The Tabernacle

Thank you God for the openess.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/rapture-to-grief-as-christs-last-hours-relived-in-sydneys-outdoor-cathedral-20080718-3hke.html?page=-1

Last night I listened to a podcast from Bethel Church, it was from June 22. During his message, Bill Johnson took the time to endorse his personal friend Todd Bentley who is the main guy for the Florida outpouring. We had seen some of these revival meetings while we were in America on www.God.tv but hadn’t connected again since we had been back.

So I watched the June 23 Florida outpouring on the internet, it was a Commissioning and endoresment by Global leaders of Todd. What an immensely powerful event that was/is. God IS doing something new and fresh here. “Those who seek Me will find Me” said Jesus, we need to be hungry. Matt 7:7; Luke 11:9; John 6:27; Acts 17:27 Nations should seek Him. The Scriptures are full of examples telling us to seek, we must seek God, we need to be hungry for Him and chasing Him. This is how we live in an atmosphere of Faith. We have to want it and chase it. God isn’t going to overrun or overwhelm us. “Behold I stand at the door and knock”, Jesus says. It is there for us to grab and it is free. He IS knocking are you listening? If you hear are you willing to respond?

As I watched Todd on God.tv my hunger was stirred, my passion for God and the things of Him was reignited. I could literally feel the apathy dropping away. We must chase Him. Our lives need to be more about Him than us if we want to truly know intimacy. It just became so clear to me that no one can just sit back and think things will happen for them, we must push into and chase God He is eagerly awaiting us to pursue Him.

I want more of God and I know for that to happen I must pursue it and make it a goal of my life.

Lord I want you to be Lord, not me, not my life, but you.

One practical way I came across today to continue to build an atmosphere of faith was a Christian company installing satellite dishes Australia wide so that people can get the free Christian stations that are available via satellite including God.tv. It is a one off cost of $500 installed or a rental setup so that you could have the latest God global happenings running constantly in your lounge room.This would build an atmosphere of faith. We gotta keep the good stuff coming in.

Today I met with a guy from Sudan. It is a long story but suffice to say that while we were meeting with a mature Christian couple a few days before coming over here to Adelaide, they told us that they kept on getting the word ”Sudanese”. Then when we asked some other people to pray about anyone that they thought we should catch up with while here, the no1 person on their list was Sudanese.

So I was at the Central Markets waiting to meet Bco, thinking ‘Why again am I here and what are we going to talk about?’. Well what a wonderful time we had together, just sharing about God and how good He is. Being from Africa he was of course a lot more aware of and intelligent about the spiritual realm. His experience of God began before he had any access to the Scriptures. God actually showed up and met with Bco and Bco saw His hands. Wow what a great experience and so God!

I felt strongly to welcome Bco to Australia in the Spirit, to welcome him, his spirit and his message to the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit. This was powerful and such fun to do.

Then we began to talk of some of the differences of western culture and the influence of the European Greek spirit. Bco told me that he went to Theological college here and that at the beginning of the very first lecture he was told that the Bible was NOT the Word of God, and that no one should ever quote it as it will ALWAYS be out of context. My heart sank, my Wycliffe heritage cried, “Oh what a curse and confusion.” We talked of the intellectualisation of Christianity, of how God is dissected, studied and explained. You cannot explain God! He is beyond explanation; we talked about how a Hebrew mindset says God “WoW!” They won’t even speak out His name, let alone dissect their King and try to reduce Him to a set of bullet points. God is to be Worshipped. God is to be adored. God is to be wondered at, and we in humility need to know that we cannot reduce and explain God. God is Love, yet it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We cannot and should not ever think that our intellect is anywhere near capable of comprehending, let alone explaining God. After I settled down a bit, Bco went onto tell me how he had spoken out his testimony of how God met him, and how this was also rejected. It was spoken out ‘that could NEVER happen here in Australia.’ I instantly rejected the curse and invited God to do whatever He wished in this His land. How I hate unbelief.

Australia has been given a beautiful gift. Bco is has come here with his family, he loves God, he knows God and his faith is real and alive. I was ashamed that Australia had offered him so little, that the Great South land of the Holy Spirit had tried to quench his spirit and told him that only intellectual knowledge of God had any value, how my heart cried. We have so much to learn from our friends from the East and from First nations people. They have a way that they view and understand God and His word, that we need. ‘Lord humble us please that we can receive from people like this and stop thinking that we have all of the answers.’

