The 787 Dreamliner Wineskin

While preaching a while ago on the far South Side of Chicago, almost to the Indiana border, I received a vision for that Church which also helped me further shape my understanding of the words of Jesus.

Matthew 9:16-18 (NIV)

¹⁶ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. ¹⁷ Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

I saw Wineskins flying in the air.  They were Boeing Wineskins.  Not that the Boeing Airplane Manufacturer makes Wineskins, but this is a vision with some artistic license.  There were the different varieties of models of Boeing Airplanes I have flown in.  I'm not old enough to go back before the 727, which I flew allot when I was a young boy.  I also saw the 737 which is still very popular now.  There was the 747, which we are starting to see in the sky less.  Singapore Airlines is retiring it's last one soon and is having a special flight with it.  The 757 was there as was the 767 which are both still around but not too many now.  The 777 was there too and it is still very popular today.  Then I saw it.  The new 787 Dreamliner.  The airplane the world has been waiting for.  Just a few have been delivered so far.  It was the newest Wineskin in my dream.

I watched a video presentation on a United Airlines flight recently in which the CEO was excitedly talking about the fact that they have ordered 50 of these new 787 Dreamliners.  He said something along the lines of, "we will be able to fly routes that we previously have been unable to fly."  Interesting.  Because of the new technology used and the new construction materials now available never previously used, they have been able to make an airplane which can go further, more efficiently than any commercial aircraft before in history.

I remember as a kid, flying between Manila and Seattle on the first Pan Am 747's, we had to stop in Honolulu to refuel.  Airplanes haven't needed to do that in years.  Most US aircraft now fly from Tokyo to any city in America they want.  Because of newer technology in the newer aircraft.  And now it is going to even a greater level!

God is doing something new and He is raising up a new breed of Churches...  not even Churches necessarily...  A new breed of Christ followers who are bringing in the Harvest, the New Wine and are refusing to put them into Old Wine Skins.  As a matter of fact, this new generation knows that they are not a part of the Church, they realize that they are the Church!  That is so awesome because not only will this cause the Old Wine Skins to not burst (because putting New Wine in Old Wine Skins will burst them), but it will fill the New Wine Skins with people who will go further and more efficiently than they ever could have gone before!  Why would anyone want to be in an Old, Limited, Outdated Wine Skin anyway?  They can...  God allows it.  It's part of His plan, but you can't put the New Harvest in there.  Of course there are those who want the Old Wine Skins for reasons of comfort , tradition and more.  Leave em' alone.  It's OK...  For them...

Wanna hear something weird?  Jesus never said you can't put Old Wine into New Wine Skins...  Personally, I know that I'm Old Wine even though I hide it pretty well.  I'm stuck in some traditions and I struggle with legalism, religiosity and compacency deeply inbred because of my upbringing.  But I don't want to!  I want to get inside a New Wine Skin!  What about you???

I want to fly higher, farther, more efficiently and with as many folks on board as I possibly can!  My prayer continues to be that God will show me the new ways, but without falling prey to the gimmicks and games which some in the Church often wrongly believe are the New Skins.  God wants us to adapt, but not to compromise.  Just because it's new, doesn't mean it's from God..

In my thinking, part of the new thing that God is doing is He is mobilizing people to "GO", not trying to build up big groups of people who are isolated from the world, but going into the world and being the salt and light.  Not that this isn't what He has always wanted, it is!  But He is breaking down the walls of tradition and demolishing wrong mind-sets as we speak.  People are becoming true desciples.  Not just learners, but those who learn and train others to learn and train others so that multiplication occurs.  These are exciting times!

All aboard!!  Let's get onto the newest Wine Skin now, but remember, there will be an even newer one coming sooner than you expect.  Don't get too comfortable or fall in love with this one...
 

Good Karma?

