[Subversive Underground]
FROM EDEN TO EDEN
by Keith Giles
In the beginning God revealed His pefect will for mankind by creating a universe where every man and woman could walk with Him in the cool of the day and have intimate communion with one another.
We know that sin entered the heart of mankind and that this original plan had to be scrapped and a separation between God and man was formed because of this sin.
As God blessed Abraham and his descendants, the chosen people of the Earth, He again revealed His perfect will for mankind and loved them and led them as their King, leading them out of bondage to slavery, appearing to them in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
But the people rejected God's intimacy and hands-on approach. They asked if Moses could be their go-between. They were frightened whenever God spoke to them directly out of the cloud. So, God allowed another degree of separation to come between Himself and His children because of their sin.
Later, the people grew tired of being unlike all the other nations around them and asked if God would give them a King to rule over them. Again, God's people rejected Him and so God allowed another degree of separation because of the sin of man's heart. He gave them a King to rule over them as they had asked, but even in doing so He was grieved.
When King David, a man after God's own heart, wanted to build a house for God to rival his own palace, God's response recalls his word from Isaiah, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?" and in fact He takes it a step further and says, "When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son." - (2 Sam 7:12-14)
God made a promise to David that a King would come from his own seed who would build a house for God not made with human hands, where once again He would be our God and King and we would be His people.
When the angel announced the birth of this Messiah, he called his name "Emmanuel" - the God who is with us. When Jesus came he opposed the man-made religious systems of the day. He threatened the status quo and he fulfilled the promise by building a temple not made by human hands; a people who were themselves the living stones of an eternal household of God.
Jesus restored God as the King of every human heart and invited all who wanted to live under the rule and reign of the Father to come. The doors of God's Kingdom were now open wide.
Jesus fulfilled God's original desire to have intimate, daily communion with Him. He tore the veil of the man-made temple and made it possible for the Holy of Holies to spill out into every human heart and to encompass all of planet Earth with the tangible presence of God.
Because of the work of Christ upon the cross, all of the Earth is now potentially the Eden of God where mankind can walk with the Creator and know His presence and hear His voice. Because of Jesus, God's new temple has a heartbeat, and hands that can help and feet that can travel and a voice that can proclaim His goodness a million times each day to hundreds of millions around the Globe.
God has broken ground on a new temple for His glory, one not built with human hands. We are that temple. We are the house He has built for Himself. His Holy Spirit is within us. We are carriers of God's Presence.
The Good News that Jesus proclaimed announced access to God's Kingdom. We know that this Kingdom is still growing. We know that it has not yet been fully embraced by every heart and mind, but we have received the Good News that the door to this reality is now wide open. Every single person who has the desire to enter this Kingdom, and to live under the rule and reign of a loving, intimate God and Father can do so at any time.
Today the door to the Kingdom of God stands open. The opportunity to return to Eden is available. God wants to be your God. He wants to be your King. He wants to walk with you. He wants you to become the Temple where His Holy presence will rest and breathe and find a home.
"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" - 1 John 3:1
This is the Gospel. This is Subversive.
-kg
**
MORE ARTICLES BY KEITH GILES ONLINE NOW
READ "More Love, Less Politics" over at Next-Wave Magazine
HERE
READ "Women as Pastors, Elders, Deacons and Overseers" over at TheOoze.com
HERE
**
BLOGS YOU SHOULD BE READING
*Mark Main's "The Untried"
HERE
**
THE END WILL COME. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
We'll all find out on 8/28/09
**
[END TRANSMISSION]
Showing posts with label Orange County. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orange County. Show all posts
Friday, November 21, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
IN WHAT WAY?
[Subversive Underground]
IN WHAT WAY?
by Keith Giles
In what way am I a Christian if I do not follow Jesus?
"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." - Luke 9:23
"Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." - 1 John 2:6
In what way am I following Jesus if I don't obey Jesus?
"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching...he who does not love me will not obey my teaching." - John 14:23-24
In what way do I obey Jesus if I don't serve others?
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." - John 13:14-17
In what way do I love God if I don't love others?
"If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
- 1 John 4:20-21
In what way do I love Jesus if I don't love the poor?
