I've been put in charge... Go into all the world & make disciples - of all the people groups... by...

God, help us obey your choice

of "Leader of Humanity",

as we learn, ignoring noise

from worlds - which (claim, but) aren't free.

"Go to all the world", he said

and "make disciples (as you've seen

me do with you - now un-dead)

disciples, who are just like me."

For I've been a "Matheetees"*

myself, and learning from "Äbba"^.

Son of Man does what he sees

is being done by his father!

As a "father" teaches "son" 

- approaching all this world like him;

so their family is one

in goal and in their purposing;

"God, you need to help them do

in action, & in practices,

all the things we told them to

till the day their father says."

Christened "Lord", & "Emperor",

"High - Prime Minister/ President",

"High- Priest/ Prophet/ King, and Shah",

the "Coach", and "Boss", where-e'r you went,

God is sending you back "soon",

we want to do what we're told

(not because you're a baboon

but) because your wise Love’s Gold!

---

 * Matheetees (greek) word used in the NT and in the LXX for the "disciple" of a Jewish Rabbi (teacher).

^ Abba (Aramaic) word used by sons & daughters for their own father. According to Mark 14:36, used by Jesus in private, when addressing God when in anguish in the Garden of Gethsemani, & subsequently referred to by Paul (in "Romans" & "Galatians") as what the spirit of Christ would enable his disciples to call out to God too.

The Lord [a]God has given Me the tongue of disciples,

That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.

He awakens Me morning by morning,

He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

The Lord God has opened My ear;

And I was not disobedient

Nor did I turn back.

6 I gave My back to those who strike Me,

And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard;

I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.

For the Lord God helps Me,

Therefore, I am not disgraced;

Therefore, I have set My face like flint,

And I know that I will not be ashamed.

He who vindicates Me is near;

Who will contend with Me?

Let us stand up to each other;

Who has a case against Me?

Let him draw near to Me. (Isaiah 50:4-8 NASB)

18 Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 20 and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 GNB)

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. (1 John 2:3-6 NASB)

To tell or not to tell? Only if you've listened well! (WHYS? Group)

What's His/ Your Story? (WHYS?) Group leaders must be able to (as with STS teachers):

• Tell a story in an interesting and accurate way.
• find deep truths in the story and prepare questions.
• skillfully lead discussions.
• help people discover, themselves, the spiritual treasures in a story and then make personal applications.

A WHYS? Group is Relational, & utilizes Story, (half being those from Mark’s story method of telling the Gospel of Mark; & half of the stories being those from our own lives in this day & age, where the Lord Jesus has brought healing, health, thrown out bad spirits from the ways we relate, and brought the announcement of good & true leadership (a thing most pressingly needed). It also involves Discussion, and Discovery. Thus it is more than a teacher Telling People what to do - as a little tin god; it involves  telling stories to people, and allowing God to work in, on, for, & eventually through them, via the avenue of storytelling. Thus they retain the dignity of discovery, rather than being the foil for the teacher to show off their learning - over against the ignorance of the students… This method is stolen straight from Jesus, Peter, Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, Paul, etc. How gracious, the Lord Jesus is, and was!

STS teaches storytellers, “If the story you want to tell has not yet impacted your life, you are not yet ready to tell it.”  My ditty for this is: 

Choose a story God has used

in you - caught your attention!

Follow through, until you’ve mused

and know God’s deep intention.

Good questions might help folks,

and as you learn to listen,

‘member Peter and those blokes

and Mary’s eyes that glistened.

Let your life be changed by what

you hear - and know to be true.

Then you’ve earned the right by God

to speak, as true people do.

And we hear the Gospel of

Jesus, God’s Messiah, told

(by Matthew, Mark, Luke & John),

as he said “right round the world”,

retold by some modern folk

each week as we do this group.

God you picked the best-est bloke

to lead us, please lead, and snoop!

Learning from Jesus' method of interpretting what it is like to be ruled by the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

Below is a (short URL) link to help us learn from Jesus' methodology of explaining what "The Kingdom of God is like.." i.e. of interpreting what it was like to live under God's rule (as distinct from the rule of leaders like Caesar or Caiaphas, Herod or Pilate, the Pharisees or Sadducees)

He first acted out, or made space for his disciples' acting out, of the qualities of faith, observation, curiosity, & love. That was both an illustrative & interpretive event, as well as a "bearing witness" to the True Love, & to a Loving Truth. When people questioned, or commented, or thought things to themselves, about these provocative events, he responded to them with real answers, or not (when they were not sincere questions/comments/thoughts). His answers were often in the form of stories, or pictures, or analogies, which drew on events, or "lively" things around them - that could spread or grow, like light, a tree, a crop, yeast, a seed, or relationships.


