daylight what He he tells you in the dark. Thank you for proclaiming from the roofs what He has whispered in your ear (Matt 10:27).

Thank you, for creating a safe place for us to come into a faith that is not our mother's, our father's, our friends', or our church's, but our own.

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G42 - Part VI

10:16 AM by Christi Bowman

Matthew 9:27-3127-28
As Jesus left the house, he was followed by two blind men crying out, "Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!" When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe I can do this?" They said, "Why, yes, Master!" He touched their eyes and said, "Become what you believe." It happened. They saw.

I started with Part 1 on Sunday. Here is the last installment, part 6, of Andrew Shearman's G42 sermon as copied from Seth's blog, Radical Living in a Comfortable World:

It's about a generation that changes the world. With Andrew and a tribe that is forming, I've committed my life to rousing and serving that generation.

The condition of the world does not mean that Christ cannot conquer it. We can cross the Jordan if we have Christ formed in us. Where are the men and women who say we are here to change the world and we will enlarge our world? The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel turned into a vast army.

It's time for purity. The private character of Jesus led to his public commendation by God. At 30 years of age, suddenly his life changed. He declared, "I am the Christ." The Bible says as a man thinks in his heart, so he is. He who rules his own spirit is stronger than he who takes a city. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. We need a pure heart.

We limp because we are dealing with things that we have never dealt with before. We are talking about motives, about integrity and righteousness. My awareness of my own death gives life to my hearers. The qualification for God to use you is weakness. For example, God brought Gideon's army down to 300. God can use my strengths as long as I renounce my confidence in it.

Don't deal with my heart - deal with your own. Deut. 11, says that obedience leads to rain. Disobedience leads to no rain. Fight your enemy! Every weapon Satan uses against us is a pretend weapon. The Bible calls them pretensions. Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

It's time for maturity. Which part of "grow up" don't you understand? To grow means to increase or develop. II Peter 1 calls us to put away childish things. We are called to endure, to make contributions, to be givers not takers, to be producers not consumers. You aren't going to expect somebody to do it for you. Let's grow up. You say, "I don't like the way he spoke to me." Well at least he spoke to you!

It's time to risk coming out of obscurity in the home, in the office, in your everyday affairs. Put your anointing on the line. What do they know you for at work? That is maturity.

Mathew 11:12 says, "The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." We are called to go and take dominion, go and rule the land. In their inheritance there were giants and milk and honey. They had to fight to get it. Sanctification prepares us for our inheritance.

Those of us who reach maturity are going to be warriors. The battle is the Lord's - Jesus is the commander of the army. We join him. Have you joined in him as a member of the 42^nd generation? Come to faith in the Christ in you and what he is doing on the earth and you will!

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Thursday, September 11, 2008

G42 Part V

4:54 PM by Christi Bowman

This is such a life changing teaching. In Acts 19 (MSG) Paul asks the question...

"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? Did he get inside you?"

I started with Part 1 on Sunday. Here is part five, of Andrew Shearman's G42 sermon as copied from Seth's blog, Radical Living in a Comfortable World.

In yesterday's blog I shared more of Andrew Shearman's revelation of the 42nd Generation and what it practically means for the Jesus-follower. I continue it below:

Many of the Israelites did not believe God and so they died in the wilderness. They preferred the comfort zone of the wilderness to the risk of growing up and getting an inheritance. The wilderness had no great stresses; they had survival on their minds, not inheritance. Churches, people, and nations need to decide to wander more or go to inheritance. The winter is over and we need to believe it.

God is calling some of us to take our inheritance seriously. To be a Christian is more than having your sins forgiven and going to heaven. To be a Christian is the greatest calling in the world. Isaiah 9 talks about the increase of his government and his peace. There will be no end. That's our inheritance. Daniel 2:44 says, "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever." It's an inheritance that God gives the 42^nd generation - the generation that purposes to cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land.

In the past this hasn't happened. The world has not seen a 42^nd generation. David set a high standard, but Saul made it decline. The generation of Christ, the 42^nd generation, will establish his kingdom and will literally be multi-generations of Christ. This is not some kind of nebulous dream. It is going to happen.

Christ wants to form a body in this world to rule and reign in this life. The glory of the Lord will cover the earth.

The condition of the world does not mean that Christ cannot conquer it. God's days begin in night and end in day. We can go across the Jordan if we are willing to have Christ formed in us. The 42^nd generation is the one that goes from Jesus, Son of Man, to Jesus Son of God, the Christ. I believe that generation is alive on the earth today. Are you a part of it?

