(Isaiah 55 (cross reference with book of Revelations); 2 Corinthians 6:10; James 2:5; Ephesians 2:7, chapter 3; Colossians 1:27; 2:2; Revelations 3:18)
“God doesn’t just want you to worship Him; He wants you to know WHY you worship Him….great love is born f great knowledge…learn more worship more”. –Mark Batterson, Primal.
FULFILLED HOPE CONTRAST TO “A MISPLACED HOPE” (Example- Heaven’s Gate)
Resurrection (Hope of Israel) 1 Corinthians 15: Old to New – Acts 24:15; Acts 23:6 cf. Acts 28:20; Acts 26:6-8
Titus 2:13; I Peter 1:13; I John 3:2-3; I Thessalonians 5:8; Titus 1:2; 3:7; Matthew 5:17-18
“The Old Covenant Hope (of Israel) has become the New Covenant reality”
“Eternal life, salvation, and righteousness was the hope of “this age”, but became full possession of the Church at the Second Coming” – paraphrased; The Preterist Voice
LIVING IN HIS PRESENCE (GOD CONSCIOUSNESS)
What did or was the importance of God’s presence to Old Testament Jews?
Psalms 139:7-12; Psalms 16:11; Psalms 23; Psalms 51:11
Old Covenant V. New Covenant
Exodus 25:8 Matthew 16:18
Exodus 29:43, 45 John 4:21, 23
Numbers 11:16,17 Acts 7:48
Numbers 12:5 Colossians 1:18
Deuteronomy 31:15 Hebrews 8:2
I Chronicles 6:48 Hebrews 9:11, 24
Revelations 21:3
Book- The Practice of the Presence of God
His presence enables us to live a life in response to what He has done.
• Not to get ultra-spiritual but you know that emotional moment when you sing and praise, reflect and meditate on what God has done in you and through you? That is His presence.
Jesus came preaching the: KINGDOM OF GOD
Old Testament understanding? The glories of this reality?
Matthew 6:33; Matthew 13: 31-32
Read- blogs @ Freaked-Out Mindset (Mike Miano) – “What are You Screaming with Your Life?”
“God’s people, in God’s place,- under God’s rule” – PresentTruthMag.com
Restoring Eden!
Prophecy concerning the Kingdom of God: Ezekiel 36-37; Isaiah 7,9,11,51,53; Ezekiel 47 cf. Revelations 22; Daniel 9
GRACE AND FREEDOM IN AND THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
Personal Righteousness- His Righteousness
Temporary Forgiveness- Complete Forgiveness
Old Covenant Law- New Covenant Grace
Romans 7-8; Acts 15; Ephesians 2:8; Romans 14; Galatians 6:2; James 2:8
HEDONIST-OUR LIVES ARE TO GLORIFY HIM, BY SEEKING HIM!
The Riches of Incomparable glory- Ephesians 2:7
“God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him” – John Piper, Desiring God
Psalms 16:11; Hebrews 12:1-2; Philippians 3:8; Matthew 13:44-46; Psalms 37:4; Whole book of Ecclesiastes
SHINING THE LIGHT OS SALVATION (EVANGELISM)
• Consider the lyrics to the song, Shining the Light of Salvation, by Desperation Band
o “We were made for such a time as this, to make a difference in the world we live. Now we live!...Whose living a life worth living, were shining the light of salvation”.
John 1:4-5; John 8:12; Revelations 21:23; John 12:46; Matthew 5:16; I Peter 2:9
The Lamp Parable- Mark 4:21-24
Salvation was a promise to the Jews, which would eventually through fulfilled promises of the New Covenant reach the Gentiles: Isaiah 11:9-11; Luke 2:32; Isaiah 42 (specifically verse 6); Isaiah 49:6; Acts 13:45-47; Acts 26:22-24
Tree Parable- Mark 4:30-32
NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH
“NEW”-changing the world
This New understanding should lead us in love to “turn the world upside-down”
Revelations 21:1; Isaiah 65:17 (both speak to Salvation, our relationship with God)
-Note that Isaiah’s context was the coming New Covenant
SONS/ DAUGHTERS OF THE MOST HIGH! LIVE IN THESE RICHES!
Romans 8:14, 19; Galatians 3:26-29; 4:5; Ephesians chapter 1
Showing posts with label old and new. Show all posts
Showing posts with label old and new. Show all posts
Friday, January 14, 2011
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
A Month of Monasticism
Well, I know the month is not quite over yet but I chose to tell you about my “monk experience” for the month of March a bit early (plus I know some people who are interested in hearing my summed up views from the New Monastic Schools for Conversion).