For us today, firstly, we can listen to & learn to understand Jesus' stories, before we secondly, tell them ourselves in settings & in ways that will communicate appropriately with our audience. Thirdly, we can go to the same tool-box that Jesus went to, and dig around for new stories to illustrate what it is like to live under God's rule.

In fact, Jesus told a "parabole" (Grk word = story, illustration, likeness, analogy) which said that a teacher of the law living under God's rule would be  "like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." Matt 13:51-53

It seems to me as I look at Jesus' words, stories, and warnings, that Jesus had a tool box with two sections: a) God's world, & b) God's prophetic word, which was itself divided further into another two: b1) God's prophetic word spoken to people in God's world in the past & which was recorded in the scriptures, and b2) God's prophetic word spoken to people in the present world. Both needed to be recalled (& understood) to be heeded properly. This tool, the colourful table, with it's instructions,(goo.gl/YCQ0ML) is aimed at helping us to use Jesus' toolbox as well, and with his help, to make it our own (click here for the table on it's own - goo.gl/ZvHI2K ).

What analogy shall we use? Are we mining for nuggets, or fishing around for just the right tool in our tool-box, or inventing new things in this world (following the mind of God)? Maybe all of them, and a bit more!

A questionaire on Jesus's message & methods of "Gospelling".

Here (goo.gl/wct1bp)

  THEGOSPEL@FIRST...

5. The Gospels (& other scriptures) relate that both Jesus & his early messengers heralded the "gospel" (="GOOD NEWS"). What would the term "gospel" have communicated to Jesus's hearers & the "Gospel" readers? *
(You can tick more than one to communicate your understanding well)


•  We are sick of the same OLD, same-old!
•  Here's an alternative kind of News to brighten up your day.
•  A new way to worship God & do "religion" is starting out!
•  You have to be GOOD!
•  Here's a way for your life to feel GOOD!
•  Judaism, and its way of getting forgiveness, is over & out!
•  All the old prophecies about a NEW DAY dawning are about to come true!
•  Finally, we'll be ON TOP!
•  Your sins can all be forgiven!
•  You can go to heaven when you die!
•  Other: 


6. As you presently understand it, what was the gospel Jesus himself preached/communicated in his day? *


7. What method(s) did Jesus himself use in communicating his Gospel? *
(Your present understanding)


•  living in such a way as to show what it was like to live under the rule of God
•  soap-box style public speaking/announcing
•  announcing an emperor or king (God) was beginning to rule
•  story telling to illustrate life under God's rule & provoke further responses
•  quoting proverbs or wise sayings to illustrate life under God's rule
•  asking people to follow his example in living under the rule of God
•  trying to be a ruler or judge in this world
•  preaching/teaching in public areas in cities
•  making other people use their money well by using forced donations (taxes)that would then be spent well for them
•  choosing leaders for a new style of leadership
•  forcing compliance to a new law
•  preaching/teaching in religious meeting places
•  using a respected structure of his society to enable teaching & making disciples
•  preaching/teaching where-ever people were (even wilderness areas)
•  Other: 


8. What is the gospel as preached/communicated by the first century disciples of Jesus? *
(Your present understanding)


9. What method(s) did the first century disciples of Jesus use in communicating the gospel? *
(Your present understanding)


•  living in such a way as to show what it was like to live under the rule of God
•  soap-box style public speaking/announcing
•  announcing an emperor or king (God) was beginning to rule
•  story telling to illustrate life under God's rule & provoke further responses
•  quoting proverbs or wise sayings to illustrate life under God's rule
•  asking people to follow their example in living under the rule of God
•  trying to be a ruler or judge in this world
•  preaching/teaching in public areas in cities
•  making other people use their money well by using forced donations (taxes)that would then be spent well for them
•  choosing leaders for a new style of leadership
•  forcing compliance to a new law
•  preaching/teaching in religious meeting places
•  using a respected structure of his society to enable teaching & making disciples
•  preaching/teaching where-ever people were (even wilderness areas)
•  Other: 

StorySkills2Woo2Truth

..to be a good advertisement for the gospel (the news of God's chosen & imminent "Leader of Humanity"), to make the Word of God be seen to be as good as that WORD is, to be "as wise as a serpent, yet as harmless as a dove"..

