Insperation

Freedom II

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / 1 Comment

In all our travels and connections, in all the meetings I have attended, I am thrilled to see how God is moving so many lives are transformed, thinking is being re wired and whole persons are being healed, we truly are in transformational times.    People  are maturing in every place, admittedly at different stages but maturing, little by little, big leaps towards growing up into God.

We find ourselves sitting with people from all walks of life, from lowly settings, from bush huts in small clearings, to large meetings with 1000’s of believers celebrating, to business men and women, giving advice and counsel to organizational heads, to CEO’s of huge companies as well as sitting with high level offices in world governments and royal palaces.    This gospel is amazing it reaches to all people in all spheres of life and breaks in with freedom.

Through the variety of places we visit we find that the large issues of life we find ourselves peeking into are quite similar, even when cultures are so different, people at heart level are the same, the same never mind where it is, or who it is with.   One of these issues, that can appear to be fleeting and sometimes even elusive to people is the issue of LIBERTY/ FREEDOM.    The desire for this freedom is high, we all know that freedom  belongs to us, it just a matter of where, how and  when, do we encounter it.     At every level and with every person we find the deep conviction that they should be free.

We often find that as we join churches, congregations, organizations and events that should be liberating that we are put into a straitjacket, and liberty and freedom is again curtailed.

A clear and recurring theme of Apostle Paul, spoken of in many ways is the cry or the shout of “Freedom“, Romans 8:14-19, 21, 28-39 Reminding us that all of creation is waiting for this liberty, the liberty of the sons of God to fill the world completely.

It is not only Pau that speaks of freedom but it is also in the red stuff, the red ink that is, it is a recurring theme in Jesus vocabulary John 8:31-32, 36.    It is there for it to become the recurring theme of our life as well

We are promised freedom, socially, politically and in our in attitudes.     Our world continually presses fantasies of freedom upon us:

Buy this….

Have this….

Use this….

Belong here….

Our experience however even with all the products available, is a world lacking in freedom, with all its promise it’s freedom it is fleeting and most people give in to living in lack, slavery, bondage and or boredom.

We have freedom of religion but it has not made us free – cults and other religions pressing enslaving superstitions continue to proliferate.    We meet only to be regularly inhibited, defensive, subjected, enough the world around us can say you are like this or that, they stereo type us and freedom passes by again.

In the middle of all this there are realities of freedom around us that are there to enable us to enjoy this freedom.   “God is free”.    He created the world in freedom and the people in it freely not out of need but in his own freedom, putting his freedom into all he created, all creation is an extension of him.    Creation came from within him, from that other place that is Him, from the unseen into the seen realm.     This creation has in its fabric freedom and liberty just like the creator.   I see it as the reason that creation Is waiting the reveling of the sons of God as they long for that very freedom given to us.    At the center of all is Jesus the free-est person that you would ever come across.     He was so free that he was able to declare “…I have overcome the world…” (John 16:33; 18) a chapter or two later we read how he stood chained during his arrest and yet was clearly able to clearly recreate for us what it looks like to be free, a overcomer, to the eye these chains certainly did not give the outward appearance of freedom!  But he was FREE!

The Holy Spirit is free, he is like “…the wind that blows where ever it wills…” this Holy Spirit produces freedom, liberty as once again the Spirit reproduces His nature.   When the Spirit leads me, when I live in faith, I live FREE – our testimony is this, when Christ is the center of my life vast FREEDOMS and surprising spontaneities begin to be seen.

When life becomes centered in my will, my freedom is diminished.

Our lives are to grow into the FREEDOM of the Kings Rule, of the Kingdom of Christ, as we pray your Kingdom, come freedom, come so I can be me!

How can I awaken your appetite, hunger and thirst for a free life?  This freedom found in Christ is a gift we can offer the world. Slogans, dogmas, great sayings and quotations don’t really do anything.