To briefly explain my monthly endeavor, I experimented with monasticism both ancient and new. Ancient monasticism is the retreat of dedicated men of God for prayer and solitude. I came under the authority of the Rule of Monk Preston from The Knights of Prayer, Prayer Foundation. Obviously, monasticism is centered on prayer. The basic concept would be scripture memorization and recitation, prayer, and structured daily routine (which includes the divine hours and work).
At the start, I was excited for this structure and routine, pretty much anticipated the challenge (and yes, I looked forward to the outfit that I had to wear “a habit”.) Honestly, the overall idea I had in my mind didn’t work out the way I had anticipated, as a man of God with the heart of an evangelist, I wanted to do more outreach as a monk, so that was a bit of the disappointment (but fair to say it came with a lesson, doesn’t it always?).
Ok, so I traveled as a monk to Evanston Ill., to attend the Schools for Conversion conference at Reba Place Fellowship. Exciting trip to say in the least.
Now I will tell you about my time at the conference. Reba Place fellowship has a lot of rich history, and has been around since the 50’s. The overall concept of New Monasticism is to live in community, pretty much to experiment with what we read from the book of Acts. It is hard to sum up what I learned from this experience, since it had a big impact of my thoughts of New Monasticism and my personal walk with Christ.
In order to keep this short, I am not going to write detail by detail concerning the visit to Reba Place Fellowship, if you want to know my details ask. My goal is to express what I learned.
As far as what I expected from my visit to Reba Place Fellowship, I cannot seem to clearly reiterate but admittedly it was not was I had expected. When I arrived an older man from Reba Place and I had a great conversation, that would inevitable help me grow and affect my views of things. He said in paraphrase “we have to be careful of our ideals, it seems that idealism is taking a big place and that is not what this is about, and ultimately this will lead to disappointment”. That was so true! As we read through the 12 Marks of New Monasticism and discussed different views of Christianity as a way of life (ex. - You Must Be Born Again…and Again and Again) I remember reading a part that talked about the ideals that fail us. The direct quote that convicted me was, “…what would have been different if your primary commitment had been to love the people in the place where you worshipped”. That made me think, how many times have my personal ideals about what we should be doing as the church, or what the church should look like, how many times have these affected the love I have been commanded to have for my brothers and sisters, my neighbor, or even my enemy? As Dietrich Bonheoffer said “The greatest enemy to community is our ideal of community”.
Also, a big factor of New Monasticism is to live in close proximity to others within the body of Christ, at least local congregations. I had agreed wholeheartedly with that concept and still do, but after thinking about it as I was in the community, I realized that the bond I have with some people who I meet with weekly or bi-weekly, is community. We don’t have to necessarily live together or even on the same block. So, Gabriella can rest at ease that I am not going to ask her to move in with 3 other families right away (ha ha, maybe not yet at least).
A great factor of Reba Place Fellowship was the diversity in the people, both young and old, male, female, and many different personalities. Also, what has been termed “theological diversity” was very active. From Episcopalians to Mennonites, to radicals to reformed tradition which was awesome and truly demonstrated the culture of love and grace, that New Monasticism, or rather Jesus Christ represents.
Well, my overall thought was the missional concept though. I didn’t really feel the missional, evangelistic attitude was that prevalent at Reba Place Fellowship. I am not sure if that is such a theme in the New Monasticism view, but I felt that things should be much more missional. Reading through Shane Claiborne’s book, The Irresistible Revolution, I got the feeling he was very missional in his attitude, but I am aware of his view of “come and see”. It is my hope that the views of New Monasticism become very strong in my generation, but also with a spice of the missional church views.
That pretty much summed up my thoughts. Also, I would like to share a brief journal entry I wrote as I left Reba Place Fellowship.
“3/22/10- Today, I am leaving Reba Place Fellowship, Schools for Conversion. I guess I did go with some expectations that I did not find. I find myself in a sort of negative funk today. Like, “what is this all about? What am I doing?”
Since January I have been going through my experiments in truth (**currently reading the Autobiography of Mohandas Gandhi, who was the master at this concept). This month has been a study into monasticism (both old and new).
As I was walking and thinking, I just began to ask myself, “Who am I, what does God want me to do, etc”. (You know the “seasonal” self examination).
STAND-STILL (“I am at a standstill) has been on my mind lately. Praying over that line as I walked, I heard that low whisper “be still and know that I am God”. Also, other things that have popped into mind are:
-What P.A. told me about just being Mike, the outreach guy who relates to people
- Future with Gabriella (some normalcy to my life).
-Missionary (we are all missionaries, but in the strongest sense, is that me?)
-Pastoral calling
-Starbucks meetings with Annie.
-Jesus People USA
So therefore, what is my next season?"
Thanks for reading. Hope it was a blessing! Look forward to your feedback!