Cont. Tomorrow...

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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

G42 - Part IV

3:01 PM by Christi Bowman

This past summer God has taken me on a journey to discovering Andrew Shearman's G42 message for myself. It all came together for me this past Friday (08/04/08), and I wrote about that here. This message is VERY real to me now. I posted part 1 of the G42 sermon on Sunday, and I will continue to post it in it's entirety as the week progresses.

Seth, continues to write in "The 42nd Generation: Stop Your Wilderness Thinking! (Pt 4)"

Last week I began a series on Andrew Shearman's signature teaching: The 42nd Generation. It's about a generation that comes into its greatness by leaving its wilderness-thinking behind. Here's the continuation:

99% of humanity dies in the wilderness, never celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. It's an unmitigated tragedy. You can live and breathe as a Christian and never get your inheritance. Most Christians live with wilderness, comfort zone thinking. They are saved and have the promise of heaven ahead. They have no enemy to fight and they don't face any danger. They are on a journey with 41 stops to nowhere.

Heaven is a blessing to all Christians, but it is not the destination we should run after while on earth. How many of us live in those 41 wilderness cities? You'll bleach your bones disinherited as long as you live in these places. We need to get to the Feast of the Tabernacles.

We need to let our past go and decide, "I am not going to live in this nonsense any longer. I am wasting my life. I am not going to resist getting my feet wet to cross the river Jordan." 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 says, "Therefore do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." We must be validated by the Christ formed in us.

Joshua circumcised the entire nation. He gives them the mark of God. They were miracle babies because they had enjoyed all the blessings, but they had not been circumcised. They were happy living in the wilderness with daily miracles. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant of God's people that they would get the benefits of a child of God. It was usually done on the 8^th day after a male baby was born.

You will not get into the Promised Land looking like an Egyptian. God wants to circumcise our hearts so that we can get healed. Through circumcising our heart, God wants to take us from a place where we are content with Jesus simply as our savior to start making us become productive for the kingdom of God.

It is interesting to note that the day after the Israelites ate food from the land, the manna stopped. We need to know what it means to survive in the Promised Land, with all its demands, if nobody gives us any help. We need to know how to get our own stuff, to know how to study the Bible on our own, to know how to let God teach us himself. We should not just be getting our own stuff, but have enough that we can teach others. It's a mature attitude to come to church with that and say, "I'm here to give, not to take." It is a heart that has met with God before you come to church so that you can truly worship God whether everyone else there is worshiping Him or not, whether you are alone or in a crowd, the worship comes from your heart, not from your surroundings.

God will give us our inheritance when we can self-feed, and success will not spoil us. It is then that God will trust us with a lot. If you are negotiating and blame-shifting, you are not ready to repent. We must admit and accept responsibility for our sins. We cannot blame our sins on our friends, our parents, our race, our education or anything else.

Generally speaking, most people let life pass them by while they are waiting for life to begin. What you have now is life. This is it! It isn't going to suddenly get good one day. You will never get there; this is it. Enjoying the journey is the "destination." If you chose not to enjoy the journey and stay focused on yourself, then you will die in the wilderness. Self-preservation, trying to promote ourselves and not God keeps us staggering around in the wilderness, never getting to the river Jordan. God is humbling us and testing us so that we are ready and can get the inheritance.

Do you believe in an ever-increasing kingdom? Is what we are going through an end or a beginning? Are we at hanging on and making it through another year? That's wilderness-thinking. It's time for us to risk coming out of obscurity. We need to get out of the wilderness survivalistic mindset where there is not too much risk and not too much pain and get to maturity and inheritance. We need to stop talking and start walking. The 42^nd generation is the one that is prepared to leave the past behind and move into inheritance.

Cont. Tomorrow...

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Tuesday, September 9, 2008

G42 - Part III

7:09 PM by Christi Bowman

This past summer God has taken me on a journey to discovering Andrew's G42 message for myself. It came to a head this past Friday (08/04/08), and I wrote about that here. This message is VERY real to me now. I posted part 1 of the G42 sermon on Sunday, and I will continue to post it in it's entirety as the week progresses.