Bco smiled at me at the end of our time and he said to me “they cannot take my Faith or my experience of God away from me, it is inside me. It is mine, they cannot take that.” I was elated to hear this from him yet also so very saddened to be made painfully aware once again of the intellectualisation of Christianity, and the depth of it in Christian colleges. The West has so swallowed the Greek spirit and the Greek approach at the expense of the Hebrewness of Christianity. ‘God please restore to us the beauty and the mystery of your name, the Glory of knowing how superior and ‘above’ that you are. Please forgive us our pride and worship of our minds that wants to come over you and understand you, to explain you. Lord save us from ourselves, humble us I pray in Jesus name.’

Mark Goatley

*There is a difference between using our minds to pursue and to love God, and our pride and self importance taking over. Instead of humbling ourselves to The Superior Creator, we can make ourselves superior, humbling ourselves to nothing at all. Matthew 22:37 “Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ ” I would submit that loving God with your mind means, yes chasing after God with your intelect but also surrendering it also to your King. To love someone with something is not to lord it over them.

The Mystery, the unknowness and unpredictabilty of God is very attractive to me.

Mark

Tonight I met with the senior pastor of a church here in Adelaide, at the end of the night I said I have read the book of the beginning of Wycliffe and it was all God this and God that and there were Miracles all through it, the book of the beginnings of WYAM is remarkably similar then I asked this experienced man ‘What is your advice for people to stay there and to not move to an organisation or a monument? His answer was simple and profound. “Don’t ever take possession of that which belongs to the Lord.”

I was just in our Tabernacle hanging out and I was reflecting on the Name Israel. Ok so lets be honest I was dancing around and singing.

When I noticed or maybe that I had it highlighted to me that it ends in EL. In Hebrew El is a name for God, ie Elohim so I wondered what the name meant?

God (Heb. Elohim): often regarded the plural of majesty for God in the OT, the name signifies speaks of His role as the transcendent Creator of all that exists (Gen. 1:2).

So I sent off an SMS to two Jewish friends of mine. The first responce shocked me when I think of the current status or struggle between Israel the Nation and God.

SMS1: Israel > Someone who rebels with/against God.

Then a couple of days later this responce came in from my Jewish friend in Florida

SMS2: Israel > He will rule as God.

After the first SMS I remembered that Jacob had been given the new name of Israel after spending the night wrestling and then having his hip put out of joint. Genesis 32:22-32 Wrestling with God and then walking with a limp for the rest of your existence because of it. Yeah that does sound like the Nation of Israel as well.

In the Bible names are very important. They tell you a lot about the character and destiny of the person; this is why God was always consulted as to what to name a child after all it is He and not the parent that knows the future and destiny of a child.

God has also revealed Himself through many names in the Bible.

The one that is getting my attention at the moment is:
The LORD of Hosts (Heb. YHWH/Yahweh-Sabaoth): The name designates God as the ‘creator and leader of the angel armies of Heaven’ (1 Sam. 17:45).

I am finding pondering on this name is helping my view of God. Not weak, not Grandpa on a throne in the clouds but active and powerful as a matter of fact, very powerful and competent. It helps me defeat the Greek thinking that wants me to believe that I am superior to God or that the works of God on the earth are only done through man’s efforts. What foolishness ‘The creator and leader of Angel armies’ who is our loving God is so involved and He has the whole picture in His view. Only a fool or the decieved would not be listening for and looking out for the actions of ‘The creator and leader of Angel armies’. Then to balance this with ‘God is Love’. Yeah! What a powerful friend! These are just two of the many names of God revealed through the Scriptures. Thank you God that you are so huge and beyond our understanding. Thank you that you are our friend and that you are God and we don’t have to be.

