this morning, I want to spend a bit of time introducing you to another group of Jesus' People... Covenant Nazarene, down on Blue Rock. Abe and Joni (pronounced "johnny") Brandyberry are pastoring a congregation in a converted bar, down there right next to the corner where Chris Challis got shot. Remember that?
Right next to the Northside Mart, a very HOT spot for crime and trouble, they're in the belly of the beast, there. Abe and Joni are really after the heart of God in this thing... They are moving like-minded folks into the neighborhood, offering an opportunity to Bible College students to live out their faith in the "normal radical" of Jesus.
Do you get what I mean by "'normal Radical' of Jesus"? The Way of Jesus is within us--an interior disconnect from this world's way. That same Way manifests in the world as love...
now don't get me wrong, i'm not talking about whitened piety. I'm talking about love. I'm not talking about behavioral perfectionism. I'm talking about that love that JEsus has made possible through the mighty work of the Cross and the powerful working of the Holy Spirit...
I'm talking about UNION with JEsus, overflowing in LOVE, in the world, as it actually is, as we actually are, from where we actually stand.
Do you know the definition of the word "actually"? I don't think I do, but I know that in french, the word "actuel" means NOW. Same as Spanish (actual). And since I know that, I INFER that the word "actually" in English means "Now-ly"--in the Now.
Actually loving means living NOW, with JESUS. A minute ago is not NOW. That was then. This is now. and so is this. and this, too. get it?
So, living NOW with Jesus is as simple as Looking UP! Thinking up... allowing the fingers of your heart to run over the keys of the gospel, hearing afresh the call of Jesus in Matthew 11:28
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
In Luke 21, when Jesus is talking about how difficult it'll get before the end, he concludes with "LOOK UP!"
Check out the wicked, filthy, cheating, traitorous sell-out in this passage! He looks down! And still looks up! Sometimes looking down is looking up!
So, I hope you look up today, even if, like me, you might have to look down, too... ANd please think about Abe and Joni! Pray for them. Lift them up. Ask Father to work with them and with their denomidudes to embody the LOVE the the cross has baptised us in... that the Holy Spirit baptises us in...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
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actually |ˈak ch oōəlē|
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1 as the truth or facts of a situation; really : we must pay attention to what young people are actually doing | the time actually worked on a job.
2 [as sentence adverb ] used to emphasize that something someone has said or done is surprising : he actually expected me to be pleased about it!
• used when expressing an opinion, typically one that is not expected : “Actually,” she said icily, “I don't care who you go out with.”
• used when expressing a contradictory opinion or correcting someone : “Tom seems to be happy.” “He isn't, actually, not any more.”
• used to introduce a new topic or to add information to a previous statement : he had a thick Brooklyn accent—he sounded like my grandfather actually.
exactly my point!
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