I might be all over the place with this blog, I’m feeling like I need to point out alot of things to everyone! Yes, it’s my turn! lol
My life’s journey has brought me thru alot of things and places because of my heritage thru my fathers’ line of work. You see he was a pastor for all his life and it took our family to some different cities and different states. Which I enjoyed them all as a kid, I didn’t know anything else but to enjoy it. It was a adventure to me as just a new place to check out.
It is in this adventure that I have looked back and tried to surmise the things that my father was doing as a pastor to people. Now, being old as I am I have forgotten some things that occurred or where they happened but their are things that have stuck out in my memories whether they be bad or good, they have. The memories that I have are the ones that were of my father, and my mother that were of the ‘teacher’ method of shepherding people. Let me say at the outset that I believe that this method of ‘teacher’ was the correct mode of said ‘pastor’, but I fear that it was all in vain, because this way was shallow in it’s presentation. What I have seen and read of various authors,pastors, evangelist’s, is that there was a ‘Theology’ first, then a foundation of scripture that fit the scenario. This is backwards.
It is the scripture that should create our understanding of God. This is the model which should of been emphasized from the very early beginning. The good news is that it seems that this is starting to come out thru the works of alot of theologians who have put in tireless work in digging out the storyline of the bible. It doesn’t come out easy, it is searching for God’s work in everything that He orchestrates thru his hands. But it is making a difference in how we see the bible as the word of God, and his people.(for more information on this,just make a comment to me at the end)
Another thing that is closely tied to this is the failure of the previous story, and even now, that there was and is a failure of the people of God that are failing to read and ‘know’ the scriptures! I don’t know for sure what the reason is, behind this, but I have a few. Lazy on the individual,lazy to know the pastor will tell them sunday, I have heard it before, read all the stories in the bible, doesn’t pertain to me, and the list goes on. People have not, and were not told of the storyline of the scriptures from day one of their interest in God. This is major flaw of christianity to the world. We have not presented the God of our World to the people in the right way.
Our way was to tell the stories of all the great people of the bible and their stories, to impress them of such great men or women to loft up our God and his purpose. But that is to shallow. God started from the beginning, Genesis to start this journey and a blueprint of what God was going to do in the now, and the latter. In which the now and the latter were the same. Compare Genesis 1-2 with Revelation 21-22. God’s book should be read and ‘known’ from beginning to end. There is storyline, WE HAVE TO FOLLOW IT! The New Testament(covenant, I prefer) is the continuation from the Old Testament(old covenant). This brings out the biblical thought with using Covenant, instead of ‘Testament’.
I would recommend to people to get a few people together and start in genesis and just get a fresh perspective on how God has put very specific things into place and also people to make his story come alive for us. Go slow and methodical, to ‘see’ God’s design of his people and his Kingdom.
You might have a revelation in doing it this way by realizing that ‘we’ can all become ‘one’ in our ‘knowing’ and ‘seeing’ God, and not be split in our ways as we are now!
The Eternal Purpose 