Mark

 This letter is written to Gentiles

“I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud and start bragging. Some of the Jews have hard hearts, but this will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to Christ. 26 And so all Israel will be saved. Do you remember what the prophets said about this? “A Deliverer will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel from all ungodliness. 27 And then I will keep my covenant with them and take away their sins.” 28 Many of the Jews are now enemies of the Good News. But this has been to your benefit, for God has given his gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still his chosen people because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29 For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. 30 Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the Jews refused his mercy, God was merciful to you instead. 31 And now, in the same way, the Jews are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you. But someday they, too, will share in God’s mercy. 32 For God has imprisoned all people in their own disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.” Romans 11:25-32

I heard an interesting retelling of the story of the Prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) particularly the interpretation of the elder brother that had stayed at home as the Gentiles and the younger brother as the Jews. We were left with the thought that the prodigal brother (the JEWS) is about to return home. We know what the response of the Father will be, and we wait to see just how the brother (Gentile Church) who has stuck with Him (Jesus), will react to this prodigal’s homecoming. How will you react?

20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening in the pen. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the calf we were fattening and has prepared a great feast. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve worked hard for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the finest calf we have.’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you and I are very close, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’ ” Luke 15:20-31

The Romans passage ends thus.

33 “Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods! 34 For who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who knows enough to be his counselor? 35 And who could ever give him so much that he would have to pay it back? 36 For everything comes from him; everything exists by his power and is intended for his glory. To him be glory evermore. Amen.”       Romans 11:33-36

I was on the phone to my very good friend Roger in Munich and I was telling him about our experiences in Redding, California (see previous Blog). Roger has long known about this church and has been deeply influenced by their teachings. He had actually just gotten back from a trip to England where he heard Bill Johnson, the senior pastor of the church and his team at a conference. Roger shared how he has a 20min bike ride to and from the hospital where he works, and that every day he is getting at least 40mins of input from Bethel via his iPod. Something clicked for me. This is how Roger in Munich is maintaining this atmosphere of Faith in his life and in his home. I can testify that it is having a HUGE impact on him and his family. It is also part of how Helen & I have been working to maintain an atmosphere of Faith. We need to be putting our eyes and our ears constantly in front of things that will grow our faith, that will build us and our faith up, and to NOT be exposing ourselves to things that are constantly pulling us and our faith down.
 
I want to share with you just two resources that we use and find excellent:
1/ The free Sermon of the Week download from Bethel Church that I have been raving on about here.
2/ Occasional teaching from Succat Hallel (Tabernacle of Praise) in Jerusalem, again a free download of the message from the Internet.

Both wonderful ways to be feeding your own personal and family atmosphere of Faith.

We are just back from spending 10 days in Redding, California at the Bethel Church. Wow! what a fantastic experience that was. There is such an atmosphere of Faith there. They are currently consistently seeing 400-500 supernatural healings a week, including verified healings of cancer. Naturally people are coming from all over the globe to experience healing and witness this.

I must admit that I found some of the stories a bit hard to believe at first. But I vividly remember a guy coming to our Bible college in 1993 while Helen & I were studying at BCV. He said that he had had the honor of being present at three different places when revival came on different Pacific Islands. Although he hadn’t bought it personally, he was there. He said there was just one thing that was consistent and the same at all three places. This sadly was that the established churches missing the moves of God. They said that what they saw was outside of their preconceptions of God. Right then I remember vowing to myself that I would never NOT allow God to be more than I was comfortable with or could understand & even conceive. He had to stay much much bigger than me and my ideas of Him. This vow opened a crack for faith. As I got to know these people in Redding, I can now say without a doubt that I totally believe the reports.

Here are just three of my personal experiences that stood out.
Prayer on a sheet: At one of the Leaders Advance meetings little pieces of material were handed out that had been prayed over by Tod Bentley at the Lakeland Florida Revival, where 8 people got out of wheelchairs in one night!, yeah that revival currently on www.God.tv. Well I was just thinking about the theology of little pieces of cloth as I was watching grown men climb over each other to get one. When again I was told a story of how Bethel had been grown and stretched by God in this very area. They had been praying over pieces of cloth, prayer cloths and then people were being healed as they touched these cloths. This progressed to hearing stories of people needing healing in Africa, where these needs were specifically prayed for and imparted onto a cloth and then posted to the people, who then were healed when they received and touched this cloth. Then one day they heard of a guy who was about to die, again in Africa but this time there was no time to post anything. Someone had the idea to fax an image of the cloth to him, and Yes he also was healed after touching the fax of the cloth. Cool yay God!

You cannot exactly proof text this stuff in the Bible but I so love it when God takes us through personal experiences way out there and they stretch our faith and most importantly they make Him bigger and us smaller. Go for it God and continue to stretch my little brain I pray. Give me more Faith.

