Peter’s Thoughts

I was not going to do any blogging today.  I am cramming and preparing for two interviews later this week,  But after listening to the http://mediaplayer.livetsord.se/?ID=2281 Livets Ord’s 25 Year Festival Medley.

For me, this medley resulted in 25 years of edification, revelation, correction, relationship, growing, and lots of fun gushing over me.  The presence of God came over me as a am sitting here listening and watching.
Memories of God’s goodness and mighty being came to me and I could not hold my tears back.  Here I am, sitting at Barnes and Noble in Sugar House/Salt Lake City in the Mystery and Science Fiction/Fantasy department, with some pretty interesting people around me.  Here I choose to let my tears come down my face.

Livets Ord, Thank you for the past 25 years.  I am so looking forward to the next 25.  God Bless you and may God keep you on his awesome path.  The ending song by Jarle and Anna was awesome.  The non-changing God in our so ever changing world.  We can see how the church has changed in the past 2000 years in general and how Livets Ord has changed in the past 25 in specific.  God entrusted us with the development and organization of his kingdom on this earth.
Well done LO and all Loare!  You Rock!

 Wish we could be there and celebrate this summer!

Dear Friends,
Revivals are being talked about   a little bit everywhere.  Aletheia writes about it, I write about it, Ulf Ekman just wrote about renewing/revival.  And it is all good with an outpouring of the Spirit or, a “fire-upping” of the Spirit. We all get tired and weary from treading our lives.  We are looking to the hope that we have.  We look to the promises we have.  Often it seems like we never receive the “promised land.”  My experience is that the promised land is always coming, as promised, it might just take a little longer. 
While we are waiting, some times failing, it is nice to get a touch from God, don’t you think?
We might be chasing for a spiritual shower, running after Holy Spirit preachers and other events, to get that “high.”
I have found that the best source, and most reliable, is a few minutes with  my Bible, a few minutes of prayer, a few minutes in praise and worship, or simply a few minutes in silent awe of our mighty Creator.
A few minutes meditation on God’s goodness and awesomeness will renew and revive you more than enough.  God is available to touch you at anytime at any place.  When you or I reach for Him, he reaches for us. 
The best Revival is not the one we have to travel to, the one where we need a third person to deliver the anointing to us (sometimes we do need someone to carry us and our burdens, we need help!) the best Revival is the one where you take some time in reverance and meet God on his terms on his soil.

I have read a few articles about the revival in Lakeland, Florida.  Some are positive while some are critical.  Remember that all critical do not have to be negative! Some are simply being critical based  on things such as Bentleys theology etc.

Anyways, I read today that we have to wait and see whether or not Bentley is from God–The fruit of his work will tell!
This is interesting.  We all claim that the Azuzastreet revival was from God.  But the fruits from this revival was not the best.  The revival in itself was very successful…..but then itcrashed and W. Seymore almost lost everything.  The entire “movement” almost diminished.  Can we judge the fruit of this work?
Paul was rather unsuccessful as he tried to start a church in Cyprus, was he not?  Does that mean that Paul was bad?
Let us take this a step further, Jesus was rather unsuccessful in his hometown…..Can we always judge on the fruit?

 My QUESTION to you is Can we always judge based on the fruit? If so, what would the fruit be in Lakeland that we can judge based on?

Some people thrive in talking about other people’s mistakes and sins.  I often refer to Jesus and what he would do.  I think it is obvious that He did not talk about the sins and mistakes of  others in public.  Take the taxcollector as an example.  Did Jesus tell him as he sat in the tree “You sinful man, yes you who sit up there, you who steal and rob, lie and cheat, come on down.  Listen all!!! If this man does not repent . . . , You shall all demand of him that he beggs for your forgiveness….” Or, did he, in John 4, after talking to the Samarian woman at the well tell his friends about the sins of the woman?  After she had brought a greater part of the town out to him, did he then tell them about her sins???

The point with Eph 5 is to edify the body of Christ.  The work in the kingdom of God is individual.  Each seed that is sown grows individually.  Each tree that it grows into is pruned individually.  This whole chapter is written to edify the individual.  It talks about how I AM to live MY life.  Hence, verse 11 talks about how I have to confute, rebuke, the works of the evil one and the darkness in MY life.  Sorry guys, we are not to publish the mistakes of others. 

There are cases where we have to protest against things.  There are times where we have to talk to our sinful brother once and twice and if he does not change his behavior, we bring him to the church leaders etc.  To gossip on the internet about stuff is not the Christlike way of dealing with things.

I guess it is determined based on our goals, do we want to edify the body or do we want to do our own thing?  Aletheia and others, do we want to see the body of Christ (organized in a church or not) to be pruned into something better, or do we want to ridicule it?

 All people have a redemption to claim
Long ago Jesus died a redemptive death on a cross
Everyone is free, however, to choose to accept THE CROSS
Though the death and resurrection of Jesus was the redemptive work
His cross still stands as a loud voice shouting out the victory over the eternal death
Everywhere is this cross a symbol, not for the death of Christ, but for his resurrection
In times like these when everything holy about God is questioned and compromised
All of us must remind ourselves of that cross, not its shape, its material, but of its meaning.

I don not claim to be a man of words; hence the poor poetry above.

It is for me very hard to understand how people, that claim to live in forgiveness, cannot accept anything that comes from Livets Ord.  As Livets Ord, finally, raises a cross, then it’s all wrong and bad.  Some claim that it is raised due to pride!!!  How lost these people must be.

It is my prayer that these people will be able to open their eyes, ears, and hearts to see the truth.
To see beyond the possible hurts they might have and accept the work of the Lord that is going on at Livets Ord.

Yes, I do have the right NOT to read Aletheia and all its garbage.  But I do have compassion to reach out to my brothers and sisters and help them understand the truth.
I also think that Aletheia has a few good things to say and can be used for something good.  It will take some work but it’s worth it.

Aletheia, Pro Christo et Veritate

I remember back in the day when Livets Ord built the new church building.  The critics where many and the criticism enormous.  One of the things they were critisized for was the lack of a cross.  There was no cross in the building that would indicate that Livets Ord was a church.  Just a few days ago they had a cross put up from the floor of the building through the roof of the building.
Now, 25 years later, one could think that the critics would be happy.  And some of them are.  But if you read http://aletheia.se/2008/06/08/ulf-ekman-i-dagen/ you can wittness how some Chrisitian brothers and sisters have some rather tremendous problems with this cross.

The discussion is so silly that one might think that……I am not sure what to think.

Let us always be glad for the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ which took place on that cross.�

UPDATE!!! yet one more entry on Aletheia  regarding this cross http://aletheia.se/2008/07/03/14-meter-stolthet-eller-verkligt-kors/#comment-95118
I wonder what Jesus is thinking about this discussion.  He must be devestated.  Or, what do you think Jesus feels right now regarding this discussion?