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" - Matthew 25:40
In what way do I love the poor if I don't share what I have?
"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." - 1 John 3:17
In what way am I saved if I don't know Jesus?
"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" - John 17:3
In what way do I know Jesus if I don't know God?
"If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" - John 14:8-9
In what way do I know God if I don't share with the poor?
"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" - Jeremiah 22:16 (GOD, speaking of King Josiah)
In what way is my church better than unbelieving pagans if we have no concern for the poor?
"Now this is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were proud and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen."
-Ezekiel 16:49
-kg
WWW.KEITHGILES.COM
**
THE FAILURE OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH
When Jesus tells his disciples that they will always have the poor among them, many have concluded that this statement is meant to downplay the practice of giving to the poor in order to focus on more important things, like corporate worship and giving to the building fund.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
READ IT HERE
**
FAMILY MAKES $200K A YEAR AND GIVES MOST OF IT AWAY
Who would hunker down in the hood when they can afford the heights? Tom and Bree Hsieh. That's who.
The couple belongs to a club made up of people who donate at least half their salary to charity for at least three years straight.
It's called the 50 % League and it grew out of Bolder Giving, an organization started in 2007 by Boston suburb philanthropists Anne and Christopher Ellinger.
READ MORE AT POVERTYINTHEOC.COM
HERE
**
HOW THE OC BOARD OF SUPERVISORS SPENDS YOUR MONEY
The Orange County Board of Supervisors has voted to spend the following amounts in the new $5.56 Billion Budget:
$54,463 for a company to test fire alarms at Juvenile Hall once during the year.
$45 an hour through 2009 for one man to perform "Rodent Control Services" at the county's flood-control channels.
READ MORE
HERE
**
CHARIS PILATES
My friend and sister in Christ, Alicia Laumann is an amazing dancer who now teaches Pilates in Fullerton. Her innovative approach blends traditional and modern Pilates techniques to create a customized program that's made just for you.
Tell her Keith sent you and receive a free 60-minute private session. (Actually all her new clients get a free session so it doesn't matter either way).
VISIT HER WEBSITE
HERE
**
[End Transmission]
IN WHAT WAY?
by Keith Giles
In what way am I a Christian if I do not follow Jesus?
"Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." - Luke 9:23
"Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." - 1 John 2:6
In what way am I following Jesus if I don't obey Jesus?
"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching...he who does not love me will not obey my teaching." - John 14:23-24
In what way do I obey Jesus if I don't serve others?
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." - John 13:14-17
In what way do I love God if I don't love others?
"If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
- 1 John 4:20-21
In what way do I love Jesus if I don't love the poor?
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" - Matthew 25:40
In what way do I love the poor if I don't share what I have?
"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." - 1 John 3:17
In what way am I saved if I don't know Jesus?
"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" - John 17:3
In what way do I know Jesus if I don't know God?
"If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" - John 14:8-9
In what way do I know God if I don't share with the poor?
"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" - Jeremiah 22:16 (GOD, speaking of King Josiah)
In what way is my church better than unbelieving pagans if we have no concern for the poor?
"Now this is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were proud and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen."
-Ezekiel 16:49
-kg
WWW.KEITHGILES.COM
**
THE FAILURE OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH
When Jesus tells his disciples that they will always have the poor among them, many have concluded that this statement is meant to downplay the practice of giving to the poor in order to focus on more important things, like corporate worship and giving to the building fund.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
READ IT HERE
**
FAMILY MAKES $200K A YEAR AND GIVES MOST OF IT AWAY
Who would hunker down in the hood when they can afford the heights? Tom and Bree Hsieh. That's who.
The couple belongs to a club made up of people who donate at least half their salary to charity for at least three years straight.
It's called the 50 % League and it grew out of Bolder Giving, an organization started in 2007 by Boston suburb philanthropists Anne and Christopher Ellinger.
READ MORE AT POVERTYINTHEOC.COM
HERE
**
HOW THE OC BOARD OF SUPERVISORS SPENDS YOUR MONEY
The Orange County Board of Supervisors has voted to spend the following amounts in the new $5.56 Billion Budget:
$54,463 for a company to test fire alarms at Juvenile Hall once during the year.