Heaven: I was at an Israel prayer small group and a guy had come to share. He wasn’t the main speaker but he certainly was the main highlight for me. At the end of the meeting he was praying for people and prophesying over them. Now what he spoke over me was very encouraging with no prior knowledge he started to speak of special intimacy with God, like laying out on a carpet, or even on a rug in front of a fire, very warm and cosy with God. I knew he was talking about Tabernacle and everything else he said was also very encouraging and spot on exactly matching previous words. But as I was in the line to be prayed for by this guy I was talking to a friend asking who this guy was. I was told that he had actually died a few times, and that he had been in heaven. OK!? Then I was told that one of his favourite things to do while in Heaven was to lie in the grass and listen to the grass sing worship to God and the grass would also talk to him. The person telling me this, shared how he initially thought “Yeah right! This guy has been on to many pain killers!” Yet as he thought throught this the Lord bought to his mind Jesus own words, “If they stop worshipping Me creation itself will call out to Me.” Luke 19:40
Wow! I have pondered on this & it sits well with my spirit. Standing around the throne singing praises to God does sound great but eternity is a long time, so some time lying in the grass having it talk and sing sounds pretty good to me too… Heavenly even

Crazy faith: I was sitting in the lounge of our hosts in Redding talking to Jim. I was telling him of our journey to even get there & how God had clearly indicated to us that He wanted us to do this trip to America. How we had come not knowing exactly why we were going but knowing very clearly who had asked us. I shared how we ‘in FAITH’ put the $8000 airfares onto our Credit Card as we knew ‘God who is good’ had asked us to proceed, & that this was still a debt, but God was currently growing us in Faith to still believe His call and Goodness even when we had not yet seen His provision. Jim shifted in his seat and said, “Oh you are ‘crazy Faith’ people. We love hanging around people like you.” I was honoured. It reminded me of a friend in Australia who once said that as she wondered at our faith, she also wondered if we weren’t fruit loops. But how she hankered for God to be that Big and reliable to her. We love you God  and while today that provision is still coming for the airfares, we simply say, “Thank you and you are Good!”

Helen & I have just listened to a podcast (message downloaded from the internet). It was recorded at Succat Hallel (Tabernacle of Praise) in Jerusalem. The message is titled The Tabernacle of David it was so encouraging to us .It really helps in the understanding of what God has been taking us into for these last 6 yrs. We would love for everyone who is following what we are pursuing with God to listen to it. So please let me encourage you to download it then curl up somewhere and listen. It is really encouraging! (If you havn’t already you will need to download Quicktime Player to play it)

Today I was out in the backyard and I received this download. It was about life or the purpose of life. We are just back from our trip to the USA and well, money was on my mind as we are a long way short of covering the costs for the trip at this point. I really have been OK with this. I believe God said to me while we were in the US that this was the posture that He wanted us to have there. Well we are back now so I really am ready for God to get us back in the black.

As I was thinking about this I believe God asked me to consider our neighbours on both sides and what they do with their days that make them and what they do worthwhile. I realised that the main reason by far for both of them is simply based on money. What they do during the day they do so that they get paid, this is what makes them and their efforts worthwhile. All of the efforts of our work trip to the USA had taken us way backwards financially. I realised I was looking at the wrong goal posts. If I left money as the marker of success and my worth, then the trip was an absolute failure. I felt God invite me to think about what we had done on this trip which was make heaps of friends, encourage heaps of people, and be greatly encouraged ourselves, let alone receive impartations and everything else that went on plus of course the multitudes of things that we will never know about. Putting these up as the goal posts, make our trip to the US an awesome success.

The conclusion I have made is that if you are going to live by Kingdom principles and not the rules of the world then you must also make sure that you get your worth from there as well. The enemy was attacking by getting me to look at what the world says is success. I didn’t aim at that goal & it is very OK that I didn’t hit it. Thanks God for reminding me what I have dedicated my life to and what Your markers of success are and what they are not.