Love and blessings, for the glory of Him,
Michael Miano
To briefly explain my monthly endeavor, I experimented with monasticism both ancient and new. Ancient monasticism is the retreat of dedicated men of God for prayer and solitude. I came under the authority of the Rule of Monk Preston from The Knights of Prayer, Prayer Foundation. Obviously, monasticism is centered on prayer. The basic concept would be scripture memorization and recitation, prayer, and structured daily routine (which includes the divine hours and work).
At the start, I was excited for this structure and routine, pretty much anticipated the challenge (and yes, I looked forward to the outfit that I had to wear “a habit”.) Honestly, the overall idea I had in my mind didn’t work out the way I had anticipated, as a man of God with the heart of an evangelist, I wanted to do more outreach as a monk, so that was a bit of the disappointment (but fair to say it came with a lesson, doesn’t it always?).
Ok, so I traveled as a monk to Evanston Ill., to attend the Schools for Conversion conference at Reba Place Fellowship. Exciting trip to say in the least.
Now I will tell you about my time at the conference. Reba Place fellowship has a lot of rich history, and has been around since the 50’s. The overall concept of New Monasticism is to live in community, pretty much to experiment with what we read from the book of Acts. It is hard to sum up what I learned from this experience, since it had a big impact of my thoughts of New Monasticism and my personal walk with Christ.
In order to keep this short, I am not going to write detail by detail concerning the visit to Reba Place Fellowship, if you want to know my details ask. My goal is to express what I learned.
As far as what I expected from my visit to Reba Place Fellowship, I cannot seem to clearly reiterate but admittedly it was not was I had expected. When I arrived an older man from Reba Place and I had a great conversation, that would inevitable help me grow and affect my views of things. He said in paraphrase “we have to be careful of our ideals, it seems that idealism is taking a big place and that is not what this is about, and ultimately this will lead to disappointment”. That was so true! As we read through the 12 Marks of New Monasticism and discussed different views of Christianity as a way of life (ex. - You Must Be Born Again…and Again and Again) I remember reading a part that talked about the ideals that fail us. The direct quote that convicted me was, “…what would have been different if your primary commitment had been to love the people in the place where you worshipped”. That made me think, how many times have my personal ideals about what we should be doing as the church, or what the church should look like, how many times have these affected the love I have been commanded to have for my brothers and sisters, my neighbor, or even my enemy? As Dietrich Bonheoffer said “The greatest enemy to community is our ideal of community”.
Also, a big factor of New Monasticism is to live in close proximity to others within the body of Christ, at least local congregations. I had agreed wholeheartedly with that concept and still do, but after thinking about it as I was in the community, I realized that the bond I have with some people who I meet with weekly or bi-weekly, is community. We don’t have to necessarily live together or even on the same block. So, Gabriella can rest at ease that I am not going to ask her to move in with 3 other families right away (ha ha, maybe not yet at least).
A great factor of Reba Place Fellowship was the diversity in the people, both young and old, male, female, and many different personalities. Also, what has been termed “theological diversity” was very active. From Episcopalians to Mennonites, to radicals to reformed tradition which was awesome and truly demonstrated the culture of love and grace, that New Monasticism, or rather Jesus Christ represents.
Well, my overall thought was the missional concept though. I didn’t really feel the missional, evangelistic attitude was that prevalent at Reba Place Fellowship. I am not sure if that is such a theme in the New Monasticism view, but I felt that things should be much more missional. Reading through Shane Claiborne’s book, The Irresistible Revolution, I got the feeling he was very missional in his attitude, but I am aware of his view of “come and see”. It is my hope that the views of New Monasticism become very strong in my generation, but also with a spice of the missional church views.
That pretty much summed up my thoughts. Also, I would like to share a brief journal entry I wrote as I left Reba Place Fellowship.
“3/22/10- Today, I am leaving Reba Place Fellowship, Schools for Conversion. I guess I did go with some expectations that I did not find. I find myself in a sort of negative funk today. Like, “what is this all about? What am I doing?”
Since January I have been going through my experiments in truth (**currently reading the Autobiography of Mohandas Gandhi, who was the master at this concept). This month has been a study into monasticism (both old and new).
As I was walking and thinking, I just began to ask myself, “Who am I, what does God want me to do, etc”. (You know the “seasonal” self examination).
STAND-STILL (“I am at a standstill) has been on my mind lately. Praying over that line as I walked, I heard that low whisper “be still and know that I am God”. Also, other things that have popped into mind are:
-What P.A. told me about just being Mike, the outreach guy who relates to people
- Future with Gabriella (some normalcy to my life).
-Missionary (we are all missionaries, but in the strongest sense, is that me?)
-Pastoral calling
-Starbucks meetings with Annie.
-Jesus People USA
So therefore, what is my next season?"
Thanks for reading. Hope it was a blessing! Look forward to your feedback!
Love and blessings, for the glory of Him,
Michael Miano
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