$45 an hour through 2009 for one man to perform "Rodent Control Services" at the county's flood-control channels.
READ MORE
HERE
**
CHARIS PILATES
My friend and sister in Christ, Alicia Laumann is an amazing dancer who now teaches Pilates in Fullerton. Her innovative approach blends traditional and modern Pilates techniques to create a customized program that's made just for you.
Tell her Keith sent you and receive a free 60-minute private session. (Actually all her new clients get a free session so it doesn't matter either way).
VISIT HER WEBSITE
HERE
**
[End Transmission]
Saturday, September 13, 2008
THIS IS HIS CHURCH
[Subversive Underground]
THIS IS HIS CHURCH
by Keith Giles
It was just about three years ago that a few friends gathered in our den to pray with us about our crazy idea to start a house church. Of those twelve people who came on that first night only two of them are still with us today. Our house church has since been populated by various people seeking a more intimate, first-century form of Church who have found us online or by word of mouth.
Today our group is about 27 people, much too large for an optimum house church according to all the books I've read on the subject.
Wolfgang Simson, in his book, "Houses That Change The World", outlines the 5 stages of organic growth that every house church goes through. He indentifies them as:
1) Conception: the spiritual seed of a new church is conceived. The persons are now pregnant with an invisible church.
2) Pre-natal: during this planning time the church of the future is being discussed and everything is made ready for its birth.
3) Delivery: the time of actually planting the church when it begins to function as an organic entity.
4) Viable growth phase: the church grows and matures by addition and finally reaches the time when the organic growth reaches its maximum point.
5) Multiplication: when the church multiplies itself, or if it fails to do so during the appropriate time-span, usually enters a spiritual menopause and starts to die.
Our house church, The Mission, is currently somewhere between phase 4 and phase 5. We are at a maximum point in our organic growth phase. We need to begin praying about when and how to plant another house church out of this one, or we will enter the spiritual menopause phase and die.
My dilemna right now is that I don't know if we're approaching this exit or if we've already passed it a few miles back. What do I do? How do I know? Where do we go from here?
Over the last few months I have been praying about this very thing. I have discussed it privately with several of our brothers and sisters who have been with us the longest. I have sought counsel from people like Frank Viola and I've gone back to read through my house church books to find wisdom and gain insight into what we should do next.
Honestly, I still have no idea what to do.
Earlier this week I woke up around 4am and went into our den to pray about this. As I poured my heart out to God He reminded me of a few basic things.
First, He reminded me that this house church is His Church, not mine. This is not the Keith Giles church. I am very happy to say this, actually. No one who comes to our house church comes here because of my preaching (since I do not preach) or because of my great teaching (because I rarely bring a specific lesson to the group) or because of my books (most of them have not read my books) or because of my blog (most of them don't even know the URL). They're all here because they are hungry for community, for a Spirit-lead Church, and for more of Jesus. Several times over the last 3 years our house church has gathered without me and I know that those are probably some of the best times they've ever had as a church family.
The other thing God reminded me of was that this house church has grown over the last 3 years (almost too well actually) simply because I have done my best to keep my hands off the wheel and allow God to lead His Church and to allow His Holy Spirit to grow His Church as He promised He would.
Sitting in my den this week, at 4am, in the dark, God reminded me of one other thing. He reminded me of the prayer I offered up almost 4 years ago in this same room on that very first evening when our house church was just an idea germinating in the womb of our hearts and minds. I remembered praying that God would do something so amazing in this place that no man would dare take any credit for it.
To this day I look at what God has done to grow this church--His Church--and I am astounded. I see people learning to love others, I see people stepping outside their comfort zones to serve and to share and to give and to forgive, and I am amazed at the way God speaks to us and heals us and changes us and draws us together as a family.
This is God's Church, not mine. He has brought us this far, not me. He will take us through our next phase of organic growth, as long as I can keep my hands folded in prayer, and off of the steering wheel.
Can I ask you a favor? Would you please, pray with me today that I can do this one, simple thing?
I need your prayers and our house church needs a pastor who will continue to allow God to have His way as we navigate these next critical steps in our growth and development.