Discover freedom and receive it, as Paul “…took hold of that which had taken hold of him…” has this freedom taken hold of you?   Freedom is a gift; it is also a skill; a gift provided for us in Christ.   A skill that must be experienced and walked out by each person

Paul a specialist in the matters of freedom 28 times he talks about it and brings it to our attention in his writing, there are only 8 other mentions in the NT remainder books.   The book of Galatians brings us face to face with the freedom Paul has found and wants the whole community of God to participate with and be filled with.  A book aimed at restoring vigor and passion to a life of faith to confront the world with the free life of Christ.

I have heard it said that the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen was filled with treasure, and people said “Wow that’s living”, contrast that with the empty tomb filled of the Christ of God filled with freedom – Jesus out of emptiness poured out a freedom to live, rather than leaving us lifeless gems that will disintegrate.

In the creation story of Genesis 1, God creates Freedom that is LIFE, the new testament tells us he gave us “…life and this life MORE ABUNDANTLY…” the story in Genesis 3 tells us that humanity chose death, which by its nature is bondage, but we have been delivered from this death to a new life of liberty, freedom. Romans 7:24 “who will deliver us from this death”

In order for the story of FREEDOM to be told we must begin with God (Genesis 1) we have been brought unto a FREEDOM TO LIVE.   Therefore LIVE.

We are to show men and women today the beginnings of the pathway that leads to freedom, that moves credibly and concretely into the freedom of God.   Have no doubt the goal of God is to unite such as heaven and earth, man and God in union Christ in us is the expression of the united life and this life is fully expressed by Freedom, becoming a measurement of a restored, redeemed world, the church of God producing that very freedom, in all people and creation.      Union with God is freedom for this is true liberty.

Leonardo Da Vinci when he sculptured great forms from large block of marble or stone would say he saw the from, the shape, the body, the person in each stone or marble his goal was to simple liberate the shape/person from that block, to bring form to the unshaped rough stone, bringing liberty to what he saw inside.   God did the same to you and me and we are to continue in the same vein, through our words, actions and sayings liberate and bring freedom to ALL that we touch every day.

Da Vinci showed again in the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, the painting of the creation, in which humanity and God sits in the exactly same position, depicting that mankind is created in the image and likeness of God.   Looking behind the depiction of God he painted a shape that is somewhat like a human brain, in that mind are other faces, the first of a woman and many others, showing that God had humanity in his mind from the beginning.        The picture is there to display the liberation of a freedom group called mankind that would be his church bringing freedom to whom ever and where ever they go

Let me shout Freedom, Liberty into YOU!

Feel it, let it break you out; let your inner person arise…Freedom!

So what should I do?

Feel it.

Dream it.

Ask yourself what does your freedom look like?

Take pen write what it looks like, and then add a strategy to bring it about.

Ask yourself, what needs adding to you in order that you can experience this?

What needs removing in your life form around your life to launch it?

Start your life with it Now.

What will you notice if you begin to walk in Freedom, and liberty?

YOU ARE FREE DO NOT SUCCUMB TO SLAVERY AGAIN IT IS NOT THE HOLY SPIRITS WAY NEVER MIND HOW GOOD IT SOUNDS.

“Now boarding at gate number….”

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / Leave a comment

Flying High

“Here I go again” I have turned our bedroom and study floor into a set of piles of different stuff ready for travelling again, piles of books and computers for notes, piles of photographic equipment to catch that moment, piles of clothes, clothes for hot weather and long sleeves for evening wear to keep mosquitoes off bear arms, and of course the proverbial torch.  That reminds me, is there anything in all those piles that needs charging before leaving? A final check on the BBC site tells me the weather is thundery showers at 29 C day time and a min temp of 26 C so its hot, wet and humid, ok better add an umbrella to the pile.

Piles every where and Sandra says she is too tired to sort it out tonight, so we sat with piles all over the house, and watched a DVD, a romantic one at that whilst enjoying some ice-cream!   Tomorrow we set off to be with the brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka.    It has been a few years since we were there, children will be older and babies will be toddlers.   Changes on the island with the Eastern part of the country now liberated,  I  know the people of God have been busy working taking the Gospel of the Kingdom to differing parts of the Island while still strengthening and encouraging the believers which I suppose we will also be doing.