Seth continues to write, in "The 42 generation is about getting inheritance (pt 3)"

A few days ago, I shared about what the 42nd Generation is. In yesterday's blog I shared more of Andrew Shearman's revelation of the 42nd Generation and what it practically means for the Jesus-follower. I continue it below:

God has stockpiled treasures for you - not the kind of material abundance that the prosperity gospel wackos would have you believe, but a great inheritance in the form of kingdom fruit. To learn more about how you get it, we study the children of Israel, who after 42 stops in the desert, crossed over the Jordan.

As described in Numbers 33, the Israelites are about to go to their inheritance. They are about to run the family business. They are about to be adopted. And their leader is Joshua.

Joshua is the Jesus-type figure of the Old Testament. Joshua couldn't do it in the flesh. He had to meet the Christ. We have here what is called a christophany, a manifestation of Christ in the flesh before his incarnation. Christ appears as the Lord of Hosts.

Joshua has to have an understanding of Christ before he can get across the river. So Christ has to be formed. Joshua is on his face worshiping Christ. Joshua was asked to take his sandals off.

Ruth 4:7 says, "Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other." This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel. By giving the other person your shoe, you were giving up all rights to the land, legally and forever. God wants to take off your shoes and give you the land of your heart. He wants totally surrender so that he can bless you with inheritance.

There are three main feasts: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles or Harvest. The Passover feast was about salvation, deliverance, and the blood. The angel of death passed over their houses because they killed a lamb and put the blood over the door post.

The Pentecost feast was all about the manifested presence of God. It was about mountains shaking and God speaking. It was about the having the oil of God on his children.

The Feast of the Tabernacle was about the harvest that God provided year after year. It was also called an inheritance feast. The children of Israel could not celebrate this feast in the wilderness because they had no harvest. The amazing thing is that they had no need for a harvest. Day after Day, God would provide all the food they needed from the sky. There were three parts to this celebration. First, they would blow trumpets as a way of saying to God's chosen people, "Get ready." Second, there was a day of atonement. Then, they had the Feast of Tabernacles itself.

One of the things we, as the body of Christ, need to learn to do to prepare for the inheritance is to learn how to celebrate. Celebrating has to do with being enraptured, totally head over heels in love with Jesus. It is an attitude of not caring what people around you think as you put your heart and soul into worshiping the king. God calls us to celebrate not just as individuals, but we need to celebrate corporately.

The sound in the earth of the people of the 42^nd generation is people who know how to shout. It's the sound of the abundance of rain. All kingdoms are established with a shout, never a whisper. If you're a member of the 42^nd generation, the one that is going to get its inheritance and come into its destiny, you're going to have learn how to shout.

Cont. tomorrow...

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Bart Campolo: Why churches shouldn't care for the poor

4:19 PM by Christi Bowman

Jeff Goins interviewed Bart Campolo on his blog today. I knew I would like the interview as soon as I read this:

"Bart Campolo is often pigeon-holed as a more progressive-thinking Christian (some would say "liberal") and holds some disputed theological views (like his questioning of whether or not everything that happens is "God's will"). From reading his blog, I was a bit skeptical of his worldview, but as with anything once you put "flesh" on it, it gets more complicated."

You can read the whole interview by clicking on the link below.

http://jeffgoins.myadventures.org/?filename=bart-campolo-church

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Monday, September 8, 2008

G42 - Part II

3:43 PM by Christi Bowman

This past summer God has taken me on a journey to discovering this message for myself. It came to a head this past Friday (08/04/08), and I wrote about that here. This message is VERY real to me now, and I will continue to post it in it's entirety as the week progresses.

Seth continues to write, in "The 42nd Generation Stops en route to your Destiny (Pt 2) "

In yesterday's blog I began sharing Andrew Shearman's revelation of the 42nd Generation. I continue it below:

As we move toward our destiny, we can feel the children of Israel. They set out on a 40-year journey to go to the Promised Land. They made stops in 41 cities (recounted in Numbers 33). They are imaginary wilderness cities named after how the Israelites were feeling at the time. The meaning of the name of each city represents an issue in the lives of the Israelites that they needed to deal with to get to the Promised Land. And we too, en route to our destiny must move beyond our feelings en route to our destiny.

Their fourth stop along their journey was Marah. "Marah" means bitterness. They complained because the water was very bitter. It may be true that you have good reasons to be bitter, you probably do. But holding on to our bitterness cripples our personality. We have got to let it go. If you still insist on being bitter, there is nothing anyone can do for you. God calls all of us to be ministers of salvation, givers of life. We cannot do that if we stay in our bitterness.

