Category: Ministry Integrity

That They May Come To Their Senses

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
Copyright 2014 Theresa Harvard Johnson
 
2 Timothy 2:26 CJB, “Also he should be gentle as he corrects his opponents. For God may perhaps grant them the opportunity to turn from their sins, acquire full knowledge of the truth, COME TO THEIR SENSES and ESCAPE THE TRAP OF THE ADVERSARY, after having been captured alive by him to do his will.”
 
Have we overlooked this command in the midst of our faith?

Have we cast it aside for the sake of self-righteousness, judgement and dogma?
 
As people of God, it can be easy to focus on the teachings of the condition of people and forget the “compassion-of-Christ” component that burns through it. I am not speaking of humanity’s kind of compassion which changes like the wind, but the kind of compassion that our Father has shown forth in pursuit of us throughout of eternity. A compassion rooted in His great love!  We must remember that the primary purpose of sharing the truth of the Gospel rests in the hope of reconciliation. It is the blazing foundation of every administration of ministry in Christ – that if a man hears the Gospel, he will turn his heart toward the Lord. Period. When we fail to grasp this truth, the scripture above infers that we should be catalysts for causing people to gain GOOD SENSE.
 
To be senseless literally means to lack a conscious reality of CHRIST. The passage also moves us to understand this reality: That it is God’s heart that NO MAN should perish if at all possible (2 Peter 3:9). But we – people of God – should never become the problem or a hindrance to this process. In truth, we are the SOLUTION to the problem men face.

The Idolatry Chart: Five Categories of Idolatry

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
Copyright 2014 Theresa Harvard Johnson
 
Idolatry is one of those sins talked about in the Bible that may seem like an old outdated concept to some or point to a lot of religious activity or legalism. The truth is, it isn’t outdated and that all references to it in scripture still apply today. Idolatry is defined as “image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object.”[1] It is also defined as divine worship given to anyone or anything other than the true living God.[2] Remember, God wants to be our single most important priority. Our immersion should be in HIM, not in the created thing or another person. Anything in life that becomes greater than Him is viewed, in context with Biblical examples, as idolatry.

In the chart below, I’ve attempted to take the most common types of idolatry we see in our culture today and place them in five general categories. Then, I provided a few scriptural references alongside them in hopes of identifying places or points in the Bible for deeper study. By no means is this expected to be complete list of scripture or every possible example of idolatry. Sources are also cited.

+
Ministry Integrity

Part I of IV: Defining the Opportunist

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson

Copyright 2016 Theresa Harvard Johnson

Opportunism is a raging problem impacting the congregation in this hour. While it is a well-known phenomenon – even expected and accepted – in the corporate arena and market place, it often takes individuals and congregations by surprise. The behavior can be so subtle and disarming that it goes unidentified by some believers until long after earned and legitimate opportunities and relationships have been lost.

In using the phrase “earned opportunities,” I am referring to those open doors that a person has legitimately been presented or that they have earned the authority or been given the permission to walk through.

+
Ministry Integrity

The Wheat Sifting Process Part I

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
By Theresa Harvard Johnson
 
Luke 22:31-34 The Complete Jewish Bible says:
31 “Shim`on (Simon), Shim`on (Simon), listen! The Adversary demanded to have you people for himself, to sift you like wheat! 32 But I prayed for you, Shim`on (Simon), that your trust might not fail. And you, once you have turned back in repentance, strengthen your brothers!” 33 Shim`on (Simon) said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go with you both to prison and to death!” 34 Yeshua replied, “I tell you, Kefa (Peter), the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”
 
The call on our lives is a threat to the kingdom of darkness. The adversary knows that when we come to understand who we are in the Kingdom – His power is demolished. So he keeps temptation before us. He keeps distractions before us. He keeps all manner of familiar sin at our feet in hope that we will pick that sin up and carry it – leaving us professing Yahshua (our Lord Jesus Christ) but walking without power. As Yahshua said here, the adversary has demanded to have us in the midst of his tirade against God and to sift us like wheat…
 
In the spirit, the WHEAT SIFTING process is a deliberate, methodical, diabolical (extremely cruel and evil) strategy initiated by the adversary to separate the SONS OF GOD from the very PRESENCE of the Lord. You see, farmers will tell you that BEFORE wheat goes through the “sifting” process it has ALREADY BEEN separated from foreign grains, dirt, the chaff and then washed, dried and ground.
 
Isn’t that amazing! In other words, the “Wheat Making” processing has already taken place. Everything that is needed to “qualify the grain as wheat” is present. I hope you hear me! YOU ARE ALREADY WHEAT! YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN SEPARATED! NOW THE REAL BATTLE BEGINS! Yahshuah wasn’t talking to a tare here. He was talking to Peter – one of his BELOVED disciples and apostles. Peter was clearly WHEAT. He had finished the hard part of the MAKING process.
 
Say to yourself today, “I AM WHEAT!”

The Tower of Babel vs. The Day of Pentecost

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson

Copyright 2009 Theresa Harvard Johnson

Here I am, making lunch for my son before the school bus arrives… and the Lord starts talking..

I am not trying to be deep here, but I really wanted to share this with you all…

The Father took me back to the scriptures concerning Tower of Babel. (Genesis 11:1-8) We all know the story. The two things the Lord pointed out to me was this: (1) The people at that time spoke in one language. It was Hebrew, the language of God; and (2) because of the unified sin they committed, they were further separated from God by the confounding of the languages. Even brother and sister could not communicate with one another in a single language.

Then the SPIRIT OF THE LORD SAID me, “My Spirit redeemed them.”

Suddenly, my spirit shifted to Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit fell on the men, they began to speak in foreign languages. Each man spoke in a language that was recognizable to others there. In that moment, the SPIRIT… restored the unity in the faith among believers that had been lost so many years before in that tower. In other words, “Babylon (which represents sin/Gentiles in the bible) is a picture of the world system; and the Day of Pentecost is a picture of Babylon’s restoration.”‘

On that day, Jesus was preached in every language using words that those cultures who were represented could fully understand. He was saying the EXACT THING to all of them in their own respective languages. In the world today, we have all these bible versions and they have manipulated the word of God — adding man’s “spin” on things. This was not the Father’s intent with translations.

Well, I hope this “moment” I’ve just had with the Lord came across clearly to those who’ve been following (and understood) the series on biblical translations and bible versions. Remember, scribes are PROTECTORS of the word by the Lord’s design. This protection includes maintaining every element of the Hebrew translation of the Torah. As new covenant people, it’s easy to forget that Jesus IS the Word (the Torah— the Word God spoke to Moses).

Am I saying that the Gospel and the Letters of The New Testament are not scripture! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! The entire bible is infallible — but when Jesus walked the earth all He had was the ORIGINAL Word — the books of Moses/Moshe. (But that’s another teaching.)

+
Ministry Integrity