I wonder which note, from the pile of thoughts, notes and life experience the Father will take up, to enable us to say something relevant at this time for this people?   Is this not the adventure?   That from random piles of things that work through our lives, God can make sense of them and use them to affect other people’s lives.   To us it might appear to be random piles with some vague references connecting them together, as with these piles on our floors.   A trip overseas connects these, to those who we might touch with words and our lives it is the skill of the Holy Spirit drawing out of us and delivering through us.  No longer just random piles, but constructed input into people, taking my piles and making them living, impactive, dynamic, life-giving insight to enable people to live for the Lord.   Do not dismiss any pile as unnecessary, each one has had its schooling and moment, each one drawing from some history that will enable another, each one in its own timing “everything is beautiful in its time” Ecc. 3 states, piles are very beautiful.   Don’t ignore the pile of life around, for in it you could see the God of creation disguising himself in your life!    It is a skill to recognize the disguised divine life in my life.

I wonder what will I see and find in Sri Lanka, having been in South Africa, briefly, Zimbabwe and Zambia and now into Sri

Sri Lanka

Lanka, I guess I will have Lord a unique insights into the work of the Holy Spirit in our world.   We can so quickly get lost into the “…one thing…” the Spirit is doing, we forget that the Spirit of Christ is moving and working in many parts of the world in various ways.   I know I will see that God is saying and doing different things in different areas as the one expression of his nature.   Releasing his manifestations of his love around the world.   It will not be any strand of teaching, or one body of truth it will be a diverse manifestation although i know it will be letting his nature be seen LOVE.

When we leave UK shores my prayer will be, “God I want to leave something of you in my foot prints, I want the evidence of you to remain as I walk through lives, that everyone we meet will find a sustaining deposit of the life of your Son in their lives as Sandra and I pass through.  Something that will enable people in these last days to know you and see you more.”

I will surely let you know my thoughts and what I encounter as we work over the next week or so.

We desire to see lives transformed and empowered to deal with their days, in their culture.     May Revelation be the portion of all who hear the life transforming revelation that says “…I cannot stay the same as I have been…”, that impactive prophetic word that says loud and clear “…I cannot stay where I am…” that we see transformation in our wake.   Apostle Paul put it like this “…I will work until Christ is formed in you…” I pray that our brief visit will enable the forming of Christ into lives over the next few days.    You see what we build in passion will be different to what you build in discipline, what you build with haste will feel different to what you build with considered effort.   Passion has its necessary place but we build with long term in view, with our children’s children in view to inheritance, not the house that “Jack built” but that which God has worked in.

That together we might see the Kingdom of God being established among people lives

What will you Catch?

A Necessary Focus

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / 2 Comments

Focus

In all our travels I have gained a sense of what the Holy Spirit is highlighting in various places, in saying this, I am fully aware that it is impossible to say ‘the thing’ ‘the one thing’ that people often want to hear of what God is saying, as I believe just as we are introduced to God speaking in the book of Revelation he is shown to be speaking seven different things to seven different churches in one region, therefore it is impossible to say the one thing he is saying,  but we can have some grasp of the constants, truth or focus that is being spoken or seen in many places across our globe. Seeing what is presented in many places, I think we should pay attention to this as “things are confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses”.

Sandra and I travel to the USA, Africa, India, Sri Lanka as well as in the UK and I would have to say that in all the noise of debate regarding the various aspects of truth that come and go, alongside the things we make the ‘fashionable sayings of Jesus’ as I call them, if there are such things, yet the church does appear to have its fashions, also the cyclic experiences and insights that come around every decade or so, there is, I believe, in our small world a sense of God’s focus on the one message that Christ carried and proclaimed.

I believe that until we grasp hold of this central message of Christ we will be confronted constantly by the Holy Spirit, until we embrace it in every possible way, through confession, teaching, and practice the central message of the kingdom of God will be spoken out constantly in the heavens.

In the opening chapters of the book of Hebrews we are told that God has spoken in these last days, making these words important for the last days, our days, and he has “spoken in his Son”, his Son, the Christ of God being the King that brings his kingship which means the Kingdom of God is on the front burner in the last days along with all the related details and implications.