In my journey, I am now being asked to do some things not only secularly within the Call Center industry here in the Philippines, but also within the publishing industry.  My hope is to be salt and light in the world, in the market place.  In order to be effective, I cannot be outwardly evangelistic.  Below is an ariticle I wrote for a journal designed for college students.  I know some people do not understand this approach, but please pray for me as I attempt to inspire this generation in creative ways, to think about and seek after God.
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“Good Karma”

We live in an age where language has become more flexible, more adaptable, less specific but at the same time more impacting through creativity…  We freely and intentionally break the rules of language in order to make our point clearer and stronger.  It is actually becoming hard to determine what good sentence structure or grammar is anymore as the languages of the world continue to progress, or according to many opinions, digress.  Personally, I love it.  I love words and the power of them.  I love the fact that we can be free in our linguistics in a way that we can make a powerful impression with our words, though we would have achieved an F in class.

And languages and concepts are now blending.  In Asia, we have “Taglish”, “Singlish” and others, there is British English, Australian English American English and more…  there really is even Filipino English, Korean English, Thai English and more.  Just about every country which has embraced English now has their own version where some of the same words have differing meanings from country to country and culture to culture.  It can get confusing if you don’t pay attention, but I find it fascinating.  Because when you know the way a person speaks, you know more about the way they think.

For my subject today, I want to take the word “Karma” which traditionally comes from East Indian and Chinese roots.    www.M-W.com defines KARMA as “the force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence.”

I find in the Western world that the idea of Karma has become so popular that it is literally all over television and the bookstores are filled with hundreds, if not thousands of books loosely based on the topic.  But where in Hinduism and Buddhism, Karma is more about the ramification of a persons actions affecting their “next life” as those religions believe exist, most people try to use Karma to affect a person’s near term consequences also referred to by many as blessings.  In most Christian traditions, the followers believe that they can by performing good deeds, improve their life now and increase their “chances” in the after-life.  Christians often refer to this concept as the principle of sowing and reaping, which is farming terminology.  Whatever “seed” (deed) you “sow” into the ground (work you do), care for, water, etc., then it will grow and you will eventually end up able to “reap” it (harvest it), thereby benefitting from your previous effort.

Whether the idea of Karma or of Sowing and Reaping, neither has to do with fate or luck, but they do have plenty to do with destiny.  What we need to remember about destiny is that for the most part, outside of whatever divine intervention you may believe in, you make your own destiny.  So, how’s your KARMA?  In other words, how are you doing, working on your destiny?

Many people that I know when they speak of a successful person with a hint of jealousy often refer to them as lucky or they make some kind of an excuse as to why that person is successful and the one speaking, possibly, is not.  A friend of mine who dropped out of medical school always speaks negatively of doctors.  He says, “they came from rich families, they are more favored, they are lucky,” etc.  But at the end of the day, every doctor that I know had to sacrifice and work hard to get to where they are today.  Of course they have talent, ability and opportunity, but the point is that it wasn’t fate or luck.  They are where they are today because they took the resources and opportunities that they had and made the best of them.  I was at a Doctor’s office last week and the two Doc’s who share the same office had their diploma’s on the wall in the waiting area.  One graduated from Stanford University in California.  One of the finest, most famous Medical School’s in the world.  It obviously cost his family a small fortune to send him there.  I believe that he probably was born with a golden spoon in his mouth (that means he was a high class baby).  The other graduated from a local University in the Philippines.  If you are not from the Philippines, you likely have never heard of it.  He probably had a silver spoon in his mouth growing up (middle class)…  Or maybe a wooden spoon (low class)…  But today, they earn and are respected about the same.  My point is this.  They both made the best of their situations, they both worked hard, and today in modern use of language, they both have “Good Karma.”  They achieved this by working hard.  They made their own destiny!

Once when I was in a desperate financial situation, just the right amount of money came from an anonymous source.  It really blew my mind!  But later, I found out that it came from someone who I had years earlier, helped financially while he was a young student.  Was it Karma?  Was it sowing and Reaping?  Yes!  Because I had done something good in the past, something good happened to me in the future!  And that really is how life often works!

We make the most of every opportunity to help people, to work hard, to improve others lives and to improve ourselves.  Later, there will be a reward.  Invest in the lives of others and in your future liberally and generously my friends!  Then you too, in the modern use of the word, will experience “Good KARMA!!!”

