Biblical understandings in snippet form.
After delightful worship, we celebrated communion together (you will see the covered chalice on the table with the Bible), and then Lauren concluded the conference with a “how-to” lesson on Romans 6. The above clip will give you a very good taste of the session.
The conference was warm, informative and precious. We learned and experienced our Lord in many ways. He is so good and very awesome.
I continued the study and in this session taught the middle part of Romans 5 and the over all concept of Romans 6. The emphasis was on the fact that we were crucified with Christ and raised with Christ. The truth of the Scriptures was emphasized deeply. The clip above will give you a bit of a summary. I would suggest you take a few moments and read those portions of scripture. The clip will then make more sense to you.
The worship continued to be deeply precious. I will not add any more clips of them as that might violate the copyright of the songs used. Some were original ones, but certainly not all.
The worship was vibrant and Spirit-lifed! We praise and worshiped and enjoyed the Lord’s presence. Michael Hook led with Tina (his wife) and Lauren Godfrey (Worship Director) assisting. Also the two keyboard people are Ruth VanDusen and Joe Godfrey; Drummer was Tim Stogsdil and trumpet/horns was Dale Huges-Giantano. We are so blessed in Psalm 19 to have such a group of worship leaders. This is are not everyone who participates at home, but all who could be with us. These people in this immediate group worship in 4 different denominations. Our God is awesome!
Lauren taught in synopsis form, Romans 5.She worked right out of the translation we are using and worked very practically with several concepts. I will just put some of my notes here instead of trying to write a cohesive summary. I think if you want to read the notes, they will give you a good overall idea.
There is always still more in Him. We must be open to something beyond my own theological comprehension. Keep working; keep eating. We want more than data, but we do want more. “
“We have been given faith.” (Romans 12:3) “To each one has been given measure of faith.” Romans 10:17 – Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”
Chart: 1. Believe – does not require me to comprehend – but belief is my choice – not my understanding.
2. Apply to me – make it real.
3. Lay my life down into the word.. He reads my heart – does not judge my words.
4. Synergy – the Holy Spirit and my spirit produce a substance and a power much beyond one by itself. The addictive characteristics within us is designed by God so we would want more and more of Him. The supernatural, synergistic power of God far out weigh the high of chemical induced highs.
5. Life flowing in God power through flesh in a knowable-see-able way.
I’m in training, Romans 8:1 – “There is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus.” Perpetual motion – like a wheel, constantly moving and at the same time moving forward.
“He never sets us up to fail. He has give us much and then more. Our expectations and our perspectives will determined the quality of our life. Our reality must become the reality of the Word in Life. The world’s perspective has nothing but death. When we taste that which is good in Jesus, you want more.” (Hannah and root beer – best taste ever).
“In Jesus Christ we are like “tigger” – we bounce everywhere. We are no longer “Egor” – downcast all the way. We bounce because of Him. If we choose to grovel and live poorly, we are still saved and loved. We, instead, have much more – life superabundantly. It is a change in perspective that determines all the difference. In this place, we cannot miss the mark. We become an example of God’s grace. Messing up becomes an avenue of more grace – grace through that will train us. We are not important enough to be an except to His rule of forgiveness given in Christ Jesus. Do not go into condemnation with it, just let it go.
I am empowered to release – my actions and others actions cannot determine how I think and how I feel, if I will choose to do so. FORGIVEN! IS A REALITY STATEMENT.
We have the power of Jesus Christ. We are working much harder than needed in order to live in (or even find) the abundant life.
internal rules > attitude > actions We need to examine the underneath reason we do what we do. We need to receive a perspective from the word and then allow those to be the driving force.
The transformation of the mind is the adjustment of the mind to receive the Word as truth. Then the attitude and the actions change. To try to change the actions is law – to transform what is inside is grace. We need to shift our preceptors – I am going to believe the Word. As we make the choices – everything will catch up.
She did not attempt to get everything in. You can see it was anything but dull. She has a very unique way of making everything very practical.
Tonight I will finish chapter 5 and go directly into chapter 6. Thanks for tuning in. Of course all is available on DVD or CD from Psalm 19.