Therefore it is imperative that we teach, preach, and practice everything possible to bring about the domain of God, “Heaven coming to Earth”.   We are encouraged to pray “your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” but it is not enough to pray, we must pray and work until our world is one with Christ, which is kingship and rule. To some degree the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, the same thing, is still to come to Earth, but on the other hand, heaven has already come in those who have welcomed Christ into their lives and they have to extend the kingdom rule of God. It’s about bring the implications of the Kingdom to bear in the cosmos first in our lives.

My aim in writing is to lay out the reasons why I proclaim the Kingdom of God, I trust this will have two implications, firstly it would clarify my mind and secondly I trust it will be of benefit for those who read.    My appeal is that we once again strongly announce, herald and preach the Kingdom of God with open hearts, not as those who have heard it before,or done it in the past. Got the tee-shirt, rode the ride, but with new eyes looking and listening again, before we all get lost in a sea of a ‘church only message’ or ‘church gospel’ which is around us all, but step up to re state the ONLY message of our Christ, the Kingdom of God.  Once again the message is required to be announced to empower, advance and deliver the people of God and our world.  Here are my reasons I trust that you will join and agree with me:

-The Kingdom of God reconnects us to the purpose, the why of all creation and the activity of God our Father. It confronts  us with a narrative of Scripture rather than getting lost in our fashions, fads, “now words”  but keeps is rooted in the ultimate purpose of God giving the reasons the cross, the ecclesia, the call of God in bringing everything under the rulership of Christ (Ephesians 1)

-The only message of Christ – the Kingdom of God gives Christ his proper place as King of Kings, the proclaim of the Kingdom and the rulership of God. To separate the gospel from the Kingdom is to take the Christ out of our message. ( BOY DO I WANT TO SHOUT THIS FORM THE ROOF TOPS)  In separating the Gospel from the king to only introduce people to a gospel that deals with an escape into the next life. To have a message without the kingdom is to deny the prophecies that speak of Jesus as the ruler of nations (Genesis 49:10, Psalm 2:9-11, 110:1-3, Isaiah 9:6, 7 Daniel 2, 4, 7). It is to bring a covenant with the father made with creation into practice.

-This sole message is the connection to the original mandate spoken to all humanity through Adam in Genesis 1:28, this passage must be seen as the starting point of the kingdom mandate, that of Christ proclaimed with the church continuing its proclamation.

NOW THAT IS JUST THREE REASON FOR YOU TO FIRST THINK THROUGH MORE TO FOLLOW I HAVE A GOOD LIST FOR YOU TO CONSIDER!    
WATCH THIS SPACE!

Ever Arriving Father

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / Leave a comment

The day the church, the Ecclesia, stops Emerging is the day it becomes a religious institution. Everything we are is coming from the eternal we have tasted of an age to come, the Kingdom has come, is coming and is here, we have been saved, are saved and are being saved. We journey towards an Ever Arriving God, is this not revelation in essence, it’s still coming, the Ecclesia – church along with the Father. God is too large that we know him ALL what a great adventure we have joined.

Procrastination – great use of words!

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / Leave a comment

Miss You

procrastination is the assassination of your motivation;

 when God gives a revelation of what He wants to do in our lives, we get filled with inspiration and pledge to do things beyond imagination;

 but then comes a hesitation and with it the evaporation of that determination  allowing procrastination to become the assassination of your motivation;

 to the student procrastination means the deterioration of your education;

 in the workplace it can lead to the termination of your occupation which means the elimination of your compensation;

 procrastinate on changing your all and you’ll see the disintegration of your transportation;

 if it’s home repairs it’ll be the dilapidation of your habitation;

 procrastinate on spending time with your children and you’ll experience the alienation of some cherished family relations ……

 but the worst procrastination of all, is when we procrastinate on the things of God which may lead to the expiration of God’s offer of salvation;

 …. so do don’t procrastinate, initiate and …. “Redeem the Time”

(Rick Grubbs)