So if you see me on the street and ask me, “do you believe in Karma?”  My answer will be, “I’m not a Hindu, but if you mean that if I do something productive today, I will benefit from it later, then the answer is YES, I believe in Karma!”

Jesus is Sending a new Tribe of Prophets, Sages & Teachers

It is a stereotype that women take longer to dress than men do, though I know many men who take longer than the ladies do.  But we can all agree that a Bride takes a long time to prepare in her dressing, make-up and more, especially if you include the shopping aspect of what she she will wear on her wedding day, the process sometimes lasting more than a year.

Ephesians 5:25-28 (NIV)
²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Paul taught husbands how to be loving to their wives and tied it into the idea that this is similar to what Jesus did when He offered himself as a sacrifice for His Bride, the Church.  We see that washing with Water of the Word of God removes the blemishes, the spots and the wrinkles in the preparation of the Bride so that she, the Church, may be presented to Him radiant at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (a description of the beginning of Eternal Life with Jesus - Revelation 19:9).

I want to challenge you today that simply pouring water on something does not wash it.  There must be scrubbing, soaking, application in order for change to come.  This is why the Bible states that we cannot just "hear the Word", but we must "do the Word."  Otherwise we will "deceive ourselves."  (James 1:22)

Jesus declared 7 "woes" recorded in Matthew 23:13-39.  A careful study will reveal that what made Jesus say "woe" more than 2,000 years ago in relation to how the Pharisees & Teachers of the Law were treating the ministry and people of God are much the same as they are today.  I believe Jesus could speak the exact same message today and many of the Church leaders would be considered by Him to be a "brood of vipers."  Sad...

In the 2nd of the woes in verse 15 (NIV), Jesus said “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are."

This is a truly amazing and surprisingly harsh statement requiring a double take.  As a matter of fact, I posted this verse on Facebook awhile back and received "concerned" inbox messages and Emails as a result.  Very few, it seems are comfortable with Jesus' terminology here.  Converts can be Children of Hell?!?

He wasn't condemning the religious leaders for slacking in their work.  They travelled land and sea to win converts.  I think of all the work of the Church today, outreaches, missions, crusades and more, all done with the purpose of winning converts.  All done with great enthusiasm, passion and with intense focus.  But Jesus didn't end His time on earth saying to go and win converts, He said to "Go and Make Disciples..."  (Matthew 28:16-20)

When all that we do is win a convert and they only hear the Word and don't do what it says...  do they then become a Bride with Spots and Wrinkles?  What Jesus called a child of hell twice as bad as a pharisee?  Yes they do.  Because it takes application of God's Word, it takes discipleship, true washing with the water of the Word in order to produce the harvest that Jesus died for.

At the end of the 7 woes sermon in Matthew 23:33-34 (NIV), Jesus said, ³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town."

Jesus said that because of the 7 Woes caused by the Pharisees and the Religious Leaders of the day, that He is sending some folks.  Some people who will do the true job of the Kingdom of God!  People who will not only fight the devil and the systems of the world, but would also fight the religious systems which mislead people supposedly in the name of God and pious righteousness.

Jesus called them Prophets, Sages and Teachers.  A new generation, a new tribe, those who would speak from the heart of God!  A prophet speaks what God tells him to.  A sage is a man of wisdom who helps people to make good decisions according to heavenly concepts and strategies (an apostle who builds things/people according to God's specifications).  A teacher is someone who expounds the word of God.  The difference of these that Jesus would send is that they would not be building their own kingdoms.  They wouldn't be winning converts to a denomination or to a single church, but they would advance God's Kingdom and make disciples not to themselves but to Jesus.  Their focus would not be on drawing people to the temple (or to the cutting edge modern day church facility) (attractional model of ministry), but they would actually "GO."  Anonymously doing all for the glory of the One who sent them.  This is not to say that we should not have nice facilities and should not do our best to have amazing services which people will actually want to attend.  We are supposed to do that.  And this new tribe will need to worship together and relate together in Churches where those of the same ideals can meet.  But not as the main point.  We should never mistake the "house work" of the Church with the "Kingdom work" of going out into the businesses, the homes, the schools, the territories, on the hi-ways and on the bi-ways to be the salt and light for this generation.  To give people what they really need.  An opportunity to become a disciple, a Bride without blemish, spot or wrinkle, living in the freedom that life led by the Spirit enables us to live!