The 12th stop that the Israelites made on their journey was the city of Kibroth Hattaavah. The name of this city means "grains of lust." Lust is not just about sex. It could be a car you want. If I lust that means I want something that is not righteously mine to have. God wants us to have everything that is righteously ours. God wants us to enjoy life.

The 20^th stop along the journey is a city with a name that means "fear." We have a fear of the future. The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. We were born to fight the enemy, not fear him. We know that no weapon formed against us will prosper. We have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and a sound mind.

The 22^nd stop along the way was a place that means "depression." As the children of Israel traveled through the wilderness they experienced depression. They needed to put on the garment of praise to fight the depression and so do we. God desires wants us to put on the garment of praise and shout joyfully to him.

The 23^rd stop on their journey was Terah. That means "delay" and "slow, rolling disappointment." The Israelites encountered many disappointments along the way and God wanted them to get over their spirit of disappointment. We will have disappointments in our lives, but we can choose to get healed of them and move on to maturity.

The 35^th stop along their journey was a city that meant "distraction." One of the rules of warfare is not to get distracted. You will be attacked! Take the blows; take the wounds and keep going!!

Stop number 36 was Oboth. That mean "familial spirit." God wants to get us past the little horoscope type deals. He wants us to know for sure the sound of his voice. Stop number 38 meant "weeping and pining". The Israelites wept and pined about their time in Egypt. "You brought us out here to die. We would have been better off there as slaves."

They finally arrived at the 42^nd stop, crossing over the Jordan and moving into destiny. Joshua was their leader. They were surrounded by miracles for 40 years. God provided manna for their food, water from a rock, and day of rest every week. But their hearts were still uncircumcised.

And such were some of us. God has taken us on a long journey through hardship and complaining en route to our destiny. Looking back, we see the places where we stumbled and wanted to camp, but destiny came as we pressed on, moving beyond the temptation to wallow in our problems and moving toward our true identity and inheritance. If we will just persevere, God will lead us across the Jordan and into a land of promise.

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Sunday, September 7, 2008

G42 - Part I

5:39 PM by Christi Bowman

The message I am starting to post today all came together for me this past weekend. I wrote about my coming to faith in the Christ in myself yesterday.

Seth Barnes writes in, "What is the 42nd Generation?"

Andrew Shearman has this message he preaches called "The 42^nd Generation." I first heard him share it in Brownsville, Texas about 14 years ago. The point of it is that there is a generation that will come to faith and cross over the Jordan.

Adam lost his birthright - the title to stewardship of this world. But God had a plan for getting it back. He had a second Adam. As the New Testament opens up in Matthew 1, we see it. In apparently boring detail we see there were 42 generations from Abraham to Christ. Why does God begin telling the story like this?

As Andrew explains, the secret is that Jesus the Christ was the 42^nd generation - the generation that gets the Promised Land. And so, in our day we can align ourselves with that generation - a generation coming to faith. Here is the first part of the talk in its essence:

Numbers in the Bible do have some significance. And the number 42 has generally been considered to represent the coming of Christ. Take a look at Mathew, chapter one. It tells the genealogy of Jesus. Verse 17 says "Thus there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the exile to Babylon, and 14 from the exile to Christ."

The problem is if you count up all the generations, they only add up to 41. We know that the Bible does not lie, so what's up? Either the Holy Spirit made a mistake, or there's a mystery we need to try to understand. There are only 13 generations from the exile to Jesus. But the text says "to the Christ." Matthew 1:16 says, "Mary of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." The 42^nd generation is between Jesus and Christ.

Jesus came to earth, undressing all the way to enter his humanity. Jesus was the man part of God and Christ is the God-part. Yes, they are one and the same, but they are also different. The 42^nd generation that this text is talking about not only was Christ himself, but also is us, the body of Christ. And to that extent, the 42nd generation will come about when Christ is formed in us as the body of Christ.

Mathew 16:13 says, "When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi; he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

"But what about you?" He asked. "Who do you say I am?"

Simon Answered, "You are the Christ, the son of the Living God."

"Who is the Son of Man?" Jesus asks, narrowing it down. Jesus always narrows it down, "What about you, Peter, rock (church)?"

And the Church has locked itself down very often in a sinful simplistic acceptance of the wonderful Jesus as savior. It has refused to grow up into Christ. That's why Paul said, "I labor until Christ is found in you." The whole point of the Church is to get Christ formed in us. We must get past elementary things. We must move beyond the need for more inner healing and deliverance. If you have that need, get it and let's go. Get healed. Get over it. Let's get out of the bed. We need the bed. We have got plenty of beds, but churches are more than hospitals. You can stay in the hospital while you get healed, but you need to walk in health.