We began about 7:40 pm (a few minutes late to get us all together) and the worship was wonderful. The highlight of that time was our worshiping with “It is Well.” I thought I would just be transported as we sang about our sin being all gone and His return. The trumpet was a nice addition to the worship ensemble. What a delightful time of worship through song.
The worship continued as we worked with the concept that when we understand the Word of God, it is an “seeing” experience. It is not just a mental grasping of what the Word says, but an experience with it that enables us to receive it in faith. We worked with the Israelites being afraid of the voice of God (Exodus 20) and the Hebrew says they were “seeing the voices.” Then we looked at Habakuk 2:1 where the prophet says he will wait “to see what the Lord will say to me.” Again, an understanding that he will “see” what is said. So we purposely expected to see as we pondered His word.
We reviewed (for most of us) Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Romans. Then we took chapter 4 and began working about 1/2 way through it in the understanding that the Lord gives righteousness to the ungodly. Then Paul added that where there is no law, there is no violation. What an amazing thing. In grace, no speeding tickets because there is no speed limit. This will revolutionize our lives if we can grasp it and walk in it.
We touched on Titus 2:11-12 with a knowing that grace is not permissive, but is instead our teacher of how to live godly and holy lives. That means the favor of God is very different that the common understanding of “anything goes.” That is not a true understanding of the grace and righteousness that we have been given.
Our evening included the beginning of Romans 5 and working with our theme “Much More,” we are beginning to see we are not to be “beggar Christians” with a constant consciousness of sin. (Hebrews 9-10) The challenge is to believe the Word and begin to allow the truth of it to sink into our lives. God has poured His love into our hearts – therefore we are able to receive His love and to love others.
In the morning we are to work in Chapter 5 once again. Lauren is teaching. So any of you on-duty prayer warriors, remember her before the Throne. It will be a delightful time in Him. It has been a good evening to begin our time. One of our folk is an ordained minister of a nearby church and he was very complimentary regarding my translation we are using in our study and about the concepts we are digging into. It was a blessing to talk with him.
Thanks for reading. I know this is a “brief-over” but its purpose is to allow you to share with us just a bit the goodness of the Word.
I apologize once again to my readers for being so absent from writing on this blog. My life has been so very busy these past few weeks (teaching, family, etc…) I have done little except think about Mannaword. so I am intending to change all that beginning today.
We are off to Winter Conference here at Psalm 19 and I am very excited about our ministry time away. It is also nice that my husband and daughter are a part of this with me and will be helping at conference. In fact, my daughter Lauren will be teaching 1/2 of the time. My husband Joe, is on our worship team (keyboard) and then is in charge of the digital recording, both DVD and CD. So we are all quite busy, but we love the time.
We have a small group coming, but that only means it can be more intimate and class-like in it design. It will give us an opportunity for interaction that is not do-able with a larger group. We will be digging into the Word, and I have promised them we will not be in shallow water.
What I am hoping to do is to blog through the conference. The Conference Center where we will be is wifi-ed, so it should work. So stay tuned and let’s see if I can give you just a taste of what the Lord is doing among us as we travel in His Word.
Tonight in the Feast course I am teaching on the Feast of Unleavened Bread. At first glance this seems simple enough with most books agreeing that leaven = sin, and we have got to get rid of that – don’t you know. Well I think the verse below give us a clue as to how we will be led tonight. I will write more tomorrow, Lord willing. In the meantime, just read the passage below in meditation and prayer.
“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 NKJV
Our Friday Fellowship went exceptionally well. Christina Mancuso led our worship team (along with all there) in precious worship time. Then Lauren taught Romans 3. She is becoming an excellent expositor of the Word. She values the word and brings honor to the Lord as she allows the Spirit to teach us through it. We were very blessed. Thank you for praying.
My Thursday evening teaching on “Building a Community,” seemed to go well. This first in a 5-part series was on “Building a Community of Focus.” There were three main points. (I am not known for my 3 point lessons – so this was interesting for me. I usually have more – but who knows how the Lord is training me here).