What about you?  Do you want to be one of these that Jesus is sending?  A prophet, a sage or a teacher facing the forces of darkness and religion so that you can reach your hand out in the love &  power of Jesus and win the lost?  This is the calling I have chosen.  That many have chosen and are choosing!  Let's reach the lost before some pharisee reaches them... shall we?  :-)

This is not a Game!

Recently, the devil was talking to me in modern day language.  God does that with me too.  J

He was saying “GAME OVER!”  Over and over and over again.  he was referring to our current lack in finances and the seeming lack in response from those who have partnered with us in the past.  And I must admit that my self-talk wasn’t helping either.  I have actually been contemplating selling everything, including my car in order to get as much cash together to “make it” a few more months before having to the leave the mission field.  The famine is that severe.

But I re-gained my spiritual composure, remembering the faithfulness of the Lord and trusting that He would not open incredible doors of ministry which we have walked through just to abandon us. 
So I rebuked the devourer by telling him that this is NOT A GAME... it is a war!  And I reminded him that God’s Word is clear that God wins and because we are with Him, we win too!  I said, “satan, you lose!”  

I’m not sure which one happened, but either he shut up or I stopped listening or both.  WE WIN!  As long as we place our trust in Jesus!

If you play games, you will lose.  Because the devil plays games and God does not.  But if you fight in the army of God, you win the war!

Psalm 18:38-40 (NIV)

³⁸ I crushed them so that they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.
³⁹ You armed me with strength for battle;
you humbled my adversaries before me.
⁴⁰ You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
and I destroyed my foes.

The obvious began to happen.  A trickle of resources has started to come in which is the beginning of the miracle which I know is in process!  Thank you for helping us to enforce this victory by partnering with us in prayer and with finances.

do you have a "death wish?"

When someone regularly does dangerous things, for instance, parachuting, driving too fast, eating fatty foods, etc., we jokingly say in America that they might have a "death wish."  The idea is that they don't care enough to live and so they risk their lives through their behavior.  Of course it is a figure of speech and they don't really have the wish to die.  You get the point...

But some people do seem to have something like a death wish in an even more important realm.  In their spiritual walk.  Let's check it out...

Romans 8 (NIV)

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

 

You are likely familiar with the fact that the Bible says our words have the power of life and death in them.  But let's go further to the root of the problem.  After all, our words come from our thoughts which are generated in our minds.

 

This scripture tells us that when our minds are set on what the flesh desires, that our minds literally are Death.  Our thoughts literally are death.  Nothing good can come from a mind like that and a mind that is set on what the flesh desires generates thoughts and words which destroy us and other people.

 

But a mind that is set on what the Spirit desires literally is Life and Peace.  That means that a mind focused on what God desires can please God, can be "in the Spirit" and can generate thoughts, words and actions which accomplish life and peace for the one who has developed this kind of mind and focuses it on Kingdom desires.

 

This is why it is so important that we renew our minds (Romans 12:1-2) and develop the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). 

 

Sometimes people struggle when I encourage them in times of prayer or worship to "get into the Spirit."  Usually it is because they are waiting for something to "happen to them" like the Holy Spirit coming and jumping on them or something.  What they need to do to get into the Spirit is simply start to focus on the Spirit and on what the Spirit desires.  The Bible encourages us to "find out what pleases God" (Ephesians 5:10).  When we think to the Word and begin to repent and humble ourselves, it's amazing how quickly God's Holy Spirit will descend on us.

 

So if things are dying around you, it would be wise to ask yourself right now.  Is it because your mind is death?  If so, it's time to kill the flesh, to focus your mind on what the Spirit of God desires and therefore transform your mind to Life and Peace!