This is a link to another tool (which could be used in conjunction with the other 'colourful table'), which is helping me follow in the footsteps of the greatest teacher/story-teller the world has seen, to realize & re-learn the ancient art of story-telling. It is a clunky "modernist", dot-point kind of thing:

StorySkills2Woo2Truth (Short URL: goo.gl/fWbRUk)

Another way to communicate these ideas may be to tell a story which shows these lessons being learned. This could be a fun thing to do together... to make a story that exemplified these points (maybe as the main character finds themself caught in a story being made by another "The Story-teller", who is learning to "tell" or "write"  it into being, and who is gaining skills and getting better as time passes.. etc). Feel free to post any such stories or email them to me, to add to the blog this is taken from:
http://the-euangelion.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/storyskills2woo2truth.html .

How we've miss-read the gospels

Gospelling..

Dear brothers & sisters,

here is a link to a talk by N.T.Wright that I’m mulling over at the moment: “Putting the Gospels Back Together: How We’ve All Misread Our Central Story” (in case you want to mull it over with me, & then give me/us your thoughts too, in this blog).

Bishop Tom Wright – Putting the Gospels Back Together: How We’ve All Misread Our Central Story

short URL: goo.gl/zJ8JdO

Look at Jesus, then, more.. respond to his "soft" call

(shortened URL to this page: goo.gl/M6pRux)

(http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/look-at-jesus or- play/download (12Mb) at: goo.gl/a87V3i )

What a beautiful way 

to use the gospels to

lead our spirits to pray,

to interchange with you!

What's this amazing thought?

It's not from this young pup,

it comes from what He wrought!

His glorious "looking up"[1]. .

He who was rich, became

poor, that we might become

richer than words can name.

I know that that seems dumb.

Here is the Way - Love's course;

dain't hold it's  rights as "higher",

seeks to woo, not to force

or "make", but to inspire.

Hence visions, voices, dreams;

which could be just madness.

Not all is what it seems:

don't just run from sadness,

grief, suffering, and death;

we must embrace this lot,

that Jesus life & "breath"

be ours to stop the rot

of "image-in"-ation,

beginning in this life;

"on Earth, as in Heaven",

to match him, as his wife[2]!

---

[1] Some of the times when Jesus raised his eyes up: as a Jew, maybe every time he prayed {e.g.  at his baptism?, on the mount of Transfiguration (where Luke tells us he prayed), & after the seventy(-two) returned (Luke10:21ff )},  certainly in “prayer” before  - feeding the 5,000 (Mk6:41), healing the deaf mute (Mk 7:34),  at Lazarus’ grave (Jn11:41), praying personally to God for his glory & for us (Jn 17:1), maybe in Gethsemane, or even on the cross, or to Zachaesus, before inviting himself home to Zac’s house for a meal (Luke 19:5),  inviting Philip to join in on “the problem of the 5,000 hungry families”(Jn6:5), and in the Temple where he noted the Rich people & the Widow giving gifts at the Temple (Lk 21:1).

[2] Thinking from the point of view of those early apostles, not during the visit, but after it, realizing that they had touched & eaten with “the very WORD (or “FORCE” in a STAR-WARS-ish way) of  LIFE. “We beheld his glory, the Glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace & truth…”. Their conclusion (reached from the startling facts of his life, his prophecies, his power, his insight, and the scriptures etc) that he was the Eternal WORD, THE Son of God, The Second (Son of) Adam!- needing a wife, to not be alone, & the confidence that God was indeed preparing one for him (with his own spirit in her). As Jesus un-ashamedly spoke of himself as a bridegroom, now it has grown from the Jewish conception of the people of God being seen as a bride of Yahweh, to the new people of God being a bride for Yeshua, Yahweh’s Son. His DNA is to be taken, and made to make a matching pair, so still bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh…. He is so big, so real, & so loving, that all of us (the x Billion humans who have lived, & will ever live) are like the cells in a living being, a woman, & do not exhaust or overpower, or over-love him. …

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