We have just arrived at Warm Springs, Virginia, USA.
It was a bit of a harrowing trip, we left Los Angeles just half way through our jet lag recovery then flew another 5hrs across the states jumping a further 3 hrs in time arriving late at a hotel and then driving over 4hrs up here to the mountains. Once we finally got to bed I had the most unusual experience. This house is set apart, the furnishings and layout are very very tastefully done. It is very clear that the intent is to extravagantly Bless, not to be done on the cheap or mass produced. As I first entered the house I got a sense that it was an Alabaster Jar, a lavish gift for the Lord. The house sits on a property that again has been set apart for God, with an Inn and conference centre on the adjoining property, all of it is set apart for the use of the Kingdom.
Anyway as my head hit the pillow I felt this warm sensation on my neck then a few minutes later I felt the same warm sensation on my spine, at the same time I also felt the sensation of being embraced by the Lord, like what I have only previously experienced in Tabernacle Places. I enquired of the Lord what was going on and I believe He said to me, ’Don’t fear this is Me I am doing some healing here.’

So what a wonderful experience to find such a set apart place, where the heart is to see people in ministry blessed with rest. We have shared our heart for Tabernacle here, that also here there would be a place set apart not for people but for the Lord, a place where people could go to seek His face and hear His sweet voice, a place that is set apart just for Him.

Hi Ya’ll

We have had a wonderful start to our time in the USA! Our first stop was in Los Angeles. Our main goal was to recover from jet-lag and recoup before flying another 6hours over to Washington DC and then driving 4hours to where we are now in Warm Springs in the mountains of Virginia. (By the way the springs might be warm but it has been snowing lightly here today and when the sun goes behind a cloud, wow it’s cold! A big change from the high 30’s we left in Melbourne.) Yeah I did say OUR main goal in LA was just to get over jetlag? Well seems the Lord had something else up His sleeve…

Our time in LA was just fantastic! A friend of a friend offered to host us on our way through. Jim & Laurel turned out to be wonderful, gentle, generous couple, very grandparent like. They got down on the floor and played CARS with Joel-Mark and he loved it. Jim is a 30yr Chemistry professor at BIOLA (Christian) university, so we were given a tour of the Uni including it’s Tabernacle/Chapel. On the last day I discovered that Jim was also an Elder in his congregation and after a few discussions pursuing the heart of Tabernacle, he announced that he was going to take a proposal to the church to set aside such a room in their church building. Wow! What a great heart match and so God to strategically place us with people of influence for such a time as this.

While we were there we also met with Bethany who works with Disney. She very sacrificially & generously gave us 2x $91 tickets to Disneyland. Once again God showing Helen & I His lavish provision and love for Joel-Mark. There was a new parade of Pixar characters just 4 days old and it included a full size Lightning McQueen and Mater, so a certain Joel-Mark was in absolute raptures about seeing them, and yep tears at the end when it was over.

God is very very Good!

I have just noticed this on the base of an Email from our friends who have a Tabernacle Ministry in the hills near Jerusalem.

Emmaus Way is more a concept than an organization.
It stands to mark the path to a life lived in the Presence of God.
It defines life’s goal as being with Him on earth…
while on the way to be with Him in Heaven.

I was so encouraged as I read this as I really related to it, sometimes what God asks of us is just so far from the norm and the standard that the normal language and concepts just don’t apply. What we are working towards and striving daily for is to be ‘in a position to be hearing the voice of God and then obeying it whether or not we understand it.’ Of course the first part of this is a life time work, to be constantly battling busyness and all of the distractions that steal from us that we ‘do not’ and ‘can not’ hear God. Then the second half which is to obey what we hear Him ask whether or not we understand it. I don’t want to limit God to just what I know of Him or how I might expect Him to react or act. As the God that I have come to know is far bigger than that and far more creative and spontaneous. It is the Greek way we have been taught to think that says man must understand everything, or that everything is subject to our minds, whereas the Hebrew mindset is that we already know that we mere humans cannot understand the ways of God and that everything is subject not to us but to the Creator God Himself. This I believe is far more accurate view of reality.

I came across this web presentation and thought it was very interesting

It came from a Chinese friend of mine Phil born & bred in the UK. He assures me of the accuracy of the Chinese translation.

Phil & I had had a previous conversation of how the Chinese character for busy is made up of 2 separate Chinese characters - “Death” and “heart” So busyness could be viewed as death to the heart. A very apt view in light of Tabernacling with God, and what stops us from doing this.

Presentation link