New Series: The Father's Love
December 17, 2024
When my friend Martin Buehlmann handed over the leadership of the Vineyard churches in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to his son Marius, he urged Marius to remember three priorities that God had laid on his heart for the Vineyard: the Father's love for us, allowing freedom to the Holy Spirit, and Equipping the Saints as Wimber taught us. The Father's love has also been instrumental in my own Christian life and ministry, and I thought it might be helpful for some of you if I were to write a series of short posts on this important topic.
Much has been written in recent years about the need, especially for men in our fatherless generation, to experience the love of God the Father. The subject of the Fatherhood of God has also been dealt with in books and videos from both theological and pastoral perspectives.
My approach however is going to be different. Instead of presenting you with theology and practical advice, I'm simply going to share some stories about how I have *personally experienced* God as my Father and what impact these experiences have had on my life as a Christian. My stories will not be in any particular order — I'm not writing biography here, or an instruction manual like "Seven Steps to Experiencing God's Love." Instead they will simply be glimpses of key breakthroughs — and setbacks — in my lifelong journey of getting to know God as Father and experiencing the depths —and sometimes limitations — of his love for me, his child through Christ.
My hope is that one or two of my stories will bring a new awareness of how you can experience the Father's love. And my prayer for those of you reading this — and especially for men — is that the Father will father you the way he has fathered me.
I'll begin my series of posts shortly after Christmas. Ingrid will also be sharing some thoughts on this subject.
In the meantime, be blessed and filled with the Father's love for you.
—Mitch
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In a previous post I outlined some tips on how to become more effective in personal evangelism. I learned these years ago from listening to John Wimber teaching on the subject. I've been finding these tips helpful lately as Ingrid and I try to tell the people we meet in the marketplace about Jesus. In this present post I'll list some more tips gleaned from John's teaching, and I've incorporated these additional tips into the PDF titled John Wimber on Personal Evangelism which can be found in the Resources section of our website . You're the bait! The way you live and act will open the door "You're different. Why?" (from Ingrid) Use the J-word in your response! Meet them where they are at spiritually Not everyone is hungry for God People are at many different levels in the process of coming to God Fill up their cup, but don't overfill Give them a Bible verse that relate to their present need This means you need to know the Scriptures! Remember that God is seeking them even if they aren't looking for Him Be sincere when answering their questions Admit that you don't know the answer "But this I do know..." Still more to come... —Mitch
Guest post by Martin Buehlmann Church is not just a building and not just a worship service. Church is first of all a lived community and the following of Jesus! In the Bible, the word "church" is often understood as a community of people. Phrases that describe it include the Body of Christ, the People of God and the Fellowship of the Saints. This means that church happens in everyday life — in our relationships, in serving, in sharing, and in living out our faith together. In other words, church is not the place you go to, but the life you live together. The church should also be a community of love. For in John 13:34-35 Jesus said, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Love, mutual care, and community are therefore central marks of the church. In the New Testament, Christians often met together in homes (see for example Rom 16:5, Col 4:15 and Philem 2). The early church was therefore not primarily an institution with church buildings, but a community of faith lived out in everyday life. So church is not only a place you attend, but a community you live. Be blessed and encouraged! Martin Buehlmann Leader Emeritus of the Vineyard Movement in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
In a previous post I talked about some instructions that Jesus gave his followers when he sent them forth on their first ministry trip. One additional instruction Jesus gave to them was this: "Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them" (Mark 6:11). This instruction — to shake off the dust from their feet — used to bother me, because it sounds like the disciples would be saying "To hell with you!" as they departed from towns that didn't receive their message. And since the message of the gospel is supposed to be good news (Mark 1:15) it seems somewhat discordant for them to say something like that. The key however to understanding Jesus' instruction is the phrase "as a testimony against them". The idea is that when harvest time arrives at the end of the age, God will send forth his angels to gather his wheat into his barn (see Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43). And when the angels come to those who rejected the message, the people of that town will likely cry "But we never even heard about this good news! Give us a chance please to repent!" Then the angels will point to the dust still lying on the ground and say, "See? There is the evidence that you were given opportunity to repent! But you rejected those the Lord sent you!" And so they will have no excuse. Of course all this happened two thousand years ago and all of those towns and the people that were in them are long gone. So the focus here can't be on the final Day of Judgment, but on the judgment that happened a few decades later when the Roman legions under Titus swept across Judea and beseiged Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish temple (see Matthew 24). For while with the coming of Jesus God's future kingdom now breaks through intermittently into our present age with signs and wonders and with healings and deliverance, so also the future judgement by the Son of Man breaks through from time to time into our present evil age. (Image: Sandals - from a Renaissance painting, artist unknown)