And we are going to labor, and we are going to preach it and we are going to try to live it until Christ is found in it and then we get the prize. We might just be the 42^nd generation.

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Saturday, September 6, 2008

Path Through Revelation Knowledge.

8:24 PM by Christi Bowman

John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

I read Andrew Shearman's G42 sermon months ago. I knew in my spirit that he was saying some big stuff. If he was speaking truth than I knew that I wanted to be part of that generation, but the language he used made me more than a little hesitant. He came to some pretty big conclusions, and if that generation language was going to be for me, then the truth of what he was saying needed to be revealed to me. It needed to be my own. I prayed about it, and like praying for a clearer picture of past abuse, it was forgotten about.

Watching people that have become very close to my heart come back week after week after week with unresolved pain has been part of this revelation process. I know He uses physical examples to reveal spiritual truths. God so clearly revealed Himself to me, and I knew the hope of their situations could all be changed too if He would just reveal Himself to them. I wondered why I was lucky and they were not. I bordered on Calvinism. It didn't make any sense to me. I prayed bold prayers with them and for them...calling down revelation and nothing happened. I got so frustrated I wrote the post "Is Salvation Mine to Give Away?".

Out of sheer frustration I wrote the sentence,

They don't know what I have found...and although it is mine, it is not mine to give away

and I heard God whisper..."at least not yet". I typed that out and decided I was bordering on heresy so I claimed that as well. A friend of mine read it and decided I needed to slow down and quit asking God questions for at least a week. I was very upset, and she gave me the best advice she could give. I hung up the phone and kept hearing "lay hold of God" (Matthew 21:21 MSG). I knew He was telling me NOT to slow down. I decided to fast from the computer, and quit seeking advice from people on Friday.

It started with Sept 4th's "My Utmost for His Highest". I read the whole chapter of John 17, and verse 11 (MSG) stayed with me.

...Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life That you conferred as a gift through me,
So they can be one heart and mind
As we are one heart and mind.

I went on to read about His death, burial, and resurrection and came to John 20:21-23 (NIV)

Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Everything Jesus did...who He was...The way He was conceived...was a gift to us. It was God telling us in the physical who we are spiritually. It is all there for us as He holds His hand out to us.

John 16:33 In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

He is giving us His life...Passing the torch so to speak. He is saying I showed you how to be who you were created to be all along...I came down and did it to show you how.

Isaiah 2:3
He'll show us the way he works
so we can live the way we're made.

"When we really do die to the satan perverted version of what God created us to be, when we are spirit conceived, we can become what He has always intended...His life IS our life. We CAN finally subdue and rule over the earth (Gen)...just like Jesus. He truly is the example of who we are to become to live abundantly. The Bible never glosses over His humanness, and that is to show us what WE are capable of. We can overcome and help others do the same by revealing His glory to them just like Jesus...in ways carnally unimaginable!!

"Lord, I believe...help my unbelief!!"

I will be posting Andrew Shearman's G42 sermon, in parts, over the course of this week.

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Coming to Faith in the Christ in Me.

8:00 PM by Christi Bowman

God is good...and He doesn't leave a serious question unanswered for very long.

I have struggled for a while with the huge gap that has only been growing bigger between myself and the church. Some people believe in the Holy Spirit and the gifts imparted to them when they receive him...still, those people look a lot like the people in churches without the Holy Spirit...and that should not be. I see people who struggle in churches. They claim God as their own, but there is no rest for them. I have been in places of no rest. I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that God saves TODAY from present circumstances and gives hope. I see a glimmer of that hope in their eye as they leave after we talk...only to see them again days later with that same hope replaced by despair. I have sat across from them thinking "I can't make it happen for you...I can't call down heaven for you". I have wondered why. Why is it different for them? Why wont He come for them? Why didn't He come for me until now? When is it their time? What else do they have to suffer through? Will He ever reveal Himself to them?

He answered all those questions and then some with John 20:21-23:

Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Like I said in my last post, the kind of faith that I hear is required of me in these verses will take some time. He does come to them, in our flesh...the more we become Him by the power given to us by the Holy Spirit.

I am going to stop here...and let this passage resonate with your spirit...I think we all need to wrestle with these verses, and decide if we are willing to accept who we are and what we were created to be.

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Is Salvation Mine to Give away?