Joseph is with the Lord

Hi everyone.  Many have inquired about Joseph who I spoke of in my last blog post.  He went to be with the Lord just hours ago.  His wife and his daughter made it to Manila just in time to spend precious time with him.

He is with the Lord!  The other good news is that his wife is in remission from her cancer.  She is completely bald from the chemo therapy for which she took the last dose this month. 

Please pray for the entire Ostia family during this difficult time.  It is not easy to lose a 34 year old Dad, Husband, Son and Brother. 

These kinds of cases are hard for me.  I have seen hundreds of people come up out of their beds at the touch of my hand extending the power of God.  I have also prayed for people in their beds hundreds of times only to conduct or attend their funeral later.  God is sovereign and He knows what is ultimately best.

I know that in Joseph's life, the enemy was defeated and we experienced the power and the presence of God in his room every time we were there.  We fought for his life in prayer and in the end, Jesus still did not let go, but took Joseph to be with Him in glory where we will meet again.

Joseph has many family members who are not yet serving God.  Let us pray that this will be a season of harvest in his family.  Thank you for your continued prayers.

Jesus Never Let's Go

I visited a 34 year old man in the hospital yesterday.  He has lung cancer and is literally fighting for every breath.  He has a 6 year old daughter and a wife, in another city which he cannot get to because of his critical state.  The wife also has cancer but her case is 50/50 at this point.  Without a miracle, he will survive only days or weeks.  It very well could be that their daughter will become an orphan if God does not heal one or both of them.

 I led him to the Lord.  He had a religious background but was not born again.  He and his family had also involved themselves in the world of faith healers, those who practice witchcraft under the guise of being Christian friendly.  There was worry in the family that this husband and wife are under a curse because of a jilted half brother who had converted to Islam and had said he would curse them.  In Asia, Muslims often are involved in witchcraft.

We prayed, we dealt with all of the possible issues and the presence of God came into the room in a tremendous way!  We could barely stand in His presence.  It was awesome!  But sometimes the presence of God comes and He does not yet choose to heal or to heal completely.  God is sovereign.  And so we are continuing to pray for his healing.  A team of our intercessors will return today and I will go back again in two days with another team.  We are not going to let go of him.

Visits are limited in ICU and so the time came for us to leave.  He was looking at me with tears rolling down his cheeks.  He could say nothing because of the tube in his throat...  But he grabbed my hand and wouldn’t let go.  He didn’t want me to leave.  Every time that I tried to pull away, he would squeeze and hold, pleading me with his touch not to go.  It took me 15 minutes to leave while the nurse gave me the look.  I kept assuring him that even though I must go, Jesus never lets go.  I also assured him of our continued prayers and of our impending return.  It was heart-wrenching...  I could barely stay composed.

While in the room, I kept hearing a song in my spirit which I had heard by David Crowder from his album, “Remedy.”  This group and this album are certainly not traditional in any sense of the word, definitely a part of the new generation sound (in other words, most of you over the age of 40 won’t like the music from this group).  Frankly, the song had not appealed to me in the past as I had bought the album specifically for 2 other songs on it.  But the chorus kept repeating in my ears.  “You never let go, You never let go-oh.”

In the car before I pulled out of the parking space, I found the song on my I-pod and I played it 3 times with tears rolling down my face.  Below I have included some of the lyrics (edited where redundant).

Jesus never let’s go.  If you read this message, pray for the healing of Joseph and Jisel Ostia.  God is able!

“You Never Let Go” (David Crowder Band)

When clouds veil the sun and disaster comes
When waters rise and hope takes flight
Ever faithful, ever true
You, I know, You never let go
You never let go, You never let go
When clouds brought rain and disaster came
When waters rose and hope had flown
Ever faithful, ever true
You, I know, You never let go
Oh, my soul overflows
Oh what love, oh what love
Oh, my soul fills with hope
Perfect love that never lets go
In joy and pain, in sun and rain
You’re the same, oh, You never let go