1. Building a community is something that is intentional. It does not just happen, but we must exercise our free will and accept: a) An appointment to a group of Christians – specifically the local church. We do not lose our free will in the choice. This is not a bondage, but an opportunity to experience our Lord in community. b) The Lord is the one who decides and appoints for mature believers. We do not attend a particular local group because we like it there (though the Lord probably will not run counter to your heart here), but we attend and become a part because we are appointed by the Lord to be there.
2. True Biblical Fellowship follows a pattern. John 17:20-26 describes the heart of our Lord in His High Priestly prayer to include all of us in the fellowship of the Trinity and in His glory. By these two things we express Biblical unity. We are enveloped in a fellowship that already exists in eternity – the Lord’s own – and then we begin to relate with one another in that given unity.
3. Biblical Fellowship has a God-given focus. Acts 2:42 “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, in fellowship, in breaking bread, and prayer.” The focus of our fellowship is not to be our love for one another. This is dangerous and will end in frustration, disappointment, failure and pain. Our focus must be Him through these things. We are to always be looking at Him through the Word and having our fellowship around the truth and life that the Word brings. Then true fellowship develops. True fellowship is not seen in cliques, nor in any exclusive behavior. It is felt in a true openness the Word brings and envelopes all who are near. It is not exclusive in any way. When we focus on getting to know one another, we miss the mark. We will gradually develop that knowledge together as we share the Word, but our problems must never be the center of our knowledge of one another. Instead we are to develop that through the focus of the Word.
Food, marvelous thing that it is, plays a big role in enjoying the fellowship and binding hearts together in His love. We share not only communion, but also meals. This does not have quite the social understanding it did in Biblical times, but it is still there somewhat. Sharing meals is what people do who choose to relate together.
Then the last thing we are to focus on is praying together. Talk ing with the Lord together. Allowing our hearts to continue to have a focus of Kingdom – not just our individual needs. Praying for individual needs is always good, but that must not be the primary reason or summary of our time in prayer together. We are to listen to Him as well as talk – we are to share this intimacy together.
These are to develop as our focus. So there you have a brief summary of what took approximately 50 minutes to deliver. It was well received and we looking forward to next Thursday when we will work with “Belonging” as our next Kingdom understanding of life in a Biblical Community – local church expression.
Our regularly scheduled Psalm 19 meeting is tonight. We will gather from many different denominations to worship our Lord Jesus Christ and eat at the table of His word. Then we will fellowship and enjoy Him. Our worship leader for tonight is guest, Christina Mancuso from the Church of the Resurrection, East Syracuse, and our preacher/teacher for the evening is my daughter, (pictured here playing base guitar) Lauren.
We are in for a special evening as both young ladies are anointed and gifted in the Holy Spirit. I am excited to be there. Normally when Lauren speaks, I am away, but this was planned this way due to my busy schedule. It gives me a rare opportunity to be present when I am not speaking. I am delighted!
I realize I have not yet summarized last evenings teaching for you as promised, but it is coming. I was just away from my computer all day. Those of you who read before 7-9 pm EST, join us in prayer for a wonderful evening in our Lord.
I thought we might all enjoy a touch of spring – on this snowy, cold night in Central NYS. In a few months iris’ like these will be growing in my flower beds. I look so forward to seeing them. A friend gave me such beautiful bulbs a couple of summer’s ago and the bed is beautiful in the spring.
Class seemed to go very well last evening. We had such a good time together with the Passover with a special emphasis on its original purpose and noticing how the Lord in His last Passover supper before His death, made use of at least one of the traditions – the cup of wine (or new wine it would have probably been).
We had a good time working with the fulfillment of it in Christ and then ended with our own Passover Supper the way Jesus told us to share to remember that He died for us and is coming again. It was really an appointment of the old Passover into the realized one we call communion. It was a sweet time of sharing with Him, in Him and together. The Lord blessed us so. That class is composed of folk from 6 different denominations. We experienced “miracle” together. The Body of Christ is truly one in Spirit. He made us so.
I am teaching tomorrow night at my local church’s mid-week service. My Pastor has asked that I teach a series on “Building a Community.” Tomorrow evening is the first of 5 sessions with the adults. I will try to post a summary on Friday so those of you who choose to do so can share with us.
Mannaword 