4:00 PM by Christi Bowman

I Sam 3:6-7
Again the LORD called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."
"My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down."
Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

Verse 7 stopped me dead in my tracks, as the meaning of it plunged deep inside of me and called to something I already knew from experience.

By the time Samuel heard the voice of God call his name, the temple had been his home for quite some time. In chapter 2 we see the evil of Eli's boys, and we know from verse 18 in that chapter that Samuel grew up watching them, but he chose to serve God. Samuel grew up in "church". You could say he attended "private" school. He even made all the right decisions and served God by doing so...yet chapter 3 cuts through all of that and lays wide open the fact that Samuel did not yet know the Lord, because the Lord had not revealed Himself to Samuel yet.

I know first hand what it is like to grow up in church. I know what it is like to grow up surrounded by religion and not know God. I know the confusion that duality stirs up in your heart. I know what it is like to be delivered from that confusion by the sound of His voice. He did not just save me proverbially when He saved the world from sin. No, it was NOT that simple! He saved and rescued me personally...from my own private hell. I have experienced tangible salvation, and I know Him personally because He came to me personally.

Still, I am confronted, almost daily, with real people and real hurts, in the church atmosphere. There is no underlying joy...no hope in many. they don't possess the ability to see past the present circumstances; they don't because they haven't experienced Christ. They don't believe that He really is the answer. The difference in what they know academically and what they have actually experienced is painful. They snicker and look down at the ground because they don't believe in His saving presence in their lives today. People believe that Jesus has saved them from their sins and an eternity in hell...but that is just fire insurance. What about right here and right now? They need a God they can depend on. They need a physical encounter with Him that changes everything. They need a personal and physical salvation of sorts...but they have to be open minded to the fact that salvation is not always as it appears or what they have conjured it up to be in their minds.

I can "go" all day long, but the playing fields are unequal. They don't know what I have found...and although it is mine, it is not mine to give away...at least not yet. And maybe there in lies the key...but that kind of faith will take time...and will get me called a heretic.

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New Territory.

8:39 AM by Christi Bowman

On this journey of mine to find out who God is and what that means for my life, I have had MANY course corrections. One song that has been of some comfort as I have guiltily struggled to get back on the right path is Caedmon's Call's "Where I Began".

Chorus:
Here I am again, back where I began
Try as I may I can't get away from you
And all of these roads lead me to roam,
Bring me back home.
Here I am again, back where I began.

As I was listening to the particular album that this song was on (40 acres); it began to play. I sat back preparing to be soothed by it, as always...but it was different this time. It was as much disturbing as it had been comforting. No, I am NOT at all back where I began. I am much farther along this time. I am in brand new territory...uncharted waters. I am macheteing away lies, lies that have formed thick cobwebs...sleep inducing cobwebs because it has been too dark to see. New can be, by its very definition, unfamiliar and strange, and I am going to add lonely. As I put behind me old beliefs about the Godhead and put on new ones I find myself standing alone...sometimes shouting...

is
there
anybody
out
here?

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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Why Not Me?

1:05 PM by Christi Bowman

Why do a set of bad circumstances, in our humanness, negate the existence of God? Why do we ask God why He would let THAT happen to us? Why NOT us?

God is constantly telling us that he cares about our character...who we are as a people. What better way to build character than a set of seemingly bad circumstances. What better way to see what we are made of then when we make it through the rough time with our relationship with Him still intact and growing...our faith gloriously strengthened and not smoldering.

A friend of mine, Jed Brewer, worship leader at the bridge, writes his own music...and in one of his songs he asks..."Why is your currency pain?" God is in the pain. What better way to show us that it is foolish to depend on ourselves than to allow a set of circumstances to show us that we absolutely cannot depend on anyone or anything but Him. You are blessed when you face a bad situation...He is offering you a gift...the gift of Himself. Don't fight it. Don't look for your own way out. Don't look for human answers...or people do depend on to make it easier.

Isaiah 57:15
For this is what the high and lofty One says -
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.

We have to change in order to dwell with Him. We can't dwell with Him in our brokenness. Jesus saves us; He sets us on our feet...standing tall before God able to look Him in the eye...He builds are character when we stay in the game...refusing to buckle and quit amidst impossible looking circumstances. We are allowed to go back to the old country whenever we want to...but to arrive at the new one we must not look back and long for old comforts. New places are uncomfortable, and they feel strange at first...don't take that as a sign that you are in the wrong place...press through and see what is on the other side.

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