Blessings,
Keith
**
CURIOUS ABOUT HOUSE CHURCH?
"House Church 101" - Oct 4th, 2008 at Triangle Square in Costa Mesa, CA. This is a free class to explore the basics of house church and to provide resources for those who want to plant their own house church in Orange County.
Details:
OCHOUSECHURCH.COM
**
[END TRANSMISSION]
THIS IS HIS CHURCH
by Keith Giles
It was just about three years ago that a few friends gathered in our den to pray with us about our crazy idea to start a house church. Of those twelve people who came on that first night only two of them are still with us today. Our house church has since been populated by various people seeking a more intimate, first-century form of Church who have found us online or by word of mouth.
Today our group is about 27 people, much too large for an optimum house church according to all the books I've read on the subject.
Wolfgang Simson, in his book, "Houses That Change The World", outlines the 5 stages of organic growth that every house church goes through. He indentifies them as:
1) Conception: the spiritual seed of a new church is conceived. The persons are now pregnant with an invisible church.
2) Pre-natal: during this planning time the church of the future is being discussed and everything is made ready for its birth.
3) Delivery: the time of actually planting the church when it begins to function as an organic entity.
4) Viable growth phase: the church grows and matures by addition and finally reaches the time when the organic growth reaches its maximum point.
5) Multiplication: when the church multiplies itself, or if it fails to do so during the appropriate time-span, usually enters a spiritual menopause and starts to die.
Our house church, The Mission, is currently somewhere between phase 4 and phase 5. We are at a maximum point in our organic growth phase. We need to begin praying about when and how to plant another house church out of this one, or we will enter the spiritual menopause phase and die.
My dilemna right now is that I don't know if we're approaching this exit or if we've already passed it a few miles back. What do I do? How do I know? Where do we go from here?
Over the last few months I have been praying about this very thing. I have discussed it privately with several of our brothers and sisters who have been with us the longest. I have sought counsel from people like Frank Viola and I've gone back to read through my house church books to find wisdom and gain insight into what we should do next.
Honestly, I still have no idea what to do.
Earlier this week I woke up around 4am and went into our den to pray about this. As I poured my heart out to God He reminded me of a few basic things.
First, He reminded me that this house church is His Church, not mine. This is not the Keith Giles church. I am very happy to say this, actually. No one who comes to our house church comes here because of my preaching (since I do not preach) or because of my great teaching (because I rarely bring a specific lesson to the group) or because of my books (most of them have not read my books) or because of my blog (most of them don't even know the URL). They're all here because they are hungry for community, for a Spirit-lead Church, and for more of Jesus. Several times over the last 3 years our house church has gathered without me and I know that those are probably some of the best times they've ever had as a church family.
The other thing God reminded me of was that this house church has grown over the last 3 years (almost too well actually) simply because I have done my best to keep my hands off the wheel and allow God to lead His Church and to allow His Holy Spirit to grow His Church as He promised He would.
Sitting in my den this week, at 4am, in the dark, God reminded me of one other thing. He reminded me of the prayer I offered up almost 4 years ago in this same room on that very first evening when our house church was just an idea germinating in the womb of our hearts and minds. I remembered praying that God would do something so amazing in this place that no man would dare take any credit for it.
To this day I look at what God has done to grow this church--His Church--and I am astounded. I see people learning to love others, I see people stepping outside their comfort zones to serve and to share and to give and to forgive, and I am amazed at the way God speaks to us and heals us and changes us and draws us together as a family.
This is God's Church, not mine. He has brought us this far, not me. He will take us through our next phase of organic growth, as long as I can keep my hands folded in prayer, and off of the steering wheel.
Can I ask you a favor? Would you please, pray with me today that I can do this one, simple thing?
I need your prayers and our house church needs a pastor who will continue to allow God to have His way as we navigate these next critical steps in our growth and development.
Blessings,
Keith
**
CURIOUS ABOUT HOUSE CHURCH?
"House Church 101" - Oct 4th, 2008 at Triangle Square in Costa Mesa, CA. This is a free class to explore the basics of house church and to provide resources for those who want to plant their own house church in Orange County.
Details:
OCHOUSECHURCH.COM
**
[END TRANSMISSION]
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