It’s Not About Movements!

Posted on July 9, 2024 by LovingLikeGod.com

It’s about relationships –

First and foremost about our relationship with Him, and His relationship with us.

But, with that as a given, how can we say we have a relationship with Him when we have no meaningful relationships with each other – none that come even close to our oneness that Jesus prayed and died for?

Where is that “first love,” without which there is no fire, and if our candlestick is gone? Where is this love that is the first fruit of The Spirit? For that matter, where is the evidence of the Spirit’s work in our relationships with each other?

Paul writes to us in Ephesians: “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,” Ephesians 5:17-19.

And this brings me once again to the very rocks crying out. And while the theology of rocks isn’t perfect, why should it be any better than the theology of what’s been calling itself ‘church’?

Love!

  • By Jay Ferris, originally posted March 2012

NOTE:  Jay’s original post included a link to the song, “How Do You Keep The Music Playing” by Frank Sinatra, But later in the same year Jay sang this very song at a karaoke event, so I thought I’d share that instead! It was recorded with an older cell phone, but I trust the reason why he chose the song will come through. Click on the video link below to play it.

Posted in J.Ferris: Reposts with Notes | Leave a comment

Speaking in Parables

Posted on July 2, 2024 by LovingLikeGod.com

In any given gathering, there is usually more than one ‘meeting’ going on.

So it was for Jesus…

“The disciples came to him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’ He replied, ‘Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:

‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’

In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them…’

Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

‘I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.’

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and asked, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field…”

See: Matthew 13:10-15, 3-36 NIV (For context it is very helpful to read all of Matthew 13.)

Why did Jesus speak to the crowds in parables? It was because He was, and is, looking for those who will come to Him in private and ask Him what He means.

Again, in any given gathering, there is usually more than one ‘meeting’ going on.

Love!

By Jay Ferris, originally posted March 8, 2012

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Mutated Cells – Part 2

Posted on June 25, 2024 by LovingLikeGod.com

“He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” Isaiah 42:2-4

One of the problems with shooting in the dark, as is so often the case with Internet communication, is innocent people can get hit by “friendly fire.”

Where our introductory passage here is concerned, innocent people likely include “bruised reeds” and “smoldering wicks.”

Jesus never shoots in the dark. It is true, however, that those who listen in, or overhear what He may say to others (especially religious experts) are vulnerable to misunderstanding. They may even think He is talking to them. When a venue does not afford opportunity for private conversation, it can be difficult to get this misunderstanding sorted out.

Back in the late 70s, when I saw the similarity between cancer and what’s been calling itself ‘church,’ I shared the word picture in a small gathering of believers. Even there, where there was opportunity for conversation, it was difficult to tend the wounds of the innocents.

Anticipating this same problem here, I need to clarify what I understand to be “Mutated Cells.” One of the ways that cancer is detected is by the difference in the speed of healthy cell metabolism and that of cancer cells – mutated cells. They metabolize very rapidly. Drinking liquid sugar or injecting radioactive i.v. solutions is the way that scans for cancer typically light up the cancer. Cancer loves sugar, and its speed of metabolism is highlighted by radioactivity. Or so I understand. (I’m no expert yet, but I am paying very close attention in class. By the way, I’m off of sugar.)

If we can find words that target, and hit only mutated cells, there is some hope of avoiding innocent people being hit by verbal shots aimed at those mutated cells. If this can be done in a way that the innocents are able to see and understand the M.O. (Modus Operandi – method of operation) of mutated cells, there might be some hope of keeping the innocent from being vulnerable, or as vulnerable to the mutated cells.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” Matthew 23:15

In my experience this verse is exemplary of what I am talking about here. Our hope is that this blog might be helpful where discerning the difference between healthy cells and mutated cells is concerned. Jesus came that we might have life… not pointy-top buildings, programs, systems, deals, multilevel marketing networks, or ‘down lines,’ etc. To paraphrase the way someone put it, “Is it Memorex or is it Jesus?” It’s not always so easy to tell the difference.

Did I mention that what God calls Church is not divided? You can read about it in the Bible.

Love!

By Jay Ferris, originally posted March 4, 2012

Posted in J.Ferris: Cancer & Medicine, J.Ferris: Reposts with Notes | Leave a comment